Chapter 60: The Studio of CCTV-2

"Sorry, your current Weibo account has been temporarily blocked due to violations of relevant policies and regulations!"

Seeing the pop-up message, Galen suddenly stood up from the sofa, his eyes wide as bronze bells staring at the phone screen.

The next moment, he rushed back to his room and turned on his computer. The Weibo page was still visible, but whenever he tried to post anything, regardless of the content, the same prompt appeared: "We regret that, according to relevant laws and policies, this Weibo account is prohibited from posting content. For assistance, please contact Weibo customer service at: *******, or visit (website) to appeal!"

Seeing the phone number, Galen dialed it without hesitation.

Soon, the call connected, and after a voice prompt, he pressed for customer service. After two beeps, a woman picked up.

"Hello! How can I assist you?"

"Why is my Weibo account blocked from logging in?"

"Hello! Please provide your login number."

"******!"

After Galen answered, there was a burst of keyboard clatter on the other end.

A moment later, the woman asked, somewhat surprised, "Are you Mr. Galen?"

"Yes!"

"Well... please wait a moment!"

After a few minutes, another person came on the line, still a woman, but her voice was more mature and composed. "Hello! Is this Mr. Galen?"

"That's me! What's going on with my Weibo account?"

"I'm very sorry! Because there were so many complaints about your Weibo, we had no choice but to temporarily block it. We're now enabling login for you, but you won't be able to post messages for another 24 hours!"

"Why?"

"Uh... that's the system's policy, we don't have the authority to change it!"

"What about your manager? Does he have the authority?"

"I'm the manager!" she apologized. "This permission is reserved for the vice president level, and it's already quite late now. Please understand."

"Alright!" Galen saw there was room for negotiation, and since the other party was so polite, he didn't want to seem unreasonable. He said, "So you're saying I can post messages at this time tomorrow?"

"Certainly!"

"Ah!" Galen sighed. "I had an important announcement I wanted to share on your platform as soon as possible, but it looks like that's impossible now!"

"That's truly unfortunate."

The woman showed no signs of regret or anxiety; she dealt with celebrities daily, far more than Galen had ever met, and he was just a minor figure not worth much attention. Her politeness was already more than he could expect.

"Hehe! Alright, that's it then. I have no other requests."

After hanging up, Galen tried logging into Weibo on his phone again. This time, he finally got in, but received a message stating that his account was banned from posting for 24 hours.

However, the three previous angry posts he had made were still visible and had not been deleted.

This indicated a certain regard for freedom of expression, which made Galen feel a bit more balanced. Unable to post, he could only read the messages left for him by others.

Some praised him, others insulted him, and his fan count, in just two days, had surpassed 3.5 million.

Such a fan base was no small achievement; many entertainers struggled for years, only to gain a mere hundred thousand followers.

Suddenly, Galen noticed a prominent user named "Time's Radiance" had reposted his earlier song "Ugly Slave—Youth Knows Not the Taste of Sorrow," commenting: "When I first met Galen, he was still a bar singer, writing excellent lyrics. Recalling his words and actions, they remain vivid in my memory. Seeing his latest lyrics today is deeply moving! Who would have thought such a young man possesses such depth! Admirable!"

Reading the comment, Galen grew curious. Who was this person? Had he actually met him in a bar?

He clicked on the user's profile and saw their credentials: Deputy Director of the Jiang Province Poetry Association, Member of the Jiang Province Writers' Guild, Lu Yuequn.

Galen searched his memory carefully but could not recall knowing this Lu Yuequn. Perhaps he was one of the bar patrons when Galen was singing? There were too many people back then for him to remember any faces.

Casually scrolling through Lu Yuequn's Weibo, he found many photos of poetry contests and scenic trips.

Among the pictures, Galen recognized a familiar face. He enlarged the photo for a closer look, and a figure flashed in his mind—the middle-aged man who had approached him in the bar, asking about the authorship of the lyrics for "Ephemeral Fireworks."

Connecting this with his identity, it seemed Lu Yuequn had indeed mentioned being the vice president of the Jiang Province Poetry Association, though Galen's memory of the event was faint.

Since he could not post anything on Weibo, he simply followed Lu Yuequn and decided to reconnect later.

...

In the blink of an eye, it was another Monday, with two days remaining until the end of Golden Week.

That morning, Chen Yingying accompanied Jin Chanjuan to the Central Academy of Drama. The Hasi Muqi Opera Competition would begin this Saturday, so participating students had already returned to school for preparation. Jin Chanjuan brought Chen Yingying along to observe.

Meanwhile, Galen was taken by Wu Chaoyang to CCTV Channel 2.

In the Channel 2 studio, Galen and Wu Chaoyang met the chief executive of "Dream Starshine Show," the vice president of Dream Starshine Entertainment Group, Xiao Weiyang.

"Old Xiao!"

Wu Chaoyang greeted him first.

"Haha! Old Wu! Still as charming as ever!"

The two embraced warmly, clearly close friends.

"Not at all! Can't compare to you!" Wu Chaoyang laughed, gesturing to Galen. "This is Galen, the newcomer I'm mentoring."

"Hello, President Xiao!" Galen stepped forward to shake his hand.

Xiao Weiyang smiled back. "Hello, Galen! I heard your live performance at the Ideal Music Festival last time, it was thrilling! Inviting you for a face-off is to bring that same passion to our show. I believe you can do even better!"

"Thank you, President Xiao! I will!"

Galen responded calmly. With Wu Chaoyang present, he felt relaxed.

Xiao Weiyang invited them into the studio.

Earlier, on the way, Wu Chaoyang had explained Xiao Weiyang's background to Galen. Dream Starshine Entertainment Group had formerly been Starlight Television Production Company, one of the first production companies formed after domestic TV programs separated from live broadcasts.

Later, Starlight Production was acquired by Dream Economy Company, merging into Dream Star Group.

Two years later, due to internal issues, several leaders from Starlight Production recruited a group of behind-the-scenes producers to leave Dream Star and start anew.

At that point, Xiao Weiyang was appointed as director and chief planner of the television production department, completing the planning and production of "Dream Starshine Show."

As the show broke ratings records and helped Channel 2 surpass Channel 1 in prime-time viewership, Dream Star Group rewarded Xiao Weiyang by promoting him to vice president.

This was the largest studio in Channel 2, used mostly for taping "Dream Starshine Show," apart from a few galas.

The show's auditions took place in Aolinghai Park, held every Monday through Wednesday, selecting 15 to 18 contestants each week, who then recorded a competition in the studio for the weekly championship.

On Fridays and Saturdays, sample edits were made. After the championship episode aired Saturday night, the live face-off was broadcast from this studio.

It could be said the show's ongoing popularity was entirely due to its unique live face-off format.

During the first season, there were some serious live mishaps—weekly champions refusing to record, face-off contestants swearing on air, nearly causing the show to be canceled.

But it turned out such incidents only boosted ratings dramatically.

The production team and Channel 2 treated these mishaps as gold, and later began scripting and designing dialogue and scenarios, even staging fake live accidents.

Additionally, the live broadcast was delayed by ten minutes; if a genuine unscripted mishap occurred, they would immediately cut to commercials.

After more than two years of adjustment, the team and production crew developed a strong synergy. Coupled with the strict discipline of CCTV, few contestants deliberately caused scandals; those with peculiar personalities or questionable character were never considered for the show, allowing "Dream Starshine Show" to thrive smoothly to this day.

Inside the studio.

Xiao Weiyang led Galen and Wu Chaoyang around, introducing them to the recording rules.

Galen handed his chosen songs to the music director, who would listen first, then discuss with Galen whether arrangements needed to be revised, and finally rehearse with the band.

Meanwhile, the production team provided Galen with a show rundown.

Though called a rundown, it was actually a full script, detailing possible questions from the hosts and judges, suggested answers, instructions on tone and expression—even specifying which lines should be delivered with a smile, which with sadness, and where tears would be most effective.

Galen skimmed through it; every question was standard, all within acceptable bounds.

Although the outcome depended on judges' scores and live audience voting, the judges' comments could significantly influence the audience.

At times, their remarks and questions could sway public opinion.

A singer who touches the audience is a clear winner, but if the weekly champion and the challenger are evenly matched, and the audience can't decide who's better, a few favorable words from the judges could create a huge advantage.

Not to mention the viewers who are indecisive by nature.