CYNTHIA TURNER’S
Cynopsis

03/04/05

Good morning. It’s Friday, March 4, 2005, and this is your first early morning briefing.

On the final night of the February sweep, Fox wins Wednesday night by just three share points, posting a 5.9/15 A18-49 over ABC’s 4.7/12 according to final numbers from Nielsen Media Research. NBC was #3 with a NBC 3.8/10, followed by CBS 3.2/8, UPN 2.0/5, WB 1.4/4. At 8p Lost on ABC earned a 7.0/19, while Fox’s hour of That 70’s Show earned a 3.8/10. American Idol on Fox at 9p delivered a 10.3/25, followed by Simple Life at 930p with a 5.8/14. America’s Next Top Model on UPN earned a 2.2/6 A18-49, and earned its best premiere numbers ever among teens (3.3/10), and matched its best with W18-34 (4.1/11 – second only to Lost) and W18-49 (3.3/8). ABC and CBS were neck and neck at 9p: Alias with a 3.9/9, and CBS comedies 3.4/9.   10p was a tie between CSI: NY and Law & Order, each delivering a 13 share, though L&O was ahead by two tenths of a rating point with a 4.9/13. Wife Swap followed on ABC with a 3.0/8.

FINAL February Sweeps to date (2/3-3/2/05 – 28 out of 28 days) per Nielsen Media Research data:

A18-49:  Fox 6.5/16 (+48% vs. same period in February 2004),  ABC 4.1/11 (+9%); CBS 3.8/10 (-11%);NBC 3.6/9 (-26%); WB 1.4/4 (-15%); UPN 1.4/3 (-20%)

Total Viewers: Fox 15.6 million (+60% vs. same period in February 2004), CBS 12.3m (-12%); NBC 10.3m (-14%); ABC 11.2m (+8%); WB 3.5m (-12%); UPN 3.3m (-15%).

Fox has good news and bad news.  After the sweep good news, the other good news is it has renewed the Tuesday night 9p series House starring Hugh Laurie for a second season.  The bad news is they will not be renewing the soap/drama North Shore and has officially cancelled it.

Casting / Development / Production:

• Fox has ordered a pilot titled Queen B which stars Alicia Silverstone in a comedy about Bea (Silverstone) who is at the center of her world and happily manipulates those around her, though is coming to the realization as she gets into her late 20’s that all of her adoring friends may not see her as she does, nor do her skills at getting what she wants as successful.

Casting Updates:

• CBS:
  • Julie Louis-Dreyfus is back for more, cast in the title role of the comedy pilot Old Christine (Warner Bros. TV) about a 30-something single mom trying to keep up with the married neighbors. Signing Louis-Dreyfus lifts the cast contingency from this project.
• ABC
  • Night Stalker (Touchstone TV), the remake of the 1970’s series, has cast Stuart Townsend and Gabrielle Union as crime reporter Kolchak and his newspaper colleague and supernatural searching partner.
  • Crumbs (Touchstone TV/Tollin Robbins Prods) has added three to the pilot cast – Jane Curtin, Fred Savage and William Devane, about three brothers brought back together after the divorce of their parents.  Curtin and Devane play the parents; Savage one of the brothers.
  • Invasion (Warner Bros. TV) has added Tyler Labine to the project set in a Florida town following a hurricane which uncovers an alien presence.
• WB:
  • Dog Town Lawyers (Warner Bros. TV/Jerry Bruckheimer TV) about two lawyers – one young and idealistic (Jay Baruchel), the other, his mentor, who has become cynical since his fall from big lawfirm grace – has added Don Johnson to the cast as the mentor.
• Fox:
  • Pilot project Bones (20th) has cast David Boreanaz and Micheala Conlin, in the drama based on the real life dealings of forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs who solves crimes based on evidence from skeletal remains.

Tribune Entertainment Company has renewed Family Fued (FremantleMedia Prods N.A.) for next season in 92% of the country and in 162 markets.  Hosting again next season will be Richard Karn.  The show is cleared on a cash + barter basis. 

NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution has cleared its strip series with Martha Stewart in more than 85% of the U.S.  The show is scheduled for a fall debut.  Clearances include all of the top 20 markets, and 47 of the top 50.  New to the list are KPRC/Houston, WOAI/San Antonio and WMC/Memphis. Also on the clearance list are most of the NBC O&Os including WNBC/NY; KNBC/LA and WMAQ/Chicago. The show is being produced by Mark Burnett Prods., along with Stewart.

Music cable network Fuse will launch Ultimate Fuse Gig: The VJ Search on March 10 at 10p.  Taking a page from The Apprentice, American Idol and MTV’s VJ search of yore, the net has conducted nationwide auditions in search for what it calls the “one uber-knowledgeable young music lover” to join Fuse’s all-star VJs.  The auditions kick off the show on the 10th which took place in a variety of cities.  If you think you’re the one they’re looking for, there’s still time to submit a video – check out www.fusetv/vjsearch.

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of February 14-20, 2005 ranked by HH Rtg
Wheel of Fortune (King World)                  9.7 AA
Oprah (King World)                                    8.2 AA / 8.4 GAA
Jeopardy (King World)                                8.0 AA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)  7.3 AA / 9.3 GAA
Seinfeld (Sony)                                           6.2 AA / 7.7 GAA
Dr. Phil (King World)                                  5.6 AA / 5.7 GAA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)          5.6 AA / 5.7 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                              5.6 AA / 7.2 GAA
Judge Judy (Paramount)                            5.3 AA / 8.3 GAA
Inside Edition (King World)                         3.7 AA / 3.7 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of February 14-20, 2005 ranked by A18-49
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)  4.2 AA / 5.2 GAA
Seinfeld (Sony)                                           4.1 AA / 5.0 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                              3.8 AA / 4.8 GAA
Oprah (King World)                                    3.2 AA / 3.2 GAA
Wheel of Fortune (King World)                  2.6 AA
That 70’s Show (Carsey-Werner)              2.3 AA / 2.9 GAA
Jeopardy (King World)                                2.2 AA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)           2.2 AA / 2.3 GAA
Malcolm/Middle (20th)                                 2.2 AA / 2.6 GAA
Dr. Phil (King World)                                   2.1 AA / 2.1 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Three more February best ever cable success stories:

• NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL had it most watched month ever with 156,000 Total Viewers on average, marking the third consecutive month of growth.  NGC was also up 100% among A25-54 in Total Day with a .12 vs. Feb 2004; and up in primetime by 90% year to year with a .19 A25-54 rtg.
• Sci Fi Channel earned a 1.1 primetime HH rtg in February, and was #1 on Fridays 8-11p in three demo – A25-54, A18-49 and M18-34, thanks to Battlestar Galactica, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG-1.  Overall in prime, the net was up 11% in total viewers year to year, as well as _29% among A18-49 and +22% among A25-54.
• TNT led the Feb Sweep for ad supported cable in several demo categories, as well as both primetime and for total day.  In Prime, TNT averaged 506,000 among A18-34, 1.2m among A18-49, 1.2 million among A25054, and 2.56m total viewers.

Note to self:  When/if you get a TIVO, make sure you program to record all new eps of L&O: Trial By Jury (so great), House and America’s Next Top Model. And then get some cheese doodles and call first dibs on the couch.

Casting Note:  Calling all Inventors!  Made in the USA, a USA Network series, is looking for unknown inventors and entrepreneurs to participate in various challenges and competitions that inventors deal with to get their products to market.  The final winner gets a chance to develop their invention and win a one year sales contract with Home Shopping Network to sell their product.  Made in the USA will be conducting open casting calls in four major cities beginning March 18 in Chicago and while sending in a videotape will suffice, showing up in person is always better.  For more information on location of the casting calls, go to www.usanetwork.com

Court TV: The Investigation Channel has announced three uppings: Deborah Gibson to VP/Production Finance; Andrew Siegel to Senior Director/Programming Research; and Daniel Sze to VP/Information Technology, as well as Emil Freund to SVP/IT.

ACME Television, LLC announced the appointment of Steve Bailey as VP/Promotions, overseeing all marketing, promotion and production efforts for the station group. ACME Television, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of ACME Communications with nine O&O stations.

The Bravo Group has named Mark Sadowski as CFO and Mercedes Colon as VP/Director of Human Resources. Mark was previously with Bates North America as SVP and Controller.  Mercedes’ responsibilities will cover managing the HR team, office services and other aspects of human resources.  She was previously the Consultant and Owner of HR Business Solutions.  Both Mark and Mercedes will report directly to Gary Bassell, Chairman & CEO.

Welcome home Martha.

Wednesday, March 2, 2005. FINAL Ratings for all Networks – program averages.  Source: Nielsen Media Research. 

NBC     8.3/13   Dateline 7.8/12, West Wing 7.1/11, L&O 9.9/16

FOX     8.0/12   That 70’s Show 4.6/7, That 70’s Show 5.1/8, American Idol 14.4/21, The Simple Life 8.0/12

ABC     7.7/12   Lost 11.3/18, Alias 6.3/9, Wife Swap 5.1/8

CBS     6.9/11   60 Minutes 5.3/8, King of Queens 6.2/9, Yes Dear 6.6/10, CSI: NY 9.0/15

UPN     3.0/5    America’s Next Top Model #4 [p] 3.4/5, Road to Stardom 2.6/4

WB      2.1/3    Smallville 2.8/4, Jack & Bobby 1.3/2

A18-49                 Fox 5.9/15, ABC 4.7/12, NBC 3.8/10, CBS 3.2/8, UPN 2.0/5, WB 1.4/4

Friday Fun Fact:  Most plant pollen is highly inflammable. It will ignite and explode when placed on an extremely hot surface. In the early days of modern theater, artificial lightning was produced by throwing pollen grains of the club moss onto a hot shovel.  Worth the price of admission, I’d say.

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1933 – At the nadir of the great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as President of the United States. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” he challenges in his inaugural address. He also outlines his plan for a “New Deal,” a broad set of government initiatives that redefine the relationship between government and its citizenry.
 
Answer to Yesterday’s TV Trivia Question: The show is listed as a western and the description is a “motorcycle-riding sheriff of questionable character, who was killed in Season #1 so he could be replaced the next season by his more heroic identical twin brother.” The series never saw Season #2.  What was the name of this 1970-71 series on NBC was not renewed.  JAMES GARNER as NICHOLS.  Kudos to: Gloria Price-CBS News/NY; Rick Clifford-R&R Prods/NJ; Don Cole-Fletcher Martin/Atlanta; Jon Borowski-NCC/Atlanta; Steve Morabito-WJHG/Panama City; Ray Schiel-Start Cooking Natural’y/LA; Steve Leblang-FX/LA; Dave Sikula-Yahoo/Sunnyvale; Jean Horton Garner-Thomas Horton Assoc/Ojai; and internationally from Bob Clark-TV 3 Network/Moscow.

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

Today’s TV Trivia Question:  46.5 million people tuned in to see this broadcast airing on simultaneously on NBC and CBS. The event was hosted by Charles Collingwood.  What ware all these people watching?  (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.)

Later — Cyn
03.04.05  5:07am

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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  MARCH 4, 2005:

ABC              8 Simple Rules, 8 Simple Rules, Hope & Faith, Less than Perfect, 20/20
CBS              Joan of Arcadia, NUMB3RS [r], CSI [r]
FOX              Fox Special: Assembling ROBOTS; Bernie Mac Show, Jonny Zero
NBC              Dateline, Law & Order: SVU [r], Law & Order: Trial by Jury
PAX              America’s Talented E/I, MGM Movie: A Dry White Season
UPN              Road to Stardom [r], America’s Next Top Model [r]
WB               What I Like About You [r], What I Like About You [r], Reba [r], Blue Collar TV [r]
TELE             Rumbo al Mundial: Mexico v. Colombia (730-930p), Anita no te rajes, La Mujer en el Espejo
UNIV             Rubi, Amor Real, Hospital El Paisa, La Escuelita