I think Luhan looks too much of an idol singer and doesn't suit ancient dramas. The characters nor the plot…
Bruh just how much u expect the rating to be for a new drama in its first day/week? It’s very rare even for someone with high public recognition, have 70-80 million weibo followers, have better timeslot/airing date, have better promotion team, have better everything, to jump to a high rating in the first day/week. U expect too much then.
Many novel fans gave low ratings to FoTD bc they said the drama didn't exactly follows the novel, but truthfully…
I read his interview, he said he really tried his best for this drama and there might be some flaws that ppl will not like.. he will just try harder in the next project. He said he don’t want to read the comments lol. Yes the rating went up. Yesterday’s rating was 1.153%, the highest for fotd so far. Note that the rating for fotd is an average of 2 episodes. Also how by 11pm fotd lost almost half of their viewers bc it’s late ppl went to sleep. The views on online platforms reached 5 billion in 10 days already. I think few days ago I saw him trending on weibo and many ppl praised his performance (the one him getting tortured). Nah ppl can think whatever they want. Like I said everyone has different taste and that’s fine. And if they want to judge a drama just based on who is the casting, the plot, the character then all is good too. People tend to be prejudice bc luhan’s idol status is too strong that ppl always look down and didn’t take him seriously no matter what role he takes. It’s not only frustrating for him but for someone who has been following whatever he does too.
Many novel fans gave low ratings to FoTD bc they said the drama didn't exactly follows the novel, but truthfully the production just change the beginning of the story when Chen Changsheng first meeting with Xu Yourong when they were children, the ages change too and how now CCS only has a year limit to live, they change some other things too but nothing much or major that will deter it from the original novel, the rest of it so far following the novel exactly. As we all know the novel is very slow paced, until today it has over 1000 chapters and still ongoing. If they were to follow the novel closely the first encounter (or was it the love blossoming) btw the 2 main leads was about in 300-ish chapters if I remember correctly. So I think the change in drama adaptation is good and properly planned.
Tho it has quite a low rating given by avid novel fans most likely based just on a first few episodes in which changes on the novel can be seen, but the drama TV ratings has been going strong and broke many records. In all first 4 days they were aired with a total of 8 episodes, all 4-day ratings broke 1% rating and ranked 1st in its time slot (1.041%, 1.080%, 1.024%, 1.051%). If it was to count for overall it ranked 3. But this is already a very great feat, it broke many records which some said is quite hard to achieve because FoTD is a drama that airs at 10PM CST... many people already went to bed by that time so for FoTD to still gain that many viewers, and broke 1% rating from the start and consistently is a great feat. The 2 dramas that ranked 1st and 2nd are broadcast drama that were aired at golden time, 7.30PM CST... the time advantage for these 2 dramas are huge, not to mention In the Name of the People that ranked 1st has over 5% single day ratings record, the drama is about corruption and it appeals to majority of age. The drama views of FoTD on various online platform has broke 2 billion views in 96 hours.. the number will keep growing bc of the word of mouth and online search. Going by this rate I'm sure it will achieve great number views by the end of the drama.
I think aside from the production and the novel origin, the casting has a lot to do with the drama success, the director wants Luhan to play CCS bc he said luhan is CCS when he first saw him. The director is very persistent on luhan and was willing to wait for him. I think it took luhan's team quite a time to confirm his participation as his schedule was quite tight. Various media reported that the drama production wants to use this chance to utilize what they called luhan's effect. Luhan is a huge star in not only china but asia. I dare to say hes already a household name in mainland china, now he just need a good and successful drama to solidify his status as household name in drama field too. Luhan is a singer that always topped chart rankings and digital sales that exceed million everytime he releases a mini album, he only filmed movies prior to this, this drama is his first drama. The hype and anticipation are very huge. Another reason it's great to cast him is bc he's a box office star in movie.. all his movies at least surpassed box office minimal numbers of 100 million sales, with 2 of his movies each exceed 1 billion sales in ticket sales (doesn't necessarily mean the movie is good but his power to attract ppl to spend money/watch his work is displayed here). He's also a permanent cast member in china's no.1 highest rating variety show Running Brothers or now is known as Keep Running. Even when he appeared as cast member in Back to School season 2 variety show last year, the rating for the first episode surpassed the highest rating of season 1. But obviously the success of the projects he participated is not solely bc of him but also thanks to other cast members and every staff that worked hard. In terms of the brand power, based on the data collected in 2016, he's ranked no.5 among all the huge name senior celebs. In terms of income earned he's ranked no.2 just behind Fan Bingbing. Theres no doubt that he has huge fandom and his power to attract viewers are top notch. His fans keep spreading his works too, I see this drama is translated by various language all over the world. This is what the production is aiming too somehow. I think I saw some merchandise already too. Please understand that making dramas is not just to cater to viewers need.. its all about demand but profit much more. Drama production that attract/maintain viewers on top of making huge profit is what is all about recently. The casts and the production for this drama may not be the best compared to other drama, but it's not hurt to give it a chance and if you feel you cannot watch anymore might be bc of some reasons then just drop it. At the end of the day different people have different taste.
I'm sorry if I'm yapping too much about luhan.. not intend to bragging I just want ppl to know who he is, why he is such a brand power, why he is chosen as the main character in this drama and also considered as weapon to attract viewers (as reported by various media).
tl;dr...
1) FoTD is the most anticipated drama in 2017, ranked no.1 in weibo poll - the hype and promotion are real and huge (tho its a bit rushed bc the airing date was suddenly changed to a month ahead).
2) Casting Luhan as the main character is a good decision bc he draws viewers aka ratings (and in no way im not giving credit to the original novel, great production, staff, other casts that all worked hard for this drama). Since the drama was aired luhan has been consistenly topping star popularity in vlinkage.
3) FoTD drama airs every 10pm cst from mon-thurs with 2 episodes each day - broke many records and achieved 1% rating on its very 1st episode already and has been consistently keeping the rating steady. But many anticipated drama with many big names/seniors will come out soon, it's going to be quite a competition. We will see if FoTD can keep the viewers on them.
4) The views on various online platform reached 2 billions already - the number will keep growing.
5) It's a good drama - Please give it a chance and don't just judge it from the first few episodes. The start maybe a bit slow as this drama is very different from other xianxia drama/novel, it's not really action packed but focuses more on the plot and character development (yeah if they follow the novel, but I think they will change it a bit to not make it so boring).
About the character and acting, I'm no way is a good critic like the rest of you who have been watching many dramas. I have quite the opposite opinion from most of you. If you watch luhan's movies you will see he has a lot of expressions, different character played different way to carry himself. In this drama adaptation, for me, I don't think luhan's acting is stiff, but actually he's doing a good job carrying the Chen Changsheng character. Tbh I'm not expecting much too but I'm pleasantly surprised with what I've seen so far. In the novel, CCS character is way different from most of the drama character aired recently. In a way, it's refreshing to see original character like him. In the novel, CCS is described as always calm/tranquil, socially awkward, stoic, pure soul, honest, logical, inexperienced, down to earth, strong willed/mind, tenacious, stubborn, knowledgeable, mature, determined, strict, rather than using power to fight he uses his brain to negotiate, weak in the beginning but will slowly gain power type of protagonist. I'm no way sugar coating CCS character, it's all based on the novel, I figure it won't change much in drama too with his character being the center of everything. The details in novel chapter is compensated with great cinematography. I love the BGMs and OSTs too. Also about how he looks, you know CCS in the original novel is 14 years old right. He's 19 in this so I think luhan suited CCS character bc of his young looking face. I think novel fans will like this drama version if they don't like the novel version which have very slow/long paced, weak main character getting bullied and attacked all the time, prolonged details in every scene etc.
Tho it has quite a low rating given by avid novel fans most likely based just on a first few episodes in which changes on the novel can be seen, but the drama TV ratings has been going strong and broke many records. In all first 4 days they were aired with a total of 8 episodes, all 4-day ratings broke 1% rating and ranked 1st in its time slot (1.041%, 1.080%, 1.024%, 1.051%). If it was to count for overall it ranked 3. But this is already a very great feat, it broke many records which some said is quite hard to achieve because FoTD is a drama that airs at 10PM CST... many people already went to bed by that time so for FoTD to still gain that many viewers, and broke 1% rating from the start and consistently is a great feat. The 2 dramas that ranked 1st and 2nd are broadcast drama that were aired at golden time, 7.30PM CST... the time advantage for these 2 dramas are huge, not to mention In the Name of the People that ranked 1st has over 5% single day ratings record, the drama is about corruption and it appeals to majority of age. The drama views of FoTD on various online platform has broke 2 billion views in 96 hours.. the number will keep growing bc of the word of mouth and online search. Going by this rate I'm sure it will achieve great number views by the end of the drama.
I think aside from the production and the novel origin, the casting has a lot to do with the drama success, the director wants Luhan to play CCS bc he said luhan is CCS when he first saw him. The director is very persistent on luhan and was willing to wait for him. I think it took luhan's team quite a time to confirm his participation as his schedule was quite tight. Various media reported that the drama production wants to use this chance to utilize what they called luhan's effect. Luhan is a huge star in not only china but asia. I dare to say hes already a household name in mainland china, now he just need a good and successful drama to solidify his status as household name in drama field too. Luhan is a singer that always topped chart rankings and digital sales that exceed million everytime he releases a mini album, he only filmed movies prior to this, this drama is his first drama. The hype and anticipation are very huge. Another reason it's great to cast him is bc he's a box office star in movie.. all his movies at least surpassed box office minimal numbers of 100 million sales, with 2 of his movies each exceed 1 billion sales in ticket sales (doesn't necessarily mean the movie is good but his power to attract ppl to spend money/watch his work is displayed here). He's also a permanent cast member in china's no.1 highest rating variety show Running Brothers or now is known as Keep Running. Even when he appeared as cast member in Back to School season 2 variety show last year, the rating for the first episode surpassed the highest rating of season 1. But obviously the success of the projects he participated is not solely bc of him but also thanks to other cast members and every staff that worked hard. In terms of the brand power, based on the data collected in 2016, he's ranked no.5 among all the huge name senior celebs. In terms of income earned he's ranked no.2 just behind Fan Bingbing. Theres no doubt that he has huge fandom and his power to attract viewers are top notch. His fans keep spreading his works too, I see this drama is translated by various language all over the world. This is what the production is aiming too somehow. I think I saw some merchandise already too. Please understand that making dramas is not just to cater to viewers need.. its all about demand but profit much more. Drama production that attract/maintain viewers on top of making huge profit is what is all about recently. The casts and the production for this drama may not be the best compared to other drama, but it's not hurt to give it a chance and if you feel you cannot watch anymore might be bc of some reasons then just drop it. At the end of the day different people have different taste.
I'm sorry if I'm yapping too much about luhan.. not intend to bragging I just want ppl to know who he is, why he is such a brand power, why he is chosen as the main character in this drama and also considered as weapon to attract viewers (as reported by various media).
tl;dr...
1) FoTD is the most anticipated drama in 2017, ranked no.1 in weibo poll - the hype and promotion are real and huge (tho its a bit rushed bc the airing date was suddenly changed to a month ahead).
2) Casting Luhan as the main character is a good decision bc he draws viewers aka ratings (and in no way im not giving credit to the original novel, great production, staff, other casts that all worked hard for this drama). Since the drama was aired luhan has been consistenly topping star popularity in vlinkage.
3) FoTD drama airs every 10pm cst from mon-thurs with 2 episodes each day - broke many records and achieved 1% rating on its very 1st episode already and has been consistently keeping the rating steady. But many anticipated drama with many big names/seniors will come out soon, it's going to be quite a competition. We will see if FoTD can keep the viewers on them.
4) The views on various online platform reached 2 billions already - the number will keep growing.
5) It's a good drama - Please give it a chance and don't just judge it from the first few episodes. The start maybe a bit slow as this drama is very different from other xianxia drama/novel, it's not really action packed but focuses more on the plot and character development (yeah if they follow the novel, but I think they will change it a bit to not make it so boring).
About the character and acting, I'm no way is a good critic like the rest of you who have been watching many dramas. I have quite the opposite opinion from most of you. If you watch luhan's movies you will see he has a lot of expressions, different character played different way to carry himself. In this drama adaptation, for me, I don't think luhan's acting is stiff, but actually he's doing a good job carrying the Chen Changsheng character. Tbh I'm not expecting much too but I'm pleasantly surprised with what I've seen so far. In the novel, CCS character is way different from most of the drama character aired recently. In a way, it's refreshing to see original character like him. In the novel, CCS is described as always calm/tranquil, socially awkward, stoic, pure soul, honest, logical, inexperienced, down to earth, strong willed/mind, tenacious, stubborn, knowledgeable, mature, determined, strict, rather than using power to fight he uses his brain to negotiate, weak in the beginning but will slowly gain power type of protagonist. I'm no way sugar coating CCS character, it's all based on the novel, I figure it won't change much in drama too with his character being the center of everything. The details in novel chapter is compensated with great cinematography. I love the BGMs and OSTs too. Also about how he looks, you know CCS in the original novel is 14 years old right. He's 19 in this so I think luhan suited CCS character bc of his young looking face. I think novel fans will like this drama version if they don't like the novel version which have very slow/long paced, weak main character getting bullied and attacked all the time, prolonged details in every scene etc.
This turned out to be pretty long read hhhhh