theotherayn

hi6 preview for next saturday:
https://weibo.com/7536775935/5334811117097449

unless they airdrop it, i don't think so. Pull Strings is also starting tomorrow so they usually give a new show a week on its own (especially since they're both idol dramas.) maybe there's a slight chance for next week/very late August? but no melon owner has hinted anything

Harper's Bazaar x Love in Red Dust for Qixi festival

August 19
10AM - BAZAAR blockbuster
https://www.weibo.com/7907743005/Re5ds8Ox5
10:10AM - BAZAAR video materials
https://www.weibo.com/7907743005/Re5hCqwkp
10:10AM - atmospheric snippets
https://so.douyin.com/video/detail?aweme_id=7675417361910906707
10:20AM - BAZAAR video materials
https://www.weibo.com/7907743005/Re5lClCmK
10:30AM - atmospheric snippets
https://so.douyin.com/video/detail?aweme_id=7675417750072236523

yeah i was a little scared because if the contracts were all signed and he suddenly backed out, he could piss off youku (at a time when pissing off a platform is a bad idea) but if it also involved an internal battle among youku executives then this is better for everyone. i wish them luck in courting the guy they reportedly want since his fans are also vehemently against this project.

re LIRD, they shot hi6 and a magazine so it's coming soon. my theory is that they think the buzz from either Divas Hit the Road and Lament of Autumn airing first will help the show better and both of those are tentatively scheduled for early September (Mango seems to be better at sticking to rumored scheduling unlike iQiyi that has a lot of unaired dramas to choose from)

tbh the director and screenwriter didn't have a good reputation based on the comments i saw on douban/xhs (and i really don't like multi season formats, i get enough impatience from that in western media lol) so I was ambivalent about this, personally. but yeah, it would do him well to try a political drama in the future, hopefully with a better creative team.

these are all just rumors and i don't remember them all but (aside from the ones I mentioned above): the youku modern drama with Jing Boran/Sun Qian, tencent suspense with Jing Tian/Zhang Xincheng, mango modern drama with Wei Zheming/Liu Xiening. there's also supposedly a xianxia drama with Ju Jingyi/Zhang Yunlong

🍉 er he seems to have backed out of Chang Ning Di Jun. one melon is that the script was changed into a two male lead drama (the novel itself had a male frenemy/character foil to Shen Leng but the melon implies they made it BL-adjacent. Liu Xiening also denied the melon she's the FL.) another melon is that youku wants a certain movie actor even though they were the ones who posted on official social media accounts that the ML was already decided (and said movie actor keeps rejecting the show.) either way, it's another mess so good luck to the production team.

🍉Yu Zheng said in his last livestream that Re Jing Hong is on hold

🍉 Divas Hit the Road 8 to air on Fridays starting September 11, pilot on September 4

🍉 no update on Love in Red Dust airing dates. though WXY reportedly said "maybe September" during the hi6 recording.

🍉Epic of Tang Dynasty likely won't start production this year (serious historical dramas have longer approval process)

btw, just in case it starts another fan war. there's also a fake rumor* going round that yu zheng is trying to snatch a role for him from another drama that's about to start filming but all of the rumors about Xingyue joining that project always seemed like yxh accounts just guessing he was in it because his schedule was free. the only recent projects that the more reputable melon owners ever connected with him were Re Jing Hong and Chang Ning Di Jun. (*the root was a melon owner vaguely talking about a platform change and had nothing to do with actors, but yxh spread it was an ML change.)

🍉 tentatively scheduled to air every friday starting September 11

UPDATE: + pilot episode on September 4

i didn't check how many there were exactly but i know it's a long one. and there was a melon months ago that Youku was testing out the Netflix model (aka multi-season shows with smaller number of episodes) and this one only has 12 episodes filed so they might be planning for more seasons in the future if the first one earns enough.

no, recent melons have the iQiyi schedule at Heavy Weapon (Aug 10) -> Pull Strings (simulcast with Youku, Aug 20) -> The Awake -> Spring of the Blade (simulcast with Youku, late Aug/early September) so it looks like it's been moved to September.

haven't found an english translation but you can read via google translate here: https://m.hetushu.com/book/4898/index.html

only read the first few chapters but according to the drama synopsis, they're aging up Shen Leng (WXY's character) from 12 to 18 (at the starting point of events)

it is Chang Ning Di Jun. he told the director of Divas8 to visit him in Xiangshan (where the shoot is) during the presscon last July 31. the stunt casting call also has his height and weight listed. the rest of the cast aren't confirmed though.

just rumors, some melon owners still have it listed. if it does air it might be late August as the melons that do have it, it's listed last.

according to their schedules, Wang Xingyue and Xu Ruohan will be recording hi6 (or hello saturday) on August 10

August Schedule:

Aug 6 - Business shoot (Pelliot)
Aug 7 - Business shoot
Aug 8 - Business shoot
Aug 9 - Business shoot
Aug 10 - Variety show recording (hi6 with Xu Ruohan)
Aug 11 - Business shoot
Aug 12 - Magazine shoot (Harper's Bazaar with XRH)
Aug 14 - Magazine shoot
Aug 21 - Business shoot (Ant Insurance for Divas8)
Aug 22 - Variety show recording (hi6 with the Divas8 cast)

update: no longer joining the drama this month.

apparently he tells the Divas8 director here that if he visits Xiangshan, he'll treat him so it's more or less confirmed:
https://weibo.com/3182423937/5326537076247317

and no problem! i wish it was less hassle to go back and tag everything. after a drama airs there's just too many photos

it does seem to be most likely true, though the FL rumors are confusing because the synopsis only mentions male characters lol. and the only downside is, the director and screenwriter don't seem to be well-liked (didn't see Sword Snow Stride but the main complaint seems to be excessive slow motion/MV type drama) but it'll be good for him to do a political drama with more action/war scenes.

and yeah, the tagging is new thing for photos so you can actually go back into all the old dramas and tag him to get the photo count up. there are a couple more Divas8 photos from the director that I've been too lazy to upload. and of course, when LIRD releases, there'll be more to post

🍉Project Updates:

Divas Hit the Road 8 - team is arriving back in China with a meet and greet in Shanghai on Jul 30. director said they already cut the first episode and it's rumored to air in September

Love in Red Dust - some melons owners are saying it's delayed again with another drama taking its place in the August schedule. they might be waiting for DHTR in September for more free publicity? tho it means there'll be 2 XRH dramas that month

Re Jing Hong - Yu Zheng is busy hyping up the Bai Lu breakup drama (not Xing Zhi Wan after all but 朝玉阶) so it seems to be delayed. WXY fan club announced they're resuming support and activities

Xing Zhi Wan - has reportedly been moved to iQiyi. still with Zhou Ye and still aiming to shoot at the end of the year

Chang Ning Di Jun - shooting starts end of August for 90 days. most of the melon owners are saying it's him with rumors of an 96-born actress for the FL (Liu Xiening is the popular guess) but this is a historical/political drama (story connected to Tencent's 不让江山 with Yang Yang) and not a romance

anything with a "🍉" emoji is a rumor

yeah but there's some conflicting melons at the moment. some melon owners are now saying he's the ML of Tencent's Psychic Princess (with Li Landi) that's supposed to start next month. and there's no news on when Changning will start, but it was originally slated for Q2. the youku one seems more possible though as he's never had a lead role in tencent. hopefully we'll know soon.