บท 57: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

After the arrival of the new year in 1997, the whole month of January, everyone in Enigma Company was busy.

During this period of time, they had a lot of work: Bob left the United States and went to Germany to search for information, Michael was preparing for the shooting of a new TV show, and he was working with CBS on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." Clark and Levi continued to shoot CSI. Levi sent Alexander to prepare for the new film, and Jack went to help him as he had nothing else to do. The January of the few people was quite tense.

Fortunately, in a stressful life, there will always be enough rewards. Bob is in Germany, and the work is going very smoothly: Germany has always been very supportive of the film industry. Bob heard that someone was willing to invest in making a film about Germany, and they also gave it a lot of conveniences. And the CSI has been formalized, and Levi and Clark have done an excellent job of it, and nothing has gone wrong. Even the shoot of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" that Michael prepared went well.

In fact, there is no possibility that such a program will not go well: the TV program itself has no scriptwriters, no role-playing, and not many people are needed. In the studio, the preparations for the scene are basically completed as long as the camera seats are arranged, a host who can adapt to the situation is found, and, at most, some lighting engineers and backstage makeup, costumes, and other personnel are added. As for the topic, David Briggs has been preparing for more than a year, and he has collected quite a lot of material topics at hand, so he doesn't have to worry about it. As Levi said, the idea was originally someone else's. They acquired it, and so the work they need to do is very simple.

These aspects are not too difficult, but when shooting, volunteers are needed, which is more troublesome. The participants and viewers of TV programs are generally volunteers, and the recruitment of volunteers has to be resolved through CBS.

The Who Wants to Be a Millionaire program is extremely attractive to participants. Moreover, many people are willing to watch because there are plots that focus on interaction. In Hollywood, the studios of various TV stations are full of idle and boring people waiting to participate in various TV shows or to provide laughter at the hot comedy studios. The recruitment work for the first phase is considered to be smooth.

And the rest is publicity—before the TV program starts broadcasting, it has to be warmed up on the TV station to let people know that the TV station has a new program. According to the custom, on Saturdays and Sundays, TV stations do not broadcast TV dramas from time to time. These two days are reserved for TV programs, and the program Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is also scheduled for a trial broadcast on Saturdays.

For their own program, CBS did not hesitate to promote it, and after they promoted it according to Levi's instructions, it immediately aroused the interest of many people.

There are also puzzle programs on TV in the United States. These programs come in various forms, such as "Price Guessing" for guessing commodity prices, "Jeopardy" for quizzes, "Intelligence Pyramid" for guessing phrases through related words, and some programs such as "Winning Lottery" and "Matching Match" the programs have never been too few. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is not the first intelligence program to appear, but its format has attracted the attention of many people at once.

"Fifteen questions, one of four answers. As long as you can answer all of them correctly, you can get a reward of 1 million dollars!"

In the simple preview, each and every one of the unattractive contestants sat in front of the chairs and answered the questions. The figures representing US dollars are constantly beating on the big screen behind them. On the other side of the contestants, the host's question was simply beyond imagination.

"Which year was the electronic computer invented?"

"Which one is the first Impressionist work?"

These are the questions they asked. Simple questions, and 15 multiple-choice questions, all of which are four choices. During the selection process, there are three opportunities to ask for help. If you answer all the questions correctly, you can get a bonus of up to 1 million... It's that simple and easy!

Many people couldn't believe this quiz game: first, the gameplay is too simple, this program is just a simple question and answer, and the difficulty is very low. And secondly, the bonus is scarily high, 1 million US dollars, it can be said to be a huge sum of money. The third reason is that this program claims that anyone can sign up, and there is no threshold at all.

"If this show is real, it's literally giving money to people."

Some people don't believe that such a thing is real: if it's not a gimmick for a show, then a simple competition, a million dollars in prize money, is the production team engaged in charity?

But more people have another view. Those contestants don't look like specially recruited actors. Could it be that this program is really random participation and random registration? You can get 1 million if you answer such simple questions correctly. And this is one of four choices! It is possible to pass even if you are blind, not to mention asking for help! What is the difference between this and gifting money?

Who would miss the opportunity to make a fortune?

"As long as you participate in the program, you may get bonuses. Are there no registration requirements?"

Immediately after the advertisement was published, many people asked. The methods of organizing quiz programs are different. Some programs just show off their hosts and want to engage in intellectual quizzes with celebrities, while others ask relatively difficult questions. Although it is said that anyone can sign up, the topic itself is difficult, and it is just a game for select groups of people.

But this show is different.

"Anyone can sign up for our program. It's very easy to sign up. Just go to the camera crew and answer a question within 15 seconds, and you've signed up." The answer has always been the same for those who consulted Enigma Company. With such a simple registration condition and extremely generous benefits, all of a sudden, the show gained a lot of attention.

Fifteen questions, a million-dollar reward! What is more attractive than money? After completing the trial, you will get rich overnight, and getting rich overnight is the core essence of the American dream!

The TV program has not officially started broadcasting, but many people are already discussing it. Countless people consulted various rules and conditions of the TV program and paid great attention to this program.

"I really underestimated this program." Michael also had to admit that the production of this TV program is very good: lowering the registration threshold, simplifying game projects, and increasing the amount of rewards already gained attention.

However, just because the concept is correct does not necessarily mean that it can be done well. The production of TV programs still depends on the level. Especially TV shows that don't feel like TV dramas or movies. Although this kind of program has a director, there is no screenwriter, and it can only be performed on the spot. It would be fine if they were people who often go on TV; those celebrity quiz shows would never show something too outrageous. But is such a game that is played entirely by free applicants really possible?

"There is nothing wrong with it. The key points are the joy of people getting a huge sum of money and the grief of participating in a huge sum of money." Although he said that he was not responsible for the affairs here, when Levi came here, he often commented on the TV program to give some pointers. For example, he proposed to modify the original gradually increasing difficulty and changed it to a random difficulty for the first ten questions, increasing the game's uncertainty. He proposed a time limit to make the game more intense. Moreover, he also asked the producers and director, when selecting contestants, they should consider the topicality and interest of the contestants more, rather than just considering the intellectual level of contestants. The measures in these aspects are all determined by Levi.

These moves are very good, but the only trouble with this approach is that there is no challenger who can persist until the end.

"Just choosing these ordinary people, it is very difficult for someone to break through the siege and answer all the questions correctly, especially the questions we designed. Although they seem not difficult, they are not so easy to answer. It is very difficult for one person to get the 1 million." Michael was worried about this.

The repercussions caused by this program convinced Michael that the TV program might really be successful, but if no one could get the money for this program, would it affect the program?

"The program we run is not for the purpose of helping the poor, but for the number of viewers. No one can get the 1 million. If the 1 million is taken away so easily, will the show still be worth watching?"

Michael was confused: This show attracted so many people to watch it because of its low limit and high returns, but now, Levi said that if people get money easily, the TV show would be meaningless—Isn't that contradictory?

"There is nothing wrong with setting a low limit and high returns, but you have to understand that money cannot be given too easily. The essence of this program is to make viewers think that they can get prizes as long as they are lucky, but it is difficult for people who really participate to get rewards. Only in this way can people have a sense of superiority and substitution when watching, and think that they can do better, so they keep watching." Levi explained, "1 million is the bait, but it is not bait for contestants, instead it is bait for spectators. This scented bait is used to catch big fish, and I believe that big fish will bite."

*****

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