CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

02/24/04

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, February 24, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing. 

Sunday was a close among the Big 4 broadcast networks, with ABC ultimately out delivering the others among A18-49 according to Nielsen Media Research.  ABC’s 4.0/10 led by a mere tenth of a rating point over Fox’s 3.9/10 which in turn led by just a tenth over NBC’s 3.8/10, followed by CBS 2.7/7 and WB 1.7/4.  At 7p ABC’s AFV’s grand prize giveaway earned it top ranking with a 3.0/9, followed by Fox’s 2.6/8 for King of the Hill and Oliver Beene; and a tie between CBS’ 60 Minutes and NBC’s Dateline, each earning a 2.4/7.  At 8pm Fox’s double whammy of Simpsons/Simpsons [r] won the hour with a 5.5/13, well ahead of #2 ABC and CBS, each tied wtih 3.7/9.  At 9p ABC and Regis take top billing with a 5.7/13 for Super Millionaire (17.4 million viewers 2+), though NBC’s L&O:CI was close on its heals with a 5.1/11. A repeat of L&O:CI was good enough to win the 10p hour, posting a 4.8/13, ahead of ABC’s 3.4/9 for The Practice, and the final hour of the CBS movie 2.6/7 (2.5/6 for the full 9-11pm broadcast).

ABC has announced the premiere of The D.A., airing on Fridays at 10p as of March 19, airing four consecutive weeks.During those four weeks, ABC News’ 20/20 will air special editions on Mondays, March 22 and 29, at 10p. 20/20 returns to Fridays at 10p as of April 16.  The D.A. stars Steven Weber and Bruno Campos.  The program will be produced in 720P, ABC’s selected HDTV format.

Two program changes for Bravo Network – the networks new series Significant Others (NBC Studios) will make its debut at 9pm on Tuesday March 9, with a second ep scheduled for 930p. Making room for the new series is Keen Eddie which moves to Wednesdays at 10p as of March 10th for the remainder of its season where it will air the all of the episodes, finishing up with the final six which have never been seen.

The Re-Elect Bush for President campaign made a significant ad buy, in the $40-$50 million range, set to kick off on March 4 in 18 major metropolitan markets, according to Broadcasting & Cable. The campaign war chest is said to contain upwards of $100 million.

ABC has plans to launch a new unscripted drama this summer called The Benefactor.  The premise is simple – he who sucks up best, wins.  The suckee is Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban; the suckers are 30 players who are there just to make Cuban like them best, and hopefully win a million bucks for their efforts.  ABC has ordered 6 episodes. If this is your bailiwick and you’re over 21, you should visit ABC.com to apply. 

New in Development and Casting:

• ABC has cast Colin Hanks as the lead in the Untitled McCall & Stein Project Warner Bros. TV) about Joel Stein’s stint as the youngest columnist at Time Inc.
• Fox has ordered a pilot for Spellbound (Warner Bros. TV) – a sort of reversed Bewitched where he’s the witch and she’s the mortal.  Another pickup for Fox is a comedy called Sweden, Ohio where a teenage boy gets what all teenage boys wish for – a Swedish Exchange Student.
• NBC has cast Christen Nelson has joined the cast of Everyday Life (Universal) about a family of psychiatrists, a newlywed couple of psychiatrists who move in with the groom’s family.  Nelson plays the older sister/therapist
• UPN has moved Bad Girls Guide to Getting What You Want (Flame/Paramount Network TV) into the pilot column.  This ensemble comedy, based on the book series by Cameron Tuttle, features five characters, three are women who operate a website which provides lifestyle advice from The Bad Girl books.
• CBS has cast Scott Glenn in drama pilot Wanted (25c Prod/Warner Bros. TV/CBS Prods) about an offbeat private eye.
• WB has finished casting the family on The Robinsons: Lost in Space with the addition of Brad Johnson as John Robinson, and Ryan Malgarini as young Will.
• Sources: BaselineFT.com, Variety, Hollywood Reporter

Some time ago you heard about UPN’s new reality show in development which focuses on the Amish right of passage called rumspringa wherein teenagers venture out into the non-Amish world for a period of time to decide if the Amish lifestyle is one they prefer to live.  The majority return, but a few take to the outside world.  The UPN show follows five Amish teens as they come to the city and live in an apartment with five non-Amish, mainstream, outside world, teenagers in a sort of Real World lifestyle.  According to Broadcasting & Cable, this proposed summer reality show has drawn the criticism of Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) as well as numerous others on the Hill who have written to Mel Karmazin and Leslie Moonves saying, in part:

• “For almost three centuries, the Amish have lived the way they do out of Christian piety and conviction, not out of ignorance. If, by producing this show, you fail to respect that, you will be opening yourself up to charges of bigotry.”

UPN responded with:

• “Through every step of the process, UPN and the show’s producers have every intention of treating the Amish, their beliefs, and their heritage with the utmost respect and decency. Any young Amish adults who do choose to participate in this reality show will do so only of their own free will and with absolutely full knowledge of the content, nature and intent of the program. And since this show is still early in the development stage, we sincerely hope that any judgment will be reserved until the show is produced.”

SiTV is set to launch tomorrow, and just yesterday was moved on the DISH network from the top tier to the America’s Top 120 programming package, a more mainstream set of networks, carried on Channel 159 next to MTV.  Other carriage deals for SiTV include Comcast, Time Warner, Grande and Cox.   The network’s initial advertiser list includes Sears, GM, Wal-Mart, US Army, Earthlink, Conair and Sony Music.

The History Channel Espanol is set to launch this May, a Spanish language network which will include a broad scope of world history programs as well as those which will focus on Latin American history.  No word as yet on distribution.

Publicis Groupe will merge two of its Hispanic agencies into one, according to AdAge.com.  Publicis Sanchez & Levitan, based in Miami, will join up with Bromley Communications, based in San Antonio, and the new combined agency will work under the Bromley name, headed by CEO Ernest Bromley.  Aida Levitan will become Vice Chairman and Chief Comm. Officer as well as President of the Miami office.

You’ll remember him best as Robert DeNiro’s huge and fairly foreboding looking bodyguard/mobster ‘Jelly’ in Analyze This (and That), or as Gwenyth Paltrow’s protective Irish father in Shallow Hal. Regardless, he was always a tough, and often loveable, character to forget.  Joe Viterelli died on January 29 following complications from surgery; he was 66.  Viterelli’s first role was in a 1990 movie called State of Grace, hired because his friend/director Leo Penn couldn’t find an actor who had that neighborhood look quite the same as Viterelli. Since then he appeared in Bullets Over Broadway, Serving Sara, Mobsters, Mickey Blue Eyes, The Firm, What She Doesn’t Know and numerous others.  He is survived by his wife Catherine and their five children.

Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. announced the upping of Richard Cusick to SVP/Business Development and Strategic Planning. Richard is based in LA and reports to Jeff Shell, CEO, and Brian Urban, CFO.  He will oversee all of the Company’s corporate development activities, responsible for business and operational planning, strategic development and corporate deal making on behalf of the Company’s publishing businesses.

Bernard Gershon has been named SVP/GM of the ABC News Digital Media Group. The announcement was made by David Westin, President/ABC News. In this newly created role, Mr. Gershon is responsible for developing revenue opportunities and distribution of ABC News content to all digital media platforms. He reports to Paul Slavin, SVP/News, and Dan Renaldo, SVP/Finance, Operations and Business Development.

Doris Casap has been upped to SVP/Film Programming for HBO.  Doris oversees the net’s majors’ library acquisitions, a well as working closely with HBO Documentaries, HBO Films, HBO Enterprises, and HBO Video on acquisitions for each of these group.

Carolyn Cassidy has been upped to Director/Current Series at NBC Entertainment, it was announced by Ted Frank, SVP/Current Series.  Carolyn reports to Frank,and will continue to oversee the production of NBC’s “Will & Grace,” “Good Morning, Miami,” “Ed,” “Miss Match” and the upcoming comedy series “Come to Papa,” starring comedian Tom Papa. 

Rob Solomon has been appointed SVP/Customer Care for HSN, it was announced by Mark Ethier, HSN’s EVP/Operations.  Rob reports to Ethier, and joins HSN as part of the company’s renewed efforts to provide customer service to network’s viewers and shoppers.

Sunday, February 22, 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     7.8/12  60 Minutes 8.5/15, Cold Case 9.6/14, Movie:  Raising Waylon 6.6/10

ABC     7.4/12  AFV 5.7/10, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 6.5/10, Super Millionaire [p] 10.6/16, The Practice 6.9/12

NBC     7.2/11  Dateline 5.9/10, American Dreams 5.5/8, Law & Order: CI 5.0/7, Law & Order: CI [r] 4.7/8

FOX     5.2/8   King of the Hill 3.7/7, Oliver Beene 3.8/6, Simpsons 6.8/10, Simpsons [r] 6.9/10, Malcolm 5.6/8, Bernie Mac 4.4/7

WB      2.3/4   Smallville [r] 1.6/3, Charmed 3.1/5, Surreal Life 2.4/4

A18-49  ABC 4.0/10, Fox 3.9/10, NBC 3.8/10, CBS 2.7/7, WB 1.7/4

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

The History Channel presents This Day in History: 
1981 – Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer put an end to rumors and speculation and announce that they will be wed in the summer.

Answer to yesterday’s Trivia Question:  On what series will you find on the wall of its main and arguably most often used set, a framed piece of sheet music titled The Diarymaids? THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, hanging behind the desk in the Writers’ Room.  Kudos to:  Tony Fasola-Entertainment Studios/Atlanta; Jeffrey Tuchman-Documania Films/NY; Jim Kelly-Inside Edition/NY; John Baldino-WNEP/Moosic PA; Marge Pistulka-Empower MediaMarketing/Chicago; Tim Branigan-Court TV/Chicago; Tom Boyd-WGN/Chicago; Brian Coughlin-Tara Ridge Comm/Pacific Palisades; Dennis Amino-KCBS/LA; Renee Simon-The Style Network/LA; Eddie Land-Pacific Television Center/LA.  Reminder — You can only appear in the Kudos list once during the week!

A MESSAGE FROM 20TH TELEVISION

Today’s Trivia Question:  What is an Evening Shade Argus?  (
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
02/24/04 5:29am
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2004

COURT TV:       Dominick Dunne, Forensic Files, The Investigators
ABC             8 Simple Rules, I’m with Her, According to Jim, Less than Perfect, Super Millionaire
CBS             Navy NCIS, The Guardian, Judging Amy
FOX             American Idol, 24
NBC             Whoopi, Happy Family, Frasier, Scrubs, Law & Order: SVU
PAX             AFV, Making of the Passion (OTO), 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