America 1982-Chapter 430 - 63: The Philosophers
BT Television Network’s Production Center, yes, after a lot of shows became popular, BT now has its own production center on Sunset Boulevard. The man in charge here is Rick Russo, a top producer who worked for years at the vibrant company in San Fernando and is now the Vice President of the BT Television Network.
When Page and Martin helped Tommy push open the doors to the conference hall, Rick had already led his team of producers and was sitting inside the meeting room.
Upon seeing Tommy come in from outside, the previously low murmurs of conversation suddenly ceased, leaving only silence as all eyes turned to Tommy Hawk.
Tommy smiled and nodded slightly to everyone, but didn’t rush to greet them. Instead, he walked over to a wall that had more than a dozen televisions stacked on it, picked up a remote control, and fiddled with it for a while until all the screens started showing a brand-new real-life TV show that had been on the BT Television Network for less than two months.
Counterfeit Heiress.
Tommy sat back in the main seat and looked at everyone, "Rick said he wanted me to chat with you all, mentioning some of you have been a bit down lately? Would you like to hear some personal advice from me? When I’m feeling down, I just turn on the TV and watch this show, and then my mood instantly improves."
No one responded to Tommy, who looked at Rick with some confusion and whispered, "Are you damn sure you called me here to talk about feelings and not about a raise? Why does everyone look like they’re waiting for me to talk about raises, then take the money to buy some weed to cheer themselves up?"
"It’s unrelated to raises." Rick also seemed a bit off, "Haven’t you been paying much attention to the BT Television Network lately?"
"I’ve been quite busy with work lately; I was in New York for a week not long ago and after returning, I even had meetings with the president of an agency to discuss business. Even when you called me, I was negotiating with South Koreans." Tommy calmly described his recent schedule to Rick, suggesting that his lack of attention to the BT Television Network was justifiable:
"Of course, even with my busy schedule, I did watch Counterfeit Heiress, which was fantastic. Those shit producers at the other networks, compared to you top talents from San Fernando, are just like kids running into Michael Jackson. You can mess with them all you want and not have to pay a dime."
(PS: The author has no intention of slandering this artist who is popular in China and has a large fan base. However, at that time America did ridicule and humiliate him like this. Countless talk shows designed numerous vulgar and obscene jokes involving him and children.)
A white male producer from Rick’s team stood up, removed the Counterfeit Heiress tapes from the more than a dozen televisions, and replaced them with new tapes. The screens switched to the VOX News Channel. After doing all this, the white man stood beside the televisions, silently looking at Tommy.
Tommy turned to the televisions where the VOX white news anchor was reporting the news with a worried expression. It seemed to be old news based on the date:
"On the second day after the premiere of Counterfeit Heiress, thirty-seven cities in the United States saw small-scale boycott demonstrations, calling on viewers to boycott this real-life TV show on the BT Television Network. In addition, according to the latest information obtained by VOX, the number of complaints received by the FCC in a single day for this show has exceeded a thousand, breaking the record for the American television industry."
"Okay, I admit I don’t watch BT Television Network’s shows much, aside from the premiere night; I basically haven’t watched them since. But I go through the income statements every week earnestly, and I know from the advertising revenue that you are doing very, very well," Tommy said after watching no more than two minutes of this social news. "And you’ve made history; you’ve set a record! That’s something to be congratulated on~"
This statement made everyone in the room look up at Tommy with anger. Their own boss had established a TV network yet never watched any of the shows they produced with the company’s money?
"You never watch BT Television Network’s original programs?" Rick also raised his head in surprise and asked Tommy.
Tommy candidly asked back, "Of course. Do I look like I’m black?"
Rick shook his head, looking somewhat defeated and bowed his head. He was now somewhat regretting his decision to ask the boss for help to soothe his capable subordinates.
Although Tommy hadn’t watched Counterfeit Heiress, he knew it was a highly positive American real-life TV show.
After all, he had put money into it and had seen the basic proposal, and Earl had also told him about the show’s ratings. This real-life show was now one of BT’s banner programs.
The booming success of Counterfeit Heiress had pushed the BT Television Network’s advertising fees to a new high, with advertisers more eager to line up at BT’s headquarters to sign deals than they were to queue for QuickKicks.
More importantly, it had flipped FOX Television Network over in prime time ratings with its designs for Counterfeit Heiress and Big Brother.
Counterfeit Heiress is a very positive female reality show that BT Television Network had created, calling on Americans to pay attention to sensitive issues such as racial culture, social hierarchy, and the influence of women, at least that’s what Earl Rash had said during TV industry meetings and interviews in Washington.
It’s indeed very positive energy. In the entire reality show, there are two female protagonists, one black and one white, beautiful young ladies. The black one comes from an underprivileged street gang family, and the white one from a wealthy upper-class family,
