CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

01/12/04

Good morning. It’s Monday, January 12, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing.

NBC was the undisputed winner on Thursday night with a huge 10.3/25 A18-49 rating for the night according to Nielsen Media Research. Ranking second behind NBC, was CBS with a 6.9/17, followed in the distance by UPN and ABC tied at 2.1/5, Fox 1.6/5, WB 1.1/3.  At 8p NBC began the evening with a new ep of Friends (11.7/31), followed by a 10.1/25 for the first half hour of a 90m premiere of The Apprentice. NBC’s closest competition for the 8p hour came from CBS’ repeat ep of CSI (5.1/13). At 9p an original CSI won the hour with a 9.7/23 over NBC’s The Apprentice (9.0/21).  For its full premiere, The Apprentice delivered a very strong 9.4/23, with a much stronger lean among women vs. men (11.6/26 W18-49 vs. 7.0/18 M18-49). At 10p NBC again prevailed with an original ep of ER (10.9/27) over CBS’ repeat of Without a Trace (6.0/15).

A slow night Friday, though somebody has to win, and this time it was ABC with an overall 3.3/10 A18-49 rating according to Nielsen Media Research.   NBC was #2 with a 3.1/9, followed by CBS 2.7/8, Fox 2.0/6, WB and UPN 1.0/3.  At 8pm CBS and NBC duked it out, with CBS winning by a tenth (3.2/10 vs. 3.1/10), with ABC drawing a 2.8/9.  Fox’s premieres of Totally Outrageous Behavior (2.2/7) and World Craziest Video (2.5/8) were 4th.  ABC won the 9p hour (3.4/10) over CBS 2.7/8 for JAG and NBC’s 2.3/7 for Ed. And at 10p ABC and NBC tied (3.7/11) with CBS’ Then Handler coming in third (2.1/6).

Saturday night was all about football, and mostly about CBS‘ football which ultimately won the night with a 8.2/23 A18-48 rating according to fast affiliate ratings from Nielsen Media Research.  Fox’s runover of football from an earlier game bled into the first half hour of prime which gave them a leg up on a typically good night for them, scoring a 5.4/15 overall.  NBC and ABC followed with a 1.9/5 and 1.4/4, respectively.  At 8pm Fox’s runover gave them a 7.5/22 in the demo for the first hour, followed by CBS 6.6/19.  ABC and NBC were tied with a 4 share.  At 9p CBS dominated with an 8.9/25, with Fox’s AMW scoring a 3.2/9.  CBS not surprisingly also on the 10p hour with a 9.2/26, NBC managed a 7 share followed by ABC’s 5 share.

Upcoming Premieres: Twentieth Television’s On Air with Ryan Seacrest makes its debut in syndication today; Deborah Norville‘s MSNBC debut is set for Wednesday January 21.

It’s almost like a dance, only it’s tough to tell who’s leading.  NBC will keep its newest series The Apprentice on Thursday night for another week, airing from 8:30-9:30 between Friends and Will & Grace (worked well the first week, why not try again).  This second ep was originally scheduled to air on Wednesday at 8pm, which is now home to a repeat of the premiere cut down to 60m. And on CBS this Thursday, the network had originally scheduled a repeat of Cold Case at 8pm, which will now be replaced with a repeat of CSI (a la last Thursday) in an effort to trump Trump.  The repeat of Cold Case will now air on Wednesday at 8p opposite the Apprentice repeat.

NBC is expected to make it official today at TCA — This will be Frasier‘s last season.

Television Critics Assoc. (TCA) Winter Announcements:

• Game Show Network arrived at TCA to make several announcements, beginning with its name change to simply GSN.  On the programming side, GSN will debut five new original and acquired game shows beginning Monday, March 15, and airing each evening at 10p:  Mondays – World Series of Blackjack  (viewers can also play on-line against each other); Tuesdays – off-nets The Mole and Celebrity Mole; Wednesdays – Fake-A-Date with host Evan Marriott (Joe Millionaire); Thursdays – reality comedy series Kenny v. Spenny; and Friday’s –  off-net Spy TV.  The net will also air National Lampoon’s Greek Games (Olympic spoof) in May 2004; and an original documentary Video Game Invasion: The History of a Global Obsession (3/21 at 9p). GSN is currently in 54 million homes.
• PBS in conjunction with Thirteen/WNET New York announced a four part documentary series titled Slavery and the Making of America that examines the complexities of this era in American history. The series is scheduled for Fall 2004. New York Life Insurance Company is the sole corporate underwriter of the series and its adjoining educational outreach component. PBS will also launch website as part of its www.pbs.org site which will detail the African American experience through interviews, archival footage and interactive presentations.  New York Life has also launched a   companion website at www.slaveryinamerica.org designed largely for educators.  Other news from PBS, the net is still looking for that elusive corporate sponsorship to pick up the Masterpiece Theatre $7 million tab once the long term Exxon Mobil ends this season.  And lastly the network will begin production in NYC this week on a new drama with  Richard Dreyfuss, Rita Moreno and Rosie Perez called PBS Hollywood Presents, about a NYC cop. 
• BET announced its first original reality show titled College Hill (Edmonds Entertainment) which is set to debut on January 28 at 9p, set at Southern University in Louisiana.  The series is scheduled to run for 13 weeks.  BET will be looking at developing more unscripted series this season.
• A&E currently has four new series in production: Dearly Departed (Hybrid Films) (written up here last week) is a reality series set in a family owned funeral home and set to debut this spring; The First 48 (Granada Television) is a reality series following detectives of a Philadelphia homicide squad for the first 48 hours after a new case breaks; reality series Family Forensics (Fox Television) sends a family out of their home for 2 days and a forensics team in to try and paint a portrait of this family based on what is found in their home; and Dog the Bounty Hunter (working title)(Hybrid Films) focuses on the day to day life of Dwayne “Dog” Chapman, a professional bounty hunter.  A&E has another five titles in development, and another five specials scheduled for 2004.

Along the same lines as Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica which is preparing for its second season, MTV announced a new reality series titled Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen & Dave which follows Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro in the months leading up to their wedding. Til Death Do Us Part debuts on January 21st at 10:30p following the season premiere of Newlyweds. Also returning later that week are The Osbournes, Jan 27 at 1030p. And according to BaselineFT.com, it appears Ashton Kutcher didn’t wander too far once he announced he was walking away from Punk’d.  Kutcher and MTV will create another hidden camera series, this one titled My New Best Friend (Katalyst Films) wherein players try to convince friends and family that this complete stranger is in fact their new best friend. Of course the actor playing the ‘best friend’ does his or her best to complicate matters. Successful improv-ers earn bucks.

Animal Planet kicks off a new series on February 10, airing Tuesdays at 8pm called Beastly Countdown, each week feature the top ten ugliest, scariest, smelliest, laziest, nosiest and most annoying on Earth.

Major Broadcasting Cable Network (MBC) will launch a new 30m weekly program this spring called Real Men Do It In the Kitchen.   Now now, it’s about cooking.  The program is a spin off of an annual Father’s Day event that’s been around for nearly 15 years, occurring in various urban cities across the US, called Real Men Cook, founded by Kofi Moyo.  MBC is available in 26 million homes and is overseen by Chairman/CEO Willie Gary, based in Atlanta. For more info, check out: www.mbcnetwork.com.

It’s almost surprising this reality show outcome hasn’t happened before:  A British television reality series shot last summer in Spain, set up like The Bachelorette, turned out to be something a little different as the ‘twist’ was revealed in the final episode.  Seems the women vying for all the men’s attention, Miriam, was really a pre-operative transsexual. Six of the men are suing Sky Television, accusing the production of conspiracy to commit sexual assault, defamation, personal injury and breach of contract.  Sky Television is offering each plaintiff $750,000, and if they take the money, Sky is free to air Find Me a Man. Meanwhile, Sky has also come under fire from a handful of transgender advocacy groups who contend the production created a freak show environment.  Alternatively, Miriam says the show will “help people understand better what people like me are all about”. 

Weekend Box Office Estimates – January 9-11, 2004
(as always, on Monday morning these box office number are estimates; final tallies due out tomorrow.)
Big Fish (Sony)                                            $14.5 million – 5 wk total $24.1m
LOTR: Return of the King (New Line)         $14.1 million – 4 wk total $312.2m
Cheaper by the Dozen (Fox)                       $12.0 million – 3 wk total $101.4m
Something’s Gotta Give (Sony)                   $ 8.2 million – 5 wk total $93.0m
Cold Mountain (Miramax)                             $ 7.9 million – 3 wk total $55.4m
My Baby’s Daddy (Miramax)                        $ 7.8 million – opening weekend
Chasing Liberty (Warner Bros.)                   $ 6.0 million – opening weekend
Paycheck (Paramount)                                $ 5.2 million – 3 wk total $46.5m
Mona Lisa Smile (Sony)                               $ 4.5million – 4 wk total $57.0m
The Last Samurai (Warner Bros.)               $ 4.5 million – 6 wk total $97.1m
Source: Box Office Mojo

Correction:  New Line Television has upped Lehel Reeves to VP/East Coast Region, adding new markets to his responsibilities.  Lehel reports to Vicky Gregorian, SVP/National Sales Manager.

NY/Washington DC public relations firm Goodman Media International Inc. announced Liane Ramirez Swierk has been upped to Account Director, serving as Goodman’s Hispanic Market Specialist; and Deborah Sternberg upped to Account Directors working on a broad range of accounts.

Steven A. Hobbs joins Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. in the newly created position of SVP/Chief Legal & Development Officer.  Hobbs will report to David J. Barrett, President/CEO, Hearst-Argyle Television. 

Thursday, January 8, 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

NBC     13.5/21 Friends 15.5/24, The Apprentice [p] 12.1/18, ER 14.5/23

CBS     13.2/20 CSI [r] 10.7/16, CSI 17.3/26, Without a Trace [r] 11.6/18

Fox     2.8/4   Tru Calling2.8/4, The Simple Life [r] 2.4/4, The Simple Life [r] 3.0/4

ABC     4.7/7   Threat Matrix 3.7/6, Extreme Makeover 4.7/7, Primetime Thursday 5.8/9

WB      1.9/3   Steve Harvey 2.3/3, All About the Andersons 2.0/3, JKX 1.9/3, Run of the House 1.3/2

UPN     3.5/5   WWE Smackdown 3.5/5

A18-49  NBC 10.3/25, CBS 6.9/17, UPN and ABC 2.1/5, Fox 1.6/5, WB 1.1/3

Friday, January 9, 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     6.9/12  Joan of Arcadia 7.9/13, JAG 7.8/13, The Handler 5.0/9

NBC     6.8/12  Dateline 7.9/13, Ed 5.0/8, Third Watch  7.6/13

ABC     5.9/10  George Lopez 5.3/9, Married to the Kellys 4.5/7, Hope & Faith  5.9/10, Life with Bonnie 5.3/9, 20/20 7.2/13

Fox     3.4/6   Totally Outrageous Behavior [p] 3.4/6, World’s Craziest Video [p] 3.7/6, Boston Public 3.2/5

WB      2.1/4   Reba 2.8/5, What I Like About You 1.9/3, Grounded for Life 2.1/3, Like Family 1.8/3

UPN     1.7/3   UPN Movie: Phantoms 1.7/3

A18-49  ABC 3.3/10, NBC 3.1/9, CBS 2.7/8, Fox 2.0/6, WB and UPN 1.0/3

Saturday, January 10, 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     13.2/22 NFL Football: AFC Divisional Playoff: TN Titans vs. NE Patriots 13.2/22

Fox     8.5/14  NFL Runover 17.3/29; Cops 6.2/10, AMW 5.3/9

ABC     4.5/7   Figure Skating: State Farm US Championships: Women’s Final 4.5/7

NBC     3.7/6   Average Joe Hawaii [r] 2.8/5, L&O [r] 3.2/5, L&O: SVU 5.2/8

A18-49  CBS 8.2/23, Fox 5.4/15, NBC 1.9/5, ABC 1.4/4

A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION

Source: NTI Explorer, 01/08/04.  Season: 9/22/03-01/08/04.  Thursday-9-9:30PM. Based on 000s.

The History Channel presents This Day in History: 
1984 – Motley Crue opened its first U.S. tour at Madison Square Garden, New York.

Answer to Friday’s Trivia Question:   What character on this Star Trek was of Ukrainian descent?  LT. TASHA YAR (Chekov was Russian).  Kudos to: Robert Carreon-NECA/New Jersey; John Baldino-WNEP/Scranton; Joanne Milano-RJ Palmer/NY; James Sias-Alan Taylor Comm/NY; Tommy Moffitt-Fairway Media/Scottsdale; RJ Morris-KSMO/Kansas City; Jo Gillett-Gambaru Prods/LA; Karen Oberhofer-IMP/Seattle; Michael Lever-NBC Enterprises/LA; Sam Linsky-TNT/Burbank.

Today’s Trivia Question:  What was the name of the daily paper in Early Edition?  (
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
01/12/04  5:19am
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2004

Source: Nielsen Galaxy Explorer. 1/7/04. 9:30-10p. A18-49 Cov AA%. Rank among cable nets with 50+MM subs.

COURT TV:       Extreme Evidence, Masterminds, Forensic Files, The Investigators
ABC             ABC Movie: Enemy of the State
CBS             Yes Dear, Still Standing [r], Raymond, Two and a Half Men, CSI: Miami
FOX             Fox Movie: Happy Gilmore
NBC             Fear Factor, Las Vegas, Average Joe: Hawaii
PAX             AFV, Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             The Parkers, Eve, Girlfriends, Half and Half
WB              7th Heaven, The Surreal Life
TELE            Amor Descardo, El Alma Herida, Laura: Casos Resueltos
UNIV            Velo de Novia, Te Amaré en Silencio, Cristina