Cynopsis

12/01/08

Good morning. It’s Monday, December 1, 2008, and this is your first early morning briefing.  

Tonight’s Premieres:
BIO Channel: I Survived at 9p
VH1 Classic: One Hit Wonders at 9p

Final estimates for the November Sweep will be out today and available tomorrow (delayed because of the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend), yet the early expectation is ABC will secure its fourth consecutive November sweep among A18-49 by a small margin. CBS should win among A25-54 and with total viewers while NBC will be in third place followed by FOX and The CW. However, all of the broadcast networks are expected to be down an estimated -9% in viewership compared to the same period in 2007, due in part to losing viewers to heavy political coverage on the cable networks earlier in November.

Bravo surged last Tuesday night as The Real Housewives of Orange County debuted season four at 10p with 1.37 million A18-49 viewers and 1.87 million total viewers. This episode drew in 51% more A18-49 viewers compared to the season three premiere on November 6, 2007 (1.37 million vs. 909,000) and Tuesday’s episode was the highest-rated Real Housewives franchise season premiere ever with both A18-49 and total viewers. Bravo also scored big viewer numbers with The Real Housewives of Atlanta: Watch What Happens Reunion Special at 9p, driving in 2.05 million A18-49 viewers and 2.81 total viewers.

There is news of a person of interest in the murder case of KATV Little Rock anchor Anne Pressley.  Reports indicate the motivation in the killing was murder, and that the suspect – Curtis Lavelle Lance – was not stalking the anchor, reports the New York Times.  This is not the first case involving Vance, he has been charged with other violent crimes in a town a hundred miles outside of Little Rock.  Vance is currently in jail, being held without bail pending trial.

Cincinnati’s low power TV station WBQC-TV has petitioned for new call letters — fittingly, WKRP in Cincinnati.  While there is no Les Nesman, a Johnny Fever or even a Venus Fly Trap, the station does exist and this time as a television station, not a radio station. 

Top 10 Weekend Box Office Estimates: November 28-30, 2008
Four Christmases (Warner Bros./New Line)    $31.7 million – opening week total $46.7m
Bolt (Buena Vista)                                       $26.6 million – 2 wk total $66.9m
Twilight (Summit Entertainment)                  $26.4 million – 2 wk total $119.7m
Quantum of Solace (Sony)                           $19.5 million -3 wk total $142.1m
Australia (Fox)                                            $14.8 million – opening week total $20.0m
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (Paramount/DW) $14.5 million – 4 wk total $159.5m
Transporter 3 (Lionsgate)                            $12.3 million – opening week total $18.5m
Role Models (Universal)                               $5.3 million – 4 wk total $57.9m
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Miramax)    $1.7 million – 4 wk total $5.2m
Milk (Focus Features)                                  $1.4 million – opening week total $1.9m
Source: Box Office Mojo

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM ION TELEVISION

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NBC has an unnamed procedural drama in its development pipeline from writer Frank Spotnitz with actress Gabrielle Union in the lead, reports Variety. The plot is about a detective (Union) who must move quickly to save a person’s life before it is too late. Both Spotnitz and Union jointly created the project with Universal Media Studios set to produce. 

CYNOPSIS DIGITAL – TODAY’S TOP STORY: Spending on retail sites on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday spiked by a combined 2% this year, according to ComScore as users figured out that the same early bird deals could be had online from the comfort of their own homes. (Reports of tramplings by frenzied shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Long Island and a pair of shooting deaths at a Toys “R” Us in Palm Desert, CA helped make the case for staying home.) A number of retail sites including Amazon.com and Target.com buckled under the surge of traffic, according to the AP. Sears.com was down for a total of 2 hours on Friday.  Full edition: CYN DIGITAL.

CYNOPSIS KIDS – TODAY’S TOP STORY:  De Agostini Group has unveiled plans to grow Zodiak Entertainment into a new division that will take De Agostini into the international TV content market, which includes kid/family programming.  The plan is for Zodiak Ent. to continue to acquire content and strengthen De Agostini’s position in the US and UK, as well as expanding into emerging markets, over the next three years and becoming a $1.3 billion business.  The new company, headquartered in Paris, is comprised of a wide range of noted TV and content production brands, including 5th Element, Adventure Line Productions, Broadcasters, Bullseye, Diverse Production, Jarowskij, Kanakna, KM Productions, Marathon, Mastiff, Mastiff Media, Neo Network, Red House, TeleAlliance Media Group, Tele Images, Yellow Bird, YS Films, among others.  Lorenzo Pellicioli, CEO/De Agostini Group, will also act as the CEO of Zodiak Entertainment, with Laurent Boissel serve as CFO, Pascal Breton as SVP/Fiction; Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, SVP/Animation, Giorgio Gori, SVP/Light Entertainment and Patrick Svensk, SVP/Mergers and Acquisitions/Business Development.   Full edition: CYN KIDS.

CYNOPSIS INTERNATIONAL – TODAY’S TOP STORY:  RDF Media, responsible for shows such as Faking It and Wife Swap, is swapping owners.  The U.K. factual entertainment company is being acquired by Bidco, a new group headed up by John de Mol’s Dasym and RDF Media’s management.  For a 52 million euro price, the Bidco consortium will take over in February.  Full edition: CYN INTERNATIONAL.

Tuesday – A18-49 Analysis: ABC took the lead Tuesday night with 4.5/12 A18-49 according to final national ratings from Nielsen Media Research. FOX’s House held its winning position during 8p with a 5.2/14 while CBS’ NCIS came in second at 3.6/10. ABC’s Dancing with the Stars Results finale waltzed away with the top prize at 9p with a 4.6/11, topping second place The Mentalist on CBS at 3.7/9. Hour two of ABC’s Dancing/Stars finale toe-tapped through 10p staying in #1 at 5.5/15 well ahead of NBC’s Law & Order: SVU coming next with 3.2/9.

Live + Same Day Household Ratings: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 (November Sweep Day 27) time period averages. Source: NTI Galaxy, as dated.  Live+SD

ABC: 10.6/17         Charlie Brown Thanksgiving [r] 6.1/10, Dancing with the Stars Results [f] 12.9/20

CBS: 9.2/14               NCIS 11.1/18, The Mentalist 9.7/15, Without a Trace 6.7/11

FOX: 6.2/10             House 7.6/12, Fringe 4.6/7

NBC: 4.6/7               The Biggest Loser 4.2/6, Law & Order: SVU 5.6/9

UNIV: 2.1/3              Cuidado con El Angel 2.4/4, Fuego en la Sangre 2.4/4, Aqui y Ahora 1.6/3

MNT: 1.0/2               Street Patrol [r] 1.0/2, Street Patrol 2 [r] 0.9/1, Jail 1.0/2, Jail 2 [r] 1.0/1

CW: 0.7/1                How to Deal 0.7/1

TELE: 0.7/1              Dona Barbara 0.6/1, El Rostro de Analia 0.7/1, Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso 1.0/2

A18-49: ABC 4.5/12, FOX 4.4/11, CBS 3.3/9, NBC 2.8/7, UNIV 1.7/4, TELE 0.6/2, MNT 0.5/1, CW 0.4/1

At the homefront here at Cynopsis Media, we are delighted to announce the addition of Michael Farina as Director/Business Development and Sales.  In addition to working as an integral part of our Sales department, Mike will contribute on the development of events and special projects.  Mike hails most recently from Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News where he was Director of Technology Advertising and previously the group’s Marketing Director.  Mike’s extensive background in b2b publishing also includes stints at Television Week and Advertising Age.  Give him a shout – he can be reached at
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Chris Neel advanced to SVP/Director, National Broadcast with Initiative based at the company’s Los Angeles office. Chris will continue to manage current clients including Lionsgate Films and Dr Pepper Snapple Group and will now take on more responsibility as supervisor of the National Broadcast Department in Los Angeles similar to SVP/Director, National Broadcast counterparts Ray Dundas and Todd Gordon in New York City. Chris will report to Kris Magel, EVP/Director, National Broadcast.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. elevated Bernie Young to EVP/GM, Broadcasting where he manages the company’s television programming and operations including The Martha Stewart Show distributed by NBC Universal Domestic Television, Everyday Food and Everyday Baking from Everyday Food airing on PBS and Whatever, Martha! on Fine Living Network. Bernie reports to Wenda Harris Millard, President/Media and Co-CEO. In addition, MSLO upgraded Liz Aiello to SVP/Broadcasting and Omnimedia Content Strategy. Liz will work in tandem with in-house creative and business teams to streamline cross-platform opportunities in the areas of Food, Holidays and Crafts, Weddings and Whole Living. Liz will also work Chef Emeril Lagasse and his people, oversee broadcast marketing and Martha Stewart Living Radio on Sirius and XM Radio. Liz reports to Bernie Young.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CABLE U

This day in History:  1955 – Rosa Parks, a black seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama refused to give up her seat to a white man. Mrs. Parks was arrested marking a milestone in the civil rights movement in the U.S.

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:  Hit British sitcom Fawlty Towers was Americanized in two separate US series – one starring John Larroquette called Payne (CBS-1999), and the other starring Bea Arthur in an ABC project in 1983.  Any idea what the name of that series was?  AMANDA’S Kudos to: Sandra Manley/NY; Greg Scordato/NY; Katherine Wells/Bravo/NY; Cheryl Lightfoot-WT05/Toledo, OH; John Kukla-FOX 4/MY 27/Dallas; Kevin Van Housen-Telerep/Chicago; Larry Glazer-WTTW/Chicago; Ed Horwitz-LMNO Productions/Encino, CA; Mike Galusha-ROKK Studios/North Hollywood, CA; Alan Perris-The Television Academy/North Hollywood, CA; Dave Hammargren-Tribune Television Northwest/WA
 
Today’s Trivia Question: On the classic TV sitcom My Mother, the Car, who was the voice of the car? (Email
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.)

Later — Cyn
12.01.08

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JOB OPENING: FREELANCE PROMO PROD/Rising sports TV network/Glendale: Head up its promo dept.Previous promo producing exp REQ’D, pref @ ntwrk level, & sports promo exp is advised. Res/reel link:
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JOB OPENING: FREELANCE PROMO EDITOR/Rising sports TV network/Glendale: Master-class FCP skills, pref w/After Effects knwldg.Previous promo editing exp REQ’D, pref at ntwrk level & sports promo exp. Res/reel link:
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JOB OPENING: FREELANCE SR EDITOR/Rising sports TV network/Glendale: Knwldg of Final Cut Pro hrdwr/sftwre systems. Previous sports event editing exp REQ’D.res/reel link:
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JOB OPENING: INT’L SALES ASSISTANT/LA Based/Int’l TV sales distribution company. Position requires knowledge of Spanish. Minimum 2 years experience in similar position. Email resume to
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JOB OPENING: MGR, RSRCH PLAN’G & STRATEGY/Hallmark Channel/NY: Resp for supporting Ad Sales by supplying rsrch materials such as ratings estimates, ratings tracks, & competitive spending. Full posting/apply www.hallmarkchannel.com (12/4)

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SPRING INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: ACCOUNTING INTERN/Jericho, NY: Assist Sr Accts w/ invoices, T & E’s, year end accruals, balance sheet and other analysis. For more info/submit resume, visit www.cablevision.jobs req ID 7616BR (12/5)

SPRING INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: MARKETING INTERN/truTV/NY: Support marketing department (consumer, affiliate, & ad sales). Majors: Comm., Mktg, Adv. Skills: Writing, Computer, Phone, Rsrch. Apply Online: www.turnerjobs.com – Requisition # 107860BR (12/4)

WINTER/SPRING INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: PROG RESEARCH & ANALYSIS DEPT/Warner Bros. TV: Download overnight ratings from Nielsen, create/maintain various reports tracking series ratings & prgrm test scores.More info: www.warnerbroscareers.com & enter 106581 (12/4)

SPRING INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: Discovery/NYC Hiring Interns across mult depts: Ad Sales, Mkt, Rsrch, Intl, Digital, Prog Dev, HR, Talent + more! Only 10 hrs/wk min. School credits. Apply: http://corporate.discovery.com/careers/ ID: 8501 (12/2)

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SITUATION WANTED: Award Winning CD looking for FT/CONTRACT WORK. Experienced in all mediums. 10+ at MTVN. Fun, easy going and highly productive. Please contact
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT –  Monday, December 1, 2008

ABC: Shrek the Halls [r], Dr, Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas [r], Samantha Who?, Samantha Who?, Boston Legal
AZTECA: Camino a la Fama, Historia Detras del Mito, Al Extremo
CBS: The Big Bang Theory [r], How I Met Your Mother [r], Two and a Half Men [r], Worst Week [r] , CSI: Miami [r]
CW: Gossip Girl, Privileged
FOX: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Prison Break
ION: Boston Legal, NCIS, NCIS
MNT: My Monday Night Movie: Houseguest
NBC: Chuck, Heroes, My Own Worst Enemy
PBS: Antiques Roadshow, Pledge Programming
TELE: Dona Barbara, El Rostro de Analia, Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso
UNIV: Cuidado con el Angel, Fuego on la Sangre, Cristina

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