Rhythm and Ray: A DJ’s Journey

[Chapter 221: Reactions from All Sides, Unprecedented Success]

In a typical suburban home near the Bad Room nightclub, two young DJs, Hardwell and R3HAB, pushed the door open, both holding grocery bags from the store. They had just returned from shopping for everyday essentials.

"Earlier, that girl at the store asked me why I moved here, and I said I was the resident DJ at Bad Room. You won't believe it -- she gave me her number and said I should come by to see her cat, the kind that does flips," R3HAB said, laughing.

"You're lucky," Hardwell replied, not nearly as fortunate, given his nerdy appearance, which obviously didn't attract much attention from the ladies.

"You'll have your chance too. The U.S. population is twenty times that of the Netherlands, which means there are twenty times the opportunities. The only downside is we can't buy alcohol here yet since we're underage." R3HAB pulled out a pack of cola from the plastic bag, tossing one bottle to Hardwell while he opened another.

He turned on the living room lights. "Wow, this place is huge," R3HAB said, plopping down on the couch.

"And soft enough for a girl to lie down on, plenty of positions," R3HAB gestured playfully.

"Well, you'd better keep it down; I don't want to be waking up at midnight," Hardwell remarked, cracking open the soda.

"You can always wear headphones and turn on the TV. I haven't checked out American television yet; I've heard some shows are pretty wild."

"That's only if you're watching late-night stuff, and it has to be on a paid channel, like HBO." Hardwell clearly knew more about this than R3HAB did.

The two aimless young men started flipping through the channels. "Why are there so many sports shows?" R3HAB muttered; he had little interest in sports programming.

Then, the screen switched to a blonde woman in a yellow restaurant uniform.

"Wait! I've seen her before!" Hardwell exclaimed, widening his eyes and rushing to tell R3HAB to stop changing the channel.

"You didn't bump into her in a dream, did you?" R3HAB teased.

"No, I actually saw her next to the boss. I mistook her for a server, but she's another boss lady. You can't say a word about this," Hardwell insisted.

"So that's the show Ryan invested in?"

"Not just invested; didn't you hear Diplo say it's based on a script he wrote?"

"I'd lean more towards him having ghostwriters. The guy's busy making electronic music every day; when would he have time to write a script?" R3HAB shared his thoughts.

"Regardless of who wrote it, it's his production as long as he's credited. It's the same for us in this business," Hardwell pointed out.

"What's the show about? I know, it's a sitcom. Did you hear the canned laughter? Looks pretty amusing," R3HAB said, laying down the remote.

Soon enough, the two burst into laughter over the jokes in the show, tears streaming down their faces from chuckling.

"I love this show!" R3HAB slapped his thigh in excitement.

"It really is funny. At least the two main actresses are easy on the eyes," Hardwell took a sip of coke.

"I want to be the second Ryan Rivers! With a big celebrity fiancee, and be surrounded by all these starlets," R3HAB declared with determination.

"That's if you can come up with at least five Billboard top ten songs. I'd be glad to have just one," Hardwell replied.

...

Just like these two young guys, more and more people in households across America were getting hooked on this show.

Most were initially drawn to the two leading ladies' looks, then found themselves laughing at the raunchy jokes, and once they got familiar with the characters and their relationships, they began to get immersed in the storyline.

Time flew by quickly; sitcoms usually had shorter lengths than regular shows, often under thirty minutes, and the premiere episode they watched that night was just twenty-four minutes long.

"That's it?" R3HAB looked disappointed.

"At least we have next Friday to look forward to," Hardwell chuckled.

...

In New York, Karlie Kloss also felt a bit unsatisfied. She quickly opened her notebook and checked the fan forum, where the recent episode was indeed causing a buzz.

[Let me see one more episode! I will do anything!]

[her name plz]

[Preemptively locking in for next year's Emmy for Best Sitcom!]

The chat was flying by so fast that Karlie could barely keep up with the messages. She switched to a more private chat group.

...

[Paris Hilton: I've got time this week @Ryan@Ryan@Ryan, let me do a cameo, and I'll do anything!]

[Ryan: Hand over your sister.]

[Nicky Hilton: ...]

[Paris Hilton: Nicky, you wouldn't want to see your big sister forgotten by the public, would you? I'm counting on you (smile).]

[Nicky: (sweats bullets) You guys have fun without me. Don't drag me into your stuff.]

[Debicki: I watched it live; I feel this show is going to blow up.]

[Elizabeth Olsen: Oh no.]

[Lydia: How come it's over?]

[Ashley: Ryan's attention is probably going to be diverted to the show now!]

[Ryan: The I can't explain to Delphine,] Ryan replied, hinting that things would remain as they were.

...

Karlie switched to another group chat, which was filled with Taylor Swift and her friends.

[Taylor: Picture.]

It was a selfie with a crowd of fans clearly taken at one of her concerts.

[Taylor: Ryan's new show is fantastic! Everyone loves it.]

[Emma Stone: So darling, can you talk to Ryan about me doing a cameo? (smile).]

[Dianna Agron: And me! (smirk).]

[Selena: Ugh, I can't even. (crying).]

Being part of Disney Channel, Selena couldn't appear on CW shows, naturally.

Karlie quickly typed in, [I want to do a cameo too (pitiful).]

[Taylor: Don't worry; it'll happen, it's getting organized. Ryan said the first season has over twenty episodes, so we'll definitely fit you all in!]

[Also, Emma, is there still a chance for what we talked about earlier?]

[Emma Stone: The door's always open for you. After seeing Ryan trying something new, are you tempted too?]

[Taylor: (laughs) Something like that; I need to discuss this with Ryan. I need his okay before I take action.]

[Emma Stone: Sure! Keep me updated.]

Karlie recalled the last time she met Taylor when Emma Stone mentioned an opportunity, and Taylor didn't seem too interested then. It looked like her feelings had changed now.

...

Suddenly, Karlie received a phone call.

"Hey there, you're still awake?" A woman's voice came from the other end.

"Calling me this late -- what's up, Anne?" Karlie replied.

The caller was Anne Vyalitsyna. "Nothing much; I just wanted to check if you and Ryan weren't fighting or anything?" Anne laughed into the phone.

"What do you mean?" Karlie was completely confused.

"What other possibility is there? Don't pretend; everyone knows about your situation with Ryan." Anne giggled.

"Why am I pretending?"

"I know exactly where Taylor Swift stands; you are just embarrassed to admit it. This kind of relationship is normal, really. I'm going to Florida with Rosie soon; let's drop by Bad Room. You should join us." Anne suggested.

Her idea was simple -- bring along Karlie, who was close to Ryan, ensuring they might run into him.

"I'm pretty busy," Karlie retorted.

She knew exactly what these two were after -- visiting Ryan more often to build a closer relationship with him so that when Ryan needed something, he would remember them. In simple terms, it was about climbing the social ladder.

The modeling business was incredibly competitive, and there were no set standards. Building connections was the way to stand out.

Karlie realized how much she owed her current success to getting the opportunity at Dior to Ryan's help. Other models fully understood the importance of connections.

"Sure, if you don't show, don't say I took your sugar daddy," Anne laughed.

"I'm not with Ryan," Karlie insisted, repeating herself.

"When people think you have a connection, you better be sure you actually do," Anne quipped with a smirk.

Karlie hesitated but didn't say anything.

"Alright, let's set a date then; we'll meet in Orlando in three days. Don't bail on us!"

"Wait..." Karlie started to say, but Anne had already hung up.

...

In a luxurious penthouse apartment where Karlie lived, a woman sat elegantly on a uniquely designed chair, watching the CW channel.

She had initially planned to watch the upcoming episode of America's Next Top Model, a reality competition hosted by well-known model Tyra Banks, which she watched religiously.

Having modeled herself as a bit of a hobby like Lydia, she didn't expect that this new show airing before was going to be quite entertaining; it genuinely made her laugh.

"Ryan Rivers? Isn't that the nightclub owner where I'm headed in a few days? He really is quite talented," Ivanka thought to herself.

...

At the Bad Room nightclub, in his office, Ryan was checking online discussions about his show. When he saw that around eighty percent of people were raving about it, he breathed a sigh of relief. Although some felt the show had too many crude jokes and was somewhat lowbrow, the character designs received praise, putting some of the critics in a neutral position.

The audience ratings exceeded his expectations.

Then Ryan received a call from Julie. "We're getting fantastic feedback! This might be an unprecedented success, in every sense."

Ryan could hear the celebration on the other end.

Julie passed the phone to another person. "At least no one will be out of work," Trey finally expressed relief.

The call continued circulating until it reached Daddario. "Ryan, I might really be on my way to stardom," she exclaimed excitedly, almost in tears.

Next, Ryan got put through to Amber. "Thank you."

She wasn't as exuberant as Daddario, but her tone was incredibly sincere.

"It's mutually beneficial," Ryan replied practically.

...

Two hours later, Ryan received a call from someone claiming to be the program development director of CW.

"Congratulations, Ryan! The Nielsen numbers from the premiere are in, and the show averaged 19.37 million viewers. This is the highest premiere viewership for a comedy series since Fall 2001, and the highest for CW since the network was established," the person stated in an evenly composed voice.

"19 million, got it." Ryan didn't have a concrete idea of viewership numbers but understood this broke several records and indicated significant success.

"Surprised, aren't you? Everyone who knows this number is surprised, including me," the voice calmly replied.

'You... I didn't pick up on that.' Ryan noticed the woman's tone was excessively calm.

"From now on, if you have any questions regarding the series, just call me directly, as has been instructed by the station head. All needs for this show will receive a green light from the network, so long as they fall within CW's range of responsibilities. I'm Gaye Hirsch, the channel's vice president for current programming," she formally introduced herself.

"I'd like to know how many viewers tuned in for the premiere of The Vampire Diaries yesterday," Ryan asked.

"Yesterday, The Vampire Diaries set a record with an audience of 4.91 million for its premiere."

"So, are you saying 2 Broke Girls raised the premiere rating by nearly four times?"

"Exactly; this premiere data all but locks in a top ten rating for the entire year. According to last year's data, the number one rated American Idol averaged just over twenty million, and the highest-rated show, NCIS, had an average of only 19 million. NBC's Sunday Night Football averaged just 18 million."

"So, this sitcom attracted more viewers than football?!" Ryan was slightly taken aback.

"Of course not; I said that was an average rating, and for a show, premiere episodes usually attract the most viewers, gradually declining afterward," Gaye explained.

"Even so, 2 Broke Girls is the king of CW shows? I take it I'm not wrong about that?"

"Of course, although it has only aired one episode, 2 Broke Girls absolutely has the potential to become a cornerstone for CW, as long as they maintain quality. Last season, Gossip Girl averaged just 2.48 million viewers. America's Next Top Model's eleventh season averaged only 3.91 million."

"What about Two and a Half Men?"

"It averaged around 14 million, The Big Bang Theory was similar. Grey's Anatomy maintained an average of 13 million viewers, roughly the same as The Good Wife. Desperate Housewives averaged around 12 million. The Walking Dead sat below 7 million, Hell's Kitchen was similar, and The Apprentice also averaged around 7 million. The average audience numbers for The Simpsons and Law & Order were in the same ballpark. I personally watched Breaking Bad's first season, which only drew 1.5 million viewers."

Gaye continued to educate Ryan about the viewership statistics of major U.S. television programs.

Ryan understood that sitcoms generally attracted more viewers. With such a stellar start, 2 Broke Girls was fully capable of competing in the top three sitcom rankings.

"Just remember: as long as the show's quality holds, the revenue will soar. This includes distribution to networks worldwide, along with DVD sales and online rights."

"Online rights?"

"Exactly; CW is in discussions to partner with Hulu. 2 Broke Girls will be one of the first CW shows featured on that platform, which is a media service covering nearly all television programs," Gaye clarified.

Hulu was essentially the joint venture of traditional television networks coming together to combat the online threat posed by Netflix.

"How much can these add up to?" Ryan asked.

"Key figures vary -- tenfold, twentyfold, or even fiftyfold depending on the specific arrangement. The catch is, the episode count must be substantial, which is a long-term game."

One episode's total earnings can multiply ten times? That's ten million dollars, isn't it?

With over twenty episodes in one season, the total could be quite stunning.

"Okay, let's expedite 2 Broke Girls' appearance on those promotional channels. That would be the biggest help for the show," Ryan stated.

*****

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