Simon didn't have much time to deal with the intense controversy caused by 'Basic Instinct'.
He flew to New York on Saturday morning to participate in the official recording of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'.
After personally drafting a project proposal of over twenty pages based on his memory, Simon had been regularly attending production meetings for 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' during the months of preparation, and continued to provide numerous suggestions for the creation of the show's question bank, segment design, contestant selection, and even the most subtle details of the on-site atmosphere.
When the actual recording began, the project team, which had already conducted multiple trial shoots and rehearsals, was well-prepared, but Simon still decided to personally oversee the process.
After all, the success or failure of this reality show was crucial to whether Daenerys Entertainment could successfully enter the field of TV program production.
Because 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' is inherently a variety show and relatively simple to produce, the project team began recording the seven-episode pilot program on Saturday, which would allow them to complete the entire pilot plan by filming and broadcasting simultaneously over the course of a week.
However, this process was not easy.
Over the weekend, everyone on the project team worked more than ten hours, and Simon was no exception.
On Sunday, he was busy until ten o'clock at night, and after watching the final cut of the first episode with everyone and confirming it met his expectations, Simon finally relaxed a little.
June 20th, Monday.
A new week arrived in a flash, and the media buzz around 'Basic Instinct' continued.
Simon, for once, slept in, waking up at nine in the morning.
In the morning, he went to his Fifth Avenue apartment to check on the renovation progress.
After that absurd night with the three of them, and with Kathryn coincidentally needing to produce 'Blue Steel' in New York, Janette had forcefully assigned her to oversee the renovation.
Kathryn had actually done some interior design work in the 1970s.
He had lunch with Kathryn and discussed some matters about 'Blue Steel'.
During the meal, the woman rejected Simon's hint of going to his place that night, claiming she had to attend a gathering within her circle.
Simon expressed his eagerness to meet some people in the New York film industry with her, but he only received an eye-roll.
The woman ultimately didn't want too many people to know about their relationship.
In the afternoon, he met with James Raybould as usual to discuss some affairs of Westeros Company.
With the debt-to-equity swap plan finalized, James Raybould had already cleared out Westeros Company's holdings of New World Entertainment stock again during this period.
Although Simon was determined to acquire Marvel, he would never choose to be a sucker if he could save half the money, so there was no need to secretly buy New World Entertainment stock.
After completing various acquisitions and investments during this period, the $100 million loan Westeros Company had just received was once again almost depleted, and Simon had no plans to increase his debt in the short term.
James Raybould's work for a long time to come would focus on managing Westeros Company's existing businesses.
Over the past six months, the North American stock market had been continuously recovering.
However, because the 'Westeros Portfolio' stimulated a strong rebound in the technology stock sector last year, the growth of the technology stock market has significantly slowed down compared to other sectors in recent months.
As of last week, the total value of Westeros Company's listed technology stock portfolio was approximately $1.76 billion, while other unlisted company shares and real estate investments amounted to approximately $150 million.
Due to the continuous success of 'When Harry Met Sally' and 'Pulp Fiction', Daenerys Entertainment is valued at around $300 million.
Subtracting the total debt of $200 million for Daenerys Entertainment and Westeros Company, Simon's current personal assets are around $2 billion.
Forbes' global rich list for this year is expected to be released in August.
If 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' and 'Basic Instinct' succeed, Simon's net worth will certainly continue to increase.
With personal assets exceeding $2 billion, he will be able to squeeze into the top fifty positions on the global rich list.
In the underground parking lot of the Westeros Company headquarters building, James Raybould watched Simon's car leave, a series of numbers flashing through his mind, and couldn't help but feel a little emotional again.
Noticing his daughter looking at him questioningly, he came back to his senses and smiled at Jennifer, saying, "Let's go home, your mom is preparing dinner tonight".
The father and daughter got into their car, and James Raybould started the car and left the parking lot, then asked his daughter beside him, "Do you think 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' will be successful?"
Simon had already told James Raybould some of his ideas about using the reality show project as leverage to exchange for New World Entertainment from General Electric.
Jennifer heard her father's question and said, "I think it's very interesting, and as for the ratings, we'll know tomorrow".
James Raybould paused, then pressed, "Didn't Simon tell you his expectations for this show?"
Jennifer felt a different meaning in her father's words and felt a little embarrassed, but still said, "He, he is very confident in this show".
James Raybould turned the steering wheel to round a corner, then glanced at his daughter and said, "Jenny, you need to know that some things require you to work hard to achieve them".
This was already very direct, and Jennifer couldn't help but blush, her mind drifting back to all the little things since she started working for Simon.
In all fairness, she had not been without the thought of snatching that man from Janette.
It was just that, being by his side, perhaps because she was too busy, or for some other reason, in short, she rarely had such thoughts of snatching a man.
Most of the time, she unconsciously felt that it was enough to just be by his side and work for him.
She always thought of herself as a rather easily satisfied person.
The father and daughter returned to their home in the Upper East Side, where Jennifer's mother, Carol Raybould, had already returned and was preparing dinner.
James and Jennifer went to the kitchen to help, and the family of three warmly enjoyed dinner together.
Then, with a tacit understanding, they gathered in front of the living room TV, chatting casually about various things, waiting for nine o'clock to arrive.
'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' was scheduled to air at nine in the evening.
ABC didn't give it the prime eight o'clock slot, but of course, it wasn't relegated to the least important ten o'clock slot either, so Daenerys Entertainment couldn't ask for too much.
Moreover, because ABC was unwilling to invest in promoting the reality show, Daenerys Entertainment had to self-fund $2 million for TV, newspaper, and magazine advertisements.
This expenditure alone was equivalent to a week of pilot episodes, and the preliminary audition work to generate buzz for the show also involved significant investment.
In addition, to retain as much initiative as possible, Daenerys Entertainment did not seek sponsors to share the investment for the pilot episodes.
Thus, even in the pilot phase alone, Daenerys Entertainment's total investment in various aspects of this project approached $5 million.
This was already equivalent to a quarter of the entire season's budget for 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'. It is conceivable that if the show failed, Daenerys Entertainment's 'lavish' investment would certainly become a laughingstock in the industry.
Nine o'clock.
On the TV screen, the scene switched, and with the host Regis Philbin's rapid-fire introduction, the show officially began.
Regis Philbin was the host of the original 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'. Before Daenerys Entertainment found him, Regis Philbin was working as a sports program host at a local TV station in New York.
Upon receiving the invitation from Daenerys Entertainment, realizing he could break into mainstream major network programming, Regis Philbin unhesitatingly resigned from his previous job and fully committed himself to the production of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'.
In the Raybould family's living room, as members of the elite class of society, the Raybould couple usually weren't very interested in TV programs due to their rich private social lives.
However, from the beginning of the show, the host's introduction, the lively atmosphere on set, and even details like the lighting and music, unconsciously drew them into a certain mood.
Especially Regis Philbin's special introduction of the $1 million ultimate grand prize, even the Raybould couple found it hard to remain calm.
Who wouldn't want to become a millionaire instantly by simply answering a series of questions?
Coincidentally, the first contestant to appear was a lawyer, around forty years old, in the prime of his life, with a very brilliant resume.
Regis Philbin didn't rush to start the Q&A, but skilfully chatted with the lawyer about his motivation and determination for participating in the show.
These seemingly unintentional details further enhanced the atmosphere on set.
When the Q&A officially began, the anticipation of both the on-site guests and the audience in front of the TV had reached its peak.
Ultimately, the success of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' was not in the answering of questions, but in the way the question-answering process engaged the audience's emotions.
Watching a single question potentially determine the ownership of a large sum of money that one might earn in a month, a year, or even a lifetime, the audience's attention was bound to be captivated.
This is also why the industry later generally regarded 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'" as a reality show rather than a traditional variety show.
Because the core of the show is the 'show' itself.
In front of the TV, seeing the lawyer on screen regrettably eliminated because of a mistake on a question about the Great Lakes, ultimately only taking home $8,000, the Raybould family couldn't help but feel a little disdain.
Americans are very familiar with the Great Lakes, or at least many people feel they are very familiar with them.
This is also a strategy.
During the process of creating the question bank, Simon specifically emphasized finding questions that were as relevant as possible to North American audiences, or at least made people feel a sense of familiarity.
After all, if the questions were too obscure, audiences would inevitably feel that the show was just trying to make things difficult, and the show would struggle to attract much popularity.
However, although these questions were very 'down-to-earth', it was by no means easy to answer them correctly.
This was even with contestants who had been pre-selected, because if the contestants who appeared on stage could only answer one or two questions, or even none at all, the show would suffer.
After the lawyer somewhat dejectedly left the stage, Regis Philbin quickly introduced another contestant.
This captivating competition unknowingly lasted for an hour.
The show did not deliberately pursue the completeness of the Q&A segment.
Due to time constraints, the first episode officially ended after the last contestant correctly answered five consecutive questions and accumulated a considerable prize.
Although the actual recording was complete, the subsequent episodes would continue tomorrow.
The pilot episodes for the next week would basically adopt this strategy of leaving a cliffhanger.
Because of their familiarity with Robert Iger, the Raybould family had some understanding of television networks, more or less.
When an hour-long TV show ended without them realizing it, the Raybould family had a premonition that this show would definitely be very successful.
How could a show that makes people completely unaware of the passage of an hour, and keeps them fully engrossed throughout, not be successful?
However, the Raybould family still did not anticipate how successful this show would be.
Due to his busy schedule in the past few days, Simon went to bed early last night and did not stay up to watch the show.
He had seen it too many times during the production phase, and his presence in front of the TV wouldn't significantly boost the show's ratings.
Simon woke up early the next morning.
He had to return to the West Coast today, planning to finalize the casting for 'Batman' in the last week of this month.
The previous surprise drug test had eliminated three more of the final ten candidates, and Simon was quite pleased by this result; he had half expected more than half of them to be eliminated.
Moreover, based on various information, he had basically confirmed his recent targets, and now only needed to conduct some additional auditions and confirm contract details.
ABC had previously informed Simon that the first day's viewership data would likely be communicated to him after business hours.
However, around 8:30 AM, just after Simon finished breakfast, the telephone in the living room rang.
Simon thought it was someone else, but when he went to the living room and picked up the phone, Robert Iger's clearly suppressed excited voice immediately came through: "Good morning, Simon".
"Morning, Bob", Simon stood by the phone, not beating around the bush, and asked with a smile, "How are the results?"
It wasn't even business hours yet, but Robert Iger was already at ABC Television Network's headquarters in Rockefeller Center in Midtown, and many other ABC executives, even ABC Chairman Tom Murphy, were gathered around him.
Although there was a time difference between the East and West Coasts, according to the long-standing experience results of sampling statistics by research institutions such as Nielsen, the relevant data would not show too much discrepancy from the actual viewership.
Turns out, the preliminary estimate for the first day's viewership of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' reached 13.65 million.