CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

05/24/04

Good morning. It’s Monday, May 24, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing.

Could be all that late night fodder was for naught?  Could Martha really get a new trial?  Who knows.  But what we do know is a witness for the prosecution has been indicted for perjury during the Stewart trial. The testimony provided by Larry Stewart (no relation) was critical to the prosecution’s case – specifically as an ink expert, he said the notation on a worksheet belonging to Stewart’s broker Peter Bacanovic which read “@60” was written with a different pen and was therefore part of a cover-up by the Martha and her broker.  It remains to be seen if this has any impact on Martha’s case; sentencing is schedule for June 17.

Michael Moore’s controversial film Fahrenheit 9/11 has won the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.  Moore’s reaction – “You just did this to mess with me. The last time I was on an awards stage in Hollywood, all hell broke loose.” His last win was an Oscar for Bowling for Columbine. “You will ensure that the American people will see this movie. You’ve put a huge light on this. Many people want the truth to be put away but a great Republican once said that if you give the people the truth, the republic will be safe. That was Abraham Lincoln, a different kind of Republican.”

TBS has ordered two new original reality series – both from Evolution Film & Tape, according to Variety.  All American Male has rec’d a 6 ep order and is scheduled to premiere in October.  The ins and outs of this series are being held under tight wrap.  It will be co-produced by Full Circle Ent.  The second new show, The Mansion, has rec’d an 8 ep order and will be scheduled for Saturday mornings, also in October.  This is a home makeover series with 7 people living in a rundown mansion.  Each of the 7 will oversee one major project in the house, and by vote of the viewers, at the end of the makeover, one of the 8 will receive the front door keys. 

Tonight’s Season Finales:
The Swan at 8 pm on FOX
Eve at 8 pm on UPN
Girlfriends at 9 pm on UPN
Yes Dear at 8p on CBS
Still Standing at 830p on CBS

The President is speaking this evening at 8pm at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania. While the cable news networks are expected to carry the speech, the broadcast networks are not expected to and were not requested to by the President. The topic? Strategy in Iraq.  Fox has however offered to provide the feed to its affiliates.

And the winner is … The Ellen DeGeneres Show (Warner Bros.) in the Daytime Emmy category of Outstanding Talk Show; and Outstanding Talk Show Host goes to Wayne Brady for the Wayne Brady Show (BVT).  A full list of the winner and number of winners at each net, check out the official Emmy site at http://www.emmyonline.com.

Weekend Box Office Estimates: May 21-23, 2004
Shrek 2 (DreamWorks)            $104.0 million – opening weekend
Troy (Warner Bros.)             $23.8 million – 2 wk total $85.8m
Van Helsing (Universal)                 $10.2 million – 3 wk total $100.2m
Mean Girls (Paramount)  $6.9 million – 4 wk total $64.7m
Man on Fire (Fox)               $3.5 million – 5 wk total $69.3m
Breaking All the Rules (SGem)   $2.8 million – 2 wk total $9.0m
13 Going on 30 (Sony)           $2.5 million – 5 wk total $52.1m
New York Minute (Warner Bros.) $1.2 million – 3 wk total $12.2m
Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Miramax)              $1.2 million – 6 wk total $62.7m
Super Size Me (IDP)             $953,000 – 3 wk total $2.9m
Source: Box Office Mojo

DISH Network and Turner Network Television announced a new partnership on Friday, to offer DISH Network satellite TV customers TNT in high definition effective immediately.  The 24-hour HDTV presentation of TNT’s East Coast feed now offers DISH Network subscribers an array of programming in HDTV format including, sports, movies, TNT Originals.  The addition of TNT brings DISH’s HD channels to five (TNT in HD, ESPN HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies and Discovery HD).

Correction:  Two corrections from Friday’s issue – both important:

• Fox‘s returning series ‘24‘ will include commercials.  When Gail Berman said it would ‘air uninterrupted’, I misinterpreted that statement to mean each episode would not be interrupted by commercials (as they have done before with season premieres and finales).  Wrong!  What she’s referring to is the show will air week after week without interruption, and without hiatus.
• We were spoofed.  We received a press release with bogus information – that is a new series called American Champion would soon be airing on Spike TV.  Not so.  According to Jim Burns at Spike, “the show was pitched to us and we passed.”

7-Broadcast Network Primetime Schedule for Fall 2004: (new series in red)
Monday:
ABC:  The Benefactor, Monday Night Football
CBS:  Still Standing, Listen Up, Raymond, Two and a Half Men, CSI Miami
Fox:    North Shore, The Casino
NBC:  Fear Factor, Las Vegas, LAX
PAX:   On the Cover, Balderdash, Model Citizens, World Cup Comedy
UPN:  One on One, Half and Half, Girlfriends, Second Time Around
WB:   7th Heaven, Everwood
Tuesday:
ABC:  My Wife & Kids, George Lopez, According to Jim, Rodney, NYPD Blue
CBS:  NCIS, Clubhouse, Judging Amy
Fox:    Bernie Mac, Method & Red, The Jury
NBC:  Average Joe, Father of the Pride, Scrubs, Law & Order SVU
PAX:  On the Cover, Balderdash, Second Verdict, Sue Thomas F.B.Eye
UPN:  All of Us, Eve, Veronica Mars
WB:   Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill
Wednesday:
ABC:  Lost, The Bachelor, Wife Swap
CBS:  60 Minutes, King of Queens, Center of the Universe, CSI NY
Fox:    That 70’s Show, Quintuplets, Simple Life 2, Method & Red [r]
NBC:  Hawaii, West Wing, Law & Order
PAX:   On the Cover, Balderdash, World Cup Comedy, Model Citizens
UPN:   America’s Next Top Model, Kevin Hill
WB:    Smallville, Blue Collar TV, Drew Carey’s Green Screen
Thursday:
ABC:  Extreme Makeover, Life as We Know It, Primetime Live
CBS:  Survivor Vanuato, CSI, Without a Trace
Fox:    North Shore [r], Tru Calling
NBC:  Joey, Will & Grace, The Apprentice, ER
PAX:   On the Cover, Balderdash, Cold Turkey, Diagnosis Murder
UPN:  WWE Smackdown
WB:   The Mountain, Studio 7
Friday:
ABC:  8 Simple Rules, Savages, Hope & Faith, Less than Perfect, 20/20
CBS:  Joan of Arcadia, JAG, dr. vegas
Fox:    Totally Outrageous Behavior, Worlds Craziest Video, The Jury [r]
NBC:  Dateline, Third Watch, Medical Investigation
PAX:   MGM Movie, TBA
UPN:   America’s Next Top Model [r], Star Trek Enterprise
WB:   What I Like About You, Commando Nanny, Reba, Grounded for Life
Saturday:
ABC:  Wonderful World of Disney
CBS:  48 Hours, The Amazing Race, Crime Time Saturday
Fox:   Cops Cops, AMW
NBC:  The Apprentice [r], Saturday Movie
PAX:   Universal Movie, TBA
Sunday:
ABC:  AFV, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Dangerous Wives, The Practice: Fleet Street
CBS:  60 Minutes, Cold Case, Sunday Night Movie
Fox:    Oliver Beane, King of the Hill, Simpsons, Arrested Development, Malcolm, Quintuplets [r]
NBC:  Dateline, American Dreams, L&O: CI, Crossing Jordan
PAX:  Candid Camera, Doc, Sue Thomas F.B.Eye, It’s a Miracle
WB:   Steve Harvey’s Big Time, Charmed, Jack & Bobby

CBS led the charge on Thursday night with an overall 6.3/19 A18-49 rating according to Nielsen Media Research.  NBC was second for the night with a 3.4/10, followed by FOX 2.9/9, ABC 2.4/7, UPN 1.6/5, WB 1.0/3.  At 8pm CBS’ repeat ep of CSI delivered a 4.0/13, while a pair of repeat Friends episodes earned a 3.1/10, and Fox’s American Idol, a repeat, delivered a 2.9/9.  At 9pm an original CBS earned a sound 8.6/24, well ahead of its closest competition, NBC’s repeat of the Friends finale (3.5/8), followed by another repeat of Fox’s American Idol (3.0/8).  At 10p CBS won again with Without a Trace’s 6.4/18, out delivering NBC’s Law & Order repeat (3.6/10) and Super Millionaire (3.1/9) on ABC.

Soft night all the way around on Friday. CBS led the night with a 2.8/10 A18-49 rating according to Nielsen Media Reserach.  ABC followed with a 2.6/9, trailed by NBC 2.3/8, Fox 2.0/8, WB 0.8/3, UPN 0.8/3.  At 8pm ABC’s George Lopez season finale led with a 2.4/10 for the hour; quickly followed by both CBS’s finale of Joan of Arcadia and NBC’s Dateline tied with a 9 share.  At 9pm the first hour of ABC’s 20/20 2-hour special earned a 2.6/9, leading by a tenth of a rating point over the season finale of JAG on CBS. NBC and Fox tied each posting an 8 share.  At 10p CBS’ CSI Miami was top dog with a 3.7/12, followed by the second hour of ABC’s 20/20 special (2.9/9) and NBC’s final hour of the Daytime Emmy Awards (2.5/8). Neither the first or second hour of WB’s Superstar USA delivered more than a 4 share in any demo except female teens 12-17 where it earned a 6 share for Hour #1, and a 5 share for Hour #2.

Fox led Saturday night by 4 share points over its closest competition with an overall 2.6/10 for the night among A18-49 according to Nielsen Media Research.  ABC, CBS and NBC basically phoned in the night: ABC and CBS 1.8/6, NBC 1.5/5. Fox’s 8pm airing of Cops delivered a  2.3/9 which increased to a 2.6/10 for the 830p airing.  At 9pm America’s Most Wanted delivered a 2.7/10, doubling its closest competition.

Nexstar Broadcasting has added to its station group with the recent acquisition of KLST/San Angelo, Texas from the Jewell Television Group.  Nexstar already managers KSAN in the market on behalf of Mission Bcsting.  The group expects to close on the purchase by year’s end.

Mark Thompson has been named as BBC’s Director General.  He is currently the CEO of Channel 4.  BBC’s new chairman, Michael Grade, started his job one week ago with the push for an immediate Director General appointment.  The corporation has experienced its fair share of issues with the Hutton report’s judgments of BBC and the subsequent January resignations of Greg Dyke, Director General, and Gavyn Davies, Chairman.  Mark spent all but the last two years with BBC.  In addition to his job responsibilities, he will return to help with the upcoming charter review due for a 2006 renewal.
 
Discovery Networks’ advertising sales division added a New Business Development group under its wings.  The department will utilize the new department to being in new advertisers and develop current accounts.  It will particularly target financial services, retail and tech businesses. Ken Ripley, VP and national sales manager, will oversee the New Business Development group in addition to his current tasks of managing Discovery’s emerging networks’ ad sales.  Peter Cosco, Jocelyn Egan and Chris Crean were all named as New Business Development group executives.  The group will be based in New York.
 
Clear Channel Entertainment Television, a division of Clear Channel Entertainment (CCE), named Steve Sterling as SVP/CCE TV and Marc Forest as VP/Programming & Production.  Steve will oversee all media development and worldwide distribution aspects of CCE TV’s music and entertainment assets.  Marc will oversee several CCE TV properties and aid in managing the division’s current TV properties’ daily operations and coordinating new business developments.
 
ABC News made two new appointments.  Kate O’Brian was upped to VP/NewsOne. She will oversee ABC’s affiliate news service and ABSAT, ABC’s satellite newsgathering branch. Kate is a 24-year ABC News veteran and will report to Paul Slavin, SVP of Worldwide Newsgathering. Don Dunphy, her predecessor, was upped to VP and Executive Director of NewsOne. 

Gaynor Strachan Chun has been named SVP/Marketing, G4techTV, the soon to be officially combined game/gear/gadgets & gigabytes network.  In this newly created role, Strachan Chun will oversee all areas of G4techTV’s brand and communication efforts including advertising, on-air design and promotion, consumer marketing, Internet, communications, and research. She will report to Charles Hirschhorn, CEO/G4techTV. 

Thursday, May 20, 2004. Fast Affiliate 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     12.8/21 CSI 9.2/16, CSI 16.0/26, Without a Trace 13.1/22

NBC     5.4/9   Friends [r] 5.0/9, NBC Special: The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman 5.0/9, Friends [r-series finale] 5.2/8, L&O: CI 5.2/8

ABC     5.2/9   Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 4.4/8, Kingdom Hospital 4.6/7, Super Millionaire 6.6/11

FOX     4.8/8   American Idol 4.8/9, American Idol 4.8/8

UPN     3.1/5   WWE Smackdown 3.1/5

WB      1.9/3   Movie: Never Been Kissed 1.9/3

A18-49  CBS 6.3/19, NBC 3.4/10, FOX 2.9/9, ABC 2.4/7, UPN 1.6/5, WB 1.0/3

Friday, May 21, 2004. Fast Affiliate 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     7.0/13  Joan of Arcadia [Season Finale] 5.7/11, JAG [Season Finale] 7.2/13, CSI: Miami  8.0/14

NBC     6.0/11  Dateline NBC 6.1/12, NBC Special: Daytime Emmy Awards  6.0/11

ABC     5.2/10  George Lopez [Season Finale] 4.7/9, 20/20  5.4/10

FOX     3.7/7   Movie: Legally Blonde  3.7/7

UPN     1.4/3   UPN Movie Friday: The Best Man  1.4/3

WB      1.3/2   The WB’s Superstar USA [r] 1.2/2, The WB’s Superstar USA [r]  1.3/2

A18-49  CBS 2.8/10, ABC 2.6/9, NBC 2.3/8, Fox 2.0/8, WB 0.8/3, UPN 0.8/3

Saturday, May 22, 2004. Fast Affiliate 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     4.7/9   The Price is Right: Million Dollar Spectacular 5.0/10, The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited 3.9/7, The Carol Burnett Show: Let’s Bump Up the Lights  5.1/10

FOX     4.4/9   Cops 3.7/8 Cops 4.4/9, America’s Most Wanted 4.7/9

ABC     2.9/6   The Nick & Jessica Variety Hour 2.3/5, ABC Saturday Movie of the Week: The Fast and the Furious  3.2/6

NBC     2.8/5   NBC Movie: Jurassic Park  2.8/5

A18-49  Fox 2.6/10, ABC and CBS 1.8/6, NBC 1.5/5

A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION

Source: NHI Explorer, 5/10/04-5/16/04.  HH Cvg Rtg. 

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
On this day in 1883, after 14 years and 27 deaths while being constructed, the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River is opened, connecting the great cities of New York and Brooklyn for the first time in history.

Answer to yesterday’s Trivia Question:   What was the name of the Hamburger Helper mascot?  THE HELPING HAND.  Kudos to: Tracy Stufft-WSEE/Erie; Shannon Pleszewicz-NY Interconnect/NY; Scott Hamula-Ithaca College/Ithaca; Sarah Bynum-Mindshare/Atlanta; Laurel Simmer-WCIU/Chicago; Jo Ann Gonzales-KHWB/Houston; Katrina Cicala-River Road Ent/Minneapolis; Heather Floore-KTVD/Denver; Cary Miller-Verance/LA; Alice Candiotti-DreamWorks SKG/Burbank.

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Comcast Spotlight is at the forefront of creating innovative advertising opportunities with Comcast’s ON DEMAND VOD service. Whether through program sponsorship, product placement content or long format advertorial, Comcast Spotlight can help advertisers take advantage of this emerging technology. Comcast Spotlight – Spot cable finally delivers. For more information click here.

Today’s Trivia Question:  On what show might you win the dreaded Zonk ? (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.)

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Later — Cyn

Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis
05/24/04  5:26am
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  MONDAY, MAY 24, 2004

COURT TV:       The I-Zone, Forensic Files, The Investigators
ABC             ABC Monday Movie of the Week: A Beautiful Mind
CBS             Yes Dear [season finale], Still Standing [season finale], Raymond, Two and a Half Men, CSI: Miami
FOX             The Swan [season finale]
NBC             Fear Factor, Fear Factor, L&O: Special Victims Unit
PAX             AFV, AFV, Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             Eve [season finale], Girlfriends [season finale]
WB              7th Heaven, Part 2 of 2 [r], The WB’s Superstar USA
TELE            Prisonera, El Alma Herida, Mujeres Apasionadas
UNIV            Mariana de la Noche, Bajo la Misma Piel, Cristina