CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

03/16/04

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, March 16, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing. 

Contrary to published reports, CBS will not air the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship on a delay basis. March Madness first round action airs on Thursday, March 18 beginning at 12n.  The final Championship game is scheduled for April 5 at 9pm.

Premiering tonight:  CBS at 9pm: Century City

Buena Vista Television has solidified a deal with Tribune Station Group clearing According to Jim in eight markets for Fall 2006.  the Tribune stations clearing the show are:  includes WPIX/New York, KTLA/Los Angeles, WGN/Chicago, WPHL/Philadelphia, WLVI/Boston, KDAF/Dallas, WATL/Atlanta and KHWB/Houston. 

As expected, Martha Stewart resigned from the Board of Martha Stewart Omnimedia Inc. yesterday, giving up her post as Chief Creative Officer.  Instead she takes on a new title, Founding Editorial Director, reporting to the new CEO, Sharon Patrick.  Other reports circulating yesterday was Omnimedia has filed for a copyright of the title Everyday Living, presumably moving forward with all of the Stewart brands, sans the Stewart name.

New in Development/Production/Casting

• CBS has picked up a new pilot, this one from Phil Rosenthal, the same Phil Rosenthal the network is talking to about bringing Everybody Loves Raymond back for another season or at least a partial season.  While no news on the Raymond front, the new animated pilot from Rosenthal is called Vinyl Cafe (Rough Draft Animation, produced by Where’s Lunch/Paramount), based on the short stories by Canadian author Stuart McLean. The network is looking at Vinyl Cafe for a midseason show next year. 
• Also at CBS, Olympia Dukakis has joined the pilot cast of Center of the Universe (Tannenbaum/Warner Bros. TV/CBS Prods) starring John Goodman and Jean Smart. Dukakis will play Goodman’s mother.  And joining Jane Krakowski in the CBS comedy Taste (Regency/CBS Prods) is Richard Ruccolo. Also, Adam Goldberg joins the cast of the untitled Aisha Tyler project (Is or Isn’t Ent/Warner Bros. TV) that centers on a sophisticated New Yorker who makes the jump from a small fashion house to a large corporation.  And in Numbers (Scott Free/Paramount) Alimi Ballard joins the growing cast which includes David Krumholtz and Peter MacNichol.
• The Robinson Brothers (Original/20th) on Fox has added Eddie McClintock as another brother, the married one.
• ABC‘s drama project Empire (Touchstone/Storyline) has cast Jonathan Frain in the role of Brutus.  Already cast in this project set in 44 B.C. are Jonathan Cake, Santiago Cabrera and Vince Regan.  In the untitled John Stamos project (Brad Grey/20th) wherein the entire season spans a couple’s first date, Rick Hoffman has been added to the cast as ex boyfriend of the girl on the date (Madchen Amick).
• NBC‘s Never Mind Nirvana (Untitled/NBC Studios) with Kal Penn and Judy Greer, has added Shaun Majumber to the cast.  And Benjamin King has been added to the cast of Weekends (Spyglass/NBC Studios) from producer Craig Doyle.
• Showtime is looking at a pilot in development that centers on a NYPD Hate Crime unit, appropriately titled Hate (Greenblatt Janollari Studio).  The pilot script has been written by Paris Barclay and James DeMonaco with David Janollari in as exec prod.
• Source: Baselineft.com, Variety, Hollywood Reporter

UPN has ordered 5 one hour eps of a new series called I’m Still Alive (A. Smith & Co.).  The show uses real footage and CGI animated recreations to tell the real life stories of people who lived through life-ending situations, according to Variety. 

Did you miss Fox‘s debut of Wonderfalls last Friday and forgot to Tivo it?  Good news for you then – it will air again on Thursday night this week at 9pm.  Last Friday the show earned a soft 2.0 A18-49 rating, so I’m guessing a lot of you missed it the first time around.

ABC is moving It’s All Relative to Tuesday nights for its final four airings of the season, airing at 930p, beginning March 30.  Less than Perfect will sit out those four weeks, returning on April 27 in time for the May sweep for its final four eps.  What will fill the Wednesday 830p slot as of March 30 is still TBA.

USA debuted their new series Touching Evil (Cheyenne Enterprises) last Friday night (9-11p) and drew 3.3 million viewers, increasing its viewership from its lead-in program, Law & Order: SVU which delivered 3.1 million viewers.  Among the coveted A18-49 crowd, USA averaged 1.4 million viewers

A new milestone has been met at Superstation WGN -passing the 60 million subscribers mark.  New launches in several key markets including Atlanta, Jacksonville and Montgomery County in Maryland courtesy of Comcast helped pave the way.

Knology HDTV service has forged an agreement with Starz Encore Group to bring STARZ! HD across all five of the markets where Knology currently offers its High-Def service, and will launch STARZ! HD in future markets as High-Def services become available.  Yesterday Knology added STARZ! HD to its in Huntsville, Knoxville, Augusta, Montgomery, and Panama City, Florida.  The Knology HDTV service passes through high-definition signals from both selected cable programmers and local broadcasters.  The 16:9 wide-screen format matches the relative dimensions of a movie screen, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio brings crystal clarity to the sound.  Knology also offers ESPN HD, HBO HDTV, Discovery HD Theater and select local broadcast networks in its HDTV markets.

This year’s Gravity Games will be held in Cleveland from September 15-19, with more than 20 hours of coverage carried on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN). Last year’s games drew 163,000 spectators and 225 athletes from 13 countries, competing in nine events.  OLN has retained Octagon’s services for the staging of the games in a multi-year agreement.  Octagon will continue to provide marketing, sales and event operations support as well as advise OLN on the action sports industry.

Are you thinking you’d be the perfect candidate for a reality show, say like Big Brother?  Well then its time to put your money where your mouth is — CBS is accepting applications now (www.CBS.com).  Production is gearing up for this summer’s installment of the 5th edition of Big Brother, produced as usual by Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner. Deadline is April 9, so get to it!

NBC was out in front on Sunday night with a 3.9/10 A18-49 rating according to data from Nielsen Media Research.  CBS was quick to follow with a 3.5/9 for the night, ahead of ABC 3.2/8, FOX 3.1/8, WB 1.6/4.  At 7p a three way tie in share between NBC 2.7/8, ABC 2.6/8 and CBS 2.4/8, followed closely by Fox’s 2.4/7.   At 8pm another tie, this time btwn Fox and CBS, each posting a 10 share, with ABC hot on their tail with a 9 share.  Though Fox did have a definitive lead when it came to the slightly younger demos: 13 share among A18-34, 20 share among teens. At 9pm NBC broke out ahead fo the pack with a 4.9/12 for Law & Order: CI.  The first hour of the CBS movie Family Sins managed a 3.7/9.  At 10p NBC held its lead with a 4.7/12 for Crossing Jordan; and the final hour of the CBS movie earned a 4.0/11.

Cox Communications in Wichita has added the GoodLife TV Network to its lineup.  GoodLife bills itself as “the nation’s only full-time cable channel dedicated to providing lifestyle, entertainment, and information programming for the baby boomer generation.”  GoodLife will be available on the digital tier

David Doss, Exec Prod of ABC News Primetime Thursday has stepped down, by mutual agreement according to a statement issued by ABC. Robert Lange, Sr. Bcst Producer, will become the interim EP.  “David Doss has made major contributions to ABC News and has played an important role in our coverage of breaking news stories during the last several years,” said ABC News Senior Executive Vice President Phyllis McGrady.

John Harran was named Director/New Business Development at Turner Network Sales (TNS), the domestic distribution, sales and marketing arm of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.).  John is based in Atlanta and reports directly to Bill Stratton, VP/New Business Development.

Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. has named Robert L. Carl, Director/Investor Relations. Robert will be based in Los Angeles and report to Brian Urban, Gemstar-TV Guide’s CFO.

Michael Lombardi has joined Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization, as EVP/CFO. Michael is responsible for overseeing corporate finance and administration as well as evaluating strategic initiatives and new business opportunities.  He reports to Mel Ming, COO, and is based in New York City.

MGM Pictures, a division of MGM Studios Inc., has upped Bruce Markoe to EVP/Feature Post Production.  Bruce will report to Andy Davis, the studio’s EVP/Physical Production and is based in LA.

City Lights Media Group announced today that it has expanded its television department and promoted Dave Noll to President of City Lights Television.  The announcement comes at a time of great growth for the newest City Lights division, which in its first 18 months signed 12 deals with 9 different networks including MTV, Nickelodeon, Court TV, AMC and Discovery.  Dave will be based in New York.  Michael Krupat joins City Lights Television as Director/Development; and Amy Oppenheim has been named Manager/Television Development.  Working with the division will be City Lights VP/Production and Development, Michael Cohen.

Discovery Networks International has named Susan Ritchie VP/Communications.  Susan will manage both internal and external communications and will play a strategic role in raising Discovery’s profile in the international marketplace.  Working with DNI’s regional communications and management teams, she will oversee integrated communications efforts that support the division’s diverse and growing businesses. 

Sunday, March 14, 2004. Fast Affiliate 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

CBS     8.7/14  60 Minutes 8.2/14, Cold Case 10.2/16, Movie: Family Sins 8.3/13

NBC     7.5/12  Dateline 6.4/11, American Dreams 5.6/9, Law & Order: Criminal Intent 9.3/14, Crossing Jordan 8.9/15

ABC     5.4/9   America’s Funniest Home Videos 4.9/9, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition [r] 5.7/9, Alias 4.8/7, The Practice 6.1/10

FOX     4.1/7   King of the Hill 3.4/6, Oliver Beene 3.1/5, The Simpsons 5.8/9, Bernie Mac 4.3/7, Malcolm in the Middle 4.3/7,  Arrested Development 3.4/5

WB      2.2/4   Smallville 1.4/2, Charmed 2.9/4, High School Reunion 2.4/4

A18-49  NBC 3.9/10, CBS 3.5/9, ABC 3.2/8, FOX 3.1/8, WB 1.6/4

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

The History Channel presents This Day in History: 
Birthday of comedian Jerry Lewis (1926) and Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci.

Answer to yesterday’s Trivia Question:  Where did television character Jose Jimenez live?  On the Bill Dana Show, Jose Jimenez lived at the PARK CENTRAL HOTEL.  Kudos to:  Jess Santoro-EarthQuake/NY; Joanne Milano-RJ Palmer/NY; Ron Salcedo-Zimmerman Partners/NY; John Harman-Hotelvision/NY; John Corthinos-Comedy Central/Chicago; Chuck Lomis-Starz Encore/Englewood; Laura Chambers-Valley Village Freelance; Roxanne Lettman-Sony Pictures Television Int’l/LA; Greg Rose-SD Entertainment/Canoga Park.

A MESSAGE FROM FINE LIVING NETWORK

• Inspiring and empowering over 20 million viewers (and counting) to “live like they mean it!”

• Named “Best New Company in America” by the 2003 American Business Awards.

• Proud to have the support of top advertisers, distributors and passionate FINE LIVING fans!

Today’s Trivia Question:  Perhaps you remember the incredibly lousy show with a great tune, It’s About Time from Sherwood Schwartz and starring Imogene Coca (1966-67 on CBS). (Sherwood’s shows always had great tunes.) The question here is, do you also remember the name of their space ship? (
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
03/16/04  5:13am
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2004

COURT TV:       Dominick Dunne, Forensic Files, Forensic Files, The System
ABC             8 Simple Rules, I’m with Her, According to Jim, Less than Perfect, NYPD Blue
CBS             Navy NCIS, Century City [p], Judging Amy
FOX             American Idol
NBC             Whoopi, Happy Family, Frasier, Scrubs, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit [r]
PAX             AFV, Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             One on One [r], All of Us [r], America’s Next Top Model
WB              Gilmore Girls [r], High School Reunion [r]
TELE            Prisonera, El Alma Herida, Mujeres Apasionadas
UNIV            Mariana de la Noche, Bajo la Misma Piel, Casos de la Vida Real: Edicion Especial