12/21/18: USA leads cable TV in viewers

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM MSNBC

2018 IS MSNBC’S BEST YEAR EVER – FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW.

MSNBC BEATS CNN BY RECORD AMOUNT.

And, MSNBC is the only cable news network to grow year-over-year in 2018.

Thanks to our viewers for recognizing the sharp journalism, clear context, and insightful analysis

delivered by a remarkable team of journalists in an unprecedented era of news.

MSNBC

This is who we are.

Source: Nielsen; 1/1/18-12/12/18, P2+, M-Su 6A-6A

CYNOPSIS

Good morning. It’s Friday December 21, 2018 and this is your first early-morning briefing. Cynopsis will not be publishing next week. Our next edition will be published on Wednesday, January 2, 2019. Happy Holidays!

Tonight’s Premieres:

Lifetime: A Christmas Kiss at 8p

Showtime: American Dream/American Knightmare at 8:30p

PBS: Craft in America at 9p

CBS: A Home for the Holidays: The 20th Anniversary at 8p

Lifetime Movie: Web of Lies at 8p

Tonight’s Finale:

Discovery: Master of Arms at 10p

December 22 Premieres:

Great American Country: Texas Flip ’N Move at 8p

Hallmark: Jingle Around the Clock at 8p

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries: Small Town Christmas at 9p

December 22 Finales:

DIY: First Time Flippers at 9p

ID: Killer Unknown at 10p

December 23 Premieres:

Hallmark: Christmas Made to Order at 8p

Lifetime: 3 Holiday Tails at 8p

ABC: The Year: 2018 at 9p

December 23 Finales:

Smithsonian Channel: America in Color: Hollywood’s Golden Age at 8p

ID: Deadly Legacy at 10p

HBO: Sally4Ever at 10:30p

December 25 Premieres:

Hallmark: When Calls the Heart at 8p

December 26 Premieres:

CBS: The 41^st Annual Kennedy Center Honors at 8p

IFC: Fleabag at 11p

December 27 Premiere:

Lifetime: Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey at 8p

December 27 Finale:

Pop: IMPACT Wrestling at 10p

December 28 Premieres:

Lifetime Movie: The Wrong Teacher at 8p

WE tv: Extreme Love at 10p

December 28 Finales:

Syfy: Z Nation at 9p

Syfy: Van Helsing at 10p

December 29 Premieres:

Hallmark: A Midnight Kiss at 8p

Lifetime: Killer Vacation at 8p

Lifetime Movie: Nightmare Best Friend at 8p

ID: Deadly Deception at 9p

ID: Gypsy’s Revenge at 10p

Lifetime Movie: Psycho Prom Queen at 10p

Hallmark: 2019 Hallmark Channel Winterfest Preview Show at 10p

December 30 Premieres:

ABC: The Orville at 8p

Lifetime Movie: Killer Body at 8p

ID: The Lake Erie Murders: Who Killed Amy Mihaljevic? at 9

December 30 Finales:

Food: Martina’s Table at 12p

Showtime: Escape at Dannemora at 10p

IN THE NEWS

USA Network continues to dominate cable TV as the most-watched ad-supported network (non-news/non-sports), according to Nielsen. The network has been No. 1 for 13 years and is second among 18-49-year-olds for the second straight year, though at 1.48M viewers it saw a 9% drop from last year. Next in line is HGTV (1.45M/-5% drop); TBS (1.32M/-9% drop); TNT (1.26M/0% change); and History (1.21M/-7% drop). Only 23% of ad-supported entertainment cable networks avoided a drop.

The Producers Guild of America will give the 2019 Stanley Kramer Award to Grace & Frankie actress Jane Fonda at its 30^th annual PGA Awards at the Beverly Hilton on January 19. The award is designed to honor a production, producer or individual whose achievement or contribution illuminates or raises public awareness of social issues. Two-time Oscar-winner Fonda is being honored for her life of activism and philanthropic work.

Entertainment industry writer/actor Mike White (School of Rock, The Good Girl, Dawson’s Creek, Freaks and Geeks, Enlightened) was the runner-up in Survivor’s 37^th season, which ended Wednesday night. He was in the final three with Nick Wilson and Angelina Keeley, but Wilson wound up as the final survivor.

Marisa Tomei and Amber Tamblyn numbered among a group of actresses and activists who wore Time’s Up T-shirts at a pretrial hearing yesterday in New York Supreme Court for movie producer Harvey Weinstein. In a tweet later, Tamblyn, former star of Joan of Arcadia, wrote, “It is a small victory…. We’ll be there again on March 7 and look forward to seeing him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

In 2018, a show that last aired 14 years ago was the most-binge-watched program of the year: Friends, according to a new TV Time study. The show is currently available on Netflix, which reportedly paid $100 million to keep all seasons available to customers. The top five most-binged shows continued with ABC‘s Grey’s Anatomy; Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why; the Spanish-language series from Antena 3 (and picked up by Netflix) La Casa de Papel (Money Heist); and The CW’s Riverdale. A binge session, according to TV Time, involves a user watching at least four episodes of a show within a 24-hour period.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

The 8^th Annual Cynopsis Sports Media Awards

[ENTER BY 1/25]

Entries are now open for the 8th Annual Cynopsis Sports Media Awards. This awards program is dedicated to celebrating the work of talented producers, hosts, sponsors and executives alike, and saluting the initiatives that drove audiences and turned sports viewers into fans over the past year. The best and brightest will be gathering on April 25th in NYC to watch as winners are announced, and the best of the best are celebrated in style, so save the date!

GET STARTED!

PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Fox has ordered a pilot for Filthy Rich, a soap-opera-like drama from The Help writer/director Tate Taylor, along with Imagine Television and 20^th Century Fox TV. This is the fourth early-pilot order for 20^th TV; other orders include Surveillance, an NYPD Blue sequel and Happy Accident.

Anonymous Content has paired with Red Arrow Studios International and Air Force One producer Charlie Lyons to adapt Joanne Lipman’s book That’s What She Said: What Men Need to Know (and Women Need to Tell Them) About Working Together into a TV series.

Freeform has purchased Scare Club as a potential special event series from Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments’ Matt Hastings, who will write the first two hours of the six-part series as part of the network’s Halloween block.

Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker has signed an overall deal with Amazon Studios, along with Coker’s Fighting 99^th Entertainment company, to produce and develop new series.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Showtime has renewed the Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight-starring Ray Donovan for a seventh season, with production to begin in spring 2019.

Netflix released first-look images of the fourth and final season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which will begin streaming on January 25.

Howie Mandel’s first stand-up special in two decades will air on Showtime on January 18: Howie Mandel at the Howie Mandel Comedy Club.

CASTING

Ken Jeong will guest-star on the midseason return of ABC’s The Kids Are Alright on January 8.

Tony Award-winner Katrina Lenk (The Band’s Visit) is set to recur on the NBC series The Village, which will follow the residents of a Brooklyn apartment building.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom actress Daniella Pineda has booked a regular role on Netflix’s What/If, an anthology drama starring Renee Zellweger.

Netflix ice-skating drama series Spinning Out has been casting out and landed two-time Olympian and NBC correspondent Johnny Weir. Other cast members include Evan Roderick, Sarah Wright Olsen, Will Kemp, Amanda Zhou, Mitchell Edwards and Kaitlyn Leeb.

MEASUREMENT & DATA

Amid rumors that CBS may drop the Nielsen ratings provider when its contract comes to an end, Hearst Television has reupped with a multiyear contract to provide ratings for local TV and radio stations. Hearst will use a range of new Nielsen software and data tools and the deal covers the company’s 30 TV stations in 26 markets as well as two Baltimore radio stations.

SYNDICATION

Comedy Central has acquired Parks and Recreation from NBCUniversal Distribution. The show is scheduled to make its network debut with an all-day marathon on January 21.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

The UK Screen Alliance, the trade body that represents the UK VFX, post-production and animation industries, says the proposed Brexit Immigration Bill will be “disastrous” to the industry. It will “severely limit the VFX and animation industries’ access to the international talent it needs to succeed and continue to grow,” the body said in a statement, referring to the large number of workers in those industries who come from the European Union and who would be impacted by expensive visas and minimum salary thresholds.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Congratulations to the 2019 Cynopsis Rising Stars

To be honored at the Cynopsis TV Awards on February 6^th in NYC

The experience of these young superstars spans research, sports, digital, content and marketing – join us in congratulating them for jobs well done and register your team for the TV Awards celebration, which will include a spotlight on this year’s Cynopsis Rising Star Honorees. Be there for the industry’s ultimate gathering as we celebrate these talented finalists and honorees on jobs well done!

**REGISTER YOUR TEAM**

RATINGS

SHAREABLEE SOCIAL TV RATINGS: Top U.S. Primetime TV Shows Overall by Engagement for the week of December 10, 2018

Program, VPI, Video Action, Video Views, Total Actions

Riverdale (The CW) 2,699, 4.9M, 727K, 8.6M

Supernatural (The CW) 604, 290K, 1.2M, 290K

Jersey Shore (MTV) 390, 270K, 3.1M, 398K

Vikings (History) 351, 262K, 220K, 528K

Legacies (The CW) 220, 505K, 216K, 727K

Arrow (The CW) 161, 508K, 2.2M, 841K

Ridiculousness (MTV) 156, 108K, 5.8M, 109K

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (The CW) 138, 147K, 584K, 272K

E! News (E!) 129, 317K, 484K, 7.5M

The Voice (NBC) 125, 582K, 18.8M, 1.2M

Based on Total Actions (reactions, comments, shares and retweets)

Source: Shareablee Inc. Based on Shareablee’s Video Power Index (VPI), which combines viewing, consumer interactions and audience scale across all active platforms and includes the video performance of primetime TV shows.

Live + Same Day Viewers AA (millions) Wednesday, December 19, 2018, time period averages

Source: NTI, Galaxy as dated Live+SD

NBC: 2.76 million

Pentatonix: A Not So Silent Night 3.17, Darci Lynne: My Hometown Christmas 2.70, Ellen’s Game of Games 2.41

FOX: 1.63 million

Empire 1.83, Star 1.43

ABC: 2.56 million

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure 3.7, Shrek the Halls 3.19, Modern Family 2.76, Single Parents 2.09, The Goldbergs 1.91, American Housewife 1.74

CBS: 6.93 million

Survivor 7.72, Survivor: Reunion Special 6.15

Univision: 0.87 million

Jesús 0.87, Mi Marido Tiene Más Familia 0.89, Amar a Muerte 0.85

TELE: 0.73 million

La Sultana 0.8, Falsa Identidad 0.7, Senora Acero 0.7

CW: 1.8 million

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer 1.08, Penn & Teller: Fool Us 0.92

Wednesday A18-49: CBS 1.4/6, ABC 0.6/3, NBC 0.5/2, FOX 0.5/2, TELE 0.3/2, UNI 0.4/2, CW 0.2/1

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Anna Mallett has been appointed chief executive of British news producer ITN, which is also behind Netflix’s documentary series Drug Lords. She is currently the group COO and MD, Production at the production arm of BBC Studios.

Netflix VP of original series publicity Karen Barragan has joined Blumhouse Productions, replacing the exiting Teri Everett, and will take over as head of marketing and communications.

Josh Wakely‘s production company Grace: A Storytelling Company hired Alaric McAusland as COO and head of studio and production. He’s known for his work as an executive producer and co-producer on projects like Truth and Storm Surfers 3D.

The City, a start-up nonprofit digital local news outlet, has hired journalists Hasani Gittens, Rosa Goldensohn, Terry Parris Jr., Greg B. Smith and Rachel Holliday Smith. They will cover New York City.

Endemol Shine Finland has appointed Unne Sormunen as managing director. Sormunen had previously worked at Finnish broadcaster Nelonen Media.

At Showtime, Christine Sanzillo has been promoted to SVP, digital research and consumer intelligence; she has been with the network since 2005. And Josh McNutt has been upped to SVP, data strategy after joining the company two years ago to form the first data science practice at Showtime.

Marketing consulting firm Kantar has upped James Brooks from global operations director with Kantar Worldpanel to the newly created chief operations officer position, and Scott Carter has been promoted to the role of chief HR officer. They also will both join the Kantar board.

Friday Fun Fact: The first printed reference to a Christmas tree was in 1531 in Germany

This Day in History: 1957 – Elvis Presley was spending the Christmas holidays at Graceland when he received his draft notice for the United States Army. He was sworn in as a private the following March and was discharged in 1960, having attained the rank of sergeant.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question: What was the first cable series to win an Emmy for outstanding comedy series? ANSWER: Sex & the City. Kudos to: Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA; Ken DuBow-Bob’s Your Uncle/LA; Maddie Morris-Tonight Show/NY; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/LA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Cristy Miller-HBO/NY; Ted Linhart-NBC Universal/NY; Liz Healy-BVA-BDRC/London

Oops! Kudos didn’t make it into yesterday’s edition, in which we learned the answer to just how much Lucy, from Peanuts, charged for her psychiatric services in A Charlie Brown Christmas, which was 5 cents (her going rate). Belated kudos to: John W. Burshtan-Water Planet Productions/Denver, CO; John Kukla-Fox4More/Dallas-Fort Worth, TX; Alan Dorfman-Super Impulse USA/Bristol, PA; Elizabeth Walker-NBC News Peacock Productions/NY; DeAngela Napier-Aspire TV/Atlanta, GA; Greg Stewart/LA; Todd Galloway-WXIX/WAVE/Cincinnati, OH; Julie Stowell-Gracenote/Queensbury, NY; Dan Whitford-WTTW/Chicago, IL; Tori Gallarello-Alcock-Little Roosters, Inc/NY; Ed Casey-LR Studio/Summit, NJ; Karyn Hecht-Trifecta Entertainment & Media/NY; Larry Kahn-Golf Channel/Orlando, FL; Marni C. Gold/Saddle Brook, NJ; Randy Ingram-WISH-TV/WNDY-TV/Indianapolis, IN; Keith Marder-Halstead Real Estate/NY; Rick Dascher-Turner Studios/Atlanta, GA; Claire Hambrick-A&E Networks/NY; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX; Mark Wajada/Leesburg, FL; Sally Bialeck-Miramax/LA; Dan Birman-Daniel H. Birman Productions/LA; Phyllis McQuillan-MSG Networks/NY; Tony Reyes-Shadow Machine/Hollywood, CA; Delaney Mazen/NY; Ken Nice-TeamPeople/Falls Church, VA

Today’s Trivia Question: In the 1966 animated TV short How the Grinch Stole Christmas, who sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: A limit of four correct answers from each time zone will be selected.)

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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT – FRIDAY DECEMBER 21
ABC: I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown!, The Great Christmas Light Fight, 20/20
CBS: A Home for the Holidays: the 20 th Anniversary, Hawaii-Five-0, Blue Bloods
FOX: Last Man Standing, The Cool Kids, Hell’ s Kitchen
NBC: Midnight, Texas, America’ s Got Talent, Dateline NBC
PBS: Washington Week, Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, Craft in America
CW: Dynasty, Penn & Teller: Fool Us
Telemundo: Red, Falsa Identidad, Se ñ ora Acero
Univision: Jesús, Mi Marido Tiene Más Familia, Amar a Muerte

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