CYNTHIA TURNER’S 
CYNOPSIS

01/01/04

Good morning. It’s Thursday, January 1, 2004, and this is your 2003 Year in Review issue.

HBO announced the upcoming season of S*x and the City will be its last … Oz played out its final season on HBO … Sirius Satellite Radio said it will launch the first 24/7 gay radio channel … Avril Lavigne mis-pronounced David Bowie’s name at the Grammy’s rhymes with cow-ee … Court TV granted clearance to carry the NBA NJ Nets player Jayson Williams trial … Christopher Reeve made a special guest appearance on WB’s Smallville … David Lyle named President/Fremantle Media NA and Cecile Frot-Coutaz upped to COO/Production … Joe Millionaire pulled a 10.1/22 for its debut episode featuring Evan Marriott … HGTV got its highest viewership ever with the 2003 Tournament of Roses Parade … BET acquired off-net series The Parkers and Girlfriends (Paramount) … Hank Ratner has been named Vice Chairman of Cablevision Systems Corp. … Linda Yaccarino upped to GM/TBS Superstation and TNT Sales and later in the year upped to EVP Turner Ent. Sales & Mktg … CBS premiered an all new Star Search with Arsenio and delivers a 5.1/14 A18-49 for their trouble and then renews it for a second go around but that’s it  … Boston’s WCVB and sister station WMUR/Manchester NH, both owned by Hearst-Argyle, came to terms with Nielsen Media Research and signed up for local people meter subscription service … Albie Hecht named President of The New TNN later renamed Spike TV after much legal spiking from Spike Lee, tho none from Rugrats Spike or other spikes … Thomas Mottola, Chairman/CEO of Sony Music, stepped down … CBS hit the small screen with sitcom version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (everyone’s invited, nobody showed) … 20/20 co-anchor John Miller accepted a post with the Los Angeles Police Department as Special Assistant … NBC’s Prez/CEO Andrew Lack resigned … Simpsons celebrated its 300th episode … U.S. District Court judge determined ABC’s new reality show, I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here is different enough from Survivor to continue … Touched by an Angel had its final season … as did Voters News Service which then gave birth to polling consortium National Elections Pool … Walter Isaacson, head of CNN, stepped down … ABC asked Are You Hot? and nobody answered … Fox promised a series based on a Green Acres type reality with a socialite in a farm setting … Elizabeth Yost upped to Head of Original Programming & Development for Hallmark Channel … Robert Simone named VP/GM of WTXF … Discovery Civilization made its official Discovery & NY Times combined debut in March as Discovery Times Channel … Salaam Coleman Smith named SVP/Programming for E! Entertainment Television … Dick Parsons named Chairman of AOL Time Warner … Mark Burnett’s The Restaurant debuted on NBC and the service stinks … NBC picked up West Wing for two more years .. Fox renewed The Simpsons for two more and one more year for King of the Hill … The Hours won best picture Golden Globe … biggest question of NATPE 2003: Will there be a NATPE 2004?  Turns out yes, with Rick Feldman in charge … Starz Encore Group signed a major output deal with Universal TV for movies and series for use on its various cable networks including Westerns channel, STARZ! Cinema and WAM! … Fox News signed Pat Sajak to host a 60m celebrity talk show debuting last spring and ending before year’s end … National Lampoon Network launched reaching 3.5 million college students on 420 U.S. college campuses (using the assets it acquired from Burley Bear Network) …  ABC Family picked up off net cable rights for Gilmore Girls for fall 2004 … the Tampa Bay Bucs win the Super Bowl and 88.64 million tune in  … Lisa Hackner named EVP/Development for Universal Domestic Television … Don Hewitt, 80, and CBS News agreed Hewitt sticks around for another 18 months, and then he’ll turn over his 60 Minutes Executive Producer title to Jeff Fager … Tina Brown hosts a series of quarterly primetime specials called Topic A with Tina Brown … ABC Family brought back Dance Fever … Donna Friedman Meir named President/Kids’ Programming & Production for National Geographic Television & Film … Hugh Marks named CEO/Southern Star Entertainment, Australia … the new Jimmy Kimmel Show launched with an open bar built into the format; the bar closed three days later after an audience member became ill from having been over-poured … NATAS presented its 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award to CBS’ 60 Minutes producers and correspondents past and present … Barbara Bloom named SVP/Daytime and Children’s Programming at CBS Entertainment … Ted Turner officially resigned as Vice Chairman of AOL Time Warner Inc.  … production on the movie Thunderbirds began with Bill Paxton … Roger Marmet named SVP/GM of cable network TLC … the Feb Sweeps are filled with Michael Jackson, Joe Millionaire finale, American Idol, Kingpin, Winter X Games, Survivor Amazon premiere … Randy Falco was upped to Group President/NBC Television Network  … Dawson’s Creek had its final episode in May … Jersey Films closed its doors with the expiration of its deal with Universal Pictures … Space Shuttle Columbia went down … after three years as President of Fox Sports Net, Tracy Dolgin chose not to re-up … Superstation WGN picked up cable rights to Becker … Hallmark Channel celebrated the 20th anniversary of The Thorn Birds … NBC brings Arena Football to weekend television … The League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Council of La Raza were not happy with NBC’s Kingpin depicting Latin Americans as a bunch of ‘drug dealing murderers’ … Mike Mellon upped to EVP/Research for Paramount Worldwide Television Distribution … Joe Rogan joined The Man Show … Court TV announced the creation of the Casey Awards – given to participants in the year’s most memorable trials and trial moments … Lance B. Taylor named SVP/Current Programming at ABC … Laurie Younger named President/Buena Vista Worldwide Television Distribution … John Ford  resigned his post as President of Discovery Networks to become President of New Media at Discovery… network TV searches for Most Talented Kid and Most Talented Senior … ABC saw the matching of Bachelor Aaron and Helene … Trista picks Ryan … Trista marries Ryan … Jimmy Kimmel gets a second year … Jesse Ventura Show launches and sinks … Barry Schulman named SVP/Programming for PAX TV … ABC launched The Family … benches The Family (war broke out) … relaunched The Family, sold the format abroad … Liza and David marry, VH1 stepped in for dinner, VH1 stepped out, everyone sues … 4.9 million HHs tuned in for TNT’s cablecast of the 21003 NBA All Star Game … Bravo debuted Queer Eye for the Straight Guy … Robert Friedman named President/Classic Media … Indy docfilm Spellbound from Jeffrey Blitz and Sean Welch left viewers spellbound and tv producers scratching for future shows based on the same idea … After three years, Disney did not renew its deal with UPN for children’s programming on weekday afternoons and Sunday mornings … Talks between AOL Time Warner and ABC News for a future merger died … BET aired a Town Hall meeting, moderated by 60 Minutes’ Ed Bradley, in a discussion between high school students and Secretary of State Colin Powell … Nancy O’Dell hosted USA Network’s newest reality show Nashville Star which does well enough to warrant a second season … Fox News Reporter Greg Palkot was expelled from Iraq … later the same thing happens to Geraldo courtesy of the Pentagon (tho Geraldo denied it)  … Jamie Kellner resigned his post and returned to California where he continues as Chairman/CEO of the WB Network until the end of his contract (summer 2004) as well as continue as Chairman/CEO of Acme Communications station group … Fox dominated Feb Sweep in A18-49 thanks to American Idol, Joe Millionaire among others … Jane Pauley’s left Dateline and NBC, but goes to NBC Enterprises for a new talk show … ATAS changes some of its rules to accommodate the reality craze … Peter Arnett went to Iraq for National Geographic’s Explorer Series and to do some work for MSNBC … SNTA launched its inaugural conference in NYC … P&G runs a Crest commercial in Spanish during the Grammy’s … Shaun McDonald named VP/GM of Viacom’s WNDY and WWHO … Peter Butchen has been named SVP/Group Director, National Broadcast at Initiative Media North America … Dan Rather interviewed Saddam Hussein … Nielsen Media Research announced their rollout schedule for People Meter Service to the top 10 DMA markets … Rob Lowe left West Wing for the Lyon’s Den, a shame on both counts … MSNBC yanks Donahue … NBC’s Mr. Personality debuted and was way too reminiscent of The Man in the Iron Mask … the Ad Sales departments of Kids WB! and Cartoon Network joined forces … Grounded for Life found a new home at the WB … Rick Mischel appointed CEO of Canada’s Mainframe Entertainment, Inc … Oprah resurrected her book club … After 17 years, Harvey Ganot left the MTV Networks building … Robert J. Dowling, named President of the Film and Performing Arts Group of VNU Business Publications USA … networks brace for a potential war in Iraq and what that will mean to news coverage and advertiser makegoods …  Neal Kirsch named CFO/Discovery Networks, U.S. … Les Moonves featured in an episode of The Practice on NBC … Discovery Communications announced a partnership with CameraPlanet to co-produce feature length documentaries to be released theatrically before coming to the Discovery Networks lineup of cable nets … CBS’ 60 Minutes added a commentary segment, providing point and the counterpoint were President Bill Clinton and his 1996 presidential opponent Bob Dole … according to The Onion, a website of totally fictitious news items, NBC’s Jeff Zucker announced he will cancel CBS’ highly rated Thursday night series, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation … 51 million tune in to the President on March 10 as Americans prepare for the inevitable … Jerry Springer announced he’s taking a close look at a Senate seat … UPN signed a deal to continue WWE for two more years … College Television Network launched on April 1 … NBC Enterprises cancelled The Other Half and Weakest Link … CBS considered various contingency plans for airing NCAA Championship Basketball tournament elsewhere in the event of war … Cablevision and YES network reached a deal in time for the start of the baseball season … HBO considered whacking James Gandolfini unless he returned to the set … Elizabeth Smart was found alive and reasonably well … Azteca America got two new US affiliates – KTDF/San Antonio and KBGS/Victoria … networks ordered their reporters to leave Baghdad … Daniel Fischer named EVP/Research and Planning for Discovery Networks, U.S. … 73.3 million people watch the President on March 19 … 

The news came at 9:32pm on March 19, 2003, from NBC’s Tom Brokaw:  ‘Good evening everyone, and it has been an evening of tense expectations, a forty eight hour deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq has expired about an hour and 30 minutes ago now, and we have reports that American war planes could be in the air.  We are going to go to Peter Arnett who is now in Baghdad where it is early Thursday morning and air raid sirens are sounding across the Capital city.  Peter, what are you hearing and what are you seeing?’

        Arnett:  ‘Hello Tom.  I don’t know if you can hear me, but the sirens are sounding all around Baghdad — as of this moment it is about an hour before dawn here – sirens sounding but no sounds of missiles or anti aircraft fire.  This could be a pre-warning of an attack.  No sign of any attack but if could be a pre-warning.  The sirens have now died down.  In the Gulf war 12 years ago there was a similar series of sirens before the actual bombings began.’

From the Oval Office, the President declared War at 10:15pm. Peter Arnett was later fired for giving an interview to Iraqi television where he said in part that the US war plan had thus far failed. He was later rehired by nearly everyone.

Jeffrey Offsay, President of Programming at Showtime announced he’ll leave at year’s end … Barry Diller resigned as CEO from Vivendi Universal Entertainment … Mel Karmazin re-upped at Viacom … ABC blundered with its affiliates after advising them via the internal network alert system that they plan to stay with sustaining news coverage of the war into the night, without a local news cutaway at 11pm ET, and then cut away for local news at 11p … Chicago dominated the Oscars … US TV news outlets held off airing the POW video that is being shown around the world, video that included interviews with five prisoners, and of what was apparently an Iraqi morgue containing American soldiers … CBS would air no commercials during its broadcast of the 2003 Masters Golf Tournament … NBC and Bravo picked up TV rights to Chicago … NYSE pulled credentials of two Al-Jazeera reporters … FX announced a new series called Nip/Tuck which turned out to be a winner … Johnathan Rodgers named President/CEO of the new cable network  targeting adult African American and urban viewers, scheduled for launch later this year by Comcast Corporation and Radio One … CNN cancels Chung …for the week of March 17-23, all four 24/7 cable news outlets appear in the top ten list of Total Day/Total Viewers as well as Total Day/A18-49 Viewers … Les Eisner upped to EVP at The Lippin Group … Patrick Vien named President/Universal Studios Network … CBS wonders what to do with the final half hour of its live broadcast of the final episode of Star Search interrupted by breaking war news coverage – do over! … Sony Music let go 1000 employees, representing 10% of the staff worldwide … Ian Beavis resigned as President/CEO of Foote Cone & Belding Worldwide/San Francisco …. USA Network picked up cable TV rights to Gangs of New York from Miramax for a May 2006 TV debut … NBC searched for the Last Comic Standing … Stacy Lynn Koerner upped to EVP/Director of Global Research Integration for Initiative Media Worldwide … ESPN premiered Playmakers and scored big … Kieran Clarke named VP/GM of KWBP/Portland … Paul Montoya named SVP/GSM for Paramount Advertiser Services … The Tennis Channel launched May 15 … FX announced Lucky which wasn’t … muchmusic usa became Fuse … Bill Maples named VP/Station Mgr for KTXA/Dallas … News Corp. acquired controlling interest Hughes Electronics in a deal valued at $6.6 billion … Jessica Lynch became the new media darling … Regis finally got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame … Tony Blair recorded several lines of dialogue for use during an upcoming episode of the Simpsons visiting the UK … Comedy Central celebrated 100th ep of South Park … WB, TBS/TNT picked up bcst & cable rights to Drumline and Unfaithful … NBC renewed Will & Grace for a 7th season … CNN moved Paula Zahn to prime … A&E picked up off net cable rights to CSI Miami for $1 million an ep … how do you earn a million bucks in eight seconds?  Stay on the back of a bucking bull for 8 seconds in a competition from NBC and Professional Bull Riders Bud Light Million Dollar Bounty … TLC’s Trading Spaces went Hollywood for three eps and budgeted $100,000 for another … Jay Leno and Katie Couric switched seats for a day … WB’s 7th Heaven celebrated 150th ep … Steve Koonin elevated to EVP/COO of both TNT and TBS Superstation … NBC finally cancelled Just Shoot Me … ABC ordered a reality show of the taping of another show for another sister network – Roseanne is the target, the eventual show is The Domestic Goddess Hour for ABC Family, and the whole thing was scrapped after a couple of eps because of health issues with Roseanne … Walt Zifkin, CEO of the William Morris Agency, became CEO emeritus … Fox News satellite truck engineer Ben Johnson came back from Iraq allegedly with a few Iraqi souvenirs too many–namely, a dozen paintings among other goodies. The US Justice Dept viewed this as stealing, Fox News viewed as an employment termination offense … no, nobody was really looking to OJ to an expert on what it’s like to be in jail and provided insight into Robert Blake’s current life – that was all apparently a rumor perhaps even started by the OJ camp … PBS took viewers to yet another house – Manor House set in early 1900’s Scotland … topping the Cynopsis Poll Top TV News Moments of all time was Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon and 9/11; topping the Cynopsis Poll Top TV Entertainment Moments was Bette Midler’s singing to Johnny Carson on his second to last show and the finale of the Bob Newhart Show …  Reality Central, all new reality only cable net set to launch in early ’04 … ABC, ABC Family, TBS/TNT will all pick up the TV rights to My Big Fat Greek Wedding sharing a price tag of some $20 million …  

So many lost in 2003 – Dale Kendall Brown, actor Royce Applegate, Former Chairman of CBS Thomas Wyman, Adlink’s VP/GSM Joe Cartwright, Richard Crenna, Al Hirschfeld, Actress and singer Nell Carter, Paramount/Harpo Prods. producer Jeremy Stabile, Nick Petrosino, Fred Rogers, Thomas Wyman, Actress Lynne Thigpen, producer Paul Stojanovich, actor Michael Jeter, embedded NBC reporter David Bloom, war related deaths include Michael Kelly of The Atlantic Monthly, BBC cameraman Kaveh Golestan, Australian cameraman Paul Moran,  UK’s Channel 4 Gaby Rado (not combated-related); Independent Television News (UK) Terry Lloyd; actor Robert Stack, UPN publicist Charles Barile, Australian actor Trevor Goddard, Boise ad sales fixture Bill Jarvis, David Brinkley, Gregory Peck, news guru Winthrop “Win” Baker Jr., Hume Cronyn, Former Mediavest CEO Donna Salvatore, Katharine Hepburn, Buddy Hackett, Buddy Ebsen, President of The Museum of Television & Radio Robert M. Batscha, CBS Communications’ Kevin McDonald, CBS’ 60 Minutes producer Trevor Nelson, Bob Hope, actor dancer Gregory Hines, Warner Bros. Television casting executive Barbara Miller, actor/tough guy Charles Bronson, WPIX weekend sports anchor Sean Kimmerling, John Ritter, actor Gordon Jump, actor/dancer Donald O’Connor, director Elia Kazan, SVP/Daytime Sales for the ABC Television Network and SOAPnet Gail A. Sullivan, broadcast media manager for 21st Century Insurance in Los Angeles Courtney Hess Quintin, Johnny Cash, Price is Right announcer Rod Roddy, Art Carney, Loews Corp. Chairman and former CBS Chairman/Chief Executive Office Laurence A. Tisch, Actor/dancer Gene Anthony Ray, Actress Kellie Waymire, VP/GM of the Scripps-owned WFTS in Tampa Sam Stallworth, SVP/Programming for ABC’s Family Channel Linda Mancuso, British actor Alan Bates, former President of NBC Television Don Durgin, Home Improvement’s Earl Hindman …

Oprah signed on for two more years taking her thru the 2007-08 season … Comcast will add three new Hispanic channels to its digital cable service in its Southern Region: HTV Musica, TV Internacional, and Utilisima … Emeril signed a 5-year multimillion dollar deal with Food Network … MTV Networks upfront rivaled the bcst networks … The Henson family bought back the Jim Henson Company  … Justin Timberlake signed to be a special correspondent for TNT for NBA, NASCAR and other sporting events … Pat Summerall retired … CBS ordered up two more season of Raymond at $6 million per ep … MTV renewed Carson Daly’s contract for two more years … Annika Sorenstam takes on the men at the Colonial … CBS announced an upcoming All Star Survivor series … Harry Keane Jr. unsuccessfully sued Fox and the producers of American Idol, claiming copyright infringement and trademark infringement for American Idol … SoapNet picks up Another World … ABC announced several regulars on The Practice will not be returning with the show in Fall 2003, despite making appearances at the upfront just a week prior …  Singapore launched the SARS channel to provide public information …  Steve Gigliotti has been named EVP/Ad Sales and Emerging Media of Scripps Networks  … everything – really everything – is available on DVD … Cartoon Network picked up Family Guy for its Adult Swim block … The Apollo Theatre Foundation has come to terms with Heritage Networks and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution to produce and distribute new syndicated episodes of It’s Showtime at the Apollo for the next five seasons … Azteca America added four more affiliates: KZDF/San Diego, KMCE/Monterey-Salinas, WTPH/Fort Myers-Naples, and KOHC/Oklahoma City … Donald V. Browne upped to COO of Telemundo … Ruben! … 20th announced the Ryan Seacrest show for syndication … Fox wins the May sweep (thanks Ruben and Clay) among A18-49, CBS takes total viewers; NBC wins season A18-49 and CBS again gets total viewers … Boomtown is repurposed goes to TNT before it gets the final ax from NBC … Jeff Gralnick joined MSNBC as Executive in Charge of The News with Brian Williams … upfront bcst primetime sales tallies up at approx $9.4 billion … cable upfront expected to go to $5.2 billion … Andy Friendly joined Sucherman Consulting Group, Inc. as Senior Consultant … Bravo launched Boy Meets Boy … TRIO announced Brilliant, But Cancelled will be stripped beginning this fall, airing in primetime … Brooke Bailey Johnson named SVP & GM of Food Network … Rick Rodriguez, named EVP/GM of the Travel Channel … Brad Turell returned to The WB Network as EVP/Network Communications … Fox launched fall season premieres during the summer months – some good, some not so much … Sean Cunningham named CEO/President of the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau … Discovery launched Monster House, NBC launched For Love or Money and the bizarro dude Rob Campos who loses everything including his job … Fox launches Paradise Hotel and does so well it extends the number of episodes by 12 … FCC changed the rules, giving station owners a break by increasing the % from 35% to 45%, allowed for cross-ownership of station/newspapers/radio …  Martha is indicted … Hillary writes a tell-all book of sorts … CBS readied miniseries The Reagans and then has to pull it, sending it to Showtime instead … NBC wins the rights to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and 2012 Summer Olympic Games, to be played at sites unknown, for a total bill of $2.2 billion … Tom Green returned to MTV only to be sent away again … Antiques Roadshow got a new host with Lara Spencer, and favorite twin experts Leigh and Leslie Keno get their own PBS show, Find! …  Hallmark Channel picked up off-net cable rights to JAG … Hearst Entertainment got out of the distribution business, and put their focus on the business of producing reality based programs; taking over Hearst’s distribution duties was Tribune Entertainment … Becker got an order for 13 more … ABC pulled its membership out of NAB, citing NAB’s opposition to the new ownership cap … 4.8 million viewers tuned in for Walking with Caveman on Discovery … Dennis Miller signed with Fox News … AMC President Kate McEnroe is dismissed along with thirteen other AMC employees due to improper accounting of expense accruals to the tune of $6.2 million over a three year period … The Senate Commerce Committee voted on June 20 not pass the recent ruling changes of the FCC .. The Al Gore Channel?  … The NFL Channel launched … MTV renews Ashton Kutcher’s Punk’d for two more years and then Ashton backs out altogether … Big Ticket Television, a division of Paramount, is folded into Paramount Network Television and Paramount Domestic Television … Anderson Cooper launches in primetime on CNN … Telemundo launched its own Bachelorette series titled La Cenicienta (Cinderella) … Craig Erwich has been upped to EVP/Programming for Fox network … Comedy Central got integrated into MTVN resulting in a 20% staff cutback at CC … CBS’s new fall show NCIS changed its named to Naval CIS, then Navy CIS, then NCIS and then finally Navy NCIS which of course stands for Navy Naval Criminal Investigation Service … Fox’s Paradise Hotel casts a previous reality show bizarro chic Toni last seen on Fox’s Love Cruise (2001) … Larry Goodman bails as President/CNN Sales and Marketing, Turner Broadcasting Sales, Inc., and Greg D’Alba was upped to EVP/COO of CNN Advertising Sales & Marketing for TBSI … Robert Greenblatt named President/Entertainment at Showtime Networks … Rick Haskins upped to EVP/GM of Lifetime Entertainment Services and Lynn Picard upped to EVP/GM of  Lifetime Television Network … Sam Waterston signed for Law & Order thru 2005 … Mickey Marks, President of Omnicom’s PHD resigned … ABC’s Port Charles ends … Barbara Bennett named EVP/CFO for Discovery Communications, Inc. … Bob Ambrosini ankles CFO post at BET channel … MGM agreed to sell its 20% stake in Cablevision’s AMC, IFC, and WE to the Cablevision Rainbow Networks division, for $500 million … Dick Beahrs, President/COO of Court TV announced his retirement at the end of the calendar year … They could’ve made a reality show based on the goings on in the Vivendi Universal bid for ownership, the winner eventually being General Electric/NBC … Art Bell upped to President/COO of Court TV … Que Spaulding, President/Distribution for Starz Encore Group LLC retired … Robert Clasen named President/Sales & Marketing for Starz Encore … News Flash — Jack Osbourne has a drug addiction … The America Channel announced it will launch in 2004 … MSNBC fired Michael Savage and cancelled his talk show following a conversation he had with a call-in viewer to the show.  Were I to recount that conversation, undoubtedly many of your bad-language-blockers would bounce back this edition, so we’ll leave it to your imagination …  Simon Cowell upped for three more years of American Idol … Fiona Crago named General Manager of Beyond Distribution … NAB changed its mind re: ownership cap … Fox/USA pick up tv rights to Bruce Almighty … NBC/FX get The Italian Job … FX also gets Identity from Sony … Bill Keller has been named Executive Editor at The New York Times … John Ford has been named EVP/Programming for the National Geographic Channel … The House Appropriations Committee voted in favor of rolling back the new FCC ruling which allowed for a 45% local station ownership cap, back to 35% … Court TV appealed New York Supreme Court’s decision that there would not be cameras in the courtroom in the case of Court TV vs. The State of New York … Peter Johnson upped to SVP/Drama Development and Jeremy Gold signed on as SVP/Comedy Development, both at Fox Broadcasting … Linda Corradina named SVP/Exec Producer for Martha Stewart Living Television … Stephen Collins signed to stick around 7th Heaven for two more years … Ardyth Diercks named President/GM of WTVJ/Miami … MASH migrates from FX to Hallmark … Clara Rivas has been named VP/GM of KVDA … Maytag got a new repairman in Hardy Rawls … Kathleen Dore named President /Entertainment Services at Rainbow Media Holdings … FX got cable rights to Bernie Mac for Fall 2008 … Television Network Association announced the sudden departure of President Gene DeWitt … Kobe Bryant went to court and then the 2003 Teen Choice Awards … Starz Encore Group and 20th Century Fox announced a long term licensing deal for a bevy of films and series … NBC Enterprises and Sony are first two distributors to return to the exhibition floor at NATPE … The National Affiliated Stations Alliance, aka NASA, representing approx 600 station affiliates around the country, filed papers in a Washington DC Federal Appeals Court challenging the FCC’s ruling to increase the ownership cap to 45% … Arnold officially announced his intentions on Jay Leno and ultimately won the Governor seat …  Jerry Springer decided against going for a seat in the Senate … Darryll Green named President/GM of WUSA/Washington … everyone hosts the Emmy Awards … ESPN2 launched Cold Pizza … Carat North America announced the launch of a new business unit, Carat Sponsorship Solutions with Diane Karle heading it up … Jim Toellner named President/GM of WGRZ/Buffalo … The Western Show had its last year …  August 14 at  approx 4:17:27pm the eastern coast is plunged into darkness … Ahmad Rashad signed to host eBay TV for Sony, debuting Fall 2004 … WB 100+ Station group picked up Bernie Mac for 2005 … Fox launched Keen Eddie over the summer and cancelled it in mid-August … Jeff Sagansky left the Pax building … TBS has removed itself from the original movie business … The Restaurant gets a second go-around … NBC promoted Telemundo shows during its regular Monday night lineup … LIN Broadcasting’s Battle Creek station, WOTV let go all but four of its newsroom staff, in favor of moving the news operation to sister station WOOD/Grand Rapids …  Mark Kristol named COO of TNS Media Intelligence/Entertainment Services Group … NBC re-ups Fear Factor for three more years … as of September 1st, Nielsen Media Research upped its official TV Households number from 106.7 million to 108.4 million … Britney kissed Madonna … Al Pacino’s Scarface was re-released for its 20th anniversary … South Park syndication distribution rights assigned to Debmar Studios … James Yager, President of Benedek Broadcasting, resigned his post as Chairman of the NAB’s joint board … on September 3rd, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia issued an order that temporarily blocked the FCC’s new ownership rules, one day before they were scheduled to go into effect … Ramon Escobar named EVP/Programming and Production for Telemundo Network … Univision acquires Hispanic Broadcasting Corp in a deal valued at $3.5 billion … Mark Burnett heads to Las Vegas for development of a new reality show called Casino … Mark Silverman named SVP/GM of ABC Family Channel … Tribune station group acquires off-cable net series S*x and the City for Fall 2005, TBS picks up the show and pays a premium to get it before the broadcasters in June 2004  … Ben and J Lo are getting married … no they’re not … yes they are … no they’re not … taking bets … Lyle Schulze named General Manager of WAZE/Evansville … Van Greer named VP/GM of KBTV/Beaumont/Port Arthur … the death of John Ritter left ABC in a hard place – what to do with his hit sitcom?  The show continued and is surviving … WVNY/Burlington, Vermont, shuttered its news department … CNN EVP/GM Teya Ryan resigned … Diane Sawyer lands Jessica Lynch … the Senate, by a vote of 55-40, approved a resolution that would effectively toss out the new FCC ownership rules, now on to the House … Joe Townley upped to President, Clear Channel Entertainment Television … Steven Genett named VP/GM of WFXV and WPNY/Utica-Rome NY … WHDH/Boston signed up for Local People Meter service … NBC announced its minute mini-movies … Bates Worldwide agency announced it is closing its doors … West Wing win best Drama Emmy, Raymond best Comedy Emmy … Game Show Networks picked up cable rights to 150 eps of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? … poker becomes a big deal … the new Friends show, Coupling, made no new friends and is asked to leave … Do Not Call went into effect despite some last minute restraining orders and reversals … Bravo renews Queer Eye for a second season … FX says goodbye to Orlando Jones show … GMA’s Tony Perkins has a baby boy … Fox’s O.C. is a hit … US Treasury spends $10-$12 million to promote the new $20 bill … Karl Kuechenmeister, Cartoon Network’s SVP/Sales & Marketing, retired … Rush Limbaugh was hired by ESPN, then resigned, and then has all kinds of other unrelated trouble … UK’s Channel 4 airs a ‘live’ game of Russian Roulette … Robert C. Brennan, President of Leo Burnett Worldwide, resigned … A new program buying consortium, the Program Purchase Cooperative (PPC), was formed by 228 broadcast stations in the 100+ markets, a group designed to effectively compete with the WB 100+ station group … PPC’s first order of business was to acquire On Air with Ryan Seacrest from 20th … Peter Chrisanthopoulos upped to President/COO at Pappas Telecasting … WB 100+ group gets S*x and the City for Fall 2005 … Yule Log returns …. Thomas Devlin named President/International Television Distribution for CF Entertainment … billboard posted outside CNN: Come Home Connie: CNN Needs You. Brought to you by your friends at Fox News.   No comment from CNN … Roy Horn attacked and survives … Dave Davis named President/GM of WABC/New York … Barry Fischer named EVP/Market Strategy for TBS, Inc. … less than a month into the new season and NBC is already making scheduling changes … Barbara Walters lands Martha Stewart … Anne Sweeney will oversee ABC Family putting into question the future of Angela Shapiro, which Angela herself answers a few short weeks later … Pat O’Brien for Governor of South Dakota? … WFLA’s morning show Daytime is selling 3-4 minute segments to advertisers … Sox lose again … UPN’s The Mullets one of the first of the freshman series to get cancelled … ABC cancelled Reality Awards due to lack of interest and/or participation … CBS pulled Brotherhood of Poland NH before the sweep … Darrell Brown named the new VP/GM for KMGH/Denver … Chris Wallace signs with Fox News … Fox cancelled Luis … Marshall Porter named GM of Sinclair-owned WMSN/Madison … TNT grabbed cable rights to Without a Trace beginning Fall 2004 … Michael Silver of CBS Comm. retires … Dennis Miller goes to CNBC … new cable net TV One set to launch in January picked up City of Angels … Sony Pictures Television will bring Pat Croce: Moving In to syndication as a 30m daily … CBS pulls Reagans and then drops Michael Jackson special in light of his arrest … ABC’s The View names Elisabeth Hasselback as new permanent co-host … James Murdoch named CEO of BSkyB … NCC’s Tom Olson retired … Fox cancelled Skin, NBC cancelled Boomtown … M18-34 are missing … Nielsen says its a number of factors, networks say its Nielsen … cable says HA! not our problem … Keith Bowen named EVP/Ad Sales and Marketing for TV One …         Scott H. Bruce named VP/GM of KSVI/Billings … USA cancelled Peacemakers … WB cancelled Tarzan … many full season orders: ABC–I’m with Her, It’s All Relative, Married to the Kellys, Hope &Faith, 10-8, Threat Matrix; CBS: Joan of Arcadia, The Handler, Cold Case, Navy NCIS, Two & a Half Men; NBC — Las Vegas, Whoopi, Happy Family; UPN–Eve, Jake 2.0, All of Us, Rock Me Baby; WB — One Tree Hill, Like Family, Steve Harvey; Fox — Arrested Development, Tru Calling … Buena Vista will bring Tony Danza talking to syndication in ’04 … October Moon announced Video Funnies for syndication … Robert Peterson named GM of WRIC/Richmond … Michelle Guthrie upped to CEO of Star Group Ltd.’s Star TV … Brian Williams jumps from CNBC to NBC after New Year … Showtime picked up RJ Cutler’s The American Candidate … Boone/Oakleys offers their services on eBay for creation of a stellar Super Bowl spot … Vincent Gianni upped to VP/GM of WPHL/Philadelphia …Bill Maher goes to HBO prime in January … The Simple Life debuted on Fox and the response was simple – show’s a hit … Cynopsis hits 20,000 subscribers … NBC exercised a call option requiring PAX to buy out NBC’s 32% ownership stake to the tune of $549.2 million … Tom Kane has been named President/Viacom Television Stations Spot Sales … TV One will launch January 19, 2004 … Rebecca S. Campbell upped to President/GM of WPVI/Philadelphia … USA will repurpose episodes of Monk on ABC again this season beginning January 17 … K Street is closed … John Goldwyn, President of Paramount Pictures and Vice Chairman of its Motion Picture Group, will step down as soon as a successor can be named … CF Entertainment upped Andrew Temple to EVP/Domestic Television Distribution … Star Search once again will return to the CBS schedule on January 17 … Congressional republican leadership and the White House agreed to roll back the broadcast ownership cap to a permanent 39% … Michael Mellon named SVP/Research for the ABC Television Network … Patty Hamilton named VP/GM of WXMI/Grand Rapids .. Roy Disney, Chairman Feature Animation Division and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, Walt Disney Company resigned and called for Eisner’s resignation .. ABC and agency Mindshare pacted to create family-style television shows … Stu Stringfellow joined Byron Allen’s CF Entertainment as President/Domestic Sales – company later renamed Entertainment Studios … Stanley Gold offered up his resignation and reiterated Roy Disney’s call for Michael Eisner’s resignation … ESPN will launch ESPN Deportes, its new 24-hour Spanish language sports network on January 7 at 8pm … Comedy Central bids farewell to Busey … Kay Koplovitz named the Chairman of Reality Central … NBC Enterprises called an end to The John Walsh Show .. Career Entertainment Television is scheduled to launch in Fall 2004 … Playboy is going high def … Mick Jagger is knighted … Lifetime renews Strong Medicine for a fifth season … Charles ‘Capp’ Cappleman will be inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame … Warner Bros. Ellen Degeneres renewed for 2004-05 … Wanda at Large cancelled … Nielsen Media Research will begin providing product placement research from the six broadcast networks (sans Pax) to its clients starting in February … WorldAsia Television launches in early 2004 … Days of our Lives will air day/date on SOAPnet … Alliance Atlantis Comm. Corp. announced it will cut 9% of its production workforce … Michael Lynton to the position of Chairman/CEO of Sony Pictures entertainment … GMA will go to 7-day format starting in Fall 2004 … HBO ordered 2nd season of Carnivale … Dennis FitzSimons became the Chairman of Tribune Co. … Saddam Hussein captured … Jeff Zucker, Prez/NBC Entertainment,   named Prez/Entertainment, News and Cable Group … Court TV’s Pres/CEO Henry Schlieff offered the services of the network to act as the pool camera for the Saddam Hussein trial, providing live coverage to television networks around the globe … John Seigenthaler will anchor The News on CNBC filling the void left by Williams … WB re-upped Gilmore Girls for additional season … NBC orders five more eps of Tracy Morgan … for the first time in history, ad supported cable was in a position to win the primetime HH share race in fourth qtr 2003 over the seven broadcast networks with a projected final outcome of 49.1 HH Share for ad supported cable vs. a 48.4 HH share for the broadcasters, according to Turner Bcsting projections … Showtime ends Street Time … Dick Kurlander joined AARP this week as Television Program Development Executive … Mike Cascio resigned as EVP/GM of Animal Planet … NBCE’s Starting Over is renewed on NBC O&O group for next season … Bravo picked up defunct Keen Eddie … TV One picked up 227 and Good Times … Jon Benet Ramsey’s parents file suit against Fox News … Bachelor Bob is sued by show producers Syndicated Productions, but wins … WB and USA picked up Elf … Nielsen said no to KZTV and then erroneously released the data anyway thereby “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” said Jack Loftus … Jackson speaks on 60 Minutes … 

It’s been quite a year.  I wonder what 2004 will bring ….

Later — Cyn

Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis
01/01/04   12:01am

Copyright Cynthia Turner 2004