CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

08/09/04

Good morning. It’s Monday, August 9, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing.

They’re baaaack!  It seems young men are watching TV again.  According to this morning’s NY Times, citing data from Nielsen Media Research, for the month of July 2004, an average of 25.8% of M18-34 were watching primetime, up from 24.7% a year ago, and on par with the numbers from 2002.  While some will argue last year’s numbers were simply wrong; Nielsen says they stand by last year’s data that fewer men were tuning in, and they stand by this year’s data that says they’re back in front of their sets at night.  Among the big draws this July – poker on any number of cable nets, and Comedy Central’s David Chappelle.

Premiering Tonight:  On the Cover on PAX TV at 8pm
Final Episode Tonight:  For Love or Money on NBC at 9p

Bravo is gearing up for another reality show, this one called Situation: Comedy.  They are looking for would-be sitcom writers or writing teams. Got a great sitcom idea? Got a great sitcom script?  Check out http://www.bravotv.com/Situation:_Comedy/ for rules and application (due by September 18).  Five best are flown to LA for pitch meetings, best two developed into 15m presentations that air on Bravo. Viewers vote – winner receives a one year exclusive rep deal with CAA or WMA, and $25k in cash. And the whole shebang will be recorded for Bravo’s reality series, slated for 2005.

CBS has another win on Thursday night earning an overall 4.0/13 A18-49 rating according to Nielsen Media Research. The big win was for a repeat of CSI at 9pm averaging a 4.4/13, while the live episode of Big Brother drew a 3.6/12 (doing much better among W18-34 with a 4.2/14).  Blue Collar TV on the WB at 8p found a 1.9/7 A18-49 rating while showing more promise among the young set — 2.2/8 W12-34. Studio 7 at 9pm on the WB earned an 0.8/3 A18-49. And Primetime Thursday on ABC at 10p was #2 for th4e amount amount A18-49 delivering a 2.5/8, behind CBS’ Without a Trace 3.9/12.

Hoping to add a little extra spark to North Shore, Fox has added Shannon Doherty to the cast. Her first ep will be on September 20. Doherty will appear in three eps, with a potential for more if all goes well, per Variety.  She plays the long lost bitchy sister of Brooke Burns’ character.

Foreign film and TV sales distribution company Acme Entertainment, has secured  the exclusive story rights to the life of mob boss Sam Giancana, from his daughter Francine.  Conversations continue with a studio for production to commence in 2005, with an eye toward a long-form, multiple night and multiple hour mini-series with a budget in the neighborhood of $60m.

In Development/Production/Casting:

• FX drama pilot Thief starring Andre Braugher, has added Linda Hamilton and Michael Rooker to the cast. Braugher is the ‘head thief’ while Hamilton is the fence. Rooker is a cop not faring well at the force.  Other cast members include Mae Whitman, Malik Yoba and Will Yun Lee, per Hollywood Reporter
• Comedy Central has ordered up a pilot of a is looking at a new reality series The Con (Skyler Stone/Benderspink Prods), starring Skyler Stone and his attempts at setting up and pulling off various stunts and pranks.
• Plenty of guest appearances being booked for fall series – Freddie Prinze Jr. guests on Boston Legal, as will Elizabeth Mitchell; Aidan Quinn on Third Watch
• A 13-ep series is being pitched to various cable and broadcast networks – Ahead-line News is a news program with four psychics predicting what the news will be, per Variety. Okay, this isn’t for everybody.  The psychics on board are twins Terry and Linda Jamison, mother/daughter psychics Micki Dahne and Jill Dahne.  The show will include all the usual components of an already-happened newscast – anchors, over the shoulder graphics, correspondents and a ticker running across the bottom of the screen. Nets being pitched include Lifetime, Oxygen and WE (all female anchors), and Sci Fi, among others.

Weekend Box Office Estimates: August 6-8, 2004
Collateral (DreamWorks)         $24.4 million – opening weekend
The Village (Buena Vista)               $16.6 million – 2 wk total $85.7m
The Bourne Supremacy (Universal)        $14.1 million – 3 wk total $124.3m
The Manchurian Candidate (Paramount)   $10.8 million – 2 wk total $38.5m
Little Black Book (Sony/Revolution)     $7.0 million – opening weekend
I, Robot (Fox)                          $6.3 million – 4 wk total $126.7m
Spider-Man 2 (Sony)                     $5.5 million – 6 wk total $354.6m
Harold & Kumar … (New Line)           $3.2 million – 2 wk total $12.3m
The Cinderella Story (Warner Bros.)     $3.0 million – 4 wk total $47.1m
Catwoman (Warner Bros.)         $2.9 million – 3 wk total $36.1m
Source: Box Office Mojo

African American television homes in the US represent 12,870,000 households. Here are the rankings for the week of July 26 – August 1, 2004 – highest rated primetime network programs in African American TV homes according to Nielsen Media Research
FOX     Trading Spouses (Tue 8p)             12.3 HH Rtg
UPN     Half & Half (Mon 930p)                  11.1 HH Rtg
UPN     Girlfriends (Mon 9p)                       11.1 HH Rtg
ABC     My Wife & Kids (Wed 8p)               10.8 HH Rtg
UPN     Half & Half (Mon 830p)                   9.9 HH Rtg
UPN     One on One (Mon 8p)                     8.7 HH Rtg
CBS     CSI (Thu 9p)                                   8.5 HH Rtg
FOX     Method & Red (Wed 930p)             8.4 HH Rtg
UPN     Eve (Tue 830p)                               8.1 HH Rtg
CBS     CBS Sunday Movie (Sun 9p)          7.9 HH Rtg
Source Nielsen Media Research

Correction:  Jim Sheridan (not John) and his daughter Naomi Sheridan are developing a series for NBC and Paramount Network TV about a very Irish family running a restaurant in the US. Naomi Sheridan will write the script, and both Sheridans will exec prod.

Greg Neal has been named VP/Creative Services for Scripps Network’s Shop At Home Network.  Greg will oversee on-air promotion and overall creative design for the electronic retailer. Neal makes the move to Shop At Home from HGTV and more recently Fine Living, both Scripps Networks.

CNBC Europe has appointed Mick Buckley President/Managing Director. He will be responsible for all aspects of operations and strategic initiatives including increasing distribution, expanding locally produced European programming, extending live coverage from the leading European financial centers and developing additional local-language affiliates. Mick replaces Rick Cotton, who recently was named EVP/General Counsel of NBC Universal. 

Gwynne Thomas has been named EVP/Programming for Buena Vista Productions (BVP). She reports to Laurie Younger, President/Buena Vista Worldwide Television and will oversee development, current programming, and production for BVP. She will oversee the development of new programming for syndication, cable, and network television, as well as Buena Vista’s existing slate of shows.

Thursday, August 5, 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

CBS     7.8/14  Big Brother 6.3/12, CSI 9.3/16, Without a Trace 7.9/14

FOX     2.8/5   Movie:  Little Nicky 2.85

NBC     4.1/7   Will & Grace 3.8/7, Will & Grace 4.0/7, Last Comic Standing 4.7/8, ER 3.8/7

ABC     4.7/8   Extreme Makeover 4.0/7, Extreme Makeover 4.5/8, Primetime Thursday 5.6/10

UPN     3.1/5   WWE Smackdown 3.1/5

WB      1.9/3   Blue Collar TV 2.75, Reba 2.1/4, Studio 7 1.4/2

A18-49  CBS 4.0/13, NBC 2.8/9, ABC 2.2/7, Fox 1.8/6, UPN 1.7/5, WB 1.2/4

A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION

Source: NHI Explorer, 7/26/04-8/1/04 or as noted.  HH Cvg Rtg.  Wk rank ties Top 20 Cntdwn.  Movie rank based on 000s.  Runs based on ad-supported cable.

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1936:  African American track star Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal of the 1936 Olympic Games, held in Berlin.  Adolf Hitler intended the Games to be a showcase for his grandiose vision of the German Third Reich.  Instead, they are remembered as much for the accomplishments of Owens.  Owens’s fourth medal, in the 4×100-meter relay, represented a new world record.  Earlier, Owens tied a world record in the 100 meters and broke world records in the 200 meters and broad jump.

Answer to Friday’s Trivia Question: What primetime tv character collects porcelain kitties and action figures? DENNIS FINCH – Just Shoot Me.  Kudos to:  Robert O’Connor-Blair TV Sales/NY; Matt Willence-ITN Networks/NY; Bob Peyton-National Geographic Channel/NY; Jim Daley-NCC/Atlanta; Brian Nugent-KPIF/Pocatello; Doug Vander Hoek-KYOU/Ottumwa; Sally Shireman-WCIU/Chicago; Heather Floore-KTVD/Denver; Robin Fuller-KFXO/Bend OR; Joe Feldman-Effective Media Sales/LA;  Barbara Busfield-GRB Ent/Sherman Oaks; Lucy Denny-Gardner/King World/LA; Karen Markham-YES TV/Anchorage; Caroline Godin-Ellis Ent/Toronto.

A MESSAGE FROM COMCAST SPOTLIGHT

Comcast Spotlight now has the ability to segment markets both geographically and demographically. Adtag and Adcopy enable advertisers to be more targeted than they could ever be with broadcast. Comcast Spotlight – Spot cable finally delivers. For more information click here.

Today’s Trivia Question: On China Beach, when they referred to a newbie at the unit as an FNG, what did they mean?  (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.)

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

Later — Cyn

Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis
08/09/04  5:21am
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A MESSAGE FROM CYNOPSIS AD SALES

WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 2004:

ABC             Hall of Fame Game:  Denver Broncos vs. Washington Redskins
CBS             Still Standing [r], Yes Dear [r], Raymond [r], 2-12 Men [r], CSI Miami [r]
FOX             North Shore, Trading Spouses [r]
NBC             Fear Factor [r], For Love or Money [finale]
PAX             On the Cover [premiere], Balderdash, Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             One on One [r], Half and Half [r], Girlfriends [r], Girlfriends [r]
WB              7th Heaven [r], Summerland [r]
TELE            Prisonera, Gitanas, Protagonistas VIP
UNIV            Mariana de la Noche, Amarte es mi Pecado, Cristina