American Entertainment 1982

Martin sat in his seat in the conference room, always feeling a little restless, even more out of place than he was in those neighborhoods in Compton dealing with black people who didn't know he was a fake big shot,

But at the moment in the conference room of BT TV station, everyone knows that he is just Tommy's driver, but he is still allowed to sit at the conference table to participate in the meeting. Mi's side, which made him a little flattered.

"I did several surveys in California, focusing on the cities of Oakland, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Saramento. Most of the TV sets in black households are usually turned on at six o'clock in the morning, and then turn on. The whole day, until the end of the late night show, the women will turn on the TV and listen to the news talk show during the breakfast time between six and seven o'clock, which is probably the only time of their day. Important sources of news mainly focus on the news talk shows of several California local TV stations, namely "Good Morning Pasadena", "Donna Show", and "Breakfast News", which are not very serious news talk shows..." Sean Ray, vice president of the TV station in charge of public relations, walked slowly around the conference table indoors, while staring at the documents in his hand, introducing the results of the investigation:

"These programs are characterized by straightforwardness, boldness and irresponsibility, and hearsay news can be disseminated by them. For example, the "Breakfast News" reported last week that a famous fortune-teller predicted that there would be a Class 10 event in California last Saturday. The earthquake... Then it was said that on the day the news was broadcast, at least seven convenience stores in California were robbed of food by fools who believed it was real, and the police arrested dozens of homeless people suspected of robbery."

"Then there is the prime time, which is mainly the production of popular dramas of the three major TV networks. However, the FOX TV network has sprung up, and their ratings in prime time have already reached the fourth place, and they are firmly biting the third place of the ABC TV network. Ass, and most of FOX’s audiences overlap with ours, they are middle- and lower-class people, and even the production ideas are somewhat similar, relying on low-cost but full of gimmicks to attract audiences.”

"At present, the most popular FOX self-produced program is broadcast in prime time. It is called "America's Most Wanted Man". , and invite the police and sociologists as guests to comment, and give weekly rankings. Many low-level people are on time in front of the computer, watching this program. Many gangs are trying to get their members on this program. They privately call this show the Oscars of the gang world. It has aired nine episodes and is the most popular show on FOX. With this show, the FOX TV network has negotiated 57 local TV stations to join FOX, combining FOX programs and commercials. Covering 70% of the United States, in this program, FOX will broadcast a 30-second advertisement in four times, and quote 185,000 US dollars for each 30-second period, which is the advertising fee income of a single episode of a program. ten thousand, and their single-term cost is only three hundred and fifty thousand.”

"And I learned that they are producing a spin-off variety show "America's Strongest Cop", also known as "Find You", a documentary show about police arrests, and it will succeed "Wanted Man" without accident."

Rick was a little surprised when he heard Sean talking about the other party's cost: "Why is their single-term cost so low?"

"Because the Murdoch Group bought the entire 20th Century Fox Film Company with 575 million yuan, including their TV production department, and ensured that all links are in their own hands from the very beginning, so as to avoid being controlled by others and reduce production costs." Shaw En said:

"Although we will not enter the daytime soap theater for the time being, we have also conducted a survey and there is no suspense. The daytime soap opera time period is still a meal on the three major TV networks. My Days, All My Children, Here and There, Roseanne."

"The late-night shows are divided among the late-night show theaters of the three major TV networks, but FOX has produced a late-night show like "Late Night Show: Starring Rivers" and wants to compete with CBS' "Late Night Show: Starring Carson" , It’s just that the effect is not very good so far. It has burned 23 million since it started broadcasting, but the ratings are not half of the opponent’s. FOX is considering cutting it and designing a new late-night show. The tentative name is "" Married With Kids, reality sitcom."

"Okay, everyone, my market data is like this. Next, Earl will explain the cooperation work of the TV station." Sean closed the documents in his hand, walked back to his seat, looked at everyone, and said.

"Thank you, Sean." Earl Rush lightly adjusted the tie with his hand, and stood up: "Recently, I am relying on my contacts and some alumni relations to make preliminary contacts with some regional independent TV stations in Illinois and California. These TV stations are all rotten products that the three major TV networks and FOX have not taken a fancy to, so my job is currently a process of panning for gold, finding those TV stations that seem to have the potential to rise with us."

"In general, TV stations that close their doors at any time, and whose ratings are worse than the most rubbish student transcripts, welcome us, and hope that we will bring programs to save them, because we will not make them pay franchise fees, and It can also save a sum of program procurement expenses, and the TV stations with a little ratings want to wait and see again. Most of them hope that we will allow them to play half of the advertisements they undertake when they broadcast the programs we produce. Profit, relying on the ratings to get enough benefits."

Earl has been running around for the past few days, and he may not have had a good rest. Even with dark skin, his dark circles cannot be seen, but it can be judged from the two bags under his eyes. During this period of time, his work commuting between Chicago and Los Angeles is not easy. , said in a flat tone at this time:

"Let's put it this way, if we want these guys to operate TV stations obediently according to our ideas and build our BT network, we must first let them make money. The local ratings rankings have climbed sharply, making it easier for them to sell their ads."

""Looking for Dad in America" ​​received very good feedback from the black community near Los Angeles, but the response to "Battle of Qingsi" was much worse. En told me that FOX is producing a dance competition reality show similar to the format of "Battle of Qingsi", so we temporarily canceled the plan of "Battle of Qingsi." Rick Luthor heard Earl talk about the show. When he opened his mouth to respond:

"I had a meeting with the team to discuss it. Considering that pure competition programs need people to understand the cumbersome competition procedures, and there are too many similar programs on the market, it is better to borrow some ready-made gimmicks, similar to when I am trying to shoot when I am alive. The idea of ​​"Terminator" adult movie."

"My team and I looked at the best-selling books, the highest-grossing movies, and the most-watched series for the last three years, and I found a book, published in the United States in 1949, that had sold seven million copies by 1970, 1984 Maybe it was because of the title of the book, maybe it was because of other reasons, in short, it appeared at the top of the bestseller list in history, and it continued until this year. For this reason, I specially asked Martin to visit the black community to find out whether black people have heard of this name. Unexpectedly, many low-level black people have heard the name of this book, but they have not read it, but heard this story on the radio. It is an alternate historical novel, and the title of the book is "1984". have read the bestseller."

Everyone, including Martin, nodded when they heard the name, expressing their understanding of the story.

"Nineteen Eighty-Four" is a dystopian novel written by the British writer George Orwell. It was published in 1949. The time of the story is set in the fictional 1984. In the author's conception, in 1984, the world Only three superpowers remained, namely Eurasia, Eastasia and Oceania.

Eurasia, the territory of the European continent and Siberia, Russia, is actually the author's belief that the Soviet Union will completely occupy Europe sooner or later.

The territory of East Asia is more than half of Asia, that is, the Asian yellow race united to form a powerful country.

The main place of the story is Oceania, and its territory includes the entire Western Hemisphere, the British Isles, Australia and Africa. It is considered the most powerful of the three superpowers.

Of course, Tommy has also read this popular bestseller, but in his opinion, the reason why this book can be sold well in the United States, and even the US government publicizes it, even broadcasting audio stories on the radio, is mainly because the ideas in the book conform to the The government’s malicious speculation about the Soviet Union contributed to the flames. I hope that the citizens will read the story in this book and regard it as an event that may actually happen, so that the citizens believe that once the Soviet Union really rules the world, their lives will be different. It will be as miserable as described in the book.

Rick saw that everyone knew the story, so he continued to introduce: "In the book, the leader of Oceania is called Big Brother, and Big Brother uses cameras to monitor every move and every word of all the citizens. The line: Big Brother is watching you! This line impressed every one of us."

"So, I want to adapt this idea into a reality show called "Big Brother Is Watching You", but this time, all the viewers are Big Brother, and the participants of the show are citizens under surveillance. The idea is to arrange a villa as the detention dormitory of the Ministry of Love of Oceania, and then select sixteen strangers to live in it, completely isolated from the outside world, and their every move is exposed in front of the camera, and every word they say They will all be recorded by a microphone, and a snitch room will be designed separately, and a high bonus will be designed, one person will be eliminated every week, three months will be a season, and the final winner will take away 100,000 US dollars."

"This also requires these contestants, if they want to win and leave the villa with the money, they must have superb acting skills, a strong heart and ingenious scheming methods like the protagonist in the novel."

"In each issue, the tenants will vote anonymously to select a roommate who is eliminated, and the audience will also vote to decide which one is the most disgusting and hypocritical. The final duel, and we will design various tasks to increase the communication conflicts between tenants and magnify the contradictions of human nature in this closed environment. The tenants can even go to bed, and we will broadcast it without violating the broadcasting rules of TV programs. In short , This is a reality show that satisfies selfish desires and penetrates human nature. People will see that in order to win in the end, contestants try their best to avoid elimination, even if it is body trading."

"Preliminary plans to edit the essence of a week's life materials into a one-hour program, which will be broadcast during prime time on Sunday."

After talking about his team's thoughts, Rick looked excitedly at Tommy and the others, eager to get a reply. Tommy just nodded slightly, and then looked at Earl and Sean: "What do you think?"

Sean held the coffee in both hands, and after tens of seconds of serious thinking with a fat face, he said:

"Basically, people who have read this novel or know this story may pay attention to this program. After all, many people in the United States have stereotypes about the Soviet Union. In fact, it all comes from this completely false historical hour. The gimmick is really good. After all, it is criticizing the Soviet Union. If it is not too vulgar, the feedback is also good. It is easy to spend money to get the page in some mainstream newspapers and increase the popularity and influence of some TV stations, but the premise is that the program must be exquisitely produced and unconventional. .”

"I agree with Sean that at least those MPs would be happy to see us smearing the USSR for free, I mean the Communications Commission or the Ethics Committee shouldn't be in trouble because let's just say the people on the show are just Deduce the living conditions of the Soviet citizens in the novel."

"Martin, are you interested in participating in this program after listening?" Tommy turned his head and asked Martin.

Martin shook his head: "I won't sign up, but I'd love to sit in front of the TV and watch other people's performance, you know, boss, it's me in front of the TV, seeing which guy has a chance to get a bonus, I Immediately picked up the phone and called the tv program and voted him out, people like to see other people put in a lot of hard work and fail in the end, that's what I love to see, and so are a lot of black people I know, think about it Look, a woman slept with 15 other men in order to earn a bonus of 100,000, thinking that she would definitely have the last laugh, and guess what, of course the audience voted to eliminate this woman, seeing her frantic expression."

"Don't use actors from the Screen Actors Guild to help with the trial recording. Later, let Martin take you to Compton to pick some black people. For the villa, choose the Beverly building where he temporarily serves as a dormitory. Try to reduce the cost as much as possible. First try to shoot a week's worth of material. Edit it to see if the show has enough and attractive highlights as you thought." Tommy finally looked at Rick and said.

If you want to make money as soon as possible and expand your influence, it is not enough to broadcast programs on your own channel, so BT TV needs to ensure that the self-made programs have enough attractive highlights, at least before the broadcast, so that Earl-La Shi took the pilot tape to attract the heads of other small TV stations, allowing them to recognize BT's production capabilities and see the possibility of making money, so they agreed to cooperate with BT TV station and broadcast programs produced by BT TV station.

Only by helping other TV stations make money, they will be willing to hand over the operation of the TV station to BT TV station, so that a new national TV network can gradually form around BT TV station.

"Okay." Rick agreed, and then handed out a few pages of episode introductions to several people: "Then, this is the list of episodes I plan to purchase to fill the TV station's time."

Tommy sighed: "Martin took this list to the black communities he visited and asked the black people if they would like to read it. He got some feedback for you."

"So, Martin, what do they think of these episodes? I pick and choose." Hearing Tommy's words, Rick looked at Martin.

Martin nodded: "Yes, black people only have an impression of two, because apart from these two, no one has seen the other ones. The first one, "Little House on the Prairie", I would like to When my older black cousins ​​asked about the show, their reaction was, Mr. Martin Hart, you start a black TV station and you're going to show black people this shit? Are you a white stooge?"

"White running dogs? It's a children's comedy, and I want it to be played during the daytime for black kids... and it's starring a little white girl, but there's also a black guy who's a great doctor, and he saves The protagonist's family, the role..." Rick was at a loss when he heard Martin talk about the blacks in the community's impression of the show, and even wondered if these blacks had seen the play, and wanted to explain.

"Listen, I know there's a nigga stupid* doctor on TV, okay? I already know that, and that's what white people see as good blacks, and look, how fucking thoughtful we are to arrange a perfect no-nonsense Picky roles for black actors, and let him save white people." Martin signaled Rick that he didn't need to explain, and continued:

"My countrymen tell me only fucking white people like to watch this black guy, and if I'm going to put this show, forget about them watching our channel."

"Okay, which one is the second one?" Rick asked with a sigh.

"Miami Vice, everyone has seen it, it's the most famous one on your list."

Hearing this sentence, Rick breathed a sigh of relief: "I knew it would interest black people! It's just that the purchase price of this large-scale drama series is a bit high, with a single episode costing about 70,000 yuan, but if the audience is interested, there is no problem. Question, we can rely on advertising time..."

Martin interrupted Rick again: "No, you misunderstood, Rick, the reason they are interested is...Mr. Hart, as a big black man from Miami, why haven't you arranged for your men to go and collapse that idiot*" The director and all the actors of the crew of Miami Vice?"

"So, they find it ugly?" Rick was stunned again: "A very exciting action drama, speeding cars, explosions, gun battles..."

"They think it's ugly?" Martin repeated that sentence imitating Rick's puzzled tone, and then said: "Of course, they think it's ugly, do you think the white policeman with a black policeman partner, we should be happy? The black gang members in that show all look like idiots, and every episode, the black police partner is injured, waiting for the white protagonist to save them. If there is no other show to watch, they will not watch this kind of discrimination against black people Trash."

Rick scratched his red hair in annoyance: "So what do they hope? Hope we give them a black idol, Eddie Murphy, like NBC?"

"I don't know who Eddie Murphy is, I'm just passing on the thoughts of those black people who don't like seeing black actors on TV who help white people all the time and are kind like fucking black Jesus, want to hear the truth Is it?" Martin looked at Rick.

"certainly."

"Those black people told me that they want to see black people take revenge on white people, burn the white people who insulted them, and take their property! Because white people have done this to us in history, they are curious, why everyone on TV Black actors are like idiots with amnesia, forgetting the miserable years when white people bullied black people, and instead extended a helping hand to black people. For example, in the first part, "Little House on the Prairie", there is actually that black The doctor helps the white family avoid the native Indians? What are you kidding, this country and the white people owe us, the Indians, and this TV series is like a steaming plate of shit, forcing the blacks and Indians to open their mouths , Swallow! Do you think they will like to watch it?" Martin said excitedly.

Rick sighed forcefully: "So, you mean that the black people at the bottom actually want to see the plots you mentioned more, take revenge on the white people, vent their resentment towards the white people through TV programs, and blame the white people for all their sufferings, Gain inner satisfaction by taking down white men."

"That's right." Martin nodded.

Noticing Tommy's thoughtful expression, Rick immediately said:

"Ear is helping the TV station to contact some other local independent TV stations in California during this time, and is planning to conduct a joint premiere event when the broadcast officially starts... If you know that BT TV station is going to do this kind of black exploitation drama series, it will definitely not be good for him. Work in progress, Hollywood once had B-grade movies similar to showing black people killing, it was a specific category, black exploitation films, but this niche genre was already in the early 1980s, because of the Anti-Black Exploitation Film Alliance formed by the three major black associations The constant pressure to die completely, the high-caliber blacks in those leagues don't want to see their fellow blacks portrayed in movies that are too violent, even as protagonists."

For blacks at the bottom, this kind of plot may have a sense of revenge, but those independent TV stations are not all black audiences, and no independent TV station is willing to offend the three major black associations.

The so-called three major black associations are the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, formerly known as the Nonviolent Integrative Negro Leadership Conference, and the National Negro Urban League.

"Why is it a B-grade movie? Why can't it be a movie that can be watched by men, women and children?" Earl asked, puzzled when he heard Rick's words.

"Earl, no white person is willing to go to a movie theater to watch a movie with a black protagonist. This is a reality, but how many black people have enough time and can afford movie tickets to watch a black-only movie?" Rick Explains why black movies can only be B-grade cheap movies:

"So we can only reduce the production cost, and then use pornography, violence, and blood as gimmicks to attract some audiences. If you make a series that is suitable for all ages, you can also. There was a series called "Roots" on NBC before, which tells the story of a black American family. Five generations, experienced family legends of being trafficked by slave traders, arriving in the United States as slaves, and being liberated as free citizens. The ratings are also surprisingly high, and the feedback is very positive. Both whites and blacks are full of praise for it. , but that requires high costs and the participation of well-known screenwriters, in other words, big companies can spend tens of millions of trial and error, but we can't."

"Have you seen Rick's 'Roots,' Martin?" Tommy asked Martin.

Martin nodded: "I've seen it, it's very good, just one question, most of the white people in it are really fucking kind, the kind white manor owner, the kind young lady, the kind white officer, the kind Lincoln... think about it too. , if the white people are not kind, the black man can only be obedient and linger under the whip to have a chance to be arranged by the white manor owner to marry a woman and reproduce his offspring, but how can it be good to film the black man lingering, so the white people need to be kind."

"Violence, money, black rights, white bullying, all built together, I didn't think of a B movie. Instead, I thought of a black version of "The Godfather." If black people need it, we should give them what they want to see." , Seeing Martin's outfit, I even thought of the name of this black-only drama." Tommy looked at everyone:

""Nigger Boss", I mean no harm, Earl, Martin, you two, I just said the name of this episode."

Seeing that Martin and Earl didn't refute their own words, Tommy continued: "For example, designing a crime city, such as Compton, where black people live in poverty, keeping the crime rate in this city high, and black people taking risks, etc. All problems are blamed on the white mayor, the white police chief, and even the white firefighters. Our protagonist is the black godfather. Someone bullies his compatriots. He will help his compatriots solve their troubles. At the same time, bad whites will also collude with some bad blacks , I want to get rid of this thorn in the side, probably this is the idea. In short, the black Boss is designed to be a perfect image of black people. Although the government deprived blacks of their education rights and became a gang, they did not give up on themselves. Stealing has a way and sticks to the bottom line. On the contrary , the ones who have no bottom line are those white people, so he will fight against white people on TV, conquer white women, take the wealth of corrupt white officials, distribute it to black people in the community, and finally become the king of Compton, what do you think? Will the three major associations make trouble?"

"It's a good gimmick, frankly, since "The Godfather" was released, all the big gangsters in movies and TV have become Italian in the past ten years. It will definitely be troublesome, the black executives of the three major associations accept donations from other TV stations, and then jump out and accuse BT TV... It is normal, because I have done such things." After listening to Xiao En, he nodded Said.

Tommy looked at Sean: "So, you mean, if you want them to stop talking, you have to put on a righteous coat for this black drama."

"I have an idea. In 1984, the Miss America pageant gave birth to the first black champion in history, but she was immediately disqualified after she was elected, and then a white woman succeeded her as the champion." Earl said at this time Looking at Tommy: "She's a nice coat, Vanessa Williams."

"That's right, it's her. I've heard of this woman's name." Sean also reacted: "Yes, this woman is not bad. It just so happens that she is in trouble now."

Tommy looked at Earl: "You know her?"

"She approached me with her agent before, hoping that my firm would help accept her lawsuit against "The Penthouse", but in the end I did not agree, because there was no chance of winning, and the girl had no money to pay me, just promised that if she wins , get a share of the compensation.” Earl introduced how to get to know each other:

"So, she, who was boycotted by Hollywood and mainstream TV, came to appear in this drama and gained the sympathy of all black people. Until now, black people still firmly believe that she lost the championship because it was a conspiracy by white people, so they asked her to participate in this drama , or simply use her real experience to process, she was framed by white people, lost the championship crown, and then found the black godfather, hoping that NiggerBoss will help her to uphold justice, which can be used as the main story line of the first season."

"Sean, Earl will give you the contact information, and you will be responsible for finding her and her agent." After hearing what Earl said, Tommy said decisively:

"This gimmick is good. Reality and falsehood are intertwined. In the play, Nigger Boss saves her, and outside the play, BT TV station saves her."