Good morning. It’s Friday, September 10, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing.
For its evening of premieres, Fox Wednesday was awarded with top dog status posting an overall 3.1/9 A18-49 according to Nielsen Media Research. Close second from NBC with a 3.0/9, thanks to two repeats of Law & Order (9-11pm), and an original of NBC’s newest crime drama, Hawaii at 8pm (2.4/7). Despite the original ep from NBC at 8pm, the winner for the hour was Fox’s premieres of That 70’s Show (3.9/13) and Quints (3.1/9), followed by ABC’s back to back My Wife & Kids (2.4/8). At 9pm both NBC and Fox delivered an 8 share, with Fox’s hour behind NBC’ by 2 tenths of a rating point [Bernie Mac 3.2/9 leading NBC, Method & Red 2.2/6, dipping behind NBC]. At 10p NBC was way out in front with a repeat of L&O earning a 3.7/11 over #2 CBS’ 48 Hours 2.1/6, and ABC’s Peter Jennings Reporting 1.3/4.
This Weekend’s Premieres: Fox Saturday: Cops, America’s Most Wanted WB Sunday: Steve Harvey’s Big Time, Charmed, Jack & Bobby
New Series Premiering Monday in Syndication: (check local listings) Home Delivery The Insider The Larry Elder Show Pat Croce: Moving In The Tony Danza Show
Casting / Development / Production:
Warner Bros. is busily casting its feature film based on the television series Dukes of Hazard. In the roles of Luke and Bo are Johnny Knoxville (MTV’s Jackass) and Seann William Scott. Currently under consideration for Daisy Duke is Jessica Simpson.
The rumors abounded and are now confirmed – Noah Wylie will leave the cast of ER at the end of the new season. Wylie is the only original cast member left on the ever evolving series.
Comedian Dave Attell has signed a development deal with Fox for a sitcom next season.
A pilot on the development desk since last spring has received an order for a dozen episodes by Fox. Point Pleasant (Original / 20th) a primetime soap with a mysterious edge, is from writer Marti Noxon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). According to Variety, the show has not been officially added to the midseason roster, but is likely to be ready by then.
USA has ordered up a 4th season for its primetime original series Dead Zone (Lions Gate / Paramount Int’l TV), with a 22 ep order. New episodes are scheduled to begin in November.
CNBC likes what it sees with Dennis Miller and has signed him through 2005.
IFC has ordered another season of Dinner for Five with host Jon Favreau. The new eps are set to launch in early 2005.
Discovery Channel is preparing to launch a new original series, No Opportunity Wasted (NOW), hosted by Phil Keoghan (Amazing Race) on October 3 at 8pm. The show is based on the simple lifestyle principles of Keoghan: Live while you still have the chance – and do it now. Each episode finds people attempting to create a once-in-a-lifetime experiences previously thought unattainable, with 3 days and $3000 bucks.
Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of August 23-29, 2004 ranked by HH Rtg Wheel of Fortune (King World) 7.3 AA Jeopardy (King World) 6.0 AA Oprah (King World) 5.9 AA / 5.9 GAA Everybody Loves Raymond (King World) 5.9 AA / 7.4 GAA Seinfeld (Sony) 5.5 AA / 6.5 GAA Friends (Warner Bros.) 5.0 AA / 5.9 GAA Entertainment Tonight (Paramount) 4.4 AA / 4.5 GAA Judge Judy (Paramount) 4.3 AA / 6.1 GAA Dr. Phil (King World) 3.3 AA / 3.3 GAA Millionaire (Buena Vista) 3.3 AA / 3.5 GAA Source Nielsen Media Research
Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of August 23-29, 2004 ranked by A18-49 Seinfeld (Sony) 3.7 AA / 4.3 GAA Everybody Loves Raymond (King World) 3.6 AA / 4.4 GAA Friends (Warner Bros.) 3.4 AA / 3.9 GAA Oprah (King World) 2.5 AA / 2.6 GAA Wheel of Fortune (King World) 2.2 AA That 70’s Show (Carsey-Werner) 2.2 AA / 2.8 GAA Will & Grace (Warner Bros.) 2.0 AA / 2.4 GAA Entertainment Tonight (Paramount) 1.9 AA / 1.9 GAA Jeopardy (King World) 1.7 AA King of the Hill (20th) 1.7 AA / 1.9 GAA Source Nielsen Media Research
The family of actor John Ritter have filed a wrongful death and medical malpractice suit against the hospital where Ritter was taken when he fell ill nearly one year ago on September 12. In court papers filed yesterday, the family alleges the Provident St. Joseph Medical Center misdiagnosed “his condition and as a consequence, failing to provide proper treatment in connection with an ascending aortic aneurysm that would have saved his life.” The suit is looking for general damages, wrongful death damages and medical and funeral expenses.
Top 5 Broadcast Spanish Language Primetime Programs for the week of August 30 – September 5, 2004 ** UNIV Amarte Es Mi Pecado (M-F 9p) 23.3 NHTI HH Rtg UNIV Mariana de la Noche (M-F 8p) 22.6 NHTI HH Rtg UNIV Don Francisco Presenta (Wed 10p) 18.9 NHTI HH Rtg UNIV Casos Vida R: Ed.Esp. (Tue 10p) 17.8 NHTI HH Rtg UNIV Mujer de Madera (M-F 7p) 17.4 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 have changed for shows that air Monday-Friday to include the 5 day average instead of listing each individual weekday.
Top 5 Broadcast English Language Primetime Programs in Hispanic TV Homes for the week of August 30 – September 5, 2004 CBS Latin Grammy Awards (Wed 8p) 5.1 NHTI HH Rtg ABC NFL Pre-Season Football Special (Mon 8p) 4.9 NHTI HH Rtg NBC Father of the Pride (Tue 9p) 4.9 NHTI HH Rtg NBC Fear Factor (Mon 8p) 4.6 NHTI HH Rtg FOX Trading Spouses (Tue 9p) 4.6 NHTI HH Rtg FOX Trading Spouses (Tue 8p) 4.1 NHTI HH Rtg FOX Renovate Family Preview (Wed 8p) 3.8 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 August 30 – September 5, 2004 – highest rated primetime network programs in African American TV homes according to Nielsen Media Research ABC NFL Pre-Season Football (Mon 8p) 11.3 HH Rtg FOX Renovate Family Preview (Wed 8p) 10.6 HH Rtg UPN Girlfriends (Mon 930p) 10.5 HH Rtg UPN Half & Half (Mon 830p) 10.4 HH Rtg UPN Girlfriends (Mon 9p) 10.1 HH Rtg UPN Eve (Tue 830p) 9.7 HH Rtg UPN One on One (Mon 8p) 9.1 HH Rtg ABC Pre-Season Showcase (Mon 8p) 9.0 HH Rtg ABC My Wife & Kids (Wed 830p) 8.9 HH Rtg FOX Fox Movie Special (Thu 8p) 8.3 HH Rtg Source Nielsen Media Research
The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously yesterday on issues and new rules concerning kid targeted educational and informational programming requirements for broadcasters on their digital channels as well as the broadcaster obligation to protect kids from ‘excessive and inappropriate’ commercial messaging. The following is a breakdown of the rules for both analog and digital broadcasters:
Air a minimum of three hours per week of core educational programming: Analog channels already operate under this rule and now so must digital broadcasters. For broadcasters who multicast each 24/7 digital channel will be required to air at least three hours of core programming. There is an allowance for multicast channels that do not air 24/7, which says the broadcaster has the flexibility to decide ‘whether to air core programming on a single or multiple channels provided that at least three hours per week are shown on their main channel.’ Further more the educational shows must air on non-subscription channels in order to qualify as core programming.
Pre-emption of core educational programming: To qualify as core educational programming, the programming must be regularly scheduled, and here is the new part; core programming cannot be preempted more than 10% of the time. There is a provision here that allows the broadcaster to move a program, ‘to another of a digital station’s programming streams,’ and won’t be considered preempted, ‘as long as the program airs at the same time and the station provides adequate information about the move on both the original and alternative program stream.’
The commission amended their rules for on-air identification for qualifying programming. Now both analog and digital broadcasters are required to display the educational/informational (E/I) on the screen throughout the duration of such core programming. The commission believes that the E/I identifier will ‘help parents and other interested parties locate programming for the child audience.’
It was decided that digital channels must follow the same guidelines as analog channels when it comes to the issue of advertising limitations for programming targeted to kids 12 and under. Those rules restrict the amount of advertising to 12 minutes per hour during the week and 10 minutes per hour during the weekend.
New to the pile of rules for analog, digital and cable channels, is that website addresses that are shown on-screen during a show (in a billboard, a crawl etc.), is permissible only if the website, ‘offers a substantial amount of bona fide program-related or other noncommercial content, is not primarily intended for commercial purposes, and the page viewers are first directed to on the site is not used at all for commercial purposes and including links to any other page with commercial material.’
The commission acknowledged that interactive links to commercial websites within kid programming is a concern for the future, but did not issue any guidelines/rules concerning this topic believing, ‘…such links at this stage in the digital transition as this technology is not yet in use in children’s programming.’
Abbe Raven has been named President of A&E Network, USA and Dan Davids has been named President, The History Channel, USA. The announcement was made today by Nick Davatzes, President/CEO, A&E Television Networks. Abbe served as EVP/GM of A&E Network since October 2002. Dan has been EVP/GM of The History Channel since October 2002.
Carat Americas announced Sam Recenello, its EVP/CFO has been appointed to two major fiscal positions within the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA). Sam has been elected to the Board of Directors of the AAAA Insurance Company, Ltd. which manages workers’ compensation benefits for all agency members of the AAAA, and has been appointed a member of the AAAA’s Investment and Audit Committee.
Jonathan H. Anschell has been named EVP/General Counsel, CBS Television. The announcement was made by Leslie Moonves, Co-President/Co-COO, Viacom and Chairman, CBS. Jonathan will report to Moonves, succeeding Susan Holliday, who is retiring. He serves as as CBS’s chief legal officer and will be involved in all facets of broadcasting, network and syndication activities, with principal offices in LA.
Wednesday, September 8, 2004. Fast National 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
NBC 7.1/12 Hawaii 5.9/10, Law & Order [r] 7./2/11, Law & Order [r] 8.3/14
CBS 5.5/9 60 Minutes 7.1/12, King of Queens [r] 5.0/8, CBS Fall Preview 4.3/7, 48 Hours [r] 4.7/8
FOX 4.1/7 That 70’s Show [p] 4.9/8, Quintuplets [p] 3.9/6, Bernie Mac [p] 4.2/7, Method & Red [p] 3.2/5
ABC 3.7/6 My Wife & Kids [r] 4.7/8, My Wife & Kids [r] 4.9/8, Drew Carey 3.6/6, Drew Carey 3.7/6, Peter Jennings Reporting 2.7/5
UPN 1.8/3 Amish in the City 2.2/4, The Player 1.5/2
A18-49 Fox 3.1/9, NBC 3.0/9, CBS 2.2/6, ABC 2.1/6, UPN 1.2/3, WB 1.0/3
A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION
CONGRATULATIONS SPIKE ON YOUR RECORD-BREAKING RATINGS!
Jerry Bruckheimer’s C.S.I. scored 9 of the Top 10 telecasts EVER on Spike — series high 3.4 HH Rtg!
COLD CASE Bruckheimer’s police procedural hit is currently available exclusively from Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution
Source: NTI Explorer, Spike Ranks=8/11/03-9/08/04, HH Cvg. Rtg. Excludes WWE. Series high=9/08/04, 9pm.
Friday Fun Fact: Only three of the first presidents of the United States had middle names. It was rare, in fact, for anyone to be graced with more than one given name until about 1750.
The History Channelpresents This Day in History: 1977: Fifteen years short of its bicentennial, the guillotine fades into history. First used on 25 April 1792, when the new device decapitated a condemned highwayman, the guillotine enjoyed its peak of notoriety during the French Revolution, when King Louis XVI of France, Queen Marie Antoinette, countless nobles, and thousands of innocent people went to the guillotine. Largely lost in the story of the device is the fact that its inventor, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, saw his creation as a radically democratic and humane way to execute criminals, far surer and less painful than hanging. The last person to die in the guillotine, in Marseille, was Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian immigrant who had been convicted of murder.
Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question: What do all of these shows have in common: Johnny Ringo, Mod Squad, Dynasty, Amos Burke: Secret Agent, Charlie’s Angels, and S.W.A.T.? ALL FROM AARON SPELLING. Kudos to: Linda McLoof-ABC/NY; Christina Owen-Millennia 3 Comm/Atlanta; Steven Barker-WKBD/Detroit; Susan Levit-SRL Prods/NY; Patti Clements-KXRM, KXTU/Colorado Springs; Gretchen Brady-KDAF/Dallas; Alan Rosenfeld-Southeast Media Group/Telluride; Evan Weinstein-The Amazing Race/LA; Susan Nessanbaum Goldberg-Soap/Net/LA; Carol Kane-CAM Systems-Saratoga; Stuart McFaul-Big Picture Prods/San Francisco.
Today’s Trivia Question: When hidden cameras were installed at New Orleans’ Brennan’s Restaurant, what coffee were they testing with the patrons? (click 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.)
A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV
Investigate this!
Court TV: The Investigation Channel’s Ratings success story
August brought record-breaking ratings!
Highest Rated Most Watched Month in Court TV History: Women 25-54 Click here for source
Spot on ROI: Return On Investigation
Later — Cyn
Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis 09/10/04 5:24am To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change a subscription for any Cynopsis edition: www.cynopsis.com Archived Editions: www.Cynopsis.com Cynopsis Ad Sales 203-526-8978 Press Release Fax: 203-381-9318 All outgoing e-mails are scanned and sent out virus free.
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT: SEPTEMBER 10, 2004:
ABC College Football: Florida State at Miami CBS Joan of Arcadia, JAG, CSI FOX The Complex: Malibu; The Next Great Champ [r] NBC Dateline, Medical Investigation PAX On the Cover, Balderdash, MGM Movie: Overboard UPN Star Trek Enterprise [r], Amish in the City [r] WB What I Like About You [r], Grounded for Life [r], Reba [r], Reba [r] TELE Prisonera, Gitanas, Te Voy a Ensenar a Querer UNIV Mariana de la Noche, Amarte es mi Pecado, La Escuelita VIP
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A Cynopsis Message From ITN Wednesday April 22, 2026 IN THE NEWS Peacock’s ad-free Premium Plus tier is coming to Roku Premium Subscriptions through a new deal between NBCUniversal and Roku. The top-tier plan remains ad-free except for live sports and includes offline downloads and access to geo-targeted local TV stations. It’s […]
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM PREMION Tuesday April 21, 2026 IN THE NEWS Midterm spending for the 2026 cycle is on track to top $10 billion – just 8% shy of the 2024 presidential cycle ($11.2 billion) and 16% higher than the 2022 midterms ($8.9 billion), according to Kinetiq’s The […]
