It was a surprisingly slow week in C-Ent as we entered October! That includes currently airing dramas, which still haven’t heated up…
- 👀 Love of Nirvana is limping to the finish line, heat-index wise. The Ren Jialun and Li Landi drama only just managed to peak at 26k on Tencent’s heat index before sliding below 25k.This makes for poor outings back-to-back for Ren Jialun after Burning Flames also failed to make a splash.
- 🤷 We’ve got a few other dramas that are ending soon, also without a ton of buzz. Neither In Between (Tian Xiwei, Xin Yunlai, Zhou Yutong) nor Dark Night and Dawn (Chen Zheyuan, Nie Yuan, and Xing Fei) have made much movement over the last week from a heat index perspective. Dark Night and Dawn is at least drawing some pretty good viewership on TV, we’ll see if it can ramp up in the last couple episodes.
- 🤞 One drama making positive movement is You Are My Lover Friend, starring real-life childhood friends Zhang Xincheng and Wang Yuwen. They’re starting to flirt with the 25k mark on the Tencent heat index — not incredibly high, but at least an upward trajectory.
- 😮 The first drama to be rated 9.0+ on Douban has arrived!. She and Her Girls is based on the true story of one woman determined to bring education to girls in rural areas. The drama, starring Song Jia and directed by Fei Zhenxiang (director of Zhao Lusi’s Love Like the Galaxy), started out at a 9.0 rating and has gone up to an incredible 9.3 over a couple weeks.
A few melons coming in as usual 🍉 …
- 🏫 Remember that Esther Yu melon about 双轨 (Shuang Gui; translation: Double Track)? The drama (looks like its English name may be Star Trail) has had a few male leads circulate (Chen Zheyuan and Chen Xingxu were early rumors), but now He Yu is the current name attached. If true, he would play the (non-biological) brother to Esther who experiences a very different life after their parents divorce.
- 🖌️ A new two-female drama sounds like it might start filming soon: Ju Jingyi and Chen Duling continue to be linked to Painted Skin, alongside Joseph Zeng and Tian Jiarui. The drama would be a remake of the film from over ten years ago.
And that’s a wrap on fashion week! But never fear, the fashion will continue with a Vogue dinner in Shenzhen on October 17. In the meantime, let’s take a look at C-Ent news…
- 👗 Fashion week is finally coming to a close, but we definitely ended with a bang. We got a mini Lost You Forever reunion with Yang Zi and Zhang Wanyi at Valentino, where they were also joined by Guan Xiaotong. We also saw Liu Yifei and Zhong Chuxi at the Louis Vuitton show, as well as a dual-’00 flower appearance from Liu Haocun and Zhao Jinmai at Miu Miu. Also in Paris were Xin Zhilei for Roger Vivier and Yang Yang for an Atelier Cologne dinner.
- As for sponsorships, Xiao Zhan got a title upgrade and became the first-ever Global Brand Spokesperson for skincare brand Eve Lom, while Cheng Yi became the Global Brand Ambassador for Ray Ban. Tian Xiwei also became the brand spokesperson for Game of Peace with a cosplay-worthy introduction.
And as always, we have some updates on the C-Drama Airing Schedule…
- 🍈 We finally have confirmation on Chasing Jade (逐玉) for Tian Xiwei and Zhang Linghe! But not much information other than that… last week, the rumor was that Zhang Linghe would be first billed, but his team came out with a statement saying that no billing position has been confirmed at this time. Either way, we’ve added it to the “To Be Filmed” category.
- 🔜 A few dramas will be dropping soon over the next week. Dropping first on October 8 is modern drama Go Back Lover, starring Li Yunrui and Xu Ruohan in a high school story. And the day after, we get Snowy Night: Timeless Love with Li Qin and Joseph Zeng in a wuxia romance.
- 🔱 A new xianxia is on its way… no confirmed date yet, but Fangs of Fortune is should be landing sometime in October. The drama, starring Hou Minghao, Chen Duling, Tian Jiarui, and Cheng Xiao, will be another chance for Hou Minghao and Chen Duling to impress viewers this year after their previous 2024 dramas fell a little flat.
- 🎮 It also seems like we might be seeing the reunion of Esther Yu and Ryan Ding soon! Their second drama together, Love Game in Eastern Fantasy, is rumored to air at the end of October or early November. It’s based on the popular novel and manhua named The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus.
- 🔍 Production is officially underway for A Sinless Person, starring Wei Daxun and Sun Qian. We’ll see Wei Daxun in a much more serious role in this suspense and investigation drama.
