Chapter 178: The Launch of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"

Simon didn't have much leisure to deal with the intense controversy sparked by "Instinct," as he flew to New York on Saturday morning to participate in the official recording of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

Initially, after drafting a detailed project proposal of over twenty pages from memory, Simon had been regularly attending production meetings for "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" over the past few months. He continued to provide a wealth of suggestions for the creation of the quiz show's question bank, segment settings, contestant selection, and even the most detailed aspects of on-site atmosphere creation.

When the actual recording began, the project team, having already conducted several trial shoots and rehearsals, was well-prepared. Still, Simon decided to personally oversee the production on-site. After all, the success or failure of this reality show was crucial for Daenerys Media's attempt to venture into TV program production.

Since "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" leaned more towards the variety show genre and was relatively simple to produce, the project team was able to shoot and broadcast seven trial episodes within a week, starting from Saturday.

However, this process was anything but easy.

Over the weekend, everyone on the project team worked more than ten hours each day, including Simon. It wasn't until Sunday night at 10 p.m., after watching the final cut of the first episode with everyone and confirming it met his expectations, that Simon finally relaxed a bit.

Monday, June 20th.

A new week arrived in the blink of an eye. The media buzz around "Instinct" continued, and Simon, who rarely slept in, didn't get up until 9 a.m.

In the morning, he went to check the renovation progress of his Fifth Avenue apartment. After a ridiculous night out with three people, Catherine, who was in New York to produce "Blazing Blue Angels," ended up being tasked by Janet to oversee the project. Catherine had some interior design experience from the 70s, making her slightly more experienced than Janet in this area.

He had lunch with Catherine and discussed some matters regarding "Blazing Blue Angels." During the meal, she declined Simon's hint about visiting him that evening, claiming she had to attend a social gathering in the circle. Simon expressed his keen interest in getting to know some people from the New York film circle with her, but received only a dismissive eye roll in return, as she was reluctant to let their relationship be known by too many.

In the afternoon, Simon met with James Rebould as usual to discuss some affairs of Westeros Corp.

They finalized a debt-to-equity plan. Recently, James Rebould had once again sold off New World Entertainment stocks held by Westeros Corp. Although Simon was set on acquiring Marvel, he would not choose to be the sucker if he could save half the funds. Secretly buying New World Entertainment stocks was no longer necessary.

After completing various acquisitions and investments, the $100 million loan Westeros Corp had just secured was once again nearly depleted. Simon had no plans to increase his debt in the short term. James Rebould's work for the foreseeable future would focus on managing the existing business of Westeros Corp.

Over the past six months, the North American stock market continued its recovery.

However, due to last year's "Westeros Portfolio" stimulating a strong rebound in the tech stock sector, the growth of the tech stock market has significantly slowed compared to other sectors in recent months.

As of last week, the total value of publicly traded tech stock portfolios held by Westeros Corp was approximately $1.76 billion, with other non-public company shares and real estate investments amounting to about $150 million. With the continuous success of "When Harry Met Sally" and "Pulp Fiction," the industry's valuation of Daenerys Media hovered around $300 million. Subtracting the total debt of $200 million between Daenerys Media and Westeros Corp, Simon's personal assets had reached $2 billion.

"Forbes" was expected to release this year's global billionaires list in August.

If "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "Instinct" succeed, Simon's fortune will surely rise further. With over $2 billion in personal assets, he would easily rank among the top fifty on the global billionaires list.

In the underground parking lot of the Westeros Corp headquarters building, James Rebould watched Simon's car leave, reflecting on this series of data and feeling somewhat emotional. Noticing his daughter's curious gaze, he snapped out of his reverie and smiled at Jennifer, saying, "Let's go back, your mother has prepared dinner tonight."

Father and daughter got into their car, and James Rebould drove out of the parking lot, then asked his daughter, "Do you think 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' will be successful?"

Simon had already shared some ideas with James Rebould about using the reality show as a bargaining chip to exchange New World Entertainment from General Electric.

Hearing her father's question, Jennifer said, "I think it's very interesting. As for the ratings, we'll know tomorrow."

James Rebould paused for a moment, then asked, "Didn't Simon tell you his expectations for the show?"

Feeling the underlying meaning in her father's words, Jennifer was a bit embarrassed but replied, "He, he is very confident about the show."

James Rebould turned the steering wheel to navigate a street corner, glanced at his daughter, and said, "Jenny, you should know that some things require effort to achieve."

This was quite direct, causing Jennifer to blush slightly, reminded of her time working for Simon.

To be fair, she hadn't been without the thought of snatching that man from Janet.

However, being by his side, perhaps due to being too busy or for some other reason, she hardly ever thought about competing for a man. Most of the time, she just felt that being able to work for him was enough.

She always considered herself quite content.

The father and daughter returned to their Upper East Side home, where Jennifer's mother, Carol Rebould, had already returned and was preparing dinner. James and Jennifer joined in to help, and the family of three had a warm dinner together. Then, very harmoniously, they gathered in the living room, casually chatting about various topics, waiting for 9 p.m.

The broadcast time for "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" was 9 p.m.

ABC did not give the prime 8 p.m. slot but also did not relegate the show to the least desirable 10 p.m. slot. Daenerys Media could not ask for too much. Moreover, because ABC refused to invest in promoting this reality show, Daenerys Media had to fund a $2 million advertising campaign for TV, newspapers, and magazines themselves, which was equivalent to the budget for a week's trial episodes. The pre-show buzz and open auditions also required significant investment.

Additionally, to retain as much control as possible, Daenerys Media did not seek sponsors to share the investment for the trial episodes. Thus, the total investment in various aspects of the project by Daenerys Media for just the trial phase approached $5 million. This was equivalent to a quarter of the budget for the entire season of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

It was clear that if the show failed, Daenerys Media's lavish spending would become the industry's joke.

9 p.m.

On the TV screen, the scene switched, and with host Regis Philbin's deliberately quickened introduction, the show officially began.

Regis Philbin was the original host of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." Before Daenerys Media approached him, he was working as a sports program host at a local TV station in New York. Realizing the opportunity to break into the mainstream network shows, Regis Philbin immediately quit his job and dedicated himself to the production of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

In the Rebould family's living room, as members of the elite society with a rich private social life, the Rebould couple were not particularly interested in TV shows. However, from the start of the show, the host's introduction, the lively atmosphere on set, and details like lighting and music unwittingly drew them in, especially the $1 million ultimate prize mentioned by Regis Philbin. Even the Reboulds, whose annual income far exceeded this amount, found it hard to remain calm.

Who wouldn't want to become a millionaire by simply answering a series of questions?

Coincidentally, the first contestant was a lawyer, around forty years old, in his prime, with an impressive resume. Regis Philbin didn't rush into the questions but skillfully chatted with the lawyer about his motivation and determination to participate in the show, further enhancing the atmosphere.

When the questioning officially started, both the guests on set and the viewers in front of their TVs reached peak anticipation.

Ultimately, the success of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" didn't lie in the answers but in how the questioning process engaged the audience's emotions. Watching a single question determine the ownership of a large sum of money that could take a month, a year, or even a lifetime to earn, it was inevitable that viewers' attention would be captivated.

This is also why the industry generally classified "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" as a reality show rather than a traditional variety show.

The core of the show was the 'show.'

Watching the screen, when the lawyer regretfully left the stage after a mistake on a question about the Great Lakes, taking only $8,000, the Rebould family felt a bit disdainful.

Americans are generally very familiar with the Great Lakes, or at least many think they are.

This was also a strategy.

In creating the question bank, Simon emphasized finding questions that were closely related to North American audiences or at least felt familiar. If the questions were too obscure, viewers would inevitably think the show was just trying to make things difficult for people, making it hard to gather a large audience.

Although these questions were very 'down-to-earth,' answering them correctly was definitely not easy, especially since the contestants had been pre-selected. If contestants on stage could only answer one or two questions or none at all, the show would be considered a failure.

After the lawyer left the stage somewhat dejectedly, Regis Philbin quickly introduced another contestant.

This engaging quiz competition made the hour-long show fly by, without deliberately pursuing the completeness of the questioning rounds. Due to time constraints, after the last contestant answered five questions correctly and accumulated a considerable prize, the first episode came to an end.

Although the actual recording was complete, the subsequent episodes would continue the next day. The trial episodes for the following week would mostly adopt this cliffhanger strategy.

Due to their acquaintance with Robert Iger, the Rebould family had some understanding of the television network. When an hour-long TV show ended without them realizing it, the Rebould family sensed that the show would be very successful.

A show that completely obscures the passage of time for an hour, keeping viewers fully engaged, was bound to succeed.

However, the Rebould family still underestimated the show's success.

Due to the recent busyness, Simon went to bed early the previous night and did not watch the show live. He had seen it too many times during production, and personally watching it on TV wouldn't significantly boost the ratings.

Simon woke up early the next day, planning to return to the West Coast and finalize the casting for "Batman" in the last week of the month.

The last drug test eliminated three of the final ten candidates, which Simon found satisfactory, as it didn't reduce the number by half. Moreover, after synthesizing all the information, he had almost finalized the last few targets. Now, it was just a matter of conducting some screen tests and finalizing contract details.

ABC had previously informed Simon that the first day's ratings would be communicated to him after work hours. However, at around 8:30 a.m., just after breakfast, the phone in the living room rang.

Simon, thinking it was someone else, answered the phone. Immediately, he heard Robert Iger's voice, barely containing his excitement: "Good morning, Simon."

"Morning, Bob," Simon stood by the phone, not beating around the bush, and asked with a smile, "How did it go?"

It wasn't even work hours yet, but Robert Iger was already at the ABC headquarters in Midtown's Rockefeller Center, surrounded by other ABC executives. Even ABC's chairman, Tom Murphy, was there.

Despite the time difference between the East and West Coasts, based on long-term sampling statistics by research firms like Nielsen, the data closely matched the actual ratings.

Thus, the preliminary count of viewers for the first day of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" reached 13.65 million.

13.65 million, more than double ABC's 'passing' benchmark of 6.5 million viewers for this show, and this was just the first day's performance during the summer off-season.

With such an unexpectedly high viewership on just the first day, no one doubted that the show's popularity would continue to rise.

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