CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

05/14/04

Good morning. It’s Friday, May 14, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing.

Fox will launch a new reality series on June 7 called, Seriously, Dude, I’m Gay.  In this show, two straight guys try to pass themselves off as gay.  In the show, the two guys will be judged by a panel of gay people who will decide which of the two straight guys they believe is actually gay and therefore wins the cash prize of $50k.  Raising a red flag on the potential of this series is GLAAD, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, who allows they have not seen the show yet, but based on the premise it could be potentially offensive and the show “speaks to negative stereotypes.”  Fox has said they will make an advance copy for the show available for GLAAD to view.

ABC’s Super Millionaire is scheduled to return this sweep beginning on Sunday May 16 at 9pm with a five night event.  That event has been extended to seven nights with extra editions airing on Tuesday May 25 and Wednesday May 26, both at 10p.

Next week is the Broadcasters Upfront Week – here’s the schedule:
Monday – NBC
Tuesday – WB, ABC,Telemundo, Fox Sports en Espanol
Wednesday – Univision, CBS, ESPN Desportes
Thursday – UPN, Fox
On the morning of their upfront, Cynopsis will provide you what it thinks the network will pick up and what their primetime schedules for the new season will look like.  Then the following day, you’ll find their confirmed schedules.

Mark your calendars – Six Feet Under returns for a fourth season on June 13/HBO.

And on Showtime – George Lopez will get his own standup special on May 29 called Why Are Your Crying?, using much of the same material as found in his book, Why Are Your Crying? My Long Hard Look at Life, Love & Laughter, published by Simon & Schuster which comes out the same day.

By the time you read this, and by the time I’ve finished writing it, Letterman will have finished his 4am taping this morning of tonights 11:35pm show.  And you though YOU had to get up early this morning? The three guests for this morning’s show were actress Amy Sedaris, rat expert Robert Sullivan, and musical guests Modest Mouse.

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of April 26 – May 2, 2004 ranked by HH Rtg
Wheel of Fortune (King World)                 8.4 AA  
Jeopardy (King World)                   7.0 AA
Oprah (King World)                      6.5 AA / 6.6 GAA
Seinfeld (Sony)                         5.8 AA / 6.9 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                  5.5 AA / 6.4 GAA
Dr. Phil (King World)                   5.4 AA / 5.4 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)    5.3 AA / 5.9 GAA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)       5.2 AA / 5.3 GAA
Judge Judy (Paramount)          5.0 AA / 7.6 GAA
Millionaire (BVT)                       3.6 AA / 3.8 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of April 26 – May 2, 2004 ranked by A18-49
Seinfeld (Sony)                         3.9 AA / 4.6 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                  3.7 AA / 4.3 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)    2.8 AA / 3.0 GAA
Oprah (King World)                      2.5 AA / 2.5 GAA
Wheel of Fortune (King World)           2.3 AA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)       2.3 AA / 2.3 GAA
That 70’s Show (Carsey-Werner)  2.2 AA / 2.7 GAA
Dr. Phil (King World)                   2.0 AA / 2.0 GAA
Jeopardy (King World)                   2.0 AA
Will & Grace (Warner Bros.)             2.0 AA / 2.3 GAA
King of the Hill (20th)                 2.0 AA / 2.2 GAA
Judge Judy (Paramount)          1.9 AA / 2.8 GAA
King of Queens ((Sony)                  1.6 AA / 1.9 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Top 5 Broadcast Spanish Language Primetime Programs for the week of May 3 – 9, 2004
UNIV    Bajo La Misma Piel (Wed 9p)             22.6 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Mariana de la Noche (Tue 8p)            22.3 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Mariana de la Noche (Wed 8p)            22.3 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Bajo La Misma Piel (Tue 9p)             22.0 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Bajo La Misma Piel (Mon 9p)             21.6 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Mariana de la Noche (Mon 8p)            21.5 NHTI HH Rtg
Source Nielsen Media Research
Note NHTI Ratings are based on 10.57 million Hispanic TV Homes

Top 5 Broadcast English Language Primetime Programs in Hispanic TV Homes for the week of May 3 – 9, 2004
NBC     Friends (Thu 9p)                                16.9 NHTI HH Rtg
NBC     Friends (Thu 8p)                                13.2 NHTI HH Rtg
NBC     ER (Thu 10p)                            8.3 NHTI HH Rtg
NBC     NBC Movie of the Week (Mon 9p)          7.8 NHTI HH Rtg
Fox     American Idol (Tue 8p)                  6.8 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 May 3 – 9, 2004 – highest rated primetime network programs in African American TV homes according to Nielsen Media Research
FOX     American Idol (Tue 8p)                  17.8 HH Rtg
FOX     American Idol (Wed 830p)                16.9 HH Rtg
UPN     Eve (Mon 830p)                          15.5 HH Rtg
UPN     Girlfriends (Mon 9p)                    15.3 HH Rtg
ABC     My Wife and Kids (Wed 8p)               14.4 HH Rtg
UPN     Half & Half (Mon 930p)                  13.9 HH Rtg
UPN     The Parkers (Mon 8p)                    13.5 HH Rtg
NBC     Friends (Thu 9p)                                13.1 HH Rtg
ABC     My Wife and Kids (Wed 830p)             12.9 HH Rtg
UPN     All of Us       (Tue 830p)                      12.1 HH Rtg
Source Nielsen Media Research

Yeah Rupert!

Another American Idol night, another favorite voted out, and another win for Fox with an overall 8.1/22 A18-49 rating for the night according to Nielsen Media Reserach.  ABC was second for the night thanks to The Bachelor, delivering an overall 4.6/12, followed by NBC 3.7/10, CBS 3.2/8, WB 2.1/6, UPN 1.0/3.  For the record, Fox ran off pattern last night – That 70’s Show aired from 8-8:44pm, followed by 10 minutes of the movie preview The Day After Tomorrow.  American Idol began at 8:54 and ended at 10p.  So at this point, we’ll look at solid hour to hour comparisons.  At 8pm Fox was in front with a 6.1/18, while ABC’s back to back My Wife & Kids was #2 with a 3.3/10.  The Mentalist on NBC was 4th with a 2.1/8 behind CBS’ 2.5/8, but he probably predicted that.  At 9pm American Idol delivered a most respectable 10.1/25 A81-49 rating, and as usual did better among the women: 12.5/28 W18-49 and 11.0/28 W18-34.  ABC’s Bachelor: The Women Tell All was #2 with a 4.1/10 (also doing better in the female demos: 6.1/14 W18-49 and 7.1/18 W18-34). At 10p ABC was no longer the bridesmaid, and won the hour with The Bachelor’s 6.1/16, followed by NBC with Law & Order’s 5.5/14.  CBS’ Carol Burnett special earned a 3.5/9 among A18-49, a 4.6/11 with A25-54, and a 10.3/20 among A50+.

Sony Pictures Classics has signed its co-Presidents for another five year term.  Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, along with their former partner Marcie Bloom, formed SPC in 1991, which now acquires and distributes independent films from the US and around the world.

Tom Vodick has been named Mgr/Creative Services for WGN/Chicago.  The announcement was made by Joanne Stern, Director/Creative Services for the bcst station.  Tom has been with the station since Feb 2003 when he came on as a writer/producer.

Marianne Cracchiolo Mago has been upped to SVP/Development at Warner Bros. Television. Marianne steps in where Leonard Goldstein once sat before he was upped to EVP/Development.  She will report to Goldstein.

If you are continuing to receive multiple copies, this problem should be cleared up by Monday.  Your patience is appreciated.

Wednesday, May 12, 2004. Fast Affiliate Household 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     10.8/17 That 70’s Show (8-8:44p) 6.3/11, Movie Preview: The Day After Tomorrow (844-854p) 9.1/15, American Idol (854-10p) 13.9/21
                Due to FOX Prime airing out of pattern, Fast Nationals for FOX are approximate.

CBS     7.4/12  60 Minutes II 6.7/11, The King of Queens 6.5/10, Everybody Loves Raymond 6.6/10, The Carol Burnett Show: Let’s Bump Up the Lights 9.1/14

NBC     7.3/12  NBC Special: The Mentalist 4.4/8, The West Wing 7.1/11, Law & Order 10.5/17

ABC     7.0/11  My Wife and Kids 6.0/11, My Wife and Kids [r] 6.1/10, The Bachelor: The Women Tell All 6.6/10, The Bachelor 8.5/14

WB      2.8/5   Smallville 2.9/5, Angel 2.7/4

UPN     1.7/3   Star Trek: Enterprise 2.3/4, America’s Next Top Model [r] 1.2/2

A18-49  FOX 8.1/22, ABC 4.6/12, NBC 3.7/10, CBS 3.2/8, WB 2.1/6, UPN 1.0/3

A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION

Friday Fun Fact:   A young lady named Ellen Church convinced Boeing Air Transport that her nursing skills and love of flying would qualify her to assist with the passengers and emergencies. She became the first known stewardess.

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1853 – Gail Borden applied for a patent for condense milk.

Answer to yesterday’s Trivia Question: Who uses an Aristo model watch?  60 MINUTES.  Kudos to:  Marc Wollis-Golf Channel/Orlando; Tracy Pruzan-CNBC/NY; Janet Flanagan-King World/Atlanta; Julie Taylor-USA Today/Atlanta; Tim Olsen-Media First Int’l/Minneapolis; Brian Dozer-KING/Seattle; Richard Storrs-Creative Television Mktg/Burbank; Mark Rosenberg-KCLV/Las Vegas; Stan Justice-Litton Ent/Manhattan Beach.

Today’s Trivia Question: In TV-ese, this term refers to the uncermonious deleting of regular or recurring program characters, without explanation or future mention.  What is the term? (click here 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
05/14/04  5:29am
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2004

COURT TV:       Forensic Fridays
ABC             George Lopez, George Lopez [r], Hope & Faith [Two Part Season Finale], Hope & Faith [Two Part Season Finale], 20/20
CBS             Joan of Arcadia, JAG, Cold Case
FOX             Fox Movie: Little Nicky
NBC             Frasier [season finale – R], Dateline
PAX             MGM Night at the Movies: Man in the Moon, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             UPN Movie Friday: Angel Eyes
WB              Reba [season finale], Reba [r], Reba [r], Reba [r]
TELE            Prisonera, El Alma Herida, Mujeres Apasionadas
UNIV            Mariana de la Noche, Bajo la Misma Piel, La Esquelita VIP