CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

10/21/04

Good morning. It’s Thursday, October 21, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing.

The Red Sox and Fox win on Tuesday night thanks to 25.1 million viewers watching the ALCS Game #6.  Fox drew a 8.7/22 in the final analysis of A18-49 according to Nielsen Media Research from 8-11pm.  For the duration of the game (ended at 12:10am), Fox averaged a 9.5/25. 
For the non-sports programming, NBC began the evening with the 90m series launch of The Biggest Loser, winning the time period with a 4.1/10.  ABC and CBS was in a tie each averaging a 9 share, WB pulled a 2.5/6 for Gilmore Girls and UPN’s sitcoms avg’d a 1.4/4. 
At 9pm According to Jim (4.0/9) and newcomer Rodney (3.6/8) led for ABC.  CBS’ Clubhouse, which will moves to Saturday nights for the November sweep, earned a soft 2.1/5, in a share tie with One Tree Hill, and both ahead of Veronica Mars on UPN in the demo. One Tree Hill also pulled a 4.6/12 among W12-34.
At 10p Law & Order SVU was in the lead with a 5.5/13, followed by a tie in share for Judging Amy on CBS and NYPD Blue on ABC.

Saw this one coming from a million miles away?  ABC has ordered full season pickups of its two new freshman hits – Desperate Housewives and Lost.  

Sing with me now … Here she is, Miss America … and there she goes. ABC has notified the Miss America Organization that it will not be in the pageant business next year, leaving the organizers to look elsewhere.

NBC has ordered up a full season of Medical Investigation, the network’s Friday night 10p show which in the four weeks of the new season has averaged a 3.4 A18-49 Nielsen rating, improving the time period average by 13% over the first 4 weeks of last season.

The WB has let the nanny go.  An official statement from WB and Warner Bros was issued yesterday, reading in part: “In spite of an extraordinary effort by the producers, cast and crew, we will not be proceeding with production on Commando Nanny. … it suffered a number of unfortunate and untimely setbacks, which factored into this very difficult decision.” 

Casting / Development / Production:

• Glenn Close will join the cast of FX’s The Shield for its upcoming fourth season, as the Captain of the Precinct, home to Vic Mackey – Michael Chiklis’ outgoing and gregarious detective.  Close will appear in all of the ordered 13 eps.  Production begins the first of the year.
• Fox has ordered a pilot of The Davey Gee Show, a sketch comedy project starring David Alan Grier, per Hollywood Reporter.
• Sally Field is considering a return to sitcom television.  Field is looking a project written for her from Conaco  Prods, but has not committed until she sees the script. 
• The WB has ordered a put pilot from Jerry Bruckheimer about three guys who have enough trouble with women that they’ve hired a coach to help them out. The pilot is being written by Ross McCall and Aaron Peters and brother Marsh McCall, along with Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman will exec prod., per Hollywood Reporter.
• On the development slate at ABC is a detective crime drama called Hard Time (Paramount Network TV/Solaris) from writer Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects). The idea is the detective is an ex-con and therefore has some added insight into the criminal mind.  this is one of three projects Solaris/Paramount Network TV have in the mix, per Variety.  The other two follow —
• And now for something completely different … Tom Utopia is the title of a new project from Solaris/Paramount Network TV – CBS has ordered a script. This show is about a guy who after finding out he owns land on a sovereign island, creates his own nation, including building a government, laws of the land, etc. 
• Also from Solaris/Paramount Network TV is a project at UPN called St. Andrews about an inner city kid, who after the death of his mother, seeks out his father only to find he is a very very wealthy guy living in the city, and fortunately invites his son to live with him.

If you’re not sure, here is the Fox Fall post-baseball primetime schedule:
Monday: Trading Spouses (returns 11/1), The Swan (premiere 10/25)
Tuesday: Rebel Billionaire (premiere=11/9), House (p=11/16)
Wednesday:  That 70’s Show, Quintuplets, Nanny 911 (p=11/3)
Thursday: The O.C. (p=11/4), North Shore (p=11/4)
Friday:  Totally Outrageous Behavior (10/22), World’s Craziest Videos (10/22), Renovate My Family (10/29)
Saturday: Cops, Cops, AMW
Sunday: King of the Hill (p=11/7), Malcolm (p=11/7), Simpsons, Arrested Development (p=11/7), Big Fat Obnoxious Boss (p=11/7)

After the first four weeks of the new season, it seems no matter where you go and talk with other industry-ites, you hear the same thing — ABC has been resurrected, and NBC has gone straight down the tube. That may well be the perception, but is it really the reality?  MAGNA Global USA’s Steve Sternberg put out his primetime update this week and provided a 4-week average for each of the networks. 

• You may not be surprised to learn among A18-49, ABC is ahead of last year (thanks in large part to Desperate Housewives, Lost and Wife Swap and the return of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition), and yet it may surprise you to learn they are ahead year to year by a very slim 2 tenths of a rating point (3.7/10 in 2003-04 up to a 3.9/11 in 2004-05).  Aside from the strengths of these three freshman series and the one returning, there are still some trouble areas including Monday at 8pm; The Bachelor has lost some of its luster, Life As We Know It is nearly invisible on Thursdays at 10p, and Primetime Thursday is in one of the toughest hours on television, and is suffering as a result.
• NBC is down year to year – you knew that – but the ‘devastation’ isn’t really as devastating as the perception.  NBC is down by just four tenths of a rating point:  4.3/12 in 2003-04 vs. Season-to-date this year of 3.9/11.  To be sure, NBC has had some troubles with new series: Hawaii has been cancelled, LAX has not grabbed anyone yet (though the move to the new day/time period may help – Wednesdays at 8), West Wing didn’t even start until last night, Frasier and Friends are gone, and The Apprentice doesn’t have the board room clout it did last season, though is facing stiff competition this year. On the flip side – Las Vegas is up year to year, Medical Investigation gives NBC’s Friday night a decent lift, and Crossing Jordan on Sunday night has shown year to year gains. The Law & Order franchise has both ups and downs – CI is down on Sundays, but SVU is up; the most trouble must be the original L&O which runs opposite CSI: NY and the decade plus blockbuster has some kinks in the armor.

Starz Encore Group will unveiled its new corporate name, channel lineup and a new logo on March 31, 2005. The first step is changing its corporate name to Starz Entertainment Group LLC.  The second step was redefining the channels and their specific roles and audiences including combining Starz Kids and Starz Family, launch Starz Comedy, and make room for other new channels and content. 

A&E Network has announced the first Lives That Make a Difference award, honoring the lives and words of those that set themselves apart, in all walks of life, and have made a significance difference and impact on the world. The first of those awards went posthumously to Christopher Reeve, last night at Lincoln Center, at the premiere of the A&E original movie, The Brooke Ellison Story, which Reeve directed.  Brooke Ellison suffered a life changing injury when she was 11, paralyzing  her from the neck down, unable to breathe without assistance. Brooke went on to graduate high school, and then Harvard University and is currently pursuing her Ph.D.   A&E will bestow the Lifes That Make a Difference award as it deems appropriate through out the year.

Casting Call:  Attention all you Elvis wannabes – this one’s for you.  CBS will be holding auditions for the role of Elvis in an upcoming miniseries.  You should look like you’re over 18 but under 33, and you’ll be expected to sing any Elvis tune, and show up with head shots and resumes at Sound Stage 46 at the CBS Television City studios between 10a and 4p on November 10. One for the money, two for the show, three to get going, now go go go!

Carolyn Bivens, President/COO of Initiative North America, announced the appointment of Mark Sanders as CFO/North America.  Mark will be based in Initiative’s New York office and will report to Guy Walker, CFO/Initiative Worldwide.  In his role as Chief Financial Officer, Mark will be responsible for the financial operations surrounding all media buying for Initiative in the United States and Canada.

WorldLink company Founder/CEO Toni Erickson Knight has announced Steve Voleti has been named CFO.  Steve makes the move to WorldLink from DIC Entertainment.

Goodman Media International, Inc., has upped Virginia Anagnos to SVP.  Virginia has been with GMI since 2000 and has developed and executed strategic public relations campaigns for a variety of clients, including Americans for the Arts, Discover magazine, Mercis bv, The Penguin Group, Scholastic, Inc., and many more. 

Univision Communications Inc. named Noelia Rodriguez as VP of Corporate Communications.  She will oversee strategic communications and promotions.  Noelia was recently the president and CEO of L.A. Convention 2000.  She will begin November 1 in LA and report to CEO A. Jerrold Perenchio.

The Red Sox in the World Series.  Could Fox have asked for anything more?  How about adding the widely popular St. Louis Cardinals?  That would be more.

Tuesday, October 19, 2004. FINAL National Household Ratings for all Networks – Time period Averages only, particular for Live Sports Programming. 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

FOX     14.7/23 MLB: ALCS Game #6: Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees  15.6/25 (8p-cc at 12:10am)

NBC     7.2/11  The Biggest Loser [p] 6.8/10, Scrubs 5.6/8,  L&O: SVU 8.8/14

CBS     7.0/11  NCIS 9.0/14, Clubhouse 4.9/7, Judging Amy 7.1/11

ABC     5.7/9   My Wife & Kids 5.5/9, George Lopez 5.4/8, According to Jim 6.4/9, Rodney 6.0/9, NYPD Blue 5.5/9

WB      3.3/5   Gilmore Girls 3.8/6, One Tree Hill 2.8/4

UPN     2.1/3   All of Us 2.2/4, Eve 2.3/3, Veronica Mars 2.0/3

A18-49  Fox 8.7/22, NBC 4.5/11, ABC 3.4/8, CBS 2.7/7, WB 2.2/5, UPN 1.4/3

A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION

Source: NTI Explorer, 10/4-10/10/04.  Movies ties #1 on USA with L&O: SVU and Frankenstein.  Based On HH Cov Rtg. 

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1805:  British Admiral Horatio Nelson encounters the combined fleets of France and Spain off Cape Trafalgar on the Spanish coast and defeats them in the climactic sea battle of the Napoleonic era.  At Trafalgar Napoleon’s dreams of invading England died, as did Nelson himself, shot by a sniper as he stood on the quarterdeck of HMS Victory during the battle.

Answer to yesterday’s Trivia Question: The premise was an American Spy spying in the West Indies. What is the name of this show?  JACK OF ALL TRADES.  Kudos to: Gerry Bixenspan/NY; Bob Eisenstaedt-Granite Springs Prods/Tampa, and Skye Stamey-Horizon Research/LA.

Today’s Trivia Question:  What TV character has freckles on his/her back that when connected form a picture of the Liberty Bell? (click
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.)

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

Later — Cyn

Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis
10/21/04  5:19am

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A MESSAGE FROM CYNOPSIS AD SALES

WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2004:

ABC             Extreme Makeover, Life as We Know It, Primetime Live
CBS             Survivor, CSI, Without a Trace
FOX             MLB:  NLCS Game #7 – Houston at St. Louis
NBC             Joey, Will & Grace, The Apprentice, ER
PAX             Cold Turkey, Diagnosis Murder, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             WWE Smackdown
WB              Blue Collar TV, Drew Carey’s Green Screen, Charmed [r]
TELE            Prisonera, Gitanas, Te Voy a Ensenar a Querer
UNIV            Rubi, Amarte es mi Pecado, Aqui y Ahora