Cynopsis

06.30.09

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, June 30, 2009, and this is your first early morning briefing.  And as always, if you prefer to watch this morning’s news instead of reading it, click here.  

Tonight’s Premieres:
TLC: Stager Invasion at 8p
BET: Tiny & Toya at 10p

Tonight’s Finale:
The CW: Hitched or Ditched at 9p

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE TV GUIDE NETWORK^TM

Contact Richy Glassberg or your AE: 212.626.2500 for creative network solutions and unique cross platform opportunities.

CBS newest reality competition series, There Goes the Neighborhood, opens August 9 at 9p. The seven-episode series with host Matt Rogers showcases eight suburban families from the same neighborhood who are enclosed by a 20-foot wall as they compete in family-friendly games for a grand prize of $250,000. The wall cuts off the neighbors from the outside world, and without the ability to text message, surf the internet or watch television, each family must work together as a team to avoid the weekly elimination. There Goes the Neighborhood is produced by Next Entertainment and Jay Bienstock Productions in collaboration with Warner Horizon Television. Mike Fleiss (The Bachelor) and Jay Bienstock (The Apprentice) will executive produce.

Bright and early yesterday, Sportsman Channel unveiled a new logo image appearing on-air, online and via other communication outlets. The logo depicts three coins representing three areas of sporting enthusiasts: hunting (a deer), shooting (a target) and fishing (a fish swimming). Each of the coin icons sport a different color and will be used as the channel’s new on-air bug and to help identify the upcoming programming genre. To further promote its brand, Sportsmen Channel is launching a multimedia campaign under the moniker “You Know You’re a Sportsman,” running across parent company InterMedia Outdoor’s various holdings, targeted magazines and associated websites as well as other online sites and consumer and trade media. Sportsman Channel (which also dropped the “The” in front of its name) currently has more than 17 million subscribers due to recent deals with DirecTV and Bright House Networks.

WE tv introduces its first ever original game show titled Most Popular beginning July 23 at 10p, hosted by British personality, Graham Norton. During each of six one-hour episodes, Norton asks an audience consisting of 100 women to judge seven female contestants based on first impressions and personal revelations to gauge which contestant the audience likes best. The final and most popular contestant at the end of the show wins the top prize of $10,000. WE tv will present a sneak peak of Most Popular featuring recent and future brides-to-be as well as brides from the current sixth season of Bridezillas on July 19 at 10p as part of WE tv’s Wedding Sunday. Most Popular is produced by The Incubator for WE tv. The network will also offer a companion “Kick Off Cam” with exclusive web only video shorts documenting the contestant’s reactions right after being voted off, audience member comments and interviews with the weekly winners at www.WEtv.com/mostpopular.

Jeff Sears, VP/Creative Services with DIY Network, died following a motorcycle accident on June 28 in Knoxville, TN. He was 48. Jeff had worked for parent company Scripps Networks for 12 years, first in the promotions department at HGTV prior to moving to DIY Network. He is survived by his wife Joan and his teenage son, Connor.

The Style Network picked up the rights to air the MTV series My Super Sweet 16, which goes behind the scenes of over-the-top birthday parties for rich teenagers. Style Network will have access to select episodes from all current seasons to date, and the network will launch the series with an eight-episode marathon starting this Friday at 5p.

VH1 approved three new series. The first two are untitled series featuring hip-hop artists Sandra “Pepa” Denton of Salt n Pepa fame and Chilli from TLC and are slated to debut on VH1 next year.

• The “Pepa” project, produced by Left/Right, Inc., is a real-life comedy series with eight 30m episodes about Pepa searching for love.
• The “Chilli Project” with eight 30m episodes also follows the recording artist and mother as she looks for love with the help of relationship expert Tionna Smalls. “The Chilli Project” is executive produced by FremantleMedia North America.
• The third new series is The Entertainer, headlined by Frank “The Entertainer” Moresco from I Love NY and I Love Money programs. This series, produced by 51 Minds, will be set largely in The Entertainer’s famous bachelor apartment located in his parents’ basement. VH1 picked up ten one-hour episodes scheduled to premiere in 2010.

In addition, VH1 handed renewals to two series:

• Celebrity Fit Club, from ITV Studios, Inc. for a seventh season in 2010 with eight one-hour episodes and a 90-minute finale.
• The Irwin Entertainment-produced Celebrity Rehab Presents Sober House for a sophomore season also with eight 60m episodes, scheduled to premiere after the third season of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew concludes its run in 2010.

Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay forged an agreement to stay on NBC’s Law & Order: SVU for two more years as the veteran procedural crime drama enters its 11th season. Both actors have been with Law & Order: SVU since its inception in 1999 and were asking for a per segment pay raise of $25,000, taking them to an estimated $400,000 per episode. Showrunner Neal Baer will also return as head of the show for next season. Additionally, Christine Lahti will guest star in the first four episodes and former series regular Stephanie March will return beginning with episode five.

Craig Piligian, executive producer for such reality shows as Dirty Jobs, Ghost Hunters and Extreme Loggers, is flying with a new television project about airplane repossession expert, Nick Popovich, reports Variety. Popovich is the co-partner of Sage-Popovich, a company specializing in taking back big dollar items, usually airplanes, from money-strapped corporations or once-wealthy individuals. Popovich travels worldwide to do his job and Piligian has been negotiating with him on a television series deal for months.  The project is currently being shopped to major cable networks. Piligian will executive produce the series along with Popovich and Bill Rancic, the season one winner of The Apprentice who is also a friend of Popovich’s.

Actress Lea Thompson is involved in a new dramedy in development called A Town Called Malice, a project from production/management company Elevate Entertainment, cites THR. The series is about a former rock ‘n roll star (Thompson) who returns to her hometown along with her estranged teenage daughter. Elevate Entertainment will produce the series and shop it to various TV networks. Howard Deutch will direct the project.

Meredith Corporation announced it is moving its Meredith Video Solutions production facility from KPTV/Portland, OR to WFSB/Hartford.  Meredith’s one-hour daily lifestyle program Better is currently in its third season in 50 markets across the US. The production move to Connecticut will also be closer to Meredith Video Solutions studio located in New York City, allowing more efficient and cost effective production. Content for Better is based on Meredith’s publishing brands Better Homes and Gardens, Parents, Family Circle, More and Fitness.

PGA.com, the official website of The PGA of America is in development on an exclusive online series featuring golf coach and 25-year PGA member, Hank Haney. The webisode series will begin production in the coming months and will include golf tips and instruction by Haney on all facets of the game. Haney is Tiger Woods’ coach and also stars in The Golf Channel series The Haney Project where he personally teaches a golf-challenged celebrity.

CYNOPSIS DIGITAL – TODAY’S TOP STORY:  There may yet be hope to get everything you want on demand after all. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from major studios and networks to block Cablevision‘s plan to launch a network DVR solution in its New York area systems. The network DVR architecture essentially stores all programming on network servers then streams it to viewers when they request it, bringing DVR functionality without the need to deploy expensive hard drive-equipped set tops. NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX and others sued Cablevision back in 2006, complaining that such usage crossed the fair use line. Not so, says the high court, which heard the case despite calls from the Obama administration to let sleeping dogs lie. The decision could have huge implications on the industry, vastly increasing DVR penetration and providing cable with a considerable competitive advantage over satellite. Cablevision says it will begin deploying the technology later this summer.  Full edition: CYN DIGITAL.

CYNOPSIS KIDS – TODAY’S TOP STORY:  India’s DQ Entertainment (DQE), an animation production and distribution group, is partnering with Classic Media to co-develop a multi-million dollar 3D animated series based on Lassie.  Other partners for the animated project include M6 (France) and ZDF (Germany) and DQE affiliates in France and Ireland.  Classic Media holds the rights to Lassie.  Lassie, the most loyal and helpful collie dog ever, is based on Eric Knight’s 1940 novel, Lassie Come-Home.  Lassie went on to star in a dozen or so movies, a radio show, range of books and several TV series, the most famous of which was the live-action series that debuted in 1954.  Additionally, in August 2009, the US Postal Service will introduce a classic Lassie postage stamp.  DQE, its affiliates and Classic Media previously teamed to develop and produce the CGI 3D animated series Casper’s Scare School.  Full edition: CYN KIDS. 

Friday – A18-49 Analysis: NBC and UNIV were equally popular among A18-49 Friday night, each posting a 1.4/5, according to final national ratings from Nielsen Media Research. UNIV won the 8p hour with Cuidado con El Angel at 1.2/5 followed by NBC’s repeat broadcast of Farrah’s Story at 1.0/4. The 9p hour nearly matched the previous hour as UNIV’s Manana es para Siempre came in first with 1.7/6 trailed by the second hour of Farrah’s Story on NBC at 1.3/5. During 10p, NBC’s Dateline topped the pack with 2.0/7 while ABC’s 20/20 came next at 1.5/5.

Live + Same Day Household Ratings: Friday, June 26, 2009 time period averages. Source: NTI Galaxy, as dated. Live+SD

NBC 3.6/7       Farrah’s Story [r] 3.1/6, Dateline Friday 4.5/9

CBS 3.1/6        Ghost Whisperer [r] 2.8/6, Flashpoint [r] 3.0/6, Numb3rs [r] 3.4/7

ABC 2.7/5        Surviving Suburbia 1.8/4, The Goode Family 1.2/2, 20/20 Special Edition 2.5/5, 20/20 4.2/8

UNIV 1.9/4       Cuidado con El Angel 1.8/4, Manana es para Siempre 2.1/4, Michael Jackson: LYND 1.7/3

MNT 1.7/3        WWE Friday Night Smackdown 1.7/3

FOX 1.2/2         Virtuality 1.2/2

CW 0.6/1          Privileged [r] 0.5/1, Everybody Hates Chris [r] 0.6/1, The Game [r] 0.6/1

TELE 0.5/1        Mas Sabe el Diablo 0.4/1, El Rostro de Analia 0.6/1, Los Victorinos 0.5/1

ION 0.3/1         Friday 9PM Movie: Assassins [r] 0.3/1

A18-49:  NBC 1.4/5, UNIV 1.4/5, ABC 1.0/4, CBS 0.9/3, MNT 0.9/3, FOX 0.5/2, TELE 0.5/2, CW 0.3/1, ION 0.1/1

Cameron Clayton advanced to VP/Mobile with The Weather Channel Interactive (TWCi) where he will head a team in charge of the company’s mobile operations. Previously, Cameron was the Director/Business at TCWi and is based in Atlanta.

MTV Games, a division of Viacom Inc.’s MTV Networks, hired Scott Guthrie as EVP/GM to oversee the group’s management team and David Cox as SVP/Sales. Scott will manage the publishing direction of MTV Games as well as marketing, sales and distribution efforts for the unit’s gaming products. Scott is based at MTV Networks’ New York City headquarters and reports directly to Van Toffler, President, MTV Networks Music & Logo Group. In his new position, David will supervise all sales for the gaming unit. Based in San Francisco, David will report to Scott Guthrie.

Original Media named Jay Peterson to the new position of SVP/Production and Development to manage the daily operations, production and creative development for the company. Jay will head the New York and Los Angeles offices, all production activities and Original Media staff. He will be based in New York, reporting directly to Charlie Corwin, CEO, Original Media.

Jose Tolosa, VP/Strategy and Business Development for MTV Networks Latin America (MTVNLA), is expanding his role to now include MTV Networks International (MTVNI) and was upped to SVP/Strategy and Business Development for MTVNI and MTVNLA. Jose will be in charge of strategy and business development for all of MTVNI’s brands worldwide and will also work in tandem with MTVNI’s senior management in the area of long-term business plans and identifying and leading growth strategies. Based in Miami, Jose will report jointly to Pierluigi Gazzolo, COO, MTVNI and Scot McBride, EVP/COO, MTVNLA.

LaunchForce recruited Eric Spahr as VP/Managing Director, joining from Northlich where he was VP/GM of the company’s BrandStorm group.

This day in History:  1936 – Margaret Mitchell’s book, “Gone with the Wind,” was published in New York City.

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question: This older lady lived in Philadelphia and took the train every evening to NYC to sit in the audience of The Tonight Show with Steve Allen.  She later became a daily audience member of The Merv Griffin Show, and at one point she was seen on camera so often AFTRA forced her to join the union.  Who is this ardent fan?   MRS. DOROTHY MILLER Kudos to: Dennis Maguire-Bright House Networks/Riverview, FL; Rich Dubroff-C-SPAN/Washington, DC; Paul Gluck-LiveUpdate MultiMedia/Ardmore, PA; Carol Teichman-Comcast Spotlight/Bloomfield, CT; Dory Melman Petsrillo-PMC/Dallas; Sam Bickel-Starz Entertainment/Englewood; Steve Weinshel-Loica/Chicago; Skip Engle-Editech Inc/Omaha; Tracy Weisert SAG/AFTRA/AEA/LA; Alan Perris-The Television Academy/North Hollywood; Frank Belcastro-High noon tv/LA; Lou Dennig-Judge Joe Brown/LA; Bobby Bittman-SCTV/Toronto; Barry Sher-The Pacific West Group/Toronto

Today’s Trivia Question :    What do Doug Whiner, Paulie, Pudge and Pokey all have in common? (Email
with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you’ve been mentioned in any of the Cynopsis editions, you can’t be mentioned again that calendar week.)

Later — Cyn
06.30.09

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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT –  TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2009

ABC: The Superstars; Better Off Ted; Primetime
AZTECA: Los Que Callamos Las Mujeres Edicion Especial, Los 25 Mas, Al Extremo
CBS: NCIS [r], The Mentalist [r], 48 Hours Mystery [r]
CW: 90210 [r], Hitched or Ditched
FOX: Movie:  Legally Blonde
ION: Boston Legal, Boston Legal, Boston Legal
MNT: Street Patrol [r], Street Patrol [r], Jail [r], Jail [r]
NBC: America’s Got Talent, America’s Got Talent, Law & Order: SVU
PBS: Nova, Nova: scienceNow, P.O.V.
TELE:Mas Sabe el Diablo, El Rostro de Analia, Victorinos
UNIV: Cuidado con el Angel, Manana es para Siempre, Aqui y Ahora

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