CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

04/15/04

Good morning.  It’s Thursday, April 15, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing. 

Coming to the WB on Monday, May 17 at 9pm – a backward American Idol. Consider this — remember the woefully inept William Hung and his rendition of Ricky Martin’s She Bangs?  Since his appearance on American Idol, he has been awarded a record contract singing his #1 song, has made appearances on countless talk shows, been in the spotlight for a music video and won cash prizes among things, for being so incredibly bad.  Using that as a launch pad, Variety reports the WB will launch Superstar USA which will vote out the good singers, and keep only the worst of the worst.  The difference is William Hung probably knows he’s not a singing superstar, whereas the finalists on this WB series will be told they are truly talented and wonderful.  Only after a winner is chosen will they be clued in to how awful they truly are – and the winner then receives a cash prize and, yes a recording contract. Superstar USA will be produced by Telepictures based Next Entertainment and exec prod by Mike Fleiss.  WB has produced seven episodes, and the show will air on Mondays and Tuesdays at 9pm, ending in June.

If you weren’t watching Janet Jackson on Super Bowl Sunday, you may have been watching the Lingerie Bowl, which ultimately in comparison, seemed quite tame.  In any case, Horizon Prods. is chatting with Fox about a potential 10-ep reality show based on the Lingerie bowl idea – in that cameras will follow women involved in a women’s football league, via scrimmages, team strategies sessions, etc.  No word on whether or not the women will be similarly clad to those featured in the Lingerie Bowl.

Cable network BET held their first ever upfront presentation on Tuesday evening and announced a handful of new series coming to the net in the new season:  On & Off is an uncensored look into the lives of music’s most entertaining celebrities at work and play; Style is an entertainment news show focusing on music, movies and celebs.  Off net series Girlfriends joins the lineup in the fall, as does off cable net Soul Food.  BET has set the start of their new 2004-05 season as October 4, 2004.

New in Development / Casting / Production

• FX is in the process of signing Andre Braugher to headline its new drama series Thief (Pariah/Regency TV/Fox).
• NBC has added Ashley Scott to the cast of Joey (Warner Bros.) as Joey’s neighbor.  The spin off also stars Paulo Costanzo and Drea De Matteo as Joey’s sister. in addition to, obviously, Matt Lablanc.  NBC’s Macaulay Caulkin project titled Foster Hall (Conaco Prods/NBC Studios), has added Christopher Moynihan to the lineup.  Moynihan was last seen in Coupling, and is the exec prod of this project, will play the role of Caulkin’s sister’s husband (originally Greg Germann had been tapped for this role, but he has left the project). The story is about two adults siblings who were split as kids and sent to different foster homes. 
• Taylor Handley and Michelle Alexis have been added to Fox‘s untitled Michael Jacobs comedy (Jersey/Sony) which stars Stephen Root. And while Rob Estes bowing out of the serial drama project The North Shore (20th), the net is looking for his replacement. Fox has already ordered up 13 eps.

USA Network has signed exec prod Stan Brooks to produce four more crime drama original movies for the net, along the same lines as his Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss film which aired last month and delivered an average 3.6 million viewers, according to Variety.  The first project, as all four, is based on a true story and is called Ladies Night (working title) about three men who go on a crime spree killing single women.  The other three projects slated in 2005, include an Ocean’s Eleven style robbing of a NYC hotel, another focuses on a bank holdup in California which led to the longest and deadliest car chase ever recorded; and the four is about a Marine who kills his wife.

Super Millionaire will make a return, intense 5-night special to ABC on May 16th with Regis Philbin once again serving as its host.  The $10 million dollar prize show brought in an average of 17.5 million viewers in February.  The show will air at 9p on Sunday, May 16th and 10p on May 17, 18, 20 and 23, 2004.

ABC News will highlight the issues of low-income families/workers in tonight’s Nightline at 11:35 pm.  The first of a five part series begins with the April 15th installment looking at the financial concerns and situations that the workers can face.  The storyline was inspired by David Shipler‘s book, The Working Poor: Invisible in America.

UPN will broadcast a 1-hour America’s Next Top Model: The Runway Ahead special on Tuesday, May 11th at 9p.  The follow up show will look at the what happened to the contestants’ lives after the show, focusing especially on the winner, Yoanna House. 

Tonight is the 2-hour finale of The Apprentice.  Ever wonder what happens to the fired Apprenti after the show?  Two of them have joined together in a start-up called FinancialApprentice.com.  Troy McClain and Jessie Conners plan to educate people how to build credit, figure the risks in loans, mortgages, etc., and build their personal credit ratings.

The 24/7 cable news nets did well with the President’s press conference the other night, particularly Fox News which raked in 5.16 million viewers during the 830-930p time period.  In comparison, CNN delivered 1.74 million and MSNBC 867,000 viewers.  Among A25-54, Fox delivered 1.94 million viewers.

Focusing primarily on the first half hour of primetime last night, and the final hour for the Big 4 bcst nets, Nielsen Media Research data shows Fox taking the first half hour with That 70’s Show pulling a 4.1/12.  During the 10p hour NBC’s Law & Order: SVU was tops with a 4.2/11, ahead of NYPD Blue’s 3.3/9, and CBS’ Judging Amy 1.7/5. 

WB and UPN did not carry the President’s News Conference and the result was WB averaged a 2.0/5 A18-49 for original episodes of Gilmore Girls and One Tree Hill.  Among WB’s more targeted teen audience, it averaged a 3.5/12 for the night, that is a 2.6/9 for Gilmore Girls and a very healthy 4.5/15 for One Tree Hill (also a 3.2/9 among W18-34, leading the demo for the hour).  UPN’s lineup of sitcoms earned a 1.2/3 A18-49  from 8-9pm with a slightly higher 1.9/7 among teens; and a 1.1/3 A18-49 at 9p, with a  1.5/5 among teens.

GMA Exec Prod Shelley Ross is moving to primetime, as exec prod of Primetime Thursday.  No successor in the GMA role has been named though the rumor mill has pegged Ben Sherwood, most recently of NBC News, for the post. 
Young Broadcasting Inc. named Mark Arminio as the new President/General Manager of WLNS/Lansing.  Mark will be based in Lansing and report to Deborah McDermott, YBI’s President.

Kevin Hale has been named VP/General Manager of FOX‘s LA stations, KTTV / KCOP and the Regional Sports Net West sales.  Kevin will oversee all business and administrative duties at KTTV and KCOP as well as the local advertising sales, marketing efforts and program scheduling for FOX Southern California regional sports networks, FOX Sports Net and FOX Sports Net 2.  He will be based in LA.

Robert Spodek has been named VP/CFO for MSNBC.  Robert joined MSNBC Cable as Director/Financial Planning & Analysis in 2002. He has been serving as acting CFO since the end of 2003. He initially joined NBC in 1998.  He will report to Rick Kaplan, President, MSNBC.

Tanya Van Court has been named VP/GM of ESPN Broadband and Interactive Television.  She will oversee the content development and business strategy for ESPN’s broadband and interactive television initiatives. Tanya reports to John Skipper, EVP/ESPN. 

Tuesday, April 13, 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
NOTE:  Due to the live presidential press conference, FOX, ABC, CBS and NBC ratings listed here in Fast Affiliate ratings are not 100% reliable and should not be used for comparison.  That being said…here are the press conference breakdowns and estimated end times in HHs for each bcst net:
NBC     (830-934p)      7.5/11 with 9.75 million viewers
ABC     (830-942p)      6.3/9 with 8.59 million viewers
CBS     (830-934p)      5.9/8 with 8.66 million viewers
FOX     (830-938p)      5.1/7 with 7.13 million viewers

NBC     6.8/11  Whoopi 5.7/9, Presidential Press Conference 6.7/11, Frasier [r] 6.3/10, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 7.7/13

ABC     5.5/9   8 Simple Rules 5.0/8, Presidential Press Conference 5.4/8, According to Jim [r] 4.7/7, NYPD Blue 6.4/11

CBS     5.3/8   Still Standing [r] 5.2/9, Presidential Press Conference 5.7/9, King of Queens [r] 5.4/8, Judging Amy 4.9/8

FOX     4.7/7   That’ 70’s Show 5.5/9, Fox News Special: Presidential Press Conference 4.7/7, That 70’s Show 3.9/6

WB      3.4/5   Gilmore Girls 3.4/6, One Tree Hill 3.4/5

UPN     1.9/3   One on One 2.1/3, All of Us [r] 2.1/3, Rock Me Baby 1.9/3, Half & Half [r] 1.7/3

A18-49  NBC 3.5/9, FOX 3.3/9, ABC 2.8/7, CBS 2.0/5, WB 2.0/5, UPN 1.2/3

The History Channel presents This Day in History: 
1989 – Ninety-six soccer fans crushed in Hillsborough, England. It is Britain’s worst-ever sporting disaster.

Answer to yesterday’s Trivia Question:  What does Angel the Vampire have tattooed on his right shoulder?  A BIRD OF PREY.  Kudos to:  Robin Kenwood-ITN Networks/NY; Cody Denton-Optimedia/NY; Ashlee Amoroso-MSNBC/CNBC/NY; Mary Weinle-WKRC/Cincinnati; Jessica Jennings-RPA/Chicago; Aaron Lug-Court TV/LA; Muhammed Elderiny-RPA/LA; Brett Colbert-Warner Bros./Burbank; Darlene Lieblich-Fox Cable Networks/LA; Tim Rutherford-Global TV/Quebec; Caroline Godin-Ellis Entertainment/Toronto.

Today’s Trivia Question:  E.A.R.T.H. Force as a sci-fi crime drama on CBS in 1990.  What did E.A.R.T.H. stand for (no fair looking this stuff up!)?  (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.)

Later — Cyn

Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis
04/15/04   4:11am
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  THURSDAY, APRIL 15,  2004

COURT TV:       The I-Zone, Forensic Files, Body of Evidence, The Investigators
ABC             Extreme Makeover: Home Edition [r], Kingdom Hospital, Primetime Thursday
CBS             Survivor: All Stars, CSI [r], Without a Trace
FOX             American Idol, Tru Calling, The Simpsons
NBC             Friends [r], Friends [r], The Apprentice [finale]
PAX             AFV, AFV, Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             WWE Smackdown
WB              Steve Harvey’s Big Time [r], Like Family, JKE [r], JKE [r]
TELE            Prisonera, El Alma Herida, Mujeres Apasionadas
UNIV            Mariana de la Noche, Bajo la Misma Piel, Aqui y Ahora