Meeting Room.
After discussing the future development direction of the TV station with Huang Xizhao, Lin Baicheng called in Cheng Yufeng, Huang Xizhao, and the station's senior executives for a meeting.
"I've called you here today because I have an idea. I want to create a new program—a competition. I need all of you to contribute your ideas. After I explain it, feel free to ask questions or point out any flaws you see. Don't hold back because of my position. What I want is for you to help me perfect this competition."
"President Lin, don't worry—that's what we're here for," said general manager Huang Xizhao immediately, setting an example for the others.
"Good."
Lin nodded with satisfaction. After scanning the room, he asked Huang, "Manager Huang, roughly what salary range are the people here in?"
"These are all senior executives of the TV station. The lowest monthly salary is around 3,000 Hong Kong dollars, and the highest is mine—8,000 Hong Kong dollars."
Although not sure why Lin asked, Huang answered honestly.
"So little?"
Lin was slightly surprised—it was much lower than he expected. But that wasn't the point of today's meeting, so he continued, "Then, if there were an opportunity to earn one million Hong Kong dollars—no need to spend money, no need to risk your life—just by participating in a competition, would you want to join?"
Huang answered immediately, "Yes, of course."
"Who wouldn't?"
"One million Hong Kong dollars! Ordinary people might not earn that in a lifetime even if they saved every cent."
"That kind of money could buy several houses!"
Everyone chimed in. To them, one million was a fortune—something that could take decades to earn. If all it took was participating in a competition, even if it was only a chance at winning, everyone would be willing to try.
Cheng Yufeng added, "President Lin, no ordinary person would give up a chance like that."
Lin nodded. "I believe you've already guessed it. Yes—I want to create a program called Who Can Become a Millionaire. The prize is one million Hong Kong dollars. It's a knowledge-based quiz competition. Participants must answer 15 questions correctly to win the prize."
"The questions will cover history, culture, politics, society, economics, and many other fields. The difficulty will gradually increase. Early questions can be something almost everyone knows, but they will get harder and eliminate contestants. By the final five questions, only those with deep knowledge will remain."
Screenwriter Xiao Ruoyuan spoke up, "President Lin, with such a broad range of topics and human knowledge being limited, I don't think anyone could answer all questions correctly. If no one can win the prize, the one million becomes meaningless—visible but unreachable. People might be attracted at first, but once they see that the prize is impossible to win, they'll stop watching."
"I've already thought of that," Lin said. "Contestants won't be required to produce answers directly. For each question, the program will provide four choices—one correct and three incorrect. Contestants only need to select the correct one."
"In addition, each contestant will have three lifelines:
• '50-50' – Two wrong options are eliminated, leaving one correct and one incorrect answer.
• 'Ask the Audience' – Poll the studio audience for their opinion. But whether their answer is correct or not isn't guaranteed—contestants must judge for themselves.
• 'Phone a Friend' – Call someone outside the studio who's watching the program and ask for help."
Zhong Jinghui raised his hand. "President Lin, I think it's not ideal to restrict the 'Phone a Friend' option only to friends or family."
"Oh? Why?"
Lin had gathered the executives precisely to refine the idea. Since this was a concept from decades in the future, he was worried some parts might not suit this era.
"In ordinary Hong Kong households, not every family has a landline telephone. And most families aren't highly educated. If the contestant is an ordinary person, then asking a friend or family member wouldn't help much—they likely don't know the answer either."
"So I think this lifeline shouldn't be limited to friends or family. It should allow contestants to call anyone outside the studio. They could arrange beforehand for someone knowledgeable to wait by a phone. We only need to limit the time of the call so they don't have time to look up answers."
"That's a good suggestion. Let's do that," Lin said. "How long should the call time be?"
Originally, it was supposed to be one minute. But Lin realized that in this era, without the internet, one minute might be too short.
"Three minutes."
"I think five minutes is better."
"Five is too long—this is still a TV broadcast."
After discussion, everyone agreed that three minutes was appropriate. Lin accepted the majority decision and finalized it: contestants would have up to three minutes for the 'Phone a Friend' lifeline.
"As for the competition structure, I plan to divide it into preliminary, semi-final, and final rounds. This helps filter contestant quality. For the preliminaries, only those who answer three questions correctly advance to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, they must answer another three to reach the finals. In the finals, they begin from question seven, and only by answering all remaining questions correctly can they win the one million."
"For broadcasting, we can air the stages separately. But during the finals, we must edit in flashbacks of their first two rounds to show their first ten questions—so the audience isn't confused."
"As for the finals, it would be best to broadcast it live, like a news report. That way, the audience watching at home will feel more immersed."