Chapter Six Hundred and Sixty-Two Complex Human Nature

Night on the East Coast, 66th Street headquarters on Manhattan's Upper West Side. ↗ fiction,

The time is gradually approaching eight o'clock, Katzenberg, Tom Murphy, Robert Iger and other senior executives of Firefly Group and TV networks are concentrated in a conference room in the headquarters building. In addition to these heavyweight executives, they are directly responsible for " Alan Feisman, former assistant to Eric of the "Survivor" reality show project, "Survivor" director Mark Bnett, "Survivor" show creator Charlie Parsons and other program creators also appeared in the show. in this conference room.

The last few minutes of the "News of the World" program are being played on the large-screen color TV in the conference room. People with different minds are not interested in talking, and their eyes are focused on the TV screen, waiting for the official broadcast of "Survivor" at 8 o'clock. , and subsequent ratings information.

As time passed by, Tom Murphy, who was sitting next to Katzenberg, couldn't help but glance at the prime-time schedules of major TV networks in his hand again.

"Seinfeld" and "The X-Files" have both been marked with eye-catching red stars. "Seinfeld" will be broadcast tonight is the second episode of the third season, which is second only to "Friends" in terms of ratings in recent years. , Seinfeld's debut episode last week reached 21 million viewers. Although the first episode of "The X-Files" started at the same time as "Survivor" tonight, the average viewership of the last season of "The X-Files" also reached 19 million. As a popular sci-fi drama with many die-hards, the new season premieres 20 million viewers are definitely no problem.

Even if another competitor, CBS, does not have a good viewing competitor, a brand-new reality show that has never appeared in the history of American television has been attacked by two powerful TV series at the same time. Despite the ups and downs, the seventy-year-old Tom Murphy was still full of worries. He rubbed his fingers on the schedule for a moment, and pressed lightly on "The X-Files". Tom Murphy couldn't help but complain a little bit about Eric, why he only took back "Friends" and left the two programs "Millionaire" and "X-Files", which caused the new programs to suffer. TV sniping.

In the heart of conservative Tom Murphy. The format of "Survivor" also implies a very big risk.

This reality show focuses on real and unscripted. Although many details can be arranged by the production team, under the lure of a huge bonus of 1 million US dollars, the sixteen contestants are indeed doing everything they can without any rehearsal. Compete polar. In addition to the relatively conventional physical fitness competition arranged by the program group, there are undisguised quarrels, gangs and intrigue among the players.

This simply shows some of the ugly meaning of human nature in it.

Tom Murphy, who has been in the media industry for most of his life, knows that. The mind of the audience is very difficult to understand. This undisguised display of human nature in "Survivor" is likely to cause two very extreme results. A suspenseful and dramatic program form allows the audience's voyeuristic desire to be satisfied. ,

But in Tom Murphy's view, although this kind of result won't make the show's results look too ugly, it doesn't necessarily bring about the ratings that burst the table. Another kind of embarrassing result is because of this undisguised The display of human nature aroused strong disgust from the audience. Even caused the program to be boycotted.

"News of the World" ended quickly. After a short advertisement, accompanied by indigenous percussion music full of quaint atmosphere, the camera on the helicopter flew over the beautiful island of Tiga, Malaysia. The sound of the music was slightly lowered, and the camera turned On a fishing boat, in a somewhat chaotic scene, the two teams piled various materials on the bamboo raft, and then swam to Diga Island together. The host on the fishing boat quickly explained the various aspects of "Survivor". game rules.

After being briefly attracted by the beautiful landscape paintings of blue sky, white clouds, blue sea and jungle. Katzenberg in the conference room couldn't help but glance at the door of the conference room.

Ten minutes, it only takes ten minutes, and the staff waiting in the office can get preliminary ratings data from Nielsen market research company.

Although it was only five o'clock in the afternoon on the west coast of the United States, the prime time there had not yet arrived. But after years of data research experience accumulated. By installing viewership measuring instruments in tens of thousands of representative sample households, Nielsen can not only monitor viewership in real time with accuracy to the minute, but also measure the viewership of only some sample households when different time zones cannot be synchronized. Data collection can more accurately count the national ratings of a program.

Compared to the various apprehension and expectations of everyone in the headquarters, the manor in East Hampton, Long Island. The atmosphere in the living room of the villa was quite warm. The family had just had dinner, and Eric, Virginia and Joanna were sitting on a large multi-person sofa with a little guy in their arms. Eva Pakula, who originally wanted to huddle together to join in the fun, was pulled up by her sister and threw it on the sofa next to her, holding a bag of potato chips, smacking her lips and teasing Eric with her father in her arms. The little nephew who gnawed his fingers. Hawaii sat obediently on her mother's lap, staring at the TV screen without blinking, looking unusually quiet. Playing too crazy in the kindergarten during the day, Emma, ​​who was held by Virginia, has narrowed her eyes.

The family chatted, and as the "News of the World" ended, the picturesque Malaysian island of Tiga soon appeared on the TV screen.

Eva, who was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, couldn't help but exclaim at first, "It's so beautiful, where is this?"

Both Joanna and Virginia looked at Eric.

Although Eric did not participate in the specific production of "Survivor", he still knew the relevant information well, and introduced: "This is Malaysia's Tiga Island, an undeveloped virgin forest, of course it is very beautiful."

Aiwa immediately looked at Joanna expectantly: "Sister, why don't you take Xia Xia to travel here next time..." Hehe giggled, and Aiwa added: "...by the way, take me with you."

Joanna rolled her eyes and ignored the little sister's words.

Eric shook his head and said: "This is not a good place to travel. It doesn't look beautiful on the outside, but it is actually a snake island with no less than ten deadly poisonous snakes. Of course, you can go to other developed Island tourism, but you can go by yourself, don't bring your sister and Xia Xia."

Aiwa pouted: "I don't have that much money for overseas travel, my sister doesn't even give me living expenses now, and you won't let me participate in the Victoria's Secret show. Otherwise, I can earn a little more... "

Joanna glared at her sister: "Aiwa, shut up."

Eva immediately shrank her neck and did not continue.

Eric shook his head and explained with a smile: "You have only received some simple model training, and it's okay to be an ordinary catwalk and graphic model. Participating in such a top-level show, at your level, the popularity will not increase at that time, but instead You will be laughed at by the media. Of course, if you are not afraid. I can put you in temporarily."

Eva stuck out her tongue and turned to look at the TV, but she didn't mention the Victoria's Secret show again.

After Eric finished speaking, he leaned his head to Joanna's ear and asked, "Why don't you even pay Aiwa for living expenses?"

Joanna explained softly, "I have already given her everything I can give her. Eva is not a child, she has to support herself."

Eric nodded and said nothing. He realized that Westerners always pursue individual independence. Although Joanna loves this little girl very much, she obviously does not intend to let Aiwa live on her body.

The neurotic Aiwa also did not struggle with the problem just now. His attention was quickly drawn to the TV program again. After listening to the background introductions to the sixteen contestants from all walks of life, he immediately pointed to the well-built former SEAL in the group and said, "I I think this guy can definitely become a champion, this is a special forces soldier, there is no problem with survival in the wild, which is a bit unfair to the other team members."

Eric looked at Joanna and Virginia: "Do you think so too?"

Joanna smiled and didn't answer.

Virginia said: "I think other than the two older players, only this guy from the SEAL is the most unlikely."

Eva immediately became a little confused.

Eric said to Eva: "Just think about the rules that the host said just now. Since you, an outsider, say that that guy is very likely to win, the other team members must also realize this. For the $1 million bonus, they There's a very good chance this guy will be kicked out of the Horde vote."

Although Aiwa was a bit stubborn, she was not a fool, and immediately understood what Eric meant. Said: "Then... it's not possible that the weaker ones will get the bonus in the end, right?"

Eric stretched out his hand and stuffed the molar stick on the coffee table into the mouth of his precious son who had finished chewing on his left hand and then his right, and said, "The weakest must be impossible to get the bonus, just like Vicky just said, for the sake of To be able to win the physical level, they will definitely eliminate the weakest people in their group first. But at the same time, the relatively weak people will also join forces in order to remain competitive. Eliminate those who are recognized as the strongest players. Of course, Things are not necessarily absolute. In addition to showing the struggle between man and nature, this show will also test the elusive human nature. These people come from all walks of life, with different races, beliefs, occupations and personalities. , no one can guess their respective thoughts and choices. This is the highlight of this show, the intense drama and pervasive suspense, and it is very real."

Aiwa looked at the TV screen after a group of team members had just landed, and there was a disagreement over whether Mr. Huo should build a shed first, with a little sly expression on his face, looked at Eric thief and asked: "This is But what about the $1 million bonus, don't you guys do something privately... um, arrangements, such as a default or something?"

Eric laughed and said: "Many ordinary viewers will definitely have such guesses. Of course, the program team will definitely guide the contestants to a certain extent, but the final winners are naturally generated after 39 days of competition. You only see the $1 million prize money, but what you don't know is that the show costs $10 million to make. As long as the ratings meet expectations, you can get millions of advertisements from this show every episode Fees. The risk of the bonus is very high. Once it is revealed, the credibility will be lost, and there is no possibility of continuing the production of this show. Thinking about it this way, do you think it is necessary for us to do this kind of thing?"

When Eric was discussing this with the women at the East Hampton Manor, countless families on the east coast who jumped to the TV station to watch this show on time because of the firefly group's tireless pre-publicity, were surrounded by the beautiful original scenery of Diga Island. While attracting the novel program format, various issues are also being discussed one after another.

At the Manhattan headquarters, the ten-minute broadcast of the show seemed so long. But some are fleeting.

The contestants on the show have had a jerky first night on Tiga Island, with several mice crawling around in the night vision footage, Katzenberg, Tom Murphy, Robert Iger The others have turned their eyes to the door of the conference room frequently.

When Katzenberg, the most impatient, almost got up to ask himself, there was a knock on the conference room door. A beautiful female employee in her early thirties walked in with a form.

"Mr. Katzenberg, Mr. Murphy, this is..."

Before the female clerk finished speaking, Katzenberg, who was sitting outside, grabbed the form in her hand and couldn't wait to look at the paper.

First place, "The X-Files". Instant ratings of 22.1 million.

Although some expectations came to nothing, this result was also expected.

Tom Murphy, Robert Iger and others also came over at this time, and the main creators such as Allen could only stay on the periphery anxiously waiting for the bigwigs to take the initiative to reveal the results, but did not dare to squeeze forward.

Katzenberg looked down quickly.

Second place in instant ratings is Seinfeld, with 19.9 million, a slight drop from the first episode, which is also very normal.

Continuing to look down nervously, Katzenberg and Tom Murphy and Robert Iger next to him breathed a sigh of relief.

"Survivor" was lucky to be in third place with 17.8 million instant viewers.

Without looking at the follow-up rankings, Katzenberg nodded to Tom Murphy and Robert Ike. The three sat back.

"17.8 million," Katzenberg handed the form to the others, with no joy or disappointment on his face, and said, "Nice start, let's wait for the half hour and the hour and the ratings for the second episode, but I hope... it won't disappoint in the future."

Most of the people who were a little relaxed when they heard this statistic couldn't help but mention it again.

17.8 million, if it is other new dramas, this rating is definitely very eye-catching.

However, Firefly Group's early promotion of "Survivor" is completely on the same level as "Friends", which will be broadcast next week.

therefore. For other new dramas, this is even a bit of a sky-high ratings, but in fact, it can only be regarded as the result of the firefly group's vigorous promotion in the early stage. In order to test the market response of "Survivor" as much as possible, this reality show, like many new dramas, adopts a two-episode model.

Good start though. But the viewership curve of the show in the next two hours is the key to showing the true strength of the reality show.

Compared with Katzenberg, who was obviously not satisfied, the creators of the show, such as director Mark Bnett and screenwriter Charlie Parsons, who saw the data on the table, were already secretly happy.

For the current four major public television networks, if a program has more than 10 million viewers, it can continue to broadcast, at least it will not face the fate of being cut in half in the first season. The opening ratings of 17.8 million now far exceed the expectations of Mark Bnett and Charlie Parsons, as long as the subsequent decline in ratings is not so miserable. The renewal of this show has not been a problem.

Allen, who was airborne by Eric to serve as the deputy manager of the prime-time program production department and also the producer of "Survivor", saw this data, and after a moment of relaxation, he immediately went up and down.

Compared with other people, Allen is under the greatest pressure. The failure of "Survivor" does not actually have much impact on Katzenberg and others, but it is related to his future. As a 'airborne soldier', although he once served as Eric's personal assistant, this halo did not prevent him from being overtly or secretly excluded by the elders.

Noticing the expressions of Katzenberg and others, Allen knew very well that they were comparing "Survivor" with "Who Will Be a Millionaire" once created by Eric himself. "Who Will Be a Millionaire" "The average viewership of the first season has reached an astonishing 29 million, which is called the sky. Under the proper operation of Fox, even after five years, the viewership of this reality show has remained around 20 million.

The current "Survivor" opening can only be regarded as mediocre compared to the amazing "Who Will Be a Millionaire".

However, of course, Allen has no intention of competing with the show produced by Eric himself. He only hopes that the ratings of "Survivor" will not drop in the future, even if it remains at around 18 million, this result can still be achieved. Let him be firmly established in his position. But if the ratings drop too much in the future, even with Eric as his backer, this failure will make it difficult for him to stay as the deputy general manager of the prime-time program production department.

While waiting anxiously, the players on the TV screen have already begun to intrigue. Perhaps this scene is very novel in the eyes of many ordinary viewers, but no one in the headquarters conference room has put much thought into it.

If possible, many people actually want to suggest that it is better to turn off the TV.

Finally, when the players began to participate in the first physical fitness competition, the door of the conference room was knocked again.

...

*PS: In reality, the number of viewers in the first season of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" is really a miracle of 29 million. In addition, the "Seinfeld" mentioned in this episode has 76 million viewers in the finale, which is almost a long-lived meaning, but the global popularity of this sitcom is not as high as that of "Friends". I just want to explain this. Most of the data in the book have been checked in detail, and I didn't write it out. (To be continued.) SJGSF0916 Baidu search "" to see the latest and most complete novels!