I'm Really a Superstar

The second episode was on fire!

The Voice was once again so popular!

After the program's broadcast ended at 10:30 PM, the topic of discussion online was again focused on The Voice. The threads and Weibo posts regarding the program were exponentially soaring. If described on a linear graph, the angle of elevation would be at 10 or 20 degrees before the program began. But starting from 9 PM, the angle of elevation was almost at 90 degrees. The feast of The Voice was once again spreading through the Internet. Countless people were going crazy and screaming for The Voice once more!

"The second episode was amazing to watch!"

"I love Yuan Tong!"

"Who cares about Yuan Tong!"

"Yeah, Grandpa Zhou was the awesome one!"

"Supporting this up like crazy, I really love Grandpa Zhou as well!"

"How crazy is this! Grandpa Zhou was rockin' 'n' rollin'! Countless Likes for that!"

"This episode is very impressive too! Who says that The Voice's second episode might not meet everyone's expectations? It's clearly a good surprise! And obviously as awesome as the first episode! I should've known that Teacher Zhang would never let us down! Why? There is no why! It's simply because he is Zhang Ye! This name is basically a seal of quality and is synonymous with creating miracles!"

"Having watched so many of Zhang Ye's programs like Lecture Room, Zhang Ye's Talk Show and The Voice, I'm beginning to realize how great Zhang Ye is!"

"I'd heard of Zhang Ye's name some time ago and knew a little about him, but it was only through The Voice that I started liking him, though I've heard that his reputation isn't very good?"

"Pfft, it's far worse than 'not very good'!"

"Haha, has Teacher Zhang ever had a reputation before?"

"For him, he's always 'fighting' with his fellow peers, and many people in the industry can't wait for him to be brought down, so it would be strange if anyone actually had a good opinion of him. But to us common folk, Zhang Ye is still quite a good person. He's loyal, honest, capable, and dares to do what he says. Let me just put it this way for you, my friend. In the entertainment, literary, educational, and crosstalk circles, Zhang Ye is the only person to have scolded or offended almost half of all his peers, but still survived well in these industries. No one could do anything about this guy at all! Just think about it. From all of that alone, you can see how capable Zhang Ye is. If it were any other celebrity, if they even offended someone from just one industry, they would probably have been condemned many times already, let alone offending so many people from so many industries! Only Zhang Ye has been an exception, that's why so many people are calling him a 'wonder' of the entertainment circle, because this guy has truly been too wondrous!"

"The Voice is really a program of very high standards!"

"After the second episode has been broadcast, there shouldn't be anymore doubters of The Voice, right? I'm afraid there shouldn't even be the slightest bit of doubt to be found around here anymore!"

"Face-smacking Zhang is face smacking again!"

"I can already feel the pain of those industry insiders!"

"Hehe, that might not be true. Many of Zhang Ye's industry peers are his lifetime adversaries, so they won't just stop doubting because of this incident. I'm quite sure they still have many people who won't give up just yet. They're probably waiting for the release of the viewership ratings for The Voice's second episode at this moment. After all, the statistics reflect the situation in the most practical sense!"

"I'm waiting for it too!"

"I wonder how high the second episode be."

"The Voice is way ahead at the moment, so if there's anyone who could beat The Voice's first episode's record of the viewership ratings for the past three years, then I'm afraid that it can only be The Voice itself!"

……

The next day.

At Central TV Tower.

In The Voice's program team office.

When Zhang Ye reached the office, almost all of his colleagues were already there. Everyone had arrived very early today and congregated to discuss the last night's broadcast. The second episode's recording was finished several days ago, including the blind auditions for the third and fourth episodes. The program team staff had watched all of these in the recording studio, so logically they shouldn't have been so excited about the broadcasted episode. However, there was an essential difference between watching it live and on television because the feeling and atmosphere were totally different. What was broadcast on television had gone through the editing process first, with the contestants' intro clips and their interviews added in and the overall pace of the episode optimized. The final broadcast footage was radically different from watching it live. Together with post-production color correction added, the quality and atmosphere were raised by several levels when watching it on television. As a result, when the staff watched it, they also felt very excited, especially when Zhou Danian's segment came up. Many of them even cried as it was so moving.

"Director Zhang!"

"You're here?"

"Good morning, Director Zhang."

A few of them greeted.

Ha Qiqi came up and said, "Director Zhang, last night's episode was edited great!"

Zhang Ye laughed. "Using my recommendations when editing, the effects turned out rather well, didn't it? The suggestion you had before had a much slower pace. If we had done it that way, the audience definitely would not have approved of it."

Ha Qiqi gave a wry smile. "My suggestion was just in accordance with the industry's recommended practices, but when I saw the edit based on your suggestion and guidance, I realized that the recommended practices of our industry are really getting…old-fashioned."

Zhang Ye said, "That might not be true, since every program has its own style and rhythm. As long as we find a suitable approach, it should be good enough." When it came to the production of The Voice, whether it be the recording or post-production processes, Zhang Ye had strictly adhered to the version from his previous world. He fully trusted and respected the style of the version that had matured and been accepted by the audience of his previous world.

Little Wang, who was not too concerned about the post-production or editing, quickly asked, "Are the viewership ratings out yet, Director Zhang?"

Zhang Ye said, "I don't think so."

Wu Yi gulped. "Do you think that the second episode will surpass the first one?"

Zhang Ye shook his head. "Who can ever predict something like that? There's really no point in thinking about or analyzing it so much. We can only see if the audience will accept it and wait for the final tabulation of the statistics."

At around 10:30 AM.

The viewership rating statistics for Thursday's variety shows were released!

Zhang Ye was in his office when he found out the news. It was Little Wang who who hurriedly came knocking on his door to tell him about it. "Director Zhang! Director Zhang! It's released, it's been released!"

Zhang Ye smiled. "You scared me for a second there."

Little Wang was very excited. "Quickly take a look at the viewership ratings!"

"Let me take a look then." Zhang Ye took the viewership ratings report Little Wang handed to him. When he saw the first row, the words The Voice of China were written there!

The Voice's second episode viewership ratings: 2.11%!

Building on the ratings of the first episode, it had increased by another 0.1%!

It must be known that this was actually an absolutely astonishing result. That's because, of this world's variety shows, most of them only got viewership ratings of around 0.5%, so an increase of 0.1% was clearly not a small amount!

Zhang Ye smiled a little. "It's quite alright."

Little Wang however did not feel that it was quite alright. Outside, among all the other staff of The Voice, no one else thought it was quite alright either. To them, the result was basically defying all common sense and everyone was getting extremely excited over it. The first episode had already broken the 2-point rating! But the second episode had set yet another new, national record in the viewership ratings of variety shows in recent years! It had utterly defeated all of the other variety shows in the same time slot! The release of the second episode's viewership ratings had given a strong boost to their program team and Central TV Department 1. Only at this moment did they finally have the courage to say that Central TV Department 1 had made a strong return to the variety scene and reclaimed its position as Big Brother! And the hero of this victory was no doubt Zhang Ye. Zhang Ye had used a show that no one took seriously, and surprisingly led Central TV to defiantly sweep the entire domestic variety show industry!

No one could stop them!

No one could compare to them!

This was absolute carnage!

It was a battle that no others had a chance to win!

……

Online.

The congratulatory messages came flooding in in the tens of thousands!

"Although it was expected, it still came as a surprise!"

"Not only did the second episode's viewership rating not drop, it even increased by 0.1%!"

"That's too frightening! The Voice is going to be unstoppable at this rate!"

"Damn! F**k!"

"Come and see, quickly! The Voice is defying all common sense again!"

"Hahaha, those industry insiders who constantly criticize The Voice can finally give up! Their statements will express: 'We will take some days off to recharge. When Zhang Ye is out with another new work, we will be back again. A lifetime of criticism, a lifetime of insults, we will never give up, we will never waver!'"

"Congratulations Teacher Zhang!"

"How exciting!"

"In recent years, many people have been saying that Central TV Department 1 is getting old and no longer has its status like back in its glorious past. But they seem to have forgotten that a starving camel is still bigger than a horse. What Central TV Department 1 lacked was probably only someone great like Zhang Ye who can turn the tide for them. Today, after staying silent for some years, Central TV Department 1 is finally back! The once Big Brother of the variety world is finally making a comeback!"

"The giant is attacking again! Beware, all satellite channels!"

"I'm delighted, Face-smacking Zhang's nth battle with his industry peers has him walking away with the last laugh again!"

"With the excitement of The Voice, the variety show industry will once again warm up. Zhang Ye has not only saved Central TV Department 1, he has saved the entire variety world!"

"Central TV Department 1 joining hands with Zhang Ye, the largest television network in the industry together with the most outstanding program planner of the industry, who could stop them?"

"Congratulations, The Voice has set another record!"

"2.11% ! You are really goddamn going 'to see all other summits dwarfed, and savor the scene'!"

"The legend continues!"

"The Voice fully deserves this honor!"

"Teacher Zhang, well done!"

"Really awesome! An awesome show! Awesome contestants! And also, an awesome host! This day will surely be forever remembered in the history of the variety world! This is certainly the era that great heroes will emerge from! Starting today, the variety world has officially stepped into the 'Era of Zhang Ye'!"

"He who gains Zhang Ye can rule the world!"

……

In the office.

Zhang Ye was checking his rankings on the Celebrity Rankings Index website. In the B-list celebrity rankings, he immediately spotted his current position.

Third from last!

Not too long ago, he was in last place, but after two episodes of The Voice, Zhang Ye had been soaring in popularity and jumped two spots up on the B-list rankings in just a short time! It should be known that the gap between the celebrities in the B-list was much larger than those in the C- or D-lists, the disparity between each placing was much greater. Just from Zhang Ye's promotion from the C-list to the B-list rankings, it could be seen how difficult it was. He had spent a long period of time increasing his popularity score before he successfully got into the B-list rankings. But now, after just a short time of two episodes, Zhang Ye as a host of The Voice, who although did not have much appearance time, with his show of reciting those advertising messages, his popularity had once again soared. This was very quick for the fact that he was in the B-list rankings!

At the beginning of the year, Zhang Ye had been thinking of trying to aim for becoming a B-list celebrity. He would have been satisfied as long as he could get into the B-list rankings. But who knew that just after a short two months, not only did Zhang Ye reach his goal, he was already heading straight for the A-list celebrity rankings! Although there was still a long way to go, his momentum was obvious. He was already safe from dropping down into the C-list rankings due to his instability and need not worry about being overtaken by Chen Ye anymore!

The show was on fire!

His popularity was soaring!

After all these days of setbacks and busy days, Zhang Ye's mood today was the best. He was humming a song in his office, finally able to get a breather. Zhang Ye was very satisfied of his own performance during this time. After getting past all the hard work and tiredness from working, he was already reaping the rewards!

Although the people who did not like him still continued to dislike him, and the industry peers he had offended were still aiming for him to fall, Zhang Ye did not care about any of those. He clearly understood that for a celebrity in the entertainment industry, the most important thing was popularity. Popularity and fame were the bases that these celebrity needed to get a say in things. Nothing else mattered!