CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

08/17/04

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, August 17, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing.

Fox‘s new series The Next Great Champ is due to launch on September 10, or not at all if Mark Burnett and Jeffrey Katzenberg have anything to say about it.  According to Variety, papers have been filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court seeking to prevent Fox’s show from launching with a temporary restraining order against Endemol USA, while the suit alleges Fox stole the premise of the show.  Burnett and Katzenberg’s The Contender is scheduled to launch in November. 

Based on its success thus far this season, WB has ordered up a full season of Blue Collar TV with a total of 30 eps. The WB has premiered three new series in recent weeks – Summerland was also picked up for another season (it’s first season finale is this evening).  The third show, Studio 7, has been struggling, tho no firm decision on its future has been determined as yet.

Finale Tonight: Summerland at 9pm on the WB

While the majority of the networks phone in Friday night’s schedule, NBC’s opening ceremonies of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games posted a healthy 8.1/26 A18-49 during primetime according to Nielsen Media Research with 26.4 million viewers tuning in on average during the evening.  The highpoint came at 9pm when the average for the hour was a 9.0/28, which apparently coincides with the introduction of the US Olympic Team in the Athens arena. 

Saturday night’s Olympic coverage again dominated on NBC with an overall 6.3/21 A18-49 during primetime hours with a total average tune in of 19.0 million viewers.  Besides the Olympic, the only two programs that were original fare were Big Brother (averaging a 2.9/10, and ranking #2 after NBC for the hour) and a 10:30p ep of Whose Line is it Anyway? on ABC earning a 1.6/5 A18-49, ranking fourth.

NBC and the Olympics was the clear cut winner on Sunday night posting an overall 9.6/26 from 7pm-12m, according to Nielsen Media Research data.  The high for the night for NBC came at 9-11pm where the network averaged an 11.9/30 demo rating, with 31.0 million viewers. For the night, an average of 25.9 million viewers tuned to Olympic coverage.

The 15th season of MTV’s Real World is set to launch on September 7 at 10p, from the newest setting of the young housesitters – Philadelphia. The Real World was created for MTV by Bunim-Murray Productions in 1991. 

The Weather Channel enjoyed its 5th highest rated day in TWC history last Friday with the onset of Hurricane Charley combined with updates of Hurricane  The net averaged a 1.3 HH Rtg for total day average (5a-2a), according to Nielsen Media Research. The highest quarter hour came at 430pm with a 2.4 HH Rtg, which coincides with the time Hurricane Charley made landfall in Florida.  Additionally, if you weren’t among the many who tuned into TWC, you may have checked the weather online that day, along with 6.3 million other unique users that day.

The NFL Network has engineered a channel on Comcast‘s digital tier, adding 8 million homes to NFL’s carriage, for a new total of approx 22 million. Carriage is to go into effect at the end of August, in time for the fall football season.

Azteca America has gained an additional footing in New York and New Jersey with its new carriage deal with Time Warner, providing the network with 1.4 million additional subs in four NY boroughs and three NJ counties..  Among those subscribers, an estimated 900,000 are Hispanic. Azteca America is available in 38 DMAs, representing approx 78% of the nation’s Hispanic viewing audience.

Regina DiMartino has joined Fox Television Studios as EVP/Global Marketing.  The announcement was made by Angela Shapiro/President, to whom Regina will report.  She will responsible for all aspects of marketing for Fox Television Studios,w working closely with the development team to build brand franchises and identify new media and new revenue opportunities for the studio.

Starz Encore Group has named three new executives: Bill Hoagland has been upped to VP/Product Management; Doug Hartling promoted to Group Director/Affiliate Marketing; and Bill Brovsky has been named VP/Tactical Marketing for Starz.  All three will be based in the Starz headquarters in Englewood, Colorado.

Court TV has named Megan Gormley Director/Advertising Sales, in the network’s Detroit office.  Megan reports to Susan Malfa, SVP/Ad Sales in NYC.  Part of Megan’s mission in Detroit is to create a new presence for the network in the area, responsible for creating and building new relationships with clients.

Joe Earley has been upped to EVP/Publicity, Corp Communications and Creative Services at Fox Broadcasting, reporting to Gail Berman, President. Joe adds the responsibilities of Creative Services to his previous role as head of pr and corp comm for the network.

Ross Martin has been named VP/Programming for MTV’s college student targeted network mtvU.  Ross reports to the channel’s GM, Stephen Friedman, and will be based in NYC.  His primary responsibilities will be to oversee the net’s programming strategies and acquisitions as well as its creative development.

Did you happen to pick up the book Friday’s with Art  yet?  Tales of the good old days of television as culled by those who regularly had lunch on Friday’s with Art. Art Greenfield, that is.  The compilation is penned by and filled with stories of the biz from several notables in the industry including Dick Block, Steve Rodgers, Dick Colbert, Herb Lazarus, Sandy Frank and numerous others.  Well, here’s the thing.  If you haven’t picked up your copy yet and you live in the LA area, tonight around 730p-ish you may want to stop by Barnes & Noble/LA (Farmers Market, corner of Fairfax & 3rd street, in the center called-The Grove)  where several of the authors will gather to sign copies. Among those in attendance will be Ave Butensky, Steve Bell, Dick Woollen, Jim Stern, Alan Silverbach, Dick Colbert, Herb Lazarus, Norman Horowitz, and several others.

Friday, August 13, 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     14.9/27 2004 Olympic Summer Games 14.9/27

CBS     3.6/7   AFI’s 100 Years … 100 Songs [r]  3.6/7

ABC     3.5/6   George Lopez [r] 3.4/7, 8 Simple Rules [r] 2.8/5, Hope & Faith [r] 2.8/5, Less than Perfect [r] 2.7/5, 20/20 4.9/9

FOX     2.4/4   Man vs. Beast #1 [r] 2.3/4, Man vs. Beast #2 [r] 2.4/4

WB      1.5/3   What I Like About You [r] 1.2/2, Grounded for Life [r] 1.3/2, Reba [r] 1.8/3, Blue Collar TV [r] 1.6/3

UPN     1.3/2   Star Trek: Enterprise [r] 1.3/2, Amish in the City [r] 1.4/2

A18-49  NBC 8.1/26, ABC 1.9/6, CBS 1.8/6, Fox 1.4/5, WB 0.9/3, UPN 0.7/2

Saturday, August 14, 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     11.4/22 2004 Summer Olympic Games 11.4/22

CBS     4.3/8   Amazing Race [r], Big Brother, Navy NCIS [r]

FOX     3.8/7   Cops x4 [r]

ABC     3.2/6   Disney Movie: The Kid, Whose Line? [r], Whose Line?

A18-49  NBC 6.3/21, CBS and Fox tied at 2.3/8 and ABC 1.6/5

Sunday, August 15, 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     15.4/26 2004 Summer Olympic Games (7p-12m = 15.1/27)

CBS     5.6/10  60 Minutes 6.7/13, Cold Case [r] 6.0/10, Movie: Swordfish 4.9/8

ABC     4.2/7   AFV [r] 4.3/8, AFV [r] 4.8/8, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition [r] 4.3/7, The Days 3.4/6

FOX     2.2/4   Oliver Beane 1.8/3, Malcolm [r] 2.0/4, Simpsons [r] 3.0/5, Arrested Development [r]2.3/4, The Casino 2.0/3

WB      1.3/2   Steve Harvey’s Big Time [r]  1.1/2, Charmed [r] 1.3/2, Charmed [r] 1.4/2

A18-49  NBC 9.7/26, ABC 2.4/7, CBS 2.1/6, Fox 1.5/4, WB 0.7/2

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1790 – The capital of the United States is moved from its original and rightful location in New York to Philadelphia.  This is the first step in a slow southward migration that would end in a malarial hinterland eventually known as Washington, D.C.

Answer to Friday’s Trivia Question: In Andy Richter’s first scripted series, what was his job?  HE WROTE TECHNICAL MANUALS on Andy Richter’s Controls the Universe.  Kudos to: Ted Chase-Lifetime/NY; Greg Janover-King World/NY; Mike DeAngelis-NBC Universal/NY; Alison Poluga-Deutsch/NY; Amanda Kilman-The Journal Record/OK City; Eric Merrill-GSD&M/Austin; Craig Waldschmidt-Tower Media Adv/Chicago; Kent Carbon-KSTU/Salt Lake City; Michael Lopez-Das Entertainment/Silicon Valley; Adam Harman-Hallmark Channel/LA; Jeff Meshel-NBC/Burbank; Sam Linsky-TNT/Burbank; and David Hiltz-Korhani of Canada/Toronto.

Today’s Trivia Question:  Who belonged to the Benevolent Order of the Bison Lodge?  (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
08/17/04  5:27am
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A MESSAGE FROM CYNOPSIS AD SALES

WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2004:

ABC             Extreme Makeover: Home Edition [r], According to Jim [r], Less than Perfect [r], In the Jury Room
CBS             Navy NCIS [r], Big Brother, Amazing Race
FOX             Trading Spouses [r], That 70’s Show [r], That 70’s Show [r]
NBC             Olympic Summer Games 2004
PAX             On the Cover, Balderdash, Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             All of Us [r], Eve [r], The Player [r]
WB              Gilmore Girls [r], Summerland [finale]
TELE            Prisonera, Gitanas, Protagonistas VIP
UNIV            Mariana de la Noche, Amarte es mi Pecado, Casos de la Vida Real