CYNTHIA TURNER’S
Cynopsis

01/07/05

Good morning. It’s Friday, January 7, 2005, and this is your first early morning briefing. 

Three premieres on Wednesday evening.  NBC‘s new reality series Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Model Search (if you haven’t seen it, think America’s Next Top Model in a bikini) kicked off at 8pm and managed a 2.8/7 A18-48 according to final numbers from Nielsen Media Research, second only to Lost on ABC (8.4/21 – ABC’s highest number for Lost to date).  The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott debuted on UPN at 8pm and earned a 1.2/3 A18-49 rating; however among the younger set, teens 12-17 the show was #3 in the time period with a 2.4/8 behind ABC and Fox.  The two hour premiere of Alias on ABC drew a solid 6.6/16 A18-49 rating, climbing to a 7.7/17 rating among W18-49.

Tonight’s Premieres:
Univision:  Hospital El Paisa at 10p

Saturday Premieres:
CBS:    The Will at 8pm

Sunday Premieres:
Fox:    24 at 8pm

Casting / Development / Production

• ABC has ordered a drama pilot from JJ Abrams, the guy behind the network’s top most successful new series of the season – Lost and Desperate Housewives.  The new project is called What About Brian? (Bad Robot/Touchstone) about a 30-something single guy amidst all of his married friends.
• ABC has also ordered up three other drama pilots – Evidence (John Wells Prods/Warner Bros. TV) is a procedural crime show; Westside (Class IV Prods/Warner Bros. TV) which is centered in the dog eat dog world of selling expensive LA real estate; and a cast contingent order for Commander in Chief (Touchstone TV) about the first female POTUS.
• CBS has cast David Eigenberg to head the cast of its comedy pilot project Washington Street opposite Cynthia Watros.  The story line takes place among the residents of an apartment building.
• Jake in Progress (Brad Grey Television/20th TV) is the name of the new John Stamos midseason series for ABC, with Stamos as a celebrity publicist whose spin on his own life doesn’t work as well as it does in his professional life. Other cast members include Ian Gomez, Rick Hoffman and Wendi Malick, with Julie Bowen appearing in a recurring role.
• More cast additions to Fox‘s midseason drama series, The Inside – Peter Coyote, Willa Holland, Kimberly Scott and Hira Ambrosino all join Rachel Nichols, Adam Baldwin and Jay Harrington.
• A new project in development at the WB – Love Lindsey/Hate Hannah is a comedy about a guy who falls for his ex’s sister.  The project is being developed by Andrew Kreisberg.
• Sci Fi Channel has added Emmanuelle Vaugier and Walker Howard to the cast of Painkiller Jane (MGM/NBC Universal TV), a 2-hour pilot about a Marine who is exposed to a biochemical weapon giving the marine remarkable healing powers.

Probably saw this coming – CBS has purchased the rights to Amber Frey‘s recently released tell-all book, Witness for the Prosecution of Scott Peterson, and Braun Entertainment will produce the made-for which will be written by Donald Martin.

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of December 20-26, 2004 ranked by HH Rtg
Wheel of Fortune (King World)                  6.6 AA  
Jeopardy (King World)                           7.2 AA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)    6.7 AA / 8.5 GAA
Oprah (King World)                        6.6 AA / 6.7 GAA
Seinfeld (Sony)                            6.2 AA / 7.8 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                    6.2 AA / 8.5 GAA
Judge Judy (Paramount)           5.3 AA / 8.2 GAA
Dr. Phil (King World)                     4.7 AA / 4.8 GAA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)       4.5 AA / 4.6 GAA
Regis & Kelly (BVT)                       4.0 AA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of December 20-26, 2004 ranked by A18-49
Friends (Warner Bros.)                    4.5 AA / 5.9 GAA
Seinfeld (Sony)                            4.2 AA / 5.2 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)    4.0 AA / 5.0 GAA
Oprah (King World)                        2.6 AA / 2.6 GAA
Wheel of Fortune (King World)                  2.3 AA
Malcolm/Middle (20th)                     2.2 AA / 2.6 GAA
That 70’s Show (Carsey-Werner)  2.2 AA / 2.8 GAA
Judge Judy (Paramount)           2.1 AA / 3.1 GAA
King of the Hill (20th)                   2.1 AA / 2.6 GAA
Will & Grace (Warner Bros.)              2.0 AA / 2.4 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Spike TV will launch a new reality series call The Ultimate Fighter (Full Circle Ent/Omnicom Group) on January 17 at 11pm.  Spike has ordered 13 eps with a 2-hour finale set in Las Vegas.  The elimination style show will be hosted by Model/Recording Artist Willa Ford, and leading the group of trainers are Heavyweight Champion, Randy Couture and UFC Light Heavyweight #1 Contender, Chuck Liddell.  The last one standing wins a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (taped hands, not bare knuckles).

MSN TV and video-on-demand CinemaNow will bring to market a new service to broadband MSN TV customers. The plan will allow subscribers to take CinemaNow digital movies from the Internet and view them via MSN TV 2 Internet & Media Player provided by Microsoft. The collaboration should be readily available in Spring 2005 as a free automatic upgrade to subscribers.

By the way, we aren’t the only ones who appreciate a good Desperate Housewife.  The UK’s Channel 4 aired its newest series acquisition, Desperate Housewives,on January 5 to a 24% television viewing rating (peaked at 28%) for a total of 4.6 million viewers (4.8 million at peak).  The audience share for this broadcast is the highest ever for a US series debuting on Channel 4 with the audience numbers coming in second only to ER’s debut in 1995 at 5 million viewers.  Little more info for your perusal…ER’s 1995 debut brought in a 22% audience share.  Friends’ launched the same year came in at a 8% share with 1.7 million viewers.  In 2003, S#x and the City premiered on Channel 4 with a 20% share and an audience of 3.4 million.

Top 5 Broadcast Spanish Language Primetime Programs for the week of December 27, 2004  January 2, 2005**
UNIV Amor Real (M-Th 9p)                               25.2 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Rubi (M-F 8p)                                        24.8 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Don Francisco Presenta (Wed 10p)    19.7 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Aqui Y Ahora (Th 10p)                          18.6 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Mujer de Madera (M-Th 7p)                  17.8 NHTI HH Rtg
Source: Nielsen Media Research
Note: NHTI Ratings are based on 10.57 million Hispanic TV Homes
** Please note that Nielsen Media’s rating parameters are listed for some shows that air Monday-Friday to include the 5 day average instead of listing each individual weekday.

Top 10 Broadcast English Language Primetime Programs in Hispanic TV Homes for the week of December 27, 2004  January 2, 2005
UPN     WWE Smackdown! (Thu 8p)                          6.0 NHTI HH Rtg
ABC     NFL Monday Night Football (Mon 907p)          5.6 NHTI HH Rtg
ABC     George Lopez (Tue 830p)                               4.8 NHTI HH Rtg
ABC     Primetime Special Edition (Wed 10p)             4.6 NHTI HH Rtg
ABC     According to Jim (Tue 9p)                               4.3 NHTI HH Rtg
ABC     NFL Monday Showcase (Mon 9p)                   4.3 NHTI HH Rtg
CBS     CSI (Thu 9p)                                                    4.2 NHTI HH Rtg
CBS     Without a Trace (Thu 10p)                              4.2 NHTI HH Rtg
ABC     Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Sun 8p)    4.1 NHTI HH Rtg
ABC     Lost Special (Wed 9p)                                     4.0 NHTI HH Rtg
ABC     My Wife and Kids (Tue 8p)                              3.8 NHTI HH Rtg
NBC     Law & Order: SVU (Tue 10p)                          3.7 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 13,170,000 households. Here are the rankings for the week of December 27, 2004  January 2, 2005 – highest rated primetime network programs in African American TV homes according to Nielsen Media Research
ABC     NFL Monday Night Football (Mon 907p)   14.0 HH Rtg
UPN     Girlfriends (Mon 9p)                                   11.8 HH Rtg
CBS     CSI (Thu 9p)                                               11.5 HH Rtg
CBS     Without a Trace (Thu 10p)                         11.5 HH Rtg
UPN     Half and Half (Mon 830p)                           11.1 HH Rtg
ABC     NFL Monday Showcase (Mon 9p)              10.9 HH Rtg
CBS     Cold Case (Sun 830p)                                10.5 HH Rtg
CBS     CSI: Miami (Mon 10p)                                 10.0 HH Rtg
NBC     Law & Order: SVU (Sun 10p)                       9.8 HH Rtg
UPN     Vibe Awards Special (Wed 8p)                     9.7 HH Rtg
Source Nielsen Media Research

December 2004 Pay Cable Rankings: Household Coverage Ratings
Primetime        HH Rtg  Total Day:      HH Rtg  
HBO                  2.3          HBO                   1.3
Cinemax            1.3         Cinemax              0.9
Starz!                1.3         Starz!                  0.8
Encore               0.8        Encore                 0.5
Showtime          0.7         Showtime            0.4
TMC                   0.3         TMC                     0.2
Source: Nielsen Media Research – Galaxy Explorer: Total day (M–Su 6A–6A) and prime time (M–Su 8P-11P).Subject to qualifications available on request.

Marilyn Oliveri, VP/Director of Spot Radio at Active International, passed away on January 5 due to complications resulting from the treatment of pneumonia while battling lung cancer. She was 49.  Marilyn had been with Active Int’l since 1994 where she helped build Active’ Radio division that became a template for team building and unity.  She is survived by her husband and two children, ages 16 and 14.  A wake is scheduled for this afternoon and funeral services are tomorrow morning at 11am – for more information please contact the Michael J. Higgins Funeral Home in New City NY at 845-634-6110.

Casting Call:  NBC Universal will be holding auditions for men in their mid-20’s to be cast a television sitcom pilot called Four Kings (fka Kings of New York) about four friends ‘conquering’ NY.  This is a scripted series – not a reality show. They’re also interested in undiscovered men, fresh unknown faces.  The nationwide casting call will begin in the following cities:  Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, and Boston.  Prospective cast members should log onto www.nbc.com/contestants for the latest dates, locations and times.  Four Kings is a production fo KoMut Ent in association with Warner Bros. Television Prod.

It’s official … Hollywood talent manager and producer Brad Grey will end his run at Brillstein-Grey Entertainment and will start at Paramount Motion Pictures Group as of March 1, as CEO/Chairman, reporting to Viacom Co-President and Co- CFO Tom Freston. 

Mitchell R. Semel has been named SVP/Original Programming of TV Land and Nick at Nite, as announced by President of TV Land and Nick at Nite, Larry W. Jones, to whom Mitchell reports. Semel’s main directive is to create, develop and execute original programming and production strategies together with Sal Maniaci, who is TV Land and Nick at Nite’s Vice President/Original Programming and Production.  Mitchell hails from CBS Entertainment in NY where he was SVP/Programming East Coast.

Tommy Moffitt, President of Fairway Media Inc., Scottsdale, is the new General Sales Manager of KSBI, “Oklahoma’s Family Television Network.” Tommy will oversee the local and national ad sales of KSBI out of Oklahoma City while continuing his Presidency at Fairway Media Inc.

Merry Ewing has been named Regional Sales Manager for The WB 100+ Station Group. Her responsibilities include oversight of national and regional ad sales primarily on the East coast and Midwest. Merry reports to Russell Myerson, EVP/GM of The WB 100 +, and is based in Cincinnati.

SCRIPPS Networks has upped Jen Rea to VP/Online Production. Jen will continue to oversee the design and production of all of Scripp’s Networks’ websites in addition to new duties that will entail managing production for HCTVPro.com, a site set to launch in January 2005.

As in previous years, this January Cynopsis will provide its NATPE Syndicated Program Guide listing of NEW SERIES only coming to market in preparation for this year’s conference in Las Vegas.  If you have information you’d like listed for a new strip or weekly series, please send it to me at
(with NATPE listing in the subject line), and provide the name of the series, #/eps, distributor name/phone/booth or suite number, terms (cash, cash+, barter split), and frequency.  Because of space, no OTOs, specials, movie packages, quarterly shows or returning series are included in the listing. For Children’s Programming, please send your new series information (please add if its live action/animation and target age group) to Gwen Billings for the Cynopsis Kids NATPE Syndicated Program Guide at
.   The deadline for submissions is January 14; the Syndicated Guides will be sent to all subscribers on Wednesday, January 19, the week before the convention.

Wednesday, January 5, 2005. FINAL Ratings for all Networks – program averages only.  Source: Nielsen Media Research.
[p] = Premiere; [r] = Repeat

ABC     10.8/16  Lost 12.8/19, Alias [p] (2 hrs) 9.7/15

NBC     7.6/12   SI: Swimsuit Model Search [p] 4.9/7, The West Wing 8.0/12, Law & Order 9.9/16

CBS     7.3/11   60 Minutes 7.4/11, King of Queens 6.9/10, Center of the Universe 6.1/9, CSI: NY 8.1/13

FOX     4.9/7    That 70’s Show 4.1/6, Quintuplets 3.6/5, Nanny 911 5.9/9

UPN     1.8/3    The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott [p] 1.9/3, Kevin Hill  1.7/3

WB      1.7/3    Smallville 2.3/4, Big Man on Campus 1.1/2

A18-49  ABC 7.2/18, NBC 3.6/9, CBS 3.5/8, Fox 3.4/8, WB and UPN 1.1/3

Friday Fun Fact:  If you’re going to Las Vegas for the NATPE convention and plan to take in a side trip to the Hoover Dam, you may like to know the Dam was built to last 2,000 years. The concrete in it will not even be fully cured for another 500 years, though I doubt you can scrawl your initials in it.

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1931 – President Herbert Hoover’s committee on unemployment reports that almost five million Americans are out of work.

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question: In the series Remington Steele, Michael O’Leary, Douglas Quintaine, Richard Blaine, Paul Fabrini and Jacques Murrell are …. who? ALL ARE STEELE’S PASSPORT ALIASES, AND ALL ARE HUMPHREY BOGART CHARACTERS.  Kudos to: Christina Ricucci Owen-Millenia 3 Comm/Atlanta; Jennifer Hayoun-Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising/NY; Hank Bordowitz-The Bordowitz Media Werx/Suffern; Anthony Salerno-Intermark Media/NY; Andre Wiggins-ABC/Houston; Jennifer Bentley-RPA/Dallas; Roxanne Lyson-KECI/Missoula; Nick Beyer-Starz Encore/Englewood; Rafael Garcia-West coast; Carol Kane-CAM Systems/Saratoga CA; Susan Goldberg-Beverly Park Prods/LA; Wayne Goldstein-Sony Pictures Television/LA; and Karen Markham-KYES/Anchorage.

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

Today’s Trivia Question submitted by Dan Whitford-RPA/Chicago:  James Bond battled the minions of S.P.E.C.T.R.E., Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin tangled with T.H.R.U.S.H. on “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, and Maxwell Smart dueled with K.A.O.S. on “Get Smart”.  What organization was the arch-enemy of Benjamin “Beans” Baxter on the short-lived Fox comedy series of the same name?   (click here with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone with your answer.  Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you’ve been mentioned in any of the Cynopsis editions, you can’t be mentioned again that calendar week.)

A MESSAGE FROM NEW LINE TELEVISION

Later — Cyn
01.07.06 5:26am

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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  JANUARY 7, 2005:

ABC              8 Simple Rules, 8 Simple Rules, Hope & Faith, Less than Perfect, 20/20
CBS              Joan of Arcadia, JAG, Cold Case
FOX              Movie Special: Black Knight
NBC              Dateline, Third Watch, Medical Investigation
PAX              Talented Kids, MGM Movie: Clambake
UPN              Movie:  The Best Man
WB               What I Like About You [r], Grounded for Live, Reba [r], Blue Collar TV [r]
TELE             La Mujer en el Espejo, Gitanas, Te Voy a Ensenar a Querer
UNIV             Rubi, Amor Real, Hospital El Paisa [p], La Escuelita