Good morning. It’s Wednesday, September 29, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing.
According to Fast National Ratings from Nielsen Media Research, ABC inched out CBS by two share points on Monday night, earning an overall 6.4/16 A18-49 over CBS’ 5.4/14. NBC was third with a 4.1/10, followed by Fox and WB 2.1/5, UPN 1.4/4. At 8pm, NBC’s Fear Factor led in the demo with a 4.4/12. ABC’s The Benefactor was #2 with a 3.6/10, up considerably from last week (opposite the CBS premieres). Still Standing and Listen Up were both basically on par with their premieres last week, posting a 3.3/10 and a 3.5/9, respectively. WB’s 7th Heaven, which went back to its programming roots this season and focus on the immediate family, continues to be strong, particular among Teens (4.6/16, #1 in the TP) and key female demos (3.2/9 W18-49 ranking #3, and 3.3/9 W18-34 #3). At 9pm football on ABC kicked off in the first hour with an 8.2/19 and at 10-11p a 7.4/19, earning an average in fast national ratings of 7.8/19, which can easily change when the finals are posted. As for non-sporting programming, CBS’ Raymond (6.1/15) and 2-1/2 Men (5.7/13) averaged a 5.9/14 for the hour, overshadowing NBC’s Las Vegas (4.5/11). Everwood on the WB followed its lead-in prompt and led among Teens (3.3/11), and posting 7 shares in both key women demos. The Second Time Around on UPN, now in its second week, was up from the previous week by 8% among A18-49, earning a 1.4/3. At 10p, aside from football, CSI Miami led with a 7.0/17, more than doubling NBC’s LAX share (3.4/8), though LAX is up by approx 10% vs. last week, and CSI Miami is down by about 14% week to week.
Tonight’s Premieres: UPN: Kevin Hill at 9pm MTV: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County at 10:30p
Casting / Development / Production:
Doug Hutchison (The Green Mile) joins CBS‘ longest-running daytime drama, Guiding Light beginning today. He plays the role of Sebastian, a mysterious stranger who comes to Springfield to deliver a message from the long-time missing villain Roger Thorpe.
Reba did it, and it worked for her, so why not Melissa Etheridge? ABC has ordered a script commitment with penalty for a sitcom starring Etheridge as the female head of a nontraditional family – gay mom, straight roommate dad and his teenage daughter. The untitled project is from 20th and Brad Grey TV, written by Linda Wallem.
Network executives today will get the first pitch of a new Bill Cosby comedy series from 20th/First Move Entertainment and writer Chris Case, a sitcom based on Cosby’s bestseller Congratulations! Now What?: A Book for Graduates. Cosby is not slated to star, but to exec prod along with Susanne Daniels and Sheila Ducksworth, per Variety.
Fox has ordered a pilot of Murder Book (20th), a crime drama from writers/producers Chris Brancato and Bert Salke. A murder book in the LAPD contains all of the evidential information of every murder case, each set up in the same way with the same partitions and information categories.
Betty La Fea (Ugly Betty) may sound familiar as it was on NBC’s development slate a couple of years ago, but never got off the ground. The concept, based on the Colombia telenovela, is back, and over at ABC. Starring Selma Hayek, the project is about a somewhat unattractive executive assistant who happens to be a terrific secretary, and also happens to be in love with her most attractive boss. Touchstone Television is producing along with Reveille and Ventanarosa.
TNT‘s drama pilot The Line (Dreamworks TV) has completed its principle casting with Dean Winters (L&O: SVU, Oz) heading the cast which also includes Evan Handler, Christina Cox, Paul Ben-Victor and Victoria Cartagena, per Hollywood Reporter. The setting is the Federal Prosecutors office.
E! has ordered 13 more eps of Dr. 90210, scheduled to launch its second season in March 2005.
Food Network has ordered up 10 episodes of Iron Chef America to premiere in January 2005. Food had run a handful of Iron Chef America specials last April and found them successful enough to warrant a series. Triage Entertainment is the production company, producing in conjunction with Food.
If you live in any of these DMAs – Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Phoenix, Cleveland, Denver and St. Louis – you may be the happy recipient of a talking branded pizza box, courtesy of TBS and their soon to start Saturday Night College Football Season (kicks off October 2). Last year TBS also got creative with this promotion with talking bathroom signage. This year, it will be a quarter million pizza boxes. The network partnered with Mangia Media to create the marketing stunt.
Cox Television, Allbritton Communications and Granite Broadcasting are all on board with Nielsen Media Research, having each signed long term contracts for Local People Meter ratings in markets scheduled to launch the service in the next two years. Those markets include Altanta, Washington DC, San Francisco and Detroit.
While nationally The Jane Pauley Show was up for the week of September 13-19 was up over the previous week – 1.5 up from a 1.3, there is another station making a move: NBC O&O – KXAS/Dallas. Pauley had been airing at 3pm, as lead-in to the station’s local news at 4pm. The local news in September 2003 averaged a 4.0 with Ellen as its lead-in; thus far this month it has averaged a 2.4. Pauley has averaged a 1.0 rating on KXAS during its first four weeks, down by 47% from Ellen last year, and down 44% from its Passions lead-in. The show will move to 12n, away from Dr. Phil and Jeopardy with hopes she’ll pick up a bit; and Ellen returns to 3pm.
Correction: Jane Pauley airs on Nashville’s WKRN; the call letters were incorrect in yesterday’s item.
Top Ten Basic Cable Ad Supported Network Rankings among Total Viewers for the month of September 2004: Primetime (000) Total Pgm Day (000) ESPN 2602 NICK 1958 TNT 2422 NAN* 1436 FOX NEWS 2331 TNT 1240 USA 1837 CARTOON 1226 NAN 1780 FOXNEWS 1174 CARTOON 1748 LIFETIME 1050 LIFETIME 1726 ESPN 990 SPIKE TV 1708 USA 883 TBS 1416 TWC 864 A&E 1252 SPIKE TV 818 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 month of September 2004: Primetime (000) Total Pgm Day (000) ESPN 1451 NAN* 700 TNT 1117 TNT 642 SPIKE TV 908 ESPN 599 TBS 777 LIFETIME 501 USA 762 TBS 481 FX 731 SPIKE TV 462 LIFETIME 718 NICK 451 FOXNEWS 584 USA 426 COMEDY 574 FX 364 MTV 560 FOXNEWS 341 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)
Spurred on by hopes of winning a trip to NYC and sitting in the audience of the live final episode of The Apprentice, 4.3 million hits were reported on the Crest.com website after the most recent airing of The Apprentice. In the episode, apprentice wannabes were instructed to come up with a marketing campaign to launch Crest’s new Vanilla Mint toothpaste. Immediately after the show ended, P&G reports 100 ideas a minute for the first 20 minutes poured into the website, more than 40,000 samples of the new product were requested and 20,000 submitted marketing ideas. If you have an idea, you can submit yours anytime before October 15.
ESPN launched a new reality show last night called I’d Do Anything. Each episode has three contestant who have pretty much agreed to do anything to win the ultimate sports fantasy – not for themselves, but for someone else. Hosted by George Grey (Weakest Link, Junkyard Wars), the show airs weekly, Tuesday nights at 10p, produced under the ESPN Original Entertainment (EOE) banner in conjunction with TWI and Mess Media.
CASTING CALL: Lifetime Television is looking for candidates for its makeover series How Clean is Your House. Must be in the Southern California area, and not mind if Kim and Aggie give your house the white glove test and then the real work begins. If you’re willing to play, email
Showtime Networks Inc. has upped John Moser to VP/Original Programming and Deborah Meyers to VP/Program Scheduling. The announcement was made by Ann Foley, EVP/Programming, to whom they will report. John will oversee creative development and production of various original movies, series and documentaries, and projects under the network’s Showtime Independent Films banner. Deborah will be responsible for the creative development of the monthly programs schedules for Showtime and The Movie Channel. Additionally, she is responsible for the strategic deployment of programming for Showtime Video On Demand and The Movie Channel On Demand services.
MTV2 has named Carol Eng SVP/Programming and Development. Carol will supervise all programming for MTV2, as well as head up an expanded development process for the 24-hour music network. She will report into David Cohn, GM, MTV2 and Tom Calderone, EVP, Music and Talent Programming, MTV & MTV2.
Lucy Denny-Gardner has been upped to VP/Creative Services Finance and Special Projects, King World Productions. Lucy will oversee promotion budgets for all King World programming, in addition to overseeing administration budgets for King World’s headquarters in Santa Monica.
You gotta love the Neiman Marcus’ holiday catalog. Here are a few suggestions you can feel free to get me this year. Any one or a combination of these will be fine:
His and Hers Bowling Alley ($1.4m); 5,000 sq.-foot, 4-lane, bowling/entertainment center includes bowling equipment, automated scoring monitors and moveable seating banquettes.
Limited Edition 2005 Maserati ($125k)
Custom Suit of Armor ($20k)-handcrafted and fit a historically accurate suit of (15th century). Imagine how great you’ll look when you get in your Hummer dressed in your armor.
Zepplin ($10.0m)-Be the first person to privately own a modern Zeppelin NT, accommodates 12 passengers, a pilot & flight attendant.
Jeweled Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head ($8k)-The Potato Head’s are encrusted with Swarovski crystals.
Monday, September 27, 2004. Fast National Household 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
ABC 10.5/16 The Benefactor 6.3/10, Monday Night Football: Dallas v. Washington 12.6/19 (9-11P)
CBS 10.4/16 Still Standing 7.1/11, Listen Up 7.3/11, Raymond 12.0/18, 2-1/2 Men 11.0/16, CSI: Miami 12.6/20
NBC 6.7/10 Fear Factor 7.0/11, Las Vegas 6.8/10, LAX 6.7/10
WB 4.1/6 7th Heaven 4.6/7, Everwood 3.7/5
FOX 3.3/5 North Shore 3.1/5, Trading Spouses [r] 3.5/5
UPN 2.4/4 One on One 2.4/4, Half & Half 2.4/4, Girlfriends 2.5/4, Second Time Around 2.2/3
A18-49 ABC 6.4/16, CBS 5.4/14, NBC 4.1/10, Fox and WB 2.1/5, UPN 1.4/4
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COLD CASE A TOP CHOICE WITH VIEWERS!
Top 10 Primetime Program for 19 weeks!
Top 15 Program for 31 weeks!
COLD CASE Available exclusively from Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution
Source: NTI Explorer, Week ranks= 9/22/03-9/19/04, excludes sports and specials. Rank based on HH Rating.
The History Channelpresents This Day in History: 1829: London’s Metropolitan Police Service is organized. The new force’s members were known as the “Bobbies” after Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel. Their headquarters were at Scotland Yard in Whitehall, a place that lent its name to the police headquarters itself and, informally, to the force as a whole. The City of London organized its own police force ten years later, and the two remain separate to this day.
Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:I am a family pet. Primarily I favor the baby of the family, Sweet Pea. I have a very expensive dining habit, and when I make my customary sound, I also say my name. What is my name? Popeye’s JEEP and/or EUGENE. Kudos to: Marc Beck-WWE/Stamford; Arthur Anderson-Fox Sports Net/NY; Rick Schindler-The Week/NY; Joanne Vigorita-King World/NJ; Adam Leston-HRP/Chicago; Charlie Conner-KOKI, KTFO/Tulsa; Joseph Sall-Media Answer/Columbia MO; Lynnette Rahm-KBCI/Boise; Jeff Blye-Tollin Robbins/LA; Maddie Miyoshi-Ron Ziskin Prods/LA; Jim Dunn-20th/LA; Terry Lee-Rocket Science Labs/LA; and Chris Ingram-TNS/London.
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Comcast Spotlight works with our cable network partners to develop unique promotions for advertisers that leverage cable’s powerful brands. Through network associations or tune-in sponsorships, advertisers get customized, branded promotions that build upon viewer affinity for their favorite cable networks. Comcast Spotlight – Spot cable finally delivers. For more information click here.
Today’s Trivia Question: Who could forget that action packed series Acapulco H.E.A.T.? Okay, most everyone, but for those that do remember it, what did H.E.A.T. stand for? (no cheating!) (click 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.)
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Investigate this!
Court TV: The Investigation Channel’s 2 premieres 2 hit shows!
Don’t miss brand new episodes of…
FORENSIC FILES Tonight@ 9 PM &
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Later — Cyn
Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis 09/29/04 5:34am
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JOB OPENING: SR.ANALYST/AD SALES RESEARCH, Lifetime Television, NY. Solid bcst or cable research exp. Analyze rtgs & pgm perf. Knwldg of research systems a must. Email salary req: , re: Sr.Analyst/Research (10/6)
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JOB OPENING: SALES PLANNG ANALYST–A&E NTWKS/NY-Assist w/inventory mgmt&pricing; prepare inventory analyses; maintain pricing&estimates; BA/BS req’d. 2yrs exp in Ad Sales at Cable network. E-mail res&sal reqs: (10/5)
JOB OPENING: MAGAZINE RESEARCH ASST/Nickelodeon, NY. Research/admin duties to VP/Res & Mkt Dev. Minimum 1 yr research exp (mag ad sales/research).Handy w/ IMS, MRI, PIB, Simmons, JD Power, MS Office. Apply: www.mtvncareers.com (10/5)
JOB OPENING: MGR: New Media Mktg/Nat’l Geographic Channel/Washington DC. 2-3 yrs media mktg exp; solid comm & presentation skills, mgmt exp, proficient in MS Office, Photoshop, online exp a plus.. Apply: www.foxcareers.com (10/5)
JOB OPENING: Dallas-Fort Worth. !Sorpresa!, America’s Hispanic Children’s Network, seeks PROGRAMMING MANAGER. Must be bilingual w/3 yrs exp including program acquisition, on-air promotions. Email resumes to jhaire@firestoneinc
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT: SEPTEMBER 29, 2004:
ABC Lost, The Bachelor, Wife Swap CBS 60 Minutes, CSI [r], CSI: New York FOX That 70’s Show, Quintuplets, Bernie Mac, Bernie Mac [r] NBC Hawaii, The Apprentice, Law & Order PAX On the Cover, Balderdash, Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder UPN Top Model, Kevin Hill [p] WB Smallville, The Mountain TELE Prisonera, Gitanas, Te Voy a Ensenar a Querer UNIV Rubi, Amarte es mi Pecado, Don Francisco Presenta
Thursday February 6, 2025 IN THE NEWS As requested, CBS News handed over the unedited video and transcript of its “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris to the FCC – and the FCC made it public. The interview is the source of a lawsuit by then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, and its attendant FCC inquiry. […]
Interested in moderating a roundtable this fall? We need leaders comfortable with subject matter including media planning, buying, leveraging ai, cross-platform measurement and more. SUBMIT MY INTEREST Wednesday February 5, 2025 FEATURED JOB VICE PRESIDENT, POLITICAL SALES >> NEXSTAR MEDIA GROUP, INC./WASHINGTON, DC: Lead the company’s political advertising revenue across its […]
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Interested in moderating a roundtable this fall? We need leaders comfortable with subject matter including media planning, buying, leveraging ai, cross-platform measurement and more. SUBMIT MY INTEREST Tuesday February 4, 2025 IN THE NEWS After a four-month standoff, Paramount Global signed a multi-year contract with Nielsen. The deal includes measurement for […]
Monday February 3, 2025 Sweet 16: Apple reported record-breaking sales for 4Q24, the first full quarter its new iPhone 16 models were available. While iPhone sales were $69.1 billion, a tad down from $69.7 billion recorded the same period in 2023, CEO Tim Cook noted, “We’ve never seen a higher level of upgraders before. The […]
Cynopsis 01/14/25: Rachel Maddow spending more time at her MSNBC desk https://www.cynopsis.com/cynopsis-01-14-25-rachel-maddow-spending-more-time-at-her-msnbc-desk/