The best TW-drama of the Oct 2011-Oct 2012 season has been validated by In Time With You sweeping through all the major categories at the just announced nominations for this year’s Golden Bell Awards (Taiwan’s Emmy’s). Already a Golden Bell best actress winner for It Started with a Kiss 2, Ariel Lin continues her dominance at this award ceremony by getting a nod for playing the prickly and self-absorbed Chen You Qing in ITWY. Her leading man Bolin Chen also got nominated for playing everyone’s dream best-guyfriend-turned-lover Li Da Ren, garnering his first best actor nomination. Director Winnie gets a well deserved nod as best director and Lin Mei Shiu gets recognized for dropping a poignant performance as You Qing’s mom. Lastly, the drama also got tapped in the best screenplay and best editing categories, not to mention the big Kahuna, getting a nod for Best Drama. Overall ITWY led all competition with a total of 8 nominations, so congrats to GTV and the drama for being the big winners on nomination day. I have a very complicated appreciation and dislike of ITWY that I wrote about last year here which generated quite a lot of discussion and debate. My feelings towards the drama haven’t changed, but I’ve always felt it was a superior dramatic work and hope that more TW-dramas try to push the artistic boundaries like ITWY did.
Other than ITWY, none of the idol dramas most viewers are familiar with got any nominations, aside from Tony Yang and Gina Lee getting a nomination for Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively, for Ex-boyfriend. I watched bits and pieces of the drama and found it thematically interesting but a tad too OTT in execution at times making it feel jarring. I went back and watched the final episode since I heard howls of outrage about it and instead loved it very much. I think it ended much better than it started. As for ITWY, the general reaction seems to be love it or hate it. I managed to hate it and still love the amazing directing and solid acting, so I think it possible to find more to appreciate about ITWY beyond the story and characters. So far the TW-netizens and the media have publicly been lamenting the lack of a nomination for Ivy Chen in Skip Beat and for Roy Qiu in Office Girls. I totally agree that those two most definitely deserved a nom. In fact, the number one rating drama of of the year was OG which got shut out of the awards, continuing the trend of the Golden Bells rewarding mostly obscure dramas that no one gives a fig about. At least ITWY was both a critical and ratings hit, otherwise this year’s telecast will be such a dud frogs will start croaking and you can hear it.
Have an ITWY Official MV:
Watch the opening credits to Ex-boyfriend:
I too have a love/hate rel’p with this drama. Props to Ariel for playing such an unlikeable character w/ aplomb. I liked how Bolin’s character was the typical K-drama 2nd male lead type. Both of them were tremendous. My beef with this show was that they introduced the cheating ex-bf trope…so unnecessary and my interest waned precipitously after that. I should go ahead and watch the last epi BUT it gets really difficult to drum up lost-interest and watch it just for the sake of it. That said, this is by far the best Taiwanese show that I’ve watched.
This drama copped out so bad. Beyond making Sunny a cheater (AGAIN!), they had Jassie’s character be such a clingy wreck not to mention cute subordinate boy turned out to be a workplace climbing gay guy. Like, WTF? It’s not cool for a drama to pull the rug out from under for the sake of pulling the rug from out under. Everything felt like such a manufactured rat maze so that You Qing and Da Ren could get together. When really it was 12 years and they still couldn’t get together for a reason! He was a spineless best friend and she was a shrew who stepped all over him. Gah…I need to stop now before my ITWY ire gets riled up again.
A LOT of the things I disliked came rushing back after reading your comment. hahaa Ariel’s char being bitchy to his gf started it all. Sure she was clingy and seldom childish but nobody deserves to be patronized the way she was. :S
I know! It’s her best friend’s new girlfriend, and she couldn’t even be bothered to get to know her or be decent to her. Just shockingly juvenile behavior. Just because the girl was a lot younger? And justifiably insecure around her? That it? *shakes head* My desire to bitch slap You Qing was so strong through out the drama. Like when she purposely picked a freaking pink poodle as the class mascot and was pissed the guys didn’t like it. No shit! If she stopped being so defensive for a moment about everything, perhaps I would have appreciated her flaws for being genuine. Instead it felt so forced.
My solution to ITWY was to watch the first five or six eps (until whenever it is that Sunny shows up) and then the very last one (after Sunny leaves). That way I still like it. Mostly. I totally agree that Ariel’s character is a shrill shrew and Bolin’s character is basically a doormat…but I know people like that. I might not like them very much, but they were acted very well, and I have to say, I loved the ending. I wish the drama had spent more time on how they got together and dealt with the change from BFFs to lovers. Ah, well, it was still mostly fun.
All I saw was that my ICOMYM, Roy, did not get a nod for OG. WHAT?!?!? That’s just wrong. He should get an award just for being so pretty.
Hahaha. Patrick Li deserves an award as well for his outstanding performance.
Mrs Koala, would you please consider to do your own Award Special by this year’s end with serious and less serious categories such as “Prettiest face with the most lacking acting skills”, “Good acting chops but poorly-written character”, “Abs galore” (I nominate Si Won right away esp after javabeans’ latest entry lol), regarding the cast/drama/crew. How does that sound? [Je sens que je vais me prendre un vent]
I think it’s either ur cup of tea or not.
I’m the minority – I was crazy about EX-BF and I gave ITYW a try but only managed to see bits & pieces of the first 3 eps~
To me, it helps that I went into EX-BF, never seening any work from Tony or Chienna (total strangers to me); as opposed to having no interest of watching Ariel’s ISWAK or have I ever finished watching any of Bolin’s work (although he’s a one smark cookie~).
I found Ariel and Bolin’s acting solid as well, nothing jumps out.
But when I watched the very first ‘remembering the past’ scene in ep 1 of EX, I was impressed and in the 3rd ep, when Chienna was drunk and confessed, I was sold.
Anyways, I’m happy my babies got recognized. If they won, it’s a bonus! <3
Speaking of The Golden Bell..I really find it striking that Cheryl(for My Queen) and Sonia (for Fierce Wife) lost their bids but Ariel and Rainie won. No offense to Ariel or Rainie who I think are good actresses, but maybe it’s the dramas that they won for that make me kind of go ehhh? Cheryl and Sonia gave really terrific performances and were in better dramas that their losses made me more sad. Though perhaps if they were in another year.. (more Cheryl though since she lost to the well respected Liu Ruiq but Sonia’s loss was another story..)
Hmm, well I loved ITWY and it’s one of the few TW-dramas that didn’t make me want to run away screaming so I hope it wins in all the categories it’s nominated for. I can see how the characters would drive some people crazy (I wanted to hit Da Ren a few times for never saying anything) and near the end it got boring, but overall this drama worked for me.
I wonder what ratings In Time With You would’ve gotten if it didn’t go against Office Girls… How high would’ve gone?
I adored In Time With You and am so pleased that it got some recognition. Thanks for sharing the news!!
From what I’ve read I think I’ll love this one. It’s Ariel Lin’s! I prety much watch everything she’s in. Will definitely watch this one. Still watching Office Girl and although I’ve never been a big fan of Roy Chiu but I have to say I love him in OG.
Congrats to Bo-lin & especially Ariel! Well deserved indeed, win or loose, they were just awesome as Li Da ren & Cheng You Qing respectively. Their acting & chemistry was perfect that it was so easy for me to relate and get involved in the drama. I loved ITWY and Ariel & Bo-lin acted perfectly in this drama. Congrats to Director Winnie as well, the direction for ITWY was lovely. I hope & pray Ariel wins, love her so much. Maybe its harder for her to win now, since she has already won this last 2008. I wonder if GBA would still give her a second recognition. Well, I just hope the ITWY team wins. Watching ITWY was a wonderful & memorable experience for me, one of the best Taiwanese drama I’ve watched. 🙂
I simply loves ITWY – there were silly moments, how bitchy You Qing was and how slow Da Ren was too!
ha ha! maybe I just could not enjoy the revenge type of story and sick of that kind of plot and love this kind of easy going kind of story that carries me back down memory lane 🙂
if ITWY wins, yea!!!! that’s fab!
though our Ms Koala clearly didnt fancy ITWY, but sharing this news with us, I’m veeeery grateful. terima kasih Cik Koala 😉
*fist pump in the air* Love this show, although I do realize its flaws – mainly the characterization – but since twdramas of the romcom genre tend to make me wanna die from the second hand embarassement (latest case in point: Palace Jade Lock Heart downloaded the whole thing only to Recycle Bin the mess after 15 min – OMGitwastorture and a bloody waste of my download points), I’ll take what I can get.
This Qing Nan You show looks bloody intriguing (if one were to judge the show by its poster). Is it worth a try?
golden bell awarding mostly obscure dramas – i don’t follow it closely but i guess it was a rare story then for rainie, ariel, angela, and chen qiao en to all be nominated for best actress for one year? i’m not sure roy or ivy would win but do deserve a nomination. whereas ariel’s performance was more memorable, and the show was shot and directed well.
lin mei xiu has been doing amazing performance after amazing performance for years 🙂
I think ITWY deserves all of the nominations it got, although I’m sad Ivy didn’t get nominated for Skip Beat, and Office Girls got totally shut out?
ITWY’s still my favorite drama of all time (from any country) because of its depth and how much it resonated with me. I’m afraid ITWY might end up bagging just one or two awards (and not Actor, Actress, Director or Drama), like what happened with The Fierce Wife last year. Maybe I’ll check out Ex-Boyfriend before the GBAs roll around. Thanks for the speedy post, Koala!
Now I’m really curious about Ex-Boyfriend’s ending. Does anyone know what happened?
Hey Selli, u wanna leave me ur e-mail? I can tell u what happened~
Oh, sure, thank you so much!! ^^ My e-mail’s tina_eisl@yahoo.de! =D
awesome!! Go Go Go!!! I love ITWY great TW drama the story look like my real like and the actor so great too!! ^^ really happy to hear that
I absolutely agree with you. ITWY definitely deserves the noms for its unique unique story telling concept.
I’m RANTING about IVY CHEN not getting a nom. What? That’s just crazy. She was amazing in Skip Beat. And as for ROY CHIU not getting one either is completely beyond me!
BTW, love your blog. Keep it up!
ITWY worked for me for several reasons. The cinematography and direction was off the hook, not something you see in your typical TW Idol dramas. But the characters were from normal life, the guy wasn’t the heir to the richest conglomerate in TW the girl wasn’t the stupid cheery airhead. This is NOT a Cinderella story like typical TWdramas (something drives me batty). But I agree the characters could’ve been better. other than the female lead being the bitch and the male lead being the sissy, everything else was good.
While OG may be a ratings hit, I don’t think it have the quality that can compete with ITWY in terms of directing and acting. Not saying that ITWY is perfect, it have its frustrating flaws and parts (especially towards the end of the drama) but I just don’t think OG and Skip beat needs a nomination in comparison to ITWY.
They’re more of a commercial success (SB is not a rating hit though) than critical success. I think OG is mediocre at best, cute fluffy romance that’s forgettable but enjoyable nonetheless. I can’t really say much on Skip beat since I haven’t finish it yet but I think both OG and SB pretty much on the same category.. entertaining yet forgettable. Despite the flaws that ITWY have, it still have a pretty good quality and Li Da Ren had pretty much became everyone’s dream guy, it’s pretty remarkable for a TW-drama, one of the best in terms of quality for TW-drama in the recent years. I can totally see ITWY winning the nominations.
Btw, if anyone from OG needs a nomination, it should be Patrick Li. He’s so good in comedy department, totally a standout from the rest of the cast. I think Roy Qiu isn’t bad as well but maybe it’s just me, I don’t really find him charismatic that AlicexRoy don’t work for me. His acting is decent but not that remarkable to win a nomination.
no doubt, i’ll go with ITWY couple.. even i don’t like some episodes of that drama (with her ex bf etc) but then i keep loving this drama for some reasons.. i support them.. good luck BoRil!!!
Yippeee…I totally love ITWY…flaws and all. Ariel was absolutely stunning in the portrayal of You Ching character and this show is definitely one of my favorite Taiwan drama. I do hope it’ll win many awards.
I became a fan of Ariel because of this drama. My favorite TW drama so far.
ive watched itwy dow it was already a pirated cd still i liked the drama storyim an avid fan of ariel i have a complete cds of all her drama shows hope she wil capture again the best actres title. she deserves it.shes my superstar shes my idol til d end continue doing dramas and movies you are d best miss ariel lin ………..thank you
I have to say that I downloaded the OST from ITWY and every time I listen to it I’m reminded of the feelings the actors gave me through their performances (not the questionable plot directions). Also, I have to say that out of the many, many k-dramas, j-doramas, c-dramas, and tw-dramas I have watched, these two were one of the few couples that I felt were truly soul-mates and not just two people put together because they were the main couple. I really felt their love for each other in each episode. I think that’s why ultimately ITWY was a positive experience for me and will probably remain on my favorites list for a long, long time.
On a side note, more and more k-dramas are causing me to wish for the entrance of a 3rd guy/girl in the second half just because I no longer like the two guys/girls fighting over the main character and don’t think they deserve her/him at the end.
agree agree agree…. one sweet story for me and with happy practical ending too.
I really fell for Da Ren in the end and ooohhhh… I have been re-watching the last few episodes again and again.
I’m all for ITWY 😉
I truly agree with you after reading all the other comments.
everyday, i check out on ms.koala’s blog, however, this is my first time sharing my thoughts because it makes me excited when the news is all about ARIEL LIN.. and here’s my thoughts.
altough people tend to look at ITWY’s character flaws, all i can see is that the way the characters were made was because it portrays a much closer look on the reality of how a man and a woman had feelings for each other but can’t express their feelings. when i was contemplating about this drama, i felt that i was more on the side of reality, that’s why, i loved it so much and i was hooked by their amazing character portrayals. also, i loved their dialogue..
🙂