Chapter 143

[Searching for the One] had a very basic premise about a guy named Frank Russel, who was in his 30s, troubled by the fact that he wasn’t settled in his love life and doubted whether he ever would.

His insecurities were there because he always believed that he would earn a lot by the time he was in his 30s and would be married to his soulmate.

But nothing like that had happened.

So, the basic plot was all about him finding the right person for himself and his friends helping him in this quest.

Even though the basic premise seemed very simple, the execution was something that made the show stand out among the plethora of other shows.

When the show first aired, the characters instantly became fan favourites. The jokes were very good, and every gag made sense in the world that the writers had tried to create.

With every episode, more and more traits of the characters were revealed and by the end of the first season, the show was slowly becoming another giant hit from IBC.

But the second season of the show was what defined it as the ratings topped every other program running at the same time as [Searching for the One]. The nomination and eventual win in the Emmy awards were just icing on the top.

Several Hollywood magazines and critics started calling the show one of the top sitcoms of the 2010s. One critic from Vanity Magazine even wrote, “There are a lot of sitcoms that come around in this age, but only a few stayed and within those few good sitcoms, [Searching for the One] might be the best just because it refuses to become another sitcom with raunchy humour and choose to embrace pure love and gives it a lot of substance.”

This continued till the fourth season, but after that, fans and a lot of other people felt that the show was getting more and more repetitive. Even though a lot of episodes had gone by, the main character didn’t seem to have gotten close to what he calls ‘The right person’.

For him, it was just one break-up after another, and fans eventually got tired of it.

The girl who would eventually become his wife was originally supposed to be shown at the end of the fourth season, but that never happened as the show was extended to not end at the fifth season.

As the show was extended without any good planning, the character’s personalities eventually started going further away from what made them likeable and fun.

The writers were definitely at fault here, but it also happened because of the pressure from the channel and no big breaks given in between seasons. Exhaustion eventually made them do bad work.

Currently, in the seventh season, the show had truly lost its soul as characters seemed to be a caricature of what they used to be.

Originally, the seventh season ending was Frank having another breakup with Hazel, the girl he had a crush on since the first episode. Throughout the show, the relationship between them had been pretty on and off.

At first, viewers liked it, but soon, it was very evident that Hazel wasn’t the right person for Frank. From what Amelia told Aiden, they wanted them to break up and have a good friendship between them, but because of how the characters had lost their personality, it had all become very messy.

It was there that Aiden’s character, Alan Geller, came into play.

The character was written solely for the reason to make the characters realise the mistakes and wrong choices they had made, in an attempt for the main characters to have a reboot in their personality and go back to being what they were.

The sole purpose of Aiden’s character was that.

In the three episodes that he would feature in, which would also be the last three episodes of the seventh season, he would have an encounter with each of the four main characters.

The encounter was a clever way for the writers to get the show on the right track.

***

“It seems like they gave you a lot of good scenes. They look funny too. Are you sure your character isn’t going to become a mainstay later on?”

Jason Radnor, the actor who played the role of Frank Russel, looked at Aiden, who was sitting next to him. He was a veteran TV and theatre actor in his 40s who was also one of the highest paid in the TV industry.

“I’m not really interested in becoming a mainstay character. At least not currently.”

Aiden replied, and an actress named Elison Harrington, who played Hazel, added.

She was a British actress who was very well liked around the set.

“So, are you the type of guy who wants to be a big movie actor?”

“No, it’s not that,” Aiden said. “I’m just wary of playing a character for a long period of time. It has nothing to do with the TV or movie industry. It’s more like I want to keep growing by challenging myself to play different roles.”

“Ah, you know, I was like you when I first started in theatre.” Jason said, smiling to himself. “Wanting to hone the craft and become a great character whose filmography is filled with different roles. You know what happened next?”

“What?”

“I learned that stability is a very good thing, especially in this world. For me, movies are like 5-6 months contracts. You do one and go to another. If they fail, you might not get your next role. It’s like you are a freelancer, but TV at least is more stable. TV series are started keeping in mind whether they will go for next season or not. Of course, audience response is essential, but if it does take off, it’s a gig for 8-9 years. When you get out of it, you have enough money to not care whether you’re gonna get your next role or not.”

When Jason talked about his experience, Aiden couldn’t help but agree with him. Elison, who was listening to their conversation, also nodded her head.

The movie business was way riskier, and Aiden understood that breaking into the TV industry might give him a great amount of stability. Two or three years ago, he might even have tried to get a long role in a TV series.

But there was another reason why he was so wary of doing the same role for a long time.

It was because of his system.

Aiden had noticed that playing different roles was the only way to increase his acting skills faster. If he got stuck in one role for a long time, his affinity with that character might increase a lot, but he didn’t know if it would make him level up faster.

‘Portraying different types of characters is important if I want to increase my acting skill level.’

He thought in his mind.

“I understand that. Stability is something I like to do, but currently, I just want to see if I can stretch my talent.”

Aiden replied to Frank, to which he laughed.

“I understand that, kid. Every actor thinks of doing that, but only a few are able to do it.”

“Then, I could just hope I become one of the few who achieved it.”

***

[Searching for the One|August 15-2016|Act 8|Scene 4|Take 1]

The scene was of a bar. People were drinking in groups, and every table was occupied. In front of the bar counter, a pretty girl was silently drinking alone.

She gave the impression that she was waiting for someone. From time to time, a guy would approach her, but he would be turned down.

Two men were looking at her from a table.

“Don’t look at her too much. It’s creepy. Just look from the corner of your eyes. How’s she for a target?”

“She’s pretty, but how are you even going to talk to her? She’s refusing every guy who’s approaching her.”

Frank asked, glancing between the girl and Alan.

“Frank, my friend, you underestimate me. There’re a lot of ways to get every type of girl. But first, you need to know which type of a girl you are going for.”

Alan said and stared at the girl with peering eyes like he was trying to sense something about her. Seeing his weird behaviour, Frank frowned.

“You told me not to stare creepily. Now you are doing the same.”

“I’m not staring creepily. I’m trying to sense what type of a girl she is.”

Alan said, thinking to himself that it would take a long time before Frank would get used to his methods.

“How does that even work?”

“I don’t know about you, but it works for me because I’m awesome. My senses follow that.” Alan smirked and then tapped the table. “Anyway, she’s the wannabe Skygram model type. One of the easier ones.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I can. See her mannerism. Every five minutes, she clicks a photo and checks her phone. I’m guessing it’s not because she’s looking for a text. She’s just checking if her likes have increased. Anyway, getting these types is simple.”

When Alan said that with utmost confidence, Frank couldn’t help but have too many questions in his mind, but he asked the one that he wanted to know the answer to the most.

“Okay, I don’t believe you. So, prove it. Tell me and show me how the hell are you going to get that girl?”

“It’s very simple, my friend. I will show you.”

…

//DreamNote//

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