A series of combos left the Chinese entertainment industry reeling.
Even before 2019, the entertainment industry had a pattern of popular drama lead actors participating in various variety shows. However, due to the fixed format of these variety shows, the lead actors could only fragmentarily recreate the plot by imitating scenes from the drama or using references from it. The show itself actually had little to do with the drama.
This approach can only temporarily boost the popularity of a single episode of a variety show; the content is fragmented and cannot form independent IP value. The biggest beneficiaries are actually the variety show producers, not the actors or the series itself.
However, 2019 marked the first time that a production company launched a spin-off variety show based on a TV series.
The popular sitcom "Happiness Street Chronicles" has just finished its finale, but its popularity hasn't waned. Viewers are still eager for more, and the show's fans haven't all left by March. Launching a variety show at this crucial juncture...
Variety shows are inherently the easiest way to attract and retain fans. Dramas and movies are products of fantasy, and the characters and actors are ultimately different. But variety shows allow actors to transform themselves into characters and characters into themselves, creating a persona and a sense of companionship.
Viewers can distinguish between characters and celebrities in dramas, but in variety shows, which are half-real and half-scripted, the fake can be real and the real can be fake, making them most deceptive to the audience. The development of a persona and the interaction of personalities that are de-characterized and de-scripted (in the eyes of the audience) can even make an unknown actor take off and become a rising star in variety shows, let alone the lead actors who already have "The Legend of Happiness Street".
It's safe to say that this spin-off variety show has had a remarkably strong impact on converting viewers of the original cast of "Happy Street" into fans of the original series and solidifying the actors' fanbase. If Qingping Entertainment had the foresight to intentionally continue the actors' personas from "Happy Street" during the variety show's production, or to create engaging content through echoes or contrasts…
Would Qingping Entertainment do that?
Nonsense! If Qingping Entertainment doesn't do this, they'll cut out their own brains and give them to Ji Laotao to kick around like a football!
And that "mystery guest"—did you think that adding the word "mystery" would make people not know who it was?
Isn't she the woman who hid in the set of "The Heavenly Emperor" and died for several months?
Furthermore, Meta Pictures has already secretly and covertly partnered with Qingping Entertainment—Meta Pictures has quite a few established and popular actors, both new and veteran. If they could bring a couple of them on variety shows as guest stars, what does that mean? This is what a win-win situation looks like.
It's fair to say that Qingping Entertainment has single-handedly pioneered the synergy between dramas and variety shows. If successful, the impact will be truly remarkable.
To think ten steps ahead for every one step you take—what terrifying foresight!
The timely release of this variety show, "Detective of Happy Street," suggests it was filmed incidentally during the production of "Happy Street: The Legend," or perhaps even before filming began. At that time, neither Qingping Entertainment nor Meta Pictures could be certain whether "Happy Street: The Legend" would be a hit. To invest so much in this project without knowing its future prospects demonstrates an astonishing level of audacity!
To put it bluntly, the old money can't learn the art of entertainment that young people rely on, not to mention, they'd be questioning whether they even want to learn it.
Shang Yechu strongly agreed with a statement made by Gu Wenhua:
"Our era is too late; nothing is new anymore."
In this era of abundant entertainment and programs, and in an era where the entertainment industry has been almost completely divided up, to break the monopoly and carve out a niche for oneself, one must have the adventurous spirit of Ji Juntao.
Clearly, while Shang Yechu's arrival accelerated Qingping Entertainment's success, Ji Juntao did not lose her innate drive. She remained courageous in trying new models and unafraid of failure.
Shang Yechu was very fortunate to have chosen this partner in the semi-frozen sea of the entertainment industry, where every step was difficult.
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