January 2024 C-dramas Off to Bad Start as High Profile Premieres of Both Chinese Paladin 4 and 6 Adaptations and Love Endures Flops
January 2024 is still the year of the rabbit as lunar new year is not until February 10th so maybe with the turn of the lunar year the lucks with change with C-dramas. The premieres of three high profile dramas are all considered flops within the industry and for varying side reasons but the same core principle – casting pretty and famous stars cannot overcome a lackluster script. There were two Chinese Paladin game adaptations that premiered within a day of each other with Sword and Fairy 4 (CP4) with Ju Jing Yi and Chen Zhe Yuan. The two leads fandoms hate each other due to the billing fight so the stars have done no promos and there is no CP to even ship so the drama has no hook, plus the story line is from an older game and feels dated. Sword and Fairy (CP6) with Xu Kai and Yu Shu Xin got smacked with complaints for her once again annoying baby voice and also a story line that focuses on the CP romance but has nothing else interesting going on. Love Endures with Yang Zi and Fan Cheng Cheng is coasting on her star power and it’s not enough to hard carry, his camp’s hope for an elevation is not happening but her side is fine as she’s still getting good reviews for her portion and the overall lack of ratings and buzz for this drama won’t be an impact to her. And to explain the level of flop of these three dramas – last year’s flop Love You Seven Times had more buzz and viewership than each of these three.
When can we stop talking about sword and fairy? I think everyone who goes to this site already know they’re flops.
I’ve blacklisted Esther for her annoying baby voice. I refuse to watch anything she’s in
Her voice is decent in My Journey to You (at least I think it was, since I dropped that drama only a few eps in). The problem with her voice is when she portrays cute characters. But then again, most of her roles are cute characters so…
Ur choice ur preference but others’ thinkking may differ
Ur choice ur preference but others’ thinking may differ
Even when there’s buzz of her drama, as soon as I tuned in, I just can’t because of the annoying baby talking that’s very pretentious. After Journey to you, knowing she can talk normal, I just turn everything off if I see her babytalking.
Wow if even love you seven times was more popular than them, then it’s really that bad
Why is it that Yang Chaoyue received bigger flack than the leads of bothSword and Fairy series if Love You Seven Times actually did decently? I don’t see Ju Jingyi or Esther getting almost cancelled like YCY
LYST had higher expectations being the follow up to LBFAD. And personally JJY and Esther’s acting are more watchable than YCY. There’s a lot of reasons why a drama fails. If JJY or Esther continue to have a series of flops, they will probably get downgraded too.
Love you seven times is sister drama of love between fairy and devil,they have the same author,scriptwriter,producer etc,they have even bigger budget.
I think it’s pretty simple, maybe she has worse acting skill than them, and the fact she never has success under her belt so people can’t really defend her
YCY is definitely a worse actress (one of the worst in my opinion), and continues getting lead roles. LYST was also a beloved IP for many. I honestly tuned in from time to time just to see how bad she was, and she did not disappoint. She’s cute, and I’m sure she’s nice and likeable in real life, but she really has no talent. Baby voice aside for Esther, these other two actresses might not be oscar-worthy, but they’re both serviceable.
Hmmm? Yang Zi received flack for her bad acting in Love Endures though. C-netz are also calling her the water queen again because she has been faring badly for dramas on TV broadcast ever since CVB ratings (which cannot be bought, unlike web views) came into existence.
The funny thing is that Yang Zi fans are now suddenly reminded that TOOL exists. Yet when the show aired they dismissed it, attacked the ML because at the time they thought that the Hairpin with Kris Wu was coming and she would score big with that. They couldn’t have been more awful.
Ah the irony. The show they denied is the one show she has left now, with real ratings. Of course it’s too late to claim it as everyone saw how they behaved years ago.
TOOL would have had higher ratings if not for her ahjumma face (is anyone really convinced she looks 10 years younger than Xiao Zhan?) and unbelievable portrayal of the female lead. If they stuck to Song Zuer, maybe the female lead’s characterization would have stuck closer to the novel than being changed to another loud wailing character like all Yang Zi’s characters are.
About the water queen. I’m also confused by the disparity, is it possible to inflate the number of views that much? I mean like her drama last year, it reach 100 mil view for the day.
I don’t wanna say this, but even yang yang with fomh did better in ratings even with the backlash from the public. But for webcast it reached 50 mil view per day, half of yang zi. So I’m confused, why so different?
Correct me if I’m wrong, from what I’ve heard, the most ridiculous one was her Psychologist drama where the web views had increased from 240m to 1b/1000m in over 8 hours from 10am to 8pm on a normal work/school day. Considering that China’s population is 1.4b/1400m…
She has two nicknames in China. The 0.1 queen because her dramas keep landing on 0.1 but the second is 800 million queen.
That comes from the time the Psychologist was broadcasting and it was going badly. We could still see views on Tencent though and during just one night she dropped 800 million. So absolutely yes, you can inject huge amounts, as long as you are willing to pay the money.
It’s more difficult to follow these days but we still can. The views usually cluster up north (in small towns) and they are injected during the night, so it’s easy to recognise when the water armies are in motion.
She also injects Weibo numbers. For this drama the discussions jumped in one day by 19 billion. Not million, billion.
As I said though she is hardly the only one, though she is among the worst. But Cheng Yi is buying super likes, Deng Wei is shopping everything like there is no tomorrow, Gong Jun is right behind him. This is why people are very sensitive when you mention real data, in cent, only very few people actually have it.
For this drama, she’s been caught manipulating data on Yunhe. Yunhe reports web broadcasts figures while Kuyun aggregates both web and tv broadcasts levels. The show’s Yunhe number was higher than its Kuyun figure (on one of the days? I’m not sure how often it happened since I don’t follow the data myself) which doesn’t make sense because a=b+c but now b>a. However this gives her fans ammunition to go around bragging about topping the Yunhe chart while other figures are showing a different story.
@Lilith
Psychologist aired when I was on hiatus from dramaland so I know nothing about it but it is ridiculous.. 1 billion view in one day…
@You
Is the money paid to the platform or to external contractors? Wow to think it can be injected like that. The weibo discussions jumping by billions… damn I know nothing about this. And to think other people also doing this. It’s hard to see what’s organic these days.
For webcast, since popularity and views can’t be counted on, does it more accurate to base the success on the number of ads? I have seen that a few times
@Guest
Seems like it wasn’t a clean job from her side. I didn’t know about the kuyun and yunhe and their relation. Can’t trust anything nowadays
Her acting is terrible, it’s always the same characterization. and her yelling? please my ears. All of those memes/gifs of her “bad acting” went viral on chinese socials. but once no one watched LE, her team started to buy all data charts so it looked like a hit when the ratings are below 0.1 = flop (which was set by herself from last year with the psychologist, JSTV ratings are 0.3+) theres almost 0 discussion on Love endures even her own fans don’t bother watching it.
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I agree that the dramas mentioned are very meh and the even if I really like the leads I just can’t. The only cdrama I am watching right now is My Boss and although the trope has been used before the lead couple is very cute together. My first time seeing the lead actress in a drama and she is adorable. I even find myself humming the ost every now and then.
chen xingxu and zhang ruonan? Oh haven’t check that one. But the snippet oneline does seems funny
Frankly, Yang Zi should stop acting young cos she isn’t nor does she look like at all. I checked her new drama cos I don’t dislike FCC and I’m curious about his acting. But pairing such a young guy with YZ does look awkward and cringy, specifically when YZ was in school uniform.
Im suprise the ratings were lower then Love you seven times. Love endures I thought had a good beginning but somehow it never gain traction. I like Zhu Yan Man Zhi, havnt watch her in quite awhile.somehow aft playing the first episode, I never did go continue watching. All 3 dramas no longer on my watchlist. I was watching Divas hit the road and related clips. Hoping for an intefesting drama to drop soon.
I don’t understand the hype about Yang Zi. I really can’t be the only one. Is this build up good will from Ashes of love because I watched that show and really the only good thing about that show was the ML. She acts like a teenager in her characters and that’s really off putting.
I don’t hate her but she doesn’t do it for me either. I didn’t finish Ashes of Love and haven’t watch a drama of hers since.
Thank goodness I read the novel before and really liked it. That was why I attempted the drama.
Spot on your reviews on both the sword & fairy dramas. I stopped watching 6 after just 2 episodes because of her voice and weak nothing else to offer plot. I continue watching 4 bec the story line with better supporting cast is more appealing. Yangzi’s Love Endures is really in my opinion very good friendship drama. Especially with regards to Huang Yingzi n her father both leaders of their childhood friends gang, some one always have to give in more and even sacrifice to hold the group together. Go the extra mile. Yangzi looks very young and matching with those younger than her. It is the audience psychological mental blocking themselves because they are aware of their actual age gap difference. As usual she acted naturally and so satisfying to follow and see how the friendship ends for everyone. Wish I had a friend like Huang Yingzi when I was young
I’m actually loving love endures though I know this is Yang zi’s very least drama for 2024 but I’m really enjoying it, I never thought I’d love it as I am keeping my expectations low. Still waiting for her other dramas Lost you forever season 2, the Golden hairpin and Best choice ever. Also looking forward to Flourished peony which I know will be broadcast in 2025.
This is what happens when casting is based on liu liang (fan base and buzz) rather than acting chops. Then they spend so much money to pay for the liu liang and had to cut budget on script and effects.
I heard all of the money went into her pockets, she was recently on the hot search for it too. No wonder her dad has all the money to randomly invest in random dramas. Talk about greedy and selfish.
so it is really her voice? i have never watched her drama before, so when i watch this cp6, i feel weird, i thought the producer of drama intentionally edit her voice to make it super high and feel digital
That is her real fake voice. She uses it everywhere and intentionally talks like that because it’s “cute”.
We do know what her natural way of talking is because she forgot herself once and talked normally. She has a lovely voice. But she chooses this fake baby nonsense.
I tuned in for CP6 eps 1 but stopped mid way and haven’t checked back since. However, CP4 has better storylines and I love the friendship bonding in CP4. I wait everyday for the shows, I love seeing the development of their friendship and how they solve problems together. CP4 is getting better as the hidden truths start to unfold. Watching CP4 reminded me a bit of CP1/2 of how the friendship developed and evolved as they on the journey to save the world.
I’m so tired of hater tries to hate on Yangzi lol.First of all LOVE ENSURE,is an unpopular theme-camping youth drama airing for winter vocation(not summer lol)and is continuing to grow in term of views and do better off than 2 higher grossing costumes drama with little promotion from Youku(Youku averaged yun he views are 20m per ep lol … This drama is a small production and this is the director’s 2nd drama on air after the 1st one with Ma sichun and still it got a great feedback with words of mouth(go to dy,xhs not yxh acc in Weibo lmao thoughts Weibo rating went from 7 point something to 8.1 and even got praised for its suspenseful plot) hater be like,YangZi buys views blabla. Even though it is solely from yxh acc,and about the psychologist ,it is literally the same production as Love endure and got a decently rating considering its unpopular theme with mental health!The 800 m is literally a glitch and was attacked badly by yxh on Weibo.The audacity to spread rumors using misinformation sources is outrageous.if you don’t know the truth, just shut up.Your gege never love you back alas…protect gege like the life depends on him is ridiculous and one more thing Zimi never want to mention TOOL or your gege cause after the corporation,YangZi got a lot of damaged from fans like you….
If the psychologist doing badly YangZi won’t work with Yll again,Their drama literally were sold to small platforms like Youku for bidding high price.YangZi like to work with them bc she can choose the script,the unpopular theme like the psychologist and love ensure were not received by the industry like production and brands but was picked up by YangZi that’s why it can be filmed (the producers literally stated himself)YangZi never care about the profit or famed like some people claim.she’s literally work hard to spread awareness about mental health and gives a whole screen time to other characters like in love ensure but some people have the nerve to badmouth her drama that did decently bc she chooses too is ridiculous cause YangZi can choose to act in costume drama with Tencent or iQIYI but she’s not! She is passionate about her work and that’s what matter …
YangZi does not deserve so much hate..
She was softbanned by iqiyi cause of her not promoting Mowgli boy cause she was second billing lul and wanted first billing after AOL aired (which is widely known in china) her last drama with iqiyi was 2018/2019.
See no matter what you say, they will always have a bad thing to say, the only I can say to others to watch the drama and decid for yourself if you like it or not. Koala calls it a flop, but it is topping all the charts, even YZ and FCC characters are also topping the chart. This drama hit more than 10k heat index in 11 days (considering the fat that Youku changed the regulations and made it hard since October last year for dramas to reach 10k), got over 400m views too even with the fact that this drama has an unpopular theme. But the next thing they will say is that she bought all these 😂😂. The only thing they can use now is the TV ratings cause it is not high, I do hope it would get better.
For the psychologist drama of 800m views, they blame her for the the mistake of a company which is sad. A glitch that got rectified, but they still use it against her🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️
Huh? But CP6 has active buzz and the characters proper are high on the charts. On DataWin it’s also #1. In general it’s doing really well.
So what exactly defines “flop” here? Because I’m genuinely confused. Are you going by MyDramaList, lol?
Hi, not wanted to be rude! But a voice don’t define a person! We all have something that we hope we can change, so why dislike a person because of one particular thing! She young, haven’t been a actess that long as other has, but she still trying to do better!She hard working, never complain,never go beyond her innocent or principles!
She attack her ML because of her behavior and morals! I personally find her refreshing and very natural unique beauty and talented down to earth person! Who can land a drama without kissing and skin touching! And still fell a deep chemistry from the ML & FL lead, now that to me is real unfiltered genuine acting!
“natural unique beauty” is the most funniest thing i’ve ever heard and the person in question is yangzi who’s known as plastic surgery monster in china IJBOL.
Yangzi’s acting is always the SAME & mid. stomping, screaming, crying its almost as if i can guess her next move. and the TV ratings for love endures is below 0.1 now (the bottom of TV ratings) yet her fans kept bragging about “nation’s daughter”. she has no chemistry with the cast and needs to stop acting in roles where she is “young” (17-18 years old), its not believable at all. and they need to stop with the add on filters to blur her bad plastic surgery off her face. once the water (fake data) and $$ is OUT, her dramas are flop. (*ps you can’t buy TV ratings but yunhe and other charts can be bought -which she did in attempt to cover up the flop love endures is ijbol)
FCC and Yangzi have no chemistry at all (the age difference really shows lol and her playing a high school student is not believable at all especially not with that face), and the ratings for Love Endures flopped terribly till the point that smaller unknown channels (airing RE RUNS) are doing better than JSTV airing Love Endures who’s in the BIG5 channels well looks like they’re about to get kicked out since LE had them flopping to the bottom with 0.1 ratings. It’s not surprising Yangzi took this flop drama for $$$$ since she’s known for pocketing majority of the investment (her salary) and Yuele is a new company with no hit dramas yet she keeps acting in their dramas which is obviously for the money.