The re-jiggering of episode count for King Flower, which ends this week with episode 21 which is just about right for SETTV Sunday night idol dramas, that means follow up drama Love Around (真愛黑白配 True Love Black and White Pair) starts on Sunday June 9th. I’m going to guess its ratings will easily double that of KF, which has been the ratings leader for the entire duration of its run but hovering below 2 is never a good thing for a network used to runaway hits such as Autumn’s Concerto and Fated to Love You. While leads Annie Chen and George Hu were admittedly very compelling as a couple in the narrative snorefest that was the daily drama Love, Now, here I’m actually perking up to the sight of them in another go-around. They always look very coupley together, and Annie’s new short wavy bob and George getting rid of the somewhat greasy hairstyle he sported in LN does wonders for refreshing them both. He plays the reformed son from a hard-core gangster family with an intense streak for justice and the downtrodden, she plays the plucky DJ daughter of a high ranking cop family with a happy-go-lucky demeanor. Obviously he’s the black and she’s the white and somewhere in the middle they will meet and fall in love. It’s all so elementary, my dear, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be entertaining if done right. I checked out the cast list and had a good laugh at the fact that there are no second leads. It’s just the OTP and everyone else plays secondary and supporting roles. I think SETTV is going out of its way to avoid a redux of what Chris Wu pulled off in KF, and likely going forward there won’t be a single Taiwanese male actor that will agree to headline a drama if Chris plays the second lead. The media was on hand when the two leads filmed their onscreen first meeting which takes place at a batting cage. The network also released the first cute teaser playing off the drama title t asking if the two leads taking a vision test sees things in a love-tinted color or a heartbroken black-and-white.

Teaser for Love Around: