I'm Really a Superstar

Night.

It was nearly 9 PM.

As the broadcast time for The Voice was nearing, the comments from the outside world and on the internet towards Central TV Department 1’s new program increased. The majority of voices still inclined to the previous opinion. Looking at the number of votes on the topic in a Weibo poll, the netizens were still negative on The Voice. Most of the people still maintained the same attitude towards the program as per a few days ago, with the majority of them being pessimistic.

Interested: 27%

Uninterested: 71%

……

On the Line 10 in the subway.

In a train compartment, some colleagues who had just left their night shift were chatting.

“What day is today?”

“It’s Thursday.”

“Oh, it’s already Thursday? The Voice of China is going to start broadcasting soon?”

“Heh, it really is. Let me check the time. Oh, it’s going to start in less than ten minutes!”

“I have to hurry home and catch it. I think I can still make it in time.”

“You’re going to watch a talent show? But it’s not interesting at all.”

“Not many people feel too optimistic about The Voice. It will certainly be more or less the same as those that came before.”

“I know, but Zhang Ye’s programs are usually full of surprises. I have been following since Lecture Room was broadcast and hope that this time he can produce another miracle. I also saw many comments listing The Voice’s various flaws and reasons for failure. Those were very reasonable and explained logically. However, since when we can use logical reasoning on a person like Zhang Ye? Judging from past experiences, sometimes the more others think that Zhang Ye can’t do well in certain things, the more likely Zhang Ye will do them well. That’s why I still have some expectation for his new program. Hopefully he can succeed like the previous times and not disappoint his fans!”

“I think you’re just deifying him.”

“In the past, Zhang Ye’s programs were pretty enjoyable to watch, but don’t forget, they were mostly pioneering works, such as a lecture program, a never before seen talk show idea, or a mass market variety show like Do You Remember. They have achieved success as original ideas and relied mainly on subverting the current trends. All of these worked to Zhang Ye’s advantage. But this time, The Voice is entering an already oversaturated talent show industry. I’ve never doubted Zhang Ye’s ability and always think that he has the capability of producing a good show. But I don’t know what he’s thinking, because instead of choosing another path that he could excel in, he chose to cross a bridge full of countless other singing shows. This program’s viewership ratings shouldn’t be that low—after all, it has Zhang Ye’s reputation on it and the names of Zhang Yuanqi, Zhang Xia, and the others holding it together—but the viewership ratings definitely won’t be too good either. The market is already too saturated. If they can even get a 0.7% viewership, they should be thanking the gods!”

……

At a certain home.

A family of three was sitting in front of the television.

“Dad, switch the channel to Central TV Department 1.”

“What for? I’m watching soccer now.”

“The Voice of China is beginning soon.”

“No one thinks that show will be good, why should we watch it?”

“No matter what, I still have to take a look. If it’s not good, then we’ll switch to other channels!”

“How many singing shows have you watched in the past two years? You might not be sick of them yet, but I’m already disgusted by them. OK, OK, OK, I’ll switch over to it and you’ll realize what I mean when you watch it.”

……

On a certain discussion forum.

In the entertainment page’s comment section.

“The Voice is starting soon, is anyone going to watch it?”

“I’m not going to watch it. It won’t be interesting.”

“I also can’t be bothered to watch it. I’m just gonna continue gaming.”

“Haha, I just want to take a look, not because I feel that this show will be good, but because I want to see how bad it will turn out. Singing shows these days are all dead on arrival, and with the current market sentiments for such shows, I don’t believe that Zhang Ye will be an exception unless he’s really superhuman. The same genre, the same kind of show, but if the other satellite channels could not do well with them, with so many program teams before them failing successively when it came to singing shows, then on what basis does Zhang Ye think that he can turn the tide? You’re too optimistic. In my opinion, Zhang Ye will be knocked off his perch this time!”

“Even if you put it that way, I cannot help wanting to watch some of it.”

“We’ll see. Let’s criticize him together later, hahaha!”

……

On Weibo.

Some television industry insiders were also very active.

“Has anyone made an estimate on the viewership ratings of The Voice yet?”

“Our department’s internal analysis shows that it will get no more than 0.7% of the viewership!”

“Our side’s analysis results are similar. I want to see how Central TV Department 1 is going to deal with this matter now. After this show has been broadcast, let’s see if Zhang Ye still dares to boast. ‘Someday I shall ascend your highest heights to see other summits dwarfed, and savor the scene.’ When the viewership ratings come out tomorrow, this poem will become a ridiculous joke!”

“This kind of show that maliciously drives up the celebrities’ joining fees should be boycotted. A show that uses hype and driving up prices as a draw, what is there to look forward to? This is all just sensationalism. A steep price without basis will only cause the show to end up in a ‘cannot make ends meet’ situation. The whole of Central TV Department 1 will also be implicated, along with the Brain Gold company and the four coaches’ popularity. All of them will suffer a devastating blow through Zhang Ye’s antics in creating such steep prices in the market. The market has its own set of rules too, and just by paying such high joining fees, it does not mean that you’re guaranteed to get back the equivalent of what you gave!”

“I can’t wait to see Zhang Ye’s expression after the show has finished broadcasting. It’s a good thing to be confident, but blind arrogance will only mean that you’re the frog in the well!”

Jinshi Television Station.

Beihe Provincial Television Station.

Liaodong Television Station.

Jiangnan Television Station.

A famous Shanghai television program production company.

The Radio Broadcast & Television Station Association.

Everyone who posted on Weibo all had their titles and jobs indicated on their verified accounts. They were all people from the television variety industry and some were even leaders or famous analysts within the industry. Because of the overly steep prices of the title sponsorship and joining fees created by Zhang Ye’s new show, the entire industry had been seriously affected. At the same time, The Voice was also facing a boycott and denouncement from all the peers in the domestic television industry!

In the end, just before the program was about to be broadcast, many advertisers also joined in!

“They’re selling the advertising rights for a few million each! That’s a really unreasonable demand!”

“You all were also quoted that kind of a price? It’s the same for us. I’m just wondering now if there was any company who actually dared to buy their advertisements. If they did, then they really must not lack for money!”

“Especially that Brain Gold company. A title sponsorship fee of 100 million RMB? I can only laugh!”

“I’m afraid the Brain Gold company will suffer a heavy loss this year! Just this 100 million RMB will be enough to make them suffer. Don’t even mention recouping their advertising costs, I think it would even be difficult to recoup a fifth of it!”

“That’s right, our company has worked with many television programs before. For those programs using Korean copyrights and 1.2% viewership, their title sponsorship fees only asked for 50 million. What right does The Voice have to demand 100 million? Don’t tell me that your viewership ratings can surpass 1%? This Zhang Ye is way too amusing!”

“Yeah, I don’t understand where his confidence coming from.”

The people making the snide remarks were mainly those company bosses or department heads who had come in contact with Zhang Ye for talks regarding the advertising rights before the broadcast of The Voice. In the end, the deals were called off because the price was too high. Furthermore, the price that both sides were willing to accept were highly disparate. This made many of the advertisers very unhappy. They felt that for such a show, which many people were pessimistic about, it was already goodwill on their part that they were still willing to purchase The Voice’s advertising rights. But never did they expect the seller to still be unsatisfied and even asked for a few million for the advertising rights, which was only for the price for a single advertisement. During the negotiations, some friction sparked between them, and as a result, their emotions were naturally incited. If we have the money, we would rather go and buy the already popular imported variety shows, don’t you think? Why would we spend 3 million RMB to buy the advertising rights for a domestic show in this market downturn? Everyone knows what the situation is like with domestic variety shows. You want us to buy your advertising rights? Do you think we’re crazy!?

These comments were mostly one-sided!

There was even some fake news incriminating The Voice appearing!

“I just heard from a friend that a big problem occurred at the recording of The Voice’s first episode due to them not having enough time. The situation at the studio is all gloomy, so I advise everyone not to watch it!”

“I have a friend in the SARFT and he said that the SARFT is going to take action soon!”

“Yes, I’ve also heard about it. Zhang Ye was previously banned before and a severely punished target as well. Although his ban has now been lifted, the SARFT is always keeping their eyes on him. This time he has caused a disruption in the market prices, so the SARFT will certainly crack down seriously on him. Everyone, take note: whether The Voice will be able to be broadcast today is still something we don’t know. It might be ordered to halt its broadcast at the very last minute as SARFT is already taking action now!”

“Is that true?”

“Holy shit, that can’t be!”

“It’s real. This is insider news!”

“Ah? The Voice is going to be canceled?”

“Shit, Zhang Ye is finished again this time!”

An industry insider also posted: “The authorities should take serious action on such programs! I fully support the SARFT with banning The Voice!”

This rumor even appeared in the online news.

“The Voice faced with being taken off-the-air?”

“The Unlucky Zhang Ye and His The Voice of China!”

Voices of doubts and rumors were flying everywhere.

……

At Central TV.

The program team staff of The Voice had just finished with the post-production after much crunching. The first episode of the program was finally completed. But when they saw the news on the internet, the exhausted staff suddenly panicked again.

Even Central TV Department 1’s Deputy Director Jiang Yuan also felt a little panicky about this rumor, so he immediately made some calls to the station head to check out the situation. Since there no smoke without fire, he was really afraid that there would be some sudden changes!

Inside the office.

Zhang Zuo said nervously, “Director Zhang, what should we do?”

Ha Qiqi was also quite afraid. “The program we spent so much effort into making, could it just be banned like this?”

“The SARFT is really making a move? They are too much of a bully!” Little Wang, Wu Yi, and the rest were extremely furious. “Based on what can they ban our program!?”

Faced with so many rumors and the news online, many of their hearts were quivering!

Only Zhang Ye was the calmest in the whole of Central TV.

He said calmly, “Don’t believe those rumors. They’re whatever.”

A female editor said, “But there is plenty of news spreading around now. Moreover, there was already some news stating that the SARFT was already kept their eyes on singing shows because there are too many television stations doing these kinds of talent shows and creating disorder in the market. I heard that the SARFT are going to limit the approval of such singing talent shows!”

Zhang Ye said firmly, “Let me tell you this, the SARFT might ban any other programs, but it will definitely not ban ours!”

Zhang Zuo said, “Is that true?”

Ha Qiqi exclaimed, “Why?”

Zhang Ye said, “Get back to work and don’t listen to all that nonsense!”

Everyone was skeptical.

What do you mean by why?

What do you mean by if it’s true?

Zhang Ye thought to himself, my girlfriend is the SARFT’s Deputy Chief, in charge of all television programs’, movies’, and dramas’ approval and punishments! If The Voice really got targeted, would I not know? Besides, even if really got targeted, with Old Wu there, could they even ban my program!?

Bullshit!

This bro knows someone in senior management!