Current popular TV dramas in China

[venture160]

Hey, I am trying to find what would be the current "Top 10" TV dramas out there which are set in present day China. I've tried searching around Tudou but its hard to tell whats in and whats not as allot of their content is from Taiwan and Korea.... I am trying to find myself a good TV show to sit down and waste a few hours of my life and put off some homework... I just watched the whole season of 武林外传 and I　ａｍ　ｌｏｏｋｉｎｇ　ｆｏｒ　ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ　ａ　ｂｉｔ　ｍｏｒｅ　ｍｏｄｅｒｎ．　　Its hard to stay ontop of the trends in China from the states and the Chinese grad students are about 2 years behind the times!

Ｔｈａｎｋｓ！！！！

[gato]

Have you seen 《家有儿女》? It's a sitcom instead of a drama, but it's not bad, a little like "Family Ties" or "Growing Pains." The lead actress who plays mom was also in 《我爱我家》.

http://ent.sina.com.cn/v/f/jyen/index.html

《家有儿女》

[venture160]

O yea I watched allot of this while I was in China last year. I forgot the name, thanks! I remember there was a Shanghai contemp. family drama on that was pretty good as well.

[venture160]

I sort of answered my own question here, but Baidu has a ranking page for all sorts of things, one of them is TV shows.

http://top.baidu.com/tv.html

[heifeng]

Recently, I haven't watched a ton of dramas, but the few *somewhat* new ones that have managed to keep me interested past 1 or 2 episodes have included,

我是农民 (#50 on that list)

曹老板十八个秘书

律政佳人

of course

红问号 is always funny and entertaining to me, but then again it's usually on really late...it may just be the antithesis of 《家有儿女》

Then, I use to really like this series of short stories on the chongqing channel that were narrated in sichuan hua...can't recall what it was called though...anyone know?

[venture160]

Haifeng: Thanks for the input! Anyone have an idea what the Shanghai (I think) or just contemp. city life drama is called? I remember it was fairly professional looking and the camera work was a notch above the average crap a provincial station puts out.

[akdn]

Here are some TV series I've enjoyed recently:

• 离婚进行时　(set in Dalian)
  
• 靠近你温暖我 (set in Beijing)
  
• 新结婚时代 (set in Beijing, written by 王海鸰, who also wrote 中国式离婚)
  

Also, 重案六组 is quite a good police series - each episode is a stand-alone story, but the same characters appear in each episode.

[Ninky]

I think it all really depends on tastes. I have some Taiwanese dramas I can recommend to you... they're in Mandarin with Cantonese subtitles. What I've been doing is downloading the shows that have been 'fansubbed' into English. Anyhow, here's a list of some good Taiwanese dramas I've gotten my hands on lately...

1. Hana Kimi ( 花樣少年少女 )

2. The Rose ( 薔薇之戀 )

3. It Started with a Kiss ( 惡作劇之吻 )

4. KO One ( 終極一班 )

5. Tokyo Juliet ( 東方茱麗葉 )

6. Smiling Pasta ( 微笑 Pasta )

All of these are from within the past 5 years... The Rose probably being the oldest. Most of these are actually based on Japanese manga. But like I said, it really depends on taste. Hope this helps.

[heifeng]

http://www.btv.com.cn/btvweb/btvwz/2007-06/28/content_192506.htm

I've kinda been watching this drama recently. Plus I like the round little hat the main character wears hehe

[skylee]

I have some Taiwanese dramas I can recommend to you... they're in Mandarin with Cantonese subtitles.

Cantonese subtitles ... this is something new ...

[simonlaing]

It's like 3 years old or more but the Chinese copy of Sex in the City -

我好想好想谈联爱。

I like talking about love. Is pretty good and has some decent social commentary as well.

Reminds me of the movie shouji 手机 about philanderous affairs of modern life.

Have fun,

SimoN:)

[skylee]

Is 谈联爱 better than 談戀愛?

[akdn]

Currently watching 为爱结婚, starring 李亚鹏 (Wang Fei's husband).

It is set in Beijing, with a very accessible storyline (though it helps to know the Chinese for kidney disease and dialysis, roughly during episodes 3-7 ).

In a sentence: the ups-and-downs of a young, just-out-of-university couple, marrying against the wishes of their parents.

[heifeng]

with a very accessible storyline (though it helps to know the Chinese for kidney disease and dialysis, roughly during episodes 3-7 ).

kidney failure..yes, accessable...hmm (let/s play the kevin bacon game, but with chinese (or Chinese dubbed) soap opera subject matter)

For Kidney failure, I recommend 加油金顺! plus the pace of the soap opera is so slow that a new student studying Chinese can go from beginning to advanced before even finishing the series!

[skylee]

1. Hana Kimi ( 花樣少年少女 )

2. The Rose ( 薔薇之戀 )

3. It Started with a Kiss ( 惡作劇之吻 )

I have finished watching 惡作劇之吻 on youtube. It is silly and soapy' date=' but I enjoyed it very much. haha. I think it is a super time-killer.

I am now re-watching 薔薇之戀 on youtube. I've watched it (on and off) on TV before but never paid much attention to it. It is good for killing time on Friday/Saturday nights when there is nothing better to do.

I think 花樣少年少女 is very disappointing. But maybe I'm just too old.

Seems that there are no good mainland dramas lately.

[heifeng]

Ok, It's not exactly a drama since each story is independent, and I dunno if there are even dvd's (ok, well I haven't looked for 'em) but i've recently become addicted to 情ＭAN转转转..good stuff. It's the kind of comedy you need when you have a bad day and can't deal with mushy Chinese drama's anymore...

[WangYuHong]

I guess it's not really a drama, more of a "stupid sitcom" (my wife's words) but I enjoyed 《扬光的快乐生活》

I guess it is silly, but they don't delve into complicated topics so I found it easier to understand and follow along with. Plus, who doesn't love a good Tianjin accent? It cracks me up just listening to them speak.

[Meiguoren]

I still think nothing has come close to CCTV's Three Kingdoms series, although John Woo's upcoming film Red Cliff will certainly trump that.

Meiguoren

[heifeng]

here is a new (as in new to me) soap opera, that was actually interesting..at least what I caught on TV the other day was: 软弱。

[elina]

I seldom watch TV and film, and during this National Holiday I have incidentally watched 2 episodes of 金婚 at my parents’ home，I think it’s interesting and worth to see:

http://book.sina.com.cn/nzt/novel/lit/y/jinhun/

http://ent.people.com.cn/GB/8222/86598/101549/