Chapter 699

After returning to Los Angeles, Adriaan's life became much more relaxed. Because of the trip to Miami and New Orleans, the crew of "This Killer Is Not Too Cold" returned a day earlier than him. However, it did not mean that post-production work would begin immediately. He would take a break and rest for a few days. He had plenty of time this year anyway.

As for the other aspects, there were professionals from various companies under his control. He only needed to pay attention to the situation through Charlize and give his own opinions. This was how being a boss was. There were some things that needed to be controlled by oneself, but there were also some things that were not needed. If he had to do everything himself, why would he need professionals?

However, although there were fewer things to do at work, the troubles in life had increased a lot. For example, arranging a reasonable time for a date. The last time he came back to deal with the acquisition of Pixar, Monica and Julia had called to ask him out. Therefore, when he and Charlize were making out in the small room at the party, Charlize would tease him like that.

In addition, the scandal between him and Julia had returned to the public eye. After a period of time, it had faded a lot. After all, there was no more evidence except for the first few photos. Coupled with the ambiguous answers of the two, the popularity had slowly subsided.

However, at the end of June, the trailer for "Four Weddings and a Funeral" began to play, and the scandal was brought up again by the reporters. Adriaan vowed that he had specially invited Julia to be the female lead. Although most of the reporters were concentrated outside Julia's villa, and although Adriaan was very careful, he was almost caught by them.

That day, he happened to come out of Julia's secret villa in Santa Monica. The two spent four happy days there, reminiscing about the crazy time they had there, so they did not pay much attention to the situation around them. It was not until they were about to come out of a nearby convenience store that they realized that there seemed to be a lot of suspicious people around. Fortunately, when Adriaan came out, he was wearing a hat. He immediately warned Julia not to come out. Plus, the other party might have heard that there were people who looked like them there, so they did not stay for too long. For the paparazzi, staying in the same place for an afternoon was indeed not long.

Even so, the tabloids still published reports such as "Adriaan and Julia Spend Weekend in Santa Monica", which attracted a lot of attention.

Adrian didn't take it too seriously. If it weren't for the publicity for "Four Weddings and a Funeral" that created this situation, he wouldn't have minded announcing it. Moreover, because the promotional effect was not bad, the film critics all expressed their attention, and he deliberately created another scandal.

It wasn't a big deal. It was just that the reporters had taken photos of him and Monica at an Italian restaurant. He had originally planned to enter her house for half an hour before coming out, but considering Julia's mood, he decided to just walk her to the door.

Before Adrian left, Monica's eyes were filled with resentment, but she didn't say much. After all, she was different from Julia. Therefore, Adriaan rewarded her. When the storm was at its peak, he brought her back to the villa and used everything he could. As a result, Monica was bedridden for the whole next day.

In fact, it was not as exaggerated as the storm was. Most of the news was titled "Adriaan Has a New Lover?" And a small part of it was "Monica and Adriaan Continue Their Relationship?" In short, Adriaan had called Monica his muse at the Cannes Film Festival last year. From this aspect, it proved that the two might be dating.

In short, there was not enough evidence. Whether it was Julia or Monica, there were no intimate photos that could be used as irrefutable evidence. After all, Adriaan's identity was different from that of a celebrity. Ordinary people might not know, but the media would definitely know, so they still followed the rules. Even the unscrupulous tabloids could only say that he might be courting both sides.

"You've been in the limelight recently. Eide, I should congratulate you again," Claude said over the phone.

"Then should I say thank you?" Adriaan said impatiently, "Alright, Krau, I didn't call you to listen to you say this."

"Okay, okay." Claude sighed. "What an impatient guy. Then I'll start with …"

Claude was much busier than Zhang Heng during this time. He had to keep an eye on Lei Shidong and Diller's competition for Paramount, keep an eye on the extent of the acquisition of TBS, and pay attention to the situation in Japan. It was a foregone conclusion that the Clinton government would force the yen to appreciate. However, most of the Japanese's savings had already been swept away last time. Even if they could get some more this time, it would definitely not be as good as last time.

However, no matter how small a mosquito was, it was still meat. Besides, the resources in Adriaan's hands now were incomparable to before. Even if the harvest was not much, as long as he was careful, it would not be much less than last time.

Apart from that, Claude had also made a few good acquisitions. For example, he had acquired the well-known Evra Publishing Company and merged with it. He had also acquired the United Kingdom's Bullfrog Gaming Company and Eddos Gaming Company. Adriaan did not know the strength of the former, but he had a slight impression of the game they were developing called "Theme Park." It should be said that it was not bad. As for the latter, oh, they developed the game "Tomb Raider"!

"You mentioned this game company to me. After analyzing and discussing it, I felt that their price-performance ratio was good, and the prospects were good, so I bought it," Claude said.

Alright, Adriaan admitted that this was a big surprise. If they had already made a 3D engine, then they could turn the novel "Tomb Raider" into a game.

That way, he could also consider making "Resident Evil" into a game. He might as well hand it over to Silicon and Synapse Studio. Oh, they had already officially changed their name to, um, Blizzard Studio under his suggestion. Although it was a little strange for them to make this game, it was okay. It just so happened that Pixar was going to lay off some of their game programmers. He could let them merge with some of the people here to form a small department to develop the game that he wanted to develop.

When Adriaan bought Silicon and Synapse, he promised that he would not interfere with the specific matters. Therefore, they would definitely fulfill this small request. He really wanted to know what an American-style "Resident Evil" would be like.

"Oh yeah, I can't wait to buy TBS now. I want to know if you can create another miracle." After talking about work for a while, Claude suddenly said this.

"I do have some ideas. If it's done well, it should become a classic, but it's probably very difficult to reach that level," Adriaan replied after thinking for a while.

"You have such a high opinion of this TV series?" Claude asked in surprise.

"Of course, of course I know my ideas," Adriaan said leisurely.

This TV series was, of course, the official broadcast of "Friends" by NBC in late June. Although this TV series was scheduled for the beginning of the summer vacation, NBC had already started to advertise. Not only did they occasionally show some clips in the preview to whet people's appetite, but they also specifically mentioned that the idea came from the miraculous director, Adriaan. Therefore, it attracted a lot of attention. Especially after Adriaan's scandal was exposed, they purposely played a little role.

Because of NBC's relentless advertising campaign, the first episode of "Friends" directly reached a viewership of 35%. For a new TV series, this was an incredible figure. However, this was only the beginning. When the second episode was broadcast, this figure increased to 45%! Not long ago, when the third episode was broadcast, it directly increased to 55%!

Although it wasn't certain that there wouldn't be another TV series like this in the future, it was definitely unprecedented. The humorous language and funny daily life of the characters resonated with many Americans. After watching the show, many people called NBC and asked for a rebroadcast. Seeing that the TV series was so popular, NBC took advantage of the situation and arranged for it to be aired during the daytime. Many people who had watched it before chose to watch it again. At the same time, many people who missed it for various reasons seized the opportunity to watch it again. Therefore, the ratings of the rebroadcast were not much lower than the premiere.

Faced with such a situation, NBC was naturally grinning from ear to ear. Because of the shocking and even terrifying ratings, many advertisers came to their door with checks and offered high advertising fees. Even Bosworth Pictures received a considerable share of the profits. In addition, it also boosted NBC's stock, earning them tens of millions of dollars.

At the same time, "Friends" also received unanimous praise from critics. Although only three episodes had been broadcast so far, many people already thought that it was a wonderful work.

"Each of the six people has their own characteristics. In the city of New York, all kinds of ordinary but interesting stories unfold. The screenwriter and director have a perfect grasp of the humor in life, as if it is happening right beside us. Coupled with the wonderful performances of the six actors, it is no wonder that it is so popular. We have every reason to look forward to the next episodes." This was an article published in the Washington Post by well-known critic Seren Sid.

In short, the most popular TV series in the United States in the first half of the year was "Friends", which had only aired three episodes, and the most popular character was none other than the muddle-headed Rachel Green. This was the result of a poll conducted by NBC. Jennifer Aniston's sweet image and the character's plump personality won the support of the vast majority of people.

It was no wonder that Claude would make such a sigh. If this TV series was broadcasted on TBS, he could have seized the opportunity to expand the original network even more.

Of course, Adriaan understood this pity. Unfortunately, he had no better way. After all, he was not sure if there would be a similar TV series before that. So, he could only strike first and let it be a pity.