Chapter 470: If there's no blood, is that even surgery?

"The idea for Surgery Day won't work, absolutely not!" the producer said.

"I think the Director's idea is correct," Fan Dao's assistant insisted. "The second episode has already raised the audience's threshold to a very high level; if there is no intervention of fresh content, the audience will easily lose interest."

"First of all, whether we can record the surgery is a big problem. Even if we persuade the hospital and give the patient some benefits to allow the recording of the surgery, have you thought about how to pass the censorship, Fan Dao?"

"The censorship is getting stricter now," the producer said, frowning with a distressed look. "It's only been a few months. When we first started preparing, they said it was okay to show blood, okay to have it flow out, as long as it didn't spray out."

"But look at it now."

The producer didn't continue; everyone knew the specific situation, and there was no need to say more.

"If we don't increase the content for Surgery Day, what are we going to film next?" Fan Dao's assistant felt the producer was right and had no way to refute. However, saying that, what content to do next became a difficult problem.

"I don't know." The producer was silent for a long time and shook his head.

Fan Dao sat at the very end, saying nothing, listening to everyone's discussion, his brows tightly furrowed, tighter and tighter, turning into an untieable knot.

Success lies with Ji Xiang, and failure lies with Ji Xiang.

Ji Xiang's performance in the second episode did a great job of raising the number of online viewers, but the downside was that everyone's threshold had been raised.

If there is no fresh content next, it will be difficult to capture the audience's attention and increase ratings.

The loss of attention is extremely fatal for Fan Dao and for the program; unless it is a last resort, Fan Dao must definitely avoid this situation.

"Director, what do you think?" The people attending the temporary meeting looked at Fan Dao together.

Fan Dao's status in the production team is absolute; whether it works or not, Fan Dao must make the final decision.

So the difficult problem still falls on Fan Dao.

Fan Dao thought for a long time, also looking distressed, completely not knowing what to do next.

The approval process is indeed a massive problem. Now, whether it's movies, TV series, or even variety shows, there is too much being cut and edited, and even cases where they cannot pass censorship for unknown reasons are common.

You cannot cross the line; this is the most basic thing.

The idea for Surgery Day is indeed good, but it is not feasible.

Truly worried to the point of graying hair, Fan Dao pondered miserably, without a single clue.

The conference room went quiet; everyone knew this was an unsolvable problem. Precisely because it was unsolvable, it was finally thrown onto the boss's head.

Thinking back to the beginning, no one was optimistic about this variety show, but never did they expect that after only two episodes, everyone would have to face the problem of insufficient excitement.

The click count for the first two episodes kept climbing, and surpassing the peak of the first two seasons was only a matter of time. A hit was certain, but how to avoid a weak ending—this was a difficult problem.

"Director..."

Fan Dao shook his head, finally took out his phone, placed it on the table, and turned on the speakerphone.

Beep~~~

Beep~~~

【Hello, Fan Dao.】

A sunny, cheerful voice came through.

【Doctor Xiao Ji, hello.】

Fan Dao's words were full of joy, but his expression was serious, as if he were split in two.

The joy was just politeness; his expression made everyone on the production team feel immense pressure.

【Is something the matter, Fan Dao, or is there a special arrangement today?】

【Doctor Xiao Ji, I've encountered a difficult problem here and would like to ask for your advice.】

【Don't use "you" (honorific), you are an elder; just call me "you" (informal), I'll be more comfortable.】

Ji Xiang's tone was very relaxed.

【Doctor Xiao Ji, you know a bit about the current approval process; it's very strict. We didn't anticipate the next plot. If we film Surgery Day, scenes involving blood and such will be very sensitive. Take a look, do you have any ideas?】

【Surgery, huh? That's quite good. It can also not involve blood or internal organs. I think this idea is good; it's feasible.】

"!!!"

"!!!"

A series of exclamation marks rose above the heads of the people in the conference room; everyone was wondering if Ji Xiang hadn't understood Fan Dao's meaning, which was why he said surgery wouldn't involve blood, internal organs, and so on.

And he completely didn't understand the situation.

Surgery—if there's no blood, is that even surgery!

【Doctor Xiao Ji, what I mean is...】

【Fan Dao, it's like this: do you remember the patient from a few days ago? The one who went to Shanghai Hepatobiliary Hospital and was told there was no way to treat them, so they came back to wait for death.】

【I remember. Is it time for surgery?】

【You can come and see; that patient is having surgery today.】

【Doctor Xiao Ji, what you mean is...】

【Interventional Surgery. It's just like looking at a film; it doesn't involve sensitive shots like internal organs. As long as the patient agrees, the hospital agrees, and the doctor agrees, it can be filmed. This is a standard Level 4 Surgery.】

Ji Xiang said calmly.

Fan Dao was stunned for a moment, then slapped his thigh.

【Good! I'll contact the hospital right now.】

【Level 4 Surgery refers to various surgeries with complex processes, high technical difficulty, and high risk. The difficulty is sufficient; there won't be any situation of using low-level surgeries to make up the numbers. If it's for the show, Interventional Surgery is particularly suitable, Fan Dao.】

Ji Xiang said with added emphasis.

Fan Dao and Ji Xiang spoke a few more words before hanging up the phone.

What Ji Xiang said wasn't complicated; in a few sentences, the situation turned around, and everyone seemed to see light ahead.

But it was only a vague direction; the production team felt they understood but also didn't understand, hazy and completely unclear.

"That's it for now," Fan Dao decided decisively, saying in a deep voice, "I'll go see the surgery tomorrow, and then decide after seeing it."

The meeting adjourned; the producer didn't leave and kept sitting in the conference room.

"Teacher Lin, have a cigarette." Fan Dao's assistant respectfully handed a cigarette to the producer.

"Ma, what do you think?" the producer asked.

"Teacher Lin, to be honest, I don't really feel anything," Fan Dao's assistant said with a wry smile. "We don't know how things work in the medical industry, and that's why Fan Dao finally wanted to take on this job."

"But the audience doesn't know, and neither do we. I have a buddy who is a Doctor; whenever we get together for meals, I just listen to his gossip, so I thought I knew a little bit. But once it gets deep, I truly don't understand anything."

"Sigh." The producer let out a sigh.

"What do you think, Teacher Lin?"

"I don't really feel anything either, it's just that the ratings for the first two episodes were so high that they scared me," the producer said. "Prosperity leads to decline; to be honest, I don't know how to proceed from here either. I estimate the ratings will gradually drop, and I... am a bit unwilling to accept that. But being unwilling is one thing, and I have absolutely no idea what to do."

The two stared blankly at each other.

Whether it was Fan Dao's assistant or the producer, both were experienced veterans of the entertainment industry, but they had never encountered a situation like this, and their minds were a complete blank.

They could only leave it to fate.

(End of this chapter)