American Entertainment: Starting with playing the role of Little Beaver

Chapter 73 Millionaire's Internal Strife
As mentioned earlier, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is a well-known British quiz show.

The format of "Happy Dictionary" is similar to that of "Happy Dictionary".

Then, the show encountered an explosive incident in 2001. On September 9th of that year, a man named Charles Ingram won the grand prize of one million pounds by cheating.

The methods of cheating are also quite ingenious:

During the recording of the show, whenever Ingram encountered a question he didn't know, he would read out all the answers. Whenever he read out the correct answer, his wife or partner, Tykwen Whitock, would cough loudly.

Then, following the prompts, Ingram was able to successfully hug the baby.

As for why Ingram's wife and his accomplices were able to pinpoint the correct answer every time?

This is even more amazing—

Firstly, Ingram's wife is a big fan of the "Million Dollar Man" show. She participated in the show once and won £32,000, which is equivalent to answering ten questions correctly in a row. Her brother is even more impressive, having participated in the show four times and also won £32,000. They always prepared together, which is the foundation of their success.

Secondly, Ingram's accomplice, Whitock, has been an avid fan of quiz shows since childhood, participating in no fewer than 50 different television quiz shows. Although his results were not particularly outstanding, his knowledge was truly extensive.

Thirdly, in order to win the million dollars, Ingram and Whitock chose to register at the same time. After doing this, according to the program's rule that contestants in the same period could be on stage at the same time, Whitock could listen to the discussions of other contestants while Ingram was competing, which could help him better lock in the answer.

Ingram succeeded because these people's plan was so perfect.

But there is no perfect plan in the world, and Ingram was an incompetent fellow.

During the recording of the program, everyone discovered that Ingram didn't know many common sense questions, and that he used up two of his three opportunities to ask for help from outside the arena on the first day of the two-day competition. It's impossible for someone like that to finish the competition.

So, after the game ended, he was investigated by the production team.

Then, he was taken to court.

Why has a case from 01 been delayed until now for trial?
Very simple.

The program's investigative methods were somewhat dirty.

After suspecting Ingram of cheating, the production team did not immediately call the police, but instead investigated the truth on their own, and then...

Capitalists are always unscrupulous. When they discovered that Whitock suffered from chronic respiratory illnesses, including hay fever and asthma, and that coughing was normal for him, they used other resources to obtain the call details of the Ingrams and Whitock from the carrier. Since both parties had previously claimed to be strangers, the presence of numerous phone calls in their records confirmed that they had deliberately cheated.

but……

This kind of evidence needs to be obtained by the police.

They squandered a winning hand.

"Oh—so what's the result?"

Isabella asked curiously.

The show "Millions" was incredibly popular in the UK. In its first two years, the average viewership per episode in the UK alone exceeded 2000 million. Even after the number dropped, it has remained around 1100 million for many years.

Therefore, even though Isabella didn't watch much television, she had heard about it.

Her question prompted Robbie to browse the webpage and say, "The latest court hearing results are out. Although the specific results will not be announced until next week, according to the show's lawyer, they have already won the case."

"Ingram will go to jail."

"So that means this case will ultimately be treated as fraud?"

Isabella's dormitory was more advanced, while Vivian's was more advanced.

Vivian liked the show "Millions," so she asked curiously after hearing the conversation.

"probably."

Robbie nodded, then turned to Vivian, who had just entered the room. "The Ingrams will probably both be convicted of fraud, and Whitock is probably an accomplice, right? He'll likely go to jail too..."

"Oh—I think the production team went a bit too far—"

While Robbie was speaking, Catherine, who had fallen behind, also entered the room.

While changing his shoes, he said, "The way the production team obtained the evidence was illegal, and they still want to send the Ingrams to jail? This is really—aren't they afraid of ruining the reputation of their show?"

Procedural justice is a traditional concept in Anglo-American legal systems.

Its principle is—

Evidence obtained through illegal means shall not be used as the basis for a conviction.

The most classic case is the O.J. Simpson murder case. In that case, due to major errors in the police investigation, several strong pieces of evidence were obtained by the police through illegal means, which led to Simpson's eventual acquittal.

Of course, this is also related to Simpson being rich.

He could afford top lawyers to represent him, so the police had no choice but to accept defeat.

But Ingram can't afford it, and the capital opposing them has already spent a million pounds to win the case, so...

This time, it might be Ingram and his team's turn to admit defeat.

"Oh—Sister Keisha, it seems like 'Million' doesn't care much about its reputation anymore?"

Robbie has the answer to Catherine's question.

He stared at the computer screen again, browsed the webpage, and said, "The BBC said that after the scandal broke, the ratings for 'Millions' plummeted, and the latest season only had an average of 800 million viewers."

"Furthermore, this show has been mired in plagiarism saga. To date, four people have sued the production company of 'Million,' claiming that they stole their ideas, and the production company has settled the lawsuits with all of them out of court."

In many people's eyes, an out-of-court settlement means the defendant has lost the case.

This is inaccurate.

Because losing a case is a state that occurs after the judge has heard the case and made a judgment.

If the judge doesn't make a judgment, then there is no such thing as a loss.

But when capital feels it is in the right, it will not settle out of court with you.

So……

Many things need to be viewed from a dialectical perspective.

Because the humor in "Million Dollar Man" is so ridiculous.

So whether it's Catherine or Vivian, it's all just something you hear about and then forget.

And Isabella?
She tapped the table and gestured with her chin.

Little Robbie understood what she meant.

I decisively closed the "Million" news article and went to Yahoo, MSN, and other websites to read the music section reports—

"Love Story is the best song I've heard this year! Isabella has surprised me once again!"

"I absolutely love the ending of 'Love Story'! I feel like this will be the best love song of the new century!"

"The only regret is that Isabella didn't do any promotional work! When is she coming to America? I really want her autograph!"

Eh~~~
Leaning back on the sofa, the little beaver, like a landlord, experienced the purest joy.

Even public opinion feedback is read to me; life is so comfortable!
Hehe ~
In the eyes of the Heywood family, the scandal of "Millions" had little to do with them; they could just listen to it and move on.

But in the eyes of British society, the Million Dollar Game cheating scandal was even bigger than the Iraq War.

For a long time, The Million Dollar Man was a major entertainment program that the British public watched during their leisure time.

When the public invests a lot of time, energy, and emotion in "Million Dollar Challenge," with many people even studying hard and frantically signing up in order to get on the show, can contestants cheat? Can the show break the law?
If both of the above are true, then what were their past reflections, joys, and exclamations?

Aren't those who keep following "Million Dollar Man" just pure clowns?
Because the people of Gotham didn't want to live there, the arrival of Judgment Day on April 7, 2003, drew the attention of everyone in Gotham. And the final outcome of the 'cheating case'—

The Ingrams were sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, for fraud.

Whitock was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, as an accomplice to fraud.

Upon hearing the news, everyone in Daiying fell silent!

Because some people couldn't understand the court's meaning.

In the UK, fraud cases involving more than one million dollars are considered serious offenses, with sentences ranging from seven years to life imprisonment. Only fraud cases involving less than one hundred thousand dollars have sentences ranging from one to seven years.

So what's with the main culprit in a million-dollar fraud case only getting eighteen months in prison?
Then, only minor fraud, that is, small-amount personal fraud, can be punished with community service, fines, or probation.

In a million-dollar fraud case, both the main perpetrator and accomplices received suspended sentences.
This……

The result is obvious!

"M-Fxxk! The production team has clearly broken the law! The court knows that the evidence they submitted was illegally obtained! But under pressure from capitalists, they have no choice but to label the Ingrams as fraudsters! Only in this way will the court give them a lenient sentence!"

"Oh my god! This show 'Million Dollar' disgusts me! The contestants and the production team broke the law? What's real about this show then? Were the people who took the million-dollar prize really clean? Did they not cheat? Or could they have been people arranged by the production team? Because it's been three years since the show started and someone finally won the grand prize! Maybe the production team saw that things weren't going well and thought that if no one won for a long time, the ratings would drop, so they arranged for someone to win the prize themselves!"

"I no longer trust Million Dollar Magazine! Everything they do is probably fake! The British judicial system has utterly disappointed me! It's full of scoundrels! They're all capitalist lackeys! They deserve to die! They deserve to go to hell!"

"Damn! I was wondering why the jury kept changing members! It must be because the capitalists wanted to get Ingram and the others arrested, and then someone thought it was too much? Hehehehe—"

The sudden surge of negative reviews overwhelmed both the producers of "Million Dollar Man" and the judge who ruled on the case.

If things proceed as usual, when negative public opinion related to capital breaks out, the most common way for capital to deal with it is to silence people, eliminate them, and make an example of them. The idea is that as long as I kill all those who oppose me, the whole world will become my followers.

However, Celador, the creators of Millions, did not do so.

Firstly, they lack the ability to kill everyone in the world.

Secondly, they played an unexpected card.

With the case concluded, Celador, the producer of "Millions," stated that there are many misunderstandings about them, but that doesn't matter because a documentary about the case is already in production and is expected to be released to the public in mid-to-late April.

Celador claims that after the incident, they documented every detail of the case on camera, including their conversations with the parties involved, the course and development of the case, and the discovery and submission of evidence. They will release all of this information.

They believe that the innocent will prove themselves innocent.

These words immediately caused an uproar throughout Daiying.

No one expected that the trial would not be the end of the matter, but rather the beginning.

The existence of the documentary is like a giant mountain, suppressing the anger in the hearts of all parties;

The approaching time seemed like a giant hand, enticing everyone to want to peek into the whole story.

This……

"Radish, do you think Celador is innocent?"

"Uh... if Celador can actually produce a documentary, then I think they might be innocent."

“But that doesn’t make sense! If Celador is innocent, how could Ingram and the others have been given a suspended sentence? They defrauded a million pounds! Not ten thousand pounds!”

"Oh—this is indeed a very puzzling question. I think only a documentary can answer all of this..."

April 8, 2003, Scotland.

The Azkaban crew is currently filming on location at Loch Hill in the Scottish Highlands.

They will be filming the Black Lake scene from the movie here. Then, the scene where the Dementors board the Hogwarts Express at the start of the school year will be filmed on the Glenfinnan Viaduct across from Lake Hill.

While the set designers and prop masters were leading their teams in a frantic effort to build sets for filming, the idle little ones, including Dan Niu, Luo Bo, Shao Ye, and Jin Ni, were huddled together chatting about the "Million Dollar" fraud case.

Columbus chuckled as he listened to the cacophony of conflicting arguments.

He glanced at the little girl, who was sunbathing with her hands behind her head, and asked curiously—

"Pfft pfft".

"what?"

"They're having a lively discussion over there, aren't you going to share your thoughts?"

"Why should I express my opinion? I'm not interested in 'Millions'."

"Oh? Really? But I seem to remember you saying before that The Voice was inspired by Million Dollar Manga?"

Columbus laughed and said, "I thought you were very interested in 'Millions,' but I didn't expect..."

"Hey? You don't mean you think the questions in 'Million Dollar Manifesto' are too difficult and that you're stupid, so you're not going to look at them anymore, do you?"

"Get out!" Isabella glanced at Columbus.

The little girl, lounging lazily in her recliner, snorted and said, "You're the stupid one!"

"I thought the questions were too easy, so I stopped looking at them!"

“hahahahaha——”

Columbus laughed uncontrollably, his face full of disbelief.

Previously, when discussing the concept of "The Voice," Isabella did mention that the idea for the elimination format of "The Voice" came from "Million Dollar Manufacture," but this was just a casual remark she made to cover up plagiarism; she herself wasn't particularly interested in "Million Dollar Manufacture."

As for the reason?

Just as Columbus said.

In her past life, while watching "Happy Dictionary," she felt as if her intelligence was being rubbed together.

Given that, how could she possibly read the original version of "Happy Dictionary" in this lifetime?
This is not to say that "Millions" is more difficult than "Happy Dictionary," but rather that her understanding of the West is not as deep as that of the East.

So……

While it may feel great to have your brain sulci plowed by knowledge, the pleasure of knowledge not being absorbed into the brain is all for naught!

Furthermore, it's easy to feel guilty when you think about it!

Since engaging in entertainment with your brain can be exhausting, why not just let your brain go and enjoy life from the start?

And here Isabella is, lying down now, the warm spring sunshine on her skin—oh, it feels so good!
Columbus snorted twice at her cat-like laziness. Gazing at the still-under-construction site in the distance, he shook his head with a smile and said, "Isa, you'd better be careful, Bob might be in trouble."

"Huh?" Isabella looked puzzled; she didn't understand what Columbus meant.

"Bob, which Bob?"

“Robert Iger.”

Columbus, who had been reclining in his chair, sat up, leaned forward, put his elbows on his legs, and said, "The American version of Millions is a project that Bob brought from England. It used to be a mainstay program on ABC, and Bob has always wanted to revive it."

"So, if Bob is eager to continue with Millions, and the project faces public backlash, then..."

"The relative merits of Bob and Michael may be about to be reversed."

"Michael is not an easy opponent to deal with."

"He can't just admit defeat."

"But once Bob gets stuck in a quagmire, his help to you will instantly diminish..."

Since the game "Millions" became a hit in the UK, it has instantly attracted worldwide attention. Television stations around the world wanted to import it, while Disney acquired the development and operation rights in the United States.

Furthermore, the person who represented ABC in the negotiations at the time was their chairman, Robert Iger.

Then, Iger's move to acquire "Millions" earned him the position of COO of Disney.

As for the reason?

Very simple -

Before "Millions," ABC already had the lowest daily viewership among the three major networks.

Meanwhile, FOX, which is in fourth place, is very close to it in terms of viewership.

To put it bluntly, if ABC doesn't save itself, it will lose its position as one of the "Big Three," and FOX will join NBC and CBS to become the new "Big Three" television networks in the United States.

Because the situation was really bad, Iger, the head of ABC at the time, was under a lot of pressure.

That's why, after discovering the explosive ratings of the British version of "Millions," he wanted to take a gamble.

Then, he won the bet.

The American version of "Millions" achieved a stable average viewership of 1500 million per episode in its first season!
When the second season aired, the average number of viewers per episode soared to 3000 million!
Yes, I flipped through it.

but--

That's not even the most explosive part—

The most explosive thing is that the second season of the American version of "Millions" pioneered the global television variety show to air three times a week!

To boost ABC's ratings, Iger had "Millions" air three new episodes a week!

And the episode length was increased from 45 minutes to 1 hour!

Then, in this case, the average viewership of a single episode of "Million" is over 3000 million!
With this data, let alone bringing ABC back to the Big Three.

That would directly propel NBC and CBS to new heights.

With just one show, "Millions," Iger propelled ABC to the top of the nation's television network rankings!

Furthermore, back then, ABC had the highest revenue of all broadcast television networks!

His outstanding achievements led him to become Disney's COO.

However, because the American version of "Millions" was aired so frequently, starting in 01, the American public became tired of the show, which caused its ratings to plummet.

By 02, the American version of "Millions" had fallen out of the top spots in the ratings for entertainment programming in the United States.

This forced Disney to cancel the "Millions" show.

However, cutting it doesn't mean deleting it. Iger thought that the knowledge competition program "Million" was quite good, so he asked his subordinates to think about it and give "Million" a major upgrade.

While he continued to bet on "Million Dollar Man," the British ancestors might have been furious.

This……

"I disagree with restarting!"

At the same time, in California.

Los Angeles, Disney headquarters.

At the monthly joint meeting of senior management, Michael Eisner stared intently at Robert Iger beside him and said with a smile, "The Million Project has come to an end!"

"Since it's already in its grave, what we need to do is respect the status quo! Respect the market!"

"Cover it with a coffin lid, then properly bury it!"

"ABC needs to restart a new project! A new variety show!"

"And this task is entrusted to you—"

"Bob!"

(End of this chapter)