Cynopsis

02/20/08

Good Morning.  It’s Wednesday, February 20, 2008, and this is your first early morning briefing.

NBC Universal’s re-jiggered upfront will encompass a series of client-centric events and an April event revealing NBC’s new 52-week primetime programming schedule (as opposed to the standard broadcast Sept-May schedule). Additionally, NBCU’s sales team will host one-on-one client meetings in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.  As for the Upfront itself scheduled in New York on May 12, NBC will have a “spotlight” event showcasing the various platforms and advertising opportunities across the entire company, not just NBC primetime.

Telemundo will also take a more client-focused approach with its upfront presentation with rounds of development meetings in major U.S. Hispanic markets starting next month.

As for the NBC Universal Cable Entertainment networks, each will continue with their scheduled upfront presentations similar to previous years.

Tonight’s Premieres:
The CW: America’s Next Top Model at 8p
SPEED: Pinks at 9p and Drag Race High at 10p

Tonight’s Finale:
SCI FI Channel: Ghost Hunters International at 9p

FOX ordered many current series, such as Bones, House, Back to You and ‘Til Death, back into production and also announced premiere dates this spring for other new series:
March 2 at 930p: Unhitched (series premiere)
March 4 & 6 at 9p: New Amsterdam (series previews)
March 10 at 8p: Canterbury’s Law (series premiere)
March 14 at 8p: The Return of Jezebel James (one-hour series premiere)
April 1 at 9p: Hell’s Kitchen (season premiere)
FOX’s 24 will also return to production for its seventh season, but the series will not premiere until January 2009 to allow the episodes to air consecutively. Other animated series, The Simpsons, American Dad and Family Guy are also back in production for future episodes.

Returning Series: the following are several series making comebacks next month:

• Little People, Big World returns to TLC for a fourth season beginning March 3 at 8p with 20 new episodes.
• MTV’s Human Giant is back for season two starting March 11 at 11p.
• TV Guide Network will debut its original series Idol Tonight March 12 at 8p hosted by Kimberly Caldwell (American Idol season two finalist), Justin Guarini (American Idol season one runner-up) and Rosanna Tavarez (Popstars winner). The series, airing live, will feature interviews with eliminated Idol contestants, industry insiders and more plus Idol Flashbacks of auditions and former contestants, Idol Worship and Where Are They Now? segments.

ION Media Networks, Inc. made a non-exclusive deal with Twentieth Television for the David E. Kelley series Boston Legal starting this fall on ION Television.

ReelzChannel secured the exclusive post-syndication cable network television rights for At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper starting February 26 at 630p. Terms of the new deal include ReelzChannel having the exclusive cable television window the week directly following the original syndicated broadcast of each episode of the movie review series which is produced by Buena Vista Productions and distributed by Disney-ABC Domestic Television.

As part of a marketing promotion, ABC wants viewers to have hankies ready for the March 2 premiere of Oprah’s Big Give at 9p preceded by a new episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at 8p. ABC and TV Guide magazine are collaborating on a marketing stunt surrounding the two shows where 150,000 subscribers in select markets will receive their February 25 issue of TV Guide polybagged with special pocket-sized tissue packets branded with ABC, Oprah’s Big Give and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

CableU, the subscription-based online service that monitors and analyzes cable networks, released its first annual CableU Report Card. This report offers an unbiased look at programming and audience trends for 30 cable networks. The most successful programming genres, according to the report, include crime, original drama, comedy, paranormal, property, wedding and makeovers (personal and home). Less successful were off-net and Pay TV acquisitions, networks not staying on target with their branding, stripped programs across the week and inconsistent scheduling.

Style Network has picked up a second season of Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane, premiering April 20th at 8p, reports THR.  Additionally, Kimora Lee Simmons will participate in Style Network’s sister network E!’s coverage of the Academy Awards, participating on the red carpet as well as in the Fashion Police special set to air the day after the Oscars.

A&E‘s Dog the Bounty Hunter will go back into production after the show was yanked from the air following Duane Chapman’s really poor choice of words used when describing his son’s African American girlfriend.  While no return date has been announced, the show is scheduled to begin production soon. 

USA Network has ordered up another season of Monk from Universal Media Studios with Mandeville Films and ABC Studios. The 7th season is scheduled to debut this May.  Also scheduled to launch this spring/summer on USA are the new series The Starter Wife and In Plain Sight as well as new seasons of Psyche, Burn Notice and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Starting March 17, Mel B (Melanie Brown) will become part of the Access Hollywood team as a guest correspondent to cover the new season of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars.

CYNOPSIS DIGITAL – TODAY’S TOP STORY:   NBC Digital Entertainment announced plans to begin streaming full episodes of vintage TV shows this month for free on NBC.com and select NBC Cable Entertainment sites. Included among the classics, look for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Night Gallery on NBC.com, the original Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers on SciFi.com, Swamp Thing and Crow on ChillerTV.com and Kojak and Miami Vice on SleuthChannel.com.   Full edition: CYN DIGITAL. (Or to listen to the Cynopsis Digital Podcast click here or subscribe to it at iTunes here .)

CYNOPSIS KIDS – TODAY’S TOP STORY :    Disney Online forms Disney Online Studios, which will focus its energies on creating, operating and publishing kid and family-targeted virtual worlds, online communities and games. Disney also unveiled Pixie Hollow, a virtual online world that stems from its Disney Fairies franchise, the first phase of which launches later this year.  Headed by Steve Parkis, who is upped to SVP, the Disney Online Studios team will include creators of Disney.com XD and Disney Online’s Virtual Reality Studio (they created Toontown.com and Piratesonline.com), while Mike Goslin, VP/Virtual Worlds will oversee development of virtual worlds and communities.  Additionally, the new unit, which will publish both internal and externally developed projects, will look to expand its development, community, operations and publishing teams. Full edition: CYN KIDS.

CYNOPSIS INTERNATIONAL – TODAY’S TOP STORY:  The final phase of China Central Television‘s 3-project rollout in Cuba occurred this past Sunday as the Chinese state network launched three channels, CCTV Channel 4, CCTV Channel 9, and CCTV-E.  The project began in November 2004, bringing the channels to hotel rooms, health centers, educational facilities, and more.  As part of Chinese/Cuban bilateral agreement, Cuban television shows are now airing in sixteen Chinese provinces.  Full edition: CYN INTERNATIONAL. 

Monday – A18-49 Analysis:  NBC continued its Monday night winning streak with 3.8/10 A18-49, according to fast affiliate ratings from Nielsen Media Research. NBC’s Deal or No Deal decisively won at 8p with a 5.2/13, while the Prison Break finale on FOX was next at 3.1/8. The CBS comedies Two and a Half Men and Old Christine averaged a winning 3.6/9 at 9p, which was just a hair ahead of the series debut of NBC’s My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad with a 3.5/9. Also this hour, The CW premiered the next installment of Pussycat Dolls at 0.9/2, ranking sixth overall. Then at 10p, NBC’s Medium squeezed into first place at 2.8/7 ahead of CBS’ CSI: Miami repeat at 2.7/7.
 
Live + Same Day Household Ratings: Monday, February 18, 2008 (February Sweep Day 19) – time period averages. Source: Nielsen Media Research

NBC: 7.0/11       Deal or No Deal 10.0/15, My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad [p] 5.4/8, Medium 5.7/10

CBS: 5.6/9          How I Met Your Mother [r] 3.8/6, Welcome to the Captain 3.4/5, Two and a Half Men [r] 7.7/12, New Adventures of Old Christine 6.1/9, CSI: Miami [r] 6.3/11

ABC: 5.1/8          Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann [2-hour f] 6.2/9, October Road 3.1/5

FOX: 4.8/7          Prison Break [f] 4.6/7, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles 4.9/7

UNIV: 2.1/3        Al Diablo con los Guapos 2.5/4, Pasion 1.9/3, Cristina 1.8/3

CW: 1.1/2          Gossip Girl [r] 0.9/1, Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious [p] 1.3/2

TELE: 0.7/1        La Traicion 0.6/1, Victoria 0.9/1, Pecados Ajenos 0.6/1

A18-49: NBC 3.8/10, FOX 3.1/8, CBS 2.8/7, ABC 2.1/5, UNIV 1.8/5, CW 0.7/2, TELE 0.4/1

National Geographic Global Media recruited Charles Regan as VP/Digital Mapping Strategy, Development and Extended Platforms. Charles will be charged with expanding National Geographic’s digital mapping business and leveraging new and existing content, products and services on a variety of platforms.

Exiting Tribune Broadcasting owned KTLA/Los Angeles is VP/GM Vinnie Malcolm, and stepping in as interim GM is John Vitanovec until a permanent replacement has been named.  Malcolm had been GM at the station since 2004.  Just a couple of weeks ago, Tribune named Ed Wilson President of the station group.

NBC Universal advanced three executives in its Digital Distribution unit:

• Jennifer Boudreaux to VP/Sales Business Development where she works with the TV Networks Distribution team to negotiate content license agreements for digital platforms with cable, satellite and telco distributors in the U.S. and Canada. She will continue to report to Ron Lamprecht, SVP/Sales Business Development.
• Chip Canter as VP/Wireless Platform Development will handle NBCU’s wireless content and product strategy and has recently been involved with launching 12 mobile video channels and more than 60 mobile websites  that cover NBC, NBC News, NBC Sports, USA Network, SCI FI Channel, Bravo, Telemundo, Mun2, CNBC, MSNBC and Access Hollywood. He will continue to report to Salil Dalvi, GM/Wireless Platform Development.
• Michael Schreiber to VP/Sales Business Development will lead the implementation of new distribution agreements for NBCU content with online, wireless and emerging technology partners. He will also continue to report to Ron Lamprecht.

Brett Goodman was promoted to SVP/Strategic Partnerships and Business Affairs with NBC Universal Sports and Olympics. Brett will still manage business affairs for NBC Sports and Olympics and will supervise strategic partnerships for the Olympic division as well as work with athletes and agents to ensure consistency with NBC’s Olympic marketing plans. He will continue to report to Ken Schanzer, President/NBC Sports regarding business affairs and Gary Zenkel, President/NBC Olympics and EVP/Strategic Partnerships, NBC Sports on Olympic business. 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CITYMEALS-ON-WHEELS

This day in History:  1872 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened in New York City.

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:  This 1950’s TV commercial showed an animated bear dancing around a lake. The slogan was “From the land of sky blue waters.” What brand of beer was this ad for?   HAMM’S BEER    Kudos to:  Bob Brewer-Opus 3 Artists/NY; Mark Krause-WXMI/Grand Rapids, MI; David Browning-Zen Cowboy, Inc./Montebello, NY; Damon Weiss-TV Guide/NY; Jim Roche-Weigel Broadcasting/Chicago; Kevin Schmidt-National Cable Communications/Chicago; Kathryn Kieser-Haworth Marketing and Media/Minneapolis; Paul Spurlock-WVLA/Baton Rouge, LA; Cara Good-WunderMarx/Tustin, CA; Robb Gray, Jr.–Apex Media/Tucson; Susan Chalfant-FOX Interactive Media/LA; Bonnie Myers Teed-Stevens McKissick/Portland, OR; David Brunner-AGB Nielsen Media Research/Lugano, Switzerland; Jack Krayson- SCTV/Toronto

Today’s Trivia Question:  Susie Mc Namara was the secretary of Peter Sands on what TV show?   (
with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. 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
02.20.08

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JOB OPENING: S&P & RIGHTS CLEARANCES MGR/PBS Sprout/PHILA: Knwldg of and/or exp w/legal or acquisitions & clearance procedures. Exp. w/children and/or cable prgrmng ind. BS/BA pref. legal/acquisitions. Apply: www.comcast.com   (2/27)

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JOB OPENING: SR SYSTEM ANALYST: Act as Sales liaison for sys reqments, issues & support, EDI, troubleshoot, train, test, proj mgmt, EDI coord, & wk w Donovan for VAN (Value Added Ntwrk). Apply: www.disneycareers.com Req 135147 EOE (2/22)

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JOB OPENING: SALES PLNR/DIRECTV/NY: This position supports our AD Sales Group with their sales efforts and manages accounts on a day-to-day basis. For immediate consideration, please send resume to:
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WINTER AND SPRING INTERNSHIPS – These positions are for credit only – nobody gets paid here. They are posted for free, and students work for school credit only. For more information on the specs for posting an Internship ad, email Trish at
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/ www.markmarraccini.com (2/21) 

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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT – Wednesday, February 20, 2008

ABC: Wife Swap, Supernanny, Cashmere Mafia
CBS: Big Brother 9, Criminal Minds [r], CSI: NY [r]
CW: America’s Next Top Model [p ], Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious [r]
FOX: American Idol
ION: Mama’s Family, Mama’s Family, Drew Carey Show, Drew Carey Show, Drew Carey Show, Drew Carey Show
MNT: Whacked Out Videos, Whacked Out Videos [r], Masters of Illusion: Impossible Magic
NBC: Deal or No Deal , Law & Order: CI [r], Law & Order
PBS: America’s Ballroom Challenge, Great Performances
TELE: La Traicion, Victoria, Pecados Ajenos
UNIV: Al Diablo con los Guapos, Pasion, Don Francisco Presenta

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