The Legendary Actor - Chapter 48

“HBO is spending $223 million on “The Pacific” and it’s about to debut! ”

“After nine years since “Band of Brothers”, “The Pacific” has once again taken the war genre by storm!”

“Hanks and Spielberg reunite for a brutal tale of war.”

“Three years in the making, “The Pacific” is finally about to make its official debut.”

“After the surprising classic, “The Pacific” carries the ambition of HBO to break new grounds.”

“”Full of Confidence”, a declaration from Steven Spielberg.”

…

The next day after the premiere, the news about “The Pacific” spread everywhere. Considering HBO plus Tom and Steven’s signatures, not to mention the “Band of Brothers”, “The Pacific” has been in the limelight since its inception, going through the twists and turns of the adaptation script, the controversy of funding preparation in the middle stage, the difficulties in setting up the cast in the later stage, and after more than three years of preparation, now the TV series is finally going to debut, and it’s no exaggeration to say that the anticipation has broken through the roof.

The premiere last night was a great success making people eagerly wait the show.

“With inexperienced newcomers in the lead roles, will “The Pacific” be able to recreate the feat of “Band of Brothers”?”

“Renly Hall: the rookie who appears like a comet in the cast.”

“Tom Hanks: Renly is the core character in the entire series.”

…

In comparison, the amount of attention focused on Renly is really limited. In order to show the authenticity and balance of the cast, “The Pacific” did not use any big names, so almost all the actors were unfamiliar faces.

Moreover, “The Pacific” is a group drama and a TV series, and even though Tom and Steven have teamed up to produce it, the focus of attention is not bound to remain on the actors.

Even Damien Lewis of “Band of Brothers” did not generate much discussion back then. In fact, after the airing of “Band of Brothers” none of the actors had an immediate hit, because the success of the series was due to the series as a whole, not the individuals.

This time, at least a few other media outlets mentioned Renly’s name individually, in a saber-rattling attempt to get the audience’s attention with a different perspective, which was the benefit of Renly’s stunning performance at the premiere.

Undoubtedly, all major media outlets gave space to “The Pacific” on their important pages. The North American film market was already a bit depressed in the spring, but now that there was finally a blockbuster on the scene, people were not willing to let it go easily.

On IMDB, the world’s largest online database of movies, actors, and TV shows, “The Pacific” has already become a hot topic before it even started airing, and it has set off a wave of discussions. Since the episodes have not yet been broadcast, IMDB has not opened up the rating system or the review section, but only updated the official HBO trailer and detailed filming information.

However, this has not stopped the netizens’ enthusiasm. On the list of the most anticipated works, “The Pacific” has soared to the third place, just behind this summer’s hit “Toy Story 3” and “Inception”, leaving “Iron Man 2”, “Twilight 3”, “Shrek 4” and other works behind, showing an unimaginable appeal.

Just as “The Shawshank Redemption” has dominated the IMDB Best 250 movie list for more than a decade, the IMDB Best 250 tv show list has been dominated by “Band of Brothers” for several years as well; even more unbelievably, “The Shawshank Redemption” dominates with a score of 9.2, but “Band of Brothers” with more than 240,000 people rating it, has been the most highly rated show of all time.

The score is as high as 9.5, which is definitely a miracle, and this shows the status of “Band of Brothers” as a divine drama in the minds of the audience.

Now, the “Band of Brothers” sister series “The Pacific” is about to be released, and the audience’s anticipation has been completely crazy.

Not only on IMDB but also on Yahoo community boards, the discussion about “The Pacific” has already broken through the charts.

In the years since the end of “Band of Brothers” only “Friends” has been able to match the success of the former, as well as the finale of “Lost” and “Prison Break”.

What’s even more interesting is that “The Pacific” was broadcast on HBO, a cable network – in other words, a premium channel – that not every household in the United States could subscribe to. At cable network stations, ratings and viewership are not their concern; professional reviews and subscriber feedback are their core competencies. Now, however, “The Pacific” has exploded among viewers with an incredible downpour of enthusiasm.

This is truly a spectacle.

With much anticipation, on the night of March 21, “The Pacific” finally went on the air!

William Taylor, an avid “Band of Brothers” fan, started counting down the days two weeks ago and set aside this Friday a week ago without any other plans, and even his parents knew about his “special plans” for the evening – he’s only eighteen years old and won’t be entering college until September.

“Billy, Billy.” Panting, a voice rushed in from the outside, and Graham Hughes practically burst open the door of the room with a greeting on his lips, “Mrs. Taylor, Mr. Taylor, good evening.”

But William paid no heed to the squeak of the door and instead gave a quick wave with his hand, “Turn off the light at the door, there are three minutes to go.” Even his voice was deliberately low, as if he were in a movie theater, for fear of disturbing the rest of the audience.

Graham didn’t have time to wipe off his sweat as he sat down next to William, then took the popcorn and coke out of his backpack one by one and turned to look at William, both of them with similar in their eyes. They adjusted their sitting position on the couch, cradling the popcorn in their arms and looking at the TV screen.

The commercials were playing, but the two of them were staring at the screen as if they were watching the most exciting movie in the world.

William’s mother walked over to the door, looked at the two boy’s faces and shook her head with a smile.

“Mom/Mrs. Taylor!” William and Graham shouted in unison, answered by the understanding motion of closing the door to their room, and the two men once again looked in unison at the television screen.

“It’s on!” William’s voice actually trembled, while Graham held his breath and his pupils seemed to dilate.

Not only the Taylors, but at this very moment, on this Friday night, on this very night of revelry countless families all over the United States have chosen to stay home, not because they are too old to be part of the evening life, not because they are too tired from work to go out, but simply to watch “the Pacific”!

In addition, some people choose to go to a friend’s house with HBO subscription, while bringing a dozen beers, inviting a group of friends, and gather like a party to enjoy the special night, while others go directly to a bar in order to turn on the bar’s HBO channel, hoping to find like-minded strangers to watch it as if they were watching the World Cup.

The spectacle was played out all over the North American continent.

According to statistics, this night’s premiere of “The Pacific” set a two-year high in both viewership and subscription, easily breaking the record achieved by “Band of Brothers” that year.

Although the HBO-led networks don’t care about ratings, they do care about overall subscriber satisfaction and about the portion of the audience that pays the money, but the ratings record is still impressive.

The ratings of U.S. TV series are divided into two figures, Viewership and Ratings, both of which are professionally interpreted and defined. Simply, the former represents how many people in the U.S. have watched the series, and the latter represents what percentage of the viewing population is between the ages of 18 and 49. It is widely considered to be a standard.

Previously, HBO’s viewership record was held by the 2007 finale of the classic series “The Sopranos” with 7.1 million viewers and a mind-boggling 11.9 rating. In a simple cross-reference, a cable series that relies on ratings to make a living has a rating of more than three, and a rating of more than five is unbelievably rare.

Now, with 5.9 million viewers and an amazing 4.6 rating, “The Pacific” was the top-rated show on the network that night. It became the best-performing HBO series in two years after the “Sopranos” finale that swept the nation!

It’s worth noting that “The Pacific” was a miniseries, and the real money in such a series would come from DVD sales, video-on-demand, and awards competition at award shows. But now, the miniseries is going gangbusters right out of the gate, and even HBO, which is definitely not lacking in money, is ecstatic.

All signs were pointing to a good start for “The Pacific”, and a continuation of the success of “Band of Brothers” seemed within reach.

The screening of the first episode was over very quickly, less than an hour long, and one could not feel the sense of time during it. Watching the credits on the TV screen slide upward, there was William’s strange expression, and Graham’s puzzled look. William frowned and said in disbelief, “… …why do I feel that … something is missing.”