CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

01/13/04

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, January 13, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing.

Boy, you gotta love football.  At least if you’re Fox and it was Sunday night, you do.  Fox drew an awesome 10.3/24 A18-49 for the night, thanks in large part of the NFL Divisional Playoffs double O.T., according to fast affiliate ratings from Nielsen Media Research.  NBC followed in the distance with a 4.0/10, and behind NBC was CBS 3.6/9, ABC 3.0/7, WB 2.1/5. For the first hour of prime, Fox scored a 15.3/39.  CBS and ABC were tied, each posting a slimmer 2.2/6, followed by NBC with a 5 share. At 8pm, Fox scored another touchdown with 11.2/25, again well ahead of CBS’ 3.8/9 for Cold Case, and NBC’s 3.7/8 for American Dreams. At 9pm everything calmed down and was back to normal. NBC was in front with an original ep of L&O: Criminal Intent (5.713), followed by Fox’s 4.6/10.  The first hour of the People’s Choice earned a 3.9/8, the second hour a 4.4/11. NBC won the 10p hour as expected with a second L&O: Criminal Intent episode earning a 4.6/12; ABC’s the Practice fell to third with a 3.6/9.

CBS has chosen the Survivor All Stars: grouped here by previous appearance — PULAU TIGA: Richard Hatch, Rudy, Sue, Jenna; MARQUESAS:  Rob and Kathy; THAILAND: Shii Ann; AUSTRALIA: Amber, Alicia, Jerry, Tina, Colby; AFRICA: Tom, Ethan, Lex; AMAZON: Rob and Jenna; PEARL ISLANDS:  Rupert.  The castaways are split into three teams, and will debut on CBS immediately after the Super Bowl on February 1.  Care to place any bets on the debut demo rating, or the eventual winner?

Upcoming Premieres:
UPN: America’s Next Top Model, tonight at 9p
Fox:American Idol, January 19; My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance, January 19; Oliver Beene February 4
Tech TV: Nerd Nation January 19 at 9p

A 30-second spot in the Super Bowl this year will cost you around $2.25 million, up approx 7% vs. last year’s game, and 54 spots have thus far been sold to the likes of Frito Lay, Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi, P&G and newcomer to the Super Bowl Staples.  If you’re still considering, 8 spots remain unsold according to Ad Age, and you can probably grab one of them at a sale price.  Reportedly 4th Qtr spots are now going for the bargain basement price of $1.8 million. Though there are still spots available in first quarter as a result of either someone dropping out, or trimming their ads from 60’s to 30’s.

In Development:

• Fox has ordered a pilot for drama project One Big Happy (20th C.Fox TV) about a blended and somewhat dysfunction family.  Exec prods Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts wrote the pilot; Shawn Levy is also exec prod.  Elsewhere at Fox,  the network has upgraded its put pilot order to pilot for a medical drama from Universal and Heel & Toe Prods, written by David Shore and exec prod by Paul Attanasio, David Shore and Katie Jacobs about a medical team that takes on impossible cases.
• CBS has ordered two pilots – one for a drama project from Paramount Network TV/Scott Free Prods (Ridley and Tony Scott) about an MIT math whiz working for the FBI (has that slightly A Beautiful Mind feel to it, doesn’t it?), and a separate pilot order for a drama from Spelling TV about bounty hunters, with exec prods Terri Hughes and Ron Milbauer. 
• UPN has order a script for a sitcom with Queen Latifah signed to exec prod called WHOT, according to Variety, about a young white woman hired as station manager for a hip hop radio station,from HBO Independent Prods/Flavor Unit.  Also getting the exec prod title for a UPN comedy in development (with a script order) is actress Kate Hudson, helming I Do, I Did, Now What?, based on the book by Jenny Lee about young married couples and life after I Do.  The show is being produced by Hudson’s Cosmic Entertainment with Dan Cohen and FJ Pratt as writers/exec prods.

TCA Announcement::

• VH1:  MTVN’s VH1 announced three new series kicking off in the upcoming weeks/months — Bands Reunited premieres on January 19 at 10pm, with 10 eps scheduled to air every weeknight for the next two weeks.   Best Week Ever debuts on January 23 at 11pm (opposite your local network news), a 30m weekly news magazine wrap up of the week’s events in pop culture.  And last October Ted Nugent got his own special on VH1 – now he has a series, Surviving Nugent.  The show takes place on Nugent’s ranch in Waco, where 8-10 players agree to take on Nugent’s idea of an ideal outsdoorsman and participate in his own personal boot camp.  Surviving Nugent will find its way onto VH1’s schedule in April 2004.

As TNT prepares for its second year of the NBA All Star Game, a game which earned the network huge ratings last year, the Turner marketing dept is working overtime to send out the tune-in message to fans.  As you’d expect, there will be loads of cross-promotion among the Turner nets, spot bcst and cable, radio, national and regional print, outdoor and in-theatre screens.  You might even expect Turner to get the guys from Inside the NBA to focus entirely on the All Star game not once, but twice.  And you’d feel slighted if they didn’t paint the 144′ x 94′ mural on the wall of the Hotel Figueroa across the street from LA’s Staples Center.  But would you also expect TNT to wrap 125,000 pizza boxes in Los Angeles with TNT’s All-Star ads?  Now that’s clever marketing.

Weekend Box Office Estimates – January 9-11, 2004 – FINAL NUMBERS
(after the final tally, the order here changed, putting Lord fo the Rings back on top)
LOTR: Return of the King (New Line)         $14.2 million – 4 wk total $312.3m
Big Fish (Sony)                                            $13.8 million – 5 wk total $23.4m
Cheaper by the Dozen (Fox)                       $11.7 million – 3 wk total $101.1m
Cold Mountain (Miramax)                             $ 7.8 million – 3 wk total $55.3m
Something’s Gotta Give (Sony)                   $ 7.7 million – 5 wk total $92.5m
My Baby’s Daddy (Miramax)                        $ 7.5 million – opening weekend
Chasing Liberty (Warner Bros.)                   $ 6.1 million – opening weekend
Paycheck (Paramount)                                $ 5.1 million – 3 wk total $46.4m
The Last Samurai (Warner Bros.)               $ 4.5 million – 6 wk total $97.1m
Mona Lisa Smile (Sony)                               $ 4.4 million – 4 wk total $56.8m
Source: Box Office Mojo

¡Sopresa!, the Spanish-language kid targeted network launches its website, www.sporpresatv.com, this week.  The site will feature programming information as well as activities and Club ¡Sopresa!, which provides its members with perks including advance notice of contests, promotions, member discounts and other benefits; ¡Sopresa! Tienda, where various products can be viewed and purchased; ¡Sopresa del dia!, (Surprises of the Day!) featuring Hispanic history facts and holiday celebrations, and the Que Pasa poll that allows viewers to vote for their favorite programs.

IFC has acquired a package of 21 films from Lions Gate Films that include such notable titles as Girl with a Pearl Earring, Monster’s Ball, and Wonderland. Of the 21 films, 10 will make their network debut on IFC, according to Variety.  The first of the titles will be seen on IFC this quarter, and the deal takes the package through 2015.

Primedia announced the launch of its newest special interest publication hitting the magazine stands today – Reality Check, all about the world of reality television.  The issue’s cover story is The Real Clay Aiken with features stores that includes Reality TV’s Horror Stories, How to Get On a Reality Show, Reality TV’s Biggest Scandals and a report on how ‘real’ a reality show really is.  Reality Check is compiled by the editors of Primedia’s Soap Opera Weekly. 

Next time you are in NYC heading downtown near Broadway & 47 Street, look up and you will see what is being touted as the largest billboard ever to hang in Times Square.  The billboard measures 172′ x 54′ vinyl canvas advertisement for is Sean John men’s sportswear line, featuring Sean P. Diddy Combs.  Don’t worry if you aren’t coming to NYC anytime soon, the billboard will be home to the ad for the year.  The same ad will appear on a billboard in LA, on Sunset Blvd.

H. Martin (Marty) Haag, a veteran journalist and television executive at Belo Corp., has died at the age of 69 after a stroke. Haag ran the News Department at Belo’s flagship station in Dallas, WFAA, for 16 years.  During his tenure, he earned five DuPont-Columbia University Awards.  He was also honored with a special George Foster Peabody Award in 2001, one year after he retired.

After six yeas, Jim Griffiths, President/MGM Worldwide Television Distribution is leaving MGM to become Senior EVP/Business Development for Playboy Enterprises, also covering global TV and location entertainment .

With the departure of Jim Griffiths, MGM‘s Chris McGurk, Vice Chairman/COO, has announced three execs who will effectively split up Griffith’s responsibilities.  Jim Packer, EVP/Television Distribution, NA; Simon Sutton, EVP/International Television; and Bruce Tuchman, EVP/MGM Networks, will all work with Hank Cohen, President of MGM Television Entertainment.  The three will report directly to McGurk.

After just three months at the helm, Peter Chrisanthopoulos, President/COO of Pappas Telecasting Cos. has resigned, according to Broadcasting and Cable. Chairman/CEO Harry Pappas will take the reins once again.

Rick Feldman, Prez/CEO of NATPE announced the nominations for co-chairman of NATPE:  Stephen J. Davis, President/CEO of Carlton America, and John Weiser, EVP/Sony Pictures Television.  The nominees to the Board of Directors  Class of 2007 are Bill Butler, VP/Programming and Promotion of Sinclair Broadcast Group in New York; Ramón Escobar, EVP/Programming and Production of Miami’s Telemundo Network; Bonnie Hammer, President/Sci Fi Channel, NY; and Jed Petrick, Prez/COO of WB Television Network, Los Angeles.  The nominations will be formally ratified at the NATPE annual business meeting on Tuesday January 20.

E.W. Scripps Company has named Judy Girard the new President of Shop At Home Network effective immediately.  Judy takes on this responsibility for the time being in addition to her position as President/Food Network.  Scripps expects to name a successor at Food at a later date.  Shop At Home, which was acquired by Scripps in 2002 and currently reaches approx 45 million homes, markets a range of consumer goods directly to viewers and visitors to the network’s website www.shopathometv.com.

TRIO‘s President Lauren Zalaznick made three executive announcements yesterday:  Jason Klarman to SVP/Marketing and to his staff Lauren announced David Serwatka as Director/Original Programming and Elma Cremin as Director/Acquisitions.  In addition to consumer marketing and on-air promotions/creative services, Jason oversees public relations, triotv.com as well as affiliate and ad sales marketing. 

John Ledford, Publisher/Newtype USA and CEO/founder of its parent company A.D. Vision, Inc., announced the appointment of Gary Steinman, Editor-in-Chief of Newtype USA.  In his role as EIC, Steinman will be responsible for overseeing the daily operation and defining Newtype USA’s editorial voice.  Newtype USA is the English language version of Newtype Japan, an anime and manga fan magazine. 

Sunday, January 11, 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

Fox     14.3/21 NFL Football runover 21.9/33; The Simpsons 19.7/29, Bernie Mac 9.5/14, Malcolm 7.1/10, Arrested Development 5.6/8

CBS     9.0/14  60 Minutes 8.1/12, Cold Case 9.8/14, 30th Annual People’s Choice Awards 8.9/14

NBC     6.9/11  Dateline 4.3/7, American Dreams 5.4/8, L&O: CI 9.9/14, L&O: CI 8.2/14

WB      2.7/4   Smallville [r] 1.8/3, Charmed [r] 3.1/4, The Surreal Life [p] 3.1/5

ABC     5.3/8   AFV 4.6/7, 10-8  4.8/7, Alias 5.4/8, The Practice 6.4/11

A18-49  Fox 10.3/24, NBC 4.0/10, CBS 3.6/9, ABC 3.0/7, WB 2.1/5

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

INVESTIGATE WITH COURT TV

The History Channel presents This Day in History: 
1986 – The Wall Street Journal printed a real picture on its front page. The journal had not done this in nearly 10 years. The story was about artist, O. Winston Link and featured one of his works.

Answer to yesterday’s Trivia Question:   What was the name of the daily paper in Early Edition? CHICAGO SUN TIMES. Kudos to:  Dave Ware-WKMG/Orlando; Melody Lang-Adelphia Media Services/Orlando; Chris O’Leary-FCB/NY; Emily Hellewell-NPR/Washington; Dan Whitford-RPA/Chicago; Brian Kilmer-Food Network/Chicago; Jean Follestad-Starz!/Englewood; John Foster-Peter Storer & Assoc/Milwaukee; Lance Hanish-LBC/Santa Monica; Walter Willkomm-KTLA/LA; Patrick Clark-G4 Net/LA; Linda Jofrey-Sony Pictures Research/Culver City; and Lucie Loane-Intermedia Group/Sydney.

Today’s Trivia Question:  What television characters hosted the Schloogel matchmaking ceremony? (
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
01/13/04 5:28am
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2004

COURT TV:       Dominick Dunne, Forensic Files, House of Clues, The Investigators
ABC             8 Simple Rules, I’m with Here, According to Jim [r], Less than Perfect [r], Line of Fire
CBS             Navy NCIS, The Guardian, Judging Amy
FOX             The Simple Life Reunion special, 24
NBC             Tracy Morgan Show, Whoopi, Frasier, Happy Family, Law & Order: SVU
PAX             AFV, Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             One on One, All of Us, America’s Next Top Model [p]
WB              Movie: Austin Powers -The Spy Who Shagged Me
TELE            Amor Descardo, El Alma Herida, Laura: Casos Resueltos
UNIV            Velo de Novia, Te Amaré en Silencio, Casos de la Vida Real