Chapter 206: Qualitative Leap

Julia didn't know how to reply to Elisabeth's words. Although she seemed to be just evaluating the characters in the show, a hint of jealousy could be heard in her voice.

In fact, Julia herself felt a bit jealous. Although only two episodes have aired so far, anyone can see that Friends is destined to be a superhit show which would naturally lead to the six main actors turning into overnight stars, and Jennifer, who plays Rachel, will definitely be the most popular among the six. In addition, she would be able to maintain her popularity for many years to come due to the natural longevity of a TV show, as opposed to a movie.

‘Eric is so kind to her,’ she thought while gently biting her lips.

After the two pilot episodes ended, commercials had begun and the two women noticed that the outside sky was already bright.

Julia stood up and stretched before taking a shower. She walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later and asked, "Liz, do you want to go to the restaurant downstairs for breakfast?"

Elisabeth shook her head and replied, "I'm a little tired, so I’ll stay inside. Julia, can you bring me a fruit salad?"

Julia nodded, got dressed and walked out of their hotel room.

Back in the room, Elisabeth continued watching the TV screen for a while before she suddenly remembered something. She stood up, picked up the phone and dialed a series of numbers from her memory.

A few minutes later, Julia returned to the room with two take-away breakfasts. She saw Elisabeth put down the phone and asked casually, "Who were you talking to?"

"New York," Elisabeth replied, but realized that Julia seemed uninterested. She walked back to the couch, sat down and said, "I just talked to the Fox TV station in New York. They said the ratings of Friends have been calculated."

Julia gave one of the salads to Elisabeth and walked to the refrigerator to get two cartons of milk. Hearing Elisabeth's words, Julia still seemed uninterested and asked, "Was that necessary? The show’s script was written by Eric himself. The ratings will definitely not be low. It might have even crossed 20 million by the end."

"31.7 million..."

Elisabeth replied hoarsely as if something was stuck in her throat. She is a media student, and unlike laymen, she is able to understand the meaning behind this number.

"Oh..." Julia poured the milk into two glasses and responded casually. Suddenly, she turned her head and asked, wide-eyed, "How much did you say?!"

Elisabeth fiddled with her fruit salad and slowly replied, "The average ratings of the two episodes are 31.7 million. The highest number even reached 35 million. It's... incredible."

"Oh my God," Julia took a few sips of milk in an attempt to suppress the shock in her heart and quickly asked, "Isn't it a mistake?"

"How could it be wrong? The people at the TV station checked three times. They’re going crazy."

It was crazy.

After Fox compiled the ratings data of the first two episodes of Friends, even if it was late at night, the news seemingly had wings and spread throughout the film and television industry and countless newspapers in just an hour. Many people who had fallen asleep were awakened by the shocking news.

During the '90s, the main sources of audio-visual entertainment were movies and television. Therefore, ratings of more than 30 million were not uncommon.

But such ratings were only obtained by an important ceremony or competition, or a major plot twist or season finale of a hit drama that has accumulated several years of fame.

However, a sitcom obtaining such ratings was simply unprecedented. And more importantly, Fox was a TV station that had been around for less than a decade. Although it was nominally ranked fourth in North America, it lagged far behind the top three TV stations i.e. ABC, CBS and NBC. As a result, the ratings of Friends had a special significance for Fox. Prior to it, Fox's highest ratings record was from an interview with Michael Jackson. And even that had only 19 million viewers. The ratings of Friends increased Fox's highest ratings record by more than 10 million in one fell swoop.

And the person most critical to such success, Eric, was woken up early in the morning by the tireless ringing of the phone in his room.

The first call was from Barry Diller himself. Barry Diller informed him about the phenomenal ratings of Friends, expressed his congratulations, and then hoped that Eric could return to the United States as soon as possible. He also informed him that News Corporation’s Chairman Rupert Murdoch would arrive in Los Angeles in a few days and that he really wanted to meet him in person. The two chatted for another ten minutes. After Barry Diller repeatedly asked Eric to return to Los Angeles as soon as possible, he reluctantly hung up the phone.

Eric put down the phone and before he had time to ponder over the news he received from Barry Diller, his phone rang again.

The second one was from Jeffrey, and then, the third, fourth, fifth…

Eric spent the next two full hours answering the phone. Both of his ears were red due to the phone being held against them for so long. Finally, aorund nine o'clock in the morning, Eric couldn't stand it anymore and unplugged the phone line. He figured that he had already talked to most of the more important people so it didn’t matter if he didn’t answer any more calls.

Moreover, the purpose behind most calls was not very pure. Except for Jennifer who quickly called and congratulated him, most callers were lobbying him to obtain broadcasting rights to Friends.

Last year, out of caution, Fox only signed the contract for the first season of Friends. This was an open secret.

Now, Friends has just begun broadcasting and has already achieved such amazing feats. Even if the ratings fluctuate in the future, with ratings of 30 million during the pilot, the future ratings will not be too bad. As a result, if the other three major TV stations continue to remain indifferent to Friends, those at their helm simply do not deserve to sit in their positions.

However, these people are indeed very well connected. They sent representatives in just a few hours and expressed their intentions to Eric. NBC even sent John Aniston, James Brooks and Robert Shaye to lobby on their behalf. Except for John Aniston who originally worked at NBC, Eric couldn’t figure out how the other two were related to NBC. James Brooks is a famous producer who has maintained close cooperation with Fox over the years. Wasn’t he afraid of going behind Fox’s back? Moreover, Robert Shaye's actions left Eric even more confused.

In fact, regarding the performance of Friends, Eric had his own estimates. Since Running Out of Time was still in theaters, the three episodes of Friends that were advertising placements have aroused strong public curiosity. Coupled with the gimmick that Eric personally wrote the script and directed the first two episodes, as well as Fox sparing no effort in publicity, Eric had predicted that the pilot ratings of Friends would definitely be in the 20 million range. Anything lower than that would be pathetic.

But when the actual ratings of over 30 million came out, even he was greatly surprised.

The ratings of an American TV show usually follows a set process. Going from 10 million to 20 million was an easy quantitative change. A decent TV show could reach 20 million over time depending on the ups and downs of the plot. But going from 20 million to 30 million was a very tough qualitative leap. Only a very small number of popular TV shows had one or two such episodes and that too after they had accumulated years of popularity.

However, Friends has created such a miracle during its pilot which is enough for it to leave its name behind in the annals of TV history.

Therefore, it is only natural that Friends has caused such a sensation in the entire North American film and television circle.