Chapter 262: Talk Show Gets Taken Off Air?

Morning.

It was a brand new day.

Zhang Ye got out of his bed. He did not do anything last night, so he could not suppress the fire in his heart. He initially wanted to sleep in the school belle’s bedroom, so he had thickened his skin to chat with her in bed for a long period of time. However, he was still sent out of the room by Dong Shanshan.

Alas, this was life.

Loneliness was where the shoe pinched!

Dong Shanshan had also woken up and was in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

“Shanshan.”

“You are awake?”

“Yea, what are we eating?”

“Fried mantou and poached egg.”

“Nice, then I’ll go wash up.”

After finishing breakfast, Dong Shanshan picked up her bag, ready to leave. To avoid suspicion, she and Zhang Ye always left separately. Either she left first or he left first.

Zhang Ye sent her to the doorstep.

“I’m leaving.” Dong Shanshan smiled.

Zhang Ye acknowledged and blinked his eyes as he leaned over to kiss her.

However, Dong Shanshan nimbly dodged and opened the door and stood outside the door. She waved her hand, smiling, “I’ll see you at work in a while.”

Zhang Ye gave a wry smile. Damn, he didn’t manage to get a kiss.

I’ll endure a few more days. I’ll definitely take care of her in two days!

……

Company.

The moment Zhang Ye arrived, he was informed to go to Wang Xiong’s office.

“Director Wang, ” Zhang Ye said, “You were looking for me?”

Wang Xiong invited him to take a seat and smiled. “The episode of ‘Zhang Ye’s Talk Show’ with the highest hits has officially broken 10 million views. Your fame has been increasing too. Now, there are two or three potential sponsors contacting us, hoping to get exclusive mentions on ‘Zhang Ye’s Talk Show’. As for the details, the company’s relevant staff is discussing with them. So I want to ask you, how many episodes can this show of yours last?”

Zhang Ye gave it a thought before saying, “At this speed of daily episodes, it might finish in less than two months. If it’s one or two episode a week, then it could last for about half a year or more.”

Wang Xiong muttered to himself, “Two months? That’s about 60 episodes? Alright.”

Zhang Ye asked curiously, “Are the sponsorship fees very high?”

“Hur Hur,” WebTV said, “With your program’s hit rate, it won’t be low. Their bid is already the top price in the WebTV sponsorship fees, and from the looks of it, it can be further discussed.”

The amount of sponsorship was an embodiment of his personal worth, so Zhang Ye was naturally very concerned about it.

Just as they were chatting, Wang Xiong’s office phone rang. He picked it up, “Hello…” Then after hearing a few words, Wang Xiong’s face changed, “I’ll be there immediately…Huh? Get Zhang Ye too? Alright, Director Feng, I got it.” After hanging up, he said to Zhang Ye, “Let’s go. We need to go upstairs.”

Zhang Ye was stunned, “What’s going on?”

Wang Xiong frowned, “People from the SARFT are here. Director Wang wants you there too, most likely due to your program. Let’s go first. As for the details, I don’t know either.”

Zhang Ye was perplexed. SARFT? My program?

SARFT was a very famous department. It was not too much to say that it was the department that was in charge of the entertainment industry. For traditional and online television stations, the SARFT was in charge of auditing, punishment, and revocation of all their programs. Basically, they had all the power in their hands.

……

Upstairs.

Feng Guiqin’s office.

When Wang Xiong and Zhang Ye entered, there were already about six people in the office. One of them was Feng Guiqin. One of them was also their Weiwo company’s Leader. As for the rest, Zhang Ye had never seen them before. Two of them were middle-aged, while the other two were young adults. There was a total of three men and one woman. The one leading the group was a middle-aged man with a rotund belly. It was unknown if it was a result of drinking, but it was obvious at a glance that he was a Leader.

The pot bellied SARFT official sat on the sofa with a haughty posture. He said towards Feng Guiqin and another company executive, “The directive has been passed, so implement it!”

It could be seen that Feng Guiqin was suppressing her anger as she said, “But the ‘Talk Show’ has only aired a few episodes. To stop it now would greatly influence our WebTV’s reputation. This program is now our signature program. The country has been trying to foster the WebTV industry, but this directive makes us…”

Stop broadcasting?

“Zhang Ye’s Talk Show” was to be taken off air?

Zhang Ye’s face turned gloomy. He never expected it!

Wang Xiong probably did not expect it either. His face turned cold and immediately said to the pot belly official, “Leader, why are you stopping Little Zhang’s program?”

Another middle-aged SARFT official glanced at him, saying, “What do you think? Back then when you submitted this program for approval, we had approved it after review. We also gave your program a number. However, what did the document you submitted to us say? That it was an entertainment program with goals of being humorous, but we have already seen the first few episodes, that it is not just pure comedy and entertainment. There were expletives used in the program and unhealthy joke segments. Especially with the second episode has even involved politics, creating gossip that we are ridiculing our neighbors! If you aren’t taken off air, who should? There has to be a bottom line in entertainment! You cannot do such a program as you have crossed the line!”

Zhang Ye stepped forward, “What expletives were used?”

One of the young SARFT officials looked at him, “What is JB?”

“Is JB an expletive?” Zhang Ye responded, “Then would all English alphabets be expletives!?”

“Little Zhang!” Feng Guiqin noticed that Zhang Ye was agitated and immediately warned him, “Hold your words. I’ll talk to you later.” Then she said to the few SARFT officials, “Isn’t the audit over Talk Show too great? If the higher-ups find it inappropriate, we can still adjust it and we can also delete the joke segments from previous episodes that the SARFT finds inappropriate, but to take it directly off the air causes us too great of a loss!”

Wang Xiong added on, “Besides, ‘Zhang Ye’s Talk Show’ does not in anyway address any political issues. It’s just things that the citizens joke about.”

The leading SARFT official said impatiently, “But the ridicule and satire created from your program has seriously affected social order!”

Feng Guiqin narrowed her eyes, “This is too much an exaggeration, right?”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Wang Xiong was also furious, “It’s just an entertainment program, yet you say it’s anti-societal?”

The woman from SARFT cut them off, “Do you know how many people reported ‘Zhang Ye’s Talk Show’ on our official Shanghai SARFT website? There are hundreds of anonymous letters a day! If we carry on letting you broadcast, who knows what mess you will create in the future!”

Feng Guiqin retorted, “Which program isn’t reported by people? Just because it’s reported means it has to be banned and taken off air? Then the whole country will not have any entertainment programs!”

The leading SARFT official leered coldly at Feng Guiqin, “We came to announce the SARFT’s decision. From today onwards, ‘Zhang Ye’s Talk Show’ is to be taken off air. You just need to follow the directive. Whatever we should answer has been answered, nor do we have any need to explain anything to you. This is a directive set by our SARFT. Also, now is a crackdown period. For those programs that violated the rules, us from the Shanghai SARFT will be holding a small press conference before 8 PM today. We will announce the punishment dealt to ‘Zhang Ye’s Talk Show’ and those programs that recently are also in violation. You just need to show up!” Standing up, he said to the people beside him, “Let’s go.”

The people from the Shanghai SARFT strutted away.

Wang Xiong hurriedly said, “Director Feng, this…”

“I’ll make a call!” Feng Guiqin picked up her cellphone and dialed a number.

Zhang Ye stood in a corner, silent. His face was so gloomy that it looked terrifying. I worked so hard and for so long, putting in so much effort, and you are halting my program just as it was created? And the reason behind it being halted was so baffling? It will affect societal order? Go f**k yourself!

The joke segments and topics he mentioned were all from his world. For example, the content from the episode dedicated to South Korea came from “Tonight 80’s Talkshow”. And back then, Wang Zijian had no problems saying it on TV. Nor were there any warnings or punishment, so why would it be prohibited here? Besides, as a traditional television program, “Tonight 80’s Talkshow” had no problems at all. For WebTV, which had relatively more leeway, it had problems? Furthermore, with “Bao Zou Big News Events”, this online Talk Show was filled with expletives and curses, but they were alive and well. At least they were not audited and taken off air! Why couldn’t mine work?

Could it be that this world’s SARFT gave greater scrutiny than his world’s? Almost nothing could be said? Impossible! If Zhang Ye had crossed the line, Feng Guiqin, Wang Xiong, and the Weiwo company Leaders would have informed him early on. Those could have been edited out in post-editing, but them as experienced professionals who were so familiar about the WebTV industry, did not say that there was any problem, so why did the SARFT find problems?

Furthermore, it was not just halting a few episodes!

It was suspending it for an indefinite period of time!

Zhang Ye was perplexed what could have gone wrong.

Feng Guiqin’s call connected, “Hello, Head Zheng, It’s me, old Feng.”

“Ah, Old Feng.” A middle-aged man’s voice came from the phone as the volume was turned up high. Wang Xiong and Zhang Ye, who were standing by the side, could hear it clearly.

From the conversation, the other party was probably a leader of the Shanghai SARFT.

Feng Guiqin said, “One of our programs had been suspended. Did you know about it?”

“Talk Show, right? I just got wind of it.” Before waiting for Feng Guiqin to carry on, the middle-aged man said, “Old Feng, I knew you would look for me, but I really can’t help you this time. The person leading the team was Li Tao, right? This matter was audited by them. I can only disclose some insider information that we indeed decided to have a crackdown recently. Secondly, it’s not your Weiwo company’s problem, but because Zhang Ye provoked public outrage. In the past, he was banned by television stations, and now with his new program being so popular, many people from the television stations can’t stand it, so they would definitely do something. Thirdly, to my knowledge, Li Tao’s daughter’s idol is Lee Parkwoo. Maybe it’s due to his daughter that after his team’s audit on ‘Zhang Ye’s Talk Show’ came up with violations, he directly reported it to the administration. Then it was sent to the SARFT’s headquarters, and now they have made the punishment of taking it off air. So whatever I say would be useless for you.”