1994? 1998? Or 1999?
Although different people have different opinions, the official data tells us that 1998 Spring Festival Gala became the highest-rated Spring Festival Gala in the 1990s with a comprehensive rating of 6 1.8%.
I have several impressions of this Spring Festival Gala in my memory: the stage is gorgeous, there are many songs and singers, and Andy Lau sang in chorus. The sketch crosstalk seems quite ordinary, and the song "Meet 1998".
1998 Spring Festival Gala was held for the first time in the newly-built CCTV No.1 studio.
From the present point of view, there is no doubt that the CCTV No.1 studio hall is a little old and small, but in 1998, it is a leap in the venue, and many cast members are a little overwhelmed as soon as they enter the hall. In Zhao Benshan's words, I used to say it was OK in the sketch, but now I have to shout.
Although the expansion of the venue and stage makes the actors and hosts somewhat uncomfortable, for the audience, the whole stage is more spectacular and has an atmospheric CCTV style.
1998 The general director of the Spring Festival Gala is Meng Xin, a northeast woman with short stature and low face value. This is the first time to be a director of the Spring Festival Gala. She once admitted that as long as she is a TV director of literary programs, not doing the Spring Festival Evening is like missing the peak of her career, so she is determined to win this year's Spring Festival Evening and is full of confidence.
Meng Xin's confidence comes from her rich TV experience and party experience, and she also has her own "direct troops".
Meng Xin was the first to broadcast on two CCTV columns before the Spring Festival Evening of 1998, one was East, West, North and South, and the other was China MTV. Through these two columns, she has developed her own style and team.
For example, in the host team of the Spring Festival Evening, in addition to Zhao Zhongxiang and Ni Ping, the other four are Zhu Jun, Zhou Tao, Wang Xuechun and Yaning, among which Zhu Jun and Yaning have served as hosts under Meng's novice, which is regarded as her old team.
Interestingly, in the opening stage of the Spring Festival Gala, the four hosts also adopted the opening style of "East, West, North and South". Everyone stands in one direction of the hall, representing four directions respectively.
Meng Xin's greatest influence on 1998 Spring Festival Gala is many songs. Now when it comes to the Spring Festival Evening of 1998, people will think of songs and singers one after another, so the Spring Festival Evening of 1998 is also called "the feast of good songs".
For such a Spring Festival Gala, which is famous for its songs, director Meng Xin once admitted that she was very pleased and even a little proud. After all, this is her best field and her favorite style.
We can even see the appearance of Meng Xin's ace program "The Same Song" from the Spring Festival Evening of 1998, with Meng Xin taking the title, hosted by Yaning, and good songs and singers emerging one after another. We can even regard the Spring Festival Evening of 1998 as a preview of the same song.
Of course, too many songs and too many singers are not all advantages. Many songs are too simple and casual. For example, Huo Feng's "Big Sedan" is a very distinctive song. Due to various factors, Huo Feng can only sing a song in a short time.
For example, there are some problems in the combination of singers and songs. Many singers can't sing their masterpieces alone, and every song must be joined by other singers.
The most magical thing is Gao Feng. He and Jiang Tao sang Jiang Tao's masterpiece "A Mountain with a Foolish Man", while his own masterpiece "Big China" was sung by Andy Lau, Mao Ning and Jeff Chang Shin-Che Xinche.
The "dislocation" between Peak and "Greater China" is probably the most criticized place in this Spring Festival Evening, but even if Peak is unhappy, Andy Lau is not happy. With his coffee table, he can't sing his own songs, he can only sing with others. It was unimaginable, but Andy Lau sang it anyway.
The reason is that director Meng Xin set a theme for the Spring Festival Evening of 1998, that is, to welcome the return of Hong Kong. The content of Hong Kong's return in the evening is an important element, so he persuaded Liu Tianwang with the significance of singing "Greater China" by singers from three places.
But if the songs of 1998 Spring Festival Gala are only in quantity but not in quality, they will not leave such a deep impression on everyone. How can a party be successful? Having iconic procedures is one of the important considerations.
Looking back on the Spring Festival Gala for decades, director Meng Xin is the most successful person in establishing the iconic program of the Spring Festival Gala, and there is no one.
There is a simple reason. Avalokitesvara with a thousand hands is beautiful and magnificent. Many people can't tell which Spring Festival Gala it is right away, but 1998 Spring Festival Gala can, because the iconic program of this Spring Festival Gala is called Meet 1998.
1998 The creation of the song "Meeting" is the most important thing for director Meng Xin. The lyrics alone have been changed by more than 20 drafts. There have been many customized songs in previous Spring Festival Galas, but few people have worked hard at this meeting in Song Like in 1998.
In determining the singer, director Meng Xin also made great efforts. She must be a diva in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China. Na Ying from the mainland is of course fine, while Faye Wong, who represents Hong Kong and Taiwan (although Faye Wong is a Beijinger, he became famous in Hong Kong and Taiwan), is not to be offended.
Faye Wong is a very maverick artist. Whether it's asking her to sing a new song or customizing it for the party and sharing it with others, it seems hard for her to accept. In order to convince Faye Wong, director Meng Xin made great efforts, and of course the result was good.
However, I still want to make it clear. Director Meng Xin once said that Faye Wong's makeup was the most popular in Hong Kong at that time. Is it true?/You don't say. Is Nezha Toujia Blush a popular style of 1998? Well, interlacing is like a mountain, and the taste of fashion is hard for ordinary people to get.
Faye Wong and Na Ying have different voices, so their rehearsal is quite difficult. Fortunately, everyone is very professional and dedicated, and the final result is enough to explain everything.
Even if the songs and singers have been decided, Meeting 1998 is not so smooth. CCTV has always been opposed to this song. One of the reasons is that I spent so much effort to write a song "Meet 1998", so I wouldn't sing it at 1999. Does it make sense?
Director Meng Xin's rebuttal is very powerful: "Isn't Tayu Lo's love song 1990 still being sung?"
A few days before the Spring Festival Gala, another moth appeared, and Meet 1998 was suddenly won. This time, Meng Xin doesn't have to direct. Na Ying directly called Yang Weiguang, director of CCTV. With the intervention of Yang Weiguang, the song finally passed the test.
On the stage design, director Meng Xin is also very thoughtful. She abandoned the big red color commonly used in the Spring Festival Evening, turned the background of Meet 1998 into blue, abandoned the large-scale dancers, and only used two hazy dancers as the background. The whole stage is blue, and blue represents dreams. Let's imagine with the beautiful melody of 1998+0998' s Meet.
The author even speculated that before "Meet 1998" came to power, a series of hasty duets seemed to pave the way for "Meet 1998", which made the audience calm down in a lively and noisy atmosphere.
Finally, the effect of Meet 1998 is perfect!
People's energy is always limited. When songs become the main program of 1998 Spring Festival Evening, another highlight of the Spring Festival Evening-language programs are naturally embarrassing.
There are many language programs in 1998, but the quality is not wonderful, and only two of them can be said to be quite good.
Niu Niu Feng Gong's "Sit Enjoy" has a good live broadcast effect, but its concept is similar to "Sit Enjoy". It pleases the audience by turning around and slapping frequently. It can only be said that some of their creativity has dried up after ten years of prosperity. After the Spring Festival Gala, Ma Ji also criticized their crosstalk, including the practice of pulling rickshaws onto the stage.
Zhao Benshan, Fan Wei and Gao Xiumin made their debut in the Spring Festival Evening. It should be said that this sketch belongs to the excellent works of Zhao Benshan series, with high conception and good structure. Although it is not as funny as the "Trick Trilogy", the overall artistic level is above it.
Zhao Gong Hanlin Group and Song Dandan Group obviously feel a little weak. Teacher Zhao is in poor health and is too old to cope with the high-intensity and high-pressure rehearsal of the Spring Festival Evening.
Guo Da and Cai Ming simply went to sing, which is also a helpless choice under the background of 1998 Spring Festival Evening.
If the above language programs are still running normally, but they can't compete with the brilliance of Meet 1998, then the following two language programs have become unlucky in the Spring Festival Evening of 1998.
Shi and Sun Chen's cross talk "You at the Same Table" was originally named "Old Classmate". This cross talk takes about 16 minutes and 30 seconds to complete, and their performance order is the seventh from the bottom before the stroke of zero.
However, on the day of the performance, due to the serious overtime of the previous program, it is definitely necessary to temporarily cancel a program before it can be carried out normally, which is very cruel to any actor.
In this case, the director group focused on Shi and Sun Chen. Their idea is that crosstalk is a language program after all, not as compact as songs, so the time can be appropriately compressed. Shi asked, how much time does it take to compress? How long can I play?
The answer given by the director group is 6 minutes and 20 seconds, which means that it is not only difficult for Shi and Sun Chen to take off the cross talk of 16 minutes and 30 seconds in exchange for 10 minutes, but also obviously unfair to them.
But Shi still agreed, so he had a short cross talk with Sun Chen, and finished the final burden in the countdown of the director group for a few seconds, which was commendable.
Such a sacrifice is great for Shi and Sun Chen. Many viewers don't even remember that they actually have a Spring Festival Gala program, but Shi said that saving the scene is like putting out a fire, which is the professional ethics of an artist.
Although the sacrifices of Shi and Sun Chen are passive, there is still room for discussion. Peisi Chen Zhu Shimao, who participated in the Spring Festival Gala for the last time, is faced with a problem, and there is nothing she can do.
The Prince and the Postman is a popular play by Peisi Chen in 199 1, and its originality comes from Yan Su's Cosmic Game. However, Peisi Chen was always dissatisfied with the adaptation, which led to the revision of this book, and finally it took six or seven years to attend the Spring Festival Gala.
Practically speaking, the author thinks that the Prince and the Postman has a problem compared with the previous works of Peisi Chen and Zhu Shimao, that is, it is difficult for the audience to sing with lifeless sketches.
This is also the result of Peisi Chen's hope for innovation and breakthrough. He always doesn't want to stay in the comfort zone, so we can see that in the 1990s, he made many innovations in sketching, such as outdoor sketching like Catch Up. He also likes to play high technology, engage in video interaction and the Internet. This kind of innovation and breakthrough in one's own spirit is commendable.
In the final creation of The Prince and the Postman, Peisi Chen made some changes according to the situation of CCTV. For example, the bridge running around the studio was tailor-made for this year's Spring Festival Evening. He also proposed some high-tech means to assist the performance, but unfortunately it was not recognized by CCTV.
Perhaps there was a communication problem in some aspects, which eventually led to many situations in the performance of the sketch "The Prince and the Postman", and people had to suspect that Peisi Chen Zhu Shimao might have been cheated.
Zhu Shimao's microphone failed in the performance. Judging from the TV effect, Zhu Shimao's voice became smaller in the second half of the sketch, but in fact he was shouting, because his microphone had no sound, so he had to raise the volume to "rub" Peisi Chen's microphone, which led to some distortion in his performance.
At the scene, the sound effect suddenly disappeared at two critical moments, one was Peisi Chen's starting gun before running, and the other was the effect sound of the whole audience cheering after he won the championship. There was no problem in the rehearsal of these two designed links, but something happened during the live broadcast, which could not but arouse the dissatisfaction of Zhu Shimao, Peisi Chen. So the two of them went to court with CCTV in the second year, which also showed one thing. Rome was not built in a day.
Although the scene is frequent, "The Prince and the Postman" won the first prize in the sketch category, and it must be said that the audience's eyes are still sharp. Only this sketch became the swan song of Peisi Chen and Zhu Shimao in CCTV Spring Festival Evening. Later, director Ha Wen invited Peisi Chen Zhu Shimao twice during the Spring Festival Gala, but both declined. The withdrawal of this golden combination also made Zhao Benshan the king of 1999 Spring Festival Evening skits.
Even though language programs failed to become the main force of the Spring Festival Evening, the Spring Festival Evening of 1998 was a success, because this Spring Festival Evening has distinctive features and wonderful programs, and its masterpieces are enough to carry the tripod. Unfortunately, in the next three years, director Meng Xin failed to bid for CCTV Spring Festival Gala for three consecutive times.
However, not long after Meng Xin's masterpiece "The Same Song" was launched, we can find the shadow of 1998 Spring Festival Evening through this popular column.