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TUESDAY, 10 A.M.

Isaac is on the telephone while sitting behind his desk.

Isaac: (on phone) Yes, that's correct. Please leave him the message and have him get back to me. I hope to hear from him before the end of the week. He knows my number. (listens) Thank you. (hangs up phone)

Isaac looks down at the open book on his desk.

Ratings. It's all about ratings. We're down another tenth of a point over the last month. We're losing men 18-34, our primary group. We're up twenty percent on our lead in, which is the highest ever, but we're down in overall ratings. That means one thing- our programming is not the caliber the executives think it should be. And they're putting the blame on us.

Isaac gets up from his desk and looks out the window.

Cutbacks at CNN. Cutbacks at AOL Time Warner. Cutbacks NBC. When will the cutbacks occur here? We need ideas. We need something to invigorate this network. I can only handle Sports Night, but it seems like they want us to carry the network. We need a team effort.

Isaac walks over to his door, opens it and walks out.

Isaac starts walking down the hall, when he sees Dana and Casey heading toward Dana's office.

Ah, yes. Dana and Casey. They can come up with something.

Isaac: Good morning you two. Dana, don't forget about coming up with some ideas.

Dana: I haven't forgotten.

Isaac: And Casey, stop stalking Dana.

Casey takes a step back.

Casey: I'm not stalking her.

Casey, you couldn't be more obvious.

Isaac continues down the hallway. As he turns the corner, he bumps into Kim.

Isaac: Oh, excuse me Kim.

Kim: Excuse me.

Isaac: Do you mind doing me a favor?

Kim: Sure.

Isaac: Could you make sure Dana mentions in the run-down that we all need to come up with some ideas to help improve the show.

Everybody needs to come up with something, and fast.

Kim: You mean improve the ratings?

Isaac: Yes.

A loud shock can be heard from the other side of the room. Kim and Isaac look over to see if every thing is all right. This situation doesn't seem too serious because he sees Dan laughing over by the coping machine.

A technician is hurt, but Dan is laughing about it. I don't need a heart attack on top of everything else going on here. It looks like everybody is going to be fine. I see Jeremy is over there. I'll get some research and some answers from him. Ouch. Dan just got decked. He probably deserved it. Danny, Danny, Danny.

Isaac walks through the newsroom and reaches Jeremy.

If anybody can find out, it's Jeremy.

Isaac: Jeremy, could I have you do me a favor?

Jeremy: Sure, Isaac. What is it?

Isaac: Could you do a little research on what is happening with Quo Vadimus?

Jeremy: Statistics, hirings, firings, stock numbers...

Layoffs.

Isaac: See if you can dig up something substantial.

Jeremy: Rummage for gossip?

Isaac: Exactly.

Jeremy: About what?

Isaac: See if you can find out something about the future of CSC.

If we will have our jobs.

Jeremy: I would think you would have the best access to that information-

They're not telling me anything, Jeremy.

Jeremy notices Isaac staring at him.

Jeremy: -since you are the managing editor... because something is going on with the show and no one is telling you anything.

Isaac: Exactly.

Jeremy: I'll look into it and see what I can dig up.

Isaac: You do that, Jeremy. And make sure it doesn't interfere with your real job. We have a show to produce.

We'll get to the bottom of this.

Jeremy: Will do.