CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

08/25/04

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, August 25, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing, coming to you live from sunny downtown Burbank.

After just five episodes, FX has renewed Rescue Me (Sony Pictures TV/DreamWorks), starring Dennis Leary, with an order of 13-15 additional eps.  Among the key A18-49 demo, Rescue Me has averaged approx 2 million viewers per ep on Wednesday nights at 10p.

Casting Note: 

• Anne Heche will join the cast of WB’s Everwood. Heche will play the role of a new interest and cause for the good Dr. Brown, as well as present the possibility of something more.  Also joining the cast this season is Scott Wolf as a new doctor in town.
• Motley Crue-er Tommy Lee has been signed for an unscripted series for NBC in which Lee goes back to college, with cameras tagging along and recording every moment – good, bad or ugly. The show, titled Reality TV 101, according to Variety, will be produced by NBC Universal Television, with Lee exec producing, along with Brian Transeau, Richard Bishop and Brad Wyman.

PBS has ordered a second season of Find!, the series where Leigh and Leslie Keno, the twins you’ve seen countless times on Antiques Roadshow, go into people’s homes and ‘discover’ various valuable finds.  Added to the show is interior designer Alexa Hampton.  Season #2 kicks off on October 4. Hampton will also be used as a contributor to PBS’ This Old House.

Top Ten Basic Cable Ad Supported Network Rankings among Total Viewers for the of Aug 16-22, 2004:
Primetime       (000)   Total Pgm Day   (000)
USA             2406    NICK            2198
TNT             2038    NAN*            1400
CARTOON 1862    CARTOON 1344
NAN             1763    TNT             1251
LIFETIME        1680    LIFETIME        1084
ESPN    1660    USA             1058
TBS             1348    TBS             850
DISCOVERY       1277    FOXNEWS 732
SCIFI           1266    ESPN            695
FOXNEWS 1200    ABC FAMILY      687
Source Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research Data.
All ratings based on Total U.S. Television Universe of 108,400,000 homes
* = Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24 hour day. Primetime listing only includes those networks broadcasting more than 51% of the primetime hours (M-Su 8p-11p)

Top Ten Basic Cable Ad Supported Network Rankings among A18-49 for the week of Aug 16-22, 2004:
Primetime       (000)   Total Pgm Day   (000
USA             1089    TNT             636
TNT             934     NAN*            626
ESPN            785     USA             515
TBS             777     TBS             499
DISCOVERY       754     LIFETIME        490
FX              715     NICK            446
LIFETIME        662     ESPN            400
SCIFI           580     FX              387
SPIKE TV        496     DISCOVERY       346
NAN             467     CARTOON 303
Source Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research Data.
All ratings based on Total U.S. Television Universe of 108,400,000 homes.
* = Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24 hour day. Primetime listing only includes those networks broadcasting more than 51% of the primetime hours (M-Su 8p-11p)

Intermedia Advertising Group’s Top Ten Most Effective New Ads for new campaigns airing the weeks of Aug 2-15, 2004. The list is ranked by viewer’s ability to recall the new ads and their associated products and brands. The Recall Score is the percentage of TV viewers who within 24 hours are able to remember the brand of the ad they saw during normal TV viewing. The scores are then indexed against the mean score for all ads during the time period to create the Recall Index; 100 is Average. For example, with a Recall Index of 255, the top-ranked Pizza Hut spot was recalled more than two and a half times the average new ad during the period. Source Intermedia Advertising Group Inc.’s 2004 Ad Performance Data Series (www.iagr.net)
– 255   PIZZA HUT: Twisted Crust–breadsticks baked right into crust, grandma says rip and dip
– 187   OUST:  Air Sanitizer–women compare to Lysol, only Oust kills bacteria in the air, doesn’t just mask odors      
– 183   SUBWAY: McDonald’s fat content compared to Fresh Value Meal & Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki
– 171   TOYOTA: Corolla–woman’s old, beat up car is transformed into new car with impressive features
– 170   BALL PARK FRANKS: GrillMaster Franks–Frank thinks men should act like men again, need a healthy supply of hot dogs
– 164   HALLMARK: Barbie 45th Anniversary Collection–woman imagines having tea party
– 163   BURGER KING: Angus Steak Burger–Angus diet infomercial spoof Dr. Angus with llama, drives up in car, gives lecture
– 163   CREST: Night Effects–imagine a dental plan that works like a dream, couple sleeps
– 161   NETZERO: Candidate Zero on campaign bus, worst thing you can do is give someone a dead fish
– 160   VISA: Check Card–Joe Torre with George Steinbrenner at doctor’s, Steinbrenner has arm bandaged

Note to Self:  In this time of hecticity, it would be most wise to put this one on the calendar, lest we forget to watch.  And living with a house full a builders – house builders, boat builders, furniture builders, halfpipe builders – it is with particular interest we want to be sure to watch Deconstruction: The Science of Building a House (Rivet Ent), coming up on Discovery Science Channel on 9/5 at 8pm.

The Munsters, Herman, Lily, Grandpa, Eddie, Spot and of course Marilyn and Wolfie, of the 1960s TV series, are coming back and this time in the form of a feature film, from the Wayans brothers (Keenen Ivory, Marlon and Shawn), per the Hollywood Reporter.  According to the deal, the three brothers will pen the screenplay and produce the movie with Rick Alvarez.  As for director, maybe it could be Keenen Ivory, or maybe not.  Marlon and Shawn wrote both Scar Movie and Scary Movie 2, and together the three brothers wrote White Chicks, which also starred Marlon and Shawn. 

Cynopsis has turned a corner.  Since its launch, all new subscription requests have been handled personally by me so that all new subscribers would be added to the list so they’d be sure to receive the very next edition of Cynopsis.  That is now changing.  With the increase of daily new subscriptions to Cynopsis (approx 75-100 daily), as well as the other two Cynopsis editions, the need has arisen for this process to be dealt with via forms, internet sites, and automatics.  I suppose a little good news / bad news, but also necessary to assure all new subscribers (or new email addresses, or even cancelled subscriptions) are handled before the next edition.  Thanks for your continued patronage, and if you are recommending anyone sign up for this edition, or any Cynopsis edition, please encourage them to visit www.cynopsis.com to do so.

Bruce Taub has been named EVP/Operations of CBS. The announcement was made by Leslie Moonves, Co-President/ Co-Chief Operating Officer, Viacom, and Chairman of CBS.  Bruce will be involved in setting development and financial objectives and helping to identify key operational and strategic issues for the Viacom divisions under Moonves’ watch. These include CBS, UPN, King World Productions, Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Paramount International Television, Infinity Broadcasting, the Viacom Television Stations Group and Viacom Outdoor. Taub, who will assume his new duties immediately, will also continue to serve as EVP/CFO of CBS.

Chris Carlisle has been named EVP/Marketing for the Fox Network, announced by Gail Berman, President. Chris will oversee and responsible for all of the marketing strategies for the network. Chris fills the position vacated a month ago by Robert Mell.

Monday, August 23, 2004. Fast National 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

NBC     16.1/26 Olympic Summer Games 2004 16.1/26

CBS     5.8/9   Still Standing [r] 4.2/7, Yes Dear [r] 4.2/7, Raymond [r] 6.6/10, 2-1/2 Men [r] 6.1/9, CSI Miami [r] 6.9/11

ABC     4.4/7   NFL Preseason Football: St. Louis vs. Kansas City 4.4/7

FOX     2.9/5   That 70’s Show [r] 3.1/5, That 70’s Show [r] 3.4/5, Casino 2.6/4

UPN     1.9/3   One on One [r] 1.8/3, Half & Half [r] 1.9/3, Girlfriends [r] 2.0/3, Girlfriends [r] 1.8/3

WB      1.7/3   7th Heaven [r] 2.1/3, Everwood [r] 1.2/2

A18-49  NBC 9.1/24, CBS 2.9/8, ABC 2.4/6, Fox 2.1/6, UPN 1.1/3, WB 0.8/2

A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION

Source: NTI Explorer, 8/16-8/22/04.  TP=CBS Sun, 9pm-11:30pm. US Ratings.  Wk rank excludes spcls.  Day rank ties Simpsons.  Based on A18-49.

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
325: The Council of Nicea concludes, having established several points of Christian orthodoxy, including the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and denounced the heresy of Arianism.  The Nicene Creed, the fundamental statement of Christian belief, was first formulated on this day.  It is still used in Orthodox churches and, with modifications, by Roman Catholics.

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question: Who said: “Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It’s what separates us from the animals…except the weasel”? HOMER SIMPSON. Kudos to the entire free world – this one was a slam dunk!

Today’s Trivia Question: A little movie trivia —  what kind of car was Brian’s first in the film Too Fast Too Furious? (click here 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.)

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

Later — Cyn

Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis
08/24/04  3:39am ET
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2004:

ABC             My Wife & Kids [r], My Wife & Kids [r], Drew Carey, Drew Carey, In the Jury Room
CBS             60 Minutes, King of Queens [r], King of Queens [r], 48 Hours [r]
FOX             Family Guy x4  [r]
NBC             Olympic Summer Games 2004
PAX             On the Cover, Balderdash, Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             Amish in the City, The Player
WB              Smallville [r], Smallville [r]
TELE            Prisonera, Gitanas, Zapata
UNIV            Mariana de la Noche, Amarte es mi Pecado, Don Francisco Presenta