The official premiere date for "Desperate Housewives" is Thursday, September 17th.
It's a very golden time for TV dramas.
On the other hand, I have to say that the launch time of "Desperate Housewives" is really a bit tricky.
Not long after the "Forbes" list of America's 400 richest people was released, the heated discussion still has not subsided. At this time, a TV series that is rumored to be directed and participated in the creation of Simon Westeros was launched. Even though it is a female television station, The program has naturally attracted a lot of attention.
USA TV Network also seized this opportunity and spared no effort to promote "Desperate Housewives".
Of course, just like box office for movies, for a TV series, ratings are always an unavoidable topic. How good "Desperate Housewives" is still depends on the ratings.
The first episode of "Desperate Housewives" will air on Thursday at 9 p.m., preceded by "Wives of New York" which aired the previous week.
As one of the major events of the new year for USA TV Network, it is related to the further layout of the TV network. Almost all the executives of USA TV Network stayed at the headquarters on the east and west coasts that day, waiting for the ratings results in real time.
When the ratings of the lead show "Wives of New York" suddenly rose sharply near the end of the series, USA executives had already vaguely realized something.
At nine o'clock, the first season of "Desperate Housewives" started airing, and the ratings directly surpassed "Housewives of New York" by a large margin.
Moreover, comparing the first episode of the second season of "Wives of New York", it is not difficult to find that the preliminary ratings data of the second season of this reality show are obviously better than the first episode.
USA originally planned to let "Wives of New York", which is the mainstay of the TV station's ratings, to guide the popularity of "Desperate Housewives", but an obvious result is that this drama, which has just been aired, actually boosted the popularity due to the previous attention. The popularity of "Wives of New York".
Early the next morning, all mainstream media outlets in North America published reviews of this much-anticipated new drama.
"Variety" praised "Desperate Housewives" for "just starting, it has built a fascinating and mysterious country through distinctive characters and excellent plot foreshadowing, and people can't help but look forward to the further development of the story."
One critic in "The Hollywood Reporter" said jokingly: "Before the show aired, I doubted whether Simon Westeros was involved in the creation of the show. After the show aired, I couldn't help but doubt it even more." Why does Stroe do what he does so well'.
In addition to the two professional media, most other mainstream newspapers also praised "Desperate Housewives".
Subsequently, when the ratings data were exposed, "Desperate Housewives" was completely confirmed as a dark horse in the autumn ratings.
After more than a year of reorganization and expansion, the current USA TV network covers a total of 72 million viewers in the United States, which is equivalent to about one-third of the current population of the United States.
This kind of viewing base is actually not too high among the major cable TV networks in the United States. Turner Broadcasting Company's CNN and Viacom's MTV television network both have much greater audience coverage than USA.
Moreover, in the early 1990s, the major traditional television networks in the United States still occupied a very strong market position. Although cable TV is rapidly gaining popularity, most of the cable TV networks that appear as bundled packages on the audience's program candidate list, except for CNN and MTV, basically have low ratings. Many history, technology and other channels have audiences for ten and a half days. I won't select it once a month, and occasionally it will be pressed by the remote control, and it will often be skipped.
Before the merger with MCA, although the USA TV network was better than many unpopular cable channels that were often skipped, it was still far behind popular cable networks such as CNN and MTV.
Through the previous year's operation, USA took "Beverly Housewives" and "New York Housewives" as the leading role, cooperated with other program development and spared no effort in publicity investment, this originally inconspicuous cable TV network has successfully confirmed In order to position itself as a female TV network, the average number of viewers of the two major serious shows in the previous viewing year also exceeded 5 million, which is already a very good result.
It can be said that USA’s accumulation over the past many years and its restructuring over the past year have laid a very good foundation for the rise of this cable TV network.
The coverage of 72 million viewers is enough for this TV network to show its strength.
Therefore, when "Desperate Housewives", which has no shortage of topics and attention, was launched, and the quality of the series itself was excellent, many things fell into place.
Finally, on the first day of broadcast, the average number of viewers for the first episode of "Desperate Housewives" reached 7.36 million, with a core ratings of 4.1 in the 18 to 49 age group. At the same time, the highest number of viewers for the entire first episode of the series reached a high of 8.71 million. The highest number appeared in the second half of the first episode. This also vaguely indicates that the ratings of subsequent episodes of "Desperate Housewives" are likely to continue to rise. .
At the same time, "Desperate Housewives" also reached a high of sixth place in the ratings on Thursday night.
The top five, all are PBS television shows.
In comparison, "Housewives of New York", which was originally intended to serve as a precursor to "Desperate Housewives" to guide the popularity of this new drama, only had an average audience of 5.91 million viewers for the second episode of its second season, with a core ratings of 2.7. This data That's a lot higher than the first episode's average viewership of 5.76 million.
You know, under normal circumstances, the ratings of the first episode of a non-premiere sequel series are often relatively high.
Obviously, "Housewives of New York" not only failed to lead the popularity of "Desperate Housewives", but was influenced by "Desperate Housewives" and increased its ratings.
On Thursday night, the TV series with the highest ratings was NBC Channel's "Law and Order" with 17.56 million viewers and a ratings of 10.7.
The ratings of "Law and Order" and "Desperate Housewives" seem to be very different. However, NBC's coverage is almost nationwide, while USA's audience coverage is only one-third of the U.S. population, and, The positioning of USA Television Network's female television station has once again limited the performance of "Desperate Housewives".
Under the dual influence, "Desperate Housewives" was able to reach an average of 7.36 million viewers, and showed a continued upward trend. As a cable network drama, this has reached a 'phenomenal level'.
If the two dramas are put on the same standard platform, it is not difficult to imagine that the ratings data of "Desperate Housewives" can definitely beat "Law and Order".
With the exposure of the ratings data of "Desperate Housewives" and the heated discussion in the media, many cable TV providers have begun to contact Daenerys Entertainment, hoping to introduce USA TV Network.
In order to speed up the promotion of USA TV Network, the cable TV network did not increase the operator's share in the past year. However, as the number of operators requesting the introduction of USA TV networks increases, the management team can also start to consider increasing the share price.
At the same time, the USA TV network’s advertising prices increased, but the results were immediate.
While intensively planning follow-up development strategies, Daenerys Entertainment was not stingy and directly announced that it would hold a celebration party for the series' creative team on the weekend after the broadcast of "Desperate Housewives".
Although USA TV Network is jointly owned by Daenerys Entertainment and Paramount Communications, the location of the celebration party was naturally chosen at the event center of Daenerys Studios in Malibu.
On September 19, it was dark, and the employee activity center on the second floor of Daenerys Studios was already crowded with people.
The three main programs of USA TV Network have been launched recently. Not only the just-launched "Desperate Housewives", but the other two main programs, the new seasons of "The Housewives of Beverly Hills" and "Housewives of New York" have also achieved The ratings data are very good, and the creators of some other programs on the TV network have also been invited. Therefore, the scene in the party hall obviously has a sense of prosperity and decline.
"Ms. Ward, you are so brilliant and charming as the perfect housewife Bree and I can't wait for the second episode to air."
"Thank you, sir?"
"My name is Jon Peterson."
"Oh, I know, Mr. Peterson, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," Jon Peterson politely shook hands with Sheila Ward again, and then said in a very casual tone: "By the way, Ms. Ward, I happen to have a role in the project. It suits you very well. Can you leave your contact information? Maybe we can try to chat sometime?"
Although she had a low status in the past, Sela Ward knew a lot of the internal trends in Hollywood.
As the head of the film business of Sony's Columbia Pictures, he is also one of the oldest producers in Hollywood and has collaborated with big names such as Spielberg. If it were other actresses, hints like Jon Peterson's could often be easily 'caught'.
However, when she heard what the middle-aged man in front of her said, the smile on Sheila Ward's face did not change much, but her eyes subconsciously searched the crowd.
Still didn't see a certain guy.
Somewhat disappointed, but no further hesitation.
Sometimes, the more simply you say no, the less trouble you have.
Relying on the success of "Desperate Housewives", even though it is only a TV series, she also knows that she has completely established a foothold in Hollywood. If everything goes well for this USA series, it can definitely be filmed for more than three seasons, and even five or six seasons is not impossible.
Such a long time is enough for her to look for further opportunities without relying on external forces.
Now that some guy got her into this TV series, she'll probably have to hang out in the TV industry from now on, but that's actually not bad. She is 36 years old this year. In the film industry, without strong support, it would be difficult for her to develop much.
Quickly making up her mind, Sheila Ward shook her head and apologized: "Sorry, Mr. Peterson, I didn't bring my business card tonight."
"It's okay." John Peterson repeatedly did not feel the rejection of the woman in front of him, and he readily took out his business card and handed it over, saying: "It has my contact information on it, Ms. Ward, if you are interested, You can contact me anytime.”
Seeing this situation, Sheila Ward had no choice but to reach out and take the other party's business card.
As a veteran producer in Hollywood, Jon Peterson certainly had no shortage of pride in himself and left decisively after giving him a business card.
Sheila Ward hesitated for a moment with a glass of champagne in one hand and a business card in the other. She was about to put the business card into her handbag. It would be better to just throw it away on such an occasion. She noticed the commotion not far away and looked over inadvertently. I saw the figure of a certain young man.
Westeros was chatting with Martin Davis, the chairman of Paramount Communications, as he walked into the hall, followed by several other people. The guests in the hall also turned their attention to a certain young man.
As luck would have it, the other party happened to look over and looked at the business card in her hand with interest.
Inexplicably, I felt like I was being caught.
Then I sighed secretly in my heart. I only had a one-night stand with him once. Although, okay, that night in Seattle was wonderful, but the man was rarely in her life after that.
Hollywood is big, and she is just a small person after all.
The opposite person's eyes immediately turned away as soon as they made contact. For just a short moment, it seemed like nothing happened.
Sheila Ward noticed that many of the guests around her were quietly gathering towards Westeros, and she couldn't help but feel even more guilty. After reacting, she quietly pushed in the opposite direction, and deliberately pushed the business card with a bit of anger. He put it in his handbag, as if to prove that he was not afraid of a certain guy.
On the other side, Simon nodded from time to time to the guests who came up to greet him, and finally came to sit down at a sofa in the corner of the hall. He chatted with Martin Davis about the next plan of the USA TV network, and the topic couldn't help but turn to the two parties' work in the movie. cooperation.
During this time, Simon has been considering one thing, whether to continue to delay the development of the "Mission: Impossible" series.
Mainly, next year's schedule is really crowded.
Especially at the end of next year.
It's just Daenerys Entertainment. If all the originally planned films are withdrawn, they will include the 3D animation "The Lion King", "Forrest Gump" and "Mission: Impossible" in cooperation with Paramount Pictures. In addition, the DC Cinematic Universe's "Cyborg" will also be released at the end of next year.
Leaving aside other issues, "The Lion King" and "Forrest Gump" are two blockbusters that have reached a local box office of 300 to 400 million U.S. dollars in their original time and space. They would have consumed most of the resources of a schedule. If you include "Disc" Impossible" and "Cyborg", then the ending will only cause internal friction.
Of course, it is also possible to adjust the schedule.
However, in the summer of 1994, there was "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises."
This is another $300 million blockbuster.
It's actually the same going forward.
We can't keep putting it off forever.
After deliberation for a long time and several discussions with Paramount, Simon made a rough decision. The development plan of "Mission: Impossible" will remain the same, and the schedule of "The Lion King" will also remain unchanged. At the same time, "Forrest Gump" will be adjusted By the summer of 1994, the release date was roughly determined to be the Independence Day holiday in July, which was one month apart from "The Dark Knight Rises" in June.
Independence Day is very suitable for the theme of "Forrest Gump". With a difference of one month, "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" will not have too serious impact on "Forrest Gump".
As for the end of 1993, there will be one less blockbuster with a volume of 300 million US dollars, and several other movies will have enough room to play.