Mega-producer Angie Tsai Exits TW-idol Dramas with Love Prescription

It’s not everyday that a titan of an industry is calling it quits, either there will be a seismic shift in the framework or else the genre will die a quick death soon. The godmother of the Taiwan idol drama industry Angie Tsai has said that the upcoming idol drama for FTV called Love Prescription will be the last idol drama her production company will produce. She’s moving her focus to movies and collaborative projects with Mainland China, indicating that she thinks the Taiwan idol drama industry isn’t long for this world. She singlehandedly created the industry with Meteor Garden back in 2000, and since then her dramas have built up the industry as we know it (notable ones such as Mars, Sweet Relationship, Devil Beside You, Why Why Love, Hi My Sweetheart, Endless Love, Corner with Love, and the list goes on and on). She’s responsible for the acting careers of all four of the F4 boys, Barbie Hsu, Show Luo, Rainie Yang, Mike He, Wilbur Pan, Megan Lai, and so forth, finding and nurturing most of the young Taiwanese talent in the last decade. With Love Prescription, I hope the drama is good because I would hate for Angie to leave on a lackluster note. Starring Nick Chou, Shara Lin, Owodog, and Mandy Wei, the drama just started filming last month and the synopsis isn’t out yet, other than Mandy and Owodog play a set of siblings. I guess that leaves one possible love line DOA. Nick is a passable actor, more stiff than anything but with some charisma onscreen. He and Shara were both in I Love You So Much but their characters didn’t have any interaction with each other much. I’ve only seen Owodog (leader of the boy group Lollipop F) in Brown Sugar Macchiato and it wasn’t anything to write home about. To be honest this cast is totally underwhelming but I have a soft spot for Angie produced dramas because she does have a good eye for construction interesting vignettes and characters, even if her dramas also suffer from the general malaise of second-half wonkiness. This drama is slated to air this Summer so imma keep an eye out for it. Continue reading

Taiwan Stars Assemble for Vogue Fashion Night Out 2012

Another year, another edition of Vogue Magazine’s Fashion Night Out, a celebrity call to shopping if you will. I posted about 2011’s FNO in Taiwan, and 2012’s affair is even more glittering and star-studded. The celebrity pictorial follows the same … Continue reading