It had to be said, Kyle's guess was spot on.
Yesterday, the most watched show was still the fifth season of the classic American sitcom "Friends."
However, "Prison Break" also proved to be extremely popular immediately after its broadcast.
According to reports from professional viewership statistics companies, "Prison Break" garnered 15 million viewers on its premiere day, which was 1 million more than the WB Television Network's own statistics.
Its viewership was second only to the 26 million viewers of "Friends" Season 5, Episode 9, which ranked first.
The difference between the two was 11 million viewers.
It seemed like a big difference, but it's important to remember that "Prison Break" had just premiered!
In contrast, "Friends" was already in its fifth season, a household name and a flagship series, and it was broadcast on a television giant like NBC.
The nascent WB Television Network naturally couldn't compare!
Therefore, when the premiere viewership of "Prison Break" was reported by the media, it naturally attracted a lot of attention from both audiences and the industry.
The entertainment section of "The New York Times" was the first to report.
"A spine-chilling TV series!"
This was the headline of "The New York Times" entertainment section that day, serving as the title for its review of the "Prison Break" TV series.
"The male protagonist, Michael Scofield, entered prison to rescue his brother from escaping, but why was he so certain that his brother was framed?"
"This is undoubtedly a TV series involving justice and family affection!"
"The various prisoners appearing in the first episode each have their own stories."
"Although only one episode of the show has aired, we can boldly predict that the upcoming content will definitely contain a large number of political satire plots, exposing many social injustices."
"In whose hands does the law truly lie?"
"Is it in the hands of reason, fairness, impartiality, and justice?"
"Let's wait and see!"
...
"The world of prisoners, should we ignore it?"
This was the headline article provided by "The Boston Herald."
It also held the top spot.
The article stated: "This is not the first film/TV series to deal with the theme of prisons and prisoners, but 'Prison Break,' having only aired one episode, has left us with an extremely deep impression."
"Why is that?"
"A high-budget, high-quality, premium TV series, it is one of the most important leaps in American television history!"
"The 15 million viewers on its premiere day are enough to prove that high-budget TV series are the mainstream direction for the future, or at least a direction that cannot be ignored."
"The show depicts one prisoner after another in prison, especially those sentenced to hundreds of years or even life imprisonment, making us wonder if they are truly beyond redemption? Or are they truly guilty of breaking the law?"
"The male protagonist's perspective tells us that someone among them must have been wrongly accused!"
"This is definitely a loophole and a disgrace in the justice system, and even a deliberate manipulation of laws that should be fair and just!"
...
"Los Angeles Entertainment," "California Comprehensive Morning Post," "TER Entertainment Weekly"...
Early that morning, as many as 45 media outlets across the United States reported professionally on "Prison Break"; as many as 62 film critics also gave targeted reviews, either positive or negative.
Below the official website of WB Television, comments about "Prison Break" reached as high as 78,000 within less than 12 hours.
Having aired only one episode, the influence of "Prison Break" was already quite formidable.
An executive at NBC Television even exclaimed, "WB Television Network is about to rise!"
A representative from ABC Television stated: "WB Television Network is a subsidiary of Golden Dawn Television Group, and Golden Dawn Television Group, along with Page Pictures, are both subsidiaries of Golden Dawn Entertainment Group.
As everyone knows, since its establishment, Page Pictures has already released multiple best-selling works, so we are not at all surprised that WB Television Network can launch a high-quality TV series like 'Prison Break.'
Of course, we are still very surprised."
Executives from CBS, TNT, FOX, HBO, and other television stations also received interviews from various media reporters that day, mainly discussing their views on "Prison Break."
Undoubtedly, the influence of "Prison Break" was spreading.
However, this was just the beginning.
A few days later.
Episode 2 of "Prison Break Season 1" aired.
Viewership reached a new high of 17.5 million, an increase of 2.5 million viewers.
After Episode 3 aired, viewership reached 21 million.
20 million viewers is the most important indicator in the American television industry for evaluating whether a film or television series is a flagship series.
Undoubtedly, "Prison Break" achieved this.
And it only took 3 episodes!
Fellow professionals in the American television industry went from surprise to shock!
A flagship series is no small fry; it represents the comprehensive strength of a television station, and it represents profit and money.
In just over 2 weeks, WB Television Network's advertising revenue increased by 330% month-on-month, reporting 8 million US dollars.
ABC Television's market analysis department provided a rough estimate.
"50 million!"
"Just from advertising revenue, 'Prison Break' can generate 50 million for WB Television.
If we add the revenue from the later videotape and DVD markets, then it will create a total revenue of 100 million US dollars for WB Television."
"This is still the revenue from broadcasting on the WB Television Network platform.
If it were on a large platform like our ABC, the annual income would conservatively be over 150 million US dollars."
While shocked, the major television stations in the television industry were more envious, jealous, and resentful.
The revenue from a flagship TV series is just that profitable!
In the future, "Game of Thrones," produced and broadcast by HBO, generated 3.58 billion US dollars in revenue for HBO from just its first five seasons.
The huge profits from TV series, with the development of the times, are not much different from the revenue of Hollywood movies...
December 27, 1998.
Just a few days after Christmas, Kyle was interviewed by "California Entertainment News."
Reporter Alena: "Mr. Page, did you anticipate that 'Prison Break' would become so popular today?"
"Of course!"
Kyle sat on the sofa and said without hesitation, "I personally wrote the script for 'Prison Break.'
After completing the script, I had this judgment, after all, we invested heavily unprecedentedly, which is extremely rare in the history of American television."
"To put it bluntly, we at Golden Dawn are one of the pioneers of high-budget, high-quality, premium TV series!"
Kyle shamelessly claimed this title!
This would play many key roles in the future development of the television group.
At the end of the interview, Kyle said mysteriously, "You might want to pay more attention to UPN Television Network, after all, on January 1st, UPN Television will launch 'The Walking Dead,' an excellent series."
The Walking Dead?
"Uh?" Reporter Alena was stunned for a few seconds.