A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM HISTORY®

Cynopsis
07.23.12

Good morning. It's Monday, July 23, 2012, and this is your first early morning briefing.

Tonight's Premieres:
ABC: Bachelor Pad at 8p
Mxy TV: Voltron at 8p
USA Network: WWE Monday Night Raw (and 1,000th episode) at 8p
Syfy: Warehouse 13 at 9p; Alphas at 10p
Logo: In the Big House at 10p
Oxygen: I'm Having Their Baby at 11p

Tonight's Finales:
NBC: American Ninja Warrior at 8p
nuvoTV: Model Latina: South Beach at 10p

Over the weekend, PBS' session of the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Beverly Hills revealed some future programming nuggets:

• The Roosevelts: An Intimate History is a new seven-part documentary spanning 14 hours by Ken Burns slated to premiere in 2014.  The documentary will relate the biographies of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and this series marks the first time their individual stories have been merged into a single narrative.  Meryl Street will provide the voice of Eleanor Roosevelt in reading her personal letters and writings while Paul Giamatti will be the voice of Theodore Roosevelt and Edward Herrmann will be the voice of FDR.  Other voice talent includes Patricia Clarkson, Adam Arkin, Philip Bosco, Keith Carradine, Kevin Conway, Ed Harris, John Lithgow, Josh Lucas, Carl Lumbly, Amy Madigan, Carolyn McCormick, Pamela Reed, Billy Bob Thornton and Eli Wallach.   This documentary is a production of Florentine Films and WETA/Washington, DC. 
• NPR host of Wait, Wait. . . Don't Tell Me, Peter Sagal will journey across the US on a Harley Davidson to explore Constitution USA with Peter Sagal premiering in spring 2013.  The production will coincide with the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution and explore America's most revered and misunderstood document.  Constitution USA is produced by TPT National Productions in association with Insignia Films.
• PBS previewed season 3 of Downton Abbey which will cover roughly the first two years of the 1920s and creator/writer Julian Fellowes explained the season will be about the recovery after World War I.  Downton Abbey returns on PBS in the US on January 6. 

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network set the premiere date for Lovetown, USA on August 19 at 10p.  The series follows the results of a 30-day social experiment in Kingsland, Georgia where the residents of the town focus on building love in their community.  The town's efforts are led by two expert matchmakers, Paul Carrick Brunson and Kailen Rosenberg and the community experiment included members of the town from the mayor to grade school students.  Lovetown, USA is produced by BBC Worldwide Productions for OWN.

Thursday night, TBS debuted new sitcom Sullivan & Son at 10p which drew 2.5 million total viewers as well as 1.3 million with A18-49 and 612,000 among A18-34.  Directly following, a second new episode of Sullivan & Son tallied another 2.0 million viewers on average, 1.0 million with A18-49 and 456,000 with A18-34.  Sullivan & Sons is produced by Wild West Pictures Show Productions in association with Warner Horizon Television and airs on Thursdays at 10p on TBS.

Also on Thursday, HISTORY aired the season finale of Mountain Men which delivered an average of 3.6 million total viewers as well as 1.8 million A25-54 and 1.6 million A18-49 impressions.

Note: Box Office Estimates for this past weekend were not available from Rentrak.

From Cynopsis Media: There is still time to join your colleagues in NYC next month on August 9for the Cynopsis Sports Media Awards Breakfast! View finalists & register to attend: http://ow.ly/bObiI.

Following a long negotiation session on Thursday, DirecTV and Viacom announced Friday morning the two companies reached an agreement over programming fees which ended the nine-day blackout of Viacom's cable channels for DirecTV's subscribers.  Under the new agreement, Viacom-owned shows such as Jersey Shore will also become more accessible online through DirecTV's TV Everywhere platform.

 A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Reports are circulating Mariah Carey is close to inking a deal to become a judge on FOX's American Idol.  If Carey is signed, her salary reportedly could top $17 million for season 12 which is higher than what departing judge Jennifer Lopez made. 

Also for FOX, the network handed a put-pilot commitment to an adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, creators of Fringe.  The drama project will be a modern-day take on the famous 1820 short story where Ichabod Crane partners with the town's local female sheriff to bring peace to a besieged community.  Kurtzman and Orci will write the script with Phillip Iscove who created the concept.  Kurtzman and Orci will additionally serve as EPs along with Len Wiseman who is also on board to direct.  The project will be produced by Kurtzman and Orci's 20th Television-based K/O Paper Products with Heather Kadin also as an EP.

The CW's Hart of Dixie tapped Golden Brooks (Girlfriends) for a recurring role in season two playing Zoe Hart's new confidant.  Hart of Dixie is scheduled to premiere season two on October 2 at 8p.

Late last week, Lifetime ordered two drama pilots for 2013, The Secret Lives of Wives (wt) and Witches of East End.  The Secret Lives of Wives (wt) is based on the book by Iris Krasnow about the truth behind the marriages of four different women.  Jill Gordon penned the pilot and will also serve as EP with Dan Lin and Jennifer Gwartz; Krasnow will be a producer on the project.  Lin Pictures in association with Warner Horizon Television will produce.  Based on the novel by Melissa de la Cruz, Witches of East End centers on the adventures of a mother and her two adult daughters, who unbeknownst to them are their family's next generation of witches.  The threesome lead quiet, uneventful modern-day lives in a small town on Long Island though when one daughter becomes engaged to a young, wealthy newcomer, a series of events force the mother to admit to her daughters they are actually powerful, immortal witches.  Maggie Friedman will write and serve as EP on the project; Erwin Stoff of 3 Arts Entertainment will also be an EP.  Fox 21 is producing.

A new biography-style series, Country Love Story is in the works at CMT from producer Liz Gateley and her producer partner Tony DiSanto for DiGa Vision.  The series will highlight famous country music couples and the love songs they wrote for each other. 

FX's American Horror Story booked Clea Duvall (Carnivale) to appear in multiple episodes for season two, reports TVLine.  Details on her character have not been revealed though Duvall will be playing opposite co-star Sarah Paulson.  Production has begun on season two which is set in the 1960s at an East Coast asylum for the criminally insane run by Jessica Lange's character.

Cable channel USA Network signed Elisabeth Hower (MTV's I Just Want My Pants Back) for multiple episodes on Suits, per TVLine.  Hower will play Tess, a childhood friend of Mike's (Patrick J. Adams) who appears just when he needs her most.  Hower's first appearance will be the midseason finale of Suits on August 23.

 A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

CBS: 4.1/7              The Big Bang Theory [r] 5.6/10, Two and a Half Men [r] 4.7/8, Big Brother 14 3.7/6, Person of Interest [r] 3.4/6

Music industry veteran, Daryl Berg was promoted to VP/Music at Shine America.  In his new role, Daryl will spearhead Shine America's music strategy in addition to expanding the company's music portfolio by developing music-based productions and increasing licensing properties across scripted, unscripted and digital productions. 

 A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

 A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Later -- Cyn & Lisa
07.23.12

Cynthia Turner - Founder and Publisher / cynthia@cynopsis.com
Lisa Ball - Editor / lisa@cynopsis.com

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