I'm Really a Superstar

Chapter 1224: The battle begins!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Meanwhile.

Beijing Television.

The program team for I Am a Singer was officially up and running.

Zhang Ye stood in the newly set up office with his arms wide open as he gave each of his old colleagues a hug.

Xiao Lu gave him a bear hug and exclaimed, “Teacher Zhang! I’ve missed you so much!”

Zhang Ye laughed and said, “It’s only been two months, hasn’t it?”

“But it still feels like ages ago!” Dafei also went up to hug him!

Hou Ge laughed heartily. “We can work with Teacher Zhang again!”

His twin brother, Hou Di, laughed and said, “I really like working together with Teacher Zhang. There’s nothing else that I can say except that I feel really happy and great!”

Zhang Ye said hello to all of them one by one. “How was the previous show you guys made? I heard that it wasn’t too well-received?”

Hu Fei stared at him. “Kid, must you bring up that touchy subject?”

Zhang Ye laughed, “Haha.”

Han Qi was on the list of the program team staff as well. During King of Masked Singers, she was The Clown’s liaison with the program team, or more appropriately, his manager. She was also a diehard fan of Zhang Ye’s, so she was very excited to see him again. “Director Zhang, please don’t bring that up. The show did abysmally and we suffered a great loss because of it. In the end, the final viewership ratings did not even cross 0.4%. We had to end broadcasting after only a month when the show was canceled by the station.”

These days, it wasn’t easy producing a reality show either.

Zhang Ye reassured everyone, “Don’t worry, I’m back. So let’s all work together and pull off another big one!”

Dong Shanshan arrived from outside at this moment. “Now that you’re here, we don’t have anything more to worry about. But what’s this about me hearing that your new show doesn’t require a host? What’s that all about?”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “That’s how the show is set up. We’ll have the singers take turns hosting the show. I didn’t actually say that there wouldn’t be a hosting position, Shanshan. You came at just the right time; I was going to look for you about something. Of course I’d have a good role lined up for you! Do you think that you can help lead the team of singers’ managers for the show?”

Dong Shanshan gave him a look. “Of course! Did you even have to ask?”

Everyone laughed.

Dong Shanshan was the most popular host at Beijing Television. She was holding up two of the station’s shows that were doing rather well in the viewership ratings. Based on her current status, it was actually quite a mismatch of qualifications to use her as one of the singers’ managers in the show. But since she was Zhang Ye’s old classmate, and based on their friendship, she agreed to it without a second thought. Zhang Ye also desperately needed someone as popular as Dong Shanshan to help him firm up the show. Other than her, no one could do it.

After a while, most of the program team staff arrived.

They sat together and delegated the roles according to the program proposal.

Then Zhang Ye started briefing them. “This show, it has the ability to advance Beijing TV within the industry. For example, there will be a regular cast of seven managers assigned to the singers during the show’s run. This time, it won’t be done like how we did it on King of Masked Singers, using the program team staff to liaise and wait on the singers’ requests. I will need a dedicated team of real hosts to handle the job. Brother Hu, could you please take care of that for me and see which hosts are available and interested in taking the roles? Shanshan will be their team leader, which is definitely the best position there is. As for the remaining spots, I’ll need to trouble you to give me some recommendations. I want the slightly more popular variety hosts that we have right now, but at the same time, they shouldn’t be overly popular. I just need them to be someone the viewers are familiar with.”

Hu Fei smiled and said, “I’ll take care of that.”

The show’s segment where the host-managers played a part was a very important one. Although it might look like a sideshow, they would actually get a lot of screen time. It would help increase their popularity quite a bit and should be a good role to take. Just like in I Am a Singer back in Zhang Ye’s previous world—there were quite a few hosts who became very popular overnight after getting paired with the singers as their managers. After I Am a Singer was broadcast here, it would definitely raise the standards of all of Beijing Television’s hosting lineup, as well as bring about an increase in their influence. It was just that they couldn’t see this effect since they were unsure of how it would work, although they would definitely understand what he meant after the premiere episode.

Zhang Ye continued assigning the roles for the program team.

“We can start prepping for recording.”

“Right now?”

“Yes, right now.”

“But it’s still so early in production, and the stage hasn’t been set up either.”

“This new show is a little different from the other singing variety shows. Most of the time, we’ll just be filming the singers’ activities in front of the camera and behind the scenes. There’s even a need to capture a portion of the ongoings in their private lives, like going around with the singer as they pack their belongings in preparation for the show. This is why we need to get everything planned out and ready beforehand as there are a lot of reality show elements.”

“A reality show? Would that work?”

“Director Zhang, wouldn’t that make it overly complicated?”

“Yeah, wouldn’t that easily scatter the audience’s attention? Isn’t this supposed to be a singing show?”

“You guys will understand when the filming’s done.”

“Alright!”

“Understood!”

“Just assign us accordingly!”

Can it really work?

If Director Zhang says so, then it definitely will!

The advantage of working with his old team was that they could all trust him and had a tacit understanding of things. Whatever role Zhang Ye assigned the staff, they would all give 200% and wouldn’t question why they had to do it that way.

After the roles were all delegated!

The rest of the tasks would be handled by Zhang Ye himself!

Grabbing people!

Racing against time!

Grabbing advertising sponsorships!

The battle with Central TV Department 1 was only just beginning!

…

On the very same day, the news leaked.

But of course, this couldn’t really be kept secret. The media outlets and newspapers were all blown away by this news.

“Zhang Ye Returns!”

“Zhang Ye’s New Show: I Am a Singer?”

“A showdown between giants in the singing variety show genre?”

“Archenemy of Sing! approaches!”

“Sing! likely to face enormous challenge!”

“I Am a Singer: A mantis trying to stop a carriage! 1 ”

“Central TV Department 1 and Beijing TV battle for the title of variety big brother?”

“The battle between Central TV Department 1 and Zhang Ye restarts!”

“Experts predict Sing! to score a resounding victory!”

On Weibo.

The netizens were also screaming in excitement!

“Damn, this is beautiful!”

“Zhang Ye has returned again!”

“Heavens!”

“This is so exciting! The more chaotic it is, the merrier I am!”

“Hahahahaha, this is going to be really interesting!”

“It will be an epic battle for sure! It’s gonna be the ultimate slaughter!”

“I Am a Singer vs. Sing!, who does everyone think will win? I think Sing! has the upper hand since they already have a reputation. They have a viewer base of over a hundred million people. Even with a name change, the TV station behind it remains the same. They’ll still be doing the same thing, so a lot of people should be able to accept it, right? With this dominance, Zhang Ye’s new show that appeared from nowhere should be at a disadvantage no matter how I look at it!”

“That might not be true. Sing! is still not exactly the second season of The Voice. They’ve changed the program team, director, host, and I think even the guest coaches are not the same. Whether everyone can accept it is still not guaranteed. We still can’t be sure of whether the viewers are convinced by the reputation of The Voice or the reputation of Zhang Ye. I, for one, am convinced by Zhang Ye alone. The Voice was created by him and is a very strong representation of him. So I’ll only look at who makes the show, not what the show is! In my opinion, The Voice will only be The Voice if Zhang Ye is in charge. Any other versions are imitations!”

“Why didn’t Zhang Ye just go ahead and record the second season of The Voice? He holds the copyright to it, after all.”

“There should be a limitation clause in the contract that Zhang Ye signed with Central TV Department 1. Although The Voice’s copyright and naming rights are with him, as long as he isn’t working with Central TV Department 1 to create the show, he isn’t allowed to authorize it to any other TV network. This should’ve been written into the contract. That’s why Central TV Department 1 has chosen not to use the name of The Voice, and that applies to Zhang Ye too.”

“So what is I Am a Singer gonna be like?”

“I don’t know!”

“Let’s just wait and see. They have begun fighting!”

“Let’s see which is better!”

“Yeah, it’s time for a showdown!”

“The rising wind portends the coming storm!”

“I can already see a bloody clash happening!”

1. overstating one’s abilities and trying to do what is beyond one’s power. https://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/chinese-idioms-vol-5/