Source: Nielsen Media Research; All based on A18-49 000s, originator averages. Best Quarter Ever: 1996-2004, Prime. +22%: 4Q04 vs 4Q03, Prime. +26%: Dec 1-25 2004 vs 2003, 7-10pm.  #5: Dec 1-25 2004, 7-10pm vs all basic cable.

CYNTHIA TURNER’S
Cynopsis

02/0305

Good morning. It’s Thursday, February 3, 2005, and this is your first early morning briefing, and welcome to the first day of the February 2005 sweeps.

CBS has announced that when Dan Rather steps down from his anchor post, CBS News chief Washington correspondent and anchor of FACE THE NATION Bob Schieffer will step up, at least for the interim.  Schieffer will begin his new evening news job on Thursday, March 10.

No need to worry about Martha having a job post-incarceration.  The Apprentice: Martha Stewart is in the works with Mark Burnett Prods and NBC, featuring 16-18 contestants all looking to win a job within Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia plus a $250,000 salary.  This is the second Martha Stewart show Mark Burnett will be producing – the other a daytime syndicated series for NBC Universal which has already been cleared in 70% of the US. Martha moves from prison to house arrest next month, and at that point she can begin working again.  Production for The Apprentice: MS could begin as early as next month.

It’s official, Star Trek Enterprise on UPN will have its series finale on Friday, May 13. 

Casting / Development / Production:

• Fox‘s ordered sitcom series (6 eps on order) called Stacked (20th) has cast Tom Everett Scott to play opposite Pamela Anderson, about a woman working in a bookstore who has a penchant for men you wouldn’t bring home to mother.  Scott plays the owner of the book store.
• Fox has also been busy ordering pilots:  Deviant Behavior (Regency TV) follows a team that tracks serial killers; and a drama set in a fertility clinic (not to be confused with NBC’s drama in a fertility clinic called Inconceivable) from 20th TV and Imagine TV and writers/producers Sean Jablonski and Jason Katims.
• NBC has picked up Blue Skies (NBC Universal TV) , a comedy that focuses on a dysfunctional family and their now 20-something golden child.
• NBC has also given a cast contingent order to an as yet untitled comedy project about a guy who spent his entire life working at the family hot dog stand, and now wants to go out and make it on his own – with the help of the a life coach (ah, the 21st century), from 20th and Adelstein/Parouse Prods.
• CBS has ordered a handful of pilots:  drama pilot called The Unit (20th), based on the novel Inside Delta Force: The Story of America’s Elite Counter Terrorist Unit by Eric Haney; Quantico (Touchstone TV) is billed as a suspense thriller set in the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit; and two untitled dramas – one about a married working couple juggling jobs and family from 20th/Paramount Network TV, and the other from Touchstone which received a cast contingent order is based on the life of psychic James Van Praagh (a la Medium), written by John Gray.
• ABC has ordered Hot Properties (Warner Bros. TV) about four real estate brokers; and the net ordered Emily’s Reasons Why Not (Sony Pictures TV/Pariah) about an self-help author who doesn’t read her own advice particularly when it comes to men, based on the Carrie Gerlach book.
• In Justice (Touchstone TV), a legal drama pilot ordered up by ABC, has cast Jason O’Mara as one of the lead detectives. The story follows a group of lawyers who attempt to help those wrongfully convicted.
• WB‘s ordered legal drama pilot from Jerry Bruckheimer TV/Warner Bros. TV has cast Jay Baruchel (Million Dollar Baby) in the lead role. The story focuses on a young lawyer and his cynical mentor, per Hollywood Reporter.

American Idol continues to pass along to the next round with a very strong 11.9/30 A18-49 rating in final numbers on Tuesday night according to Nielsen Media Research.  That A.I. lead-in gives House a jump start, and it finished with a 5.1/12 at 9p, also winning its time period. Amazing Race continues to do well for CBS at 9p with a 4.6/11, while a repeat of L&O: SVU at 10p led the field with a 4.2/11.

Bravo’s success with its latest reality competition, Project Runway, has prompted the net to add in an extra episode (airing 2/16) and will also stretch the finale to a 2-hour presentation, scheduled to air on February 23 at 9p.

The WB 100+ Station Group has picked up the second cycle of That 70’s Show, distributed by Carsey-Werner.  The show first went to syndication in Fall 2002; thus far the second cycle has been eared in 75% of the US on a cash+barter basis. The second cycle begins in Fall 2008.

The Michael Jackson trial is set to resume on Monday, and as you might imagine Court TV plans to bring you every step of it, whether you are here on domestic soil, or across the pond.  Court TV and UK’s Channel Five News have forged an agreement whereby Court TV will provide the trial coverage oversees with Diane Dimond reporting with updates as warranted.

Quick Cable Round Up for January:

• National Geographic Channel had its highest rated month in January averaging a .23 HH and a .12 A25-54 rtg for total day, and a .37HH and .21 A25-54 in primetime.  A highlight for NGC was its Tsunami: Day of Destruction special earning a 1.02 HH rtg and a .57 A25-54.
• VH1 is 20 years old and is celebrating with new ratings records for January, averaging a .3 total day (+50% vs. last year), and averaging 408,000 total viewers for the month.  Highlights include Celebreality (premiere Jan 9) averaged 699,000 total viewers during the month; Surreal Life is averaging a 1.3 among A18-49; Celebrity Fit Club is averaging a 1.0 A18-49 in January, and Strange Love is also averaging a 1.0 A18-49.
• Nick at Nite has its most watched January in its history among A18-49 averaging a 0.7 and 681,000 viewers for total day, up 17% over last year.  The Fresh Prince of Bel Air was the highest rated and most watched show on the net among A18-49, averaging a 0.8 rating.
• TV Land also enjoyed its most watched month among total viewers on a total day basis, averaging 575,000 total viewers, up 16% over January 2004. In the demos, TV Land delivered a 0.3 A25-54 rating, an increase of 26% year to year in total day; and an 0.4 A25-54 in primetime, marking a 9% increase year to year.  New to the schedule in January was Highway to Heaven, averaging a 926,000 total viewers at 8pm in January.
• Court TV concluded January 2005 with its highest-rated and most-watched January in primetime in the history of the network with a .9 HH Rtg in primetime and an average of 941,000 viewers.  Among A18-49, the net was up 15% year to year in primetime, averaging 394,000 viewers.   Highlights include the network’s original movie The Exonerated which delivered 2.2 million total viewers on its initial airing on January 27.
• After a fairly brutal weather month in January, The Weather Channel reaped the benefits with an average of 150,000 A18-49 viewers in total day (up 11% year to year) and 174,000 viewers in primetime (up 19% over January 2004).  On January 29 the total day average was an 0.6 HH Rtg, equal to a half million homes, with a high at 8:45am earning a 1.2 Rtg.
• A&E was up in January by 29% in primetime with a deliver of 616,000 A25-54 and up by 42% among A18-49 vs. last year.  That makes 16 months in a row A&E has seen improvement over the same month a year prior in the A25-54 category.  Big successes for hte month included Dog the Bounty Hunter with 1.1 million A25-54 viewers; and The First 48 averaging 832,000 A25-54 impressions.
• Sci Fi had a good month, particular on Friday nights in January when it was #1 in basic cable among A25-54 and M25-54 in primetime.  The success is attributed to Battlestar Gallactica with 1.5 million M25-54 viewers; Stargate Atlantis with 1.3 million M25-54 viewers; and Stargate SG-1 with 1.1 million. Sci Fi Friday averaged over a 2.0 rating for its three original series, with more than 2.5 million viewers tuning in each week.
• Lifetime began 2005 with its 3rd consecutive month of primetime ratings growth averaging a 1.8 HH Rtg, up 6% in January, thanks to success of the net’s original movies and its New Monday Movie acquired films.  Among total viewers, the net was up by 5% with 1.9 million total viewers. Two of the highest rated original or acquired films were Dawn Anna (4.4 million viewers) and Widow on the Hill (4.2 million viewers).
• History Channel made history in January, achieving its best January ratings in total viewers, and best month in A18-49.  In primetime, History averaged a 1.1 HH Rtg, up 3% vs. last year; with 1.26 million viewers (+4%) and 541,000 A18-49 viewers, beating the network’s previous high last April of 526,000.
• Bravo‘s success in January is fired by Project Runway, delivered more than 1 million viewers for the four January outings; Queer Eye for the Straight Guy averaged a a 1.03 HH rtg, 732,000 A18-49 and 1.1 million total viewers in January for its primary Tuesday airings at 10p; while Queer Eye for the Straight Girl previewed on January 11 with a .87 HH Rtg and 617,000 A18-49.
• Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim saw a new A18-34 January ratings record, #1 in its Mon-Thurs & Sat/Sun 11p-2a time period with 532,000 A18-34 and 261,000 A18-24, each demo up by 53% and 41% respectively year to year.

Syndicator Program Partners Inc., is making its newest procedural crime drama Da Vinci’s Inquest available to perspective buyers via a satellite screening. The show is available for a September 2005 launch on a straight barter basis. Described by Program Partners as the next CSI, the Canadian show is currently in its seventh season on the CBC, created by Chris Haddock (MacGyver, The Handler).
 
Rainbow Media Holdings has lined up a series of distribution agreements with cable ops and satellite providers for AMC, WE: Women’s Entertainment, IFC, fuse and FSN, Rainbow’s regional sports services.  Distribution deals have been made with DirecTV and EchoStar’s DISH Network; while cable ops deals have been signed off with Comcast, Adelphia and Mediacom.

Correction :  Showtime‘s third season of Family Business is schedule to debut on March 12 at 1130p.  The date and time were listed incorrectly yesterday. 

As expected, Doug Herzog, President of Comedy Central will add Spike TV to his list of responsibilities.  His directive in managing the made-for-men network will be to add more original fare beyond the reality genre in search for that elusive ‘signature’ series, and to broaden its reach, though maintaining the male brand.

Stephen Macias has been named VP/Publicity for here!, the gay and lesbian premium television network. He will oversee PR for all of here!’s programming which includes original series, movies and general entertainment programs. Stephen is based in the here! LA offices, and will report to Karen Flischel, GM.

As anticipated, Tucker Carlson will join MSNBC as of next week, and will host his own primetime series currently in development.  The show will air at 9p M-F, and is expected to debut in 2nd qtr. Carlson makes the move to MSNBC from CNN’s Crossfire. He will also continue with his show on PBS, Tucker Carlson Unfiltered.

Tuesday, February 1, 2005. FINAL Ratings for all Networks – program averages.  Source: Nielsen Media Research.
[p] = Premiere; [r] = Repeat

FOX     12.0/18  American Idol 16.1/24, House 7.9/12

CBS     7.7/12   NCIS [r] 7.5/11, Amazing Race 7.5/11, Judging Amy 8.0/13

ABC     5.9/9    My Wife & Kids 4.4/7, George Lopez 4.3/6, According to Jim [r] 6.5/10, Rodney 6.1/9, NYPD Blue 7.0/12

NBC     5.7/9    Most Outrageous TV Moments 4.6/7, Scrubs 5.4/8, Committed 4.8/7, L&O: SVU [r] 7.3/12

WB      3.0/5    Gilmore Girls 3.2/5, One Tree Hill 2.9/4

UPN     1.6/2    All of Us [r] 1.6/3, Eve [r] 1.6/2, Veronica Mars [r] 1.5/2

A18-49  Fox 8.5/21, CBS 3.4/9, NBC 3.2/8, ABC 3.1/8, WB 2.1/5, UPN .9/2

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1959 – The day the music died: Buddy Holly, 22, the Big Bopper, 28, and Ritchie Valens, 17, die in a plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa.
 
Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:  This TV series used excess footage from the films The Great Escape and Battle of the Bulge for backdrop. Some footage was also shot in Spain, but the majority in Yuma and California.  What show is this? RAT PATROL.  Kudos to:  Patrick Mackey-A&E/NY; Elizabeth Barker-Initiative/NY; Tom Winiarski-TBS TNT/NY; Drew Hallman-Pie Town Prods; Jim Kizer-InsightMedia/Chicago; Kyle Krebs-KLTY/Dallas; Jeff Alton-High Five Ent/Nashville; Jon Helmrich-IBC/Hollywood.

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

Today’s Trivia Question: He was born Michael James Vijencio Gubitosi and is currently in the news.  Who is he?  (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
02.03.05    4:42am

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

ABC              Happy Days 30th Anniv Reunion, Primetime Live
CBS              CSI, CSI, Without a Trace
FOX              The O.C., Point Pleasant
NBC              Joey, Will & Grace, The Apprentice, ER
PAX              AFV, AFV, Diagnosis Murder, Diagnosis Murder
UPN              WWE Smackdown
WB               WB Movie: Dr. Dolittle
TELE             La Mujer en el Espejo, Gitanas, Te Voy a Ensenar a Querer
UNIV             Rubi, Amor Real, Aqui y Ahora