Cynopsis

12/22/08

Good morning. It’s Monday, December 22, 2008, and this is your first early morning briefing – an abbreviated edition to remind you Cynopsis editorial staff is off this week, returning after the New Year.  Enjoy the holidays – your next edition from us will be on Friday, January 2, 2009.  And so, in the meantime …

Tonight’s Premiere:
A&E Network: Runaway Squad at 10p

Tonight’s Finales:
ESPN: Monday Night Football at 830p
FOX: Prison Break at 9p
MTV: The Hills at 10p

December 23 Finales:
IFC: IFC Media Project at 8p
BET: Brothers to Brutha at 1030p
TBS: Frank TV at 11p

December 27 Premiere:
Fox Reality Channel: Smile . . . You’re Under Arrest at 7p

December 28 Premiere:
FUEL TV: Firsthand at 8p

December 28 Finales:
NBC: Football Night in America at 7p; Sunday Night Football at 815p

December 29 Premieres:
MTV: Bromance at 9p; The City at 10p

December 30 Premiere:
FUEL TV: Snowboard Diaries at 8p

January 1 Premiere:
A&E Network: The First 48 at 9p

As the digital transition day of February 17, 2009 draws closer, Nielsen reports the percentage of U.S. households completely unready improved some from the previous month. In December, 6.8% of households (or approximately 7 million households) remain completely unready down from 7.4% in November. Likewise, households that are partially unready dropped slightly to 10.0% in December versus 10.3% in November. Nielsen also monitors Hispanic households, finding in December 11.5% of Hispanic households are completely unready, compared to 12.4% in November. Furthermore, in the 56 local markets with metered measurement, Albuquerque-Santa Fe is the least prepared market for DTV at 13.0% followed by Tulsa at 12.65%, Houston 12.41%, Dallas-Ft. Worth at 11.71% and Salt Lake City at 10.63%. In the best prepared column, Hartford-New Haven tops the list at 2.6%, with Atlanta at 2.8%, Boston (Manchester) at 2.9%, West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce at 2.9% and New York at 3.2%.

Canada’s CTV will premiere the Steven Bochco legal drama series Raising the Bar beginning January 9 at 10p following new episodes of Flashpoint at 9p. Raising the Bar premiered on TNT in the U.S. last September.

VH1’s Celebrity Rehab Presents Sober House opens with eight 60m episodes on January 15 at 10p. The new series chronicles cast members from season one and two of Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew as they live in a sober house for three months, transitioning from the rehab center to the real world. Celebrities documented living in the sober house include Rodney King, Nikki McKibbin, Steven Adler and Amber Smith from season two and Seth “Shifty” Binzer and Mary Carey from season one. Comedian Andy Dick will join later in the series. Irwin Entertainment produces.

Program Call: If your company will be attending NATPE ’09 with programming, we will send out a special NATPE Shopping Guide edition the Thursday before the conference. To have your programming included, please send only the following info for your top 5 shows: title, availability date, number of episodes, length, type (i.e., movie, series, special, etc.), genre and your terms (barter, cash, etc.). If your company is interested in being included, please send the details to
by Friday, January 16, 2009.

Weekend Box Office Estimates – December 2931
Yes Man (Warner Bros.)                            opening weekend $18.2m
Seven Pounds (Sony / Columbia)                opening weekend $16.0m
The Tale of Despereaux (Universal)             opening weekend $10.5m
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) (Fox)   2 wk total $48.6m
Four Christmases (Warner Bros. (New Line))  4 wk total $100.2m
Twilight (Summit Entertainment)                  5 wk total $158.5m
Bolt (Buena Vista)                                    5 wk total $95.0m
Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)            6 wk total $12.1m
Australia (Fox)                                         4 wk total $41.9m
Quantum of Solace (Sony / Columbia)           6 wk total $161.3m
Source: www.BoxOfficeMojo.com

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CARTOON NETWORK

Spike TV approved production on a scripted comedy pilot titled Blue Mountain State about a big Midwestern college football program. The 30m pilot, with production beginning in February, was described as similar to the movie Animal House. Brian Robbins of Varsity Pictures will produce along with Sharla Sumpter-Bridgett and Lionsgate. Robbins will also direct while Chris Romano and Eric Falconer will write the pilot.

Actress Kristin Chenoweth is moving on to a new network as she was signed to star in NBC’s new David E. Kelley legal drama, Legally Mad. Chenoweth will play Skippy Pylon, a smart, bubbly attorney who at times displays moments of psychosis and likes it when people mistake her for a teenager. The drama, set in Chicago, is produced by Warner Bros. Television marking the first Kelley project under his new deal with Warner. Most recently, Chenoweth starred in ABC’s Pushing Daisies.

HBO ordered two comedy pilots to series, giving eight episodes each to How to Make It in America and Bored to Death, reports THR. How to Make It stars Bryan Greenberg and Victor Rasuk as two twentysomething hustlers trying to make it big in New York. This project is from Stephen Levinson’s Leverage and Mark Wahlberg’s Closest to the Hole who also has two other shows currently on HBO – In Treatment and Entourage. Bored to Death stars Jason Schwartzman as a struggling, alcoholic Brooklyn writer, who after his girlfriend dumps him, pretends to be a private detective taking on real cases. Jonathan Ames wrote the project and the pilot co-starred Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis as well as Sarah Condon, Dave Becky, Stephanie Davis and Troy Miller. The verdict is still out on other HBO pilots such as the comedies Washingtonienne and Suburban Shootout and the drama Treme. Also last week, HBO ordered the male-focused comedy Hung starring Thomas Jane.

In further HBO news, the premium cable network has a new drama called Cocaine Cowboys from Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay, per THR. Meredith Stiehm will write the project based on Billy Corben’s 2006 documentary Cowboys about the genesis of cocaine trafficking in Miami. Warner Bros. Television will produce where Jerry Bruckheimer TV is located. Bruckheimer, Bay, Stiehm are executive producing along with Jonathan Littman while KristieAnne Reed will serve as consulting producer.

GSN is bringing back a new version of The Newlywed Game and has ordered 40 30m episodes from executive producer Michael Davies, writes THR. Production will begin in February in New York and the game show is slated to premiere on GSN in the spring where it will air Monday-Friday. Sony Pictures Television and Davies’ Embassy Row are producing. Familiar elements from the original version include featuring couples who have only been married two years or less and new for this version, couples from the original production, referred to as “goldyweds” will compete against the newlyweds. The show’s host has not been announced nor has the grand prize been confirmed, although Davies said it could be a second honeymoon trip like in the original version.

Casting Call Clarification: Norwegian production company, Monster Entertainment, producers of Norway’s American Idol, is looking for fun and outgoing Americans with Norwegian ancestry to audition for a new travel reality competition series based in Norway called The Great Norway Adventure (wt). Applicants must be at least 18 years old and not older than 60. For more information and to find application forms, visit www.oconnorcasting.tv/norway.

CYNOPSIS DIGITAL – TODAY’S TOP STORY:  The Recording Industry Association of America shifted course and decided to finally stop suing individual file sharers, according to the WSJ. The RIAA has filed lawsuits against more than 35,000 users since 2003 in an effort to stem the flow of illegal downloads. Instead, the industry group now plans to work directly with ISPs to identify customers who are uploading music via P2P networks. The ISPs will ask them to stop and eventually threaten to cut them off if they don’t. The new policy raises questions about privacy and due process. Similar efforts to restrict or disconnect file sharing users have been rejected by the European Union. Legislation to create a nationwide “internet blacklist” is still pending in France.  Full edition: CYN DIGITAL.

CYNOPSIS KIDS – TODAY’S TOP STORY:  Walt Disney Television Animation has begun production on Kid Knievel, a new 2D animated series set to debut in fall 2009 on Disney XD channel, the latter launching February 2009.  Kid Knievel revolves around a s 12-year-old boy who wants to be the world’s greatest daredevil.  To build support for the new series, Disney XD.com will offer 5 x 55-second original animated shorts in advance of the series premiere, which will then air on Disney XD.  Disney XD, currently the Toon Disney channel, is designed as a boy driven and girl inclusive channel targeted to K6-14.  Full edition: CYN KIDS.

Thursday – A18-49 Analysis: CBS jingled in first place Thursday night with 2.3/7 A18-49, according to final national ratings from Nielsen Media Research. FOX’s Secret Millionaire finale landed in first place at 8p with 1.9/6 followed by NBC’s comedy reruns My Name Is Earl/Kath & Kim averaging a 1.7/6. CBS topped the 9p hour with a CSI encore at 2.9/8 while the NBC repeat comedies The Office/30 Rock averaged a second place 2.1/6. CBS remained at #1 during 10p with a rerun of Eleventh Hour at 2.3/7 while more repeat comedies on NBC came in second, this time another dose of 30 Rock/The Office with an average of 1.7/5.

Live + Same Day Household Ratings: Thursday, December 18, 2008 time period averages. Source: NTI Galaxy, as dated. Live+SD.

CBS: 6.6/11       Million Dollar Password 5.2/9, CSI [r] 8.1/13, Eleventh Hour [r] 6.6/11

FOX: 3.8/6          Secret Millionaire [f] 3.6/6, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? 4.0/6

ABC: 3.4/6          Ugly Betty [r] 3.1/5, Grey’s Anatomy [r] 3.9/6, Private Practice [r] 3.1/5

NBC: 2.9/5           My Name is Earl [r] 3.2/6, Kath & Kim [r] 2.6/4, The Office [r] 3.2/5, 30 Rock [r] 2.9/5, 30 Rock [r] 2.9/5, The Office [r] 2.6/4

UNIV: 2.0/3          Cuidado con el Angel 2.2/4, Fuego en la Sangre 2.2/3, La Rosa de Guadalupe 1.6/3

CW: 1.4/2            Smallville [r] 1.5/3, Supernatural [r] 1.3/2

MNT: 0.7/1           Wrestlemania Encore [r] 0.8/1, Celebrity Expose 0.5/1

TELE: 0.7/1          Dona Barbara 0.7/1, El Rostro de Analia 0.8/1, Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso 0.9/1, Cartel R 0.6/1

A18-49: CBS 2.3/7, NBC 1.8/5, FOX 1.7/5, UNIV 1.6/5, ABC 1.5/4, CW 0.8/2, TELE 0.6/2, MNT 0.4/1

CBBC named Steven Andrew to the position of Head/Drama and Acquisitions beginning in January. Steven will manage development and production for the in-house CBBC Drama projects as well as acquisitions. Steven joins CBBC from ITV Digital Channels where he served as Program Director.

CYNOPSIS EVENTS AT NATPE 2009

We’ll be back on January 2, 2009.  Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and a very happy and healthy New Year!

Later — Cyn
12.22.08

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