CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

08/12/04

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

In case you hadn’t a chance to check your calendar, CBS has announced that as of today, “Thursday, August 12 is henceforth the official end of the summer, at least for this year.”  The declaration is a result of the Olympics launching on the NBC networks starting tomorrow.  CBS went on to say, “We are sure that this unilateral but fair decision on our part will be greeted with as much respect and serious discussion as was another Network’s contention earlier this year that the new television season would begin immediately after the 2004 Olympics.” Cheeky.  And if that’s not enough, CBS also went on to declare itself the winner of the truncated summer season (May 31-Aug 9, 2004) among total viewers (8.43 million), and A25-54 (3.0/9),  though not quite among A18-49 (2.4/8 vs. NBC 2.5/8). Added Leslie Moonves, “This is the best summer for CBS since the Networks assumed the right to determine when seasons begin and end.”   NBC’s response:  “We will continue to abide by the official season start date as established by Nielsen Media Research in cooperation with all the major networks, as we always have,” commented Jeff Zucker, President, NBC Universal Television Group. “But we can see advantages to CBS’ declaration that the summer is over on Aug. 12 and therefore the new season begins on Aug. 13. If Nielsen and the other networks agree to this new start date, NBC is behind it 100 percent.”

ABC has made a change in its premiere dates for its Sunday night new series.  Desperate Housewives moves from September 26 to the following week, October 3, at 9p; followed by Boston Legal at 10p, also debuting on the 3rd.
 
A new 24-hour US cable and satellite Jewish content channel, JTV, is slated to launch by early 2005.  The channel will center more on reality and news shows but, as CEO John Odoner puts it, the Jewish Television’s programming is “not just news and not just Jews”.  Here is another quote from John about the channel’s content: “Certain programs naturally will carry a unique Jewish perspective, which happens to be entertaining to a much broader audience. So mix one part Fox News Channel with one part Comedy Central, MTV and ESPN, add a special editorial voice, stir thoroughly and you have JTV.”  JTV will be financially carried by ads, a home shopping element and licensing fees.  Programming for the new network will include Two Jews, Three Opinions (a debate show), Jewishly Incorrect (humor-ridden political commentary show), Genesis 9:0 (Bible-based game show) and a music video series.  Forever Films International is projected to create reality shows for the network as well.  JTV is also obtaining docs and bios from two Israeli programming suppliers.

CBS won Tuesday night by the skin of its teeth over NBC and Fox, posting a 3.7/11 A18-49 rating according to Nielsen Media Research.  NBC earned an overall 3.6/10, tying in share with Fox’s 3.3/10.  At 8pm Fox’s 4.4/14 for Trading Spouses walked away with the win for the hour, well ahead of NBC’s first hour of Last Comic Standing 3.2/10. At 9p CBS’ 4.2/12 won the hour for Big Brother (despite being preempted in NYC), though NBC’s second hour of Last Comic was a close #2 with a 4.2/11. WB’s original ep of Summerland won the W12-17 demo by a landslide (4.5/14, beating its nearest competition by five share points), and ranked #2 behind Fox among P12-17 (2.5/9 vs. 2.8/10). At 10p CBS’ Amazing Race was well ahead with a 4.8/14, followed by NBC’s repeat of L&O: SVU (3.5/10) and ABC’s Part 1 of its two part doc In the Jury Room (1.8/5).

The Mike Wallace Incident was the subject of many news reports yesterday, but the best line came from Mike himself.  Asked what he had to say about being accused of “lunging” at the Taxi and Limousine Comm. Inspector, the 86 year old responded “I can’t even lunge into bed, much less at an angry cop.” NYC Mayor Bloomberg is looking into the matter, tho he had nothing amusing to add.

In development news, Fox has picked up a pitch for a drama/music series called You Are Here from writer Jenny Bicks (S#x and the City) that focuses on a group of girl teenagers who dream of having a top-of-the-charts band, according to Variety. Teamed up with singer/songwriter Susan Sandberg, the drama series is expected to have one or two original musical performances in each episode.

American Candidate premiered on Showtime eleven days ago and at its premiere, approx 128,000 viewers showed up to see what normal Joes and Janes were qualified for this reality show and run for President of the United States.  Looking at how many viewers who tuned in for the second episode (approx 42k), you can guess only a third of the premiere audience liked any of the candidates.  They shouldn’t feel too badly though, a relative few tuned in to watch the real candidates either.

TBS finished up its reality series Outback Jack on Tuesday night, drawing 2.6 million viewers, the show’s most watched episode.  Among the key demos, Jack delivered 1.5 million A18-49, and 1.1 million W18-49. For the full series run, Jack averaged 2.1 million total viewers, and 1.3 million A18-49, and 835,000 W18-49.

Flextech Television’s LIVINGtv has licensed the exclusive UK format rights to Buena Vista International Television’s Extreme Makeover.  Eleven eps have been ordered and began production this week, produced by Scream Films.

Holly Jacobs has been named EVP/Alternative Development, Fox Television Studios, it was announced by studio president Angela Shapiro, to whom she will report. Holly will oversee all development in the unscripted arena including reality, documentary and biography programming.  Most recently she was EVP/Programming and Development for Buena Vista Productions, where she developed product for network, first-run syndication and cable.

Allan Butler has been named Executive Producer for The Science Channel. Steve Burns, senior vice president and general manager of The Science Channel, to whom Butler now reports, made the announcement. Allan will oversee original, co-produced and commissioned productions for The Science Channel, namely Discoveries This Week, the weekly topical magazine-format series focusing on the scientific world, and various other one-hour documentaries and series, such as the upcoming Cassini:  Rendezvous With The Ringed Planet and Bridging the Future.

Screenvision has announced Stu Ballatt has been named its new SVP/Marketing. Stu reports to Matthew Kearney, Screenvision’s CEO, and will be based at the company’s NYC headquarters. He will oversee all marketing operations, strategic branding initiatives, and market research functions for Screenvision and Screenvision Direct, a division of Screenvision.

Tuesday, August 10 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

CBS     6.3/11  Navy NCIS 5.7/10, Big Brother 6.6/11, Amazing Race 6.7/11 

NBC     5.8/10  Last Comic Standing 4.9/8, Law & Order: SVU [r] 7.5/13

FOX     4.4/7   Trading Spouses 5.7/10, That 70’s Show [r] 3.4/6, Quintuplets [r] 2.8/5

ABC     3.7/6   Extreme Makeover Home Edition [r] 4.1/7, According to Jim [r] 3.9/6, Less than Perfect [r] 3.8/6, In the Jury Room (OTO) 3.2/5

WB      2.1/4   Gilmore Girls [r] 1.8/3, Summerland 2.4/4

UPN     1.5/3   All of Us [r] 1.6/3, Eve [r] 1.6/3, The Player 1.4/2

A18-49  CBS 3.7/11, NBC 3.6/10, Fox 3.3/10, ABC 2.1/6, WB 1.3/4, UPN 0.8/2

A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION

The History Channel presents This Day in History:
1676:  Metacom, also known as “King Philip,” the sachem, or leader, of the Wampanoag Algonkians of eastern Massachusetts, is killed by an Algonkian ally of the English settlements in the region.  Metacom’s death brought an end of sorts to King Philip’s War, which in turn brought an end to over fifty years of efforts to reconcile English and Indian claims to the landscape of New England.  Whereas Metacom’s grandfather Massasoit was the guest of honor at the first Thanksgiving, held at Plymouth, Metacom’s severed head adorned the gates of that settlement for years after his death.

Answer to Friday’s Trivia Question: Who were two notables from the Devil’s Hole Gang? HANNIBAL HAYES AND KID CURRY, ALIAS SMITH & JONES.  (Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid were part of the Hole in the Wall Gang.)  Kudos to:  Louis Barbash-Connecting the Dots/Washington; Jeff Grimshaw-American Ingenuity/NY; Jennifer Errico-TBS Sales/Atlanta; Jim Bono-Hallmark Channel/NY; Jim Roche-Weigel Bcsting/Chicago; Sara Sacks-Empower MediaMarketing/Oro Valley AZ; Chuck Loomis-Starz/Englewood; Jenny Brenton-Fox TV/Denver; Lakshmi Thirumalai-MGM/LA; Mike Valerio-Jay Silverman Prods/LA; Art Duarte-Screen Actors Guild/LA; Deborah Arakelian-Axium Ent/Burbank.

Today’s Trivia Question:  When this airline first signed me to be their official spokesman, I have to say I think I made it pretty clear how much I resented the airline’s bringing all this tourist trade by my little island of solitude.  But then I got the hang of it, and enjoyed lounging in a director’s chair with sunglasses, or enjoying first class accommodations on the plane.  Who am I?  (click here 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.)

A MESSAGE FROM COURT TV

Later — Cyn

Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis
08/12/04
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A MESSAGE FROM CYNOPSIS AD SALES

WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 2004:

ABC             Extreme Makeover [r], Extreme Makeover [r], Primetime Thursday
CBS             Big Brother, CSI [r], Without A Trace [r]
FOX             Alien vs. Predator (OTO), Celebrity Boxing #2 (OTO) [r]
NBC             Will & Grace [r], Will & Grace [r], Last Comic Standing, ER [r]
PAX             On the Cover, Balderdash, Early Edition, Diagnosis Murder
UPN             WWE Smackdown
WB              Blue Collar TV, Reba [r], Studio 7
TELE            Prisonera, Gitanas, Protagonistas VIP
UNIV            Mariana de la Noche, Amarte es mi Pecado, Aqui y Ahora