CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

02/13/04

Good morning. It’s Friday the ….. it’s Friday, and this is your first early morning briefing. 

Fox again takes the night on Wednesday with an overall 6.6/17 A18-49 according to Nielsen Media Research.  ABC was #2 for the night with a 4.1/11, followed by NBC 3.9/10, CBS 3.5/9, WB 1.9/5, UPN 1.4/4.  At 8pm Fox began the evening with That 70’s Show averaging a 5.6/16 demo rating, with the 30m version of American Idol at 830p pulling a 10.4/27 (12.5/35 W18-34).  Combined Fox earned an 8.1/22 for the hour, ahead of #2 ABC 3.0/8 and NBC 2.8/8. CBS was close with a 7 share.  At 9p ABC led with a 5.2/12 for The Bachelorette, quickly followed by Fox’s The O.C. 5.0/12. CBS’ combo of back to back King of Queens drew a 4.3/10 for the hour. At 10p NBC led with Law & Order’s 5.5/14; ABC’s Celeb Mole earned a 4.3/11, and CBS’ 48 Hours followed with a 3.4/9.

As is tradition this time of year, CBS’ Survivor will get two Wednesday night airings during the upcoming March Madness NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. This year’s dates fall on Wednesday, March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day) and Wednesday, March 24. Survivor returns to Thursdays on April 1 (April Fool’s Day).

In Development/Casting:

• ABC ordered up six sitcom pilots: Thank God It’s Monday (Touchstone TV) is about a group of guys at the office and how they discuss their families with each other, First Family (Touchstone TV/Granada) – an Americanization of the BBC’s The Royale Family about a family in Queens; The Savages (Icon/Universal w/Mel Gibson exec prod) is about a single dad raising five teenage sons, the Joel Stein Project about a young reporter at Time (where Stein is a columnist); the Jessica Simpson project (Touchstone TV/Ted Harbert Television) wherein Simpson plays pop icon Jessica Sampson and works at a newsmagazine, and a John Stamos Project (Brad Grey TV/20th) is designed like Fox’s show ’24’ wherein each ep would be a small portion of a day-long date.
• Fox has made a cast contingent order for a sitcom project from Jersey Films/Sony Pictures TV about two parents dealing with the inevitable – the kids are growing up.  And for the pilot project Method Man and Redman, Ella Joyce has been cast to play the mother.
• Chris O’Donnell, who is currently in a development deal with CBS, is currently in negotiations to be cast in the network’s sitcom pilot The Amazing Westerbergs as one of the two brothers who come to the incredible reality that maybe they cannot do everything they set their minds to do.
• WB has cast Mike Erwin (Everwood) as Don West in The Robinsons: Lost in Space.

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of Jan 26-Feb 1, 2003 ranked by HH Rtg
Wheel of Fortune (King World)               10.1 AA  
Oprah (King World)                      8.6 AA / 8.8 GAA
Jeopardy (King World)                   8.2 AA
Seinfeld (Sony)                         6.9 AA / 8.5 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                  6.8 AA / 8.2 GAA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)       6.4 AA / 8.5 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)    6.0 AA / 6.8 GAA
Dr. Phil (King World)                   5.5 AA / 5.5 GAA
Judge Judy (Paramount)          5.0 AA / 8.0 GAA
Regis & Kelly (BVT)                                    4.3 AA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of Jan 26-Feb 1, 2003 ranked by A18-49
Seinfeld (Sony)                         4.7 AA / 5.6 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                  4.6 AA / 5.5 GAA
Oprah (King World)                      3.6 AA / 3.6 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)    3.3 AA / 3.7 GAA
Wheel of Fortune (King World)           3.1 AA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)       2.9 AA / 2.9 GAA
That 70’s Show (Carsey-Werner)  2.7 AA / 3.5 GAA
Will & Grace (Warner Bros.)             2.5 AA / 2.9 GAA
Jeopardy (King World)                   2.3 AA
Judger Judy (Paramount)                           2.2 AA / 3.1 GAA
Home Improvement (BVT)                         2.2 AA / 2.6 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

For the first time in its history, Mexico’s Televisa will produce a novela on American soil, more specifically in Miami according to Variety. Amandote (Loving You) will be produced by Venevision Int’l and Fonovision.  In Mexico City, Televisa has seven novelas currently in production at the company’s seven sound stages, and the decision to move production of Amandote to Miami was in part due to a lack of space.  Amandote is schedule to make its US premiere on Univision, the network partly owned by Televisa.

Top 5 Broadcast Spanish Language Primetime Programs for the week of Feb 2-8, 2003
UNIV    Velo De Novia    (Tue 8p)           24.1 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Velo De Novia    (Wed 8p)           23.3 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Velo De Novia    (Mon 8p)           22.9 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Velo De Novia    (Thu 8p)           22.7 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Velo De Novia    (Fri 8p)           21.9 NHTI HH Rtg
Source  Nielsen Media Research
Note  NHTI Ratings are based on 10.57 million Hispanic TV Homes

African American television homes in the US represent 12,870,000 households.  Here are the rankings for the week of  Feb 2-8, 2003 – highest rated primetime network programs in African American TV homes according to Nielsen Media Research
CBS     Grammy Awards (Sun 8p)                     27.0 HH Rtg / 5.0m Total Viewers 2+
FOX     American Idol  (Wed)                             23.0 HH Rtg / 4.2m Total Viewers 2+
FOX     American Idol (Tue)                                22.2 HH Rtg / 4.2m Total Viewers 2+
FOX     American Idol Spec (Mon 8p)                 16.8 HH Rtg / 3.2m Total Viewers 2+
UPN     America’s Next Top Model (Tue 9p)       16.5 HH Rtg / 2.9m Total Viewers 2+
CBS     CSI (Thu 9p)                                           13.9 HH Rtg / 2.2m Total Viewers 2+
UPN     Girlfriends (Mon 9p)                                13.8 HH Rtg / 2.3m Total Viewers 2+
UPN     Half & Half (Mon 930p)                            13.5 HH Rtg / 2.3m Total Viewers 2+
ABC     My Wife & Kids (Wed 8p)                       13.3 HH Rtg / 2.3m Total Viewers 2+
CBS     CSI: Miami (Mon 10p)                             13.1 HH Rtg / 2.2m Total Viewers 2+
Source Nielsen Media Research

Robert Colesberry died on Monday at the age of 57 following complications from heart surgery, in New York.  If the name isn’t familiar, his work certainly is — exec prod of HBO’s The Wire, and numerous films including The Natural, Mississippi Burning, K-Pax, HBO’s 61*, Billy Bathgate.  Colesberry also won an Emmy Award for his work on HBO miniseries The Corner in 2000, as well as an Oscar nomination for Mississippi Burning. He was also known for making small appearances in his films – and in HBO’s The Wire he had the recurring role of Ray Cole, the Baltimore detective.

Robin Schwartz has been named President/Regency Television, following the departure of Peter Aronson, who left to become the showrunner and exec prod of The Bernie Mac Show (Regency/20th).  Robin will be responsible for current series and development, reporting to David Grant, President/Fox TV Studios and David Matalon, CEO.

Wednesday, February 11, 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     9.0/14  That 70’s Show 7.7/12, American Idol 13.8/21, The O.C. 7.4/11

NBC     8.0/12  The Apprentice [r] 5.0/8, West Wing 7.6/11, Law & Order 11.4/18

CBS     7.7/12  60 Minutes II  7.4/12, King of Queens 8.0/12, King of Queens 8.4/12, 48 Hours Investigates 7.5/12

ABC     6.4/10  My Wife & Kids 6.5/10, It’s All Relative 4.9/7, The Bachelorette 7.8/12, Celebrity Mole: Yucatan 5.6/9

WB      2.8/4   Smallville 3.1/5, Angel 2.5/4

UPN     2.2/3   Enterprise 2.5/4, Top Model [r] 1.9/3

A18-49  Fox 6.6/17, ABC 4.1/11, NBC 3.9/10, CBS 3.5/9, WB 1.9/5, UPN 1.4/4

A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION

Source: NTI Explorer, 2/06/04 or as noted.  TP: Fri 8-8:30pm.  Based on A18-34. US Rating.

Friday Fun Fact: Nipple piercing was popular among ladies in the late 1800s.  As wardrobe malfunctions were rare, who knew?

The History Channel presents This Day in History: 
1920 – The National Negro Baseball League was organized.

Answer to yesterday’s Trivia Question:  Why is there no Channel 1 in the US?  THE FCC ASSIGNED CHANNEL 1 THE BROADCAST FREQUENCY FOR MOBILE RADIOS.  Kudos to:   Justin Elmendorf-CNBC/NJ; Kate Finn-Doner/Southfield; Deborah Duncan-WIVT WBGH/Binghamton; David Parnes-MRI/NY; Jo Gillett-Gambaru Prods/Dallas; Lisa Nguyen-Scripps Networks/Knoxville; Jill Gainer-Enterprise Rent-a-Car/St. Louis; Nick Alivernia-ABC Sales/St. Louis; Phil Olsman-LA Marathon/LA; Kerry Halligan-Quisenberry Mktg & Design/Spokane; Jim Rea-The Agency/LA; Christine Oakley-PHD/LA; and Tasha Hnybida-Global TV/Edmonton.

Today’s Trivia Question:  What was the occasion for this comment and who said it:  “Just think, the only laugh that man will probably every get is for stripping and showing off his shortcomings.”   (
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
02/13/04 5:17am
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2004

COURT TV INVESTIGATES…

COURT TV:       Forensic Fridays
ABC             George Lopez, Married to the Kellys, Hope & Faith, Life with Bonnie, 20/20
CBS             Joan of Arcadia, JAG, CSI: Miami (OTO)[r]
FOX             The Great American Spelling Bee (part 1)(OTO), National Geographic: When Animals Attack (OTO)
NBC             Dateline (8-10p), Third Watch
PAX             MGM Night at the Movies:  The Cutting Edge, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             Movie: Shaft
WB              Reba, What I Like About You, Grounded for Life, Like Family
TELE            Amor Descardo, El Alma Herida, Mujeres Apasionadas
UNIV            Velo de Novia, Te Amare en Silencio, Casos de la Vida Real