Chapter 611 Premiere episode of Do You Remember!
On this day.
In the morning.
Zhang Ye was still sleeping and lazing around at home.
In recent days, after the public release of Grandmasters and its rising box office earnings crossing the 200 million mark, the pace of earnings had slowed down by quite a bit due to the issue of piracy. It was no longer rising as fast like before but instead felt as though someone had applied hard brakes to its momentum. The box office earnings had fallen greatly. However, this situation was already expected by the film producers and also something that was unavoidable in the film industry. It had become a normal phase in the lifespan of a movie and highlighted exactly how no movie was spared by the onslaught of piracy.
The box office earnings for Grandmasters were the highest in the country for this month.
Zhang Ye’s reputation was also increasing very quickly, together with the pace of the movie. This could be seen from the amount of reputation points he gained as they were being added to his game ring at a rapid pace!
+1032!
+99!
+276!
+2123!
The points were credited to his game ring!
For Zhang Ye, whose reputation points had all been used up earlier, this was truly a lifesaver, something he needed very badly.
As for Zhang Ye’s placing on the Celebrity Rankings Index, there were some movements in the past few days. In the C-list rankings, after having been quiet for some time, he finally took a critical step and moved into the top spot, number one! He was so close to rising to the B-list now!
It wasn’t even a step anymore.
More like just half a step away!
With just a little push more, he would surely be able to swap positions with the last ranked celebrity on the B-list rankings. He was only this close from it now!
……
Ring, ring, ring.
It was almost 11 AM when the phone started ringing!
Zhang Ye was still in dreamland when he suddenly got woken up. Sitting up on his bed, he looked to his left and right, yawning as he searched for his phone. Finally, he found it and picked it up to answer the call. “Who is this?”
It was Dong Shanshan on the other end. Shesaid, “What’s up? Still sleeping?”
“Shanshan?” Zhang Ye asked sleepily. “Yeah, what time is it now?”
“It’s almost 11 AM.” Dong Shanshan laughed and said, “You’re getting really popular these days, are you going to a lot of socializing events too? Why were you still not awake yet at this time? What time did you get home last night?”
Zhang Ye said, “How would I have any social events to attend? You know very well how my relationships with the people in the entertainment circle are, and besides, you also know that I don’t take up commercial performances either. I’ve been staying home for the past two days, waiting and checking my popularity score. Looking at it rising bit by bit makes me feel really good. I was even dreaming about it until you called.”
Dong Shanshan said, “You’ve almost reached the B-list rankings?”
“Yup, almost. But I don’t know when.” Zhang Ye said conservatively, “There’s still quite a gap between me and the last place person on the B-list, so I might not be able to catch up for sure.”
Dong Shanshan said, “Hur hur. Oh, by the way, I just watched Grandmasters yesterday. The story plot isn’t exactly my type of show with all that fighting and killing, but I must say that your acting is really good. That makes me wonder. We were both in the same class at the same school and taking the same lessons, so why don’t I remember that we were taught how to act in the broadcasting department? Where did you learn acting? You’re even that good at it? Even the fight scenes were done quite well. Did you fight for real?”
Zhang Ye laughed and answered, “I was self-taught, just self-taught.”
Dong Shanshan said, “It’s even doing so well at the box office. You could definitely be considered a movie star now since you’re already a member of the 200 million club.”
Zhang Ye denied it and said, “Oh come on, I was just part of the supporting cast, it doesn’t mean much at all. Besides, this movie was just so-so. I will tell you that, honestly, there are many parts I’m not too satisfied with.”
To someone from this world, Grandmasters might have been a breath of fresh air to the domestic film market with its high box office earnings, but in Zhang Ye’s opinion, he felt that it was still somewhat lacking. It’s true that it was pretty enjoyable as a movie, but could it be considered a classic? No, it was far from that. As Zhang Ye did not know how to make movies, he decided that once he knew how to make one and had a chance to become a director, he would definitely bring those classic movies from his world over to this world and make himself the lead actor. He would just film it in the way he liked without anyone daring to correct or criticize his Taiji Fist. When that time came, Zhang Ye would let everyone know what a good movie should be like! As for now, his focus was still on television programs. He did not have any spare time to get into the film industry, at least, not for now.
“How’s your program going?” Zhang Ye suddenly asked her.
Dong Shanshan laughed and said, “I actually called to tell you about it. I’ve already recorded 3 episodes of the program. The first episode will be airing tonight at 9 PM. We’ve managed to get the next two days of the 9 PM schedule as well, so that means there will be three continuous episodes aired in a row. After that, we’ll plan for it to resume the normal schedule starting from next Friday and airing it once weekly.”
Zhang Ye blinked and asked, “Using two days of primetime slots over the weekend as well? Looks like the station is really putting a lot of confidence and importance on this. Sure then, I’ll definitely catch it tonight. I’ve been waiting for it for so long now!”
“Me too, but I wonder what the viewership ratings will be like?”
“They won’t be bad, guaranteed.”
“Hopefully.”
After hanging up, Zhang Ye started to look forward to the program as well. He had really been waiting for the program to air for some time now, especially now when he was also at a critical moment of sneaking up into the B-list rankings. He knew that he needed to drum up his advance and get to the next spot quickly, or else, once the momentum has passed, and if he still could not advance up in the rankings, he would probably have to wait for another time to do it again.
His parents had gone to work and did not prepare any breakfast for him, so Zhang Ye just casually decided to cook some instant noodles, returning back to his days as the “Instant Noodles Hero.” As he ate his noodles, he browsed Weibo to check on the news.
Do You Remember had been promoted for many days now, but the level of discussion among the netizens still wasn’t very high. It felt like, even though there was a bit of focus and attention on the program, it still wasn’t enough.
“The premiere will be tonight?”
“Yes, it’s going to be three episodes broadcasted over three days.”
“Has Beijing Television gone crazy? They’re really putting everything on this, huh?”
“I find it strange too. How could such an odd and idiotic program get promoted so much that they’re even using other primetime programs’ slots to support this lyric memorization show? Do You Remember…just hearing this name alone leaves me kind of speechless. What sort of lousy show is this!”
“Don’t tell me there could be something more to it?”
“The show’s trailer has already been released. It’s just a competition for people to remember lyrics, what more could there be? It’s all mentioned clearly.”
“I don’t think it will be that simple, after all, this is a program made by Zhang Ye. I’m part of the television industry and Zhang Ye’s program production abilities are recognized by any and all of the industry insiders.”
“That is the reason why I am so disappointed with Zhang Ye this time. Your sister, remembering lyrics…I can’t see what’s the selling point at all. If the viewership ratings can surpass 0.1%, they had better burn some incense to thank the gods!”
“Teacher Zhang has almost reached the B-list rankings, so if this show’s viewer ratings turn out well, then he might possibly ride on it together with his popularity from Grandmasters to propel himself into the B-list. But this doesn’t seem like it will be happening anymore now.”
“There’s definitely no chance of it anymore.”
“This show can’t possibly be any good.”
The netizens were mostly negative about the show, Do You Remember.
Following the release of Grandmasters, Zhang Ye’s popularity was currently on a rise. Even though its momentum was already weakening, it was still on the rise, just increasing at a slower rate. This was the reason why Zhang Ye did not know exactly when the moment would happen. Last night, there were already media and news reports that Zhang Ye’s promotion to a B-list celebrity would happen at any moment, but all of that turned out to be nothing. The birth of a new B-list celebrity was not a small matter in the entertainment circle, as after all, at this high level, any move by anyone would be greatly scrutinized. A celebrity at this stage could finally be considered a big shot. Their performance fees and worth would also be doubled from before!
More interesting was that the celebrity in the last spot of the B-list rankings was also a host, a very famous host from Central TV—Chen Ye. His career had mainly been focused around the different channels of Central TV, starting from doing documentary programs in the past, then doing interview programs before moving on to variety and large-scale gala events. He was even one of the hosts of the Spring Festival Gala for the past two years, and by that reason—if he could host the Spring Festival Gala—he was naturally very well-known in the country. In the realm of the A and B-listers, there weren’t many hosts who could reach this level. The number of those who did were easily accounted for with just the fingers on one hand. Chen Ye was precisely one of them.
It was at this moment.
On Weibo, Chen Ye actually posted a reply onto the topic that was promoting Do You Remember: “A show like this would surely not get any viewers, so why would anyone actually produce such a show? What are they even thinking!”
Chen Ye opened direct fire!
Nobody knew whether he had directed this shot at Beijing Television or at Zhang Ye!
Before his reply, this promotional Weibo message was not really getting much attention, but once Chen Ye started something, a number of Weibo users immediately rushed over to observe the commotion!
“Wow, Host Chen has said something!”
“Getting the popcorn ready and watching this!”
“Chen Ye vs Zhang Ye!”
“The battle of the two hosts!”
“This is the storm and assault of the status of a B-list ranking!”
If Zhang Ye were to rise into the B-list rankings, then without question, Chen Ye would be relegated to the C-list. With such a competitive relationship between them, this was the conflict that everyone was paying great attention to right now, especially since Chen Ye had said those words at such a critical period. It definitely did not help to control the netizens appetite for drama as they were all left guessing what would happen next!
“Come and see! Quick, they’re almost fighting!”
“@ZhangYe don’t thank me, just call me a Red Scarf!”
“Zhang Ye is notorious for his bad temper. I wonder what he will say to this or if he’ll even respond.”
“@ZhangYe come and put this person in his place! It’s your turn to stand up!”
“@ChenYe keep stepping on him, well done!”
“@ZhangYe someone is scolding you!”
“@ChenYe your criticism is still not strong enough!”
“Teacher Zhang, get him!”
“Teacher Chen, show him who’s boss!”
Many of these Weibo users kept stirring the pot, some wanting to look at mayhem and others wanting to create trouble. It all boils down to one sentence—a spectator could never get enough of drama!