CYNTHIA TURNER’S
Cynopsis

07/08/05

Good morning.  It’s Friday, July 8, 2005, and this is your first early morning briefing.

Broadcast and cable news networks broke with the story of terrorist attacks in London early yesterday morning and stayed with that story, as well as the connection to G-8 summit, reactions in Washington DC and New York, throughout the morning and for some, much of the day.  Into the evening, ABC’s Primetime Live and ABC News Nightline both focused on the story. Yesterday’s coverage also marked probably the first time the use of cellphone video clips were incorporated into a major breaking news story. According to the AP, the London based Associated Press Television News staffers were instructed to find witnesses with cellphone video clips.  London’s ITN network was actively soliciting the clips on air with a lower-third crawl.  And finally, ABC changed its primetime movie from Reign of Fire (set in post-apocalyptic London) to an innocuous kid/tween movie, Big Fat Liar. 

A group of 12 TV writers filed a class action suit yesterday in the Superior Court of California against eight TV networks and production companies, alleging violations of state labor laws governing overtime, wages and meal periods.  According to the Writers Guild of America west, which is assisting the plaintiffs, the writers worked on a variety of reality series including The Bachelor/Bachelorette, The Will, The Starlet and The Real Gilligan’s Island.  Not credited as writers, they were given various titles including Assistant Story Editor, Story Assistant, Story Producer, Segment Producer, Supervising Story Producer, Producer, and Senior Producer.  The defendants named in the suite are Next Entertainment, Telepictures Productions, AND Syndicated Productions, Inc., and Dawn Syndicated Productions, as well as ABC, CBS, WB and TBS.   The suit alleges certain reality series set a flat rate for an 84-hr work week, with no allocation for overtime compensation, a violation of California law.  To view the legal documents in this suit, the WGA west invites you to go to www.wga.org.

Perhaps you weren’t nuts for MTV/VH1‘s coverage of the Live 8 concert a week ago, and apparently you’re not alone in your assessment.  Making up for it, this weekend you may want to try the cable nets one more time.  Tomorrow, Saturday, MTV and VH1 will carry five hours of commercial free video from Live 8; VH1 from 10a-3p; MTV from 3p-8p.  According to a statement from MTV Networks head Van Toffler, they heard plenty of criticism from their viewers about their coverage last weekend, and know now that viewers really want to see full performances.  That’s what they plan to offer this weekend.

The week ending July 3 brought a ratings windfall for Univision with a reported week average of 1.18 million viewers among all adults 18-34, ahead of all broadcast networks and TNT, BET and MTV, up 26% vs. the same week a year ago (6/28-7/4). Collectively, the six broadcast networks were down year to year for the week by 13%, according to Nielsen ratings information from Univision. The network attributed its higher ratings over its competitors to its decision to fill its July 4 weekend program with first-run telenovelas rather than repeat episodes.  Among the top 10 series for the week in the 18-34 demo, Univision had six of the top 10 shows, including Apuesta por un Amor and La Madrasta. 

ABC Family will premiere a new original scripted series called Beautiful People (Sony Pictures Television) on Monday, August 8 at 9p.  The series stars Daphne Zuniga (“Melrose Place”) and newcomers Sarah Foret and Torrey DeVitto as the Kerr family, who move from a small town out west to New York City.

UPN has re-titled its fall series S*x Lies & Secrets to S*x Love & Secrets (Axelrod/Edwards Company, Paramount Network Television). The ensemble drama is set in a small hip neighborhood outside of Hollywood called Silver Lake, and focuses on a group of young friends.

MTV‘s newest series The 70’s House debuted on Tuesday night at 1030p and delivered 5.87 million total viewers, and 4.4 million viewers in the 12-34 demo, earning a 3.1 rating.

TV Guide is getting ready to launch a new 30m series called TV Chat: Reality, with co-hosts Kimberly Caldwell (American Idol) and Rosanna Tavarez (Popstars).  Together they will follow all the goings-on of the summer reality shows.  The show launches this Sunday at 9p.

On July 14, the FCC will hold and Open Meeting at 930am in Washington DC on several topics, the 5th item on the agenda is a review of the broadcast ownership rules, cross-ownership of broadcast stations and newspapers, multiple ownership of radio stations in local markets and the definition of radio markets.  If you can’t manage to be in Washington for the meeting, open to the public, it will be carried live on the FCC’s Audio/Video Events website at www.FCC.gov/realaudio .

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of June 20-26, 2005 ranked by HH Rtg
Wheel of Fortune (King World)                  6.9 AA
Jeopardy (King World)                                6.0 AA
Oprah (King World)                                    5.7 AA / 5.7 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)  5.4 AA / 6.5 GAA
Seinfeld (Sony)                                           5.2 AA / 6.4 GAA
Dr. Phil (King World)                                  4.6 AA / 4.6 GAA
Judge Judy (Paramount)                            4.5 AA / 6.9 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                              4.5 AA / 5.6 GAA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)          4.2 AA / 4.2 GAA
Regis & Kelly (Buena Vista)                       3.3 AA
Inside Edition (King World)                         3.2 AA / 3.1 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of June 20-26, 2005 ranked by A18-49
Seinfeld (Sony)                                           3.4 AA / 4.2 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)  3.0 AA / 3.6 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                              2.9 AA / 3.6 GAA
Oprah (King World)                                    2.2 AA / 2.2 GAA
Wheel of Fortune (King World)                  1.9 AA
That 70’s Show (Carsey-Werner)              1.9 AA / 2.4 GAA
King of the Hill (20th)                                   1.8 AA / 2.2 GAA
Malcolm/Middle (20th)                                 1.7 AA/ 2.0 GAA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)          1.7 AA / 1.7 GAA
King of Queens                                           1.6 AA / 2.1 GAA
Dr. Phil (King World)                                  1.6 AA / 1.6 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

NBC:

• Deal or No Deal (Endemol USA):  Game show based on the international series of the same name.  The show is considered a major hit in several markets abroad, currently airing in nearly forty countries.  The format is simple – bet your money that there is more money in the box.  The project was originally in development at ABC, but once dropped there, it was picked up by NBC.  According to Variety, the show is being fast tracked into production and multiple eps have been ordered.

i Network (formerly PAX TV):

• Palmetto Point, the teen targeted primetime series, will begin production in Charleston, SC, on July 15, with plans to hit the air in August, airing on Sunday nights at 8p. i has ordered 17 eps.

New Development Deals:

• NBC Universal Television Studio has signed a one year deal with director Clark Johnson to develop new projects, as well as exec prod and direct them.
• Touchstone TV has signed writer producer Donald Todd to a two year development deal.

America Online, Inc., has named Janet Rollé VP/GM of the AOL Black Voices service.  She will be responsible for developing the AOL Black Voices service across all AOL platforms and products. In addition, Janet will lead the day-to-day programming activities and set the editorial tone and direction for the African American category. She reports to Bill Wilson, SVP/GM for AOL Programming.

Tapestry, Starcom MediaVest Group’s multicultural unit, upped Marla Skiko to VP/Director of Digital Innovation.  She will manage the agency’s new IP group and oversee research and integration as it pertains to the multicultural consumer with such contact channels as VOD, DVR, mobile technologies and gaming. Marla was previously director of investment. 

Wednesday–A18-49 Analysis:   ABC led the charge with dancing celebrities on Wednesday night, posting an overall 3.9/12 A18-49 rating, according to fast affiliate ratings from Nielsen Media Research.  At 8p, ABC’s repeat of last week’s ep of Dancing/Stars earned a 2.6/9, winning the hour.  WB was #2 at 8p with its finale episode of Beauty & the Geek delivering an impressive 1.9/7 in the adult demo.  The Cut on CBS, debuting in this day/time period, earned a 1.3/4, down by 28% vs. last week’s Thursday 8p airing (tho you could argue these were unusual circumstances with WB and ABC programming).  At 9p ABC trounced the competition with a 6.5/19.  NBC came closest with a 2.2/6 for a repeat of Law & Order.  At 10p ABC and CBS tied, each earning an 8 share for a repeat of Lost and a repeat of CSI: NY, respectively.
 
Fast Affiliate Ratings: Wednesday July 6, 2005, for all Networks – time period averages.  Source: Nielsen Media Research. 

ABC     8.7/15   Dancing With the Stars [r] 6.9/13, Dancing With the Stars [f] 13.9/23, Lost [r] 5.3/9

NBC     5.1/9    Law & Order [r] 4.8/9, Law & Order [r] 5.6/9, Dateline NBC Special 5.0/8

CBS     4.2/7    The Cut 3.0/6, The King of Queens [r] 3.2/5, Yes Dear [r] 3.0/5, CSI: NY [r]  6.6/11

FOX     2.5/4    The Inside 2.4/4, The Inside  2.6/4

WB      2.0/4    Beauty and the Geek [f] 2.8/5, Smallville [r] 1.3/2

UPN     1.1/2    Eve[r] 1.4/3, Eve [r], 1.3/2 Veronica Mars [r] 0.9/1

A18-49            ABC 3.9/12, CBS 2.0/6, NBC 1.9/6, Fox 1.7/5, WB 1.4/4, UPN 0.6/2

Friday Fun Fact:  In high school, Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank was an excellent athlete. She competed in Junior Olympics in swimming, and placed fifth in the Washington state all-around gymnastics.

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1835 – Tolling during the funeral of John Marshall, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Liberty Bell cracks.

Answer to Yesterday’s trivia question: This actor was on the Top Ten Box Office List 25 times during his career, more often than any other film star.  Between the years of 1949 and 1974, there was only one year he did not appear on the list.  Who is this actor extraordinaire?  JOHN WAYNE   Kudos to:  JJ O’Brien/NEAN/NY; Evan Kutner-WNBC TV/NY; Joel Nash-Carroll White Advertising/Atlanta; Barbara Flam-Turner Latin America/Atlanta; Julie Houston-Pace Crawford & Partners/Boise ID; Jackie Blumer-Charter Advertising/St Louis; Kyle Krebs-KLTY/Dallas; Lori Shilling-AZN Television/Centennial CO; Jane Cantillon-Other Side Productions/LA; Nick Monroe-KGTV/San Diego; Richard Ross-CDTV/LA; Sheldon Wiebe-Eclipse Magazine/Calgary AB Canada.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

Today’s Trivia Question:  This celebrity/comedian had a doorbell located on a closet door on his show. This door was used as an entry way for surprise guests, “coming out of the closet.”  On whose show did this comical stuff appear?  (click here with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. 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 CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM HGTV

Later — Cyn
07.08.05  – 5:03am
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  Friday, July 8, 2005

ABC              8 Simple Rules [r], Hope & Faith [r],  Hope & Faith [r], Less Than Perfect [r], 20/20
CBS              60 Minutes, JAG [r], Numb3rs [r]
FOX              Movie: Joy Ride
NBC              Dateline, L&O: Trial by Jury [r]
PAX              America’s Talented Kids [r], Movie:  Molly
UPN              Movie:  Rock Star
WB               What I Like About You [r], Blue Collar TV [r], Reba [r], Living with Fran [r]
TELE             La Mujer en el Espejo, Los Plateados, Decisiones
UNIV             Apuesta por un Amor, La Madrasta, Copa Oro 2005:  Mexico vs. Sudafrica  (10p-12