News Round-up: Nielsens, Telemundo, Cady, 90210

Upfronts 2009: Fox Wants Answers from Nielsen
Fox Networks Group chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra is taking on ratings giant Nielsen Media Research. Vinciquerra told Daily Variety he's frustrated by Nielsen's recent admission that its TV ratings may be off by as much as 8% -- and believes the company isn't acting promptly to correct the problem.

"It's so irritating how they handle these things," he said. "All evidence points to people watching more TV. Yet the numbers are going down. I'm having a hard time reconciling all of these facts "I want to know what are they going to do about it." he said. "How are they going to fix it?"

Telemundo Introduces High Drama, Original Novellas for Fall Season
Telemundo is looking to keep up the momentum from seven straight months of year-to-year growth across key demos with a fall programming slate heavy on drama and original novellas. The network is also updating its branding strategy with the tagline, “To ignite the power of dreams,” which embodies the qualities of being “provocative, smart and traditional,” according to a statement from NBC Universal-owned Telemundo Group. The Group is also updating the mun2 cable network with the phrase, “to feel uniquely American,” intended to revise the brand’s image of being a richer and smarter perspective on the U.S. Latino experience. Six telenovelas are set to run on the network in primetime this fall.

Cady McClain is keeping busy at ATWT
"I have been working so much my head has been spinning! Between the train ride to Brooklyn and walking my dog I don’t know where I am half the time."

ITV Global Announces First Best of British CORONATION STREET Partner
In 2010, CORONATION STREET, sponsored on-screen in the UK by Harveys – the furniture store, will celebrate its 50th television anniversary as the UK’s longest running primetime drama. To coincide with the historic occasion, ITV Global Entertainment will be bringing together a portfolio of promotional partners of much loved, market leading family brands, collectively called CORONATION STREET’s 50th Anniversary, Best of British brands. These will include FMCG and grocery products. This first promotional partnership announced is with bakery firm, Warburtons.

90210 passes first-season test but needs remedial work
Amy Amatangelo of the Boston Globe writes: "90210’s biggest problem is that it’s still far more entertaining to see the old cast members reprising their roles. Both Kelly (Jennie Garth) and Brenda (Shannen Doherty) return tonight. The brief scene with Brenda dressed up as Cleopatra comforting Adrianna is the highlight of the hour."

INTERVIEW: Former soap star Christopher Cousins
"If there's a theme in my career, it is this guy that seems like an upstanding fellow, and then something happens to him or something is revealed about him where he goes dark. Even when I did The Grudge, Mr. Nice Guy Neighbor, the grudge hits him and he turns into a psycho [Laughs]. It's so funny because people that know me always wonder why I play such dark characters. It's certainly more interesting. A lot has happened to Ted -- his wife is gone, he's got kids, his way of life is falling apart. It's all so pertinent to what I'm seeing people seeing and feeling in our lives today."

Marg Helgenberger sees change, on-screen and off
A talent scout spotted her for soap opera RYAN'S HOPE, but it was her role as Karen "K.C." Koloski, a heroin-addicted prostitute, in CHINA BEACH that shot her to fame. CSI has continued that stardom, but the show's grisly subject matter has changed her outlook on life - and death.

"Seeing a real autopsy was an eye-opener for me," she says. "The coroner's office is littered with corpses in varying degrees of decay. When you're hovered over a body and a Y-incision is made, you can't quite believe it. It almost seems like it should be illegal. It makes you analyze and think about the mind and the soul and the heart and the emotion _ where that all ends and where just the physical aspect begins."

Lifetime will carry SHERRI
Lifetime has ordered 12 episodes of a multicam comedy starring THE VIEW co-host Sherri Shepherd that emerged from the network's own production arm.