Good morning. It's
Wednesday, February 25, 2004,
and this is your first early morning
briefing.
Fox led Monday night on the strength of its Big Fat
Obnoxious ratings, posting an overall 7.2/17 for the night among
A18-49 according to Nielsen Media Research. CBS and
NBC tied at #2 each with a 5.5/13, followed by ABC 3.2/8, WB 2.0/5, UPN
1.6/4. At 8pm the first hour of NBC's 90m Fear Factor led with a 6.4/17
over #2 Fox's Littlest Groom 4.2/11 and then CBS' Yes Dear/Still Standing
(3.9/10). At 9pm Fox's Obnoxious ratings were a 10.2/23, whereas the
final half hour of Fear Factor delivered a 6.0/14, with CBS' Raymond
(5.6/13) and Two and a Half Men (5.2/11) following. At 10p CSI Miami on
CBS led with a 7.2/17, ahead of NBC's final hour of Average Joe: Hawaii
(5.3/13). ABC's 8-10p movie The Fast and the Furious drew a 2.8/7,
followed by Super Millionaire with a 3.8/9 (#2 among total viewers with
12.3m).
On Sunday evening at 9pm PAX aired The Making of the Passion of
Christ, and found an audience of 3.1 million viewers, a 2.0 HH NTI
rating, making this OTO special the network's second highest rated
program in PAX history. Among A25-54 the special drew a 1.0
rating; and a 1.1 among W25-54. The show repeated last evening at
the same hour.
10.6 million viewers tuned in to see the finale of HBO's S#x
and the City on Sunday night at 9pm, according to Nielsen Media
Research. In HBO universe (which is about 30m households) the HH
rating for S#x was a 21.8/28 which is the highest HH number for the
premium channel since September 2002 season premiere of The
Sopranos. The telecast also led the A18-34 and W18-34 demo
categories across cable and broadcast for the 45m show. When this
does find its way to the big screen, any bets on what that opening
weekend box office will look like?
The next round of indecency hearings are scheduled for tomorrow,
and showing up for the party are Bud Paxson (PAX TV), Harry Pappas
(Pappas Telecasting), Gail Berman (Fox), Alex Wallau (ABC), Alan Wurtzel
(NBC), John Hogan (Clear Channel Radio). CBS is not represented
this time around since Mel Karmazin joined the Senators' subcommittee for
the first hearing as did Paul Tagliabue.
New in Development/Casting:
CBS has signed Jean Smart to join the cast of its comedy pilot
Center of the Universe (Tannanbaum Co., Warner Bros. TV, CBS Prods), as
John Goodman's wife. Center of the Universe is about a guy who's
tries to prevent war from breaking out among his large extended Chicago
family. Elsewhere at CBS, Kathleen Rose Perkins has been added tot he
growing cast of The Amazing Westerbergs (Sony/CBS Prods), joining Chris
O'Donnell and Jay Harrington.
WB has made its first major casting move with Oliver Hudson
starring in its drama pilot The Mountain (Wonderland Sound & Vision,
Warner Bros. TV) about a young man who inherits his family's mountain
resort.
NBC's comedy pilot Untitled Matt Tarses/Bill Wrubel project,
sometimes referred to as Home & Hardware, has added Al Madrigal to
the cast as head of shipping for the store.
UPN's comedy pilot Kevin Hill (Icon/Touchstone) has cast
Patrick Breen as the gay nanny to Kevin Hill's new charge, his infant
niece.
Sources: BaselineFT.com, Variety, Hollywood Reporter
USA Network and the WB have both acquired the television
rights to Adam Sandler's newest film, 50 First Dates
(Sony). The numbers weren't make known, but typically these deals
run in the neighborhood of 15% of total domestic box office, and given
this film's first two weeks where it has already taken in $73.3 million,
the license fee for this baby will be substantial. According to
Variety, USA will air the film first in July 2006, thereafter
bicycling between the two networks for multiple airings. The combined
deal will also include Sony's You Got Served, also beginning its term at
USA before shuttling over to WB. The USA deal also included Sony's film
Big Fish for a license fee of $6 million, available to the net in May
2006 for a three year term.
As cable networks prepare for their upfront season, TBS has come
out with a new tag line - TBS Very Funny, the juxtaposition
to Turner's other entertainment net, TNT We Know Drama. Wtih the
new tag this spring/summer comes the off-net launch of S#x and the City
followed in the fall with Everybody Loves Raymond, as well as an original
unscripted series from Bruce Nash (Meet My Folks,etc.), relationship
driven, that takes a young women around the world in search of
love.
A couple of key programming changes effecting syndicated
shows to make note of: in NYC, 20th's On Air with Ryan Seacrest
is moving from Fox's UPN station, WWOR at 5pm, to the Fox affiliate WNYW
at 3pm. With that move, comes the upgrade of two other syndicated
series on WNYW, Tribune's double run of Family Feud will move to
4-5pm. A similar move in Chicago -On Air had been airing on UPN
affiliate, WPWR at 6pm, and it will now move to WFLD at 3pm, displacing
back to back eps of Cops. In both cases, On Air is moving to the stronger
of the two Fox O&O stations.
As mentioned last Friday, the Food Network is bringing Iron Chef
to the United States with the Americanized version of the show.
Iron Chef America (Triage Ent) is set to launch with an original
series of four special episodes on April 23-25, 9-11p each evening.
The American Iron Chefs are Bobby Flay Mario Batali and Wolfgang
Puck. In these special eps, the American Iron Chefs do kitchen
battle with the Japanese Iron Chefs Masaharo Morimoto and Hiroyuki
Sakai. As any Iron Chef fan knows, there is also a set of
judges and for the American version will include Paige Davis
(Trading Spaces), Dennis Franz (NYPD Blue), Barbara Fairchild (editor of
Bon Appetit), Vincent Pastore (Sopranos), among others. And in the
role of play-by-ingredient commentator, chef/scientist Alton
Brown.
Universal Domestic Television's new syndicated fare for the fall,
Home Delivery, has now reach an 80% clearance with 45 of
the top 50 markets done. The top 10 markets include the
Tribune O&O group, Universal's partner in the project (Tribune Ent
sells the national barter time): WPIX/NY; KTLA/LA; WGN/Chicago;
WPHL/Philadelphia; KTVU & KICU/San Francisco; WLVI/Boston;
KDAF/Dallas; WBDC/Washington DC; WATL/Atlanta and WWJ &
WKBD/Detroit.
CABLEready has acquired the international distribution
rights to 13 episodes of Samurai Sportsman (Hidden Treasures
Prods), currently airing in its first season on Outdoor Life Network in
primetime. The show features Japanese sportsman Yoshi, a martial arts
expert and Samurai swordsman, teaming up with a Western outdoorsman and
learning how to master each new Western style as well as teaching the
ways of the Samurai. Says Gary Lico, President/CEO of CABLEready, Samurai
Sportsman is "...an outdoor sports show with appeal even to folks
who don’t know a shotgun from a shogun.”
You may remember this show earlier this season on Fox, Banzai,
which lasted only a handful of airings, and will now show up next on
Comedy Central according to Daily Variety. Beginning
next month, Banzai will air on Thursday nights at 1030p.
When you think of MTV's newest unscripted series, think Orange
County Choppers meets Trading Spaces. Pimp My Ride helps an
automotively-challenged car enthusiast with flat wheels, jazz up and
trick out the car into a vehicular masterpiece. Leading the charge
is rapper Xzibit, and West Coast Customs, the world famous car shop that
has customized cars for Shaquille O'Neal, 50 Cent and Ludacris.
Pimp My Ride debuts on March 4 at 1030p; MTV has ordered 10 episodes to
air weekly.
Top Ten Basic Cable Ad Supported Network Rankings among
Total Viewers for
the week of Feb 16-22,
2004: Primetime
(000) Total
Day
(000) NICK/NAN 2519 NICK/NAN2020
TNT
2218 TNT 1314
USA 2218 CARTOON 1141
TBS 1697 USA 1064
LIFETIME 1629 LIFETIME 1026
CARTOON 1590 TBS 996
DISCOVERY
1378 FOXNEWS 797
FOXNEWS 1332 DISCOVERY
730
ESPN 1307 A&E 722
A&E 1210 ESPN 631 Source Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research Data.
All ratings based on Total U.S. Television Universe of 108,400,000
homes
Top Ten Basic Cable Ad Supported Network Rankings
among A18-49 for
the week ofFeb 16-22, 2004: Primetime
(000) Total
Day
(000) TNT 1027 TNT 636
USA 986 TBS 596
TBS 898 NICK/NAN 583
DISCOVERY 797 USA 507
LIFETIME 732 LIFETIME 500
MTV 667 DISCOVERY 429
SPIKE 639 ESPN 366
ESPN 618 TLC 366
NICK/NAN 615 FX 324
TLC 608 SPIKE 304 Source Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research Data.
All ratings based on Total U.S. Television Universe of 108,400,000
homes.
News Viewer Index for the week
ofFeb 16-22, 2004
in Total Viewers
Total Day Total Fox News/CNN/MSNBC/Headline Cable News Viewers
1.689 (000) Total Viewers. (+2% vs. previous week). Of the cable news
viewership, Fox News had 47% of the viewing, CNN 28%, MSNBC 13%; and
Headline News 12% Primetime Total Fox News/CNN/MSNBC/Headline Cable News
Viewers 2.679 (0000) Total Viewers (+5 vs. previous week). Of the
primetime cable news viewership, Fox News had 50%, CNN 31%, MSNBC 11% and
Headline News 8%. Source Nielsen Media Research
During this Sunday's telecast of the Academy Awards, JCPenny
will launch its new image campaign created by DDB
Worldwide/Chicago, and targeted to women, who traditionally turn out to
in droves to watch the Oscars. During the Oscar broadcast JCPenny
will introduce five new :30 image spots highlighting various product
areas of interest to women, and enhancing its well known jingle
"its-all-inside" with the introduction of the question
"Have you seen what's inside?" Of the five ads, titled
Inchworm, showcases infant/kid/teen brands through the depiction of a
baby girl evolving through kidhood, her teen years and so on. The
ad is tagged with a voice-over stating "As they grow and outgrow,
JCPenny is there."
Also debuting during the Oscars will be the new American Express
campaign with Tiger Woods wherein he re-creates the role of Bill
Murray in Caddyshack. Using clips from the 1980 film, Tigershack
finds the golfer trying to deal with a gopher.
Intermedia Advertising Group's Top Ten Most Effective New Ads for
new campaigns airing the weeks of February 2-15,
2004.The list is ranked by viewer's ability to
recall the new ads and their associated products and brands. The
Recall Score is the percentage of TV viewers who within 24 hours are able
to remember the brand of the ad they saw during normal TV viewing.
The scores are then indexed against the mean score for all ads during the
time period to create the Recall Index; 100 is Average. For example, with
a recall index of 229, the top ranked Pepsi ad has proven to be more
thantwice
as effective as the average new commercial. Source Intermedia
Advertising Group Inc.'s 2004 Ad Performance Data Series
(www.iagr.net)
- 229 PEPSI: iTunes Giveaway--teens prosecuted for
downloading music, I Fought the Law
- 197 PANTENE PRO-V: Kelly Ripa in blue top talks about healthy
hair makeover
- 195 DOMINO'S: Cheesy Dots--they're coming, boy runs from boulder
sized Cheesy Dots
- 194 STAPLES: People offer man pastries in exchange for office
supplies
- 194 THETRUTH.COM: People take survey on street, know
tobacco-related illness sufferers
- 193 AT&T WIRELESS: Ryan Seacrest on a plane, guy across
aisle text-messaging friend
- 192 SNICKERS: Father & son at ball game, loves nuts, Almond,
Cruncher, Regular (:30)
- 184 KAY JEWELERS: Valentine's Day--Diamond and Natural
Ruby, woman cries tears of joy (:15)
- 181 KAY JEWELERS: Valentine's Day--Diamond and Natural
Ruby, woman cries tears of joy (:30)
- 180 SNICKERS: Father & son at ball game, loves nuts,
Almond, Cruncher, Regular (:15)
Larry Jones has been upped to President/TV Land and Nick at
Nite, two networks among the Viacom group of cable networks.
The annoncement came from Herb Scannell, MTVN Group Pres and Pres/Nick
Networks, to whom Larry reports. Larry oversees the day-to-day
operations of TV Land and NAN, as well as overseeing all original
production and development, programming, marketing, promotions and ad
sales for both nets.
Gavin Harvey has been named President of Outdoor Life
Network (a Comcast owned cable net). Harvey makes to move to OLN from
E! Networks where he was EVP/Mktg and Brand Director. OLN is currently
available in more than 55 million homes.
Michelle Rice has been named VP/Distribution Strategy and
Operations for TV One, the new entertainment network targeting
African American adults. Michelle will develop strategy to increase
and maximize TV One's distribution opportunities to cable and satellite
operators and manage the day-to-day affiliate sales and marketing
operations. She will also handle sales efforts for key MSO national
accounts and divisions.
Evan Messinger has rejoined Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
(TBS, Inc.) in the newly created position of SVP/Strategic
Integration Sales Manager - News. Evan will report to Greg
D'Alba, COO/CNN Ad Sales and Marketing. Evan will be responsible
for the day-to-day sales management of all global client solutions,
program integration sales and promotional activities. Messinger
will head a team of executives who will work across the entire breadth of
the CNN brand to develop multimedia integrated marketing programs and
promotions for clients.
NBC has upped Lauren Stein to Director/Primetime Series,
NBC Studios, reporting to Angela Bromstad, EVP/NBC Studios. Lauren
oversees such primetime series as American Dreams and Crossing Jordan, as
well as involved in the development of new drama series.
Gary Herman has been upped to SVP/Advertising Sales, Emerging
Networks, and Robert Calandruccio to VP/Ad Sales, both
at DIY—Do It Yourself Network, a Scripps' owned cable network.
Gary will be responsible for the overall ad sales strategic direction for
two of Scripps Networks’ emerging brands - DIY and Fine Living, along
with Scripps Syndication. Robert's responsibilities including supervising
the ad sales staff, managing the business development, strategic planning
and integrated marketing process.
Monday, February 23, 2004. Fast
Affiliate Ratings for all Networks. Fast
affiliate numbers which reflect time period data, not program data, and
can change slightly once the finals come in, particularly for LIVE
programming (i.e. Football). Source Nielsen Media Research.
Time Period Averages Only. [p] = Premiere; [o] = Original; [r] =
Repeat CBS
10.7/16 Yes
Dear 7.6/12, Still Standing 8.4/13, Raymond 11.5/17, Two and a Half Men
10.9/16, CSI Miami 13.1/20 FOX 9.1/14 The
Littlest Groom (part 2 of 2) 6.2/9, Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance [finale]
12.3/18 NBC 7.4/11 Fear
Factor [90m] 8.5/13, Average Joe: Hawaii [90m] 6.3/10
ABC 6.0/9 ABC
Movie: The Fast and the Furious 5.1/8;Super Millionaire
7.9/12
WB 3.8/6 7th
Heaven 4.1/6, Everwood 3.5/5
UPN 2.6/4 The
Parkers 2.6/4, Eve 2.8/4, Girlfriends 2.6/4, Half and Half 2,4/3 A18-49
Fox 7.2/17, CBS and NBC 5.5/13, ABC 3.2/8, WB 2.0/5,
UPN 1.6/4
A MESSAGE FROM
WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION
COLD
CASE
THE SEASON'S #1 NEW DRAMA!
Top 10 Primetime Drama for 14 out of 15
telecasts
Ranking as High as #2, second only to CSI!
COLD CASE Available exclusively from
Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution
Source: NTI Explorer, 9/22/03-2/22/04. Sun,
8p-9p. Excludes specials. #2 rank week of 11/24/03. US HH
rating.
The
History ChannelpresentsThis Day in History: 1965 - Heavyweight boxing champion Sonny Liston
throws in the towel after seven rounds, yielding the world title to
22-year-old Cassius Clay. After the fight, the new champion announced
publicly that he was member of the Nation of Islam, and in March he
changed his name to Muhammad Ali.
Answer to yesterday's Trivia
Question:What is an Evening Shade Argus?
The LOCAL NEWSPAPER in Evening Shade. Kudos to: Jim
Mason-Comcast Spotlight/Philadelphia; Reshma Shah-Univision
Telefutura/NY; Christina Famy-Mount Snow Resort/Mt Snow; George
Gerritsen-UniWorld Group/NY; Mike Wang-KSHB/Kansas City; Joelle
Bower-Discovery Comm/Chicago; Marcia Ruggio-RW Lynch Agency/San Ramon;
Amani K. Smith-Urbanscore Music/LA; Lloyd Komesar-Buena Vista
Television/LA; Patrick Clark-G4 Network/LA; Mary Ann Spinella-YES
TV5/Anchorage; and Peter Koll-Global Television/Toronto.
Reminder -- You can only appear in the Kudos list once during the
week!
A MESSAGE FROM 20TH
TELEVISION
DIRECTV
Ad Sales Available exclusively from 20th
Television
Starting March 1,
2004 Contact Bob Riordan
212-556-8534
Today's Trivia Question:
Bob Johnson had this unnamed role during the show's 1966-73 run on CBS,
and again later when the show made a comeback in 1988-90. His voice
began each episode, and without it, there was no plot (tho some would
argue there still was no plot), no target, no cool stuff, no
intrigue. What was this show?
(
to respond to the trivia question and please be sure to
include with your answer your name, company, city and time zone.
Only the second four correct responses from each time zone will be listed
in tomorrow's kudo list.)
Later -- Cyn
Cynthia Turner's Cynopsis
02/25/04 5:24am
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Copyright Cynthia Turner 2004
CYNOPSIS CLASSIFIEDS JOB
OPENING:DIRECTOR/CORP.
COMM., Nickelodeon/NY. 5 yrs PR exp
dev./managing comm./media relations for Nick’s pro-social, public
affairs, news, educ., corp. & research efforts to TV
trade/educ/consumer media.
www.mtvncareers.com(3/3)
JOB
OPENING:DIRECTOR, VH1/CMT
RESEARCH, New York. 9+ years exp in
qualitative & quantitative market research. Excellent
communication/presentation skills. Proven analytical skills/strategic
thinking ability.
www.mtvncareers.com
(3/3)
JOB
OPENING:AD SALES RESEARCH
ANALYST/ Galavision/ NY: 2-3 yrs
experience; Proficient Knowledge of National Nielsen products; strong
analytical skills required. Email
~ specify research (3/3)
JOB
OPENING:L.A.
Based veteran distribution company seeks a
GENERAL OFFICE
MGR.Self motivated & extremely
organized a must. Do basic office, phones, filing, mass mailings, book
and manage tape inventory. Prefer MAC experience. E-mail resume to
,
subject CYN-024. (3/2)
JOB
OPENING:AD SALES
ASST, Galavision cable net/NY.
College grad, self-starter, detail oriented, org. skills, able to
multitask. Exc. PC skills req. (Excel, Pwrpnt). Bilingual- Spanish
pref. Email:
(2/28)
JOB
OPENING:RESEARCH PROJECT
MANAGER, TNT, New York. 4-6
yrs ad sales rsch exp needed; develop presentations & special
projects; exp in Nielsen national systems required; apply to
www.turner.com
req # 19832BR (2/28)
JOB
OPENING:SR RESEARCH
ANALYST, CARTOON NETWORK/KIDS WB/ADULT
SWIM, New York Ad Sales. Strong analytical/writing skills. Nielsen
software experience. 2 yrs exp as rsch analyst req'd. Apply to:
www.turnerjobs.com
req #20288 BR (2/27)
JOB
OPENING:NYAsian TV Network seeking articulate,
motivated AD SALES
PROFESSIONAL with exp. working
with/for Asian Ad Agencies. Mainstream advertising experience a plus.
Please send resume to
(2/26)
JOB
OPENING:AD SLS RESEARCH MGR/Discovery
Nets-NY: 6+yrs exp in research at Cbl/Bdcst net. Exp w/all Nielsen
systems, MRI, MMR and solid comm/analytical skills req. Prior mgrl exp a
must. Apply:
(2/26)
INTERNSHIPS -
SCHOOL CREDIT
ONLY:Evolution Film & Tape/LA.
PRODUCTION
INTERN and
CASTING INTERN
needed. Hard worker, punctual,
organized, able to multitask, and handle fast paced environment. Email
resume to:
(2/28)
SITUATION WANTED
ADS, POSTED BY THOSE LOOKING TO BE
HIRED --
SITUATION
WANTED:
PRODUCER/DEVELOPMENT
EXEC - LA. Seasoned vet in
biography and reality genres looking for new opportunities to create good
TV. I think TV should enlighten not dumb down! Please contact
(3/2)
SITUATION
WANTED:
SENIOR
MARKETER in Denver. 18 yrs
of Branding, Promotions, PR, and Advertising exp. in Entertainment,
Media, Consumer Product industries. Alliance Builder! Pls contact
(3/2)
SITUATION
WANTED:Seasoned
WRITER/PRODUCER/FIELD
DIRECTOR. LA based. Credits
include: entertainment; news; talk; documentary; reality. Willing to
travel. Two-time Emmy nominee.
(3/2)
SITUATION
WANTED:NY/LA,
TV DEVELOPMENT/CASTING
DIR., Kid & Tweens TV.
Have 15 yrs exp. Excellent organizational, interpersonal and
communication skills (Very energetic & enthusiastic). Email:
(2/28)
SITUATION
WANTED:ENTRY-LEVEL/PA
(LA) Looking for any type of entry
level job for TV or Film.
(2/27)
SITUATION
WANTED:ON AIR
WRITER/PRODUCER N.Y. - based.
Desire work promoting Family oriented ; Christian friendly
programming. 12+ yrs branding & commercial exp. Pls. Contact: Anna
718 398 0731 (2/27)
E-mail
for rates and specs for Job
Openings. Your ad will be read by 63,760+
Cynopsis & Cynopsis Kids! readers every day. No wonder
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WHAT'S ON
TONIGHT: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2004
INVESTIGATE
COURT TV'S ADVERTISING ENVIRONMENT
COURT TV'S A25-54
VIEWERS ARE "FAR ABOVE AVERAGE" FOR TV INVOLVEMENT
RANK #1 AMONG CABLE NETWORKS
Court TV The
Investigation Channel Source: 2003 Simmons Spring
Full Year Study. Indexed to Total US. Networks with 50+MM
subs included.
COURT
TV:The
Take: The Trenchcoat Gang, Forensic Files, Psychic Detectives, Dominick
Dunne
ABC My
Wife & Kids, It's All Relative, The Bachelorette [finale] CBS 60
Minutes, King of Queens, Raymond [r], 48 Hours Investigates
FOX That
70's Show, American Idol, The O.C.
NBC The
Apprentice [r], West Wing, Law & Order
PAX AFV,
Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN Enterprise,
Top Model [r]
WB Smallville,
Angel
TELE Amor
Descardo,El Alma Herida, Mujeres Apasionadas
UNIV Velo
de Novia, Bajo la Misma Piel, Don Francisco Presenta
