CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

12/22/04

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, December 22, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing, and your last edition of the calendar year 2004.

Cablevision has decided to suspend its Voom satellite service, which included several high-definition channels, but had only a modest 25,000 subscribers by the end of third qtr 2004. Voom was the cornerstone of Cablevision’s spinoff Rainbow Media Enterprises, which also included IFC, WE: Women’s Entertainment and AMC networks.  The new entity was originally slated to spin-of in 2003, delayed twice, most recently to 4th qtr 2004.  Voom was down by $75.3 million in third qtr 2004, on revenues of just $5.9 million. Cablevision filed this statement with the SEC regarding Voom:  “The board of directors has decided to suspend pursuing the spinoff of its Rainbow Media Enterprises subsidiary, in its previously announced form, and instead to pursue strategic alternatives for its Rainbow DBS business.”  The news had a positive and immediate effect on the Cablevision stock, which closed at $25.06 yesterday, up by 13.3%.

The start date for The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch on CNBC has been set – January 24 at 10p, airing nightly. McEnroe averaged just 75,000 viewers to the show after six months on the air.

Sci Fi Channel has picked up Ripley’s Believe it Or Not, distributed by Sony Pictures Television, with host Dean Cain.  The 60m program last aired on TBS for four years, and has been running in broadcast syndication for the past two years, as 30m episodes.  Sci Fi’s deal is for five years, 88 episodes, and is scheduled to launch on the network January 26 at 8pm.

Casting / Development / Production

• Arnold Vosloo will appear as a recurring character in Fox’s series 24, set to make its season debut in January 2005. Vosloo will play the head of an terrorist ring in the US.  Also cast is Jonathan Ahdout, also a recurring role as the son of Shohreh Aghdashloo’s character.  24 is scheduled to debut on January 9 at 8pm. 
• NBC‘s cop project, NY-70, based on the two NYC cops made famous by the film The French Connection – Eddie Egan and Sonny Grasso, has cast Bobby Cannavale as the pilot’s star.  Cannavale’s character is based on the professional life of cop Sonny Grasso.
• Comedy Central has signed comedian Adam Carolla to a talent deal that could end up with Carolla getting his own daily talker.  He’s working on the development of a potential series with exec prod Daniel Kellison, and their prod co Jackhole Industries.

CBS has come to grips with the Big Ten Conference, re-signing to keep college basketball on the network thru 2010.  The deal includes eight conference games, two semifinal games and the Conference Big Ten tournament game. Additionally, the network will carry Big Ten Women’s Basketball games.  CBS and the Big Ten Conference have worked together for the past 14 years.  Other conferences with whom CBS has current deals include the Big East, Pac-10 and Southeastern.

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of December 6-12, 2004 ranked by HH Rtg
Wheel of Fortune (King World)                  9.4 AA  
Jeopardy (King World)                           8.1 AA
Oprah (King World)                        7.2 AA / 7.3 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)    7.2 AA / 9.0 GAA
Seinfeld (Sony)                            6.8 AA / 8.1 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                    5.9 AA / 7.6 GAA
Dr. Phil (King World)                     5.2 AA / 5.2 GAA
Judge Judy (Paramount)           5.2 AA / 8.0 GAA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)       5.1 AA / 5.3 GAA
Judge Joe Brown                   3.5 AA / 5.1 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of December 6-12, 2004 ranked by A18-49
Seinfeld (Sony)                            4.4 AA / 5.3 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)    4.3 AA / 5.3 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                    4.1 AA / 5.2 GAA
Oprah (King World)                        2.9 AA / 2.9 GAA
Wheel of Fortune (King World)                  2.6 AA
That 70’s Show (Carsey-Werner)  2.5 AA / 3.0 GAA
Will & Grace (Warner Bros.)              2.3 AA / 2.8 GAA
Malcolm/Middle (20th)                     2.2 AA / 2.6 GAA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)       2.2 AA / 2.2 GAA
Jeopardy (King World)                           2.2 AA
King of the Hill (20th)                   2. AA / 2.6 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Top 5 Broadcast Spanish Language Primetime Programs for the week of December 13-19, 2004 **
UNIV Amor Real (M-Th 9p)                                              25.1 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Rubi (M-F 8p)                                                       24.6 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Cristina (Mon 10p)                                                21.1 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Don Francisco Presenta (Wed 10p)                   19.5 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Lo veremos todo con Niurka y Bobby (Tue 10p) 18.8 NHTI HH Rtg
Source: Nielsen Media Research
Note: NHTI Ratings are based on 10.57 million Hispanic TV Homes
** Please note that Nielsen Media’s rating parameters are listed for some shows that air Monday-Friday to include the 5 day average instead of listing each individual weekday.

Top 10 Broadcast English Language Primetime Programs in Hispanic TV Homes for the week of December 13-19, 2004
UPN     WWE Smackdown! (Thu 8p)                           6.6 NHTI HH Rtg
ABC     Desperate Housewives (Sun 9p)                    5.6 NHTI HH Rtg
CBS     CSI: Miami (Mon 10p)                                     5.5 NHTI HH Rtg
ABC     NFL Monday Night Football (Mon 906p)         5.5 NHTI HH Rtg
ABC     George Lopez Special (Tue 930p)                  5.4 NHTI HH Rtg
CBS     CSI (Thu 9p)                                                    5.0 NHTI HH Rtg
NBC     Biggest Loser (Tue 8p)                                    4.9 NHTI HH Rtg
CBS     CSI: NY (Wed 10p)                                          4.7 NHTI HH Rtg
FOX     Simpsons (Sun 8p)                                          4.7 NHTI HH Rtg
ABC     Lost (Wed 8p)                                                  4.5 NHTI HH Rtg
NBC     Fear Factor (Mon 8p)                                       4.4 NHTI HH Rtg
NBC     Apprentice 2 (Thu 8p)                                      4.4 NHTI HH Rtg
FOX     Nanny 911 (Wed 9p)                                        4.3 NHTI HH Rtg
Source Nielsen Media Research
Note NHTI Ratings are based on 10.57 million Hispanic TV Homes

Do you feel you need more bull in your life?  The New York Stock Exchange‘s statue Charging Bull is for sale.  Price tag:  A mere $5 million minimum, but there are strings.  The buyer must leave the Bull where it currently stands at NYC’s Bowling Green in the financial district, and donate it to the city of NY. In return, the artist/seller Arturo Di Modica says you’ll receive a tax deduction and a plaque.  Pretty expensive plaque, but then again how many can say they own the Bull of Wall Street?

For many, this will be a key item:  On Christmas Eve from 12:01p (everywhere) all interested parties will be able to watch as Santa takes off from the North Pole on his appointed rounds and track his progress through the day and evening at http://www.santaspeaking.com/TrackSanta.aspx. Throughout the course of the day, folks can watch Santa’s progress via ‘Santa’s Radar Meter, Flight Plan and Santa’s Sleigh Systems,’ as well as tracking Santa’s sleigh speed and just how many cookies he eats.  Santa’s North Pole Departure is a CGI animation created by Vision Animation Studios and Run Level 5, film production artists who specialize in CG special effects for feature films including Sweet Dreams, a digital animated kid targeted feature length movie, slated for release holiday 2006.

The Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment will make the New York’s Time Square “New Year’s Eve Ball drop” celebration available to international networks free via official live satellite feed offer in honor of the event’s 100th anniversary.  In addition to the moment itself, the live feed will be available connected to the festivities’ prepping activities (including nine Olympic Gold Medal winners from around the globe wishing Happy New Year in their native tongue and receiving medallions).  More info at www.TimesSquareNYC.org/nye/nye_SatelliteCoordinates.html .

A couple of End of Year Housekeeping Notes: 

• If your IT Dept is planning on adding any new spam/junk mail filters for the first of the year, please advise them Cynopsis is delivered daily from
  , so they can add the address to their white list.
• If your email address will be changing for the new year (or at any time for that matter), changing your subscription address to any Cynopsis edition is now handled automatically given the large volume of new subscriptions each day. Just go to http://www.cynopsis.com/subscriptions.cfm?sub1=1, and subscribe your new address, while unsubscribing the old address at the bottom of the same page.  That’s all there is to it.
• The final 2004 edition for Cynopsis is December 22; the first edition of the new year (after the traditional January 1 edition), will be on Monday, January 3rd.

Amy Carney has been upped to EVP/Advertiser Sales and Operations at Sony Pictures Television.  The announcement was made by Steve Mosko, President/Sony Pictures Television, to whom Amy reports.

Ed Gordon was named to host a new NPR show titled News & Notes with Ed Gordon.  The 1-hour weekday show centering on African American-oriented news, developments and issues will begin airing toward the end of January from New York’s WNYC.  The National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service and BlackPressUSA.com editor-in-chief, George E. Curry, will be present 3 days a week minimum on the show as part of the journalists’ roundtable segment.  Ed Gordon is a former BET News anchor, host for BET Tonight and Lead Story and the creator behind Conversations with Ed Gordon.

Monday, December 20, 2004. Fast Affiliate Ratings for all Networks – time period averages.  Source Nielsen Media Research. Time Period Averages Only. [p] = Premiere; [o] = Original; [r] = Repeat

ABC     8.9/15   TV Guide-Greatest Moments 2004 5.0/8, Monday Night Football 10.9/19 (game ended at 12:12am)

CBS     8.8/14   Still Standing 6.3/10, Listen Up 5.9/9, Raymond 10.5/16, 2-1/2 Men 9.8/15, CSI Miami 10.1/17

NBC     4.7/7    Fear Factor [r] 4.9/8, Las Vegas  [r] 4.9/7, Las Vegas [r] 4.3/7

FOX     4.6/7    The Swan [finale] 4.6/7

WB      2.1/3    7th Heaven [r] 2.4/4, Everwood [r] 1.8/3

UPN     1.8/3    One on One 2.0/3, Half and Half 1.9/3, Girlfriends 1.9/3, Second Time Around 1.6/2

A18-49  ABC 4.9/14, CBS 4.3/11, Fox 3.3/9, NBC 2.7/3, UPN and WB 1.1/3

A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION

The History Channe l presents This Day in History:
1849:  Sentenced to death for sedition, Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky is led before a firing squad and reprieved at the point of execution.  Like many of his countrymen and –women before and after him, he was sent to a Siberian labor camp.  Unlike many others, he was released, and went on to write some of the defining works of Russian literature: Crime and Punishment (1866), The Possessed (also translated as Demons) (1872), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880).

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:   What’s a Wassail?  The six best fictional definitions:

It’s what you say to your boyfriend when he asks how much was that new purse?  You have to justify buying it, so you reply it wassail = was on sale.
        – Lisa Ann Becconsall, North Shore- LIJ Health System Foundation

Wassail is the guy who got Martha Stewart in trouble.
        – Alan Browdy/Lifetime, NY

Wassail: Verb, derived from the conjunction of WEB and ASSAIL.  To attack online.
        – Ken Colen, Colen Research & Consulting, NJ

Budweiser’s attempt to break in to the microbrewery business, using old world marketing techniques.
        – Kevin Miller, J&M Entertainment, Los Angeles

A wassail is a very small mouse which sneaks into your  wallet around Christmas and takes all of your cash, replacing it with droppings of holiday spirit which make you not miss it so much.
        – Jason Rosenberg, MVP Home Entertainment

Wassail:  (n.) a Christmas jig, performed with deft foot movements while simultaneously holding a hot rum punch high over one’s head and
singing like a child.
        – Stephen Collins, 7th Heaven-PST

And so concludes 2004 for Cynopsis.  Next you’ll receive the traditional January 1 Year in Review edition, and thereafter we’re back to tackle a new year on January 3, 2005.  Have a great holiday.

Later — Cyn
12.22.04  5:14am

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Copyright Cynthia Turner 2004

CYNOPSIS CLASSIFIEDS

JOB OPENING:  VP PUBLICITY-SCI FI CHANNEL, NY. 10+ yrs Ent &/or TV exp, consumer press & publicity. Strong industry contacts; solid relationships. Flair for bldg buzz. Apply: www.universalstudios.com/jobs keyword search #387308. EOE  (1/7)

JOB OPENING:  LIFETIME TV, NY-DIRECTOR, PARTNERSHIPS.As Sales bkgrnd. Will create and customize sponsorship packages for advertisers. Resume & cover:
. Note “Partnerships Dir” in the subject of email  (1/6)

More new Job Opening ads here on Monday, January 3rd …

SITUATION WANTED ADS, POSTED BY THOSE LOOKING TO BE HIRED —

SITUATION WANTED: MBA Candidate with specialization in Media Management is seeking full-time job opportunity. 7+ years experience in TECHNOLOGY CONSULTING – looking to transition into TVBroadcast in NYC. E-Mail:
  (12/23)

SITUATION WANTED:  Experienced SCREENWRITER/ PROMO WRITER seeking script rewriting assignment. Experience at Universal/NBC and reality TV. I can make any script a red hot rocket destined for box office glory. Email:
  (12/23)

SITUATION WANTED: BIZ DEV, STRATEGY, PLANNING & OPS EXEC, MBA + 20yrs exp, Cable/Program Distribution (VOD), Interactive Media & Consumer Electronics, seeks consulting/interim/FT assignment. NYC based. Travel OK
  (12/23)

SITUATION WANTED:  Female mktg. guru and sales person seeks freelance gig for NATPE. Will work from LA and help in LV. References and proven track record. Email me at

or cel (954) 270-1725  (12/23)

SITUATION WANTED:  15 yr+ LA Coordinating Producer relocated to DC Metro area. Available for work ASAP in DC Metro, LA or elsewhere – casting,talent relations, publicity, clearances and S&P. Email
   (12/23)

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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  DECEMBER 22, 2004:

ABC              Lost, Lost, Wife Swap
CBS              A Home for the Holidays, King of Queens, Center of the Universe, CSI: NY
FOX              That 70’s Show, Quintuplets, Nanny 911
NBC              Will & Grace, The West Wing, L&O
PAX              Doc, Sue Thomas F.B.Eye, Early Edition
UPN              Kevin Hill, Kevin Hill
WB               Smallville [r], Big Man on Campus
TELE             La Mujer en el Espejo, Gitanas, Te Voy a Ensenar a Querer
UNIV             Rubi, Amor Real, Don Francisco Presenta