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CYNTHIA TURNER’S
Cynopsis

03/ 17/05

Top o’ the mornin’ to ye! It’s Thursday, March 17 , 2005, and this is your first early morning briefing.

Sumner Redstone, Chairman & CEO, Viacom Inc. said yesterday he is considering splitting Viacom into two distinct and separate publicly traded operating entities because ” … Viacom’s businesses have inherently different growth characteristics and investment attributes that appeal to different types of investors. … This important distinction is likely to continue to limit Viacom’s ability to receive full value for its assets and its prospects in the investment community.”  Separating the company into two allows each to set and execute their own long term strategies. The plan would have Tom Freston leading one of the companies that would include MTV Networks; and Leslie Moonves overseeing the other which of course includes CBS, radio and the outdoor businesses.  The plan also maintains Redstone as the long term big guy overseeing both companies.

Robert Blake was acquitted of all charges yesterday.  According to the jury foreman, the jurors found the circumstantial evidence against Blake “flimsy” and came from “unreliable people,” which included two stunt men.  One of the stunt men admitted to suffering a nervous breakdown adn seemed to have delusions about police tunneling under his home. Both men admitted on the stand to having been addicted to drugs for years.

Tonight’s Finale:
Univision:  Amor Real at 9p

The season’s debut of The Shield on FX, the new season co-starring Michael Chiklis and Glenn Close, delivered 3.9 million viewers on Tuesday night at 10p.  That marks a 37% total viewer increase over last season’s premiere episode.  As far as the 18-49 crowd, 2.3 million tuned in, again up from last year.

The fun never stops for the guys at Cablevision.  Now their being sued by the New York Jets who allege anti-trust violations in its court papers that Cablevision is blocking its ads that support building a new football stadium on the city’s west side (the stadium would cost in the neighborhood of $1.4 billion). Cablevision is against the idea of building a new stadium and prefers to run ads opposing the stadium, which the Jets characterize in its court papers as a “false and misleading disinformation campaign.”  Cablevision has twenty days to respond, though did issue a statement yesterday that called the lawsuit a “desperate publicity stunt by the Jets.”

NBC’s The Office previews on March 24 at 930p and then airs in its regular time period starting March 29 at 930p.  It then will make its repurposed debut on CNBC April 1 at 10p.

UPN has ordered a pilot called The Show with AJ Calloway (Sony Pictures TV/Handprint). Reminiscent of Garry Shandling’s The Larry Sanders Show, this project is semi-autobiographic of AJ Calloway’s real life, while putting him in the made-for tv role of late night talk show host.

NBC has given the official okay for a special called Three Wishes (NBC Universal TV) with host Amy Grant, which will also serve as a back door pilot.  The idea is a bus of experts arrives in Anytown USA to surprise someone who has a special wish – hard luck stories with wishes of escaping out from under a mountain of bills, or fun stories where someone has always wished to do one special thing (meet someone, skydive, whatever).  As the title suggests, each episode would grant three wishes.

ABC:

• Commander in Chief (Touchstone TV/Battle Plan Prods) has added Matt Barr in a recurring role.  Filling out the cast are Geena Davis, Donald Sutherland, Leslie Hope, Julie Ann Emery, Kyle Secor, Ever Carradine, Caitlin Wachs, Jasmine Jessica Anthony, and Henry J. Lennix.
• Adopted (20th) has cast Jodi Lyn O’Keefe as the sister to the 20-something writer (Andrew Walker) who first learns he is adopted and then tries navigate life under the influence of two mothers, one played by Bernadette Peters.
• Laws of Chance (20th/Roundtable Ink) has signed Michael O’Neill to play the father of Kadee Strickland’s character, a Houston prosecutor based on a real life person. Other cast members include Fran Kranz and Bruce McGill.

FOX:

• Corrected title on the untitled drama pilot set in a fertility clinic: Born & Bred (20th/Imagine TV).  Cast thus far are Joely Fisher, Matt Letscher, Nestor Carbonell, Leah Pipes and Phillip Rhys.
• Kitchen Confidential (20th/New Line TV/Darren Star Prods) has signed Nicholas Brendon to join John Francis Daley, in a project a bad boy chef, down on his luck who takes over a top ranked NY restaurant.  The ‘bad boy chef’ role has yet to be cast.
• Untitled project set in a Las Vegas wedding chapel (Spelling TV), and focuses on a brother and sister who own the 24/7 service, has added Megalyn Echikunwoke to the cast that already includes Leslie Bibb as the sister and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as the brother.

NBC:

• Blue Skies (NBC Universal TV) has signed Jay Paulson to play the brother of Anna Faris’s character, a stockbroker turned YMCA lifeguard. Missi Pyle was previously cast.

RealProWrestling debuts on Pax TV on March 27 and then re-airs on Fox Sports Net three days later.  Pax has ordered a total of 9 episodes of this Olympic-style wrestling, billed as the next new professional sports league.  The first season includes eight teams from across the country, each featuring top Olympic and/or NCAA champion wrestlers.

PGA Golf has signed a multiyear deal with XM Satellite Radio making XM the official celestial radio partner, per Hollywood Reporter. XM will stream live coverage of PGA Golf events, and at various events will rent radios to attendees.  XM will partner with PureGolf to deliver enough content to fill 24 hours.  XM Satellite Radio also has sports agreements with Major League Baseball (11 years, $650 million); college football and basketball, and with NASCAR, though the latter will migrate over to Sirius Satellite Radio in 2007 (a deal valued at $107.5 million for a five year period).

A.G. Media Group, Inc. inked a deal with America Online, Inc. to import content and programming to AOL BlackVoices.  In addition to co-branding, the Christian media holding corporation will provide Gospel music, entertainment and religious stories, news updates and additional content from A.G. Media’s GospelCity.com to the African-American online service.  More info at www.blackvoices.com.

ABC’s Monday Night Football schedule will kick off (sorry) with the Hall of Fame Game on August 8 (Chicago vs. Miami) , followed by Dallas v. Seattle on August 22 and then Detroit vs. St. Louis on August 29. ABC will also have the Super Bowl next year, set to air on February 5.

Casting Note:  Auditions this weekend in Boston and next weekend in NYC for the next Mark Burnett television series in search of the next lead vocalist/frontman for the Australian rock band INXS.  Seasoned performers (no amateurs), with talent a la Bono or Dave Navarro.  Men or women can apply – all applicants must have a website producers can look at, and rock and roll in your blood.  The winner receives a record deal with the band INXS and will travel on a world tour with the band.  Singing with the band is not a prize – it becomes your full time job.  Auditions are by appointment only.  To apply, contact Robert Russell at
, and for info on location/times in both cities, contact Brenda Della Casa at

– and make sure you tell them where you heard about it!

The Golf Channel has named John Donnelly Regional VP/Eastern Sales, responsible for spearheading the network’s non-endemic sponsorship efforts in the northeast United States.  John will be based at the network’s New York Office.  Other executive hirings include:  Jeff Foster upped to Manager Director/Golf Sponsorship, with the responsibility of managing accounts with golf equipment manufacturers, travel and tourism organizations and new media sales for golf sponsorships.  Joining the Orlando sales team at the network’s headquarters is Theresa McCann as Director/Strategic Partnerships, focusing specifically on the travel industry. In other company moves, David Desmond has been named Director of Sales/Golf Sponsorships, based in Carlsbad, CA. 

MTV Networks has made several exec appointments including the promotion of Herb Scannell to Vice Chairman/MTV Networks and President/Nickelodeon Networks.  He will continue to manage Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, TV Land, Noggin/The N and Spike TV operations in addition to his fresh responsibilities developing new channels and multimedia businesses for the network in the US territory.  Herb is based in New York. Bill Roedy was upped to Vice Chairman/MTV Networks and President/MTV Networks International.  He will also continue with his current job overseeing MTV Networks’ global operations and public affairs programs as well as his new task of managing new multimedia platform growth globally.  Bill is based in London.  Both Herb and Bill will report to Judy McGrath, MTV Chairman/CEO. 

NBC Universal Cable has upped Ron Lamprecht to VP/New Media and Megumi Ikeda to VP/Strategic Initiatives and New Media.  Both Lamprecht and Ikeda will continue to report to Jean-Briac Perrette, SVP/New Media and CFO of NBCU Cable. Ron will lead the distribution of NBCU’s cable and VOD services to Telco and alternative distribution platforms.  He continues to support various strategic and technical NBCU projects relating to the distribution and protection of NBCU’s content.  Megumi will be the lead New Media contact for Cablevision, Mediacom, Insight, NCTC members and affiliates in Canada and the Caribbean, continuing to pursue strategic and operating opportunities with NBCU’s cable-related investments.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has named Damon Romine as Entertainment Media Director. Romine will be based in Los Angeles and brings with him a wealth of entertainment industry experience (editor of Teen, and Soap Opera Update), and a background in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activism.

AmericanLife TV Network will expand the network’s affiliate sales department, and heading up that effort will be Richard Freedman as SVP/Affiliates Sales & Relations. AmericanLife TV Network has made affiliate sales a top priority for 2005, building on recent launches in New York, NY, San Diego, CA, and Fairfax, VA.  In his new position, Richard will oversee all aspects of national affiliate sales.

Tuesday – A18-49 Analysis:  Fox far and away led the field on Tuesday night with a combo of American Idol and House racking up a 9.2/23 A18-49 rating in final numbers from Nielsen Media Research.  CBS was a distant #2 with a 3.5/9, followed by ABC 3.1/8, NBC 2.7/7, WB 1.2/3, UPN .9/2.  At 8p American Idol delivered a strong 11.5/30, ahead of all the other broadcast nets in combined share.  House at 9p held 56% of its leadin share, delivering a very solid 6.8/17, and winning the time period over CBS’ Amazing Race (5.0/12).  The 10p hour ended in a tie between Law & Order: SVU and ABC’s newest drama series Blind Justice, each posting a 10 share for the hour, ahead of CBS’ Judging Amy’s 8 share.

FINAL HOUSEHOLD Ratings:  Tuesday, March 15, 2005, for all Networks – program averages.  Source: Nielsen Media Research. 

FOX     13.4/21  American Idol 16.2/25, House 10.6/16

CBS     7.5/12   NCIS [r] 7.7/12, Amazing Race 7.6/12, Judging Amy 7.2/12

ABC     5.8/9    My Wife & Kids 4.3/7, George Lopez [r] 4.2/6, According to Jim 6.1/9, According to Jim [r] 6.1/9, Blind Justice 7.0/12

NBC     4.9/8    Will & Grace [r] 3.1/5, Will & Grace [r] 3.1/5, Scrubs [r] 4.1/6, Committed 3.5/5, Law & Order: SVU 7.7/13

WB      2.0/3    Gilmore Girls [r] 2.4/4, The Starlet 1.7/3

UPN     1.5/2    All of Us [r] 1.5/3, Eve [r] 1.7/3, Veronica Mars [r] 1.4/2

A18-49                Fox 9.2/23, CBS 3.5/9, ABC 3.1/8, NBC 2.7/7, WB 1.2/3, UPN .9/2

A CYNOPSIS: KIDS! MESSAGE FROM ABC KIDS NETWORKS

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1974 – Louis I. Kahn, one of the world’s lead postwar architects, dies at 73 of a heart attack in a bathroom in New York’s Penn Station.
 
Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:  So, say you’re an elk.  And your name is Lawrence – though that’s not really pertinent, but you wouldn’t want to be a nameless elk.  And not only are you an elk, but you’re a performing elk on TV.  Intriguing?  Who do you work for? THE HARTFORD INSURANCE CO.  Kudos to: Gloria Price-CBS News/NY; Gerry Bixenspan/NY; Marisela Burkert-Fox Bcsting/NY; Tim Rank-Adamson Adv/St. Louis; Carla Pregnolato-WGN/Chicago; Greg Armstrong-KTVD/Denver; Sam Lawson-UPN46/St. Louis; Barbara Miller-KSWB/San Diego; Nalinya Davis-Screen Actors Guild/LA; Ray Schiel-Start Cooking … Natural’y/LA.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

Today’s Green Trivia Question:  The song “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral”, a 1913 Irish lullaby written by James Royce Shannon, was made popular in what Hollywood movie?   (click here with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. 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
03.17 .05  5:29am

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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  MARCH 17 , 2005:

ABC              Jake in Progress, Jake in Progress, Jake in Progress, Jake in Progress, Primetime Live
CBS              NCAA Basketball (12n-5p and 7p-12m)
FOX              The O.C., Point Pleasant
NBC              Will & Grace, Will & Grace, The Apprentice, ER
PAX              AFV, AFV, Diagnosis Murder, Diagnosis Murder,
UPN              WWE Smackdown
WB               Jeff Foxworthy: The Early Days (OTO), The Starlet [r]
TELE             La Mujer en el Espejo, Gitanas, Te Voy a Ensenar a Querer
UNIV             Apuesta por un Amor, Amor Real [F], Aqui y Ahora