[Chapter 374: ER Premieres]
On the evening of April 26th at 9 PM, the highly-anticipated pilot episode of ER officially premiered during prime time.
Thanks to a full week of promotion across various channels and shows on the UPN TV Network, viewers were already intrigued by the intense 30-second teaser showcasing high-stakes medical rescue scenes.
When the episode finally aired, a ton of people tuned in immediately. The show was incredibly gripping, portraying the daily lives of doctors and nurses in an emergency room -- a setting everyone could relate to. The plot offered an authentic look into the fast-paced, tense moments of medical treatment.
Once hooked, viewers just couldn't stop watching. The heartfelt stories kept their eyes glued to the screen.
The next morning at work, CEO Chris hadn't even finished his coffee when Steve, the head of the program promotion department, burst into his office excitedly.
"What is it? Why the rush?" Chris asked, half-awake.
"Last night's ER scored fantastic ratings."
"We averaged 3.2%, peaking at 3.5%." Steve handed over the detailed ratings report.
"The show started at 2.9% and steadily climbed until it hit 3.5% -- guess the audience really loves it. Once they start watching, they don't want to change the channel. That explains why the ratings keep going up." Chris's excitement grew as he examined the report.
"Exactly. We think the same. No need to wait for tonight's second episode trial results -- we can already tell it's a hit. Go ahead and tell Grace to start filming the rest of the episodes immediately."
"Got it, I'll set up a meeting with everyone in 10 minutes."
Right after Steve left, Chris called Linton to update him on the pilot's success. He advised that the show had huge blockbuster potential and recommended kicking off production without delay.
Linton, of course, was confident this show would be a major hit and agreed with Chris's judgment.
Soon after, the ER team received the pilot's ratings. Grace, UPN's program production head and primary producer for the series, went straight to the set and announced that all 25 episodes of the first season were greenlit for production.
The crew erupted in cheers -- it meant their jobs were secure.
The six main cast members beamed with excitement; finally, they had a real shot at becoming household names across America.
Producer and writer Michael Crichton was especially thrilled. This success meant he would be earning millions of dollars from this series.
Amid the celebration, filming officially kicked off.
But the surprises didn't end there.
Starting at 10 AM, UPN's service phone lines began ringing nonstop as viewers flooded in with requests to rebroadcast the pilot from the previous night.
Some had missed the beginning, while others simply wanted to binge the episode again.
Such a fan frenzy was unprecedented in UPN's history -- this was clearly a blockbuster hit. Thɪs chapter is updated by novelFirｅ.net
Of course, the program promotion department had to respond. Since the afternoon lineup wasn't particularly strong and ratings were typically low, they quickly canceled the 3 PM show and replaced it with a rerun of ER's first episode, broadcasting the change across all channels.
What happened next stunned everyone.
By 8 PM, the latest ratings for the afternoon rebroadcast came in -- it managed to pull a 0.6% rating.
To put that in perspective, UPN's evening dramas had rarely reached 0.8% before, and typical mid-afternoon shows hovered below 0.1%.
That night at 9 PM, the second episode aired, shattering records with a phenomenal 4.8% rating.
Even the afternoon replay the next day kept strong at 0.65%.
No doubt about it -- ER was a major hit, and UPN had struck gold.
Buoyed by the first two episodes' success, the network immediately began securing advertising deals for the rest of the season.
There were 25 episodes in total, and with two already aired, 23 remained. UPN scheduled new episodes every Monday night at 9, with reruns Friday afternoons at 3 PM and again Saturday mornings at 10 AM.
With this lineup, the series would run through mid-November.
While viewers might grumble about the frequent reruns, advertisers were over the moon.
After fierce bidding, the network sold $230 million worth of ad slots for the 23 episodes -- each running about 45 minutes with 30-second opening and closing credits, plus five commercial breaks of 30 seconds each, totaling 3.5 minutes of advertising slots per episode.
Even after sharing revenue with affiliate stations, UPN's earnings topped $115 million.
This made clear how lucrative a hit drama could be. In fact, much of the profit would also come from home video rentals and sales after the season ended, making it just as financially powerful as variety shows.
UPN had scored a huge comeback. After boosting its profile with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, the network finally had a flagship drama series.
Back in early April, Sky Digital had already delivered the completed 13 episodes of Teletubbies' first season to UPN. Each episode ran 20 minutes.
Sky Digital then focused all their energy on special effects for Mission: Impossible, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and The Sixth Sense -- three films with relatively manageable effects, perfect for their technical training.
UPN proudly scheduled Teletubbies for broadcast every Tuesday at 5:30 PM with a rerun Wednesday at 10 AM. Kids and parents loved it, and it pulled solid ratings.
Of course, Teletubbies' numbers didn't compare to Millionaire or ER, given its preschool audience, but it still pulled in over $13 million in advertising revenue.
More importantly, the real cash flow for such shows came from merchandising. As the animated series kept kids hooked, toy sales and related products would flow in, generating profits beyond what most dramas could dream of.
In just over six months, variety shows, animation, and dramas all surged forward, and the number of participating affiliate stations steadily increased. UPN's national reach now neared 95% of the US audience.
The network had undergone a transformation so significant that CEO Chris publicly declared their ambition to become North America's fifth-largest TV network.
The only lingering weakness was the news division. Improving news programming quality wasn't a quick fix.
Due to news' timely nature, catching up to the big four networks required massive resource investments: setting up more news bureaus nationwide and globally to report breaking stories instantly and captivating viewers.
It also meant purchasing more advanced equipment -- like when the X Research Lab explosion happened last time, the big four networks' helicopters were first on the scene, broadcasting live updates to audiences.
But with UPN's growing budget, these upgrades had already begun. Staffing, station setup, and equipment modernization were all underway.
Soon, May arrived -- the perfect season for planting trees and grass in Montana.
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