Cynopsis

10.19.09

Good morning. It’s Monday, October 19, 2009, and this is your first early morning briefing.  And as always, if you prefer to watch this morning’s news instead of reading it, click here.  

Tonight’s Premieres:
Discovery Health: Dr. G: America’s Most Shocking Cases at 9p
truTV: All Worked Up at 9p

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CYNOPSIS MEDIA EVENTS

ABC News named George Stephanopoulos as the primary substitute for Diane Sawyer once she takes over the anchor seat on World News next year. Stephanopoulos will remain as host of This Week and continue as ABC News’ Chief Washington Correspondent and additionally will partner with Sawyer on special event coverage for the network. Sawyer succeeds Charles Gibson as primary anchor of World News in January.

On Friday, TLC filed a lawsuit in the state of Maryland, where the network is based against Jon Gosselin, star of the network’s reality show Jon & Kate Plus 8 saying he breached his contract by granting unauthorized interviews. Both Jon and his estranged wife Kate Gosselin, signed contracts with TLC that spelled out when and how they could give interviews and public appearances. TLC’s lawsuit says Jon violated his contract numerous times and also entered into a “lucrative agreement” with shows Entertainment Tonight and The Insider to appear as a regular relating information about his current situation. Jon’s lawyer, Mark J. Heller referred to TLC’s lawsuit as “baseless” and said the network’s recently announced switch from Jon & Kate Plus 8 to just Kate Plus 8, thus reducing Jon’s presence on the show, ended any contract Jon had with TLC.

Perhaps one day there will be a reality show of reality show wannabes, much like the Heene family of Fort Collins, Colorado, who had all of the cable news networks following the flight of a Kevlar-type 20′ x 5′ silver balloon, reportedly carrying their 6 year old son, Falcon.  The local sheriff said yesterday he believes the entire episode was a hoax perpetrated by the family, and is recommending charges be brought.  The Heenes were seen on several morning shows on Friday as well as Larry King Live, where young Falcon said the whole thing was “for the show.”  The Heenes was a featured family on ABC’s Wife Swap and according to several news reports in recent months had been developing a new reality show about a family of amateur scientists, and pitched the idea to TLC, who ultimately passed.

TLC premieres season six of American Chopper this Thursday at 9p documenting the custom motorcycle business, Orange County Choppers operated by Paul Teutul Sr. and until recently his two sons Paul Jr. and Mikey. Following American Choppers, TLC will air a new pilot titled Heavy Haulers at 10p, about a superstructure moving company run by Jeremy Patterson and his family. American Chopper is produced by Pilgrim Films and Television and Heavy Haulers is produced by Windfall Films.

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Charles M. Schulz’s 1966 Halloween-themed half-hour Peanuts special, will air twice this month on ABC.  The holiday special, coupled with the Peanuts special You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown, will air Tuesday, October 27, 8-9p.  It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown will air on its own the following night Wednesday, October 28 at 8p on ABC.

A handful of premiere episode ratings results from last Wednesday:

• Discovery Channel opened a new season of Mythbusters at 9p, attracting more than 2.7 million total viewers followed by 1.2 million total viewers at 10p for the premiere of Time Warp.
• Also at 10p, FX debuted a sixth season of Nip/Tuck and posted a 1.73 rating and 1.9 million viewers among A18-49 in addition to 2.9 million total viewers.
• National Geographic Channel premiered its new series Alaska State Troopers at 10p and averaged 848,000 total viewers.

Soon after announcing it will shutter Fox Reality Channel next March Fox Cable Networks said it will introduce National Geographic Wild in its place, a spinoff of National Geographic Channel. Programming on National Geographic Wild focuses on natural history content with show titles including Africa’s Lost Eden, Rebel Monkeys, Mystery Gorilla and National Geographic’s Wildest Moments among others. National Geographic Wild, launched internationally three years ago, is currently distributed in countries such as France, Germany, Australia and Latin America. Fox Cable Networks is partnering with National Geographic Ventures on the US launch taking place in spring 2010, utilizing Fox Reality’s subscriber base of nearly 50 million homes. Even though a smooth transition is expected from Fox Reality to National Geographic Wild, new affiliate agreements with cable operators are currently in the works. National Geographic Wild will be broadcast in both standard-def and hi-def feeds as well as VOD. Geoff Daniels, SVP/Development and Production at National Geographic Channels International will become executive in charge of programming for National Geographic Wild, reporting jointly to Steve Burns, EVP/Content of National Geographic Channel and Sydney Suissa, EVP/Content, National Geographic Channels International. Steve Schiffman will become GM of National Geographic Wild in the US.

Top 10 Weekend Box Office Estimates: October 16-18, 2009
Where The Wild Things Are (Warner Bros.)  $32.5 million  opening weekend
Law Abiding Citizen (Overture Films)           $21.3 million  opening weekend
Paranormal Activity (Paramount)                $20.2 million  4 wk total $33.7m
Couples Retreat (Universal)                        $17.9 million  2 wk total $63.3m
The Stepfather (Sony)                               $12.3 million  opening weekend
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (Sony)   $8.1 million  5 wk total $108.3m
Zombieland (Sony)                                    $7.8 million  3 wk total $60.8m
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 (Disney)                   $3.0 million  3 wk total $28.5m
Surrogates (Disney)                                   $1.9 million  4 wk total $36.3m
The Invention of Lying (Warner Bros.)         $1.9 million  3 wk total $15.5m
Source: Rentrak

ABC and BBC Worldwide Productions may offer up a new competition series, a spinoff version of Dancing with the Stars with celebrities on ice skates, reports The Wrap. The two entities are discussing the logistics of such a series venture which would have celebrities training and performing on an ice rink rather than on a dance floor.

NBC signed Paige Turco and Barry Bostwick to star in The Mountain, its two-hour movie and backdoor pilot from Canadian-based Muse Entertainment, per THR. Production begins this Wednesday in Montreal and Magog, Quebec about a single mom of three kids, Dana (Turco) who inherits a remote and treasure-filled mountain cabin from her supposedly deceased Uncle Henry (Bostwick).

Casting Call: 44 Blue is seeking married couples and their stories about how they met or proposed for a new show about romance and falling in love. Did you and your partner meet or propose in a quirky, funny or romantic way? Whatever the story, the producers want to hear from you. Share your story complete with details by sending an email to
and include your name, location where you met as well as photos and contact numbers.

CYNOPSIS DIGITAL – TODAY’S TOP STORY: The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) approved a mobile DTV standard on Friday, clearing the way for broadcasters to transmit digital TV signals to a plethora of mobile devices. The formalization of the standard, in the works since May of 2007, gives chipmakers and gadget manufactures the template they need to develop handheld TVs, DTV-compatible netbooks and tuner-integrated mobile phones that can pick up ad-supported local news, weather and sports programming. In addition to live television, the new ATSC Mobile DTV standard also provides an application framework to enable receivers to bake in a number of interactive services. Look for iTV apps including live viewer voting, polling, advertising applications and audience measurement components to be built into the mobile DTV platform.  Full edition: CYN DIGITAL.    

CYNOPSIS KIDS – TODAY’S TOP STORY:  Arthur the aardvark teams with Lance Armstrong for a special two-part episode of Arthur that focuses on helping kids cope when someone they know has cancer, which premieres today on PBS Kids Go! (check local listings).  The Arthur two-parter, The Great MacGrady, revolves around news that the school’s beloved lunch lady Mrs. MacGrady is diagnosed with cancer, and how Arthur and the others react in different ways.  The Great MacGrady will air each weekday this week on PBS Kids Go!  Full edition: CYN KIDS.    

Thursday  A18-49 Analysis: ABC continued its Thursday night dominance, ranking #1 among A18-49 with a 4.0/11, according to final national ratings from Nielsen Media Research. Starting out, CBS’ Survivor won the 8p hour with a 3.5/10 followed by ABC’s FlashForward at 3.1/9. ABC took over at 9p as Grey’s Anatomy was first in its class at 5.0/13 while CBS’ CSI was #2 at 3.6/9. Also this hour, a new season of 30 Rock opened on NBC at 930p with a 3.0/8. ABC’s Private Practice brought in a win during 10p at 3.8/11 with CBS’ The Mentalist next at 3.5/10 and NBC’s The Jay Leno Show in third place at 1.8/5.

Live + Same Day Household Ratings: Thursday, October 15, 2009  time period averages. Source: NTI Galaxy, as dated. Live+SD.

CBS: 8.8/14        Survivor: Samoa 7.0/11, CSI 9.7/15, The Mentalist 9.7/16

ABC: 7.1/12         Flash Forward 5.6/9, Grey’s Anatomy 8.9/14, Private Practice 6.8/12

FOX: 4.7/8           Bones 5.9/10, Fringe 3.5/6

NBC: 3.6/6           Community 3.1/5, Parks and Recreation 3.0/5, The Office 4.8/7, 30 Rock [p] 3.9/6, The Jay Leno Show 3.4/6

CW: 2.0/3           Vampire Diaries 2.4/4, Supernatural 1.6/2

UNIV: 2.0/3         En Nombre Del Amor 2.2/3, Sortilegio 2.3/4, La Rose de Guadalupe 1.4/2

ION: 0.6/1          Ghost Whisperer 0.7/1, NCIS [r] 0.7/1, NCIS [r] 0.6/1

TELE: 0.6/1         Mas Sabe El Diablo 0.7/1, Ninos Ricos 0.5/1, Victorinos 0.5/1

A18-49: ABC 4.0/11, CBS 3.6/10, FOX 2.5/7, NBC 2.4/7, CW 1.5/4, UNIV 1.5/4, TELE 0.5/1, ION 0.3/1

Screen Actors Guild (SAG) approved David P. White as National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator. David has been SAG’s Interim National Executive Director since January 2009. SAG’s board agreed on a two-year contract for David by a vote of nearly 71% to 29% during its national board meeting held in Los Angeles this weekend.
 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM INSTITUTE FOR MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT

This day in History:  1998 – Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson got his boxing license back after he had lost it for biting Evander Holyfield’s ear during a fight.

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:  What show’s tagline was “Ride along with the boys in blue?”  NYPD BLUE  Kudos to: Nancy Malkin-Scholastic/NY; Charles Mannino-Tyco Telecommunications/NY; Nick Waldrip-Discovery/Atlanta; Andrew Kirshenbaum-Target Cast tcm/NY; Lisa McTigue-17’64’ Entertainment/Beverly Hills; Steve Howard/Burbank; Paul Prisco-Gersh/Beverly Hills; Chip Beaman-Soundelux Design Music Group/Hollywood

Today’s Trivia Question:   Who am I? I love playing video games, watching TV, eating, and sleeping. I am an underachiever and I am a really good poker player. Hint: My uncle is my idol.  Who am I?  (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
10.19.09

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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT –  MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2009

ABC:  Dancing with the Stars, Castle
AZTECA: Lo Que Callamos Las Mujeres Edicion Especial, Extranormal de Impacto, Al Extremo
CBS: How I Met Your Mother (8-9p), Two and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory, CSI Miami
CW: One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl
FOX:  House, Lie to Me
ION:  Ghost Whisperer, Criminal Minds, Durham County
NBC:  Heroes, Trauma, Jay Leno Show
PBS: Antiques Roadshow, Latin Music USA
TELE: Mas Sabe el Diablo, Ninos Ricos Padres Pobres, Victorinos
UNIV:  El Nombre del Amor, Sortilegio, Cristina

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