Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Chapter 2: The Season of Success, Part IV and V

IV.

Early the next morning, after a breakfast of cereal and fruit, Nick and Tracy shared an elevator down to the first floor where they went their separate ways. Nick went to work out in the gym, while Tracy went to the pool.

At seven in the morning the pool was deserted, which was the way Tracy liked it. She changed into a white one-piece swimsuit, dove into the deep end, and began swimming laps slowly and methodically, alternating her laps from overarm crawl to breast stroke to backstroke and back again.

Her thoughts as she swam dwelt on her TV series.

If we are picked up for another season, she thought, I hope they'll write in some more scuba diving scenes. They probably wouldn't let us go back to the Great Barrier Reef, but the Florida Keys would be nice. Or anywhere in Hawaii.

Or skiing. I'd like to go someplace that has some good downhill skiing. I wonder if I could persuade them to film in San Moritz.  I'd love to go to San Moritz...

As usual, she was the first to return to the suite. (Nick performed several reps on the gym's Universal Press machine, then ran for half an hour on the treadmill while watching a morning news show.)

As Tracy entered the room she heard beeping from her cellphone. She picked up the phone and saw that her agent had phoned.

Tracy took a deep, calming breath as she hit the Recall button.

“Hullo, Betty.”

“Hi, Tracy." Betty had a cheerful, Bronx-accented voice.  "Have you look at the ratings for last night's premiere yet?”

“No…I was avoiding it. What’s the news?”

“Girl, the episode was the highest rated show in that time slot. And the network had focus groups out in force. Based on the reaction to this first episode, I’d say we’re looking at another hit season.”

Tracy pumped her fist. “Yes!”

“The rest of the cast were at the premiere party the studio threw  last night. The network boys were really disappointed you weren't there, too. “

“They don’t have the right to be angry,” Tracy said a bit irritably. “It’s not our fault they moved up the premiere by a week and then didn't tell us until after we'd already made other commitments.”

“True, true,” Betty said soothingly.

“Besides, Spencer, Gertrude and __________ are pretty popular. They have their share of fans.”

“Yes, girl, a truly successful ensemble cast – that's part of what made the show a hit last year and what’s going to make it a hit this year, I have no doubt. But you and Nick are the stars and you don’t want to be eclipsed by your supporting cast, do you?”

“There's no need to worry, Betty. Private Lives closes in seven more days. Nick and I will be returning to Studio City next Monday.”

“Very good. Well, I've got lots of things lined up for you when you return, starting with appearances on that new talk show..."

“Hold on, Betty. I hope you're not going overboard. I don't want to have to go on a talk show every single day!”

Tracy heard a heavy sigh from her agent. “Girl, there is no over-exposure where publicity for a TV series is concerned.”

“But…”

“No, no,” Betty interrupted quickly. “I understand. You don’t want to get worn out with your personal appearances. I’ll look out for you, don’t worry. Now, where is Nick, do you know? I left a message for him as well.”

Betty ended the connection. Tracy flung her hands in the air and sashayed around the room.

She was still dancing when Nick returned from his workout, ten minutes later. She danced up to him, flung her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the lips.

"Let me guess," Nick said calmly, resting his hands on her hips and smiling. "Good news?"
 
"We killed in the ratings," Tracy told him triumphantly. "And the focus groups were very positive."

"Yeah, baby," said Nick, and kissed her on the lips.

This brief congratulatory kiss extended into one long, sensuous kiss, and then as one they turned and headed into the bedroom.

After they had made love, they cuddled for a while, and Tracy rested her head on Nick's chest. 

 "You were right, Nick," she murmured, "you were right. I should never have doubted you."

"When it comes to judging what the fans will like, I am always right," Nick said.

Tracy caressed his arm. "You're very good at knowing what I like, too," she said.
 
Nick chuckled. Then he sighed.

“It will be nice to get back to Studio City,” he said. “Much as I love having our meals delivered morning, noon and night and our bed made up every day by delightful little elves, one can have too much of luxury.”

“It can get addictive,” Tracy acknowledged.  She reached out and ran her hand down the smooth sheets of Egyptian cotton. "Just think. We could leave this suite in a few minutes and go for a walk in Central Park, and when we return this bed will be made and look pristine."

“We could hire someone,” Nick said. “There’s plenty of maid services…and food delivery services, for that matter. After all, we’ve both been in a rather nice little income bracket for over a year and it looks like we're going to stay there for at least another couple of years. Why not splurge?”

“It’s a thought,” said Tracy. “Spread the wealth a bit, support a local small business or two....I like it. I’ll look into it when we get back home.”

Nick nodded and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Should we leave this suite in a few minutes?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"After celebratory sex should come a celebratory hot fudge sundae at the Sundae Shoppe."

"I like the way you think, my dear," said Tracy. "Let's get dressed."
V.

Two weeks and two more highly-rated episodes later, the verdict was in. The second season of The Coldest Equations was a hit, and the network officially commissioned a third season.

The week after that, the producers called Tracy and Nick in for a script conference.  Present at the conference were Milly Mulholland and Terry Janasz, the producers, and Charlie Woodbridge and his wife Margery, the head scriptwriters.

Milly’s secretary made the rounds of the oval table, ensuring that everyone had fresh coffee, tea or a soft drink, depending on their taste, and then disappeared from the room.   

Milly Mulholland neatened the papers in front of her and then interlaced her fingers and gazed around the table, “at the ranks,” as Tracy always thought. 

Milly always reminded her of an Army general who conducted her meetings with military precision. She also had a habit of starting every meeting by recounting events from the very beginning of recorded time. Tracy was never sure if she was doing this to remind herself of what had gone on before, or if she liked to do it as a kind of strange practical joke, as she must know that everyone else in the room already knew what she was talking about backwards and forewards.

“As you know,” Milly began portentously, “each season of The Coldest Equations has an interlocked plot. In season one, we presented a near-future where all work on space exploration is conducted by gigantic corporations, each one a rival to get their space station, or moon station, or Mars station into production first, and each corporation infested by spies who were tasked to find out all the good technology that their competitors were working on, and make off with it if they could. At the same time, each corporation had their own anti-espionage team tasked with preventing that very thing. 

And you, Tracy, as Miranda Rainbird, were in charge of one of these elite groups of agents.”

Tracy, suppressing an urge to roll her eyes, merely nodded. She had acted in 20 season one episodes and 20 season two episodes already and she and everyone else in the room already knew all of this.

"In the first season, you, Tracy, as Miranda Rainbird, were in charge of an elite group of agents whose task was to infiltrate one of these corporations, a villainous corporation located in a Balkan country the name of which was carefully glossed over, and rescue a scientist whom they had kidnapped, along with his research data. You were opposed by the villainous Mr. White and his coterie of counter agents, Mr. Black, Mr. Red, Ms. Taupe and Ms. Green.”

You had succeeded in making off with this scientist and his work, and spent the season protecting him and his family from capture by the villain Mr. White and company who were intent on getting him back. There were a few other plotlines introduced, but that was the gist

novelized by that wonderful author Caroline Miniscule and called The Labyrinth Makers, all of the characters were introduced over the course of the 20 episode season. Miranda Rainbird is on vacation in Australia when she is called by her boss and given an assignment to liberate a scientist from the Philidor Corporation which had a

“In season two,” Milly continued, “You had succeeded in making off with this scientist and his work, and spent the season protecting him and his family from capture by Mr. White and company who were intent on getting him back. There were a few other plotlines introduced, but that was the gist.”

Tracy and Nick nodded again, as did Terry Janasz and Charlie Woodbridge. 

“In the third season,” Milly said, and now her voice became animated, “We’re going to change things up a bit. We’re going to introduce a really exciting dynamic. Now, it’s kind of a complicated plot, so I’m going to let Charlie explain it to you.”

She gestured at Charlie Woodbridge to proceed, and settled back and sipped her coffee.

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