Idol dramas aka 偶像剧

[zhen_shuai]

Okay, so, I happened to run across a new show the other day while browsing VeryCD called 《下一站，幸福》and the first episode of it was decent enough to convince me to watch a couple more. Things started to go downhill somewhere around the creepy stepdad and then, in like the fourth episode, one of the main characters gets diagnosed with a brain tumor. WTF? People still get brain tumors in soap operas? Really?

I did some research on the internet and it turns out that the male lead, 吴建豪, starred in 《流星花园》back in 2001, which was one of the first so-called 'idol dramas' aka 偶像剧. He's now a member of F4 (Flower 4), the (at the time fictional) band featured in 《流星花园》, which was adapted from a Japanese manga. Sounds like all kinds of crazy to me.

The Chinese wikipedia page for 偶像剧 has a somewhat hilarious list of 'defining characteristics' for idol dramas:

• 故事大多是以爱情为主。
  
• 故事大多是有三角以上的复杂恋情。
  
• 故事大多是使用优美浪漫的音乐作背景音乐。
  
• 男女主角其中一定有住在风景优美或高尚的屋子。
  
• 男主角在剧中的角色大多是很受人喜爱。
  
• 女主角在剧中的角色性格大多是天真善良，乐观积极。
  
• 女主角在剧中大多是生长于单亲家庭或家境贫困。
  
• 女配角在剧中大多是外表漂亮，但却有野心。
  
• 男配角对女主角总是很长情和不断的付出，却无法得到芳心。
  
• 主题曲、片尾曲、插曲大多是女歌手演唱。
  
• 取景大多是学校。
  
• 某部分偶像剧会以当红明星出演作为卖点，以吸引追捧明星的粉丝。
  
• 大部分偶像剧会有吻戏，甚至床戏。
  

Originally I though ALL TV shows from Taiwan were like this. Then I was lucky enough to discover 曹瑞原’s 《孽子》 (Crystal Boys), thanks to this forum. His other shows look interesting too, like 《孤戀花》. That would be my vote for the next first episode. No subs though, and probably at least some Minnan-ese.

What other (non-idol drama) television shows from Taiwan are out there? Also, all idol dramas = totally unwatchable, yes or no?

[chrix]

VeryCD is still available? I thought they closed it down.

Here's another non-Idol Taiwanese show I can recommend: 痞子英雄, http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/22358-first-episode-60-%e7%97%9e%e5%ad%90%e8%8b%b1%e9%9b%84-black-and-white

It starts out with all the clichés, but gets quite exciting from the fourth or fifth episode, I hope it gets picked up for a second season. Please post on the thread there if you start watching it, I would post more on it, but it looks like I'm the only one interested right now.

And in general, a lot of the shows produced by 公視 look quite watchable. http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/Category:%E5%85%AC%E8%A6%96%E9%9B%BB%E8%A6%96%E5%8A%87

[zhen_shuai]

Here's another non-Idol Taiwanese show...

Not according to wikipedia at least (scroll down to 2009):

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E5%81%B6%E5%83%8F%E5%8A%87%E5%88%97%E8%A1%A8

Looks like it might be worth check out, though. Thanks for the tip!

[chrix]

all right, it's full of idols maybe (I don't follow the idol scene ) but it's not your typical Taiwan schoolgirl romance drama... As people on the thread on the show have said, the entire police force and the mafia looks like they've just walked off from the set of Taiwan's Next Supermodel...

[Lu]

Yes, I recommend 公視 as well. They almost always have something decent on (it's not always something I'm interested in, but it's almost always of some quality).

And glad you like Niezi!