The Best Director

Chapter 329: Capturing the Ratings Chart!

“The Big Bang Theory’s season premiere explodes with 21.99 million viewers, dominating NBC’s Thursday night.”

Entertainment news on portals such as Sina, NetEase, and Sohu, based on foreign media reports, state that this new sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, created by Wang Yang, landed on the NBC channel on September 30th in America and achieved great success right out of the gate. However, the show has received a mix of applause from viewers and some cold water from critics. It is understood that The Big Bang Theory airs every Thursday night from 8:00 to 8:30, and NBC has ordered a full-season run. The show includes numerous Chinese elements, such as Chinese restaurants and the Chinese language, and it will even feature a Chinese-American mathematician as a recurring character.

Despite the mixed reviews from critics, the well-known media Hollywood Reporter claims that it might create a “geek chic trend” with Wang Yang’s significant influence, potentially on a global scale.

“Our-whole-universe-was-in-a-hot-dense-state…” The catchy “The-history-of-everything” could be heard from countless Earthlings’ computer speakers around the world. In China, less than twelve hours after The Big Bang Theory aired, there was already a perfect bilingual subtitled version online, and in a fiercely competitive environment, the speed had improved compared to when Prison Break premiered a year earlier. Eagerly awaiting fans and American drama aficionados flocked to it, triggering waves of laughter: “This is hilarious!”

“Have a good, thorough wash!” Howard’s line caused a roar of laughter among many netizens, some of whom nearly mistook his Chinese for Klingon or something similar; Wang Yang’s cameo appearance in the second episode also provided nonstop amusement. While there may be some cultural differences, Chinese fans have always had a strong capacity for acceptance, which does not hinder their appreciation and understanding; in fact, they often have an increased fondness for long sentences and scientific elements. Of course, no matter where on Earth, it’s impossible for something to be liked by everyone.

After watching the first two episodes, a group of netizens continued to discuss and critique with enthusiasm on forums such as Tianya and Baidu Tieba, talking about Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, Penny… the actors, the plot, behind-the-scenes tidbits, stills, guest stars, the wondrous Wang Yang… the scientific theories, geek elements, and classic lines that appeared in the first two episodes.

Just a few days ago, on September 28th, it was a special day worth remembering for Wang Yang and Jessica—their one-year engagement anniversary. However, since it fell on a Tuesday, they didn’t celebrate; they simply gathered for a cozy family dinner. With the weekend’s arrival and the pleasant weather on Sunday, the couple went out to enjoy themselves. Having been engaged for a year and married for more than half a year, their post-marriage life was even sweeter than before, and the occasional little argument was nothing more than playful bantering. Jessica thought to herself that she truly was a “happy housewife.”

But not every woman, every housewife, and every family is that fortunate. There are many on-again, off-again romances, and scandals like cheating, infidelity, and divorce are often heard. Dealing with the pressures from husbands, children, and society can make being a housewife quite challenging. On October 3rd, Sunday, from 9:00 to 9:30 PM., the family soap opera Desperate Housewives premiered on ABC, instantly attracting tens of millions of viewers to their TV screens.

Desperate Housewives didn’t bring much novelty. Wisteria Lane in Fairview epitomizes the classic image of the less fortunate housewife, gathering many of the depressing dramatic events of a soap opera. If one only watched it and took it as wholly representative, no one would have any confidence in marriage. However, it must be said that, compared to tiresome soap operas like Sex and the City, it offered more compassion, insight, and reflection for the unfortunate housewives. Thus, it was biting but not mean, exaggerated but not absurd; at the same time, its light-hearted humor meant its dark core was not too heavy or oppressive, aligning with public taste.

So… when Monday, October 4th arrived, everyone was shocked by the viewership numbers for the 3rd and the weekly ratings from September 27th to October 3rd. How should one describe the remarkable Wang Yang? His ventures in family entertainment were incredibly fierce!

“YES!! This is exactly the situation I wanted!” Upon seeing the rankings released by the Nielsen Company, Anne Sweeney excitedly slapped the table. It was fantastic! These desperate housewives brought endless hope to ABC! They had already been quite satisfied with the 18.6 million viewers at the premiere of Lost, a heavily invested and promoted new show for the year; as for this underestimated series picked up by the miraculous Wang Yang as a compensatory gift, who knew it would turn out as splendidly as he said, turning last year’s Alias’s 8.15 million viewers during the same time slot into an astonishing number that left everyone speechless!

Anne Sweeney was so excited she trembled slightly, to have such a major performance breakthrough in her first season as CEO was incredibly lucky, incredibly fortunate! Dropping “The Eight Simple Rules” was the right decision! She pressed the button on her phone and instructed her secretary with a smile, “Call Miracle Yang right away! Thank him! Oh, thank him!”

“Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me!?” Seeing the 2 at the start of the ratings number, Kevin Reilly’s eyes bulged, and his heart clenched in pain. Wasn’t Miracle Yang’s compensation gift a bit too extravagant!! Why couldn’t they have clearly informed NBC! Are you kidding me!! “Am I getting too old?” Nancy Tellem took off her glasses and rubbed her sore eyes, suspecting that her recent insomnia would only get worse. She felt defeated, her previous mockery and underestimation of Wang Yang had put CBS in an awkward position today. She shook her head and sighed, “I just hope his interest returns to the film side.”

Executives from FOX, UPN, WB, and other networks were also banging their chests in regret. They really, really shouldn’t have violated the Miracle Yang laws and decrees; to do so now is to defy the market! But it’s already too late for regrets!

21.3 million! 10/23 ratings! These were the results for the first episode of “Desperate Housewives,” a show whose gloomy name not only didn’t scare off viewers but brought a huge explosion of interest! Eva Longoria, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Hoffman, and other lead actors were stunned, and so were creators like Marc Cherry! Who could have imagined that a soap opera script, which had been rejected everywhere, could become so sensational after just one round with Miracle Yang?

“It’s this name, this name is cool.” If it wasn’t for Miracle Yang’s comment, Anne Sweeney and other ABC executives would still be discussing with Marc Cherry whether “The Secret Life of Housewives” or “Wisteria Lane” would be better. Of course, Wang Yang’s name isn’t found in the credits of “Desperate Housewives,” a few websites that provided the information only listed “Executive-producer (unknown-episodes),” indicating an unknown planning producer for particular episodes, probably just making a few verbal suggestions, such as selection of actors, creating the overall atmosphere, and so on.

However, Anne Sweeney and everyone else dared not ignore this young man. There are many good scripts and ideas, but which ones get produced and which ones get dropped is up to the decision-makers. Without Miracle Yang’s involvement, “Desperate Housewives” might have been renamed or not, and might not have achieved this success; a larger likelihood was it being shelved for a long time, not for collection but rather lack of use, and then silently disappearing. The present situation is that Miracle Yang seriously handed it over to ABC, achieving almost the same initial viewership as “The Big Bang Theory,” only a few points behind in the 18-49 demographic.

A few points behind? Just thinking about the performance of last season’s “Alias” and “The Eight Simple Rules” made them feel it was indulgent! Now, Anne Sweeney and the ABC staff found “The Big Bang Theory” even more amusing and funnier.

In this newly started 04-05 season, CBS felt a sudden pressure, NBC was a winner, ABC was a winner… but the truth was, the biggest behind-the-scenes winner was Flame Entertainment, which held four spots in the Top 10 viewer ratings of the week: “Prison Break,” “The Big Bang Theory,” and “Desperate Housewives.”

First place went to CBS’s Thursday night ace “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” attracting 26.6 million viewers, with a 15/28 rating, produced by CBS in conjunction with Jerry Bruckheimer Films; second place was NBC’s Monday “Prison Break,” with 23.5 million viewers and a 15/25 rating, produced by Flame Entertainment; third place was NBC’s Thursday “The Big Bang Theory” second episode, with 22.7 million viewers and a 16/24 rating, produced by Flame Entertainment; fourth place was ABC’s Sunday “Desperate Housewives,” with 21.3 million viewers and a 10/23 rating, produced by Flame Entertainment; fifth place was “The Big Bang Theory’s” first episode, with 21.28 million viewers and a 15/23 rating; sixth place went to CBS’s Thursday “Without a Trace,” with 18.9 million viewers and a 10/20 rating… seventh was ABC’s “Lost,” eighth was CBS’s “CSI: Miami,” ninth was CBS’s “Survivor,” and tenth was ABC’s “Monday Night Football.”

CBS had four slots, NBC had four slots, ABC had three. The second, third, fourth, and fifth places all bore the mark of Flame Entertainment, as moths and butterflies took over the viewer ratings chart!

Now, Flame Entertainment had become the brightest star; not mentioning the two series that Miracle Yang personally created, nor the hefty compensation gift it had given to NBC and CBS that had them wishing they had made the deal to “I bought out ‘The Eight Simple Rules,’ so compensate me.” Flame Entertainment’s latest product news became the topic of utmost interest to the six major commercial networks; Miracle Yang had no new ideas? No new interests? Impossible, they didn’t believe it.

“Breaking news, breaking news! Flame is producing a game show!” The CBS Entertainment department went into chaos, “Confirmed news! It’s a quiz show similar to ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,’ with the highest prize also a million dollars!!” Everyone in NBC Entertainment was busy and anxious, “Miracle Yang’s idea? He said it would be fun? Are you sure?” The ABC Entertainment department seemed to burst into flames. Smack, smack, smack! Smack! Whether Anne Sweeney, Nancy Tellem, Kevin Reilly, or the executives of FOX, UPN, WB, they all slammed the table and shouted, “Get it!”

Flame Family Entertainment was indeed planning a new quiz show, based on the idea of Wang Yang, who imagined a scenario: what if Sheldon is stumped by a child with questions he finds beneath him? In other words, what if a Ph.D. student is outsmarted by a primary school kid? What if adults, who are generally perceived to be more knowledgeable, are actually less informed in certain areas of knowledge than children? Imagine a Harvard-educated Natalie Portman rendered speechless in the face of a question, while a child recites the answer effortlessly. That would certainly be entertaining, but could it really happen?

Of course, it could. Wang Yang discovered that such a game show, “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” would emerge in the future year of 2007. The concept is simple: contestants just need to answer 11 questions from elementary school textbooks in a row to win a million US dollars. Though it sounds easy, contestants from all walks of life keep failing midway, and after their defeat, they must awkwardly admit on camera, “I am indeed not as smart as a fifth-grader.”

After watching a few episodes, Wang Yang realized that Americans’ level of common knowledge was not very high. What is the biggest country in South America (Brazil)? Is the ostrich the fastest-running bird (yes)? Are whales mammals (yes)? How many sides does a heptagon have (7)? Does the Moon emit its own light (no)? and so on; the contestants couldn’t even answer questions about their own culture and life, such as “In which month is Columbus Day?”—a federal holiday! This is almost like saying, “I don’t know in which month Christmas is.” Nevertheless, all the primary school kids on the show knew the answer was October. Amusingly, one of the contestants stumped by this simple question was a history student from UCLA.

This scene was indeed very interesting and shocking. “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” premiered on the FOX channel in 2007 to an audience of 26.5 million viewers, reportedly setting the record for the highest-rated premiere for a reality show since 1998. However, as the initial novelty wore off and no long-term engaging elements were present, the viewership gradually weakened, with the first season averaging only 12.7 million viewers per episode. But what if the format were changed?

The show would not only feature regular contestants but also celebrity guests from varying fields such as movies, television, sports, and business—Bill Gates, the President of America? The production team could start by sending an invitation to the White House; regardless of whether the President or Vice President accepted the challenge or the White House even cared, it was a good publicity move. Celebrity guests would team up with ordinary contestants to answer questions independently but at the same time, with separate scores. The main focus would be the quiz, with additional engaging segments such as elementary school-level talent shows, bringing their primary school report cards, photos, and such.

Such a television program wouldn’t be difficult to produce. Flame Family Entertainment hoped to launch it in the spring of 2005 after the winter hiatus. As long as they market it well, if “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” becomes popular, it would certainly boost viewership for smart-themed series like “The Big Bang Theory” and “Prison Break.” The production team would definitely send invitations to Princeton University graduate Wentworth Miller and University of San Diego master’s degree holder Jim Parsons.

For the premiere episode, Wang Yang hoped to invite the highly popular and highly educated young genius celebrity Natalie Portman…

“Yang, stop thinking too much. This show has to go to NBC!” Kevin Reilly immediately flew to Los Angeles to negotiate with Flame, even though he had no clue about the specifics of the game. Kevin’s smiling face seemed full of sincerity as he assured, “I promise, NBC will give Flame the best conditions. It’s settled then, right? Oh, and someone gave me a few Lakers tickets with decent seats, but you know I’m not a basketball fan, and I also got a few coupons for a golf club membership in LA, want them?”

“No, thank you, I don’t like golf, and I have season tickets for the Lakers,” Wang Yang promptly rejected these small favors. Kevin, who was playing his cards rather poorly, laughed and said, “Alright.” If he didn’t know that the decision-making power for the show rested in the miraculous hands of Wang Yang, he would never have chosen to make such a foolish move. Fortunately, Wang Yang’s next words alleviated many of his worries, “Kevin, you really don’t need to lobby me with all this. I’m completely uninterested, but NBC has always been our priority.”

NBC held the initiative, as long as the offer was matched; “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” would make its debut on NBC’s programming schedule.

“Choose ABC!” “CBS is too eager to collaborate with Flame!”… Voices like these kept emerging ever since the news got out. Later on, Wang Yang detached himself from it all and left the negotiations to the company, as he really needed more time to focus on the post-production of “Firefly.”

October 4th to the 10th soon became history, and the fierce competition for “The Big Bang Theory” from the previous year had been outdone. Flame Family Entertainment reached an agreement with NBC, and the new game show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” was set to air every Wednesday from 8:00 to 9:00 PM on NBC in the spring of 2005. Sharing that time slot, the new dramas “Hawaii” and “Los Angeles International Airport”, with poor viewership of 7.2 million and 6.5 million respectively under the pressure of “Lost”, rated terribly in the 18-49 demographic and were basically slated to be short-lived series not renewed after the winter break.

However, NBC, with its “addition of yet another hit show,” was undoubtedly basking in success. The ratings for the week nearly mirrored those from the previous week, with “CSI” at number one, “Prison Break” at second; followed by “Desperate Housewives,” whose second episode surged to 23.6 million viewers, a 12/26 ratings share—a true trendsetting, phenomenon-status series; “The Big Bang Theory” clinched fourth place. After a sensational first two episodes, the third dropped slightly to 20.98 million viewers, proving to countless people that even without celebrity cameos, the geeks still had the power to leave audiences in stitches.

However, this doesn’t mean that “The Big Bang Theory,” which kicked off with a major director and three popular movie stars, won’t have more cameos in store. On the contrary, there are many rumors—Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page might also make appearances. And fans are even more certain, as revealed by Wang Yang’s blog, that mid-season, “The Big Bang Theory” will feature an episode where Sheldon and the others attend a Comic Con, hopefully featuring cameos by Jessica Alba and Natalie Portman, among others.

This was Wang Yang’s solution to the happy problem of having so many people wanting to make guest appearances: Just create one epic scene! If they felt their cameo wasn’t prestigious enough or were unsatisfied, they could either not show up or wait, because “The Big Bang Theory” was extremely busy now! Jessica naturally had no objections, and Natalie was eagerly looking forward to the joint cameo, but she hoped it would happen soon—if it were delayed until after March next year when she started filming “V for Vendetta,” she might end up appearing with a shaved head.

No one was more overjoyed than NBC. Kevin Reilly roared with excitement—it was terrifying! To have extended an invitation to not one but two of the hottest movie stars of the moment, not to mention others! And with the miraculous Wang returning to the scene, the 18-49 rating was unimaginable! There were only a handful of producers who could pull off something like this, probably only a maverick like Wang. Even Spielberg couldn’t manage it. If this special episode was confirmed, NBC would definitely not stand idly by—Promotion, Promotion, Promotion! Aiming for the highest viewership!

“Are whales mammals?” “Yes! And so are dolphins!” “How many sides does a heptagon have?” “Um, seven!” “Are you sure?” “I’m sure.” “Are you really, really sure?”

On the living room sofa, Wang Yang held a notebook with elementary school questions and quizzed Jessica. Hearing his serious tone, Jessica bit her lower lip in confusion: “Isn’t it?” With an impartial expression, Wang Yang asked, “How many? Seven or fourteen? Right now, you have $25,000. You can choose to give up and walk away with the money.” Jessica braced herself on the couch, eyes fixed on him, and gradually broke into a smile, shouting confidently, “Seven!”

“Wrong! It’s fourteen!” “Oh my God! Fourteen! How could it be fourteen! Oh my, how will I ever be a good mother!!” “I tricked you—the correct answer is seven.”

Before she could pounce on him with raised fists, Wang Yang burst into laughter and quickly jumped off the couch, scampering away. Knowing she couldn’t catch him, Jessica’s eyes darted around, then she raised her palms and made a swiping motion in the air: “Force attack! I’ve got your shoulders, and now you can’t move!” Wang Yang suddenly froze: “Oh! What have you done to me? How come I can’t move?” He shouted, “Let go of me, let go of me—” Jessica walked up, hands ready for a mock fight.

※※

※※

PS: The year-end awards have started, and we’re campaigning for votes. Voting is simple—just click to vote on the book page for TZ as the Book of the Year. Remember, you have free votes, so please cast them for us and don’t let them go to waste! Let’s aim for a good ranking! Thank you, everyone! (To be continued. If you like this book, your recommendations and monthly votes at are the greatest encouragement to me.)