CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

12/01/04

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, December 1, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing.

CBS soundly won the Monday night race for ratings, posting an overall 6.1/15 A18-49 according to final numbers from Nielsen Media Research. ABC was #2 with a 5.4/13, followed by NBC 4.1/10, Fox 3.5/8, WB 2.3/6, UPN 1.4/3.  At 8pm the perennial time period winner, Fear Factor, once again led with a 4.8/12, while Fox’s Trading Spouses was #2 (3.4/9).  At 9p Raymond dug up a 5.4/15, with 2-1/2 Men delivered a 6.3/14. Las Vegas on NBC earned a 4.6/10.  CSI:MIAMI was the big winner at 10p posting an 8.6/20 with a Dateline special in the distance (2.8/7).  Monday Night Football scored an overall 6.6/17 for the game.

Tonight’s Premieres:
Outdoor Life Network:  Dakar Rally: Team USA Rider Search at 930p

Call it “watershed” as Leslie Moonves did, or call it “impossible” as so many of his competitors have, either way CBS is poised to win the A18-49 demo in the November sweep.  In fact, CBS is looking at ruling the A18-49, A25-54 and the Total Viewer categories, giving the network its first three-way win in 24 years.  Among CBS’ top winners were CSI, Everybody Loves Raymond, Survivor and 60 Minutes, all leading their genre categories, per Moonves.
November sweep to date: 11/4-11/29 (26 of the 28 day sweep)
A18-49:  CBS  4.5/12 (+7% vs. Nov ’03); ABC 4.0/11 (+8%), NBC 3.9/10 (-3%); Fox 3.0/8 (-3%); WB and UPN tied at 1.5/4, both -12% vs. Nov 2003.

A handful of Fox Premiere dates to add to your calendar:  24 will debut on January 9, Bernie Mac Show returns January 14, Jonny Zero premieres January 14, Point Pleasant set for January 20, Simple Life 3: Interns kicks off January 26, and American Idol returns January 18.  
Here is Fox’s January M-Su primetime lineup:
Monday:  Trading Spouses, 24
Tuesday: American Idosl, House
Wednesday:  That 70’s Show, Simple Life 3, American Idol
Thursday:  The O.C., Point Pleasant
Friday: Bernie Mac, Bernie Mac, Jonny Zero
Saturday:  Cops, Cops, AMW
Sunday: King of the Hill, Malcolm, Simpsons, Arrested Development, My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss

Take Note:  Tonight is Tom Brokaw‘s last night at the NBC Nightly News anchor desk.

Casting / Development / Production

• SCI FI has ordered an additional 13 episodes of their original freshman series Ghost Hunters, which premiered last October,a nd currently airing on Wednesdays at 9p. Production on the new season will kick off early next year.
• PAX TV has ordered up a second 13 eps of its original freshman series World Cup Comedy with host Dan O’Connor.
• Glenn Meehan (American Families, Entertainment Tonight, Charles Grodin Show) has signed an overall development/production deal with 44 Blue Productions to create original series for network, syndication.
• Oxygen has ordered up 6 episodes of Making it Big, which aired as an OTO special last March.  The series is scheduled to kick off in April.  Also in the development stages at Oxygen is an improv comedy project called Campus Girls wherein two bordering-on-middle-age women decide to go back to college and live in the freshamn dorms. Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) is on board as exec prod, per Hollywood Reporter.  The two women are played by Carrie Aizley and Christen Sussin, who also created the project.
• FX has ordered up six eps of 30 Days, the show that takes Trading Spouses and/or Wife Swap to a whole new level.  The idea is similar and simple – take someone with a certain upbringing and mores, and drop them into a situation completely opposite to everything they are familiar with, for a period of 30 days.  From exec prod Ben Silverman, the show is based on Morgan Spurlock’s documentary, and Spurlock will also host.
• It’s official – CBS’ dr. Vegas has moved from the hiatus list to the cancelled list.
• ABC Family is developing a project called Door to the Throne (Tollin-Robbins/Touchstone) wherein two twins who move back home with their widowed father, discover a trap door in the basement that leads to alternative universes.  Also at ABC Family, production has begun on the 12 episodes of Garden of Love in the City of Sin, a reality series that is based in a Las Vegas wedding chapel.
• Missing on Lifetime is scheduled to return to the lineup on January 9 at 10p. Also, Strong Medicine: First Response, considered a back door pilot, is scheduled to air January 16 at 9p.

Premiering tonight on OLN at 930p is Dakar Rally: Team USA Rider Search, about six motorcycle riders who traveling a punishing, five-day desert racing challenge near Death Valley, Calif. in the hopes of landing a spot on the Red Bull KTM USA Dakar Rally motorcycle team. at the end of the day, just two team riders and one alternate are chosen to participate as part of the only All-American team at the 2005 Dakar Rally.

Tavis Smiley of National Public Radio’s The Tavis Smiley Show is calling it quits as of December 16 following his decision to not renew his NPR contract.  The African American-oriented public affairs show was touted as NPR’s fastest growing program with the latest figures showing almost 900,000 listeners via 87 radio stations.  Tavis will continue to host and produce his PBS talk show Tavis Smiley, launching the second season on January 7, 2005.

Ken Jennings took his loss very graciously on Jeopardy! last night, but after being on the show 74 times and winning $2.5 million + dollars, hopefully one can afford to be gracious. Shot of the night:  the look on the realtor’s face when she realized she beat Ken Jennings.

Intermedia Advertising Group’s Top Ten Most Effective New Ads for new campaigns airing the weeks of November 8-21, 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 241, the top-ranked Ford spot was more than twice as memorable as the average new ad during the period. Source Intermedia Advertising Group Inc.’s 2004 Ad Performance Data Series (www.iagr.net)
– 241 FORD: Kyle returns home from war, family greets him at airport; airing following NBC’s 11/21 “American Dreams”
– 232 CAPITAL ONE: PrimeLock–Huns charge through mall toward woman paying for gifts with credit card (:30)
– 230 STRAIT LINE: Rolling Tape–evenly spaces up to 10 objects, couple hang pictures and red drapery (:30)
– 226 CAPITAL ONE: PrimeLock–Huns charge through mall toward woman paying for gifts with credit card (:60)
– 223 STRAIT LINE: Rolling Tape–evenly spaces up to 10 objects, couple hang pictures and red drapery (:15)     
– 215 ST. JUDE’S HOSPITAL: ThanksandGiving.com–kids sit with Sarah Jessica Parker
– 208 McDONALD’S: Dollar Menu–man doesn’t know what girlfriend wants to eat, buys everything, “National Treasure” tag (:15)
– 195 KAY JEWELERS: Leo Diamond–$599 to $7000, man wakes up wife to open presents, boy opens present to find fire truck
– 186 KAY JEWELERS:  3-Stone Diamond Necklace–$199, free photo frame gift box, kids watch dad give mom diamond necklace
– 180 McDONALD’S: Dollar Menu–man doesn’t know what girlfriend wants to eat, buys everything (:30)     

Discovery Communications’ Discovery Wings Channel as of January 10, 2005, will morph into the Military Channel with new programming and a new on-air look.  As Discovery Wings spreads it wings beyond aviation, the new Military Channel will broaden the programming slate into the private and professional lives of service men and women as well as upclose and personal of military technology, battlefield strategy, aviation adn history.  Coming up in first qtr 2005 are several specials and these series:

• BATTLE PLAN (January 11 at 8p):  Takes viewers into the heart of famous battles, examining the development and execution of the strategy behind each one­from the hard, fast, merciless assault of a blitzkrieg to the tactics of deception of urban warfare.
• GOIN’ BACK: Iwo Jima (Feb 24 at 9p):  This first installment of a regular series of specials allows viewers to travel with American war veterans and their families as they return to the battlefields that came to define their lives, in this case the Pacific island Iwo Jima.

20th Century Fox Television Presidents Gary Newman and Dana Walden have re-signed a new multi-year deal, as announced by Peter Chernin, President and COO of FEG/News Corporation.  Both Newman and Walden were named President in November, 1999.

Mazin S. Jadallah has been named to the position of SVP/Strategic Development for OpenTV Corp. He will work with Chairman/CEO Jim Chiddix and the rest of the management team to develop OpenTV’s strategic direction and oversee development opps for the company’s iTV products and services.

Court TV has named Alison Radzin its VP/Ad Sales Marketing, responsible for developing strategies and securing multi-faceted, on-brand, creative marketing opportunities for Court TV’s advertising partners. Alison makes the move to Court TV from Guild Group, a marketing services firm.

Paola Freccero, Sundance Channel’s SVP/Film Programming has announced her plans to leave the network at year’s end to become an independent consultant, and will work with Sundance on various special projects. Filling her position until a permanent placement can be made, will be Christian Vesper, VP/Acquisitions.

Monday, November 29, 2004. FINAL Ratings for all Networks – program averages.  Source Nielsen Media Research. Time Period Averages Only. [p] = Premiere; [o] = Original; [r] = Repeat

CBS     11.2/17 Still Standing 7.1/11, Listen Up 6.9/10, Raymond 12.3/18, 2-1/2 Men 11.6/17, CSI Miami 14.5/23

ABC     9.7/15  EM: Home Edition 5.5/9, Monday Night Football 11.5/18 (game ended at 12:05am)

NBC     7.1/11  Fear Factor 6.9/10, Las Vegas 7.6/11, Dateline 6.7/10

FOX     5.1/8   Trading Spouses 5.0/7, The Swan 5.3/8

WB      4.1/6   7th Heaven 4.8/7, Everwood 3.5/5

UPN     2.4/4   One on One 2.4/4, Half and Half 2.4/3, Girlfriends 2.5/4, Second Time Around 2.4/3

A18-49  CBS 6.1/15, ABC 5.4/13, NBC 4.1/10, Fox 3.5/8, WB 2.3/6, UPN 1.4/3

A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION

Source: NTI, Explorer, 11/15-11/21/04 Based on Rating.  Queen-Damned=USA, Sat 9p.  Series=Trackage, Movies=Telecast.  Ties w/ Exorcist w/ W25-54.

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1959:  The Antarctica Treaty is signed, banning armed forces and weapons testing from the entire continent, parts of which had been claimed by several nations.  An armed clash between Argentine and British forces and the attractiveness of the continent for nuclear testing prodded the United States and the USSR, along with ten other nations with claims, to forswear military activity.  It was a modest first step toward arms control during the Cold War.

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:   During a point in the series MASH, a regular character played by Spring Byington joined the cast, even though you never saw her.  What role did she play? MRS. SHERMAN POTTER – THE PHOTOGRAPH ON COL. POTTER’S DESK.  Interestingly, Spring Byington played Harry Morgan’s wife on a series called December Bride years and years before MASH.  Kudos to:  Lou Zaccheo-Video from Video/NY; Bart Black-WFXG/Augusta; Gail Gleeson-Siemens Business Services Media/Atlanta; Peter Gordon-The Golf Channel/Orlando; David Burke-Quad-City Times/Davenport; Jordy Luft-WNOL/New Orleans; Daniel Thomson-Media First Int’l/Minneapolis; Berry Ellis-Superstation WGN/Chicago; JR Jackson-KOVR/Sacramento; Pat Patton-KRON/San Francisco; David Chill-DirecTV/LA; Pat Reynolds-Warner Bros. Domestic Television Dist/Burbank; Michelle Sanders-KYES/Anchorage; and internationally from Gregory Lovett-Yarosa Entertainment/The Netherlands.

Today’s Trivia Question:  Who am I?  I was born in Wisconsin, and then adopted by a family of farmers in Kansas, who named their new daughter after their missing cat. As soon as I was able, I moved out of farm country and to the big city to find fame, and fame I found. In fact, I was soon nicknamed the Gotcha Girl.  But that’s all behind me now – I have a new job and new career.  Who am I? (click here with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone with your answer.  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.)

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

Later — Cyn
12.01.04  5:03am

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JOB OPENING:  MANAGER, AD SALES MARKETING/Oxygen, NYC: Develop ad sales materials and trade marketing initiatives that break-through; 3 yrs experience in media, marketing or advertising fields. Resumes to
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A MESSAGE FROM CYNOPSIS AD SALES

WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  DECEMBER 1, 2004:

ABC             Lost, Nick & Jessica’s Family Christmas, Wife Swap
CBS             Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, King of Queens, Center of the Universe, CSI: NY
FOX             That 70’s Show, Quintuplets, Nanny 911
NBC             The Apprentice, West Wing, Law & Order
PAX             Doc, Sue Thomas F.B.Eye, Early Edition
UPN             Top Model, Kevin Hill
WB              Smallville, Jack and Bobby
TELE            Prisionera, Gitanas, Te Voy a Ensenar a Querer
UNIV            Rubi, Amor Real, Don Francisco Presenta