CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

03/23/04

Good morning.  It’s Tuesday, March 23, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing. 

Nielsen Media Research People Meters will launch in New York next month as scheduled (April 8), but will be delayed in both LA and Chicago, now scheduled to launch in July and August, respectively.   The reason for the delays is concern in the markets the data will not fully and accurately reflect the market.  Not everyone is happy Nielsen plans to proceed on schedule in NYC, the loudest being Lachlan Murdoch, News Corp., who is concerned the data will “undercount viewership by as much as 25%, especially  when quantifying viewership among minority and young viewers.” Jack Loftus, spokesman for Nielsen, responds with “There’s no evidence that [People Meters] undercount viewers. As we get close to the launch date, we look at all the sample characteristics in each market and decide on an individual basis if we’re ready.”

History Channel has unveiled their 2004-05 primetime schedule which includes six new series, several specials and the return of many of the network’s franchise series.  New to the network in 04-05 is Wild West Tech (this one is fun – check it out on March 30) which look sat the technical advancements and contraptions of the cowboy, calvary, etc., hosted by Keith Carradine. Investigating History goes back and asks the same questions again, only this time using modern day science and technology to discovery the truth (premieres April 19). The Tech Effect (2nd qtr 2004) examines specific points in history that used the current day technology to effectively change the world (i.e., Hiroshima). Command Decisions puts you the viewer in the middle of the decision making process, participating in decisions that will change the course of history. (Premieres 3rd qtr 2004).   Decisive Battles uses modern day computer technology to examine how ancient battles were fought (premiere 3rd qtr 2004). Digging for the Truth attempts to settle some of the world’s greatest mysteries.  This one is shot in HD.  Premieres 4th qtr 2004.

Are you ready for some football?  ABC’s Monday Night Football preseason schedule has been announced – mark your calendars:  August 9 with the Hall of Fame Game; August 23 Kansas City vs. St. Louis; August 30 Dallas vs. Tennessee.  All games start at 8pm.

CBS’ 68th Annual Masters Golf Tournament, scheduled for April 8-11, from the prestigious Augusta National Golf Club, will once again go commercial free this year. What it will also be free of is Martha Burk, chairwoman of the National Council on Women’s Organizations, who last year protested the lack of women members at the private club.  Burk does not plan on attending this year’s event.  Minus commercials last year, the tourney drew 34.5 million viewers, the third largest viewing audience for The Masters, which has been airing on CBS for the past 48 consecutive years.

The Action Sports Tour (AST), the creation of NBC and Clear Channel Motorsports, is diving into the extreme sports league and designed to rival ESPN’s X Games. AST will be on tour next year with a five-event format.   NBC is the majority partner, investing upwards of $25-$30 million next year along with Clear Channel Motorsports.  Events include skateboarding, street luge, wake boarding, motocross and bicycle motocross.   The tour will be set up like a NASCAR tour, that is using other events (like the X Games) as qualifiers for AST, and providing bigger monetary rewards to top athletes.  NBC plans to air 16 hours of event programming over the course of five weekends, and will identify a cable partner to air additional hours.

Coming to The Biography Channel is an all new series called Action! set to debut on March 25 at 8pm.  The premiere series features Coen Brothers, Joel & Ethan, whose films you’ve seen – including Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Blood Simple. Their latest film, Lady Killers premieres on he big screen Friday.

Sci Fi Channel is host to 132 hours of miniseries during the month of April with a lineup of six miniseries including the 20-hour Steven Spielberg miniseries Taken (kicks off 4/3 at 9am).  Other miniseries presented include Dune, Gulliver’s Travels, and two from Stephen King – The Shining and Storm of the Century.

New in Development/Casting/Production:

• USA‘s new series for next season, Dean Koontz’ Frankenstein (Flame Television/Warner Bros. TV), has cast Parker Posey as a police detective in modern day Seattle where the monster has been discovered.
• CBS pilot project Cooking Lessons (Tannenbaum/Warner Bros. TV) has signed Gil Bellows to join the cast which will also  include Faye Dunaway and Paula Marshall.  Esai Morales will join the cast of Sudbury (Fortis Films/Warner Bros. TV) about three magical sisters – Kim Delaney, Jeri Ryan and Kat Dennings.  Sarah Lancaster has been added to the cast of Dr. Vegas (Bender-Brown/Warner Bros. TV/CBS Prods) starring Rob Lowe and Joey Pants (Pantoliano).
• WB‘s The Mountain (Wonderland Sound & Vision/Warner Bros. TV) has added significantly to its cast list: Mitch Pileggi, Chad Everett, Elizabeth Bogush, Tommy Dewey, Alana De La Garza, and Penn Badgely.  And The Prodigy (Silver Pictures/Warner Bros. TV) has added three new cast members – David Newsome, Phillip Rhys and Rudolf Martin.
• NBC‘s untitled McCall Marsh comedy project  (Warner Bros. TV)has cast Tero Polo to the lineup which includes Tim Conti.

New cable channel Reality Life is coming to BSkyB in the UK. The channel launch marks the first step in the network’s parent company, Zone Vision’s expansion strategy that includes rolling out Reality Life throughout Europe, as well as the development and launch of several new channels in the territory. Zone Vision, an international media company, manages and represents channel brands in over 125 countries around the world.

Variety reports Paramount is looking again at a feature film based on the Aaron Spelling television series, The Love Boat.  This one has actually been kicking around for a while, and is just now resurfacing.  Destination for this Love Boat cruise?  The Bermuda Triangle, which hopefully won’t be any indication on how this film will draw.  According to producer David Permut, The Love Boat is unique among series in that it has worldwide recognition, having been broadcast in over 70 countries. We have a unique and irreverent take that will turn this innocent show on its head.”

Note to self:  Cancel everything for the evening of April 15 (including running to the mailbox w/tax returns), finale of The Apprentice; then April 17, Behind the Apprentice.

A closely competitively Sunday night among A18-49 with Fox in lead by a tenth according to Fast Affiliate Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.  Fox led for the night with 3.9/10, with the Big 3 close behind – NBC 3.6/9, ABC 3.5/9, CBS 3.4/9, followed by WB 1.4/4.  At 7pm led the hour with a 4.4/13 for a combination of NCAA Tournament basketball and 60 Minutes.  NCAA tourney ran into primetime by approx 15 minutes. Fox, ABC and NBC all averaged an 8 share; WB a 3.  At 8pm Fox jumped out in front with a 5.2/13 for a double pumping of Simpsons, whereas ABC and CBS each posted a 10 share. At 9p NBC’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent had its turn in front with a 4.6/11, while Fox and ABC posted an 8 share, and CBS a 7 share. WB’s High School Reunion posted a 1.6/4, though upped that ante to at 6 share among W18-34.  At 10p NBC again was in front with a 4.1/11 for Crossing Jordan, outpacing ABC’s The Practice (3.5/9) and CBS’ final hour of its two hour movie Proof of Life (2.4/6).

Casting:  Food Network is looking for you if you decided to scrap that big money job, in favor of a life in the culinary arts. Recipes for Success kicks off on Food April 1 with host Marlie Hall. If you think you fit the bill, check out this link for further details.

Banyan Productions has named John Bertholon as Series Exec Producer for their new series Nice Package, set to debut this summer on Oxygen.  Nice Package is an irreverent take on the home improvement genre.  After the room is fully madeover by designers, the entire setup is packed into a box and delivered via two hunky handymen to the homeowners.  The group then must use every item in the box to redecorate the space in 24 hours and the room closest to the designer’s original’s, wins.

Clare Alter, VP/US Sales for Carlton International will step down from her post, choosing not to join the nearly finalized merger of Carlton Int’l and Granada International.  Clare has been with Carlton for the past 17 years and has taken this opportunity to consider new beginnings. She will be with Carlton for the next couple of months as she closes their Florida office. Cheers, Clare!  Well done.

Univision Communications Inc. announced that Jeffrey T. Hinson has been upped to EVP/CFO of Univision Communications Inc., reporting to A. Jerrold Perenchio, Chairman/CEO of Univision.  Hinson will succeed George Blank, who will remain with the Company as a senior member of its corporate staff.  Prior to this upping, Jeffrey was SVP/CFO of Univision Radio.

Lifetime Entertainment Services has named Ronald Plante, VP/Strategic Planning & Scheduling.  He is based in New York and reports to Leslie -Chesloff, SVP/Planning, Scheduling & Acquisitions.

William K. Marimow has been named Managing Editor for NPR News, a newly created position. William will oversee NPR’s national news staff, newscasts and training, and work with NPR Online.  He joins Managing Editor Barbara Rehm who will oversee NPR’s foreign coverage, as well as production of NPR’s newsmagazine and talk shows. Both William and Barbara  will report to Bruce Drake, VP/News and will be based out of Washington, DC.

Young Broadcasting Inc. will up Deborah A. McDermott to President as of April 1st.  Deborah will be based in New York.  Young Broadcasting Inc. also announced that Ronald J. Kwasnick, President since 1986, will retire from his position for personal reasons as of March 31, 2004.

New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) and sponsor Getty Images, an imagery company, will devote April to an in-depth investigation of current trends in the digital world and its affect on film, television, and new media.  DigiMonth will take place in venues around Manhattan from April 8th to April 29th.  The programs will explore development, production, post-production, distribution, outreach, and exhibition.  They will cover topics including artistic dilemmas, Internet research, new broadband and Internet application, HDTV, legal issues, launching a Web site, and new directions in digital distribution. 

Sunday, March 21, 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     8.1/13  60 Minutes10.3/17 , Cold Case 8.4/13,  Movie: Proof of Life 5.7/9  (Due to the NCAA Tournament overtime ending at approx 7:15pm, time period ratings for CBS are approximate)

NBC     7.2/12  Dateline 6.3/11, American Dreams 6.0/9, Law & Order: Criminal Intent 8.6/13, Crossing Jordan 8.1/14

ABC     5.5/9   America’s Funniest Home Videos 5.1/9, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 5.8/9, Alias 4.9/7, The Practice 6.2/10

FOX     5.0/8   King of the Hill [r] 3.2/6, King of the Hill 4.2/7, The Simpsons 6.6/10, The Simpsons 6.8/10, Malcolm in the Middle 5.3/8, Arrested Development 4.2/6

WB      2.2/4   Smallville 1.7/3, Charmed 2.6/4, High School Reunion 2.2/3

A18-49  FOX 3.9/10, NBC 3.6/9, ABC 3.5/9, CBS 3.4/9, WB 1.4/4

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

The History Channel presents This Day in History: 
1794 – The first U.S. patent is issued. It goes to Josiah Pierson, who has invented a “cold-header” – a riveting machine.

Answer to yesterday’s Trivia Question:  You’ve seen Patrick Swayze on television from time to time – miniseries North and South, and the upcoming made-for TV movie King Solomon’s Mines for Hallmark, but did he ever appear as a regular character on a television series, and if so, which one(s)? RENEGADES (ABC/1983).  Kudos to:  Jennifer Johnson-TBS TNT/Atlanta; Jim Bono-Hallmark Channel/NY; Anne Elliott-Nielsen/NY; Alison Overholser-Mediacom/NY; Walter Hammock-Showcase Cable Ad Sales/Houston; Matt Rankin-KDAF/Kansas City; Sally Shireman-WCIU/Chicago; Eddie Land-Pacific Television Center/LA; Dan Filie/Studio City; Sharon Levi-Anaheim Hills; Ken Dubow-Modern Ent/LA.

Today’s Trivia Question:   On what early 1980’s show would you find a sea plane called Cutter’s Goose?  (
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
03/23/04   5:24am
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2004

COURT TV:       Dominick Dunne, Forensic Files, The Investigators
ABC             8 Simple Rules [r], I’m with Her [r], According to Jim [r], Less Than Perfect [r], NYPD Blue
CBS             Navy NCIS [r], Century City, 48 Hours
FOX             American Idol
NBC             Whoopi, Happy Family, Frasier [r], Scrubs [r], Law & Order: Special Victims Unit [r]
PAX             AFV, 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