CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

08/10/04

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, August 10, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing.

ABC News is rolling out a 2-part documentary tonight at 10p called In the Jury Room, narrated by Cynthia McFadden.  The doc gets an unprecedented access to the deliberations of a jury in a capital case, as the jury determines if the death penalty will be enforced. The case is State of Ohio vs. Marc Ducic, charged with a double homicide.  According to Supreme Court of Ohio spokesman Chris Davey, the court provided ABC New access because “We’re very hopeful that this will be another positive step forward in increasing the public understanding of the process, thereby building further public trust and confidence.”  Davey also said that while gavel-to-gavel coverage is provided by the court on the internet, this will be the first murder case allowing full access. The case from start to finish lasted three months, from pre-trial preparations through the jury’s final verdict.  Part 2 airs on Wednesday night at 10p.

The FCC dismissed charges of indecency filed by the Parent Television Council and Americans for Decency against two popular primetime series — Will & Grace and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  The complaint about Buffy came after an April 2003 airing of the series on the Washington DC station, in which Buffy and Spike have a violent fight, and then s#x. A statement issued by the FCC read, “The commission noted that there was no nudity and there was no evidence that the activity depicted was dwelled upon or was used to pander, titillate or shock the audience.”  A similar statement was used in the FCC’s decision regarding a Will & Grace ep which aired in March 2003 on a Fox station in Phoenix, in which a female photog kissed another woman and then ‘humped’ her. The FCC also noted here that both were fully clothed.  For the complete statement issued by the FCC on both of these shows, check out http://www.fcc.gov/headlines.html.

Fox has announced the launch date of its new reality series The Champ as September 10 at 9pm, preceded by a new season of totally Outrageous Behavior and World’s Craziest Videos.  Additionally, Family Time hosted by Jay McGraw, son of Dr. Phil, has been scheduled to kick off on Tuesday, September 7 at 9pm.  

Fox has also announced its three new regional sports networks, Fox College Sports Atlantic, FCS Central and FCS Pacific will launch in early September rather than later on in the fall as originally planned.  The three digital nets were formerly Fox Sports Digital Nets. The first game will kick off will college football on September 4, the first of 70 games (both live and airing on a delayed basis), and including several college sports, as well an an abundance of sports chat and magazine series. Live football on FCS Atlantic will come from the ACC and Patriot Leagues; for FCS Central live games are Big 12 and Southern conferences; an FCS Pacific will air live PAC 10 and WAC games.

ESPN will kick off its college football season on August 28 at 7:45pm in a live again between Virginia Tech and USC.  This is the first of ESPN and ESPN2’s 112 regular season games scheduled this year.

Despite an 8-10p lineup of sitcom repeats, ABC won the night by a tenth of a rating point on Friday night, posting an overall 1.76 A18-49 according to Nielsen Media Research. NBC was a hare’s breath behind with a 1.6/6, followed in close order by CBS 1.3/5, Fox 1.2/5, WB 1.0/4 and UPN 0.7/3.  From 8-10p ABC averaged a 1.7/7, while 20/20 bumped it up at 10p with a 2.0/7, winning the hour.

Sunday night’s 7-9p airing of the X Games X on ABC may not have drawn a huge A18-49 crowd (1.4/5), but it did do better among the guys:  1.7/7 M18-34, 1.7/6 M18-49, 1.8/5 M25-54, ranking #2 in the two young male demos, and #3 in the M25-54 category.

There’s a new player in the field — Mandalay Mosaic Television Group, representing a merger between Mandalay Entertainment and Mosaic Media Group. The new production group will be headed by Allen Shapiro, with Peter Guber as partner. Rolled into this deal was the buyout of CDP Capital Entertainments controlling ownership piece in Dick Clark Productions, by Mandalay. Mandalay Mosaic will take over all of Mandalay’s current projects including Showtime’s pilot The Hill.

For all you New Yorkers – the question has come up whether or not NY-based businesses would alter their work schedules during the week of the Republican National Convention, a time which an estimated additional 50,000+ visitors, delegates and media will be visiting the city; not to mention the various NYC security checkpoints, tight security and added difficultly in traveling to and from the city. Some businesses are considering having their people work from home, or using flex hours. If you wouldn’t mind sharing your company’s RNC plans with Cynopsis, once the information is gathered, I’ll let you know what the majority of you are thinking – be it Business as Usual, or otherwise.  Thanks for the input.

Adam Stotsky has been named SVP/Marketing & Creative at the Sci Fi Channel.  The announcement was made by EVP/GM Dave Howe, to whom Adam will report.  Adam will create, oversee and implement the net’s brand and marketing strategy, on-air and off-air promotional activities and support the continued growth of the subscriber and advertiser base. 

The National Advertising Review Board (NARB) has appointed Jodie Bernstein, an attorney who is of counsel at Bryan Cave LLP, to serve as one of its public members.  The NARB serves as the appeals body of the advertising industry’s two-tiered self-regulatory system.  The board has 10 public members in addition to representation from advertisers and advertising agencies.

Michael Whitney has been named Senior Broadcast Producer at 60 Minutes.  A CBS News vet, Michael will oversee studio production and broadcast operations for both the Sunday and Wednesday editions of 60 MINUTES — a role he has performed for 60 MINUTES II since 2000 and, at one time, for virtually all of the CBS News broadcasts currently on the air.   

Gemstar-TV Guide has named Richy Glassberg as SVP/Advertising Sales for the TV Guide Television Group.  Richy will make the move to TVG TV Group from Speed Channel effective September 7, and will report to Ian Aaron, President. Richy will oversee TV Guide Channel and Gemstar-TV Guide’s interactive program guide businesses for both digital cable and consumer electronics products.

Friday, August 6, 2004. Fast National Household Ratings for all Networks. 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

NBC     4.3/8   Dateline NBC 5.1/11, Special: Miss Teen USA 2004 3.9/7

CBS     3.8/8   Joan of Arcadia [r] 3.0/6, JAG [r] 3.9/8, 48 Hours 4.5/8

ABC     3.8/7   George Lopez [r] 3.5/7, 8 Simple Rules [r] 3.2/6, Hope and Faith [r] 3.1/6, Less Than Perfect [r] 2.9/6, 20/20  5.0/9

FOX     1.9/4   The Bernie Mac Show [r] 1.9/4, Method and Red [r] 1.6/3, The Jury 2.0/4

WB      1.4/3   What I Like About You [r] 1.4/3, Grounded for Life [r] 1.2/2, Reba [r]  1.6/3, Blue Collar TV [r] 1.5/3

UPN     1.1/2   Star Trek: Enterprise [r]  0.9/2, Amish in the City [r] 1.2/2

A18-49  ABC 1.7/6, NBC 1.6/6, CBS 1.3/5, Fox 1.2/5, WB 1.0/4, UPN 0.7/3

Saturday, August 7, 2004. Fast National Household Ratings for all Networks. 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     4.1/9   Cops [r] 3.4/8, Cops [r] 4.1/9, AMW 4.5/9

CBS     3.6/8   Amazing Race [r] 2.6/6, Big Brother 3.9/8, CSI [r] 4.3/9

NBC     3.1/7   Movie:  The Replacements 2.7/6, L&O: CI 4.1/8

ABC     2.6/5   Movie: Mystic Pizza 2.8/6, Whose Line 2.0/4, Whose Line [r] 2.4/5

A18-49  Fox 2.3/9, CBS 2.0/8, NBC 1.5/6, ABC 1.1/4

Sunday, August 8, 2004. Fast National Household Ratings for all Networks. 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

CBS     6.6/12  60 Minutes 7.1/14, Cold Case 7.0/13, Movie: Personally Yours 6.1/11

NBC     5.5/10  Dateline 5.0/10, Law & Order: CI 6.3/11, Crossing Jordan 6.0/11

ABC     3.1/6   X Games X 2.3/4, Extreme Home Makeover [r] 4.4/7, The Days 3.5/6

FOX     2.7/5   King of the Hill 2.2/5, Malcolm 2.4/5, Simpsons 3.5/7, Arrested Development 2.5/4, Simple Life 2.9/5, Simple Life 2.7/5

WB      1.0/2   Steve Harvey’s Big Time 1.0/2, Charmed [r] 1.4/3, Studio 7 [r] 0.6/1

A18-49  NBC 2.5/7, Fox 2.1/7, CBS 2.1/6, ABC 2.0/6, WB 0.7/2

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1972:  A meteor blazes northward across North America, barely missing the Earth.  At its lowest point, above Montana, the meteor reached an altitude of less than 60 km, low enough to trigger a sonic boom.  It steadily gained altitude as it passed over Manitoba and disappeared into space.  If it had collided with the Earth, astronomers believe the blast would have equaled the atomic explosions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Answer to Friday’s Trivia Question:  On China Beach, when they referred to a newbie at the unit as an FNG, what did they mean?  Since it was used on primetime broadcast television, it’s not what so many of you thought (perhaps in real life, but not here on ABC in the 1990’s).  FNG stood for FAIRLY NEW GUY. Kudos to:  Christina Ricucci Owen-Millennia 3 Comm/Atlanta; Steve Woodward-UPN/Atlanta; Gerald Belton-WRAZ/Raleigh; Joanne Milano-RJ Palmer/NY; Marge Pistulka-Empower MediaMarketing/Naperville; Jill Gainer-Enterprise Rent-A-Car/St. Louis; Adam Clay-KHOU/Houston; Jesse Dienstag-Hall & Partners/LA.

Today’s Trivia Question:  Who penned the novel Murder at the Stratley?  (click here 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
08/09/04  5:21am
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A MESSAGE FROM CYNOPSIS AD SALES

WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2004:

ABC             Extreme Makeover Home Edition [r], According to Jim [r], Less than Perfect [r], In the Jury Room (OTO)
CBS             Navy NCIS, Big Brother, Amazing Race
FOX             Trading Spouses, That 70’s Show [r], Quintuplets [r]
NBC             Last Comic Standing, Law & Order: SVU [r]
PAX             On the Cover [premiere], Balderdash, Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             All of Us [r], Eve [r], The Player
WB              Gilmore Girls [r], Summerland
TELE            Prisonera, Gitanas, Protagonistas VIP
UNIV            Mariana de la Noche, Amarte es mi Pecado, Al Filo de la Ley