The day after the "Friends" ratings, Murdoch couldn't wait to use News Corp.'s media to announce that Firefly would take a stake in the Fox television network, and also said that not only would "Friends" continue to be broadcast on Fox television, but the two sides would also cooperate more closely.

As soon as the news came out, most of the media who were originally pessimistic about whether Fox could keep "Friends" under the coveting of the three major TV stations immediately changed their attitudes 180 degrees, and they began to express their optimism about the development prospects of the Fox TV network.

Not to mention that Murdoch's revelation that Firefly will cooperate more closely with Fox TV Network, just because Fox TV Network has retained the hit drama series "Friends", as long as Fox can seize the opportunity to produce more sophisticated TV programs to cultivate a loyal audience, then its fourth position in the North American TV industry will be unbreakable, and even through a few years of painstaking development, it is not impossible to surpass the original three major TV stations. As a result of this good news, the Fox Network's market capitalization, which was originally less than $1 billion, quickly climbed.

The transfer of shares in the TV network cannot be completed overnight, after the news of the Fox TV network, the three major TV stations not only did not give up on snatching "Friends", but the contact with Eric became more frequent.

Among them, because of the merger with the Metropolitan Broadcasting Company in 1985, ABC, which was most eager to turn over after several years of losses, finally even offered the conditions for a stake, but Tom Murphy, the CEO of ABC Television, was only authorized to transfer 3% of the shares of the board of directors, although the value of this 3% of the shares was more than double the 10% of Fox TV's shares, but Eric did not have any interest. Because of getting this 3% stake. Judging by the history of ABC that continued to lose money until it was acquired by Disney. It is unlikely that you will receive any dividends for the next few years, but it will consume a lot of money from Firefly. Moreover, this 3% stake is unlikely to bring much voice to Eric. So between the thriving FOX and the mud-footed ABC, as long as the IQ is a little more normal, we know what choice to make.

On the evening of September 10, "Friends" ushered in its second week of broadcasting, under the close attention of "Friends" viewers and other TV companies. Two hours later, Nielsen released the ratings stats for the first time. The average viewership of episodes 3 and 4 of "Friends" is 24.6 million, and the highest rating still reaches 29 million.

When the three major TV stations saw this number, they also began to analyze the success factors of "Friends", and finally found that in addition to the humorous plot and lines, the reason why this TV series was able to get the super high ratings of the premiere was that the first two episodes were directed by Eric himself. Of course, there may have been film directors who switched to TV dramas before, but it must have been when the career of film directors was underestimated and there was really no way. In the case of fame, no film director will 'fall willingly' to make a TV series. As a result, the gimmick of directing the TV series himself, which had been a huge success in the previous films, aroused a strong curiosity among the audience, who were eager to see what kind of TV series Eric, the director who had achieved a series of box office miracles, would produce. And the quality of "Friends" itself has also met the expectations of the audience, so it is comprehensive that this sitcom is now popular.

Knowing this, the three major TV stations began to shoot almost at the same time, and for a while, Steven Spielberg, Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton, and other Hollywood directors received high-priced invitations, and the three major TV stations even offered to pay millions of salaries as long as they could put a name on some dramas.

Under the strong money offensive, although most directors rejected it out of various scruples, it was not that no one tried, and the results were very good, and the ratings of some American dramas with the name of big Hollywood directors exceeded the ratings expectations. Therefore, in the next few years, inviting well-known film directors to direct the first one or two episodes of American dramas quickly formed a trend. When an American drama is launched, if there is no well-known Hollywood director in charge of the promotion, the audience will subconsciously feel that the grade of this TV series is not high, and the ratings will not be much better.

Of course, these are all things that happened later.

After the broadcast of "Friends" in the second week, people with a heart found that the news about "Friends" in TV programs other than Fox TV has almost completely disappeared, and even on those entertainment talk shows that like to make fun of current affairs, the host seems to have never heard of "Friends".

Obviously, this is a statement by the three major TV stations on Eric's continuous rejection of their wooing.

But this 'blocking' has done no harm to "Friends", and don't forget, behind Fox TV stands News Corporation, which can promote the TV series from print media to TV media in all directions. Although the three major television stations control most of the television media in North America, they are still pure television networks and have not been merged by media groups, so they have very little involvement in newspapers and magazines. And the word-of-mouth spread of a TV series in this era, newspapers and magazines also occupy a major role in it.

Although Fox's competitors did not forget to publish some attacks on "Friends" in the newspapers they could influence, such as criticizing "Friends" for having too many topics to be broadcast on public television, they did not make a big impact. Because the more important newspapers have maintained a highly praised attitude towards "Friends".

Eric is now sitting in his office reading a news article about "Friends" published by the Los Angeles Times.

According to Nielsen analysts, the second week of "Friends" has eliminated about 70% of the unstable viewers, and the average viewership of this sitcom will eventually remain at around 22 million, and it will undoubtedly become the king of TV drama ratings this year.

It has been revealed that the average advertising revenue of "Friends" has reached $3 million per episode, so the TV series will bring in more than $70 million in revenue. Although we don't know the exact split between Firefly and Fox TV, with Eric Williams' usual strong style, "Friends" will definitely reach the highest level of advertising revenue in the industry, and it is estimated that the TV series will bring nearly $30 million to Firefly in the first round of Fox alone.

What's even more surprising is that the copyright of "Friends" is exclusive to Firefly, so the subsequent transfer of broadcast rights and the distribution of videotapes of this sitcom will bring more than three times the revenue of the first round of advertising, but the total investment of this sitcom is less than $5 million, and Eric Williams, the 'bastard' who stirred up trouble in Hollywood, proved to the world that he can not only shine in movies, but also in the field of TV dramas.

When I was thinking about this article, I have been thinking about whether Eric Williams is going to extend his tentacles to the field of music next, because in several movies he directed, the name of Eric Williams is obviously hung in the soundtrack column, and the "Wordless Love" in the bus encounter in "Dark War" has made many fans fascinated, and the picture of Tom Cruise and Brooke Smalls snuggling up to each other is also called the most beautiful movie scene of this year by the media because of the support of this soundtrack. CEOs of major record labels, look at the three major TV stations that are now unbearable, why don't you take the lead in inviting Eric Williams before anyone else makes a move?"

After reading the "Los Angeles Times" article, Eric thought for a moment, when he was filming "Pretty Woman", because he remembered a song by the famous pop band Roxette, Eric had the intention of training singers to intervene in the record industry. The 90s was the last glorious era of the world's record industry, and as long as the record company had a few leading singers, the profit was no less than that of a film company or a television station. Even if the record industry completely declines due to the rise of the Internet age, the copyright of songs owned by record companies is a huge asset that can bring long-term income in the West, where intellectual property protection is very strict.

After a few strokes on the memo beside him, Eric was about to flip through the next newspaper when there was a knock on his office door: "Mr. Williams, Miss Murdoch is here." ”

Eric replied casually, and Elizabeth Murdoch, wearing a blue and white pale plaid shirt and dark jeans, and carrying a dark blue ladies' satchel, broke in in and sat down opposite Eric very unceremoniously, still looking like a big grin, as if Eric's strong kiss that night had not affected her in the slightest.

Taking off her satchel and placing it on her lap, Elizabeth glanced at the headline of the Los Angeles Times in front of Eric, and pursed her lips disdainfully: "I can't imagine that you are so narcissistic that you secretly hide in the office and watch other people's articles touting you." ”

Eric didn't care about the sarcasm in the girl's tone, if he was just a film director, of course he could just turn his ears out the window and make the movie well. But he is also the chairman of a film company, so it is necessary to keep enough attention to the news in the industry. Because he was too busy during this time, Eric could only ask his assistant to help him sort out some more important news, and read some in a hurry before coming to the company every day to deal with affairs. (To be continued......)