CYNTHIA TURNER’S
Cynopsis

02/24/05

Good morning. It’s Thursday, February 24, 2005, and this is your first early morning briefing.

Fox ran away with the win on Tuesday night in the final ratings from Nielsen Media Research, posting an overall, 8.9/22 A18-49, well ahead of #2 ABC which delivered a moderate 3.5/9.  NBC was #3 for the night with a 3.4/9, followed by CBS 2.9/7, WB 2.2/6, UPN 1.0/3.  American Idol pulled in a 11.5/29 A18-49 rating, followed by House with a 6.4/16.  The only other show to see double digit shares between 8 and 10p was According to Jim with a 4.3/11. Law & Order SVU held the 10p time period with a 5.5/15, over NYPD Blue 3.6/9 and Judging Amy 2.9/8.

Casting / Development / Production:

• A new reality project called ReMix (working title) from Stone & Co Ent and Edmonds Entertainment, brings together 8 known singers and/or musical groups whose careers may have taken a bit of a slide, and put them together for a competition / career makeover, per Variety.  In the vein of American Idol, the competitors will week by week whittled down to just one who will get their album produced by Edmonds Entertainment and hopefully a successful career comeback.  The project is being pitched to nets next week.
• WB has ordered an untitled comedy project from Chuck Ranberg, Anne Flett Giordano (Warner Bros. TV/Tannenbaum Co), which will star Carmen Manheim as a single mom who moves into a new neighborhood chock full of soccer moms.
• Dirtbags (20th) is a comedy pilot picked up by Fox about a group of twentysomethings living in a blue collar neighborhood in Boston. Dirtbags was originally a play staged at Naked Angels Theatre Co. written by Matt Boren and Doug Segal.
• UPN has ordered a pilot of Wingwoman (Paramount Network TV/Littlefield Co/Evolution Ent) about a woman who helps men talk to women, per Variety.

Casting Updates:

• Fox has cast Brooke Shields to head the cast of its new comedy pilot New Car Smell (20th), set in a car dealership.  Shields last go around with series TV was in Suddenly Susan.  Also recently cast is Christopher McDonald, who you’ll remember from Happy Gilmore. Also at Fox, the net has cast Mark-Paul Gosselaar in its untitled wedding chapel drama pilot from Spelling TV, about a brother-sister team who own and operate a Las Vegas wedding chapel.  Gosselaar plays the brother.
• NBC has signed Sarah Clarke to appear opposite Benjamin Bratt in the drama pilot E-Ring (Warner Bros. TV/Jerry Bruckheimer Films).  E-Ring hope to do for the Pentagon what West Wing did for the White House.
• CBS‘ sci-fi drama pilot Threshold (Paramount TV Network) has added Carla Gugino who will star. Charles Dutton has been previously cast. Threshold deals with the threat of alien lifeforms.
• NBC‘s Book of Daniel (NBC Universal/Sony Pictures TV) which already stars Aidan Quinn, has also cast Dylan Baker as the senior warden in the church where Quinn is the minister who speaks directly to God.
• Natasha Henstridge has joined the cast of ABC’s Pros and Cons (Touchstone TV/Bad Robot) from JJ Abrams, about a group of con artists working for the government. Henstridge joins a cast that also includes William Baldwin.
• CBS‘ comedy pilot Love Monkey (Paramount Network TV/Sony Pictures TV) has cast Judy Greer, who joins Thomas Cavanagh. Love Monkey is about four single guys in the dating/relationship process, all chronicled by a music producer – Cavanagh.
• Fox‘s drama project Reunion (Warner Bros. TV/Class IV Prods) has added Will Estes to the ensemble which already includes Chyler Leigh, Sean Faris and Alexa Davalos.

Granada Entertainment’s Nanny 911 returns to the Fox primetime schedule on March 14, Monday at 8pm.

WB has ordered additional episodes of One Tree Hill and Friday night comedy What I Like About You, for a total of 23 and 24 episodes, respectively.  So far this season, One Tree Hill has averaged 4.6 million viewers, the net’s #3 ranked drama behind 7th Heaven and Gilmore Girls.

Telemundo has entered into an agreement to acquire the KBLR/Las Vegas from Summit Media Limited Partnership. Financial terms were not disclosed.  Las Vegas is the 51st DMA market, and the #25 largest Hispanic market.  KBLR is a full-power station and currently a Telemundo affiliate. The station joins 15 other Spanish-language television stations already owned and operated by the NBC Universal Television Stations Division.  The acquisition is subject to all the usual regulatory approvals.

Top Ten Basic Cable Ad Supported Network Rankings among Total Viewers for the week of February 14-20, 2005:
Primetime       (000)   Total Pgm Day   (000)
TNT              3174     NICK              2117
USA              2843     NAN*              1515
NAN              1869     TNT               1481
CARTOON 1797     CARTOON 1343
LIFETIME         1586    USA               1163
SPIKE            1584     LIFETIME         1118
TBS              1474     TBS               922
FOXNEWS 1453     FOX NEWS        767
SCIFI            1267     SPIKE            735
ESPN             1211     HISTORY 694
Source Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research Data.
All ratings based on Total U.S. Television Universe of 108,400,000 homes
* = Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24 hour day. Primetime listing only includes those networks broadcasting more than 51% of the primetime hours (M-Su 8p-11p)

Top Ten Basic Cable Ad Supported Network Rankings among A18-49 for the week of February 14-20, 2005:
Primetime       (000)   Total Pgm Day   (000)
TNT              1554     TNT               807
USA              1172     NAN*              614
TBS              931      TBS               565
SPIKE            827      USA               543
SCIFI            680      LIFETIME         519
LIFETIME         629     NICK              502
COMEDY  597      SPIKE             403
MTV              562      CARTOON 380
DISCOVERY        551     FX                361
ESPN             547      COMEDY   357
Source Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research Data.
All ratings based on Total U.S. Television Universe of 108,400,000 homes.
* = Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24 hour day. Primetime listing only includes those networks broadcasting more than 51% of the primetime hours (M-Su 8p-11p)

Casting Call:   Want to look 10 Years Younger (sheesh, who doesn’t?) ?  In any case, if you’re so inclined, TLC’s 10 Years Younger show is looking for interesting outgoing people in the greater LA area who are interested in a little freshening via non invasive medical and dental assistance, along with all the usual fun makeover stuff.  Interested?  Contact Tina Weiss at
for application information. 

Andrew Snyder has been named VP/iMedia Advertising Sales for Discovery Networks, U.S., effective immediately.  In his new role, Andrew will oversee all sales efforts for Discovery’s iMedia offerings, including Discovery.com, broadband, Video On Demand and other interactive platforms. He reports to Scott McGraw, EVP/Ad Sales.

Univision Communications Inc. announced Bert Medina has been upped to SVP/Operating Manager of the TeleFutura Network.  He’ll be responsible for overseeing all operations, including programming, promotions, talent relations, technical operations and news for the TeleFutura Network.  Based in Miami, Bert reports to Ray Rodriguez, Pres/COO, Univision Communications Inc.  Bert fills the vacancy left by Alina Falcon following her upping to EVP/Ops Mgr. of Univision Network.

In addition, Univision has promoted Vincent Cordero to replace Bert Media as VP/General Manager, Univision WGBO-TV and TeleFutura WXFT-TV in Chicago. Vincent will oversee the channels’ operations.  Vincent reports to Mike Wortsman and Tom Arnost, Co-Presidents, Univision Television Group.

Bravo, the U.S. Hispanic integrated communications agency, has announced the appointment of Kathy Whitlock as VP/Managing Director and the promotions of Nilda Velez and José E. Arandia to VP/Managing Directors.  Kathy begins at Bravo by overseeing the Sears and Cingular accounts, making the move over to Bravo from Warner Bros. Movieworld Madrid, where as Director of Sales and Marketing.  Nilda Velez has been promoted to VP/Managing Director, where she will oversee the Lifetime Television and Toys “R” Us accounts. Additionally, she will continue to manage the Kraft Foods business.  And Jose Arandia, upped to VP/Managing Director, will now oversee the Wyeth Consumer Healthcare account. He will continue to lead a team responsible for Miller Brewing Company, the United States Postal Service, Hertz Rent-A-Car, Banco Popular, and The New York Times.

Brooke Bowman has been upped to VP/Programming & Development at ABC Family.  The announcement was made by Kate Juergens, SVP/Original Series Programming & Development, ABC Family.  Brooke will continue to develop both scripted and reality series for the channel, including oversight of the writers, directors and on-air talent for current productions. 

Tuesday, February 22, 2005. FINAL Ratings for all Networks – program averages.  Source: Nielsen Media Research. 

FOX     12.8/19  American Idol 15.9/24, House 9.6/14

CBS     7.5/12   NCIS 8.7/13, One Day at a Time Reunion Special (OTO) 6.2/9, Judging Amy 7.8/13

NBC     6.2/10   L&O: Criminal Intent [r] 4.3/6, Scrubs 5.2/8, Committed 4.2/6, L&O: SVU 9.7/16

ABC     6.1/9    My Wife & Kids (8-840p) 4.7/7, George Lopez (8:40-9:20) 5.5/8, According to Jim (920-10p) 6.7/10, NYPD Blue 7.0/11

WB      3.3/5    Gilmore Girls 3.7/6, One Tree Hill 2.9/4

UPN     1.7/3    All of Us 1.7/3, Eve 1.6/2, Veronica Mars 1.7/2

A18-49  Fox 8.9/22, ABC 3.5/9, NBC 3.4/9, CBS 2.9/7, WB 2.2/6, UPN 1.0/3

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1981 – Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer put an end to rumors and speculation and announce that they will be wed in the summer.
 
Answer to Yesterday’s Movie Trivia Question:  Here’s the quote – you provide the movie title:  “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”  Okay, that was a slam dunk – COOL HAND LUKE starring Paul Newman.  Kudos to the world on that one, and to these, the second four correct from each time zone:  Marc Goldstein-Mindshare/NY; Mark Doyle-ABC News/NY; Jennifer Hayoun-Saatchi & Saatchi/NY; Ezra Levy-Boston Provident Partners/NY; Kirk Olson-Sony Pictures Television; Mike Fraser-Ball State Communications/Muncie; Chris Coffee-KLFY/Lafayette; Lacy Comstock-Norwood Promotional Products/Indianapolis; Aaron Paquette-OTX: Online Testing Exchange/Hollywood; Jamie Barton-WB Affiliate Relations/Burbank; Kerrin Kuhn-E! Entertainment/LA; Patrick Nichols-Lifetime/LA; and internationally from Mark Fabian-EFE Quebec/Quebec; Jon Rutherford-Portfolio Ent/Toronto; Richard Carpenter-20th Century Fox, Incendo Television/Toronto; Bill Irwin-CKLZ-FM/CKOV, Kelowna, BC.

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

SOME LIKE IT HOT .

Court TV: The Investigation Channel’s primetime ratings growth across all key female demos:

W18-34  +50%
W18-49  +21%
W25-54  +13%

And find out what else is hot on the Hollywood Heat Academy Awards Show.
Tonight at 11pm.

The envelope please.
The winner is…

You , when you advertise on Court TV. 

Visit www.courttvmediakit.com for details.

Source: Nielsen Media Research.

Today’s Movie Trivia Question:  Here’s the quote – you provide the film name:  “Look at me!  I’m the King of New York!” (click here with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone with your answer. 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
02.24.05  5:07am

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Copyright Cynthia Turner 2005

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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT: FEBRUARY 24, 2005:  February sweep 2/3/05 – 3/2/05

ABC              Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs – Seeing is Believing; Primetime Live
CBS              Survivor, CSI, Without a Trace
FOX              The O.C., Fox Special: Stars Without Makeup
NBC              Joey, Will & Grace, The Apprentice, ER
PAX              Universal Movie: Cry Freedom
UPN              WWE Smackdown
WB               WB Movie: Ever After
TELE             La Mujer en el Espejo, Gitanas, Te Voy a Ensenar a Querer
UNIV             Premio Lo Nuestro 2005 (OTO)