Chapter 284: Top of the SARFT’s Blacklist—Zhang Ye!
The next day.
It was still four days till January 1st.
Zhang Ye had contacted the original members of his program team, as well as allowed them to hand out tickets for a live audience. He had plans to record the rest of the episodes of “Zhang Ye’s Talk Show” before the new year arrived. A preliminary estimate was 55 episodes, before he could go back to Beijing to spend New Year’s with his parents.
To film fifty episodes in about four days meant a lot of work each day!
At his fastest speed, he had to record about 12 or 13 episodes a day. With every episode being half an hour long, it would take a minimum of six hours to record. This meant recording would begin in the morning and end in the afternoon.
If it were any other host, they would not be able to handle such a large amount of stress from work. There was no need to even mentioning recording more than ten episodes a day, even recording two or three episodes in four consecutive days was something no one could handle. However, Zhang Ye had the perseverance to do so. He had done crazy things like this in the past. Be it “Ghost Blows Out the Light” at the radio station, or “Lecture Room” he recorded at Beijing Television Station, many staff members of his program teams would privately call Zhang Ye “Desperate Workaholic”. This was because even them as people on the side could not survive the fatigue associated with working on scene, but Zhang Ye could do so day after day. He did not collapse at all. This was also why Zhang Ye was accepted by many members of staff. He always led by example. He worked more than others and rested less than others. With him holding the stage on the forefront, the members of the program team did not skive. People were, after all, judged by others. This was also the reason why the team led by Zhang Ye was always so efficient.
As for the need for Talk Shows to stick to current affairs?
Zhang Ye was not too worried. His Talk Show touched on current affairs, but he did not need to say those jokes only when something happened. For example, many of the jokes in “Tonight 80’s Talkshow” were universal. Ridiculing the Koreans, or trampling the Japanese, these jokes could survive the ages. Without any exaggeration, even if Zhang Ye used his talk show to scold the Koreans or Japanese, the jokes would still not be obsolete a hundred years later!
……
The recording studio.
“Is every department ready?”
“Teacher Zhang, we are done preparing.”
“When will the audience enter?”
“In about half an hour. It has already been arranged.”
“Alright, I’ll go backstage to take a rest. Sorry for troubling you to keep an eye out.”
“Are we really recording 12 episodes today, Teacher Zhang? Man, alright. Go take a rest. We will be busying ourselves soon. There won’t be time, but you still have us!”
The staff present were all busily working.
After Zhang Ye went into the backstage dressing room, he began to buy large quantities of “Memory Search Capsule” after closing the door. He closed his eyes and began to arrange and search through all the Talk Show programs in his mind. Zhang Ye had wildly spoken of recording more than ten episodes a day all based on the effects of the Memory Search Capsule. This allowed him to have a continuous stream of jokes in his head. The jokes chosen by Zhang Ye were all good and they had the best effects. He even abandoned certain jokes that only had passable effects, so as to make “Zhang Ye’s Talk Show” a signature show, a program of the highest standards. As such, he naturally burned through a huge number of Memory Search Capsules. Thankfully, the previous few episodes of the talk show program had added a lot of Reputation points to his game ring. He had also received a lot from the live broadcast speech and poem, and finally, the exposure from “Sunflower in the Sun” and the limerick had earned him a large number of Reputation points. It was enough!
Eat!
Ten!
Twenty!
Thirty!
Zhang Ye knew that he should not feel the pinch regarding the amount of Reputation points he just spent. He could earn the Reputation points again when they were depleted, but if he did not do the program well, there was no way of regretting it. Hence, Zhang Ye planned on spending all his Reputation points over the next few days, so as to make “Zhang Ye’s Talk Show” perfect. Besides, there was no need to feel the pinch because even with the Reputation points depleted, when the talk show was restored, all the Reputation points he earned a day would be “pure income”. The more he spent now, the better the program would be. The Reputation points from each episode in half a month’s time would also naturally be greater in amount!
……
Outside.
The audience entered.
“Great, I’ve waited a long time for this moment!”
“We are really lucky. I heard the program hasn’t been restored for broadcasting.”
“That’s right. There’s still half a month left. It might be restored sometime before or after New Year’s. Since SARFT has not restored Teacher Zhang Ye’s hosting qualifications, all they can do now is pre-record.”
“The SARFT sure is something. What are they doing!?'”
“There’s no way around it. Who asked Teacher Zhang to curse them during a live broadcast? He has now been labeled as a destructor of live broadcasts having done it twice. He also had misdeeds back in Beijing. This time, he was only suspended for half a month, so it’s still not too bad. If not for Li Tao smacking himself against a gun by meeting a righteous hacker, Teacher Zhang Ye might not have been able to do any programs ever again. It’s already worth thanking the stars just for us coming here to watch the talk show live.”
“Yea, let’s be content.”
“Zhang Ye is here, Zhang Ye is here!”
“Hahaha! I want to laugh just from seeing him!”
“That’s right. I haven’t seen Teacher Zhang Ye in a long time! He’s so f**king warm!”
The recording began. Zhang Ye made his debut on stage. However, the moment he stood onstage, the audience spontaneously stood up as they cheered on Zhang Ye’s name!
“Zhang Ye!”
“Zhang Ye!”
“Zhang Ye!”
The audience were very excited!
Zhang Ye was also very touched as he chuckled, “Thank you for not forgetting me. Thank you. Everyone, please sit down. Some trifling matters have happened over the past few days, causing the halt of this program… ”
“Yi!”
The audience began laughing loudly. Trifling matters? When were any of the troubles you previously got yourself into f**king trifling!? When was it not earth-shaking!?
Zhang Ye was already famous. Before he even said his jokes, the audience was already laughing loudly!
……
On the first day, Zhang Ye recorded 12 episodes. The audience was changed twice. At the end, he felt like he was in good condition, so he ended up doing another two more episodes.
On the second day, Wang Xiong came to persuade Zhang Ye as he was was in great trepidation seeing the scenes. This workload was too tiring, so he hoped that nothing bad would come out of it. However, Zhang Ye rejected the good intentions of his Leader, and carried on insisting on recording the programs. In the end, he recorded 13 episodes in one go, from day to night.
The third day was the same.
The fourth day was as usual.
Zhang Ye’s shocking performance was evident. It even caused a sensation throughout the entire company. Even many industry insiders knew of this matter. Without exception, all of them had only two things to say about Zhang Ye’s actions — madness and perverse! This was simply an impossible task. Even if you had the energy and physical strength to do it, how could your scripts keep up? What was most shocking was that Zhang Ye did not prepare any scripts from beginning to the end. He actually managed to finish all the episodes of the talk show in four days. The quality of each episode surpassed the previous one, and all of them were basically recorded in one pass. There was no precedent of a re-recording!
What sort of concept was this?
It was f**king playing with one’s life!
However, Zhang Ye actually managed to do it!
Many industry insiders heard of this matter and they refused to believe it. Hence, they came to Weiwo company to watch. Feng Guiqin specially approved it and gave them front row seats. As a result, a number of people showed up with faces full of disdain. They were prepared to pick at it, hoping to expose Zhang Ye for having a script, but after more than ten episodes were recorded, none of them made a sound after they left!
……
Today.
Zhang Ye finally finished recording the last episode of the Talk Show. At the end of the filming, the entire audience gave him a standing ovation and broke out into an enthusiastic round of applause!
The audience were dismissed.
The program team gathered together.
“Teacher Zhang, it’s been hard on you.”
“You’ve worked hard the past few days.”
“Zhang Ye, you are too fantastic!”
“Haha, our team has created an industry miracle!”
“That’s right, to finish recording fifty episodes in four days. No one would f**king believe it even if we mention it!”
“Back then, I thought it was impossible, but who could have thought that we actually managed to do it! Teacher Zhang, how does your brain have so many joke segments? And they were all interconnected so nicely, and you did not even stutter once? If it were me, I would already be stuttering a single line without a script!”
“Hehe, you want to compare yourself with Teacher Zhang?”
“Who is Teacher Zhang? He is a mighty person who cannot be measured using common sense!”
With the program wrapped up, everyone was very happy.
Zhang Ye also smiled, “It should be said that it has been hard on all of you. I made you accompany me in this madness the past few days. So, tonight, I’ll be treating you all. Let’s go to the best restaurant in Shanghai! I’ll pick up the tab no matter how much you eat!”
“Oh!”
“Teacher Zhang is impressive!”
Everyone cheered!
The best restaurant? To have a single nice meal would be tens of thousands at least!
Zhang Ye naturally did not care much about money. He was ambivalent towards money as his goal was always fame. He wanted to become the world’s top celebrity. That was what mattered most to him!
Dong Shanshan came through a staff door, “What’s this about eating?”
Following that, Wang Bei and company entered, “Hehe, I think we heard it as well. Zhang Ye is treating, right? Are we included?”
Zhang Han, who had good relations with Dong Shanshan, said with a smile, “Am I allowed in?”
Zhang Ye waved his hands, “All of you are included. Anyone here is included!” Saying that, he gave Feng Guiqin and Wang Xiong a call to invite them. On this matter, Director Feng had given Zhang Ye a good deal of support. She did not abandon him at the most critical point. With the program done recording, Zhang Ye naturally wanted to express his gratitude.
……
At night.
With everyone gathered together, they headed straight for the restaurant.
On the way, everyone saw a blacklist for next year posted by the SARFT on the internet!
Similar to Zhang Ye’s world, every year, the SARFT headquarters would publish a “blacklist”. Of course, this was what everyone called it in private. It was not an official term. The goal and purpose of producing this list was to stress one’s specification and professional conduct. In other words, those people who entered the blacklist, be it in their future programs, movies or television dramas, the production would be strictly reviewed as long as a person on the blacklist was in it. This was a limitation as well as a warning!
There were about eight people on the SARFT blacklist!
Two of them were actors who were caught for taking drugs this year. Three of them were two television drama actors and a scriptwriter who were caught engaging in prostitution. Another one was a director who had been involving in scamming. As for the other person, no one knew why as the internet did not report on his matters, but he was last on the blacklist.
As for the number one person on the SARFT blacklist, it surprised and shocked everyone when they saw it!
First page…
First row…
First line…
There was Zhang Ye’s name!
Zhang Ye’s name began with Z, and according to this ordering, his name should have been at the back, and even if it was ordered according to strokes, Zhang Ye should not have been first! But he was surprised to find that he was first on SARFT’s blacklist! At the same moment, numerous people were shocked seeing this, they also had the impulse to laugh!
Take a look!
All of you take a look!?
Look at how powerful Zhang Ye’s mouth was!
He neither cursed or did anything serious. All he did was say a few poems or speeches with his mouth, but what was the outcome? He was ranked ahead of people who took drugs, engaged in prostitution or scammed! The attention and vigilance that SARFT placed on him was higher than those f**king drug addicts! What did this mean? It meant that to the SARFT headquarters, the offensive power of Zhang Ye’s mouth was greater than that of all of those people!
Hence, he was ranked number one on the blacklist!
Many people expressed their speechlessness in posts!
“Did they get it wrong?”
“Holy sh*t! Zhang Ye is ranked first this year?”
“The number one person on last year’s SARFT blacklist was a director who beat someone up to death in public! This year… it’s Teacher Zhang Ye?”
“Next year, Teacher Zhang Ye will definitely suffer! He is a target of specialized suppression! Any program or work of his will be strictly reviewed, with specifications higher than the average person!”
“There’s no other way about it. Teacher Zhang Ye has caused too many problems!”
“Even so, he shouldn’t be ranked first. There’s a celebrity with drug addiction behind Zhang Ye! No matter how I look at it, Teacher Zhang Ye should be placed behind him!”
“That’s right, what great sin has Teacher Zhang committed?”
“What sort of standards are they using to form this ranking list?”
“Is there a need to ask? Haha, the SARFT ranks it according to the damage one can cause!”
Many netizens and industry insiders finally gave a stunning analysis. Zhang Ye’s mouth was something even SARFT was f**king afraid of!