April Is the Cruelest Month T.S. Eliot

TRAC Scheduling Assistant April 2012

“ April is the Cruelest Month” – T.S. Dates to Remember: Eliot 4/2: NCAA Basketball Championship Game 4/6: Passover Begins at Sundown 4/8: Easter Well, that may be overstating things a 4/18: Holocaust Remembrance Day Begins at Midnight bit, but surely you know how hard a 4/22: Earth Day month April is to schedule. For us 4/26 – 5/23: May Sweeps folks in PTV land we’re just on the heels of a long pledge drive and using the month to rebuild our core audience in advance of the May sweep. It’s no easy task, but it’s possible to make a good run in April. The NPS delivers quite a few new titles, including the highly anticipated series America Revealed, the return of David Pogue on NOVA and “Great Expectations” on Masterpiece Classic. Of course, there’s also a bunch of repeats to make our lives a little more challenging. Remember that the goal this month is to build cume that can be leveraged for the May sweep.

April 2012 NPS – A Walk Through the Week-by-Weeks

Week 1 (4/1 – 4/7) Title (Common Carriage in bold) Proj. Rating

Sunday, 4/1 Finding Your Roots 1.4 Masterpiece Classic “Great Expectations” 1.7 Saving the Titanic 1.3 Monday, 4/2 Antiques Roadshow “El Paso, TX” 2.2 American Master “Margaret Mitchell” 1.6 American Masters “Harper Lee: Hey Boo” 0.5 Tuesday, 4/3 Grand Coulee Dam: American Experience 1.3 Panama Canal: American Experience (r) 1.2 Wednesday, 4/4 Nature – Ocean Giants “Deep Thinkers” (r) 1.2 NOVA “Hunting the Elements” 1.3 Thursday, 4/5 The This Old House Hour 1.0 Independent Lens “Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey” 1.3 Yellowstone: Land to Life (r) 0.7 Friday, 4/6 Washington Week 0.6 Need to Know 0.5 Live from Lincoln Center “Renee Fleming at the Penthouse” 0.4 Saving the Titanic (r) 0.3

 The 1st week of the month brings a fair number of new episodes from the core series. Unless the unexpected happens Finding Your Roots will continue to be a poor lead of for Sunday, but audience 1 levels should rebound for Masterpiece Classic. Saving the Titanic is a great title with a good clip, but it could be a throwaway in the 3rd hour. Monday bears promise with a new ARS and two new episodes of American Masters. The NPS is rife with Common Carriage this week and making local moves will be more difficult than usual. However, there are a couple of NPS repeats that may lend themselves to local preemption – Panama Canal and Ocean Giants.

Week 2 (4/8-4/14) Title (Common Carriage in bold) Proj. Rating

Sunday, 4/8 Finding You Roots 1.4 Masterpiece Classic “Great Expectations” 1.7 Monday, 4/9 Antiques Roadshow “El Paso, TX” 2.2 Independent Lens “Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey” 1.0 Yellowstone: Land to Life (r) 0.8 Tuesday, 4/10 Titanic with Len Goodman 1.5 Saving the Titanic 1.0 Frontline 0.8 Wednesday, 4/11 Nature – Ocean Giants “Voices of the Sea” (r) 1.2 NOVA “Deadliest Tornados” 1.5 America Revealed “Food Machine” 1.1 Thursday, 4/12 The This Old House Hour 1.0 Frontline (r) 0.6 Independent Lens “When the Drum is Beating” 0.5 Friday, 4/13 Art in the 21st Century 1.0 Titanic with Len Goodman (r) 1.0

 Despite the fact that “Being Elmo” premiered the previous Thursday, the Monday Common Carriage repeat is in a great timeslot to draw a crowd. Tuesday has two Titanic titles, but we wonder if this topic still holds audience interest. The NOVA episode “Deadliest Tornados” will most likely do well, it’s just too bad the NPS locks out the possibility of pairing it with another disaster-like title. Having said that, America Revealed could do okay. Art in the 21st Century will have a very small audience.

Sunday, 4/15 Finding Your Roots 1.3 Masterpiece Classic “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” 1.5 Monday, 4/16 Antiques Roadshow “Atlanta, GA” 2.2 Antiques Roadshow “Providence, RI” 1.6 America Revealed “Food Machine” (r) 0.9 Tuesday, 4/17 Lidia Celebrates America “Weddings” 1.1 Hoover Dam: American Experience (r) 1.2 Frontline 0.7 Wednesday, 4/18 Nature “River of No Return” 1.4 NOVA “Crash of Flight 447” (r) 1.3 America Revealed “Nation on the Move” 1.1 Thursday, 4/19 The This Old House Hour 1.0 Frontline (r) 0.6 Independent Lens “Revenge of the Electric Car” 0.4 Friday, 4/20 Art in the 21st Century 1.0 Lidia Celebrates America “Weddings” (r) 0.9

 The start of the week looks challenging as Finding Your Roots and “Edwin Drood” kick things off. The Masterpiece Classic is more like a mystery-thriller than true classic that appeals to our crowd, but we can always hope the audience stays. The big opportunity for the week for local scheduling is Monday in the 2 3rd hour: the non-Common Carriage repeat of America Revealed presents a timeslot that you can use for syndie or repeat NPS titles that are likely to do better.

Sunday, 4/22 Finding Your Roots 1.2 Masterpiece Classic “Birdsong” 1.3 Powering the Planet Earth: The Operators’ Manual 0.7 Monday, 4/23 Antiques Roadshow “Atlanta, GA” 2.2 Antiques Roadshow “Providence, RI” 1.6 America Revealed “Nation on the Move” (r) 0.9 Tuesday, 4/24 The Crash of 1929: American Experience (r) 1.2 Frontline “Economy Series” 0.9 Independent Lens “Waste Land” 0.6 Wednesday, 4/25 Nature “Radioactive Wolves” (r) 0.9 NOVA “Secrets of the Sun” 1.3 America Revealed “Energy” 1.0 Thursday, 4/26 The This Old House Hour 1.0 Powering the Planet Earth: The Operators’ Manual (r) 0.7 Independent Lens “Facing the Storm: Story…Bison” 0.7 Friday, 4/27 Art in the 21st Century” 1.0 Chautaqua: An American Narrative (r) 0.8

 War and romance on Masterpiece Classic is a good way to start the week. Again, give some thought to the Monday 3rd hour of prime real estate. NOVA has a good title in “Secrets of the Sun,” but we’re not sure if viewers will stick around for the “Energy” episode of America Revealed. Alas, Common Carriage for the entire night makes the discussion largely academic.

Sunday, 4/29 Finding Your Roots 1.2 Masterpiece Classic “Birdsong” 1.3 Monday, 4/30 Antiques Roadshow “Atlanta, GA” 2.2 Antiques Roadshow “Providence, RI” 1.6 America Revealed “Energy” (r) 0.6