CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

02/17/04

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, February 17, 2003, and this is your first early morning briefing. 

NBC‘s two hour edition of Dateline propelled it to win the for the night on Friday among A18-49 according to Nielsen Media Research.  NBC managed a 3.3/10 for the night, just a stroke ahead of CBS’ 2.9/9, and besting ABC 2.6/8, Fox 1.7/5, WB 1.2/4, UPN 1.1/3.  At 8pm NBC led with a 3.0/10, followed in quick succession by CBS 2.8/9, ABC 2.5/8 and Fox’s 1.8/6.  WB delivered a softer 1.3/4 for the hour, a share point ahead of UPN’s 1.0/3.  At 9p the story is about the same with NBC in front (3.5/11), though ABC was second with a 2.9/9, followed by CBS’ 2.4/7 for JAG.  Fox, UPN and WB followed with a 5, 4, 3 share respectively.  At 10p NBC and CBS were in a dead heat, each earning a 10 share, tho CBS was ahead by a tenth of a rating point. ABC’s 20/20 was third with a 2.5/8.

Fox‘s wall to wall Cops takes Saturday night among A18-49 posting an overall 3.5/11 for the night according to Nielsen Media Research.  ABC was #2 for the night with a 2.5/8, followed by NBC 2.2/7, CBS 1.8/6.  At 8pm Fox’s first set of back to back Cops delivered a 3.6/12, a full five share points ahead of both ABC and CBS’ 2.0/7, and 7 share points ahead of NBC’s 1.5/5. Fox held tough at 9p with another set of Cops episodes delivering a 3.4/10, once again leading ABC by 2 share points, and NBC by 3 share points. CBS posted a 1.8/5 for the hour.   At 10p with Fox safely tucked in for the night, NBC and ABC rose to tie at a 2.8/9 share, and CBS’ The District followed with a 1.7/5.

Sunday night in fast affiliate ratings from Nielsen Media Research finds NBC out in front among A18-49. Overall for the night, NBC averaged a 5.3/13, followed by ABC 3.5/9, CBS 3.4/9, Fox 2.8/7, WB 1.7/4.  We interrupt this item with a brief special note:  Congratulations to Big John Daly for a great win Sunday.  Okay, now, back to our regularly programming. At 7pm on Sunday night NBC’s first hour of Shrek led the pack with a 4.9/14, well ahead of #2 CBS’ 60 Minutes (3.2/9).  At 8pm, NBC again led with the second hour of Shrek (6.0/15) beating the tied ABC/CBS (4.0/10) and Fox’s 3.7/9. At 9p NBC held on tight to its lead and posted a 4.4/10 for American Dreams, a notion ahead of ABC’s Alias 4.0/9.  At 10p, not wanting to break its streak, NBC again was in front with Law & Order: CI 5.7/15, while ABC and CBS each delivered an 8 share.  CBS’ 8-11p movie earned an overall 3.5/8.

New in Development and Casting:

• Fox‘s revival of Mr. Ed has cast Sherman Helmsley as the voice of the horse.  Helmsley joins Sherilynn Fenn as Mrs. Wilbur Post, and David Alan Basche as Wilbur.  Fox’s Lucky Us, a sitcom pilot, has cast Chyler Leigh in the lead role about a woman who goes on a blind date and kabam! she’s pregnant.  Fox’s drama project Oahu which takes place in a luxury hotel on Hawaii and focuses on both the staff and the guests (think Hotel), has cast Rachel Shelley as the female lead opposite Kristoffer Polaha.
• ABC‘s drama pilot Eyes is in the final stages of casting Tim Daly as the head of the corporation. The network has also ordered up a pilot of an untitled comedy project starring Jennifer Love Hewitt as a single mother/sports news producer who suddenly becomes an on-air reporter (Touchstone TV).  And ABC has ordered a pilot with comedian Earthquake about his life working to support his wife and four children (Tollin-Robbins, Touchstone TV).
• WB has named Kate Walsh as the lead in its pilot project Joint Custody as the mom who has joint custody of the defunct couple’s teenage kids, according to Hollywood Reporter.
• UPN‘s drama pilot Kevin Hill has cast Taye Diggs as Kevin Hill – a single lawyer who suddenly inherits his niece.
• CBS has ordered a comedy pilot starring Aisha Tyler about a woman who had spent the better part of her working career at a small, top line NY fashion house, and makes the move to corporate America (Is or Isn’t It Ent, Warner Bros. TV).  CBS has also signed up Kirsten Storms to join the pilot cast of Clubhouse in the role of lead batboy.

Expected to be formally announced later on today, MSNBC will get a new head, with the current head shifting over or possibly out.  Coming on board is former SVP/News at ABC Rick Kaplan.  Speculation of what will happen with current President Erik Sorenson varies, so let’s wait for the formal announcement.

Yesterday the Disney Board turned down the Comcast offer to buy.  No surprise. It will also not be a surprise when Comcast sweetens the deal and signs up for a second go-around with the Disney Board.  The first offer was for $26.50 per share, but since the offer the stock has gone up.  The second offer is expected to be around $30 or $31 per share, with a new cash component.

Something’s Gotta Give (Sony Pictures) which to date has brought in $116 million at the domestic box office, has been sold to CBS and TBS for approx $17 million beginning with CBS in 2006, according to Daily Variety.  Then the film moves to TBS where it stays for several runs over a 16 month period, before it returns to CBS.  The film goes back and forth between nets until 2011.

According to an article id AdWeek.com, Mitsubishi Motors North America is getting out of the music video creative business and into cliffhanger business for its ads.  The company plans on creating more ads like the one that aired during the Super Bowl, wherein viewers are encourage to go to the internet to see how the ad ends.  For their Super Bowl efforts, SeeWhatHappens.com counted more than 11 million hits in the first six hours following the commercial for the Mitsubishi Galant. The shift also sees a shift in Mitsubishi’s target buyer – from the pounding loud rock music driver, to the slightly older with less focus on financing and ‘no down payment.’

Sony Pictures Television has been rapidly clearing the third cycle of Seinfeld (180 episodes, five years taking it through 2011, one minute of barter), already clearing all of the incumbent Fox O&Os, and reportedly at 90% of the clearance fees Sony got for the second cycle. Collectively, this third round could bring Sony in the neighborhood of $6-$7 million per ep.  According to Television Week, KCOP currently is paying about $480,000 per ep, and will pay $425,000 per ep for the third cycle.  Seinfeld also airs on TBS, a deal renewed last year that continues through 2011, for a reported $200 million overall.  Seinfeld continues to show up as the #1 or #2 show in the weekly Syndication Ranking Report, and for the week of Jan 26-Feb 1 drew a 4.7 A18-49 AA Rating and a 5.5 A18-49 GAA rating.

George Riddell has been named VP/Marketing and Creative Services at The Victory Studios in Seattle.  The announcement was made by Mark MacDonald, President. George will be responsible for corporate image development and the implementation of marketing and sales resources.  Additionally he will oversee the creative direction and production of selected projects, and will be based in Seattle.

Friday, February 13, 2004. Fast Affiliate 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     7.3/13   Dateline 7.7/13, Third Watch 6.5/11

CBS     7.2/13  Joan of Arcadia 7.0/12, JAG 7.2/12, CSI Miami [r] 7.5/13

ABC     5.2/9      George Lopez 4.6/8; Married to the Kellys 4.1/7, Hope & Faith 5.0/8, Life with Bonnie 4.8/8, 20/20 6.3/11

FOX     2.6/4   Celebrity Spelling Bee 2,7/.5, When animals Attract 2.4/4

WB      2.1/4   Reba 2.9/5, What I like About You 2.0/3, Grounded for Life 1.9/3, Like Family 1.6/3

UPN     1.9/3   Movie: Shaft  1.9/3

A18-49  NBC 3.3/10,  CBS 2.9/9, ABC 2.6/8, Fox 1.7/5, WB 1.2/4, UPN 1.1/3

Saturday, February 14, 2004. Fast Affiliate 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     5.4/10 Star Search 5.2/10, Hack 5.2/10, The District 5.7/11     

FOX     5.0/9   Cops 5.0/10, Cops 5.4/10, Cops 4.8/9, Cops 4.8/9        

ABC     4.8/9   A Charlie Brown Christmas 3.3/6, WWOD: Princess Diaries 5.4/10

NBC     4.3/8   Tracy Morgan 2.7/.5, Whoopi [r] 2.7/5, Law & Order [r] 4.5/8, Law & Order SVU  5.6/11 [r]       

A18-49  Fox 3.5/11, ABC 2.5/8, by NBC 2.2/7, CBS 1.8/6

Sunday, February 15, 2004. Fast Affiliate 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     10.0/16 60 Minutes 9.9/17, CBS Movie: It Must Be Love 9.9/16    

NBC     7.3/12  NBC Movie: Shrek 7.3/11, American Dream 6.1/9, Law & Order: CI 8.5/14   

ABC     5.8/9   AFV 5.4/9, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 6.5/10, Alias 5.6/8, The Practice  5.6/9      

FOX     3.8/6   King of the Hill 3.1/6, Oliver Beane 3.0/5, Simpsons 5.3/8, Bernie Mac4.1/6, Malcolm 4,.3/6, Arrested Development 3.0/5         

WB      2.3/4   Smallville [r 1.6/3], Charmed 2.5/4, Surreal Life 2.8./4

A18-49  NBC 5.3/13, ABC 3.5/9, CBS 3.4/9, Fox 2.8/7, WB 1.7/4

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

The History Channel presents This Day in History: 
1913 – The legendary Armory Show opens in New York. The exhibition drops the bombshell of modernism into American art.

Answer to yesterday’s Trivia Question:  Judd Hirsch has starred, co-starred or was a supporting actor in six primetime broadcast network series: Delvecchio (1976-77), Taxi (1978-83), Detective in the House (1985), and Dear John (1988-92).  Can you name one of the two most recent primetime bcst series he was in?  (Hint: both were short lived.)  GEORGE & LEO (1997-98) and/or REGULAR JOE (2003). Kudos to:  Paul Moscarello-Insight Interactive Group/Philadelphia; Mary Moonen-WFSB & WSHM/Hartford; Gary Rosen-Gary Rosen Comm/NY; Marianne O’Leary-WCBS/NY; Marion Hartley-Woodhart Adv/Mobile; Marge Pistulka-Empower MediaMarketing/Chicago; John Kukla-KDFW/Dallas; Ryan Rabe-RPA/Chicago; Stuart McFaul-Big Pictures Prods/San Francisco; Ken Dubow-Modern Ent/LA: Eric Casella-KION/Monteray; Lisabeth Grace/LA; and Caroline Godin-Ellis Ent/Toronto.

Today’s Trivia Question:   Who was the Coward of Bitter Creek, who was forced to spend the entire series wandering the old west trying to disprove the false allegation?  Need either the character’s name or the actor’s. (
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.)

Later — Cyn

Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis
02/17/04  5:19am
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2004

THE TAKE
WEDNESDAYS AT 8PM E/T

COURT TV:       Dominick Dunne, Forensic Files, The Investigators
ABC             8 Simple Rules, I’m with Her, According to Jim, Less than Perfect, NYPD Blue
CBS             Navy NCIS, The Guardian, Judging Amy
FOX             American Idol, 24
NBC             Fear Factor (8-922p), Scrubs (922-10p), Law & Order: SVU
PAX             AFV, Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             One on One, All of Us, Top Model
WB              Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill
TELE            Amor Descardo, El Alma Herida, Mujeres Apasionadas
UNIV            Velo de Novia, Bajo la  Misma Piel, Casos de la Vida Real