Chapter 140 Participating in a reality show for the first time
After the three Zhu brothers made the decision, the time came to the end of September.
"Story of the Cooking Class 2" is about to premiere. Zuo Le has temporarily put the casting work of "Enter Guandong" on hold and participated in several variety shows with a group of creators to build momentum for the TV series.
Among them, there are two most important variety shows, one is "Happy Dream Show" hosted by Shanhe proprietress Tian Yan, and the other is "Longing for Days", one of the leading variety shows of Xiangnan Channel.
Needless to say about the former, Dongshan TV’s flagship program, any TV series produced by Shanhe, usually has this program.
For particularly popular movies like "Seven Swords" and "Wulin Gaiden", the crew and creators will even be connected several times. Usually, when Shanhe artists are free, they will be invited by the boss's wife from time to time to suppress the show.
Several artists who go there frequently are also nicknamed the "Happy Dream Show" announcer kings.
"Happy Dream Show" Arita Yan has a good relationship with Higashiyama Tai. He and Shanhe are half of the same family, so it is normal for them to receive announcements and invitations.
But "Longing for Days" is different, this is the ace variety show of "Enemy Channel"!
When Zuo Le just heard that "Longing for Days" sent an invitation to Shanhe, he thought he had met a liar.
"Story of the Cooking Class 2" has been scheduled to be broadcast exclusively on Dongshan Satellite TV. "Longing for Days" invited them to participate in the program. Isn't this naked sponsorship of the enemy?
Shonan Taiwan is not French and likes to engage in these traditional arts...
At first, Zuo Le regarded this matter as a joke. It was not until the host of "Longing for Days" He Dan called Zuo Le and invited him personally that Zuo Le realized that this matter was actually true.
Zuo Le thought about it again and again, and hesitantly asked He Dan on the phone if "Longing for Days" had broken up with Xiangnan TV?
If so, he can introduce the program team to Dongshan TV, but if possible, he hopes that the resident MC of the "Longing for Days" program team can add another female host.
He Dan was amused by Zuo Le's words. He first thanked Zuo Le for his kind help, and then explained that there was nothing dirty between their program team and Xiangnan Channel.
The main reason why we invited Zuo Le and the main creators of "Cooking Class Story 2" this time was because of their popularity.
This year, "Days of Longing" has aired its third season. Although the program's ratings are still impressive, it is somewhat weaker than the first two seasons.
After discussion, the director team felt that the program needed some fresh guests to stimulate the ratings. In 2019, especially recently, the most popular celebrity entertainers are none other than the stars of "Wulin Gaiden".
Initially, considering the mood of Shonan TV, the director team of "Longing for Days" planned to invite only a few starring actors from "Wulin Gaiden" to come over.
If it gets so popular, it won't be enough to promote Dongshan TV's new drama.
Later, He Dan felt that this was not very elegant, so he took the initiative to negotiate with the Taiwanese side in southern Hunan and settled the matter simply by relying on his influence in Taiwan for many years.
Of course, apart from Teacher He's influence, this matter was only possible because the program team of "Longing for Days" had good results, a strong brand, and sufficient confidence, so Hunan Channel would make certain concessions and tolerances.
If I dared to make this request on a normal variety show, the entire show would have been stopped...
In any case, "Longing for Days" is also the top variety show in China in terms of ratings and online broadcasts. Even ordinary celebrities can't squeeze in. They took the initiative to invite Zuo Le, and Zuo Le had no reason to refuse.
The program team wants to take advantage of the popularity of the leading actors in "Wulin Gaiden" and "The Story of the Cooking Class" to increase the ratings.
Zuo Le also wanted to use "Longing for Days" to promote "The Story of the Cooking Class 2".
Both sides got what they needed and hit it off immediately.
Zuo Le immediately agreed to Teacher He's request and personally led the six-member cooking class, including Yan Ni, Yin Li, Zhang Jiajia and Yu Entai, who starred in "Wulin Gaiden", to participate in "Longing for Days".
……………
September 28, Beijing.
Zuo Le and others got into the sponsored car sent by the program team and drove to the mushroom house in a village on the outskirts of Beijing where "Days of Longing" was filmed.
On the way, the program director handed Zuo Le a sponsored mobile phone, indicating that Zuo Le could call Mushroom House to order food.
This is also a feature of the variety show "Longing for Days". Guests can order dishes from Mushroom House, and MC chef Huang Sanshi will prepare the dishes to entertain the guests.
Zuo Le had watched several issues of "Longing for Days" before. Knowing this link, he took the phone and made a call to Mushroom House with great interest.
"Hello, who are you?" A young male voice sounded on the other end of the phone.
"Is it a mushroom house?" Zuo Le asked.
"Yes, oh, you are the new guest, please wait a moment, Mr. Huang, Mr. He... there is a new guest ordering call."
After a period of noise, a steady male voice rang from the phone again: "Hello, I'm Huang Sanshi."
"Hello, Teacher Huang, I want to order some food." Zuo Le was very patient.
"You said, as long as it's not too unpopular, I can do it." Huang Sanshi was confident.
“It’s not popular, it’s all famous dishes.”
Zuo Le smiled brightly, and then started to tell the names of the dishes: "Boiling cabbage, eight-treasure gourd duck, Buddha jumping over the wall, crab meat lion head, Wensi tofu, squirrel mandarin fish..."
"..."
After Zuo Le reported more than a dozen dishes, Huang Sanshi on the other end of the phone fell into silence for a moment, and then said with a slight breakdown.
"Brother, you've come to the wrong place. This is the Mushroom House, not the Great Hall."
"Hahaha."
Zuo Le laughed and said, "Teacher Huang, don't be impatient. I'm just kidding you. We don't choose the dishes. It's up to you. But it's best to make more meat dishes."
And let me tell you, there are many people coming this time, so you need to prepare more."
"How many of you are there?"
There was another voice on the other end of the phone, and Zuo Le recognized it immediately. It was Teacher He Dan.
"Including me, there are eleven people in total, eight men and three women."
"Good guy, it's another big project."
Huang Sanshi "wailed", and He Dan pretended to be talking to Zuo Le, guessing the identity of these guests, while Zuo Le was talking about him, making all kinds of mist, but not telling the truth.
Of course this part was staged. He Dan had already seen the guest list of people like Zuo Le. This was done purely for the effect of the show.
Although it was Zuo Le's first time to participate in a reality show, he couldn't stand it. His wife Tian Yan specialized in variety shows. Zuo Le was so immersed in it that she knew everything about it.
So Zuo Le didn't need anyone to remind him. Once someone handed over a topic, he would take the initiative to pick up the topic and continue the performance.
After hanging up the phone, the director couldn't help but give Zuo Le a thumbs up: "Director Zuo, your performance was really good just now. It was very effective in the program."
Zuo Le smiled and said nothing.
He is a great director with numerous masterpieces. Would he tell you that his variety show experience is a "family legacy" of his humble wife...
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ps: I didn’t watch the last two seasons of "Longing for Life", so I made some fictional changes in the book.
