CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

02/06/04

Good morning. It’s Friday, February 6, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing. 

Once again Fox‘s American Idol helps the network dominate the night with the A18-49 crowd according to Nielsen Media Research on Wednesday night.  For the night, Fox averaged an 8.8/22, followed by NBC’s 4.1/10, ABC 3.9/10, CBS 1.9/5, WB 2.0/3, UPN 1.3/3. At 8pm That 70’s Show on Fox delivered an expectant 6.0/16 vs. ABC’s My Wife & Kids 3.4/9. American Idol ran from 830-930p and scored another huge 12.6/31 (16.7/41 among W18-34, a total of 28.6 million viewers); Oliver Beane followed at 930p with a  4.4/11.  The first hour of ABC’s 90m Bachelorette scored a 4.7/11 and in its final half hour delivered a 5.7/14. At 10p NBC’s Law & Order led the field with a 6.1/16.  Hallmark Hall of Fame’s special presentation on CBS from 9-11p earned a 1.7/4 A18-49,  2.5/6 A25-54 and a striking 9.7/18 among A50+, with an overall audience of 10.4m viewers.

How NBC’s The Apprentice (Mark Burnett Prods) faired last night opposite the final 15minutes of Survivor and a new episode of CSI remains to be seen, but based on its performance thus far this season (9.4/23 A18-49 on Thursday nights after Friends), NBC has already ordered up a second season of The Donald.  The second go-around will air in the fall.

USA Network returns with the second season of Nashville Star on March 6.  Of all the auditions in 25 cities, the second round had 100 contestants, with the final 20 appearing in the premiere episode on the 6th.  Judges will then cut the field to 10, with viewers choosing the 11th finalist.  The winner gets a recording contract with Sony Music Nashville.  Last year’s winner was Buddy Jewell, who has earned a gold record with his first album under the Sony contract.

More fall out from the Super Bowl half time show. Leguna Beach High School was to be the base for a new reality show on MTV about the every day life of a teenager.  For their part, the school was to receive upwards of $12k per ep plus future royalties, all going toward the school’s scholarship program.  The deal had been approved by the Board of Education in the days just before the Super bowl.  After receiving numerous complaints from parents, the Board has rescinded its approval.

And while this is amazing, you kinda had to expect it – halftime viewer Terri Carlin has filed a proposed class action suit against Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, MTV, CBS and Viacom, seeking billions (yes billions) for ‘serious injuries’ sustained while watching the half time show, not to mention ‘outrage, anger and embarrassment.’  Carlin neglected to mention what those serious injuries were.

According to Hollywood Reporter, InDemand is closing its LA office as of June 1, and eliminating 12 jobs, mostly effecting the affiliate relations and finance departments. Leaving the company will be SVP/Programming & Development Dan York; other senior level execs will likely make the move to the company’s NY offices.

Production is scheduled to begin in April for a new reality series from Nash Entertainment for TBS, scheduled to begin airing on June 22 following the network’s airing of S*x and the City (which debuts on June 15), according to Variety.  The reality show, as yet untitled, has a casting call out for beautiful single ‘leading ladies’ with a valid passport.  No further details for the moment, tho Turner promises to reveal more at their Upfront presentation, along with another reality skein for next season and the net’s new on-air look/logo/tag.

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of Jan 19-25, 2003 ranked by HH Rtg
Wheel of Fortune (King World)           9.7 AA  
Jeopardy (King World)                   8.1 AA
Oprah (King World)                      7.3 AA / 7.4 GAA
Seinfeld (Sony)                         7.2 AA / 9.0 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                  6.6 AA / 7.9 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)    5.9 AA / 6.6 GAA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)       5.9 AA / 6.0 GAA
Dr. Phil (King World)                   5.3 AA / 5.4 GAA
Judge Judy (Paramount)          5.0 AA / 7.4 GAA
That 70’s Show (Carsey Werner)              4.0 AA / 5.2 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of Jan 19-25, 2003 ranked by A18-49
Seinfeld (Sony)                         5.0 AA / 6.0 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                  4.8 AA / 5.8 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)    3.3 AA / 3.7 GAA
Oprah (King World)                      3.2 AA / 3.3 GAA
Wheel of Fortune (King World)           3.0 AA
That 70’s Show (Carsey-Werner)  2.9 AA / 3.6 GAA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)       2.5 AA / 2.5 GAA
Will & Grace (Warner Bros.)             2.5 AA / 2.8 GAA
Jeopardy (King World)                   2.3 AA
Home Improvement (BVT)                          2.1 AA / 2.5 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Once a quarterly installment, now a weekly as of this Sunday at 8p on CNBC, Topic A with Tina Brown kicks off her weekly show with a distinguished list of guests:  New York Governor Mario Cuomo, former Senator Bob Kerrey and Joe Trippi, former campaign manager for Howard Dean, as well as a roundtable discussion with Nora Ephron, Julia Reed, and Lizz Winstead, and finally a one on one interview with Greg Dyke who resigned as Editor-in-Chief of the BBC last week.

The heat is on Nielsen Media Research again, and this time turning it up is the National Latino Media Council who contents Nielsen’s faulty methodology fails to properly survey the Hispanic community, which has the domino effect of smaller ratings for Latino targeted programs causing them to be cancelled from the primetime network schedules.  And according to the study, that “…leads to diminished employment opportunities for Latino actors, writers, directors and other behind-the-camera professionals.” The study also says Nielsen fails to count enough American born Hispanics in its sample. Nielsen responded to the study that “We stand by our sample and we make sure it represents everyone in the U.S., including Hispanics.”

Top 5 Broadcast Spanish Language Primetime Programs for the week of Jan 26- Feb 1, 2003
CBS     Super Bowl  (Sun 630p)           24.7 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Cristina (Mon 10p)                     24.4 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Velo De Novia    (Wed 8p)           23.0 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Velo De Novia    (Fri 8p)           22.1 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Velo De Novia (Mon 8p)           22.3 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  Jan 26-Fab 1, 2003 – highest rated primetime network programs in African American TV homes according to Nielsen Media Research
CBS     Super Bowl  (Sun 630p)                     42.3 HH Rtg / 5.4m Total Viewers 2+
CBS     Super Bowl Post (1033p)                   32.2 HH Rtg / 4.1m Total Viewers 2+
FOX     American Idol  (Wed)                          21.4 HH Rtg / 2.7m Total Viewers 2+
FOX     American Idol (Tue)                 19.8 HH Rtg / 2.5m Total Viewers 2+
UPN     Eve (Mon 830p)                                    17.8 HH Rtg / 2.3m Total Viewers 2+
UPN     Girlfriends (Mon 9p)                           17.3 HH Rtg / 2.2m Total Viewers 2+
UPN     Half & Half (Mon 930p)                      17.1 HH Rtg / 2.2m Total Viewers 2+
UPN     Top Model (Tue 9p)                           16.7 HH Rtg / 2.1m Total Viewers 2+
UPN     The Parkers  (Mon 8p)                15.9 HH Rtg / 2.0m Total Viewers 2+
CBS     Survivor (Sun 1052p)                15.7 HH Rtg / 2.0m Total Viewers 2+
Source Nielsen Media Research

Lloyd Komesar has been upped to Most Benevolent EVP/Strategic Research at Buena Vista Television.  (Okay, I added Most Benevolent.) The announcement was made by Janice Marinelli, President/Buena Vista Television.   Lloyd will continue to oversee all market and program research for BVT’s first-run and off-network programming, as well as Touchstone Television product and all pay-per-view and video-on-demand programming.  He is also responsible for developing an expanded slate of research projects geared to support BVT’s long-range planning.  With or without Most Benevolent in his elevation, he’s still the best around.

Goodman Media International, Inc., announced Jennifer Dargan has joined its Washington office as Senior Account Director.  Dargan will direct initiatives for ABC Radio Networks and U.S. News & World Report, among others.  She will also be heavily involved in new business development.

I’m headed out to see Miracle (Disney) to relive the magic of that one 1980 Olympic hockey game and have myself a good old cry. Just hearing Al Michael’s shout in the last seconds of that game gets the told tear ducts going, so I’ll be a wreck by the time the movie is over.  Can’t wait.

Wednesday, February 4, 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     11.9/18 That 70’s Show 8.0/12, American Idol  16.4/25, Oliver Beane 6.8/10

NBC     7.9/12  The Apprentice [r] 4.8/7, West Wing 7.4/11, Law & Order 11.6/19

CBS     7.7/12  60 Minutes II  8.2/13, Hallmark Hall of Fame: The Blackwater Lightship  7.5/12

ABC     6.2/9   My Wife & Kids 6.5/10, The Bachelorette (90m) 6.5/10, Celebrity Mole: Yucatan 5.5/9

WB      3.0/5   Smallville 3.3/5, Angel 2.8/4

UPN     2.1/3   Enterprise 2.4/4, Top Model [r] 1.7/3

A18-49  Fox 8.8/22, NBC 4.1/10, ABC 3.9/10, CBS 1.9/5, WB 2.0/3, UPN 1.3/3

A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE TELEVISION

Source: NHI Explorer, 1/26/04-2/1/04.  Misery ties The Long Walk Home.  HH Cvg Rating.

Friday Fun Fact: A recent study found that 75 percent of headache patients felt relief when they rubbed capsaicin (the component that makes chile peppers hot) on their nose.

The History Channel presents This Day in History: 
1932 – Dog sled racing happened for the first time in Olympic competition

Answer to yesterday’s Trivia Question: What was the name of the moose who hung on the wall at Cheers, though he only was hung there during the times when Sam Malone owned the bar? DAVE. DAVE THE MOOSE.  Kudos to:  Karen Daniel-DIY Network/Knoxville; Tracy Pruzan-CNBC/NY; Jennifer Moskowitz-HBO/NY; Ben Brill-NewsCorp./NY; John Wolff-Blair Television/Chicago; John Rossi-KUWB/Salt Lake City; Cary Miller-Creative Television Mktg/Burbank; Paul Gilbert-Sony Pictures Television/LA; Jim Murphy-San Francisco.

A MESSAGE FROM HALLMARK CHANNEL

WHAT’S ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8

Today’s Trivia Question:   Where was Richie Cunningham on the day of his wedding? (
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
02/06/04n  5:19am
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2004

Court TV Hollywood at Large Award Contest!!

COURT TV:       Forensic Fridays
ABC             George Lopez, George Lopez [r], Hope & Faith, Hope & Faith [r], 20/20
CBS             Joan of Arcadia, JAG, Cold Case [r]
FOX             Totally Outrageous Behavior, World’s Craziest Videos, That’s Just Wrong (OTO)
NBC             Dateline, Ed, Third Watch
PAX             MGM Night at the Movies: The Heavenly Kid, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             Movie: The Astronaut’s Wife
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