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CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION
ALL OF US: OFF AND RUNNING ON UPN MONDAY! STRONG DOUBLE-DIGIT GAINS VS. LAST SEASON: ALL OF US CYNTHIA TURNER’S
Good morning. It’s Wednesday, September 21, 2005, and this is your first early morning briefing. WPT Enterprises, the owner of the World Poker Tour, has filed suit in the LA Superior Court against The Travel Channel and its owner Discovery Communications, alleging breach of contract and intentional interference. The papers outline the agreement between WPT and The Travel Channel, whereby the latter would have first dibs and last refusal rights to any new projects developed by WPT, to be negotiated inside an exclusive 60-day window. The plaintiff contends Professional Poker Tour was presented to Travel Channel, and that no definitive agreement was made inside the exclusive window. After shopping the project to other networks, ESPN expressed an interest. Once that happened, it triggered Travel’s last refusal rights, available for an exclusive 15 day period. According to WPT’s legal papers, Travel Channel sent letters to both WPT and ESPN threatening legal action, because Travel Channel believed it had already sewn up the rights to this show. The complaint alleges those letters from Travel where not only “disparaging” to WPT, but also hindered its ability to finalize any business dealings with ESPN. The suit is seeking unspecified damages. ABC’s Extreme Makeover is also mired in a legal drama with a woman who was considered and subsequently dropped from the show. According to Hollywood Reporter, Texas native Deleese Williams says producers raised her hopes and dreams to have the makeover, but just hours before her surgery notified her they would not be proceeding with her makeover. According to the suit, one of the surgeries (there are always many on this show) included breaking and then resetting her jawbone before the dental work could be done properly, a procedure with a very long recover period. The suit contends the plaintiff’s friends and family were encouraged to make disparaging remarks about her appearance and she was required to remember and relive heartaches connected to her looks, all as part of the show’s prelude to her makeover. The plaintiff also blames ABC and the show for her sister’s suicide, which occurred four months after Williams returned home. The papers claim the sister felt guilty about the comments she was encouraged to make about her sister’s appearance, and that drove her to suicide. ABC and the show have responded by saying all potential participants in the show understand it is possible they will not go forward with their surgeries, and that each are dealt with in the most considerate way possible throughout the process. Continuing with the official start of the new season, here are a few starts and stops for tonight’s viewing: Tonight’s Finales: Tonight’s Premieres: * MORE GOOD STUFF *ABC Family has picked up the cable rights to WB’s off-net series Everwood (distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distrib), with 89 episodes which includes three seasons as well as the upcoming fourth season. Price for the package according to Variety is pegged at approx $350,000 per ep. Everwood will debut on ABC Family next fall. At the same time, the network has picked up a movie package from WBDCD of 21 titles, including Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The American President, Scooby-Doo and Practical Magic. E!’s Live From the Red Carpet preshow on Sunday from 6-8p, pulled in 3.8 million total viewers, up 21% over last year. The total audience numbers for E! Countdown, Live from the Red Carpet and the post show was 5.1 million. MTV has scheduled the premiere of its new hip hop reality sitcom Run’s House on October 13 at 1030p. Run’s House follows the current life and times of hip hop’s Rev Run who is releasing his first solo album, and raising five children with his wife Justine. Also, MTV has scheduled the premiere of Making the Band 3 for Thursday, October 6 at 10p. HBO‘s Comeback featuring Lisa Kudrow will not be returning for a second season. The show debuted last June with 1.5 million viewers, and finished up with its finale in early September with 920,000 viewers. Top Ten Basic Cable Ad Supported Network Rankings among Total Viewers for the week of 9/12-18, 2005: Top Ten Basic Cable Ad Supported Network Rankings among A18-49 for the week of 9/12-18, 2005: Top 10 Cable Programs among A18-49 (000) for the week of 9/5-11, 2005 Top 10 Broadcast Programs among A18-49 (000) for the week of September 12-18, 2005 * NEW ORDERS / CASTING / DEVELOPMENT / PRODUCTION *Fox is taking another look at a project from 20th and New Wave Entertainment called 101 Ocean, per Variety. The premise may sound familiar, because this project was up for consideration in the last go-around: An upscale apartment building, filled with men in the midst of or just following a divorce, in a sort of guy-centric prime soap a la Desperate Housewives. Also from Variety, news that NBC is taking a look at turning the film Friday Night Lights (Universal) in a regular weekly series. The film was directed and co-penned by Peter Berg, who is on board for the pilot project as well. The pilot will be produced by NBC Universal Television and Imagine Television. This project is reportedly on the fast track for a potential Fall 2006 primetime berth on the network, which, coincidentally, is right around the same time NFL Football returns to NBC. Casting Note: This one is for all you Pop Culture Trivia Buffs! Are you a media know-it-all? Are the tabloids your bedside reading material? Do you pass the Entertainment Weekly quizzes with flying colors? Then we want YOU! The producer of Who Wants to be a Millionaire is currently casting teams of 3 for a cable pilot called The World Series of Pop Culture. A large cash prize is up for grabs. Must be in the Tri-State area, over the age of 18, and available part time during the weeks of September 26, October 3, and October 10, as well as all day Saturday, October 15. E-mail popculturevulture @gmail.com and tell them why you and your team should compete. * EXECUTIVE MOVES *Turner Network Sales has upped Laura Sconyers to Account Manager/Canadian Sales and Marketing, based in Atlanta and reporting to Matt Tolleson, VP. Laura is charged with the distribution, marketing and promotion of the Turner networksCNN, Headline News and TBSthroughout the Canadian region. The HorseTV Channel announced today that Craig MacEachern has been named SVP/Production, and Mitch Miller VP/Sponsorship and Sales. Craig will oversee all original production for the network; Mitch will secure advertisers and sponsors . Sandra Stern has been named EVP/COO of Lions Gate Television, which is the television production and distribution arm of Lions Gate Entertainment. Sandra will continue to run all business, legal and administrative aspects of Lions Gate Television, spearheading its strategy, transactions and negotiations, and will continue to explore cost-efficient production options for the division. She first joined the division in 2003 as EVP/Business and Legal Affairs. NBC Universal Television Distribution upped Beth Minehart as SVP/International On-Demand Licensing. In her new position, she will be responsible for on-demand licensing for NBC Universal products outside of the U.S. and Canada, including increasing revenues for such arenas as pay-per-view, video-on-demand and subscription-on-demand through cable, satellite, digital terrestrial TV, internet and mobile. She will report to Belinda Menendez, NBC Universal International Television Distribution’s president. * RATINGS *Monday — A18-49 Analysis: ABC led the opening night of the 2005-06 television season in final ratings from Nielsen Media Research with a 6.2/16 A18-49 rating. CBS was #2 with a 5.0/12, followed by NBC 4.3/11, Fox 2.9/7, UPN 1.7/4, WB 1.6/4. At 8p ABC’s early jump start at 730p of the Giants vs. Saints game (and the early fumbles and scoring) gave the network a 5.3/16 for the first hour of prime. The game was also a telethon raising relief funds for the Gulf Coast, and in fact raised $5 million over the course of both MNF games. CBS’ pair of sitcoms each posted a 10 share, as did the premiere of Surface on NBC. Arrested Development delivered a 2.0/6, and the premiere of Kitchen Confidential followed with a 2.0/6. UPN’s premieres of One on One (1.5/4) and All of Us 1.8/5) where behind WB’s premiere of 7th Heaven (2.0/5). At 9p, ABC’s Monday Night Football featuring the Redskins and the Cowboys delivered a 6.5/17 for the full 3-hour match-up. On CBS 2-1/2 Men earned a 5.1/12, and the series premiere of Out of Practice earned a 4.3/10. Las Vegas on NBC debuted with a 4.6/11. UPN’s return of Girlfriends (1.9/4) and Half and Half (1.7/4), both out-delivered WB’s new series Just Legal (1.1/3). At 10p CSI: Miami premiered with a 6.7/16; and Medium on NBC earned a 4.5/11 for its premiere. FINAL HOUSEHOLD RATINGS: Monday, September 19, 2005, for all Networks – program averages. Source: Nielsen Media Research. ABC 10.7/17 MNF Pre-game Game: NY Giants v. New Orleans Saints [730-9p] 9.4/16 (8-9p), ABC MNF: Washington Redskins v. Dallas Cowboys 10.8/18 (ends at 12m) CBS 9.6/14 King of Queens [p] 7.0/11, How I Met Your Mother [p] 7.3/11, 2-1/2 Men [p] 9.8/14, Out of Practice [p] 8.6/12, CSI: Miami [p] 12.3/19 NBC 7.9/12 Surface [p] 7.3/11, Las Vegas [p] 8.0/12, Medium [p] 8.5/13 FOX 4.0/6 Arrested Development [p] 3.0/5, Kitchen Confidential [p] 2.8/4, Prison Break 5.1/7 WB 3.1/5 7th Heaven [p] 3.7/6, Just Legal [p] 2.4/3 UPN 2.6/4 One on One [p] 2.4/4, All of Us [p] 2.8/4, Girlfriends [p] 2.8/4, Half & Half [p] 2.5/4 A18-49 ABC 6.2/16, CBS 5.0/12, NBC 4.3/11, Fox 2.9/7, UPN 1.7/4, WB 1.6/4
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM WE: WOMEN’S ENTERTAINMENT Another HIT on WE! AMERICAN PRINCESS Source: Nielsen Media Research, WE American Princess Su 10p 9/11/05 telecast compared to all WE telecasts from 12/31/01-9/14/05 telecast HH AA%, W18-49 & W25-54 Audience (000).
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM COURT TV SNOWSHOES OR FLIP-FLOPS? This holiday season, one lucky family will be wearing Court TV’s Holiday House Arrest in Paradise Sweepstakes! For more information on this 4th Q marketing opportunity, Today’s Trivia Question: Jane Austin’s novel Emma was made into two movies: one set in the 1800s and starring Gwenyth Paltrow. The other, a much more popular version of the story, was set in current day. What is the name of the current day movie? (click here 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 If you’d rather listen than read, you can sign up for the Cynopsis: In Your Ear podcast available for download each morning by 630a at www.cynopsis.com or via iTunes 4.9 listed in the podcast directory under “News.” Subscribe, unsubscribe, or change a subscription for any Cynopsis edition: www.cynopsis.com Cyn opsis CLASSIFIEDS — JOB OPENING: HGTV /Creative Services HD/ SR. WRITER/PROD: 5 yrs exp cable or local station. Hi Def. exp aplus. Mail resume w/ non-ret reel to: Scripps Networks, 9721 Sherrill Blvd. Knoxville, TN 37932 ATTN: L. Kok–Job # 4772-U (9/28) JOB OPENING: AFFILIATE SALES/AFFILIATE MARKETING/ImaginAsian Ent/NY: Looking for creative industry savvy individuals for a dynamic growing Asian Television Network. Send cover letter resume and salary requirements to JOB OPENING: BROADCAST OPERATIONS/ImaginAsian Ent/NY: Savvy individuals for dynamic growing Asian TV Ntwrk. Mngs master control, prod studio & Control Rm, & other tech operations. Res, cover letter & salary req’s to JOB OPENING: JOB OPENING: RESEARCH DIRECTOR, CARTOON NETWORK/ADULT SWIM CONSUMER PRODUCTS, NY. Strong quant/qual rsch skills. Analysis of syndicated data. Exp in consumer products pref’d. To apply: click here (9/28) JOB OPENING: Cablevision seeks a PRODUCER/DIRECTOR in Long Island, NY to help create TV commercials for clients. Strong concepting, writing & directing exp req’d. Send res to JOB OPENING: CLIENT SERVICE EXEC/Nielsen, NY: Sell Nielsen products, provide service to Nat’l Cable nets. 3+ yrs research industry exp. Sales exp a must. National Cable exp a+. www.NielsenMedia.com (200502687-JL) (9/27) JOB OPENING: NAT’L ADV SALES ASST /Gospel Music Channel/NJ: Input & mngmnt of advertisers’ sched, billing, & promo support. Self-starter, ability to multi-task a must. 1+ yrs related job exp req’d. JOB OPENING: RESEARCH MGR/World Wrestling Entertainment/Stamford, CT. 5+ yrs TV Rsch exp. Fluent w/ Nielsen (Explorer & Navigator), NPower and MRI. Strategic thinker w/strong comms, analytic, org skills. Apply www.wwe-careers.com (9/24) JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR of SCRIPTED DEVELOPMENT/AMC/ NY: 1+ yrs Scripted TV exp. Relevant tv/film ind. exp. Heavy LA industry contacts needed. email rez to JOB OPENING: CABLE SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST/LA Studio-Cable exp. a +. Proficient with Galaxy,WRAP, NPower, Adviews, Marketbreaks. Team player, ability to juggle many projects. Email: JOB OPENING: SYNDICATION RESEARCH ANALYST/LA Studio-Syndication exp. a +. Proficient w/Galaxy, WRAP, NPower, Adviews, Marketbreaks. Team player, ability to juggle many projects. Email: JOB OPENING:TRAFFIC MGR: LBM/LIME TV/NY: Dev & implement sched strategies for promo’s, infomercials & DR ads. Create daily logs, using BMS. Interact w/ on-air, program’g & ad sales depts. Traffic exp req’d. JOB OPENING: RESEARCH STRATEGIST, TLC, Discovery Networks, Silver Spring, MD. Manage program & mktg tests. 3+ yrs mktg research exp, project mgmt exp. Nielsen & media exp a plus. Apply at www.discovery.com . Job req#2883 (9/24) JOB OPENING: CONS MKTG MGR, PARTNERSHIPS/Nat’l Geographic Channel, DC. BA Mktg pref, 5 yrs mktg prtshp and pgming promotions exp. in cable/bcst. Create pitches/drive tune-in and awareness. Apply www.foxcareers.com (9/24) JOB OPENING: ACCT SVC REP-Disney Nat’l TV Kids Props. Mge acct activity; neg inventory moves/mgs, track delivery; perform post buy analyses; 3+ yrs nat’l TV exp; coll. deg; kids nat’l media exp. Email: JOB OPENING: EXP TV/FILM EDITOR in documentary & reality TV for US & Intl broadcasters. FCP fluency is a plus but not necessary, creativity & pos attitude is. Has to work as local in DC. Submit resume & credits to JOB OPENING: NAT’L ACCT MGR/Oxygen/NY: Work w/ co-branded mkt campaigns w/ local cable operators. Min 60% nat’l travel req’d. Exc comm & org skills. 2yrs+ exp mrktng, sales & event plan’g. Res: JOB OPENING: FINANCIAL ANALYST/SUNDANCE CHANNEL/NY: Review/Record/Process assets/liabilities/ amort for film acquisitions. Asst w/ month close/budgets/LRP & invoice processing. Send res to JOB OPENING: JOB OPENING: RES. MGR/DISNEY ABC CABLE NTWK GROUP/BURBANK: Mng variety of res. proj’s incl Nielsen Analyses & primary res. studies. 3+ yrs Nielsen ratings analysis exp/ cable, bcst or synd res dept. BA req’d FALL SEMESTER INTERNSHIP POSITIONS are all non-paying positions (unless otherwise noted), available for school credit only. Nobody here gets paid – not even Cynopsis for the listing. To learn more about posting your Internship position here, email Cynopsis . Fall Internship Credits Only: EDA KALKAY PUBLIC RELATIONS/NYC: needs BRIGHT & ENTHUSIASTIC INTERNS interested in Public Relations. Duties include phone work, mailings, special projects and events. Fall Internship Credits Only: MULHOLLAND DRIVE ENTERTAINMENT: Busy branded ent. co. seeks motivated intern for LA office: Phones,research,presentations(PowerPoint/Excel a must) 25-35 hrs/wk. Good perks. Fall Internship Credits Only: EVIL TWIN PRODUCTIONS/ L.A: SELF-MOTIVATED INTERN. Misc admin duties in creative fast paced environ. Computer/office skills w/interest in post prod. Must love dogs. Non-paying position. Fall Internship Credits Only: JUST SINGER ENTERTAINMENT/Studio City, CA: Work w/ 2 executive producers & director of dev’t. Filing, phones, faxing, reading, and coverage. Prefr 15 hrs/week + Respond to Fall Internship Credits Only: : Warner Bros TV Prods/LA: Assist RESEARCH DEPT with ratings analysis and focus groups. Must be proficient in excel and have strong interest in TV. Email: Fall Internship Credits Only: INT. DIST CO. looking for INTERNS . MUST be organized. 2-3 days a week desired.Located in Manhattan, please send emails to SITUATION WANTED ADS, POSTED BY THOSE LOOKING TO BE HIRED — SITUATION WANTED: INTERNET PRODUCER: Experienced college graduate with journalism background seeks Internet producer position. Experience with HTML, graphics, design and more. Visit www.michaelphill.com for more information (9/28) SITUATION WANTED: HAIR/MAKE-UP ARTIST/LA: 6 yrs .experience working in TV, Film, Runway, Headshots and commercials. Great references. Email: E-mail Are you looking for a job? Post your Situation Wanted Ad here — Email WHAT’S ON TONIGHT: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 ABC Lost Special (OTO), Lost [p], Invasion [p] |
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