In the United States, after 17 months of anti-cancer treatment, at 5:20 a.m. on October 25, 2018, I will never lose my love...
--Li Yong's wife, Ha wen
In the audience's memory, Li Yong, who has curly hair, horse face and high-heeled black leather shoes, has always been the image spokesperson of CCTV variety shows. Li Yong's self-deprecating style, which is very personal, has made fun of countless young and old across the country.
And now, the Scythians are gone.
In fact, after 2016, the public has not heard the news of Li Yong for a long time, until the bad news of his death today broke. The last time Li Yong occupied the media page, it was in 2013 when he left CCTV to return to his alma mater to teach, and several other hosts who resigned set off a heated discussion on the "CCTV resignation gate".
When we look back on Li Yong's 20-year career as a host, there is only one sigh.
Ace host of commercial value first
In 1998, when tv variety shows were just starting out, CCTV's new variety show "Lucky 52" became a rival to the existence of "Happy Base Camp". Li Yong became a hit with his unique hosting style. In 2004, with the rise of Hunan TV's "Super Girl" and CCTV's "Dream China", Li Yong once again proved her strong skills in choreography and hosting.
Since 2006, Li Yong has won the first place in "China's Most Valuable Host" for four consecutive years with her hosting style of "warm", "humorous", "witty" and "witty", with a commercial value of up to 500 million, twice that of Cui Yongyuan, who is still active today.
Commercialization vs de-commercialization
However, as "Dream China" entered the final stage, the controversy also expanded. Li Yong, as the chief designer of the program, has been under tremendous pressure. On the eve of the final, the director of the program group, Zhou Zhishun, suddenly ran away, giving Li Yong a heavy blow.
"Dream China" is a civilian talent show, but because of its status as a national television station, it has to be labeled as a non-commercial ideal. The judges strive to be free from the interference of public opinion and objectively evaluate the performance of the contestants on the field. However, the audience was quite dissatisfied with the repeated elimination of the most popular players. In the end, Zhou Zhishun, director and event coordinator of "Dream China", believed that it deviated from the original intention of the civilian draft, resulting in the popular contestants almost completely destroyed, and angrily decided to leave the program group.
On the other hand, "Dream China" faces far greater controversy over the development of the winner than rival Super Girl. The first champion Wang Sisi spoke out, saying that he was abandoned by "Dream China" after the game, and the signing company also ignored it. Hunan TELEVISION is relatively more concerned about the further development and commercial development of Supergirls, and uses all resources to promote and create a large number of popular singers and stars.
In the end, the contestants did not make a smooth debut, and the audience remembered more of Li Yong's funny but inevitable out-of-line and harsh remarks in the show as the host. So many people pointed out that "Dream China" has only achieved one person, that is, Li Yong.
The institutional freak behind the personality host
Under the tide of commercialization is CCTV, which is intertwined with the contradiction between administrative and market operations.
On June 1, 2014, Guo Zhenxi, director of CCTV's second financial channel, producer Tian Liwu and a female host, were taken away, and Shi Yuzhu, CEO of Giant Group, immediately sent a Weibo to beat the falling water dog, causing a heated discussion for a while. Accused of using media resources for private gain, Guo Zhenxi was taken away behind the chaos of the entire CCTV administrative and market system intertwined.
A CCTV employee commented on the media about CCTV's personnel "earthquake":
"In my heart, CCTV is such a complex mixture, so many essences and so many scum, so many outstanding people and so many mixed people, so strong sense of innovation and such outdated communication methods, so strong media and so humble individuals..."
Li Yong, who has a maverick hosting style and relies on the resources of the CCTV system, is also trapped in it and is unable to extricate himself.
Sound is also a power
Before the growth of Li Yong and Zhu Jun's generation, the grand narrative represented by Zhao Zhongxiang and the family narrative embodied by Ni Ping were the mainstream style of CCTV, representing the core position of nationalism and collectivism in the cultural industry, and was a symbol of sound. Since 1998, Li Yong has injected a new wind of consumerism into CCTV through "Lucky 52", and his clothing, hairstyles and programs have also become entertainment consumer products for the public. What was even more successful was that Li Yong brought this performance style to the Spring Festival Gala stage, allowing the Spring Festival Gala host to transform from a symbol into a brand.
Since 2001, Li Yong has pressed many veteran hosts to win the "Program Host of the Year" award for three consecutive years.
In the Zhao and Ni era, the consumer culture of the Spring Festival Gala has always been hidden and has become the object of criticism, and since Li Yong, the commercial value of the Spring Festival Gala has expanded inexorably. Under the trend of the times, Li Yong used voice and performance to change the entertainment aesthetics of the Chinese people through the Spring Festival Gala.
After all, consumerism cannot change the system, and in the end the two can only be awkwardly merged together in the tide.
Ace hosts behind the scenes of pressure
As the most personal host of CCTV, Li Yong not only has a funny, big-mouthed hosting style but also has the strength to establish his own brand.
In 2008, Li Yong officially launched the tailor-made "Wing Lok Hui". This show combines the characteristics of "Lu Yu You" and "Kangxi Lai" and draws on the style of Japanese and Korean variety shows, trying to fully establish Li Yong's hosting brand. However, once the program was launched, there were mixed reviews, showing that the mainstream market represented by CCTV still had the problem of acceptance of such a program with the personal characteristics of the host. In the end, "Wing Lok Hui" was withdrawn less than two years ago.
Li Yong rose in the period of CCTV transformation, but went too far. He and his wife, Ha Wen, have enough resources in CCTV but they can't break the shackles of the system. Under the contradiction between this advanced hosting style and the creative environment, Li Yong had to withstand high-intensity physical and mental pressure. At that time, Li Yong and Cui Yongyuan often divided up the sleeping pills prepared in taili together.
"Comrade Xiao Cui does not need sleeping pills now, just use sedatives!" My sleeping pill dose is indeed very large, enough to make the average person reincarnate several times.
Li Yong said in an interview with the media.
Finally left CCTV but missed the heyday of variety shows
Failed to be selected as "CCTV Top Ten Hosts", the Spring Festival Gala Black Three Minutes, "Wing Lok Hui" stopped broadcasting, and Li Yong, who has a maverick hosting style, fell out of favor but is still active in the front line of CCTV.
In March 2013, Li Yong, who had just hosted the Spring Festival Gala, finally resigned and returned to her graduating alma mater to teach. The following year, CCTV broke out a major earthquake in which the upper level was investigated. Unfortunately, Li Yong left too late, because the high intensity of work under the system for many years had destroyed his health. Since then, although he has been active in local television stations and network programs, Li Yong has not appeared as a representative host.
In life, Li Yong's body does not look as energetic as in TV
For CCTV, Zhu Jun, Wang Xiaoya, Dong Qing, Nigmati, Sabine and other star hosts have their own characteristics, but none of them can truly achieve commercial brand achievements like Li Yong. The background behind this is that CCTV has gradually lost its former dominance in the outbreak of a round of variety show boom, and China's variety entertainment industry has entered the era of competing for deer.
Since 2014, Chinese mainland variety shows have begun to explode. Four years later, in this era of "SpitTing Conference" and "Strange Story" of the popular national variety show, Li Yong, who is known for his wit and humor, died of cancer after many years of fatigue, and finally missed the best period. Li Yong caught up with the first bus of the variety show but got off prematurely under the huge pressure of contradictions.
A person's career development depends not only on personal efforts, but also inseparable from the process of the times.
The dead rest in peace. (This article was first published on the WeChat public account: International MBA News, more exciting information, stay tuned.) ）