Because of Eric's special instructions, good news came from Los Angeles in just one week, and the Firefly TV drama department successfully won "The Story of the Emergency Room".
In his memory, Eric was very impressed by the touching appeal revealed in a series of plain and trivial medical work scenes in "The Story of the Emergency Room". He still clearly remembers the first time he watched it. How I felt when I saw this American drama, originally Eric had no interest in this kind of medical drama, but after one episode, Eric was firmly attracted by this story, and then watched the big episode out of control. In some episodes, Eric also found the equally popular "Grey's Anatomy", but the strong taste of palace fighting released in the first episode of "Grey" and some details have no effect on "The Story of the Emergency Room". "The parodic imitation of Eric can only lament what the hell this is.
Of course, it may be because of Eric’s age at that time that such a difference occurred. The series of protagonists in "Story of the Emergency Room" are all adults in their 30s and 40s. Eric resonated with the young Eric, but the protagonists of "Grey" are a group of interns who have just graduated from medical school, and the target group is also young people.
Because of differences in living habits and time zones, although the four major public television networks in North America have very comprehensive coverage, during the day, they usually arrange different TV programs according to different regions, especially the sub-TV stations distributed in major cities in North America.
The main competition period for the ratings of the four major TV stations is the three-hour prime time period from 7:00 p.m. The show mixes with other types of reality TV.
Normally, as long as a public TV station has one or two programs with high ratings to attract viewers, it can guarantee the basic audience of the TV station because of the inertia of the ratings. The reason for several other major TV stations for a full decade, and after "Friends", because of the lack of high ratings programs, nbc also quickly fell behind other TV networks. In the end, the major shareholder of nbc had to follow the general trend of media group integration and merge nbc with Universal Pictures.
Although it is not so easy to operate a TV network that covers the entire North America and has more than 200 sub-networks, it will get back the rights to broadcast "Friends" next year and own "Emergency Room Stories". Develop a few more good reality shows, and at the same time, with the cooperation of Firefly Pictures' rich film and television content resources, as long as the operator of the TV network is not an idiot, although it will not be far behind the other major TV stations, it will definitely occupy the leading position. no problem. In addition, there will be no situation where the original time and space ABC TV station becomes a drag on the Disney Group.
After "Jurassic Park" broke records at the box office at the end of September and stimulated a sharp rise in media stocks, and because Viacom completed the acquisition of the Blockbuster chain, the two bidders for Paramount Communications have coincidentally accelerated their acquisitions Pace, for a period of time in early October, you can see relevant news in newspapers and TV news programs almost every day.
However, what happened next completely broke the balance between the two sides.
One of the bidders for Paramount Communications, the major shareholder of QVC, in addition to Barry Diller, also has the support of two communication equipment operators, Comcast and Telecom, but on October 11, AT&T (US Telephone Telegraph Company) suddenly announced the acquisition of the telecommunications company. The major shareholder and chairman of Telecom, John Malone, was originally Barry Diller's biggest supporter. And Comcast has not been too enthusiastic about acquiring Paramount Communications. This sudden acquisition means that the biggest support behind Barry Diller has disappeared.
Without the financial support of telecommunication, Barry Diller was quickly defeated in the competition with Redstone.
On October 23rd, after a week-long final bidding process, Viacom Chairman Redstone and Paramount Communications Chairman Martin Davis formally announced the bid at the Paramount headquarters in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Announced that Viacom will acquire Paramount Communications Group for a whopping $11 billion.
In Eric's eyes, although Paramount Communications owns several TV stations, music companies and a publishing house in addition to Paramount Pictures, its value is not much higher than that of Disney. Lei Shidong won the company with an indomitable attitude of being taken advantage of. Apart from proving that you are still young at the age of seventy, you can't get too many benefits.
Of course, that wasn't Eric's concern, after all. Although Eric didn't know many details, Eric already knew the outcome of this bidding, so he always focused on another person, Barry Diller.
In the bedroom of the East Hampton villa, Eric held a little guy in one hand and looked at Joanna who was quietly packing her luggage. Said: "New York is getting colder and colder, why don't you go back to Los Angeles with me?"
Joanna carefully folded a pair of Eric's trousers and stuffed them into the suitcase, and said softly, "Vicky hasn't come back yet, and I don't want to go to Los Angeles either."
Eric didn't seem to force Joanna's little persistence, and said: "Then I will come and spend it with you on Thanksgiving."
"Okay," Joanna put on a gentle smile on her face, and then said, "You came here last year, over there...would they be dissatisfied?"
"No, they are not married, and most of them will go home to spend Thanksgiving with their families," Eric shook his head, thinking of Xiao Nizi again, and said, "Well, I mean, do you mind Is Drew coming along, she doesn't have a good relationship with her parents?"
"It's okay, just bring her with you."
Although I don't like Xiao Nizi's surly character in my heart, Joanna will not show it in front of Eric. In other words, since we met, Eric has rarely felt any negative emotions from Joanna. Perhaps this is why Eric subconsciously prefers to stay with this woman.
After packing Eric's luggage and handing it over to the maid next to him, Joanna took Hawaii from Eric's arms: "Let's go now, don't delay too late."
"It's okay." Eric rubbed his son's chubby face in his arms: "It's the company's plane, and my boss still has the right to make them wait for a while."
…
When we arrived in Los Angeles, it was already twelve noon on October 24th, western time. Eric got off the plane, and without contacting anyone else, he drove to the Sunset Boulevard hotel that he had agreed upon. Barry Diller was already waiting in the hotel. look at yourself.
Although he could see Barry Diller on TV every day during this time, when he saw Barry Diller in person at this time. Eric could still feel the undisguised disappointment emanating from Barry Diller.
The two stood across the door of the hotel room and greeted Barry Diller. Eric looked at the bald and gray-haired middle-aged man who was just fifty years old in front of him, and said, "Barry, you must not eat Let's have lunch, how about we go to the restaurant?"
"Okay, I'm going to put on my coat," Barry Diller turned and walked into the room, and soon came out wearing a black coat.
The two walked to the elevator door together. Eric pressed the button, glanced at Barry Diller, who still seemed to be in a daze, and comforted him: "I don't think you need to be disappointed at all, believe me, if you win Paramount for $110, that's the real deal." A disaster."
"If you lose, you lose, Eric. I'm not one of those people who can't face failure. It's just... well, it's been a busy year. All of a sudden, all the work I did was for nothing. You should be able to understand Feeling this way," Barry Diller suddenly realized that Eric, a young man with a strange track record of success, had never experienced this kind of failure. He laughed at himself and said, "Disappointment is always inevitable. It will be fine in a while."
The two walked to the restaurant of the hotel together. It was time for meals, and the people who could stay in this luxury hotel on Sunset Boulevard were not mediocre people. Seeing Eric and Barry Diller appearing together . They couldn't help whispering, and some people came over to say hello.
After dealing with a few people who were familiar but couldn't name them, Eric and Barry Diller chose a seat by the window and sat down.
"Barry, what do you want to eat?" Eric took the menu from the waiter: "I treat you. You know, I rarely treat people to dinner."
Barry Diller smiled, ordered a pasta at random, and returned the menu to the waiter.
Eric didn't force it either, he also ordered a pasta and a bottle of red wine to accompany the meal.
Wait for the wait staff immediately after. Eric said: "Barry, I didn't comfort you just now. In my opinion, Paramount is only worth the price when Firefly bought Disney Pictures. I can make a bet with you that it won't take five years, Lei Shi Dong will definitely regret it."
Eric thought of Lei Shidong's character, and smiled again: "Of course, Lei Shidong will definitely not put regret on his face."
"It's different, Eric," Barry Diller shook his head and said, "Just like your firefly, I think the value of a firefly in your heart must be higher than anyone imagined, and I am the same. Paramount ceo wasn't my first job, but I feel like that's where my career really started, after William Morris and abc TV was just kind of an experience. If I had $11 billion now If it were, I would definitely snatch Paramount from Redstone without hesitation, but unfortunately, I didn't."
The two chatted casually, and the lunch was quickly served. After flying in the sky for several hours, Eric only drank a bottle of water. He was already hungry at this time, so he picked up the tableware and ate unceremoniously.
Barry Diller seemed to have found a trace of his youthful atmosphere from Eric's movements, and he relaxed a little, and picked up the tableware. Neither of them is the kind of person who eats slowly. Barry Diller took a sip of the red wine and said, "Eric, although eating like this is very enjoyable, I still suggest that you try to eat slowly in the future." One point, you know, when I was young, I was about the same as you, but I was tossed by stomach problems for many years."
Eric nodded with a smile, picked up the red wine next to him and gestured to Barry Diller, and the two drank some more red wine before Eric finally took the initiative and said, "Barry, what are you going to do next?"
Barry Diller looked at the hustle and bustle of traffic on the street outside the window, and recalled the media's evaluation that he was far away from Hollywood some time ago, and suddenly felt a little confused.
Although he briefly left the Hollywood circle because he ran qvc, a shopping TV station, Barry Diller never gave up the idea of returning to Hollywood. However, the acquisition plan that was originally smug failed due to a series of accidents, and Barry Diller finally realized that it was still not that easy for him to return to Hollywood.
However, this once powerful Hollywood tycoon, Barry Diller also has his own pride, he can easily see Eric's intentions from the layout of Firefly Pictures during this period, but, since it was decided at the beginning No longer an employee, Barry Diller, of course, would not go back on his word so easily.
"Eric, I found out from the news that Firefly Pictures pulled out of Fox Network that Jeffrey seems to be playing a leading role. If I guess correctly, maybe next year or later, you will let him come. Take over Michael Lynn's position?"
There is nothing to hide about this, Eric nodded and admitted.
Barry Diller shrugged his shoulders slightly, with some helplessness and self-mockery in his expression again: "Then you have to know, whether it was during the ABC period or the Paramount period, Jeffery has always been my deputy. What do you think? If so, can I go back?"
"Barry, I'm going to buy a network, you know what I mean, I want you to run the network."
"But you won't let the TV network maintain absolute independence. This TV network will still be under the jurisdiction of the Firefly headquarters, right?"
Eric nodded. If after the acquisition of the TV network, the two parties still maintain their respective business independence, it will be no different from no acquisition. The main purpose of Eric's acquisition of the TV network is to maximize the use of the TV network's channels to maximize the benefits of Firefly's film and television resources.
"Barry, although the TV network cannot maintain absolute independence, I can assure you that Jeffrey will not overly intervene in the management of the TV network, and even I personally will not overly interfere. The reputation has always been very good."
Barry Diller still shook his head and said: "Eric, it won't work, you should know Jeffrey's character, if I join Firefly, this kind of seat swap will make me and Jeffery feel very uncomfortable .” (To be continued.)