I'm Really a Superstar

The recording ended.

The first episode wrapped up with applause from everyone. Many of the audience members still had lingering feelings about what they had just seen and were still noisily discussing as they exited the studio.

“It was such a great show!”

“This show is too godly!”

“That’s right, it’s really too godly!”

“Zhang Ye’s reputation is goddamn for real!”

“This is the best show I’ve ever watched, and has the most sincerity among all the singing talent shows. The stage, lighting, opening theme song, host, and contestants are all the best in the industry. Actually, I wasn’t expecting much for a program like this but my friend gave me a free ticket and I didn’t want it to go to waste. Who knew I would receive such a huge surprise!”

“I just wonder what the viewership ratings will be like.”

“It shouldn’t be bad in any case!”

“When Zhang Ye said he that would ‘see other summits dwarfed, and savor the scene,’ perhaps there might be a possibility that he can really do it!”

“That might not be the case. We still have to wait for the response after broadcasting. It’s tough to say anything until the moment it gets broadcast. There’s too many factors that affect a program in the variety industry nowadays, and the current demand is not that good either, so anything can happen. Don’t expect too much from the viewership ratings!”

“Then it would at least get 0.8% of the viewership ratings, right?”

“Well, it surely can’t get lower than the other talent shows!”

“Isn’t 0.8% of the viewership ratings considered too little? I can see it will get at least 0.9% of the viewership ratings!”

“For the premiere episode, the viewership ratings will surely be slightly lower. To get 0.8% of the viewership ratings would already very good. If the following episodes can still maintain the quality of the first episode, then The Voice surpassing 1% of the viewership ratings is definitely possible!”

“Let’s wait for tonight’s broadcast and see how it turns out!”

“Right, I’ll have to watch it again at night!”

“That was too fun! It was such an aural feast!”

The audience was chatting excitedly as they left the studio.

In the recording studio.

Most of the people who remained behind were the program team staff. They too were discussing this topic.

Little Wang said joyfully, “Do you think our viewership ratings can meet the target of the station’s 0.7% that was set for us?”

A female editor smiled and said, “I’m sure it will definitely be higher than that. As for how much higher, l do not know. I just have a feeling that our program will become very popular!”

Ha Qiqi arrived and joined in, “No need for a feeling, it will definitely be popular!”

Wu Yi was also extremely excited. He stated, “Right, that definitely won’t be a problem!”

A male editor said, “The contestants have performed very well today! Our audio systems’ quality was also fantastic. Before this, I was still thinking if it was too exaggerated and expensive to spend over 10 million RMB on the equipment setup. But after listening today, it’s doesn’t feel like it was expensive at all. Just from the live studio effects alone, it was all worth it no matter how much we spent!”

At this moment, Zhang Ye returned.

“Director Zhang!”

“Director Zhang!”

“That was awesome! We were awesome!”

“The live studio effects were seriously awesome!”

“Director Zhang, your planning has really succeeded!”

“It won’t go wrong as long as we follow Director Zhang’s instructions!”

“From the audience’s reactions, the viewership ratings certainly look good!”

“Our hard work for the past few days have not gone to waste! Every night we stayed up late was worth it!”

Some of the female staff thought about these days when they worked to the bone, feeling so tired that they almost could not take it anymore and felt like their bodies would just give way. A few times, they even wanted to give up, but in the end they managed to persevere. When they saw the results of their hard work, their eyes teared up. In retrospect, those bitter days were nothing much because they had produced a surprisingly good program. Their names would be on The Voice of China’s production credits, so they were…the makers of this legendary program!

Zhang Ye had not said anything yet.

Jiang Yuan and Fu Sihong walked over briskly. Jiang Yuan looked extremely excited as he found Zhang Ye. “Little Zhang, can you give us a preview of the viewership ratings of The Voice!”

Zhang Ye said helplessly, “It’s not possible to give an estimate on that.”

Jiang Yuan said, “What’s your own estimate of the viewership ratings?”

Zhang Ye said, “Don’t we just need to meet the viewership rating of 0.7% that was set for us?”

Jiang Yuan rolled his eyes. “0.7% for the viewership ratings was just the lowest target set by the station for you all. Would you be satisfied with only 0.7% viewership ratings? Right now, I feel that it’s not going to be a problem for your program to achieve 0.9% in the viewership ratings!”

Before, Jiang Yuan and many others in Central TV Department 1 did not feel too optimistic when they heard Zhang Ye’s proposal. A majority of them had reservations about it and only a handful of people felt that The Voice was a feasible production. However, at this moment, everyone’s attitude did a complete 180. Not only did Jiang Yuan stop regarding The Voice as a cult program, he was getting much more confident about The Voice. He felt that this program was so exciting that it had surpassed his expectations of excitement. That was the reason why he was forcing Zhang Ye to give an estimate of the viewership ratings.

However, Zhang Ye could not give an estimate. Back then, when the program was not yet approved, bragging was necessary so that he could show his confidence and the program’s strong points to get the station’s support. But now that the program was about to be broadcast, Zhang Ye did not wish to say those empty words anymore. It was also difficult to say them.

Back in his previous world, there was a compilation of viewership rating statistics for The Voice, but Zhang Ye could only use it as a reference figure and a gauge. He could not directly use those figures in this world, as after all, it was a different world, with different coaches, on a different television station, broadcast on a different day and time, and even the viewership ratings were measured with a different formula. This was no longer comparing apples to apples, so he could only use his world’s information as this world has its own set of rules, market environment, and audience understanding of entertainment and the arts. Everything was unknown. The best Zhang Ye could do was recreating The Voice as closely to the original as possible, so that the features and most exciting segments of the show could be presented to the people here. When all was said and done, the viewership ratings would be left up to fate to decide!

After engaging in a little more idle talk.

Jiang Yuan patted Zhang Ye on the shoulder. “Carry on with your work first. After you guys have finished up, I’ll throw a celebratory feast for everyone tonight! This time, all of you have worked hard!”

All the leaders of Central TV Department 1 had smiles on their faces as they left the recording studio. After today, they had a brand new understanding of Zhang Ye’s capability at work. They also thought that their decision to invite Zhang Ye to join them and help turn the situation around while Central TV’s variety shows were at its lowest point was the best decision they made. It had to be said that The Voice was rushed out for broadcast at the last minute and the program team’s production timeline was cut by more than half. Even in that situation, they managed to completely fulfill their tasks. Not only did they manage to complete it, they even did it beautifully and created a great, unprecedented music show. The leaders of Central TV Department 1 were so impressed by Zhang Ye that there was nothing they could criticize him on!

This was what you called a talent!

This was what you called a capable person!

Onstage, only after the leaders left did Zhang Ye finally got the chance to speak. He hurriedly said to all the staff, “Everyone, listen to me, don’t celebrate yet. We will have plenty of time for celebrations later if we want to, but for now, we’ve yet to finish the most important task. The post-production work has not started, so there’s still plenty of work to do. Now, I want everyone to start their tasks following my instructions from earlier and get into action immediately! Make sure to finish editing the program by 8 PM so that we can make it in time for the 9 PM broadcast! We must keep our spirits up! It’s the final push!”

“Understood!”

“Got it!”

“We’ll definitely finish it!”

“We’ll finish it even if we die!”

“Director Zhang, don’t worry about it!”

Everyone responded in unison and with determination!

From the audience, the upper management of Brain Gold company had already left, but Wu Mo had stayed behind. When he saw that Zhang Ye was free, he walked up to him while laughing heartily. “Brother Zhang!”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “CEO Wu.”

Wu Mo immediately said, “The show is fantastic!”

Zhang Ye said, “How is it? Asking you to invest 100 million RMB in the title sponsorship wasn’t too expensive, right?”

“Not expensive at all! It’s worth this price!” Wu Mo said, “I knew you wouldn’t scam me. I can’t go wrong following you. Looks like I have made the right decision again this time!”

At this point, Zhang Ye instead downplayed, “We still have to see what the viewership rating is at the end. It’s difficult to have any opinion of it now. But I hope it can increase the sales of your Brain Gold by another 30%. If the viewership rating is screwed up, I really won’t have any face to see you anymore.”

Wu Mo said confidently, “The viewership ratings won’t be lousy!”

Zhang Ye laughed, “I’m also looking forward to it.”

……

Backstage in the contestants’ lounge, the contestants who had appeared in today’s episode were called over. The four coaches wanted to chat with their team members privately and possibly point out some of their problems to improve on so that they could perform better during the group stages. All of this would help them choose their strongest team member to compete in a sing-off against the other three coaches’ team members.

“Teacher Zhang!”

“Zhou’er, your performance was not bad today.”

“Thank you Teacher Zhang.”

“Director Zhang, I did not perform well today.”

“It’s alright. You were just a little nervous and sang slightly off-key. Next time, relax more.”

Zhang Ye had praise and words of encouragement for them.

As they were talking, the coaches arrived to meet with their respective selected contestants.

Zhang Yuanqi had some other matters to deal with, so she did not say much and just smiled and waved. “Little Qian, come with me.”

Qian Pingfan bid farewell to Zhang Ye and some editors of the program team whom he knew. Then he left with Zhang Yuanqi. For now, Zhang Yuanqi had only Qian Pingfan as her team member, so it seemed like she was going to give him some guidance individually.

Zhang Xia found Zhang Ye and asked, “Are there any more good young singers among the contestants in the next episode?”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “Of course.”

Zhang Xia nodded. “That’s good, I’m looking more and more forward to the next episode! Back then, I joined the program because I couldn’t refuse your push and pull tactics. But now, I realize it was right to come to this place. I did not expect that there would be so many good voices in our country. Furthermore, they are all regular folk!”

Chen Guang and Fan Wenli were quite shocked by Central TV Department 1’s new show. Actually, in the past, they’d also participated in other television programs so they knew the market and had their own judgments. For a program like The Voice, they could only use the word “amazing” to describe it. They had reasons to believe that once the program got broadcast, it would absolutely cause a national sensation and bring about heated discussions. For such a program, if they knew it would turn out to be this good, even if the program team did not offer them a high joining payout, Chen Guang and Fan Wenli would’ve joined for free!

They were also celebrities and needed exposure and excellent work. For an outstanding program like The Voice, which was broadcast on a large platform, it was no doubt that it would only come along by chance, not by searching for it. It would greatly help to increase their popularity as well, so a great show was definitely a win-win situation for the guests, television station, program team, and advertisers!