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Cynopsis

07/07/08

Good morning. It’s Monday, July 7, 2008, and this is your first early morning briefing.

NBC Universal, Bain Capital and The Blackstone Group entered into a definitive agreement with Landmark Communications over the weekend to purchase The Weather Channel properties. The Weather Channel will remain as a separate entity based in Atlanta with NBCU personnel managing. While the financial terms of the deal were not revealed, the transaction involves The Weather Channel Networks; The Weather Channel Interactive which includes weather.com; and Weather Services International, a unit specializing in weather forecasting. Based on normal regulatory approvals, the deal is expected to close by the end of 2008.

Tonight’s Finale:
ABC: The Bachelorette at 8p

GSN will introduce a new original series Catch 21 on July 21 at 730p. Hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro, the 40-episode series, created by Merrill Heatter and executive produced by Scott Sternberg, combines the card game 21 and pop trivia questions as three contestants compete against each other. The show is also based on the Catch 21 online game, created by WorldWinner and available through GSN.com. Catch 21 will air weeknights on GSN at 7:30p with encore episodes airing Tuesdays through Saturdays at 10p and Sundays at 10p and 1030p.

HBO is preparing to premiere the seven part miniseries titled Generation Kill from creator David Simon (The Wire), based on the Iraq war diary and book written by Rolling Stone’s Evan Wright.  The diary and the series follows the first forty days of the Iraq War, specifically following the movements of the Marine’s 1st Reconnaissance Battalion.  The series debuts on July 13 at 9p.

Top 10 Weekend Box Office Estimates: July 4-6, 2008
Hancock (Sony)                                      $66.0 million  1wk total $107.3m
Wall-E (Buena Vista)                                $33.4 million  2 wk total $128.1m
Wanted (Universal)                                  $20.6 million  2 wk total $90.8m
Get Smart (Warner Bros.)                          $11.1 million  3 wk total $98.1m
Kung Fu Panda (Paramount)                      $7.5 million  5 wk total $193.4m
The Incredible Hulk (Universal)                   $5.0 million  4 wk total $124.9m
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Paramount)  $3.9 million  7 wk total $306.6m
Kit Kitteridge: An American Girl (Picturehouse) $3.6 million  3 wk total $6.1m
Sex and the City (New Line)                      $2.3 million  6 wk total $144.9m
You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (Sony)        $2.0 million  5 wk total $94.8m
Source: Box Office Mojo

Michael Hoff Productions‘ latest project is an original series for Animal Planet – Weird, True and Freaky, a half-hour series premiering August 18.  The series is a fast-paced rundown of the strangest, craziest real-life stories on four legs. From clepto-creatures caught-on-tape to pet plastic surgeries, each episode includes animals’ antics that became front-page news stories.

Casting Call: FOX is casting for its musical competition reality show Don’t Forget The Lyrics! and is looking for contestants who live in the New York and New Jersey area. The show is interested in all types but in particular firemen, police officers, cab drivers, street performers, doormen and more  professions that exemplify being a true New Yorker. Participating on the show and knowing lots of songs and lyrics could net the winner a $1 million prize. To apply for the show, send an email to

and
, putting “NY/NJ-Don’t Forget the Lyrics” in the subject line. Include in the email your name, telephone numbers, occupation, where you live, along with a brief explanation why you would be a great contestant for the show. If you live outside the NY/NJ area and would also like to apply, visit www.fox.com/dontforget for details.

CYNOPSIS DIGITAL – TODAY’S TOP STORY:   NBC Universal and private equity groups Bain Capital and The Blackstone Group signed an agreement to buy The Weather Channel properties from Landmark Communications. (The price was undisclosed but believed to be well below the $5 billion Landmark was initially seeking.) The deal gives NBCU control of The Weather Channel currently distributed in 97% of U.S. cable homes; The Weather Channel Interactive, a top 15 website (40 million monthly uniques) and leading mobile content provider; and Weather Services International, a multiplatform service with more than 5,500 clients worldwide. The addition of weather.com will make NBCU a top 10 internet destination in terms of unduplicated reach. TWC will be operated as a separate entity based in Atlanta, with management services to be provided by NBCU. Full edition: CYN DIGITAL.

CYNOPSIS KIDS – TODAY’S TOP STORY:  CITV (UK) has commissioned Bookaboo! (13×10), a new multiplatform mixed live-action/animated preschool series about a drumming ‘rock puppy’, who just can’t seem to perform his drum solo unless he’s a story has been read to him.  Bookaboo! Will be produced by Happy Films and will feature celebrity guests who will help out by reading stories to the puppy so he can go on.  ITV’s commission supports the UK’s National Year of Reading 2008 effort to promote kid and adult literacy.  The series will be supported by an online Bookaboo Book Club, as well as live events and in-store promotions.   Full edition: CYN KIDS.

CYNOPSIS INTERNATIONAL – TODAY’S TOP STORY: After attempting to ink an agreement on price for several months, Italy’s Mediaset has stated that it will not consent to its Sky Italia satellite rival carrying Mediaset’s Premium Gallery pay TV channels.  However, the door is being left open regarding other content such as sports. Full edition: CYN INTERNATIONAL.

Clarification: Last Thursday we ran the season-to-date ranker for the Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series instead of the weekly numbers. Below is the Top 10 syndicated ranker for the week of 6/16.

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of 6/16-6/22/08 ranked by HH Rtg
Wheel of Fortune (CTD)                                   6.3 AA
Jeopardy (CTD)                                               5.3 AA
Two and a Half Men (WB)                                 4.7 AA / 6.1 GAA
Judge Judy (CTD)                                            4.5 AA / 6.8 GAA
Oprah Winfrey Show (CTD)                               4.2 AA / 4.3 GAA
Family Guy (2/T)                                             4.0 AA / 4.6 GAA
Entertainment Tonight (CTD)                            3.9 AA / 4.0 GAA
Seinfeld (SPT)                                                 3.5 AA / 4.0 GAA
Dr. Phil Show (CTD)                                         3.3 AA / 3.4 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (CTD)                      3.1 AA / 3.5 GAA
Source: NSS Galaxy Explorer, Live+SD

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of 6/16-6/22/08 ranked by A18-49 Rtg
Two and a Half Men (WB)                                2.6 AA / 3.3 GAA
Family Guy (2/T)                                            2.6 AA / 3.0 GAA
Seinfeld (SPT)                                                2.1 AA / 2.3 GAA
Friends (WB)                                                 1.8 AA / 2.2 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (CTD)                    1.7 AA / 1.9 GAA
King of Queens (SPT)                                     1.6 AA / 2.2 GAA
George Lopez (WB)                                        1.5 AA / 2.0 GAA
Wheel of Fortune (CTD)                                  1.4 AA
Judge Judy (CTD)                                           1.4 AA / 2.0 GAA
Oprah Winfrey Show (CTD)                             1.4 AA / 1.4 GAA
Source: NSS Galaxy Explorer, Live+SD

Wednesday – A18-49 Analysis:  FOX kept a steady rhythm Wednesday night winning with 3.2/10 A18-49, according to final national ratings from Nielsen Media Research. FOX led at 8p with So You Think You Can Dance at 3.0/10 and the dance competition show stayed on top through 9p with 3.3/10. Also during 9p, MNT debuted back-to-back episodes of Twilight Zone averaging a 0.3/1. Then at 10p, CBS’ CSI: NY repeat and NBC’s Celebrity Circus tied for first place at 1.9/6 each followed closely by ABC’s Primetime: Crime at 1.8/5.  

Live + Same Day Household Ratings: Wednesday, July 2, 2008 time period averages. Source: NTI Galaxy, as dated. Live+SD.

CBS: 5.5/10          Price Is Right Primetime [r] 4.7/9, Criminal Minds [r] 6.0/10, CSI: NY [r] 5.7/10

FOX: 5.3/10         So You Think You Can Dance 5.3/10

NBC: 3.4/6          Baby Borrowers 2.9/5, Baby Borrowers 4.2/7, Celebrity Circus 3.1/6

ABC: 3.0/5          Wife Swap [r] 2.5/5, SuperNanny [r] 2.6/4, Primetime: Crime 4.0/7

UNIV: 2.2/4         Al Diablo con los Guapos 2.4/5, Fuego en la Sangre 2.4/4, Don Francisco Presenta 1.7/3

CW: 0.8/1           America’s Next Top Model [r] 0.8/2, Pussycat Dolls: Girlicious [r] 0.7/1

TELE: 0.7/1         Juramento 0.3/1, Victoria 0.8/1, Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso 0.9/2

MNT: 0.6/1          Under One Roof 0.6/1, Whacked Out Videos [r] 0.5/1, Twilight Zone [p] 0.6/1, Twilight Zone 2 [p] 0.7/1

A18-49: FOX 3.2/10, NBC 2.0/6, UNIV 1.8/6, CBS 1.7/5, ABC 1.5/5, TELE 0.5/2, CW 0.4/1, MNT 0.3/1

FamilyNet tapped Roger Stallard as SVP/Sales where he will manage advertising sales for the network as well as strategic development, staff leadership tasks, upcoming planned expansions and overall sales systems. Roger will be based at company headquarters in Atlanta.

Former Time Warner Cable executive Roger Keating starts today at Hearst-Argyle Television as SVP/Digital Media, reporting to President and CEO David Barrett. He replaces Terry Mackin who took a job running the Univision Stations Group earlier this year.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM NATPE LATVFest

More than 40 sessions, intensives, panels, chats, screenings include: Interactive Content: Engaging & Monetizing Your Audience / Machinima : A Revolutionary Content Platform to Incubate New Series / Gossip Girl 360: Anatomy of an Online Success Story / Triple Threat Predator: Surviving in Hollywood as a Writer/Producer/Editor / Master Class with Chuck Lorre / Your Top 10 Workflow Issues with RED’s Ted Schilowitz …

This day in History:  1980 – The original lineup of Led Zeppelin gave its final show in Berlin, Germany.

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question: This member of The A Team was raised in an orphanage and learned most of his cons by watching TV. Who was this?  TEMPLETON PECK (FACE MAN or FACE) Kudos to: Danielle Calabria-Sony Pictures Television /NY; Patrick Hannaford-WGN America/NY; Andy Bennett-Brighter Minds Media/Worthington, OH; Burk Lindahl- RIAVA Technologies LLC/Cleveland, OH; Joanna Jurgens-CBJ Enterprises/Dallas; Kevin Schmidt-National Cable Communications/Chicago; Dan McDonald-Comcast Spotlight/Nashville; Lee D. Pitluk-KVDF/Azteca America/San Antonio; Greg Reeves-Red Varden Studios/LA; Chin Thammasaengsri-Westlake Signal Group/LA; Matt Sautter-Dish Network/Denver; Don Skramovsky-RPA/Santa Monica

Today’s Trivia Question:  Shannon had a recurring role as Will and Grace’s whacked out neighbor. What was her first name? (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
07.07.08

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JOB OPENING: MGR., AD SALES PARTNERSHIPS/LIFETIME NY: Develop integrated proposals for advertisers interested in partnering with Lifetime across our various properties/ Apply at: h ttp://www.lifetimetv.com/about/jobs.html (7/11)

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JOB OPENING: SR MOTION DESIGNER-MUSIC CHOICE-NY: Exp’d animator needed to develop high-energy motion graphics (After Effects, Maya) for original shows. BA/BS 3+ yrs prjct mgmt exp post-production environment.
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JOB OPENING: ASSOC MNGR, BRAND MARKETING/MUSIC CHOICE-NY: Brand development & mktg promotion for Hispanic genre. Read,write Spanish. Prjct mgmt exp nec. BA/BS 4+ yrs cnsmr mktg exp w/12-24 Hispanic demo.
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JOB OPENING: VP DIGITAL MEDIA MKTG/NYC/Bdcstg Co: Strong marketer! series websites, ecom, wireless, social networks, iTV, etc branding exp-Film a+ 6 figures +bonus Resume:
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT – Monday, July 7, 2008

ABC: The Bachelorette [f ], The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose
AZTECA: Camino a la Justica, Historias Engarzadas, Bellezas Indomables
CBS: The Big Bang Theory [r], How I Met Your Mother [r], Two and a Half Men [r], The Big Bang Theory [r], CSI: Miami [r]
CW: Gossip Girl [r], One Tree Hill [r]
FOX: Bones [r], House [r]
ION: Quantum Leap, The Dead Zone, ER
MNT: Celebrity Expose [r], Decision House [r]
NBC: American Gladiators, Nashville Star, Dateline
PBS: Antiques Roadshow , History Detectives , The War of the World
TELE: El Juramento, Victoria, Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso
UNIV: Al Diablo con los Guapos, Fuego on la Sangre, Cristina

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