CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

02/04/04

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, February 4, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing. 

CBS may have tied Fox on Monday night in households, but it was Fox who won with distinction the A18-49 demo according to Nielsen Media Research.  Fox’s 8.6/20 dominated the night over CBS and NBC’s 5.6/13, as well as ABC 2.9/7, WB 1.3/3, UPN 1.1/3.  At 8pm Fox’s American Idol Road to Hollywood posted a 9.7/24 among A18-49 (11.8/31 among W18-34), nine share points ahead of NBC’s Fear Factor (5.9/15); CBS managed a 3.7/9 for its pair of sitcoms, WB a 3 share; UPN a 2.  At 9p Fox continued its lead position with Obnoxious Fiance’s 7.5/17, up four share points over CBS’s Raymond/Two & a Half Men combo (5.3/13).  NBC drew a 5.4/12 for Las Vegas, WB a 1.6/4 for Everwood and UPN a 1.2/3 for its sitcom pair.  At 10p CBS’ CSI Miami jumped ahead with a 7.3/18, followed by NBC’s Average Joe 5.5/13.  Russell Crowe’s The Gladiator averaged a 2.9/7 for the night.

Assuring their affiliate body the Grammys won’t feature any inappropriate audio or visual, CBS will institute a delay long enough to allow for audio and video and editing.  The traditional 5-second delay would only permit an audio bleep in the event of offensive language.  The actual length of the delay has not yet been determined. The 46th Annual Grammy Awards air on Sunday night 8-1130p and as of the moment, both Jackson and Timberlake are scheduled to participate.

Meanwhile ABC is talking with AMPAS, the Oscar folks, one of the few live productions that has never been aired on a delay, about using a 5-second delay in that broadcast.  AMPAS prefers not to, but says it will not oppose ABC’s decision.  What AMPAS is most concerned about is a delay that would enable the network to cut acceptance speeches or otherwise censor the event. The Academy does not oppose the network having the ability to drop audio or video for a single word or brief exposure of some sort.

Elsewhere at the AMPAS, the Board of Governors has decided to expel actor Carmine Caridi from the Academy for sharing screeners that later showed up on the internet.  This is the first time the Academy has expelled a member for piracy; previous expulsions have usually been the result of selling or giving away their Oscar seats.

They’ve been at it since September, and after auditioning more than 10,000 sports wannabes, ESPN has culled its the group of Dream Job finalists down to just 12: Chet Anekwe, (Jersey City, NJ), Mike Hall (Columbia, MO), Maggie Haskins (Providence, RI), Aaron Levine (Palo Alto, CA), Kelly Milligan (Plano, TX), Michael Quigley (Landsdowne, PA), Casey Stern (Bellmore, NY), Lori Rubinson (Suffern, NY), Nick Stevens (Braintree, MA), Zachariah Selwyn (Los Angeles), Alvin Williams (Montgomery, AL) and Christopher Williams (Boston, MA).  ESPN will begin the 6-ep process of chopping this list down to a single finalist beginning on Sunday, February 22 at 10p.  The final two hour finale airs on March 28 at 9pm.  Winner gets a one year contract with ESPN as a SportsCenter anchor.

In Development:

• WB has picked up Marriage 101 for pilot from Brillstein Grey/20th that takes a close up view of newlyweds and their first few months of marriage. Boyce Bugliari, Jamie McLaughlin and Peter Traugott are exec prods.
• CBS has ordered a pilot of Cooking Lessons (Tannenbaum Co/Warner Bros. TV) about a female newspaper food critic, based on the book by Amanda Hesser, Cooking for Mr. Latte: A Food Lover’s Courtship.
• NBC has ordered 13 episodes of City of Dreams (Jerry Bruckheimer Prods/Warner Bros. TV) for next season, starring Jimmy Smits as a private detective to LA’s upper crust, according to BaselineFT.com,

 
Casting Notes:

• Heather Locklear is back on board for HUB (Mark Gordon/NBC Studios), the NBC drama project in development that is centered in a major international airport. Blair Underwood is alto attached.
• Sarah Wynter will join the cast of USA’s Dead Zone for a 6-ep stint playing a therapist, Rebecca Caldwell.

Coming to PAX TV in March is that phenomenon called Speed Dating.  You’ve heard of this — group of men and women, split into couples and have just a few minutes with each other before moving on to the next person.  The idea is determining if there is any future at all, based entirely on first impressions and the amount of information a person is revealing about themselves in the first several minutes.  The Pax show will begin with 8 couples, the first round they have 8 minutes and each succeeding round the time frame gets shorter.  Out of the group, the pair considered to be most compatible based on their score cards of each other, will go on a real date – dinner, nice restaurant.  Produced by En Bea Prods, the show is slated for a March start.

Top Ten Basic Cable Ad Supported Network Rankings among Total Viewers for the week of Jan 26-Feb 2, 2004:
Primetime        (000)     Total Day            (000)
TNT                   2535      NICK/NAN            1885
USA                   2402      TNT                      1384
NICK/NAN          2337      CARTOON          1166
LIFETIME           1831      LIFETIME             1102
TBS                   1762       USA                     1058
CARTOON        1503      TBS                      1050
DISCOVERY     3438      FOXNEWS             783
FOX NEWS       1302      HISTORY               721
SCIFI           1404    MTV                        733
A&E                   1299      A&E                        710
MTV                    1261          TLC                    710
Source  Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research Data.
All ratings based on Total U.S. Television Universe of 108,400,000 homes

Top Ten Basic Cable Ad Supported Network Rankings among A18-49 for the week of Jan 26-Feb 2, 2004:
Primetime        (000)     Total Day           (000)
TNT                   1155     TNT                     720
USA                   1058     TBS                     600
TBS                     868     NICK/NAN            564
MTV                     782      USA                     517
LIFETIME             732      LIFETIME            496
DISCOVERY       711      TLC                     405
TLC                      699      MTV                    359
NICK/NAN            610      ESPN                  355
SPIKE                  607      DISCOVERY      354
SCIFI                    581      FX                       351
Source  Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research Data.
All ratings based on Total U.S. Television Universe of 108,400,000 homes.

News Viewer Index for the week of Jan 26-Feb 2, 2004 in Total Viewers
Total Day Total Fox News/CNN/MSNBC/Headline Cable News Viewers  1.667 (000) Total Viewers. (-4% vs. previous week). Of the cable news viewership, Fox News had 47% of the viewing, CNN 27%, MSNBC 15%; and Headline News 11%
Primetime Total Fox News/CNN/MSNBC/Headline Cable News Viewers  2.659 (0000) Total Viewers (-19% vs. previous week). Of the primetime cable news viewership, Fox News had 46%, CNN 28%, MSNBC 13% and Headline News 6%.
Source Nielsen Media Research

You may remember the old show Queen for a Day wherein women stood before an audience and delivered their tales of woe as to why they should be given a break and made Queen for a Day.  The audience voted (applause meter!) and one of the women became Queen for a Day, complete with throne, crown, and often a washer dryer set.  Lifetime cable net is taking this old format and turning it upside down for an OTO special – Queen for a Day.  Only this time, they will scour the nation to hear stories of wonder and day to day goodness as women’s friends, colleagues and family nominate them to become Queen based on their different achievements.  The one hour special is scheduled for some time in June.

After launching in the UK, Europe and Asia in the coming months, the all new Wine Network TV comes to the US in the fall of 2004. The unveiling of the net will occur at MIP-TV in late April, by Patrick Brunet and Lorie Kim, Co-Founders and President, EVP respectively.  For more info, check out  www.winenetwork.tv.

NBC is planning an ER episode to air during the Feb Sweeps wherein an elderly woman’s breasts are fully exposed, according to Broadcasting & Cable.  NBC showed the segment to members of the NBC Affiliate Advisory Board last month in Las Vegas and after last Sunday’s peep show, many affiliates are understandably wary of showing the scene.  The jury is still out as to what the network will do and for that matter its affiliates, though John Wells, exec prod of the series, is reportedly firm in his decision that he will not cut the scene.

Maria Shriver and NBC News have parted ways. After her husband became the Governor of California, Shriver planned on returning to job as a journalist for NBC News. In her statement she says that while she believes she can be a non-biased journalist, the appearance of a conflict of interest because of her additional role of being First Lady of California has made her decide to step down.

The recently released movie Monster starring Charlize Theron is based on the life of Aileen Wuornos, a convicted serial killer who was first convicted in a Florida courtroom in for the murder of Richard Mallory.  This Thurs & Fri, Court TV will re-air the trial they taped back in 1992 during their daytime trial coverage from 9a-5p.  Additional coverage will be included in Catherine Crier Live (5-6p) on both days.

Cable Network Distribution notes according to Nielsen Media Research Universe Estimates: 
Fine Living and DIY Network, both from Scripps, have announced new carriage numbers –  Fine Living has topped 20 million homes (+54% vs. last year), and DIY is now available in 25 million households (+93% vs. last year).
Outdoor Life Network has also announced a new total carriage number as it exceeded the 58 million mark with the addition of 7.8 million new households as of February 1.

Alice Cahn has been named VP/Development for Cartoon Network’s kids businesses, focusing on original entertainment programming for children ages 4-7. The announcement was made by Bob Higgins, SVP/Programming and Development, Cartoon Network.  In her new role, Alice will be responsible for cultivating a variety of new original series and specials that will appeal to the network’s younger viewers.  She will be based in NY.

While JJ Abrams reups his production company at Touchstone for several more years, he also picks up Thom Sherman along for the ride. Sherman was ABC’s SVP/Drama, and has now been named President/Bad Robot Television, Abrams’ prod co.

Tom Bernadin is leaving his CEO post at Lowe & Partners to become CEO/Leo Burnett US and President of Worldwide Operations of Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett Worldwide. Tom will be #2 to Linda Wolf, Chairwoman/CEO, and is expected to move into his new position within the next week or so.  He is also expected to succeed Wolf to Chairman/CEO some time in the next 12-18 months.

Monday, February 2, 2004. Fast Affiliate 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

CBS     10.9/16 Yes Dear 7.7/12, Still Standing 8.0/12, Raymond 9.6/14, Two and a Half Men 9.6/14, CSI: Miami 13.2/21

FOX     10.9/16 American Idol: Road to Hollywood (OTO) 12.2/18, My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance 9.6/14

NBC     7.7/11  Fear Factor 7.9/12, Las Vegas 7.9/11, Average Joe Hawaii 7.2/11

ABC     5.3/8   ABC Movie: Gladiator 5.3/8

WB      2.8/4   7th Heaven [r] 2.4/3, Everwood 3.2/5

UPN     2.0/3   The Parkers [r] 1.9/3, Eve [r] 1.9/3, Girlfriends [r] 2.1/3, Half and Half [r] 2.0/3

A18-49  Fox 8.6/20, CBS and NBC 5.6/13, ABC 2.9/7, WB 1.3/3, UPN 1.1/3

A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE TELEVISION

Source: NTI Explorer, 9/22/03-2/1/04.  US Rating.  Based on HH and total viewers.

The History Channel presents This Day in History: 
1913 – Birthday of Rosa Parks, (1913), Ida Lupino (1914), and Betty Friedan.

Answer to yesterday’s Trivia Question: Whose safe had this combination:  35-Right, 81-Right, 64-Left, 63-Left, 29-Left, 13-Right, 16-Left, 22-Left.  GOMEZ ADDAMS.  Kudos to:  Sean Jones-NCC/Atlanta; Ed Flowers-WUPA/Atlanta; Michael Grueter-Empower MediaMarketing/Cincinnati; Amanda Walker-CNN Ad Sales/Atlanta; Marge Pistulka-Empower MediaMarketing/Chicago; Doug Vander Hoek-KYOU/Ottumwa; Bart Sciarabba-NCC/Chicago; Sharon Levi-Anaheim Hills; Frank Hagan-Termite Art Prods/LA; Brian Dozer-KING/Seattle; Stan Justice-Litton Syndication/Manhattan Beach.

Today’s Trivia Question:  Whose mansion is located at 380 S. San Rafael Avenue in Pasadena? (
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.)

Later — Cyn

Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis
02/04/04  5:24am
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2004

COURT TV:       The Take: The Gang That Couldn’t Spend Straight, Forensic Files, North Mission Road, Dominick Dunne
ABC             My Wife & Kids, The Bachelorette (90m), Celebrity Mole: Yucatan
CBS             60 Minutes II, Hallmark Hall of Fame: The Blackwater Lightship
FOX             That 70’s Show, American Idol, Oliver Beane
NBC             The Apprentice [r], West Wing, Law & Order
PAX             AFV, Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             Enterprise, Top Model [r]
WB              Smallville, Angel
TELE            Amor Descardo, El Alma Herida, Mujeres Apasionadas
UNIV            Velo de Novia, Te Amare en Silencio, Don Francisco Presenta