So modern workplace and romance C-drama Sunshine by My Side ended recently and I feel like it’s the same with so many of Xiao Zhan‘s recent dramas – praise and positivity for his performance with no impact on his popularity but a mixed bad of complaints with the overall drama. This one got okay ratings, I actually think The Longest Promise was buzzier and more popular as once that drama got over the shakier beginning it coasted on a stronger story and settled down acceptance of the female lead’s visuals. Sunshine got the majority of complaints in the second half over the too little screen time for the two leads Xiao Zhan and Bai Bai He together and their tepid chemistry, but was made worse by the lack of screen time so one wonders what came first. That complaint was coupled with the grousing that the two youngest leads couple (the ice hockey couple) got added screen time and more focus from the story than the leads. Other problems were too many side characters and too much time spent on each and really bad directing from the director. In short, none of the complaints are involving Xiao Zhan in any way and he really was the quintessential casting for the “big sunshine boy” character if the drama could have given him a more compelling romance.
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I agree. There is no way I can understand why going into the trouble of casting (and paying) Xiao Zhan and then forget he's there. I mean, he was very, very good in this, and so matching as a sunny type of guy, also the chemistry with Bai Bai He had real potential and was pretty good but towards ep. 28-30 it seems like the screenwriter actively engaged in a real effort to kill the romance and the drama with it.
I still finished it because I really like XZ and he was adorable throughout, but his team must definitely start choosing better scripts or read scripts to the end, because this one had a good start and then ...
Anyway, to be honest, if I were an actress I would avoid acting with him as the lead, he is so handsome and his fans and antia so crazy, I wouldn't want any of that.
It's pretty common in C-ent. Investors call the shots in drama production and they all want to give roles to the fresh actors/actresses working for them, hoping those actors/actresses will hit it big so that they will become their new golden goose and help raise their even newer actors/actresses. Rinse and repeat. It's just like Kpop, agencies want the fans of their current kpop idols to move on to their next batch of kpop idols, becoming company stans.
The reason fresh actresses all want to work with Xiao Zhan is because they will gain public attention immediately, which is exactly what they want.
@Lillith
I feel very bad for Xiao Zhan. He doesn’t have strong backings and it seems like people are using him left and right. I think it’s such a very stinky thing they did to him and BBH in this drama. The ex-husband had a lot screen time also. Xiao Zhan didn’t have a lot of screen time in Ace Troops also. He is such a nice guy and talented - he deserves to get better scripts and supports. I think it it would be smart to invest in him because he has all the wonderful qualities.
@XZF Probably have to wait until his contract with WJJW expires. His current movie and rumoured upcoming dramas look promising though. I'm especially hoping that he can join 大汉赋.
@Lillith
Do you know when that contract will be expired - hopefully soon? 🙏🙏🙏. I read about it, but I forgot. Please tell me what is the English’s title for Da Han U (?). Thanks!
@XZF The rumour is 2025, don't take my word for it though. The only indicator we can look at is the change of his weibo's id name.
No English title for 大汉赋 yet, if we look at 大秦赋 Qin Dynasty Epic, then perhaps it could be Han Dynasty Epic? LOL. The chinese pinyin is Da Han Fu. This drama will have 2 parts, first part tells the story of Emperor Wu of Han and the second part is about Emperor Guangwu of Han.
@Lilith
Ok. If it’s a good project then I sure hope that he will get it. Thanks.
I wonder how Xiao Zhan felt about this drama... This drama will not hurt his popularity nor bring it to the next level... I really hope he gets good scripts... I noticed he has not been very fortunate with good scripts. Even Cheng Yi have better selection...
Not surprised, he doesn't have any strong backings nor big agency behind him. Good scripts always go to those with strong backings first before trickling down the pyramid.
Where Dreams Begin/The Youth Memories was good though.
That is unfortunately true..
I was soooo surprised he took this drama especially when the leading ladies came off a badly publicized marriage press. Also, I was hoping he wouldn’t take it since the original Taiwan’s version wasn’t anything to ride home about.
What's the title of the original?
What was the original?
According to Dramawiki, the original was "My Dear Boy", which I'm almost tempted to check out just because it has Greg Hsu in it, and I'm currently watching "Someday or One Day" :)
Damnn really? Greg Hsu? I’m gonna watch it regardless of everything. I also fell in love with him after watching Someday otlr One Day and subsequent My Love which came out in 2021. He’s definitely the ultimate sunshine!!
I did finish the drama but couldn't work out why the female lead spent so much time on her own. And yeah her 2nd ML was boring as all heck. The ice hockey couple? He looked older than a college kid and she had this nice hairstyle then they made her bland with the young pretty thing hair once the romance got going. Those 2 had not much personality to their student life. Nor played hockey much. They team players were all looking like they were in their late 20s.
So yeah the story was boring. There was hardly any focus on the main lead in the last lot of episodes. I wonder why he chose to do this drama.
This drama finished already???, thank you for letting me know that the drama was not worth watching.
@vlive
It’s totally worth watching - just skip the hockey coupe, the uncle & ex-husband.
oh thanks, will check this out
I still enjoyed the drama, Sheng Yang's parents were funny to watch, Sheng Yang and Jian Bing together gave fluttering feelings, and the sets and visuals were lovely. I actually think the screentime is pretty okay except for the ice hockey couple. But it's no big deal for me as I'm used to fast-forwarding the boring parts in dramas.
If I were the scriptwriter, I would remove the ice hockey couple and combine Bai Baihe's sister with Xiao Zhan's female colleague. Then make it such that the female colleague has a widowed father who's interested in wooing Bai Baihe, replacing that teacher.
The female colleague will be interested in Xiao Zhan while helping her father to woo Bai Baihe, but she's not Bai Baihe's sister. Maybe can make it that she and her father are neighbours with Bai Baihe.
The added frivolous screen time for so-called "ice hockey trio" (the younger CP + guy's uncle) was so obvious to do with nepotism backed mostly by the investors. The trio are little relevant to the main storyline and there wouldn't be any impact on the plot without them.
The chemistry between Xiao Zhan and Bai Baihe was pretty good regardless. Strong chemistry doesn't necessarily entail much skinship or Hollywood-ish kissing/bed scenes. Lol. I have an inkling that XZ has seemed to be pretty conservative in his ways approaching intimate scenes with his costars since 2020. It is said that he also refused to promote CP for any of his new dramas. Other than the cringe-worthy ice-hockey trio, SBMS is fun yet down-to-earth to watch. The overall acting is solid. I'm slightly disappointed bcos I expected it to be better and it should have been better given a pretty decent cast other than the ice-hockey trio. There are so many punch lines in the drama, specifically from Sheng Yang's dad. LOL. It's a pity nepotism made it underwhelming and less than satisfaction.
Among all the three dramas of XZ premiered this year, I rated The Youth Memories the best among the three even I'm not the one for that type of genre. That being said, I re-watched The Longest Promise and will re-watch XZ's part of Sunshine By My Side while having no interest to re-watch The Youth Memories at all. Among all the three characters XZ played, I personally like Shi Ying's visuals and mannerism the best and enjoy watching Sheng Yang the most. Sheng Yang in SBMS is so cute!
XZ picked the scripts of The Untamed, Oath of Love, and The Youth Memories himself while he was sorta pushed to prop other projects demanded by his contract with the production company, New Classics Media. He does have eyes for and knows how to pick good scripts since the foregoing three projects he chose himself were all hit dramas with pretty good ratings that exposed him to new fans. But those dramas in which he's expected to promote other costars, e.g., The Longest Promise and SBMS, were more underwhelming than expected in terms of rating. He also got less screen time in these two dramas in which he's expected to promote other actors. In his recent interview, he revealed that the script of SBMS was already offered to him in 2019 but why did he wait three years to finally accept the role? SBMS did not seem to be his top pick back then and the production team waited three years for him to take the role. Hmmm. I hope from now on, he has a 100% say of his lines and screen time, even who his leading costars gonna be.
I hope to watch him and Yang Zi again...their chemistry is just so relaxed and fun to watch. One can see he really enjoyed working with YangZi...Oath of Love was just too short...and little plot.
Koala, why did you block my comment? Was that cos I said something about New Classics Media?
I'm a bit disappointed at Sunshine by My Side. The storyline lost its momentum and got a bit underwhelming in the later eps bcos of too much frivolous screen time given to the ice hockey CP and the guy's uncle. The ending was kinda rushed like many C dramas. Fans whined about possible nepotism in the casting decision of those extra roles. But I'll re-watch Sheng Yang's part in the drama since he's so cute. Lol. There are also quite a few punch lines, specifically from Sheng Yang's dad; he's hilarious. SbMS is a decent drama with very relatable plot and solid acting overall except for not-so-relevant hockey CP. It could have done much better given very good cast of the leading couple and some supporting actors too. That being said, SbMS had topped the total viewership chart across the board (TV + online streaming) among the peer dramas aired at around the same period. So SbMS, although not as impressive as The Youth Memories in terms of ratings and reviews, is still considered a commercially successful TV drama.
Xiao Zhan might not have gained an impressive number of new fans this year. But two of his dramas premiered this year were repeatedly aired on the state TV channels both with decent CVB ratings breaking 1.5 and 2. He's the only actor born in 90s who had ever achieved such rating records along with other senior actors (85ers and older). It's a breakthrough for his acting career in China since actors in that country can't take idol dramas forever and need to get recognition in the mainstream genre in the long run. These two successful TV dramas have opened doors for him to continue his acting career in the mainstream genre. None of the liuliang of his peers has been able to transition to the mainstream genre yet. His accomplishment this year was kinda validated through plenty of interviews with C mainstream media following the official wrap up of the dramas.