Jing Yu glanced at Cheng Lie, and Cheng Lie looked back at him.
"So, Producer Cheng, do you have any ideas?" Jing Yu asked.
"Me? No, no, of course I don't!" Cheng Lie waved his hands frantically.
Before Jing Yu came to Yunteng TV, the station's quarterly flagship dramas generally had an average rating just above 3%. A show hitting 4% was considered a breakout hit. Anything over 5% was almost unheard of.
But now, 'Hikaru no Go' Season 2 has stable ratings above 6%. Even though 'Another' was wrapping up next week, the average rating across its final six episodes would still exceed 3%, despite the early episodes dragging it down. That alone was remarkable—especially considering that, traditionally, Yunteng TV would need to invest at least 40–50 million and secure a prime timeslot to reach such numbers. 'Another' were made with just 9 million, and their original purpose was to serve as cannon fodder to snipe 'Manual'.
'Steins;Gate' needed no explanation. It had become the unexpected dark horse of the summer lineup. While its ratings weren't overwhelmingly high yet, anyone paying attention could see that if Jing Yu didn't mess up the plot going forward, it would easily cross 5% in the coming weeks.
In short, these three shows had achieved numbers that were nearly impossible under Yunteng TV's previous standards. Because of that, the moment any of these series ended, their ability to counterbalance the flagship shows from the Big Three stations would disappear—and Yunteng TV had no way to continue that momentum.
Normally, if 'Another' ended, Yunteng TV might just fill its Friday night slot with reruns of older in-house productions or throw in a random variety show. Same with 'Steins;Gate'.
However, if the continuation of 'Another' and 'Steins;Gate' was directly tied to the rating trajectories of 'Manual' and 'You, Under the Cliff', which were competitors to 'Hikaru no Go', then letting those shows end hastily would be disastrous.
If 'Another' and 'Steins;Gate' wrapped up, and then 'Manual' and 'You, Under the Cliff' surged in ratings and overtook 'Hikaru no Go', it would be a complete loss. Right now, 'Hikaru no Go' only had the chance—the potential—to surpass 'You, Under the Cliff' and claim the top spot. Even if it beat 'You, Under the Cliff' in a single week, the industry still judged shows based on their overall average ratings. If they let down their guard even a little, 'Hikaru no Go's shot at the top could vanish.
"So, what exactly are you suggesting, Producer Cheng?" Jing Yu asked.
"Well... uh, I was wondering if maybe you could… not let those two series end so quickly? Or at the very least, even if they do end, is there a way to keep their audience tuned in during those same timeslots over the next few weeks? We can't let everyone just shift over to 'Manual' and 'You, Under the Cliff'," Cheng Lie said with an awkward smile.
Jing Yu had already delivered three blockbuster hits for Yunteng TV in one season. And yet the station couldn't even handle post-broadcast planning for maintaining ratings—they still had to ask him for ideas.
Even Cheng Lie himself felt that Yunteng TV was acting way too passively. But when it came to dramas with 4%+ ratings, even calling in other writers from the station wouldn't help—they simply didn't have the influence to compete with the Big Three.
"Well…" Jing Yu fell into thought.
The original 'Steins;Gate' game had an enormous amount of content.
What he was adapting now—the main storyline—was just one of many branching paths in the game, albeit the most complete and satisfying one.
There were still plenty of alternate worldlines and bizarre storylines:
One where the protagonist joins the "SERN" and helps rule the world with them
One where he and Faris team up to save the world
One where he and the part-time warrior travel back in time in search of an old computer
One where he ends up with the now-female Ruka and fights against SERN together
And there were smaller side stories too.
Like the story of the daughter of the electronics shop owner downstairs from the lab. After her father's death, she came to hate the protagonist, Okabe, and Moeka. Fifteen years in the future, she used the microwave time machine to rewind her memory repeatedly—four to five thousand times—driven by a terrifyingly obsessive desire for revenge, just to return to the present day and personally kill Moeka.
Okabe, by then, had already been tortured to death by her in various ways. Fans of the game dubbed this arc "the small animal gone dark."
She killed Okabe, then planned to spend fifteen years waiting just to kill him again. Then time-traveled back and killed Moeka again. Then another fifteen years, then another loop.
Her life revolved entirely around two things: killing Moeka in the present, and killing Okabe fifteen years later. Because of the constraints of the worldlines, she couldn't kill both at the same time.
One killing wasn't enough for her. She needed to use the time machine to kill them again and again to vent her rage. She was arguably the most intense character in 'Steins;Gate'.
But during Okabe's search for the old computer, she was just an 11-year-old girl.
And honestly, who doesn't love a blackened little girl with a tragic backstory like that?
This kind of storyline would absolutely kill it as a side episode.
But still, it was just a thought. Fully adapting all this into a drama? Even seven or eight seasons wouldn't be enough.
"For Steins;Gate, it's not that hard. Once the main story wraps up, we can shoot a few bonus episodes. Even if it touches a bit on the Zero timeline, it's no big deal," Jing Yu said.
For example, using the 'Steins;Gate 0' prologue as a bonus episode would work just fine. Or just filming some light-hearted daily life scenes with the characters. After going through such an intense main story, the audience would probably welcome something more cheerful.
"But for 'Another'..." Jing Yu spread his hands.
"There's really nothing left to dig into. No one's going to watch bonus content. That show's appeal was all about the gore and bizarre deaths. Once the main story ends, all viewer interest is gone."
Cheng Lie looked visibly disappointed.
"Then... what about something like your breakout short series 'My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday' on JinHui TV?" he asked.
"Doesn't work. Short dramas ramp up too slowly. By the time ratings pick up, the show's already over. They can't draw attention away from the 'Manual' at all."
And if Jing Yu rushed to create a new mid-length drama to fill 'Another' timeslot, it would be a brand-new show. Not like 'Hikaru no Go' Season 2, which inherited its fanbase. Plus, time was tight—'Another' final episode would air in just two or three days. That meant less than ten days to prepare a replacement.
Even if Jing Yu dropped everything and focused entirely on that, maybe he could push out Episode 1. But he still had 'Hikaru no Go' and 'Steins;Gate' in production. Clearly unrealistic.
He looked at Cheng Lie and said quietly:
"Some things... if you don't plan them from the start, trying to patch them up at the last minute just won't work."
But this wasn't really Cheng Lie's fault. Jing Yu himself had been taking things one step at a time.
Even with all his past-life knowledge of hit shows, he could only estimate that these projects would be successful in Great Zhou. How big do they blow up? That wasn't something you could predict with confidence.
Originally, his goal was just to have 'Hikaru no Go' drag down one of the Big Three's flagship dramas. After all, Yunteng TV was still far behind in terms of platform strength. While 'Hikaru no Go' was excellent, the Big Three's shows weren't bad either.
Was 'Hikaru no Go's quality gap big enough to overcome the platform gap between Yunteng TV and the top six networks? Jing Yu wasn't sure. So he kept his expectations conservative.
"But even so," Jing Yu said, "Producer Cheng, don't worry. This is enough. The combined pull from 'Another' and 'Steins;Gate' has already done a lot to support 'Hikaru no Go' Season 2. At this point, instead of panicking, we should just trust the show. At the very least, we've gotten 'Hikaru no Go' to the same level as the Big Three's flagship dramas. I believe that even if we keep competing head-on, we won't lose."
Cheng Lie was silent for a moment, processing Jing Yu's words. Finally, he let out a sigh.
"Then I guess that's all we can do. Once 'Another' ends, I'll immediately have the station rerun it in the same timeslot for the next few weeks. Same for Steins;Gate. If you have—"
In times like this, to keep viewers from immediately switching to 'Manual' once 'Another' ends, reruns were a smart move.
As Cheng Lie calmed down and started organizing his thoughts, something suddenly clicked for him.
"Wait, Teacher Jing Yu—you just mentioned something, didn't you? 'Steins;Gate 0'. What's that about? What's this 'Zero' storyline?"