C-drama is getting in formation for a very busy winter season! Let’s start with a look at what’s happening for currently airing dramas…
- ❄️ Snowy Night: Timeless Love dropped earlier in the week to mixed fanfare. The wuxia drama, headed by Li Qin and Joseph Zeng, broke 8k on iQIYI’s heat index after plateauing in the high 7ks for a few days. The opening episodes got some flack for the CGI, which has apparently been a little distracting…
- 🔼 Zhang Wanyi is back for his third try in three months at a break-out hit. He’s still in period garb for historical drama The Rise of Ning with Ren Min. So far, it’s right around that 26k mark on Tencent’s heat index.
- 🏫 Also released this week was Go Back Lover, featuring Li Yunrui and Xu Ruohan. The campus drama was released on both Tencent and Youku, and has been a little quiet on both – around the 20k mark on the Tencent heat index, and the 7k mark on the Youku heat index.
- 😮 Kill Me Love Me is making waves and it hasn’t even been released yet. The drama, starring Liu Xueyi and Wu Jinyan, will air on October 14 but already reached a heat index of 5k. Both leads scored solid hits earlier in the year with In Blossom and The Double, respectively, so it’s exciting to see the momentum continuing so far
- 👀 We wrote last week about a few dramas ending their run that never quite exploded on the heat index. Their Douban ratings have started coming out with decent performances. Love of Nirvana (Ren Jialun, Li Landi) led the pack with a Douban rating of 6.8, followed by You Are My Lover Friend (Zhang Xincheng, Wang Yuwen) at 6.7. Finally, In Between (Tian Xiwei, Xin Yunlai, Zhou Yutong) is currently sitting at 6.4.
We’ve got some more melons for everyone to eat 🍉 …
- 🏹 Now this is an interesting combination! Huang Xuan (of Minning Town fame), Bai Yufan, and Li Gengxi have been connected to The Hunt. On the production side, rumored names are Sun Molong, the director of Reset, and Hou Hongliang, the popular Daylight Entertainment producer behind hits like Nirvana in Fire, Reset, Story of Ming Lan.
- 🚓 That Xu Kai melon from a few weeks ago is adding Deng Enxi as female lead (although no confirmations at this point). The suspense drama, 方圆八百米 (Fang Yuan Ba Bai Mi), is rumored to start filming in November.
- 🌸 Another drama we might get confirmation on soon is Flower in Novoland (still Zhang Jingyi and Chen Zheyuan as rumored leads – we last wrote about it here). Melons also have this drama slated for filming beginning in November. But actors are in the middle of other projects (Zhang Jingyi for a new film and Chen Zheyuan for Fated Hearts), so we might see them make a quick transition to this project.
- ☁️ Li Yitong has already been confirmed for upcoming xianxia 古乐风华录 (Gu Yue Feng Hua Lu), but now it seems like the male lead may be Wang Ziqi. This would be his first time as the main lead in a xianxia after being a supporting role a couple times (most recently in Xiao Zhan’s The Longest Promise)
Entertainment news is picking up as well…
- 💿 Zhao Lusi has been busy! Sometime between wrapping Love’s Ambition and attending fashion week, she found time to record her first single (and it’s completely in English). You can listen to You R on Spotify and watch her performance at Douyin Wonderful Night here. Oh, and her Cosmopolitan China cover will be released next week, so stay tuned…
- 🎤 Speaking of Douyin Wonderful Night, we had quite the attendee list from the event! Here are some quick links to other performances: Liu Yuning, Ju Jingyi, Zhou Shen, Mao Xiaotong, Fei, and Liu Yu.
- 🖼️ We’re getting all the artsy spreads from Ni Ni these days! Check out her solo cover for L’Officiel China and then click over to her photoshoot for Vogue Film China with Bound in Heaven co-star Zhou You.
- 🍫 On the sponsorship side, Liu Yifei picked up two endorsements this week for Dove Chocolate’s new spokesperson and Mayibao Insurance’s Global Brand Ambassador — so basically, she’s got all of life’s necessities covered. Meanwhile, Zhang Jingyi was announced as Burberry Global Brand Ambassador (her Celine contract ended recently), and Yang Mi became Cetaphil’s Asia Pacific Brand Spokesperson.
So about that C-Drama Airing Schedule… after a couple slow months, we’re about to get some heavy hitters on our screen…
- 💎 Story of Pearl Girl is looking extremely imminent… Zhao Lusi and Liu Yuning’s reunion is getting ready to drop at the end of the month (October 30 is the date melons are hearing so far). This historical drama is a rag-to-riches story for Zhao Lusi’s character as she enters the business of jewelry.
- 🎮 We also continue to get closer to Esther Yu and Ryan Ding’s new drama, Love Game in Eastern Fantasy, now rumored to drop October 31. Based on the popular manhua, the xuanhuan drama is also a reunion for the two leads after starring in Moonlight together.
- 👹 Fangs of Fortune, the dark and moody Hou Minghao and Chen Duling drama, is also speculated to have an October airdate. Chen Duling continues to bounce between supporting and leading roles (she’ll be a supporting character in Love Game in Eastern Fantasy), so Fangs of Fortune will be another opportunity to continue her leading lady growth.
- 🏙️ As for the next modern drama coming up… one option is Smile Code, a comedy drama starring Shen Yue and Lin Yi. Also due soon is Love Has Fireworks, featuring Tan Jianci and Wang Churan in the workplace.
- ⬆️ An airing melon that we’re eyeing is the possible launch of Northward, Bai Lu and Ou Hao’s new realism drama. Word on the street is that figuring out the CCTV-1 schedule is what’s holding up the drama. The Northward social media immediately refuted the melon, but it’s also been pretty active recently with new content…
