Chapter 390: The Fourth
The Fifth.
An amendment.
Pertaining to the privilege and protection against self-incrimination.
Sometimes confused with the right to remain silent but they actually happen to be quite rooted to each other.
The Miranda Rights, The Miranda Warnings, and Ernesto Miranda. Boiling down to the Fifth Amendment, in a Supreme Court case called Miranda v. Arizona.
It's quite the tale... and quite the move on Alexander's part. Emulating it into a so-so case called Milla v. Alexander.
With the legalities of pleading the Fifth... he should be safe, right?
Unfortunately, none of those fancy specifics really mattered.
Judge, Jury, and Executioner Milla wasn't having it.
Anyways, all he could do was just answered Milla's question as honestly as he could...
Explained what really happened...
And smoothed it out...
By the end of it, Alexander the boyfriend was spared... and everything was more or less settled.
It's not as exactly easy as coaxing that being girlfriend #1 is better than girlfriend #2... but then again... it sort of worked...
Suffice to say, it was a bumpy and tumultuous rest of the month.
With all that had happened this September, the madam-mistress scenario with quite the drama...
Yeah... no... it's not as if that was what really happened.
What really happened... well... a lot had happened...
All that Alexander can attest to is that throughout all of it... the Fifth was no reliable option at all.
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With all that discovered.... maybe he'll have better luck when it came to the Fourth.
Scratch that.
Because Alexander found that he really has better luck with the Fourth.
Not the Fourth Amendment regarding unreasonable searches and seizures, of course.
The fourth episodes of his animated serieses, that is.
TMNT and Dragonball.
After the episode ones on the 13th, these two caused quite the hubbub.
Then there's episode twos and episode threes... working out on the 20th and 27th of September respectively.
Momentum was built, hooking quite a lot of viewers to wherever broadcasting can reach, and making them quite the success.
By the time October 4th came along... the effect of the fourth episodes were all the same.
It wasn't some miraculous ratings spike, however, it was reasonable enough to be considered great.
And to think that it was all just through two wannabe Saturday Morning Cartoons... sprinkled across many localized broadcasts and syndication.
This was the status quo... but not for long.
The fox-y syndicate, that Alexander was working with, had been planning something big and it was close at hand.
That was more of their business though and he couldn't be bothered anymore with the what's what of it.
It's just that they really, really wanted to bother the heck more out of him.
And so... Alexander just wanted to get it over with.
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Hence... On October 9th... on a Thursday... on a school night...
He had Mr. Driver drive him straight away...
To some headquarters in Beverly Hills.
Using the invitation that should have been RSVP'd No to... he got the address...
But when he got there... there actually were more directions to follow.
On the 4th floor, on some 4th hallway, enter through the 4th door of the 4th room, and be seated in the 4th seat.
The Fourth theming could not be any more poignant with this fox-y syndicate.
All in jest, of course.
Where Alexander was headed wasn't as elaborate as that.
Before he could get there though... he just had to be stopped by some snobby-looking teen.
"Hey, brat. Are you lost or what?!" The teen asked with confusion. "How'd you even sneak in here anyways?"
This sure was some random encounter but Alexander obliged. "Well... I kind of have an appointment to get to and it happens to be here."
"Who in the world would even want an appointment with a kid like you?" The teen really got sneery.
Fortunately, a much-stabler girl stepped in.
"So sorry about that." She apologized. "I hope you don't mind my little brother."
The little brother was a bit perplexed while she just continued. "You must be here for my father, so do go on. Don't mind us, okay?"
Alexander simply shrugged and walked his way.
Inadvertently still hearing the banter from afar.
"Elisabeth, what are you doing?" The teen asked a lot. "Dad is looking forward to some important meeting, why'd you let that kid go?"
"You know nothing, James." The big sister chastised.
"What should I know?"
"See... it's better if you didn't know." She sounded exasperated. "If you knew, you'll probably be shocked silly."
Alexander, the inadvertent eavesdropper, unwittingly pondered.
Elisabeth and James. Sound like names of British royalty.
It's just that their accent has obvious traces from down under.
They're probably not that far from royalty though.
If Alexander's guess is right, they're most likely to be the Murdochs.
Elisabeth and James Murdoch.
Just goes to show how fox-y this syndicate was.
Everything here is affiliated with Fox, after all.
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For starters, there's Barry Charles Diller.
Formerly a mailroom-man from WMA, someone from ABC, inadvertently turning Paramount's Chairman and CEO...
Until a year or two ago... when all that experience compounded and turned him into a big shot of 20th Century Fox.
Of course, there's the true bigshot who really owns Fox by owning the company that owns it...
Rupert Murdoch. Of the very, very ubiquitous News Corporation.
And obviously the father of the encounters from earlier.
Well... these sure are a fancy pair with fancy titles, aren't they?
Alexander, the fourth-or-so-party in all this, had to go through all the fancy meet-and-greets. Effectively draining his already low-bar enthusiasm.
He may have gotten a bit socializing these days but not that much. Especially with high-up strangers like these... eyeing him with strange gazes.
Any other anti-social introvert or just about anyone else would really be uncomfortable.
Soldiering through, Alexander just wondered. "So... am I just here to be stared at?"
"Haha! Sorry about that." Diller could only laugh and apologizingly reasoned. "It's not every day that we get to see a talented fellow like you."
"Just talented?! This one is genuinely frightening!" Murdoch retorted. "I considered my boys to be somewhat talented. Now I can't help but find them disappointing."
Diller was a bit speechless at that. Just as how unbelieving he was of what he had read up on this kid before them.
"Anyways... reading detailed accounts of you doesn't do enough justice. It made one doubt and question but it would seem that seeing is really better for believing."
At this quibble, Alexander resisted the urge to sigh. Can't they just get to their point and get it done with?
As if noting exasperation from that poker face, Murdoch pivoted. "Ehem! Well... I've actually invited you up here to personally show my appreciation."
"It's always representative of yours that we've interacted with and it's hard to get hold of either you or your grandfather." The newsprint mogul added. "We're hours away from making history and I'd wanted to meet face-to-face with quite the contributor to making it happen."
"We really didn't do much." Alexander simply humbled that praise. "We were looking for options, our interests aligned, then came to an agreement and here we are. It's a win-win for everybody."
"Yes... well... there's that" That Murdoch can agree to. "But I'm actually interested in furthering that win-win agreement some more."
"How so?" Alexander asked while Murdoch supplemented. "You know... by really pulling Creed into the mix."
"Well, I'm listening..." It's quite interesting but it's too good to be true in Alexander's opinion. "I'm already surmising a very big downside to whatever it is though and I'm disagreeing to save all of us the time."
Diller grimaced at that. Fortunately, they were somewhat prepared for it.
This kid may be a kid but he's not some ordinary kid at all.
Diller turned to look at Murdoch and turned to look at the young Creed... and said. "We can make concessions."
"And to that... I have conditions." Alexander simply countered.
To which, Murdoch could only grin with interest. "Then this is going to be a long back and forth."
"Hopefully, not that long." Sure enough... Alexander had his say as well.
These were foxy foxes he was with... and the contents of their discussion were quite considerable with what's to come.
Despite his uninterested attitude, he was quite willing to hear them out...
Given what's at stake.
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As for what's at stake...
Well... it actually played out whilst these three were coming to an agreement...
Perhaps even a long while before these three decided to finally meet...
For you see... whilst the American networks are generally dominated by the Big Three...
Namely ABC, CBS, and NBC...
There's actually a fourth... named DuMont Television Network...
Too bad, that went under and was barely existent.
This is where the ambitious Rupert Murdoch comes along... bringing with him the experienced Barry Diller...
As for the role of Alexander Creed and Creed in this picture... well... the opportunist hitchhikers...
Through a shared interest in wanting to broadcast and something to broadcast... they formed quite the syndicate of local syndication...
Building up to today... Thursday on the 9th of October...
Local syndications would finally link up and the dead DuMont would come back to life... from a fox-y syndicate...
Into the Fox Broadcasting Company...
It's not much and it's not there yet... but it's technically the Fourth...
The fourth major television network!
Being involved in something like that sure is something to write about, is it not?