Source: NTI, Galaxy Explorer, 9/24/04-2/11/05. TP= 2/11/05 8-8:30pm. US Rating. Ties NBC w/Men 18-34.  Season highs claim based on Wmn & Adlt 18-34 & 12-34. 

CYNTHIA TURNER’S
Cynopsis

02/16/05

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, February 16, 2005, and this is your first early morning briefing.

CBS and NBC tied on Monday night in the A18-49 demo, each posting a 5.1/13 for the night according to the final numbers from Nielsen Media Research.  Fox was #2 with a 4.1/10, followed by ABC 3.1/9, WB 1.7/4, UPN 1.4/4.  At 8pm Fear Factor led with a 4.6/12, while ABC and CBS duked it out for #2 with ABC’s 3.1/8 for Extreme Makeover: Family Reunion, and CBS’ sitcoms Still Standing (2.8/8)and Listen Up (2.7/7). Cuts made its season premiere on UPN and delivered a 1.3/3, holding 75% of its A18-49 lead-in.  Among the younger set, Cuts held 100% of its lead-in with P12-17 (2.2/7), P12-34 (1.7/5), and female teens (3.0/9).  At 9p, CBS was in front with Raymond‘s 5.4/13 and 2-1/2 Men‘s 5.6/13, both just a share point in front of Fox’s 24 (4.9/12). CSI Miami handily owned the 10p hour with a 6.9/18, though Medium on NBC held its own with a 5.9/15, ABC followed at 3.7/10 for Supernanny.

ABC‘s premiere of its new drama series Eyes (Warner Bros. TV/McNamara Paper Products) starring Tim Daly has changed its launch date by sliding it up two weeks to Wednesday, March 30 at 10p. Wife Swap comes off the schedule at that point.

Casting / Development / Production:

• AMC goes into production this quarter on a new interview series called The Suite, with host Dave Karger. The show spotlights upcoming film releases with group cast interviews, and was created and produced by Karger, along with Tomy Crudup and Julie Yaeger.
• NBC has ordered a comedy pilot from the king of drama, Dick Wolf. The project from NBC Universal and Wolf Films is set in a diner in Boston’s North End, owned by an Italian family and catering to the neighborhood’s old-times and trendy new-timers.  James Burrows is on board to direct, and Dave Flebotte will write the pilot.
• Fox has ordered two comedy pilots – the first is untitled, described as Barney Miller meets NewsRadio, set in a police station in NYC’s Times Square, from Josh Weinstein and Bill Oakley and NBC Universal TV/Broadway Video TV Prod.  The second is called Don’t Ask (20th/Phase Two Prods) about a young teenager who’s father leaves his mother, for another man.
• Ed Begley Jr. has joined the lineup of WB‘s comedy pilot True (Warner Bros. TV) which also stars Anne Heche, in the role of Heche’s father.
• WB has also cast two in its pilot drama Supernatural (Warner Bros. TV/Wonderland Sound and Vision) – Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, as the two brothers who go looking for weird, bizarre and supernatural.
• Fox‘s drama pilot Amy Coyne (20th) about a woman who inherits her father’s company following his death, has cast Ashley Williams as Amy.
• Ivan Sergei will head the cast of UPN‘s drama pilot Triangle (Paramount Network TV/Shore View Ent) about a young doctor and apparent widower who chooses to live in the same Caribbean locale where his wife disappeared on their honeymoon.
• Alanna Ubach and Reg Rogers will join Peri Gilpin and Larry Miller in the NBC comedy pilot Uncommon Sense (NBC Universal/Sony Pictures TV).
• ABC‘s What About Brian? (Touchstone TV/Bad Robot) has added Raoul Bova as another of Brian’s friends.  He joins Amanda Detmar who was cast last week.

If you find you’re not in front of a television set, but rather a computer terminal, on the evening Fat Actress debuts on Showtime – no fear, you can watch it on your PC, courtesy of Yahoo!.  The Brenda Hampton comedy kicks off on March 7 at 10p, and Yahoo! will make it available via streaming video, simultaneously with the broadcast.  Yahoo! will offer the show free to every- and anyone, thru March 12, as well as promote it beginning two weeks out. Set your bookmarks now:  http://tv.yahoo.com .

20th has found clearances for its new offering, The Suze Orman Show, in the top three markets, although neither 20th nor the station’s purportedly clearing the show have confirmed the clearances, with the exception of NY’s WCBS.  KNBC and WMAQ have reportedly picked up the show in LA and Chicago, respectively. No time periods have been suggested.

A young fighter on NBC’s The Contender, Najai Turpin, age 23, committed suicide last Monday morning, as he was parked outside the James Shuler Memorial Gym in Philadelphia where he trained.  He leaves behind his girlfriend and their two year old daughter.  The episode(s) feature Turpin have long been taped and in the can, and the show will premiere on schedule, March 7 on NBC (930-11p preview). Mark Burnett characterized Turpin in a statement as a “great fighter with tremendous heart and courage.”  Burnett went on to say “The episode in which he was most depicted will stand as a wonderful testament to who he was. It will not be changed.”  An on-screen tribute to Turpin will be included in the episode.

And by the by, CNBC will repurpose The Contender starting on Tuesday, March 8.  The show will air weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays at 8p and 11p.

Coming to PBS next fall is a new series called Legends of the Jazz, a weekly series hosted by Ramsey Lewis and featuring interviews with the who’s who in jazz music of the day. Each ep focuses on a single musician, instrument or style of jazz.  PBS will air a special introduction to the series called The NEA Jazz Masters airing this June, featuring five past and current recipients of the National Endowments for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowships. 

Discovery’s Science Channel will launch a new series on April 22 called Hot Rocks: The Geology of Civilization where holiday travel meets ancient history. With host Iain Stewart, the six part series takes viewers up, down and across the rocks that shaped the past and will determine the future. 
 
Top Ten Basic Cable Ad Supported Network Rankings among Total Viewers for the week of February 7-13, 2005:
Primetime       (000)   Total Pgm Day   (000)
ESPN             2410     NICK              1968
TNT              2283     NAN*              1505
CARTOON 1981     CARTOON 1417
USA              1962     TNT               1376
NAN              1930     LIFETIME         1102
COMEDY  1768     USA               1052
LIFETIME         1755    TBS               955
TBS              1582     ESPN              835
FOXNEWS 1491     FOXNEWS 815
SPIKE            1455     COMEDY  803
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 February 7-13, 2005:
Primetime       (000)   Total Pgm Day   (000)
ESPN             1139     TNT               751
TNT              1102     NAN*              610
COMEDY  1031     TBS               560
TBS              920      LIFETIME         525
USA              873      USA               509
LIFETIME         749     COMEDY   499
SPIKE            744      ESPN              472
SCIFI            651      NICK              464
DISCOVERY        585     SPIKE             387
FX               571      CARTOON 382
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)

Correction :  Hallmark Channel has acquired the basic cable rights to Judging AMY (distributed by Twentieth Television) and will begin airing eps on February 28 with the first five seasons airing M-F.  (Yesterday’s edition mis-identified the show.)

The Nesvig family, who lost their son/brother Tim, 30,  to lymphoma last week, has scheduled a memorial service in New York on Monday, February 28, 4:30PM, at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 West 64th Street, New York.  As previously mentioned, donations in Tim’s memory can be made to the Tim Nesvig Fellowship for Lymphoma Research, City of Hope Cancer Center, c/o Kathleen Kane, 1055 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1200, Los Angeles, CA 90017. 

Marvin O. Davis has been named SVP/Marketing at Comcast Corporation. He will be responsible for developing and implementing comprehensive integrated marketing, sales and branding strategies for the company’s video, data and voice services. Marvin reports to Dave Watson, EVP/Operations for Comcast Cable.

Turner Media Group, Inc. – a privately held Denver based media company with interests in cable, satellite, broadcast and interactive TV – has named Jodie McAfee VP/Business Development. Jodie will focus on the corporate development of client relationships for Turner Media Group’s operating divisions.

Pat Mitchell, Pres/CEO of PBS announced to staff yesterday in an email that she’ll be leaving her post when her contract expires next year, June 2006.

UPN has named Jeff Morritt its new VP/Advertising and Promotion, reporting to Ron Scalera, EVP/Creative Director, CBS Marketing Group. Jeff will oversee the creative direction of all on-air promos, as well as radio, print and outdoor advertising campaigns, and in-house presentations.  Additionally, he will run the day-to-day operation of the UPN on-air promo department working with the creative directors and programming executives in the creation of launch campaigns and on-going episodic promotions.

Brian Offutt has been named SVP/Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products.  Brian will be based in LA where he will oversee Paramount properties and work with the studio team at Paramount in developing and implementing a long-term strategy for movie licensing and merchandising.  His responsibilities include licensing upcoming motion pictures, including War of the Worlds, as well as the company’s TV and movie library.  Brian reports to Leigh Anne Brodsky, President/Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products. 

Court TV: The Investigation Channel has upped two in its Operations Department:  Rob Pumo has been promoted to SVP/Broadcast and Technical Operations Group; and and Michael Luzzi has been upped to VP/Operations.  Rob played a key role in successfully integrating all of Court TV’s technical departments – Operations, Office Services, IT, and Engineering. Under his leadership, the Operations group has rebuilt key technical areas while providing the network with the technical support to run Court TV’s mix of live and taped programming. Michael will now oversee the day-to-day ops of the network including overseeing the post production facility and the staff production studio facilities.

Monday, February 14, 2005. Fast Affiliate Ratings for all Networks – time period averages.  Source: Nielsen Media Research.  [p] = Premiere; [r] = Repeat

CBS     9.9/15   Still Standing 6.4/10, Listen Up 6.2/9, Raymond 11.2/17, 2-1/2 Men 10.5/16, CSI: Miami 12.6/20

NBC     7.8/12   Fear Factor 6.4/10, Las Vegas 7.6/11, Medium 9.4/15

ABC     6.0/9    EM:Family Reunion 5.7/9, The Bachelorette 5.8/9, Supernanny 6.5/10

FOX     5.7/9    Trading Spouses 4.7/7, 24 6.8/10

WB      3.2/5    7th Heaven 3.5/6, Everwood 2.9/4

UPN     2.4/4    One on One 2.4/4, Cuts [p] 2.4/4, Girlfriends 2.5/4, Half and Half 2.3/3

A18-49  CBS and NBC 5.1/13, Fox 4.1/10, ABC 3.1/9, WB 1.7/4, UPN 1.4/4

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1972 – In basketball, Wilt Chamberlain scores his 30,000th point.
 
Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:  Who am I?  I’m a college grad, and today I wear a uniform.  I met my wife during an interview and married her a month later. She already had three daughters.  I like to play chess and take piano lessons.  After my day job, I wear another uniform and moonlight  at a gas station.  Who am I?  MAJOR JOHN MacGILLIS – aka MAJOR DAD.  Kudos to:  Liz Weast-Carat USA/Atlanta; Synda Kollman-NBC/NY; Dan Whitford-RPA/Chicago; Rose Pacatte-Pauline Center for Media Studies/Culver City; and Paul Gendreau-PGPR/Studio City.

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

Today’s Trivia Question:   Kiri-kin-tha’s First law of Metaphysics states “Nothing unreal exists.”  Says who? (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.)

Later — Cyn
02.16.05  5:26am

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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT: FEBRUARY 16, 2005:  February sweep 2/3/05 – 3/2/05

ABC              Lost, Alias, Wife Swap
CBS              60 Minutes, King of Queens, Yes Dear, CSI: NY
FOX              That 70’s Show, The Simple Life, American Idol
NBC              Medium, The West Wing, Law & Order
PAX              Doc, Sue Thomas F.B.Eye, Early Edition
UPN              Road to Stardom, Kevin Hill
WB               Smallville, Jack & Bobby
TELE             La Mujer en el Espejo, Gitanas, Te Voy a Ensenar a Querer
UNIV             Rubi, Amor Real, Don Francisco Presenta