CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

10/25/04

Good morning. It’s Monday, October 25, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing.

CBS led the way on Thursday night with an overall 7.6/19 A18-49, overachieving both NBC’s 6.7/17 and Fox’s 6.5/17 in the final national ratings from Nielsen Media Research.  Fox’s evening of NLCS baseball ran from 8-11:13pm earned a 6.7/18 for the full game.  At 8pm Survivor clearly won the hour with a 7.3/20, blowing past both Joey (4.9/14) and Will & Grace (5.0/13). The 9pm battle of CSI and Apprentice was another slam dunk for CBS with a 9.6/22 over NBC’s 7.2/17. At 10p, NBC regained its Thursday night powers with ER’s 7.8/20 over a much more competitive Without a Trace this season posting a 5.9/15.  Primetime Live with its Sex Survey results delivered a 1.8/4.

Friday night was overall pretty slow, though as has been the habit of late, the top ratings gatherer NBC pulling a mild 2.8/9 A18-49 according to Nielsen Media Research‘s fast national ratings.  At 8pm NBC was in front by a share point over both ABC and CBS, averaging a 2.3/8.  NBC also held the top rung at 9p with Third Watch 3.2/10. ABC’s 9-10p sitcoms was #2 with a 2.3/7, followed again by CBS with a 1.9/6 for the Ray Charles special. WB’s full hour of Reba eps back to back averaged a 1.7/5. At 10p newcomer Medical Investigation drew a time period winning 2.9/9, while 20/20 pulled a 2.3/7 and dr vegas on CBS a 2.0/6.

According to the Saturday fast national ratings from Nielsen Media Research, which is time period averages only and do not accurately reflect the performance of live sports programming, Fox was the big winner on Saturday night with a 7.2/22 A18-49 for its coverage of the World Series Game #1.  The other nets paled in comparison – ABC 2.2/7, CBS 1.9/6, NBC 1.6/4 with almost entirely all repeat programming. The only exceptions were Law & Order SVU which earned a 2.2/7 demo rating, and 48 Hours Mysteries on CBS with a 1.8/5.

Tonight’s Finales:
ABC:    The Benefactor at 9pm

Tonight’s Premieres:
FOX:    The Swan at 8pm
Univision: Amor Real at 9pm

The Sunday November 7 episode of NBC’s Crossing Over will cross over to Las Vegas on Monday night at 9pm on November 8.  The episode titled What Happens in Vegas Dies in Boston and begins with a Lear jet from the Las Vegas casino arrives in Boston with a dead highroller.  Investigation ensues and picks up the following night at the casino.

Casting / Development / Production:

• Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick are behind the new ABC teen ensemble drama series 1/4Life which examines life immediately after college when serious decisions are being made.  The five cast members have been cast with Rachel Blanchard, Shiri Appleby, Merritt Weaver, Jacob Pitts, and Reggie Austin (who appeared on NBC’s The Next Action Star).
• Jason Priestley joins the cast of Fox’s Quintuplets in the role of an uncle to the five teens in a recurring role.  He will make his first appearance on the Thanksgiving episode. (Hollywood Reporter)
• WB is talking with Faye Dunaway about becoming a judge for its new reality series The Starlet (Telepictures/Wannabe Prods). The show is hosted by Wannabe Prod head, Jamie Kennedy.  WB has ordered up six episodes which feature wannabe actresses all vying for a guest role on a WB series. The show plans to have a total of 3 judges, the other two to be announced. (Variety)
• Showtime has ordered up a pilot called Pryor Offenses a biographical slice of life from Richard Pryor’s life, starring Eddie Griffin as the comedian and Gina Ravera.

Weekend Box Office Estimates: October 22-24, 2004
The Grudge (Sony)                       $40 million – opening weekend
Shark Tale (DreamWorks)         $14.3 million – 4 wk total $136.9m
Shall We Dance (Miramax)                $8.6 million – 2 wk total $24.4m
Friday Night Lights (Universal)         $6.6 million – 3 wk total $47.3m
Team America: World Police (Paramount) $6.6 million – 2 wk total $22.3m
Ladder 49 (Buena Vista)                 $5.4 million – 4 wk total $61.4m
Surviving Christmas (DreamWorks)        $4.5 million – opening weekend
Taxi (Fox)                              $4.2 million – 3 wk total $29.9m
The Forgotten (Sony)                    $3.4 million – 5 wk total $62.0m
I Heart Huckabees (Fox Searchlight)     $3.0 million – 4 wk total $5.9m
Source: Box Office Mojo

Fox Sports en Espanol has been bringing the World Series beginning with Game #1 on Saturday,and Game #2 last night.  With analysis from Fernando Gonzalez and Jose Tolentino with commentary from Pepe Mantilla, Tito Fuentes, Rafael “Felo” Ramirez and Pepe Yniguez, the Spanish-lanugage coverage of the games continues tomorrow: October 26 at 8pm, October 27at 8pm, October 28 at 8pm, October 30 at 730pm and October 31at 730pm.

For you Tivo devotees, you may be interested to know that five of the regularly scheduled ABC series are running ever so slightly off the clock: Desperate Housewives runs 61 minutes, Boston Legal 59 minutes, Lost is 61 minutes long as is The Bachelor and Wife Swap is 58 minutes. 

Everybody’s talking this morning — President George Bush speaks with Charles Gibson for the first of a two part interview scheduled for this morning on Good Morning America, while former President Bill Clinton speaks with Diane Sawyer.  On NBC, Katie Couric has a sit down with Senator John Kerry, while correspondent Jamie Gangel speaks with Vice President Dick Cheney.

Publicis & Hal Riney in San Francisco,  has named Karen C. Francis its Chairwoman/CEO, effective November 1.  Most recently, Karen was President of Ford’s ConsumerConnect, and prior to that she was Chief Marketing Offices of Internet Capital Group.  Karen is also on the Board of Directors of the Pella Corporation. She has been a brand manager for Chevrolet, and a general manager of the Oldsmobile division.  Publicis & Hal Riney is part of the Publicis Groupe.

Thursday, October 21, 2004. FINAL National Household Ratings for all Networks – Time period Averages only, particular for Live Sports Programming. 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     13.6/21 Survivor 11.3/18, CSI 16.8/25, Without a Trace 12.6/20

FOX     12.9/20 MLB:  NLCS Game #7 – Houston at St. Louis 13.0/20 (8-11:13p avg)

NBC     9.4/14  Joey 7.8/12, Will & Grace 7.5/11, The Apprentice 9.6/14, ER 10.9/17

ABC     3.4/5   Extreme Makeover 3.9/6, Life as We Know It 2.7/4, Primetime Live 3.5/5

UPN     3.2/5   WWE Smackdown 3.2/5

WB      1.7/3   Blue Collar TV 2.4/4, Drew Carey’s Green Screen 1.8/3, Charmed [r] 1.2/2

A18-49  CBS 7.6/19, NBC 6.7/17, Fox 6.5/17, UPN and ABC 1.6/4, WB 2.0/2

Friday, October 22, 2004. Fast National Household Ratings for all Networks – Time period Averages only, particular for Live Sports Programming. 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

NBC     6.2/11  Dateline 6.6/12, Third Watch 6.4/11, Medical Investigation 5.6/10

CBS     5.2/9   Joan of Arcadia 5.0/9, Genius: A Night for Ray Charles (OTO) 5.5/10, dr. vegas 5.1/9

ABC     4.7/8   8 Simple Rules 4.6/9, Complete Savages 4.2/8, Hope & Faith 4.5/8, Less than Perfect 2.1/7, 20/20   5.5/10

FOX     2.9/5   Totally Outrageous Behavior 2.9/5, World’s Craziest Videos 2.9/5, America’s Most Wanted  3.0/5

WB      2.3/4   What I Like About You 1.8/3, Grounded for Life 1.8/3, Reba 2.9/5, Reba  2.8/5

UPN     1.6/3   Star Trek 1.9/3, Top Model [r]  1.4/2

A18-49          NBC 2.8/9, ABC 2.2/7, CBS 1.9/6, Fox 1.6/5, WB 1.4/5, UPN 1.1/4

Saturday, October 23, 2004. Fast National Household Ratings for all Networks – Time period Averages only, particular for Live Sports Programming. 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

FOX     12.7/23 WORLD SERIES, Game #1  12.7/23 – Fast Affiliate Ratings are time period only, which for live sports programming does not accurately reflect the game’s delivery across time zones.

ABC     4.0/7   Lost [r] 3.2/6, Lost [r] 3.9/7, Desperate Housewives [r] 4.8/9

NBC     3.2/6   Biggest Loser [r] 2.5/4, Apprentice [r] 2.3/4, Law & Order SVU 4.8/9

CBS     4.7/8   Cold Case [r] 4.7/8, NCIS 5.3/9, 48 Hours Mysteries  4.2/7

A18-49          Fox 7.2/22, ABC 2.2/7, CBS 1.9/6, NBC 1.6/4

A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION

Source: NTI Explorer, Week ranks= 9/22/03-10/17/04, excludes sports and specials.  Rank based on HH Rating.  Growth = 9/20-10/17/04 vs. 9/22-10/19/04.  Ratings

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1955:  The first domestic microwave oven is introduced for sale by Tappan.  The size of a conventional oven, it featured a similarly oversized price tag of roughly $1,300 (a Sears gas range could be purchased for roughly $100 at the time).

Answer to Friday’s Trivia Question:   Who said:  “Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.”  CARY GRANT.  Okay, that was a freebie – everyone on the planet gets Kudos for that one.

Today’s Trivia Question:  Who is the only actor to play the same regularly appearing character with the same job in two different series on two different networks? (click
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.)

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

Later — Cyn

Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis
10/25/04  5:24am

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JOB OPENING:  SR WRITER/PRODUCER, HGTV Creative Services. 5+ yrs exp; strong writing skills, film bkgnd. Resume/Reel: Scripps Networks, HR- Job #3973-U, 9721 Sherrill Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37932. Details: www.scrippsnetworks.com (10/30)

JOB OPENING:  RESEARCH MGR (SR), Screenvision NY (Cinema) Mng daily research for mkting/sales with Analysts.  Bcst/cable bkgnd ideal.  Knwldg of Nielsen and MRI/Simmons required.  5+ yrs exp.  Resumes to:
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JOB OPENING:  REVENUE MGMT PLANNER/AD SALES/BET, NY. 5+ yrsplanning exp at cable network/agency. Seasoned, detailed, organized, multitasker, exc comm skills.Prof w/excel,media math, BA/BS. Email resume:
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JOB OPENING:  VP, INT’L DEVELOPMENT/Discovery Networks Intl, MD. 10 yrs managerial producer exp. Oversee all aspects of pgm dev for lifestyle/factual content on Discovery Lifestyle Networks. Apply www.discovery.com. Job req#1674   (10/30)

JOB OPENING:  PUBLICIST/OLN, Stamford, CT. Exceptional verbal and written skills,3 yrs PR exp req’d; cable or sports industry a +. See www.olntv.com for more info. Resume/salary:
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JOB OPENING:  SR. PUBLICIST TRADE & BUSINESS/NY. Exc writing skills, proven track record w/press placement; self-starter, strategic & creative thinker. Min5 yrs exp. Cable industry exp a +. Apply:  www.courttv.com/about/careers (10/28)

JOB OPENING:  RESEARCH COORD/Nielsen Media Research-NY. Sr. level research position. Analyze impact of changes in measurement/reporting.Expert knwldg Excel, N-Power, MktBreaks, Ad*views. www.Nielsenmedia.com ref. Job# 200402212-JL  (10/27)

JOB OPENING:  SALES ASSISTANT, NBC Universal TV Networks, LA. 1-2 years experience, preferably in ad sales, organized, detail-oriented. Knowledge of Nielsen, MRI and media math desirable. Apply www.gecareers.com, job# 380775 (10/26)

JOB OPENING:  NEWS/TALK SHOW PRODUCERS & AP’S wanted for LA production featuring controversial, pop-cultural and weighty faith-context topics. Strong civilian/celebrity booking exp required. Email resumes:
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JOB OPENING:  MGR, SALES RESEARCH & MKTG/ABC SOAPnet-NY. 3-5 yrs Media Research exp w/cable (pref), bcst net or adv agency. Prof in research applications incl Nielsen systems, Simmons, MRI. Resumes:
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JOB OPENING:  PROJECT COORD, SERIES & SPECIALS, VH1/NYC. Highly Organized/detailed, Xcellnt communication skills, able to work under pressure & deliver, Production/development skills A+  EOE/M/F/D/AAP. Apply www.mtvncareers.com (10/26)

JOB OPENING:  PRODUCER-TBS, Inc./Atlanta. 3+ yrs exp producing ent. pgms; able to write VOs w/humor, drama, info as approp. Knwldge of mainstream pop cultural/ent is critical. Submit resume to www.turnerjobs.com, Req #32541 EEO  (10/26)

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SITUATION WANTED:  MARKETING/MEDIA SALES: Former National Sales Manager for Cable Network (9 yrs), NBC, Fox: Local Sales (8yrs). Consistent Top Biller and Inspirational Leader. Email:
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SITUATION WANTED:  Looking for a job in ANY MEDIA FIELD; SPECIFICALLY BROADCAST. Exp’d in: TV Production, Sales, Editing, Directing, Final Cut. Specifically California or Arizona. Email:
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SITUATION WANTED: Young professional seeking AFFILIATE SALES & MARKETING position in L.A.  3+ yrs. sales success. Enthusiastic team player ready to thrive in cable.  Contact Bill at
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  MONDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2004:

ABC             The Benefactor [finale]; Monday Night Football
CBS             Still Standing, Listen Up, Raymond, 2-1/2 Men, CSI Miami
FOX             The Swan [p]
NBC             Fear Factor, Radio Music Awards (OTO)
PAX             Model Citizens, World Cup Comedy, Second Verdict
UPN             One on One, Half and Half, Girlfriends, Second Time Around
WB              7th Heaven, Everwood
TELE            Prisonera, Gitanas, Te Voy a Ensenar a Querer
UNIV            Rubi, Amor Real [p], Cristina