WK1

That is true. Besides the 6 years age gap, Yang Mi started really early, as a child star. So that gave her really huge start, in terms of getting followers.

Of her generation, Reba is without a doubt, the most popular.

The male and female leads of Imperial Cuisine are from The Story of Yanxi Palace. It is about food in the Ming Dynasty. Should be fun to watch.

Not a coincidence, really. I watched it only after you mentioned that drama. Was able to finish it so quickly, because quite a number of segments were rather predictable, so I fast forwarded those. And a modern drama like My Left Side, it is almost culture free. To be honest, lots of modern dramas are relatively culture free, in that they can appreciated by just about anyone around the world. Though we do not really understand Turkish culture, we still enjoyed My Left Side.

Yah. I do not think Reba will ever venture into the Turkish market. Not while she is so busy, just being in China.

Not difficult to keep ourselves occupied, while we wait for TBW. The Autumn Ballad is quite good. And Imperial Cuisine will be airing tomorrow, 8 pm Beijing time. And there is also that drama The Challenges of Midlife, starting on 23 Feb. TBW will just be a short wait.

Titania and Lulu both read the novel. They gave really good answers.

That is true. Hence, we really need to wait. I really feel that Reba will be making a decision soon. I mean, she finished filming LOA in Dec?? While she is doing lots of promotional shoots for the last two months, I think she should be well rested by now. Time to get back to filming. Either this drama, or another modern drama. But this one does look good. And it takes her away from the Qiao JingJing kind of roles, to try something really different.

Haha! I do not know how Yang Mi fans will respond to that, but I do know what you mean. They are from a slightly different generation.

Yang Mi said that about Reba in an interview? I am not surprised. I know they get along very well.

When I said Yang Mi is more popular than Reba, I was actually referring to the number of followers in Weibo. I think she still has much more than Reba. But, you are right that she has taken years to build up that popularity, while Reba simply exploded in the past few years. Will be interesting to see who has more Weibo followers in another 5 years.

My left side was surprisingly good!! And I finished the drama before reading your comment, so yes, I do agree that the ending was not so good. It was too rushed. the ML and FL just came back together so suddenly, without strong reasons. Not the actors' fault, but the screenwriter.

Having watched the entire series in a day (with the fast forward mode on some of the episodes), all the more I am convinced that Didi can act in a modern Turkish drama. She really does not look all that different from many of the college girls in the drama. You are right about her eyes. They look rather similar to the eyes of the FL. Reba's high bridge nose will charm Turkish viewers, for sure.

But Reba is probably too old to act as a 18-19 college kid. She did it in YAMG, but that was only for a few scenes. She could play a character more around her age, but I doubt the Turkish entertainment industry would welcome her there. Female actresses there likely see her as threat.

Well, something fake anyway.

Imperial Cuisine, also known as Royal Feast, will be broadcast from 22 Feb all the way till 26 March. That one, and Challenges at Midlife (as mentioned by Lulu), can easily fill our time, till TBW is aired (assuming that we will only get to watch it in April).

Did you watch Avengers: Endgame?? I think Chris Hemsworth wore a muscle suit, to show a drunk and heavily overweight Thor.

I think the producer and director of TBW likely feel that Allen's acting skill was more important. Other things, they can fix.

In that case, we just wait. Yes or no, we should know soon.

Based the trailer released last Oct, some viewers from China (and even some people here on this page), noted that Allen could be wearing those fake muscle pack that you could easily buy online. This will make him look muscular in those fighting scenes that involve him exposing his body.

It could be true, because he may not have had the time to bulk up, carrying weights. But, true or not, it is problem that can be easily resolved through good CGI. The production team at TBW is aware of this issue.

One of two things need to happen, before we can conclude that she is not taking this project. One, her agency announce that she is not taking it. Two, a booting ceremony of this drama, and another actress is given the leading role. Right now, all we have are just rumours.

In the first place, do we even know for a fact that she was offered the role? Perhaps multiple actresses were considered and the producer/director decided to give it to someone else. If she was offered and she turned it down, she must have very good reasons.

Why are you disappointed?? It was never announced that she would not take it

We wait for something official, either to confirm or deny that information.

Any official confirmation from her studio?

If Youku is not the producer, but merely allow Daylight Entertainment to air its work on their viewing platform, they may not be too concerned whether TBW will clash with Challenges at Midlife. Also, the two dramas are different genres, so viewers may not need to choose between the two. Viewers can always watch one drama after the other, even if they are shown at exactly the same time. Or maybe watch them on different days?

And looking at the age profile of all the stars in Challenges at Midlife and reading the synopsis, you get the feeling that this drama is going to appeal more toward the older audience who can identify with midlife crises, compared to those watching TBW.

As such, viewership of both dramas may not be badly affected if they clash.

I think the major consideration will still be the CGI for TBW. If they can fix the CGI earlier, I suspect they will air it earlier. If not, we could really be looking at April.

Chinese New Year is already over. All the CGI team members at TBW should be hard at work perfecting the CGI.

Got it. Understand what you mean. Some producers just produce dramas, but they do not have any broadcasting platform of their own, so they tie up with various organisations who do have broadcasting platforms (like Youku and Dragon TV, in the case of Challenges at midlife).

The female lead for Challenges at midlife is quite good. She can sing, acts well in movies as well as drama and even theatre. The ML is maybe not so famous or as successful as the FL. His most recent hit is Longest Day in Chang'An.

I just catch one episode of 1st half of my life, to check out the acting skills of both the leads (both were in that drama) and the FL was quite impressive. So, I will give Challenges at Midlife a try and see if the story and acting grip me.

Which drama? Challenges at Midlife? I thought it is also by Youku? MDL page of Challenges at Midlife shows Dragon TV and Youku. Is Daylight Entertainment part of Dragon TV?