Cynopsis

02/18/08

Good Morning.  It’s Monday, February 18, 2008, and this is your first early morning briefing.  Happy Presidents’ Day!

The CW announced return dates for original episodes of scripted series:
March 3:  Everybody hates Chris with the first of its 12 remaining originals
March 23: The Game with 9 eps
April 14: One Tree Hill with 6 eps
April 17: Smallville with 5 eps
April 21: Gossip Girl with 5 eps
April 22: Reaper with 5 eps
April 24: Supernatural with 4 eps
Aliens in America completed 18 eps with the 8 remaining originals scheduled to air between March 2-23 and April 27-May 18.

Tonight’s Finales:
ABC: Dance War at 8p
FOX: Prison Break at 8p

Tonight’s Premieres:
CW: Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious at 9p
NBC: My Dad is Better than Your Dad at 9p
SPEED: Pass Time at 730p and SuperCars Exposed at 9p

BBC America’s Hotel Babylon, the drama series about an exclusive hotel and the staff who gives guests whatever they want, is back for season three starting March 12 at 9p. Several guest stars will make appearances throughout this season including Paula Abdul in the opening episode. BBC America will also release season one of Hotel Babylon on DVD February 26.

Retirement Living TV (RLTV) renewed and expanded its partnership with NBC News. The deal includes specially-produced segments with a boomer and senior focus, NBC News footage and correspondent crosstalk for Daily Cafe, RLTV’s two-hour live news and current issues program. NBC News will also provide special coverage pertaining to the 2008 presidential election and its impact on 55+ viewers.

Weekend Box Office Estimates: Feb 15-17, 2008
Jumper (Fox)                                         $27.2 million – opening weekend
Step Up 2 The Streets (Buena Vista)         $19.7 million – opening weekend
The Spiderwick Chronicles (Paramount)      $19.1 million – opening weekend
Fool’s Gold (Warner Bros.)                        $13.1 million – 2 wk total $42.0m
Definitely, Maybe (Universal)                     $9.7 million – opening weekend
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (Universal)   $8.9 million – 2 wk total $29.1m
Juno (Fox Searchlight)                             $4.6 million – 11 wk total $124.1m
The Bucket List (Warner Bros.)                  $4.1 million – 8 wk total $81.1m
Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour (BV)  $3.3 million – 3 wk total $58.4m
27 Dresses (Fox)                                     $3.2 million – 5 wk total $69.9m
Source: Box Office Mojo

Retro Television Network (RTN) owned and distributed by Equity Media Holdings Corporation and Petry International, a unit of Petry Media Corporation, announced the companies made a pact for Petry International to become the exclusive national rep firm for the network. RTN currently has signed more than 60 affiliates which reach more than 30% of the U.S. population.

ABC has picked up a new comedy pilot project from Warner Bros. TV and David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, the folks behind Will & Grace.  Thus far untitled, the project is about two business partners – one straight and one gay – who both find their significant others around the same time and attempt to balance work and love.

CYNOPSIS DIGITAL – TODAY’S TOP STORY:   The death knell of Toshiba’s HD DVD format sounded on Friday when Wal-Mart decided to stock only Blu-ray DVDs and DVD players from now on. The manufacturer is expected to announce it is officially abandoning the format as early as this week, after trying to put a positive spin on the loss of Warner Bros. as a supporter.   Full edition: CYN DIGITAL. (Or to listen to the Cynopsis Digital Podcast click here or subscribe to it at iTunes here .)

CYNOPSIS KIDS – TODAY’S TOP STORY:    Whittaker Bay, the teen drama that premiered on Superstation WGN in January, moved to primetime this weekend as the series debuted on the TV network America One, Saturday at 9p, which will be its regular time slot.  Produced by H20 Entertainment, this March 2008 Whittaker Bay also joins the network’s Sunday night programming lineup. H2O has also entered into a syndication deal with Fox TV for its O&O stations from fall 2008.  The show is being offered as a barter-trade across the US by a 50/50 advertising split on the various stations.  Additionally, under a pact with online distributor www.wizzard.tv , the series will be available from March on outlets including iTunes, Apple TV and TiVo on demand. Full edition: CYN KIDS.

CYNOPSIS INTERNATIONAL – TODAY’S TOP STORY:  This may set an interesting precedent for reality TV.  Three former Temptation Island reality TV contestants took France’s TF1 and its Glem production unit to court contending they should be paid for their time on the show.  The French courts agreed that it did constitute employment even though TF1 alleged that their reality show time did not involve artistic, intellectual, or physical work.  The network was ordered to pay close to $40,000 to each contestant/plaintiff for their around-the-clock time in front of the cameras and the regular interviews they gave while on the show.  What has happened since the verdict came out in favor of the contestants?  The Europe 1 radio station reports that 45 former contestants have already sought legal advice. Full edition: CYN INTERNATIONAL. 

Thursday – A18-49 Analysis:  ABC found its sweet spot Thursday night with 3.5/10 A18-49, according to final national ratings from Nielsen Media Research. CBS’ Survivor came first at 8p with 4.6/13. During 9p, ABC had the best ratings with Lost at 5.8/15 then kept its lead through 10p as Eli Stone won by a skosh at 2.6/7 defeating NBC’s Lipstick Jungle at 2.5/7 and CBS’ Without a Trace repeat at 2.3/7.

Live + Same Day Household Ratings: Thursday, February 14 , 2008 (February Sweep Day 15) time period averages. Source: NTI Galaxy, as dated. Live+SD.

CBS: 6.9/11       Survivor: Micronesia 7.5/12, CSI [r] 6.8/11, Without a Trace [r] 6.2/11

NBC: 5.9/10        Deal or No Deal 7.6/13, Celebrity Apprentice 5.9/10, Lipstick Jungle 4.2/7

ABC: 5.7/9          Lost [r] 3.9/6, Lost 8.1/13, Eli Stone 4.8/8

FOX: 2.6/4         The 39th Annual NAACP Image Awards 2008 2.6/4

CW: 2.1/3          Smallville 2.4/4, Supernatural 1.8/3

UNIV: 1.8/3       Al diablo con los Guapos 2.3/4, Pasion 1.7/3, Amas de Casa Desesperadas 1.3/2

MNT: 0.8/1         My Thursday Night Movie: Soul Food 0.8/1

TELE: 0.7/1        La Traicion 0.5/1, Victoria 0.9/1, Pecados Ajenos 0.6/1

A18-49: ABC 3.5/10, CBS 3.3/9, NBC 3.2/9, UNIV 1.6/4, CW 1.4/4, FOX 1.4/4, MNT 0.5/1, TELE 0.5/1

Friday – A18-49 Analysis:  FOX led a solo win Friday night at 2.6/8 A18-49, according to fast affiliate ratings from Nielsen Media Research. FOX’s double dose of House reruns won the first two hours: at 8p with 2.3/8 and during 9p with 2.8/8. NBC prevailed at 10p with Las Vegas at 2.3/7.

Live + Same Day Household Ratings: Friday, February 15, 2008 (February Sweep Day 16) – time period averages. Source: Nielsen Media Research

NBC: 5.1/9       1 vs. 100 5.1/9, Las Vegas [2 hours] 5.0/9

CBS: 4.6/8         Ghost Whisperer [r] 4.2/7, Celine Dion: That’s Just the Woman in Me 5.2/9, Numb3rs [r] 4.4/8

FOX: 4.3/8        House [r] 4.1/7, House [r] 4.5/8

ABC: 3.0/5        Grey’s Anatomy [r] 2.4/4, Desperate Housewives [r] 2.1/4, 20/20 4.5/8

CW: 2.8/5          Friday Night Smackdown! 2.8/5

UNIV: 1.8/3       Al Diablo con los Guapos 2.3/4, Pasion 1.7/3, La Familia P. Luche 1.6/3

TELE: 0.7/1       La Traicion 0.5/1, Victoria 0.8/1, Pecados Ajenos 0.6/1

A18-49: FOX 2.6/8, NBC 2.2/7, UNIV 1.7/5, CBS 1.6/5, ABC 1.3/4, CW 1.3/4, TELE 0.5/2

NBC Universal Television DVD, Music and Consumer Products Group will now head all worldwide licensing and merchandising of NBCU television properties in addition to the NBCU television catalog. Kim Niemi, SVP will supervise the NBCU Television DVD, Music and Consumer Products Group’s activities to develop and execute product lines associated with NBCU’s television brands including NBC, Universal Media Studios, USA Network, SCI FI Channel, Bravo properties, CNBC and Telemundo. Kim’s team will also continue to manage all new business development for music, ecommerce sales, the NBCUniversal.com store group and third party home entertainment licensing. NBCU’s film properties, including the Curious George and The Land Before Time franchises will continue to be handled by the Universal Studios Consumer Products Group. In addition, NBCU chose Joy Tashjian Marketing Group LLD as its exclusive consumer products agency, which extends a long-term licensing association between the two companies.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CABLEU

This day in History:  1930 – Clyde Tombaugh discovered the planet Pluto while working with photographic plates at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:  This short-lived early 80’s sitcom was adapted from a movie of the same name which was based on a hit song from 1968 sung by Nathan Brake. What was the name of this show?  HARPER VALLEY PTA (starring Barbara Eden)   Kudos to: Kelly Guida-FOX 4/Cape Coral, FL; Yvonne Haugh-Turner Entertainment/EST; Jonathan Grosskopf-Grosskopf Mazr Productions/NY; Roger Lyons-WBZ/Boston; Mark E. Meadors-HMH, LLC/Little Rock, AR; Mechael Tudor-Equity Media Holdings Corporation/Little Rock, AR; Dan Whitford-RPM Advertising/Chicago; Cody Stanton-Equity Media Holdings Corp./Little Rock, AR; Bill Shea-CW Network/Studio City, CA; Lorrie Shilling-DIRECTV/El Segundo, CA; Robin Schmelling-BCMI/Palm Desert, CA; Pat Brady- Cunningham*Escott*Slevin*Doherty/LA; Alison Moore-Channel 4/London

Today’s Trivia Question:  Okay – here’s an easy one for President’s Day:  On the TV series House, starring Hugh Laurie, what TV show is Dr. Gregory House’s guilty pleasure?     (
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
02.18.08

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JOB OPENING:  DIRECTOR & AE SALES POSITIONS (NY, LA, Chicago)/Arena Media Networks: Exciting opportunity to join quickly growing digital placed based media company in sports & entertainment arenas.Contact:
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SPRING INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: RESEARCH INTERNSHIP/Hallmark Channel/LA: Avail immed. Learn about cable television, ratings and programming. Must take for class credit. Available now! Email resume to
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SITUATION WANTED:  SHOWRUNNER/FIELD PRODUCER/WRITER: 10+ years producing for MTV, VH1, FUSE. Expertise in Celebrity Interview, Lifestyle, Entertainment News, Bio, Clip, and Reality genres.
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT – Monday, February 18, 2008

ABC: Dance War [f], October Road
CBS: How I Met Your Mother [r], Welcome to the Captain, Two and a Half Men [r], The New Adventures of Old Christine, CSI: Miami [r]
CW: Gossip Girl [r], Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious [p]
FOX: Prison Break [f], Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
ION: Mama’s Family, Mama’s Family, Drew Carey Show, Drew Carey Show, Drew Carey Show, Drew Carey Show
MNT: Celebrity Expose, Paradise Hotel 2
NBC: Deal or No Deal, My Dad is Better than Your Dad [p], Medium
PBS: Antiques Roadshow, American Experience, PBS Previews: Carrier
TELE: La Traicion, Victoria, Pecados Ajenos
UNIV: Al Diablo con los Guapos, Pasion, Cristina

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