Su Wei, a mainland scholar living abroad, says that over the many months that "Desire" was broadcast, from north to south, city to country, people fought for the chance to watch; traffic accidents declined, thefts of novels abated, and wherever there was a TV, there was sure to be the title song, "Boundless time, yet how bitter were those years.
大陸旅居海外學者蘇煒指出，「渴望」在長達數月的播映期間，中國大陸從南到北，從城到鄉，萬人空巷，萬眾爭看，車禍減少，小偷罷偷，凡有水井（電視）處，皆頌「渴望詞」﹘﹘「茫茫歲月，欲說當年好困惑… …」的主題曲。