Good morning. It's
Thursday, February 19, 2003,
and this is your first early morning
briefing.
On the back of American Idol, Fox again wins Tuesday night
among A18-49 posting an overall 7.6/19 according to
Nielsen Media Research. NBC was second for the evening with
a 5.0/13, followed by ABC 3.4/9, CBS 3.0/7, UPN 2.3/6, WB 1.9/5. At
8pm American Idol delivered a 10.8/28 A18-49 rating (13.1/34 among
W18-34), nearly tripling the #2 show for the hour, the first 60m of NBC's
Fear Factor (4.0/10). The 9pm hour was quite competitive with the
final 22 minutes of Fear Factor on NBC, combined with a supersized Scrubs
(922-10p) posting a 4.8/12. Tied behind NBC was Fox's 24 with a
4.4/11 and ABC's sitcom hour also with a 4.4/11. CBS and UPN tied, each
with a 7 share, WB a 6 share. On UPN America's Next Top Model led
the Teen demo with a 4.0/12, as well as the W18-34 category with a
5.3/13, as well as the W12-17 with a 6.1/18. At 10p NBC's Law &
Order SVU pulled a 6.2/16, well ahead of ABC's NYPD Blue (3.5/9) and
Judging Amy on CBS (3.2/8).
The second cycle of King World's Everybody Loves Raymond, is
especially loved by the Fox O&Os in NY, LA, Chicago, Houston, and
Dallas, more so than the incumbent Tribune owned stations in those
markets. With the move from the Tribune to the Fox stations, comes
a reported hefty price hike of double the original cycle licensing
fees. Several sources site the per ep fee in the NY and LA markets
for the second cycle to run around $250-$300k per ep; the national per ep
fee up to approx $2.2 million. Cycle #2 for Raymond begins in March
2008 with about 194 eps.
New in Development and Casting:
HBO has added Ciaran Hinds to the cast of its 12 episode
series Rome set in 51 B.C. which follows the story of two Roman soldiers
and their families. Hinds will play Caesar, to Lindsay Duncan's Servilia,
Caesar's mistress.
ABC's drama pilot Countdown, now titled 43 Minutes
(Touchstone, Vertikal, Fremantle), has cast Jason O'Mara in the lead
role. The show follows the final 43 minutes of a crisis as handled by a
S.W.A.T. team. In another drama pilot titled 111 Grammercy Park
(Warner Bros. TV, Tannenbaum Co.) about three nannies and the high rise
families they work for, Paul Blackthorne has joined the cast.
CBS' pilot drama The Webster Report (CBS Prods, Warner Bros.
TV, 25c Prods) has added Kari Matchett to the cast, joining Stanley
Tucci.
NBC has ordered a pilot for Beverly Hills SUV (NBC Studios), a
workplace sitcom set in a car lot in, you guess it, Beverly Hills.
Larry Wilmore will exec prod. In casting news, joining Patricia
Arquette in NBC's drama pilot Medium (Paramount, Grammnet, Picturemaker)
are Miguel Sandoval and Jake Weber as Arquette's husband. Elsewhere at
NBC, joining the cast of the as yet untitled Jason Horwitch Project
(Paramount, NBC Studios, Landscape) which focuses of a man who unravels
medical mysteries, is Christopher Gorham. Neal McDonough has already been
cast in this pilot. Billy Gardell has been added to the cast of
NBC's sitcom pilot The Friendly's (NBC Studios).
Fox's blended family dramedy pilot, One Big Happy (20th) has
added D.W. Moffett and Noelle Beck to the cast as the parents and
Katherine Lanesa as one of the kids,, joining A.J. Trauth, Josh Henderson
and Kaylee Defer. And Sara Paxton has joined the cast of Mr. Ed
(20th, Original) as the Post's teenage daughter. Nikki Deloach has
been added to the serial drama Oahu (20th).
UPN's Kevin Hill, sitcom pilot about a young single
guy-about-town who suddenly finds himself the caregiver of his infant
niece, has cast John Seda in the pilot, opposite Taye Diggs who plays
Kevin Hill. Also at UPN, the net has greenlit a pilot for Second
Time Around (Paramount, B and C Prods) about a divorced couple who decide
to give their marriage another go. Leading that cast are Boris
Kodjoe and Nicole Ari Parker.
You often hear of new cable networks launching, but rarely of them
closing shop and disappearing. According to today's New York
Times, The Football Channel (not to be confused with the
popular NFL Network) will likely throw in the white towel. It launched
last September with Pat Summerall as its primary face of the network,
though found cable carriage difficult. By December it was back off
the air, the majority of its 75 employees let go, and while it is now
looking for at least $15 million in investment dollars, the outlook is
bleak at best.
Coming to Discovery Times Channel beginning February 24 is the
first of six episodes of Staffers, a series which focuses on the
men and the women behind the candidates on the campaign trail. The
first episode takes and up close and personal stance on Clark's body guy
Amad Jackson; Dean's Deputy Press Secretary Sandra Abrevaya; and Joe
Lieberman's Deputy Political Director Chris Lavery.
Comedy Central has added two other series to its group of
premieres this year, in addition to OddTodd mentioned here
yesterday. One is a UK sketch comedy show (think Monty Python)
called Hollow Men. The second is a series spoofing
traditional topical debate shows called Crossballs. Hosting
this show is comedian Chris Tallman.
NBC's Today is taking a page from The Apprentice with its early
morning reality game, The Intern. On Friday the show will
introduce 8 interns who have come from all over the country, with four
eventually winning a spot on the Today team going on special
assignment. The other four will return to their regular interning
duties within NBC. The Intern will follow a similar format to The
Apprentice, and by the conclusion of the week, four will have been
'dismissed'.
TNT's NBA All Star Game led many of the adult and HH ratings
charts for basic cable for the week of February 9-15. Among total
viewers, the Sunday night 8:56-1129p game delivered 8.190 million
viewers; 4.586m A18-49, 2.535m among A18-34 and 4.348million among
A25-54.
Top Ten Basic Cable Ad Supported Network Rankings among
Total Viewers for
the week of Feb 9-15,
2004: Primetime
(000) Total
Day
(000) USA
3151
NICK/NAN1803
TNT
2727
TNT
1402
NICK/NAN
2251
USA
1204
CARTOON
1672
CARTOON
1125
TBS
1638
LIFETIME
999
LIFETIME
1565
TBS
958
FOXNEWS
1321
FOXNEWS
802
SCIFI
1241
HISTORY
656
DISCOVERY 1236 ABC
FAMILY
639
HISTORY
1209
TLC
626 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 9-15, 2004: Primetime
(000) Total
Day
(000) TNT
1415
TNT
752
USA
1286
TBS
580
TBS
808
USA
558
DISCOVERY 712
NICK/NAN
531
TLC
657
LIFETIME
459
SPIKE
649
TLC
370
LIFETIME
610
DISCOVERY 351
NICK/NAN
557
ESPN
335
SCIFI
547
FX
330
MTV
533
SPIKE
330 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 9-15,
2004in Total
Viewers
Total Day Total Fox News/CNN/MSNBC/Headline Cable News Viewers
1.664 (000) Total Viewers. (-5% vs. previous week). Of the cable news
viewership, Fox News had 48% of the viewing, CNN 27%, MSNBC 14%; and
Headline News 11% Primetime Total Fox News/CNN/MSNBC/Headline Cable News
Viewers 2.560 (0000) Total Viewers (-8 vs. previous week). Of the
primetime cable news viewership, Fox News had 51%, CNN 28%, MSNBC 12% and
Headline News 8%. Source Nielsen Media Research
Reality Central, overseen by Kay Koplovitz as Chairman, and
Larry Namer, Pres/CEO, has announced its first carriage deal with
Insight Communications in a deal that includes Reality Central's
exclusive broadband cable modem interactive feed, an exclusive VOD daily
feed of reality news and gossip, original wireless and PVR content.
Insight reaches 1.4 million households in Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana and
Ohio. Reality Central is set to launch with its 24/7 feed later on
this year.
Museum of Television & Radio has found its new President,
Stuart Brotman, a media consultant from Massachusetts. Brotman
steps in following the July 2003 death of Robert Batscha who served as
President for 22 years. Brotman joins MT&R on March
1.
A coup for cable network Fuse -- Robert Weiss,
VP/Programming and Development at VH1 will leave that post to become
head of programming for cabler Fuse, overseeing programming
strategies and content. Weiss will report to net honcho, Marc
Juris.
Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc., announced the upping of Ryan
O'Hara to COO of its TVG Network from SVP/Business
Development an Strategic Planning, effective immediately. Ryan is
based in LA and continue to report to Jef Shell, CEO. Gemstar is
still in search of a President for TV Guide Network.
Thomas Free has been appointed to the newly-created position of
VP/Programming and Scheduling for World Picks, the provider
of in-language, international on-demand programming services and
international programming networks. Tom will be responsible for the
acquisition of programming and oversight of scheduling strategies and
implementation for World Picks services, by identifying target
international networks, negotiating and executing a representation
agreement with each, and maintaining the relationship over the course of
the contracts. Tom reports to Harold Gronenthal, VP/Programming and
Production for World Picks and IFC Digital Media.
As Paramount's Judge Joe Brown exec prod Frank Kelly decides to focus his
attention on his overall deal with Paramount Television, John
Terenzio steps up and is named the new EP of Judge Joe
Brown. The announcement was made by Greg Meidel,
President/Programming for the Division.
Barbara Griffin has been upped to SVP/Turner Broadcasting
System, Inc. Image Management group. The announcement was made by
Kelly Regal, EVP/HR and Corporate Communications, TBS, Inc. Barbara
will oversee the company's in-house creative unit charged with supporting
the photographic needs of the Turner Broadcasting marketing and public
relations functions, as well as TBS, Inc. and Time Warner corporate
initiatives.
RaMona Clay Alexander has been named as VP/General Sales
Manager at Fox O&O WTXF/Philadelphia. The
announcement was made by Bob Simone, VP/GM, and RaMona will join the
station in March. She will oversee all business and administrative
functions of the WTXF sales department. RaMona makes the move to
Philadelphia from WHBQ/Memphis, where she was also the
VP/GSM.
Tuesday, February 17, 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 FOX 10.4/16American
Idol 14.4/22, 24 6.4/10
CBS
8.4/13Navy
NCIS 8.5/13, The Guardian 7.7/12, Judging Amy 8.8/14
NBC 7.1/11Fear
Factor (8-922p) 6.0/9 from 8-930p, Scrubs (922-10p) 5.3/8 from
930-10p,Law & Order: SVU 9.6/16 ABC 6.1/9 8
Simple Rules 5.7/9, I'm with Her 4.6/7, According to Jim 7.2/11, Less
than Perfect 6.4/10, NYPD Blue 6.5/11
UPN 3.4/5 One
on One 2.4/4, All of Us 2.6/4, Top Model 4.2/6
WB 3.3/5 Gilmore
Girls 3.6/5, One Tree Hill 3.0/4 A18-49
Fox 7.6/19, NBC 5.0/13, ABC 3.4/9, CBS 3.0/7, UPN
2.3/6, WB 1.9/5
A MESSAGE FROM
WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION
COLD
CASE THE SEASON'S #1 NEW DRAMA!
Primetime's #1 Program for the night!
Top 5 Drama for the week!
COLD CASE Available exclusively from
Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution
Source: NTI Explorer, 02/15/04 or as
noted. Sunday 8-9p. US Rating. All ranks based on
persons 2+. Excludes sports and specials.
The
History ChannelpresentsThis Day in History: 1940 - Smokey Robinson is born in Detroit.
Answer to yesterday's Trivia
Question:On what series could you
potentially run into the Devil's Hole Gang, or what was left of it?
ALIAS SMITH & JONES, the gang to which Hannibal Hayes and Kid
Curry once belonged. Kudos to: Paul Bodamer-WJW/Cleveland;
Joanne Milano-RJP/NY; Fay Yu-BBC Worldwide/NY; Eileen Lichtenfeld-The
Weather Channel/Atlanta; Robb Gray-Apex Media/Tucson; Eric
Merrill-GSD&M/Austin; Chuck Loomis-Starz/Englewood; Jennifer
Kemper-Cartoon Network and Kids WB/Chicago; Sharon Levi-Anaheim Hills;
Deborah Arakelian-Axium Int'l/LA; Kevin Davis-Premier Retail Networks/LA;
Amber Bickham-Creative Light Ent/Beverly Hills.
Today's Trivia Question:
What happens if you take Absorbitron?
(
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
02/19/04 5:28am
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WHAT'S ON
TONIGHT: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004
INVESTIGATE
COURT TV'S ADVERTISING ENVIRONMENT
OUR A18-49 VIEWERS PAY
FULL ATTENTION TO TV PROGRAMS
RANK #4 AMONG CABLE NETWORKS
COURT TV The
Investigation Channel Source: 2003 MRI Doublebase. Indexed to
Total US. Includes "Full Attention" to all TV prog available.
Nets with 50+MM subs included.
COURT
TV:Hollywood
Justice, Hollywood at Large, Forensic Files, Body of Evidence, The
Investigators
ABC The
Bachelorette: Men Tell All (OTO), Extreme Makeover, Primetime
Thursday
CBS Survivor
All Stars, CSI, Without a Trace
FOX Movie:
Planet of the Apes NBC Friends,
Will & Grace, The Apprentice, ER
PAX AFV,
Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN WWE
Smackdown
WB Steve
Harvey, All About the Andersons, The Surreal Life
TELE Amor
Descardo,El Alma Herida, Mujeres Apasionadas
UNIV Velo
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A MESSAGE FROM THE
HISTORY CHANNEL
BE
A LOCAL HERO…IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE
SAVE OUR
HISTORYis on a mission to help communities
preserve local historical sites. Play a major role through tools and
guidance provided byTHE HISTORY
CHANNEL. Make a positive difference in your
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