The Best Director

Chapter 252: The Best TV Series?!

“Paul, I’m not sure whether to produce ‘Prison Break’ Season 2 or not.”

The sky was awash with sunset hues as the twilight sun cast its light far and wide. In the garden where plane tree leaves fluttered in the breeze, a white Labrador sniffed around on the lawn. Jessica sat absorbed in an issue of ‘ModernBride’ magazine on a wicker sun chair, her lips occasionally curling into an eager, charming smile as she glanced at Wang Yang talking on his cell phone as he walked by.

Paul Jones, all the way in New York, nearly jumped at his words. Not sure about producing? Was this some kind of joke? The series had just premiered with explosive success less than two days ago! He quickly asked, “What do you mean?” Only to hear Wang Yang’s somewhat confused chuckle: “After Michael Scofield and his crew escaped prison, it just doesn’t seem as interesting anymore.” Paul Jones replied with distress, “Oh no, you can’t! You can’t think that way, absolutely not.”

Who is the most important member behind a TV series? A good movie has the director; a good TV series has the head writer, who often doubles as the creator and showrunner (like Joss Whedon), and sometimes even directs a few episodes. The head writer leads the entire writing team in crafting the screenplay. ‘Prison Break’ had six writers, including the brilliant Wang Yang, each with different tasks, working collaboratively.

Some are in charge of designing the plot details; some focus on character development, including background and dialogue; others write scene outlines, while some draft the shot-by-shot script. To increase professionalism and avoid errors, the team even invites relevant experts to act as consultants and script doctors. Finally, the complete script written according to the head writer’s vision is revised and polished by the head writer himself.

Originally, the ‘Prison Break’ script was an almost complete first draft. He had seen Wang Yang solemnly demanding and encouraging the writing staff, “We can’t have any fillers! No ‘good enough’ mentality, we need to occupy the viewers’ minds! Follow me and let’s change their way of thinking!” He then specified that each 42-minute episode be divided into 7-minute units, each punctuated by a crisis solved or a crisis emerging (a cliffhanger), ensuring that there must be an exciting detail to pull viewers back even if they switch channels during commercial breaks.

As it turned out, the team delivered. With the perfect script in hand, production began. During the shoot, aside from performing his duties as the executive producer, Wang Yang remotely supervised the set. All head writers operate this way; unlike in film, if a TV episode’s director wants to change a line of script or a detail, they must call and get approval from the head writer before making the change.

So no matter how many days ‘Prison Break’ shot, Wang Yang’s phone rang roughly 10 times each day to address directors’ queries and decide the intent for each scene and shot.

This genius head writer is the most crucial member! His extraordinary and profound analysis and grasp of the script’s story, the strong ability to communicate and motivate, are what underpin ‘Prison Break’s’ success. Now he’s suddenly saying no more? Voluntary cancellation? Impossible! If Wang Yang insisted on leaving Season 2 of ‘Prison Break,’ having not signed a long-term contract, NBC could do nothing about it.

Even if NBC insisted on ordering a new season from Flame Enterprise, it would be meaningless without the original head writer and showrunner. What would be the quality of the second season? What would be said during promotion? How would the audience react? If there’s no Season 2 of ‘Prison Break,’ how could we even talk about persuading Wang Yang to make a new sitcom?

If it goes this way, everyone’s relationship will have soured, but is Wang Yang lacking opportunities? Channels like CBS, ABC, and others would gladly poach him. If he cited “creative differences” as a reason for leaving and indirectly attacked NBC, most viewers would likely blame NBC, not Wang Yang. By the time NBC clarified that “Wang Yang left on his own,” it would have escalated into a soap opera.

Of course, there’s also a strong possibility that NBC would tolerate continuing ‘Prison Break: Sequel’ while keeping a good relationship with Wang Yang, bearing the brunt of the audience’s criticism together; they would persuade him to start a new series, provided the contract included a clause for at least three seasons.

Either way, the great surprise from two days ago would turn into a huge headache, especially for the production manager like himself. Thinking of all this, Paul Jones suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, his breathing growing hurried with a tone of urgency near pleading, “Yang, you can’t do this. ‘Prison Break’ needs you! You must be joking with me, right?”

“Yes, it’s just a joke! But I hope the second season is called ‘Prison Break: Sequel,'” Wang Yang laughed as he walked across the crisp fallen leaves towards Danny. In fact, he indeed considered this a few days ago. The focus of ‘Prison Break’ will inevitably shift after escaping from prison, so how could it still be called a prison break? How would it retain its appeal? But then I thought, if I give up whenever I face difficulties, what’s the point? Why have I come this far? By that logic, the first season would have already been doomed.”

“Oh my God! What a fun and magical Yang!” Paul Jones felt like he was on a roller coaster, fluctuating between hell and heaven! Now, it was heaven. Perhaps no one can make an omelet without breaking eggs. ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ Season 5, which premiered on Tuesday, had only 12.72 million viewers, a 9/12 rating, a drop of over 2 million from the last season. Now NBC is counting on ‘Prison Break’ to become their new trump card.”

He wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, fomenting some dissatisfaction and muttered with a smile, “Yang, you have been joking a bit too much lately, I’m not someone who scares easily. Just now, I almost fainted, you know how much we value ‘Prison Break,’ it’s just too captivating!”

Wang Yang chuckled, snapped his fingers at Danny, and made a “follow me” gesture by patting on his thigh, but Danny glanced at him and kept on treasure hunting, ignoring the gesture. Meanwhile, Wang Yang spoke into his phone, “Yes, I’m aware and I’m very grateful. Don’t worry, Paul, I’ll do my best with the production of ‘Prison Break’ Season 2.”

He had already figured out what to do. Although the storyline and details of the two ‘Prison Break’ Season 1 were not exactly the same; compared with the original, the current version almost only kept T-Bag as the criminal character because T-Bag is considered the most persuasive criminal character in the original ‘Prison Break’, and Robert Knepper, who played T-Bag in both versions, performed very well. On the other hand, other criminal characters had new changes, making them more rational and convincing.

But the challenges faced in the second season were the same; the entire story was no longer set in a prison. The original version adopted a strategy of playing heavily on family drama, trying to ‘rehabilitate’ each criminal, yet the lack of connection between the characters led to a dispersed storyline, and the excessive deliberate emphasis on family drama diluted the tension and excitement. Filming and broadcasting simultaneously, the storyline regressed by returning to a Panamanian prison in the third season, resulting in both the story and the viewership ratings going backwards.

The current first season reduced the number of people involved in the escape, partly to avoid dispersing the storyline in the second season. Wang Yang understood that “suspense,” “smart and cool” were the greatest charm and core of TV series like ‘Prison Break’.

As long as the characters are unified, meticulously designing the escape itself and avoiding the mistakes of overemphasizing family ties and trivial subplots, adding more new ingenious characters to have convincing battles of wits with Michael Scofield, whether it’s an “antagonistic” FBI policeman like “Alexander Mahone” or adding new members from outside the prison to the escape team…

Only by maintaining a breathless pace could ‘Prison Break’ keep its vigorous vitality. This was one of the creative directions he wanted to convey to the screenwriting team for the second season.

“Thank you for saying that, I feel relieved!” Paul Jones chuckled, feeling relieved, then he grew bolder and inquired, “So about the idea of creating a sitcom you mentioned earlier? Are you interested?”

“Paul, I need some time to think about it,” Wang Yang replied, not immediately refusing in order not to seem insincere, as he was genuinely considering the invitation. After a few more words, the call was concluded and Wang Yang walked towards Jessica, but before he had gone far, the phone rang again. Muttering “Life on the phone!” he answered the call, “Hello, this is Yang.”

Rachel’s anxious voice immediately came through the phone, “Yang, I can’t take it anymore! I have so many, so many questions about ‘Prison Break’, but I just want you to answer one for me, the toe!”

This question was too important, it wasn’t just about suspense; if Michael Scofield’s toe got cut off, he would need medical attention, the gang members might get punished; if it wasn’t cut off, who would stop it? What would be the outcome? Different outcomes could lead the entire storyline in different directions! Rachel repeated quickly, “The toe! One chance! The toe!”

Uh! Wang Yang’s face twisted into a quirky expression. Was she having a drama binge now? He chuckled and said, “That won’t do, Rachel, I signed a confidentiality agreement.” Rachel’s tone was rather savage, “Please! I won’t tell anyone, it’s been plaguing my mind these past few days, so annoying! Hurry and tell me, I need to get a good night’s sleep. WELL, WELL, WELL! I’m addicted, I just can’t handle these TV series, maybe that’s part of the fun!”

“Ha ha!” After her freak-out, Rachel laughed at herself softly, her voice becoming gentle again as she bargained, “Give me a hint, pretend it’s my guess, how about a line from a movie?”

“Life is like a box of Chocolate, you never know what you’re gonna get next.” Wang Yang blurted out a movie quote, and Rachel let out a growl like a trapped beast. Wang Yang joked, “Let the suspense remain, there’s not much left. I don’t even know if I should do a second season.” On the other end, Rachel exclaimed in shock, “What, are you trying to die? I would kill you.” Wang Yang shrugged, “Just kidding, but really, I can’t reveal the plot, can’t make exceptions, if there’s a first time, there will be a second. ‘Let the toes walk!’ Get it?”

Let the toes walk? Rachel suddenly laughed, “Oh, I-SEE, I-SEE! Thanks, SEE-YOU!” Hearing her laughter and the beeping of the phone, Wang Yang furrowed his brows in puzzlement. Had she misunderstood something? The toes were still there! Maybe “let the business of toes go” could be taken in another sense.

Whether or not Prison Break’s second season is made, or how well it’s made, that’s all in the future. Meanwhile, Prison Break’s first season has been met with a fiery reception and enthusiastic feedback, garnering countless accolades.

On IMDB, the number of users who rate TV series is limited, and even popular shows only receive tens of thousands of votes, mostly from dedicated fans. Prison Break, after airing two episodes, received a 9.3 rating (8,651 users) and rocketed into the top ten of IMDB’s American TV series rankings, sitting side by side with Freaks and Geeks, South Park, and others at seventh place. This result certainly includes fan bias, but it also illustrates the popularity of Prison Break.

Yahoo Entertainment gave it an A+ rating for its premiere performance; the well-known scoring site Metacritic’s composite score was 90 points, with a user rating of 9.5 (out of 10). So far it had collated 12 reviews from TV critics—all 12 positive, with zero mixed or negative.

“If it can maintain the gripping quality of its premiere, it will become an irresistible new beast during the prime-time slot,” wrote Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe, who gave it 100 points. Maureen Ryan, the senior journalist from the Chicago Tribune, also awarded 100 points, stating in her column, “Super innovative, unique, thrilling! This is the kind of perfect series that won’t disappoint you in the least.”

“It’s too early to rate Prison Break on a weekly basis. But if we’re talking about its two-hour special premiere, then its principle is to grab your attention from the first scene and maintain enthralling suspense until the very end.”—95 points, Robert Bianco, USA Today; “There’s a lot to like, a lot about Prison Break, but the best part is, we’ve never seen a show quite like this before.”—95 points, Heather Havrilesky, Salon.

“Forget the small absurdities of the plot, something incredibly easy to do; enjoy the suspense and tension, you’ll have a lot, a lot of fun.”—90 points, Dorothy Rabinowitz, The Wall Street Journal; “The only misfortune is that Wang Yang’s profound humor isn’t exploited here, lacking snappy dialogue; but his cleverness shines through completely.”—85 points, Aaron Barnhart, The Kansas City Star…

In over a hundred user reviews, the audience was even more emotional and direct, vigorously expressing their own feelings, which also showed Prison Break’s huge potential to become “favorite new TV series” at the 2003 People’s Choice Award.

Glancing over, you’ll see almost entirely green circles of 10-point ratings. DanM said, “From now on, it’s the best show on TV!” ACS said, “I can’t put it into words, this is the best TV show premiere ever!” CeriO said, “This show is simply mind-blowing! Exciting and fun! My favorite character right now is T-Bag!” FraserC said, “There isn’t a better show on TV (series)! Everyone should watch it!”

Michelle said, “I love this show!! I love the magical Yang!! Not only do you get a hunk to look at (Wentworth Miller) but like a great book, it’s a great show! I was trembling in my chair as I watched!” GrahamF said, “Once you watch one episode, you’re hooked.”

KylieA said, “I didn’t miss a second, and this is definitely going to be my favorite show. (’24,’ sorry.) Yes, it’s incredible. Some of the setups are far-fetched, but it’s meant to be like a superhero comic book, not the reality of reality, so please don’t complain about Superman’s incredible flying abilities. You just accept it, enjoy it, and be entertained by these thrilling plots! Thanks, Yang, but ’24’ is still my second favorite show.”

“‘Prison Break’ is the best TV show I’ve seen in about a decade.” — BuckT; “My only complaint is, why do we have to wait SOOOOOOOOOO long for the next episode?” — deborahh; “I think ‘Prison Break’ is a feast not to be missed, it’s addictive. If you don’t have a TV, you must buy one now.” — TimB; “The best TV program since the invention of the automobile!” — RomuloJ…

However, there were some lower ratings, with 4, 5 stars yellow circles. Brandonb, who gave it 4 stars, said, “If you have any basic knowledge about prisons, you’d know how ridiculous it is, inmates couldn’t possibly move around so freely! In the real world, that chick would have been caught long ago.” NateG, who gave it 1 star, said, “I hate this show, I wish they had ended it in the first season, helping criminals escape prison? How can anyone like it? Wang Yang made a stupid move.” RalphGorgious, who rated it 5 stars, said, “Its suspense is astonishing and uncontrollable. But when the show stops, its flaws are unforgettable, love it and it hurts, it feels bad to be toyed with.”…

With just the first two episodes aired, ‘Prison Break’ seemed poised to set off a new ratings storm, with countless viewers across America going crazy for this “unprecedented” series. Multiple TV forums were filled with discussions about it, discussing plot details, Wang Yang, Wentworth Miller, Evangeline Lilly… Other shows like ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ and ‘Two and a Half Men’ that premiered on the same day inevitably felt neglected.

In mainland China, the “Young Subtitles Group” was the first to release the resources, and by the afternoon of the 17th Beijing time, they put out the first two episodes with perfect Chinese and English subtitles. The eager netizens and fans couldn’t wait to download and watch, then, as if entering a new world, it’s unknown how many people excitedly cursed, “Damn, there are shows like this?!”

“Task downloading, 1%, 20%… 30%…”

As the download completion hit 100%, the computer’s speakers emitted a crisp “ding” sound, and immediately after, the speakers burst with “bang bang bang bang” gunfire and screams.

“Previously-on-Prison-Break.”

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PS: Wo Li continues to ask for recommendation votes. Also, the reader “I Used to Be a Bad Guy” is aiming for alliance leader, needing a hundred replies to his post, let’s all go to the review section and support him! ^0^(