Chapter 258

The first episode was an hour and a half long, and the audience finished watching it quite coherently.

No one felt it was dull or tedious; on the contrary, because it contained many relatively trendy settings, it made many scenes feel both tear-jerking and shocking.

"Thinking back carefully, this is the first time I've finished watching a CCTV variety show from start to finish."

"Yeah, my impression is just sitting in front of the TV as a kid and watching a little bit intermittently, but I haven't really watched it since."

"The entertainment value of this variety show is definitely not as strong as other variety shows, and I don't know how the ratings are."

"The word-of-mouth is definitely good; I just checked, and the rating on Penguin Video is currently 9.7! It's temporarily ranked first in ratings across all platforms this year!"

"First-episode ratings are always inflated; we have to see if it can hold steady."

"For ratings, you still have to look at that place that loves to nitpick; if it can break 8 over there, it's very Ox."

At this time, Luo Mo was still filming at the Film and Television Base.

Due to scheduling conflicts, his work schedule for these few days was very full, and he didn't have time to stake out and watch the first episode of Classic of China.

It was already late at night, and he had just finished filming the scene where Jiu Jianxian was Showing Off, and Li Xiaoyao had also successfully learned the Sword Control Technique.

"Wrap, wrap!" Luo Mo said loudly.

Cheers immediately came from all around.

Only then did Luo Mo have time to open his phone, and sure enough, Ning Dan had sent him a WeChat to report the battle results.

"The premiere has already broken 100 million!" Ning Dan left a message for Luo Mo.

It was clear that Ning Dan was very excited.

She had done too many variety shows that broke 100 million on their premiere; logically speaking, it should have been business as usual.

But this was a CCTV variety show, a propaganda-style variety show!

In this world, a propaganda-style variety show breaking 100 million on its premiere was a first!

After all, in everyone's perception, there are stereotypes about propaganda-style variety shows, such as being conservative, dull, preachy, uninteresting...

In an instant, the entire variety show circle was stunned.

"A propaganda-style variety show can actually be this explosive?"

"This is even hotter than many entertainment-style variety shows!"

"It's Top Traffic, plus the early promotion was also very powerful."

"No, no, no, the point is that as of now, the word-of-mouth is top-tier, and the audience's feedback is excellent!"

"This is going to replicate the success of That Rabbit in the variety show field!"

When Run Jie was making Creating Idols, she broke seven records in that field, and the total views for the grand finale were even significantly higher than the original record!

But to her, collaborating with CCTV to set a record and making a Web Variety Show to set a record were two completely different concepts.

For her career, this was a huge step forward.

Even her overall status in the circle would rise accordingly because of this.

This made her feel grateful to Luo Mo; this had too many extraordinary meanings for her.

—She had been nourished back to life by him!

The most important thing was that the internet was full of praise, expressing anticipation for the second episode.

The rating on the 【Bean】 platform was also as high as 9.3!

This showed that this variety show was still far from reaching its upper limit.

As the word-of-mouth ferments, many viewers who have resistance to this type of variety show might also join the ranks of viewers!

Regarding this, Luo Mo was not surprised.

"After all, at the beginning, the rating on a certain Dou platform was also over 9; it only dropped to 8.7 following the controversy of the 'Exploitation of the Works of Nature' episode," Luo Mo thought to himself.

When recording these two episodes, Luo Mo made some modifications to certain places and also added elements like the Four Sentences of Hengqu, and the effect was still very good.

He opened Weibo to take a look and found that not only had he and Classic of China made it onto the Hot Search, but even Luo Chun had made it into the top ten of the Hot Search.

This elderly man with explosive acting skills was making it onto the Weibo Hot Search top ten for the first time...

Luo Mo specifically clicked into the comments under Luo Chun's Weibo to look at the netizens' messages.

"Teacher Luo, take care of your health! You looked very tired watching this episode."

"Ah! I hope the market can give such good Actors more opportunities!"

"Too shocking, watching your performance is too shocking!"

"Cried while watching, couldn't stop crying."

"Looking forward to more of Teacher Luo's works in the future!"

Looking at these comments, Luo Mo smiled.

This made him realize that his career planning was correct.

First, film Sword Fairy as his first work.

Then, polish his acting skills through Classic of China, gain the trust of veteran actors, and build up the netizens' anticipation for them to act together...

Immediately after, for the next drama, he could tackle those works he currently dared not touch!

Luo Mo watched as netizens were all saying they were looking forward to the second episode, and he couldn't help but smile again.

Regarding the second episode, 'Exploitation of the Works of Nature', when it aired on Earth, the scene that left the deepest impression on him was the Cross Era conversation and contact between Song Yingxing and Grandpa Yuan beside the hybrid rice.

The positioning of this segment was to let the ancients take a look at the Prosperous Age, to let them know that what they did was very meaningful and had profound influence and value for future generations.

"In the past, there was 'Exploitation of the Works of Nature'; today, people carry on the past and open up the future."

He still remembered the elderly Song Yingxing holding the hybrid rice, rolling up his pant legs, revealing his dark ankles, wearing a pair of old straw sandals, walking forward while laughing:

"The world is prosperous, enjoying the cool under the grain; amazing, truly amazing!"

………

………

The first episode of *Classic* was a huge success, causing various media outlets with special characteristics to scramble to build momentum for it.

It is not just a day or two that CCTV has wanted to make a breakthrough in the field of variety shows.

Clearly, this first step was taken very steadily.

For a propaganda-style variety show, its upper limit certainly cannot compare to entertainment-focused variety shows; being able to achieve this level is already considered incredibly heaven-defying.

This put Liu Zhongshan, the top leader of CCTV, in a great mood, and everyone from top to bottom is full of confidence regarding subsequent breakthroughs.

With the experience of *Classic*, the production teams within CCTV itself have perhaps also generated a lot of inspiration.

As long as the path is chosen correctly, with CCTV's own energy, producing high-quality works is not difficult.

And what Luo Mo provided was precisely this role of pathfinding.

As early as before, due to the super high viewership of *Creating Idols* and *King of Love Songs*, many variety show directors felt—he who gains Luo Mo gains the world!

He seems to be a guarantee of viewership, the needle that calms the sea in variety shows.

But the sudden emergence of *Classic* made them realize that Luo Mo's value does not just lie in being a contestant or a guest.

You must know, this variety show was jointly produced by him, Ning Dan, and CCTV; Run Jie has repeatedly stated publicly that this project was originally brought about by Luo Mo.

At the same time, he is also one of the co-directors!

This person, once seen as a hot commodity in everyone's eyes, suddenly transformed and is now coming to snatch everyone's rice bowl.

And the variety show he made, at that, makes many people feel inferior!

"Propaganda-style variety shows, perhaps it is time to change the way of thinking."

"This young man has taught the entire industry another lesson!"

Because *Classic* is a CCTV program, people in the circle are not finding it easy to pull any small tricks.

Even those marketing accounts that take money to do things dare not smear this program indiscriminately.

The prestige of Daddy CCTV is placed right there; isn't this courting death?

For a time, almost the entire internet was saying that this variety show is the ceiling for propaganda-style variety shows.

And the subsequent data for the first episode of the program, as expected, did not disappoint everyone.

With the fermentation of word-of-mouth, this program is just like those movies that make a comeback based on word-of-mouth box office; the click count on Penguin Video is still soaring, and the buzz index on the internet is also constantly rising.

This caused He Ping'an to specifically call Liu Zhongshan to claim credit.

"Lao Liu, you must bring out your treasured fine wine tonight!"

Truthfully, He Ping'an and Liu Zhongshan both initially only felt that this variety show might have good word-of-mouth, the effect would be quite good, and the popularity shouldn't be bad either.

But they didn't expect the word-of-mouth to be this good, and for it to be this popular!

A new program suddenly became CCTV's ace variety show this year.

This has Liu Zhongshan thinking: "Luo Mo is such a great talent, should I find a way to get him a permanent position?"

………

………

The next day, Luo Mo, who had once again acted cool in the circle, woke up early.

If it weren't for the fact that *Sword of the Immortal* required him to act in it himself, he might have already become bearded and incredibly slovenly amidst his busy work.

"However, everyone has already seen my costume look; if I let other young male actors act in the work I directed, they will definitely be compared."

"I am this handsome; how much pressure would others be under?"

"This sin, I had better bear it myself."

"The higher the looks, the greater the responsibility."

After waking up and washing up, Luo Mo heated a cup of milk for himself, but he didn't drink it, instead taking it to the filming set.

After arriving, he just stood there, as if waiting for someone.

The crew members were slightly puzzled: "Who is it, that even Director Luo has to welcome in person?"

Soon, they got the answer.

Naturally, it was Luo Mo's cheap apprentice, the nation's little sister, Ding Xiaoyu.

As soon as Ding Xiaoyu arrived at the set and saw her master waiting for her, she immediately trotted over.

Luo Mo handed the hot milk to her and said, "Let's go, I'll take you to get your makeup done first."

These past few days, the scenes for the childhood Zhao Ling'er were finished; starting from today, they began filming the content that Ding Xiaoyu is responsible for.

Ding Xiaoyu took the hot milk, held it in her slightly cool hands, and followed quickly behind Luo Mo, not daring to delay the filming progress.

When filming, time is money.

Arriving at the makeup room, after the bare-faced Ding Xiaoyu sat down, the makeup artists began to take action.

Luo Mo glanced at her and sighed in his heart: "Young age means tender skin, it's so snowy and smooth."

He asked Ding Xiaoyu, "Not taking advantage of the makeup time to memorize your lines?"

Ding Xiaoyu was currently closing her eyes and replied, "The scenes for these few days have already been memorized."

"Oh? Looks like you've done your homework well," Luo Mo said with a smile.

Ding Xiaoyu has been filming since she was young and often saw some older actors who would only come to the set after they had memorized everything.

Some formidable actors would even go as far as to memorize other people's lines as well.

Ding Xiaoyu followed suit and learned.

She has a very good memory; perhaps because she has been memorizing since she was young, after memorizing so much, she memorizes lines quite quickly.

Because it is a costume drama, not only does she need makeup, but it will also take quite a bit of time to do her hair later.

Luo Mo was afraid Ding Xiaoyu would be bored, so he said, "Since you've memorized your lines, then Master will give you a reward."

Upon hearing this, Ding Xiaoyu was so happy she almost opened her eyes, causing the makeup artist who was curling her eyelashes to nearly shake their hand.

"What reward?" Ding Xiaoyu asked.

Luo Mo took out his Bluetooth earphones and said, "Let's let the little sister Zhao Ling'er from our *Sword Fairy* production crew listen to an unreleased demo of an insert song."

Although she had her eyes closed, Luo Mo did not put the earphones on for her; he simply placed them into her hands.

"Let me tell you, besides me, you are the second person in the whole world to hear this demo," Luo Mo said.

"Huh? Then who is the first?" Ding Xiaoyu asked.

"I won't tell you," Luo Mo said aloud, while thinking to himself, "Of course, it's your future teacher's wife!"

"Alright, put the earphones on, I'll play it for you from my phone. I'm going to head out to take care of some things now," Luo Mo said to her.

"Okay," Ding Xiaoyu put on the earphones very obediently.

Luo Mo's singing voice soon spread through the earphones.

"【Time is rarely silent, the autumn wind is weary of drifting.

The setting sun lingers on the wall, reluctant to leave me.

The words once whispered by my beloved have already flowed eastward with the sound of the tide.

Looking back again, the past falls away like maple leaves, piece by piece.】"

"It sounds good!" Ding Xiaoyu thought to herself.

The overall style of this song reminded her a little of another one of Luo Mo's songs—*East Wind Breaks*.

In fact, many people have said that these two songs are similar.

But in this world, such a thing wouldn't happen; at most, the listeners would just say: "Luo Mo: Performing for everyone, 'I plagiarized myself'."

However, it is actually quite normal for works to have similar styles. It is just like how there are many songs on the market right now that are following the trend of some of Luo Mo's songs.

Actually, the name of this insert song has already established the tone for this drama.

Li Xiaoyao, does he truly live freely?

If that were really the case, this insert song would not be called *Sigh of the Free and Unfettered*.

——Li Xiaoyao, cannot be free and unfettered.

(PS: Second update, requesting monthly tickets!)

(End of this chapter)