Syndie Insider

Pat O'Brien, host of Paramount's new entertainment magazine, The Insider, will host the November edition of CBS Eye on American. The program is a 90-minute video magazine created exclusively for the 4.5 million passengers per month who fly American Airlines.

The show will feature entertainment content from CBS's The Late Show With David Letterman, a preview of Nickelodeon's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, parenting advice from Dr. Phil, and features from VH1, CMT and TV Land, all Viacom properties. Eye will also include segments from CBS News and CBS Sports. O'Brien, whom Paramount dubs "the ultimate insider," became host of The Insider in September. The show is the highest-rated new syndie strip this year. CBS, owned by Viacom, has a deal to provide content to American Airlines.

Twentieth's Ambush Makeover hopes to zip through November sweeps with two theme weeks: "Ambush My Spouse, Please!" and "Dud to Stud." Starting Nov. 15, husbands and wives get to see their wishes fulfilled when their spouses get a whole new look. The next week, average guys clean up their act. A messy restaurant owner gets restyled so he can ask his girlfriend to marry him, and an astrologer surprises his wife and son with his refined new look. In addition to the theme weeks, Ambush Makeover is taking on minor celebrities in November, including a Fox anchorman in Greensboro, N.C., the No. 1 driver on the Monster Truck tour, and the No. 1 female bull rider in Dallas.

In week five of the syndicated TV season, ended Oct. 17, Buena Vista's Who Wants To Be a Millionaire hit its highest weekly ratings thus far, delivering a 2.8 rating/8 share in the metered markets. That's up 8% from the previous week and a 17% improvement over the show's time period a year ago. Season-to-date, the third-year Millionaire is averaging 2.6/6.