any good TV series recently?

[roddy]

Turned out it’s on the overseas version of the app, so all is good. Well, episode 3 is. 

[Jan Finster]

1 hour ago, Balthazar said:

but from episode 3 (the kids are now highschoolers, with all that entails) the obnoxiousness has been cranked up a couple of levels

 

Same here. ? I stopped after episode 3 or 4 (I cannot even remember)....

[StChris]

I just finished off "Life Plan A and B"/荼蘼. It's kind of like that old movie, Sliding Doors, in that it follows a woman as she goes down two different paths in life, one as a housewife and the other as a career woman (like two alternate universes). It's a six part series, with each episode being 1.5 hours (so 9 hours in total). It's got an 8.6 rating on 豆瓣, and I think it's worth a try (it'll probably appeal more to females).

 

https://movie.douban.com/subject/26785286/

 

It's on Netflix, but there is also a low quality version on youtube.

 

Speaking of Netflix, I've been catching up with some of the shows I've missed over the past few years. I finished Stranger Things, which was great (season one was the best, but 2 and 3 were surprisingly decent too). Not a Chinese show, but I thought I'd share since it is so good. I usually try to focus on Chinese content, but that was worth taking a break little break for. I'm going to watch Black Mirror next.

[roddy]

On 12/7/2020 at 8:58 AM, roddy said:

Watched a couple of episodes of 沉默的真相， like @Balthazar on the above recommendations, and enjoyed it. I'm going to try and finish it, although I'll generally be watching it at the gym and do not expect to pick up all the plot points along the way. Nicely done though, enjoyed the courtroom scene. 

Six or so episodes in, and very impressed. Good quality stuff, with some real edge-of-my-seat (metaphorically, I'm slumped on the sofa) stuff, often from what sounds like unpromising material - the scene with the current cops listening silently to a recording of the interview with the village woman, interspersed with the flashback of the actual interview was surprisingly tense.

 

iQiyi is working okay, and letting me download the episodes (which I thought was a VIP perk). The app's not great, but once you find something to watch it does the job.

[Leslie Frank]

i haven't gone through all the pages of this thread, but if nobody's mentioned "Ancient Detective" 侠探简不知, it's a brilliant wuxia, mystery, detective (duh) series. you can find it on youtube and if you get the right plug-in, you can see both chinese and english subs. saw it twice and loved every second of it.

[Jan Finster]

3 hours ago, Leslie Frank said:

if you get the right plug-in, you can see both chinese and english subs

Thanks!

What plugin are you talking about?

[Leslie Frank]

2 hours ago, Jan Finster said:

What plugin are you talking about?

yw, there's probably several, but here's one that i used with chrome: 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/two-captions-for-youtube/lpeonmjfimoijceaalocpgjjchocbiap

this is another one (originally, i thought it was this one, but not; i used the one above...):

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-dual-subtitles/hkbdddpiemdeibjoknnofflfgbgnebcm

 

so on youtube, i chose english, and on the plugin, chinese, for "Ancient Detective"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNigIiQRC0g

[EnergyReaper]

I like the actress 庄达菲/Sabrina Zhuang after I've finished watching two TV dramas Closer to You and I Don't Want To Be Friends With You. Tonight, I started watching her new drama Love Script. I've watched 4 episodes, and up to now I think it's a good slight and sweet romantic comedy.

[艾墨本]

On 12/14/2020 at 7:16 PM, roddy said:

Six or so episodes in, and very impressed. Good quality stuff, with some real edge-of-my-seat (metaphorically, I'm slumped on the sofa) stuff, often from what sounds like unpromising material - the scene with the current cops listening silently to a recording of the interview with the village woman, interspersed with the flashback of the actual interview was surprisingly tense.

Just finished the first two episodes myself. Really enjoying the quality acting so far. The shifting eyes and exchanges of glances with 江阳's wife? as 严良 scours their apartment in the second episode was very well done.

 

Side note: I love how in this age of Chinese TV cop dramas there always seems to be the token single competent female cop amongst the many men similar to how there was a token black guy in American cinema for so many years.

[EnergyReaper]

Finally I started watching Joy of Life Season 1（庆余年） last Saturday. I have finished 22 episodes. The acting and the plot are both very good. Even most of the supporting roles are amazing. Someday I'll read the novel from which this drama is adapted.

[Balthazar]

Currently watching season 2 of 巡回检查组. For all it's predictable faults it's still pretty damn addictive. Whole season was available on 优酷's official Youtube-channel until earlier today, when episode 22 and above were made "private". (I watched the beginning of episode 24 at breakfast, by lunch I was surprised to see it gone from my watch history ... before I discovered it had been made private). Luckily there are other sources.

[StChris]

I finally followed my own recommendation from last summer and watched 《摩天大楼》. There seem to be a lot of crime dramas coming out of China recently, and I can highly recommend this one. It's short (just 16 episodes, each under 1 hour), plus it's available on Youtube (although the idiot who uploaded it thought it would be a good idea to write spoilers in every video title, so try not to look).

 

The detective team (a grizzled, seen-it-all older man, with a rookie female) play off really well against each other, as they strive to solve the murder of a beautiful young woman (played by Angela Baby). In each episode they interrogate a different person, slowly unravelling the story piece by piece. Although a generally serious drama, there is a lot of humour too, as the peculiarities and secrets of the residents of the building in the title get unveiled. Definitely on to watch!

[alantin]

@StChris, awesome recommendation! Thank you!
And thanks for the tip too. Need to be really careful with that. Just a glance at the title of the first episode and I feel the damage is already done...

 

Only watched the beginning of the first episode so far, but I especially like that the subtitles seem to be the same as the dialogue and you can switch off the English captions. A drama series other than romantic or other relationship or historical drama with such subtitles is exactly what I have been looking for! These don't seem to be that easy requirements to fulfill..

 

My problem is that I can't yet pick up spoken dialogue in TV and subtitles, that aren't exact match, throw me off so that I end up reading them and stop listening to the dialogue. Them being the same helps a lot and allows me to follow the text and listen at the same time.

[StChris]

4 hours ago, alantin said:

Only watched the beginning of the first episode so far, but I especially like that the subtitles seem to be the same as the dialogue and you can switch of the English captions. A drama series other than romantic or other relationship or historical drama with such subtitles is exactly what I have been looking for! These don't seem to be that easy requirements to fulfill..

 

Glad you're enjoying it so far. It's good that they went to the effort of producing accurate subtitles (most shows these days seem to just settle for unreadable AI generated ones).

 

4 hours ago, alantin said:

My problem is that I can't yet pick up spoken dialogue in TV and subtitles, that aren't exact match, throw me off so that I end up reading them and stop listening to the dialogue. Them being the same helps a lot and allows me to follow the text and listen at the same time.

 

If you're struggling with understanding the show without the English subtitles, then I'd recommend selecting one scene per episode and really drill down on it, looking up all vocab and replaying it several times, even talking along with the lines if you can (as if you were auditioning for the part). I used to do this for the whole episode, but I now think that's a little overkill, and can leave you feeling exhausted.

[alantin]

@StChris thanks! Good advice!

 

my problem isn’t really with vocabulary or understanding centences. If I stop the video long enough to read the Chinese subtitle, I usually know 95% of the characters and understand what is being said even if there unknown words. I just can’t pick them up from a full speed native dialogue. I guess your technique should help for that too.

[abcdefg]

4 hours ago, StChris said:

If you're struggling with understanding the show without the English subtitles, then I'd recommend selecting one scene per episode and really drill down on it, looking up all vocab and replaying it several times, even talking along with the lines if you can (as if you were auditioning for the part). I used to do this for the whole episode, but I now think that's a little overkill, and can leave you feeling exhausted.

 

Good tip. I've done that. Wound up knowing most of the lines of the main actor and a few of the others. Bonus was that I could plug those "dialogue snips" into daily conversation without telling anyone where I learned them. Seldom got completely "busted," but once or twice found that I had plagarized something too popular and got odd looks. 

 

Works best with modern material. If you start talking like Zhuge Liang 诸葛亮 or Liu Bei 刘备 you will give yourself away. Chinese are very  knowledgeable about characters out of Chinese history. 

 

 

4 hours ago, alantin said:

If I stop the video long enough to read the Chinese subtitle, I usually know 95% of the characters and understand what is being said even if there unknown words.

  

My landlord in Kunming left dozens of old movies behind (on DVD) when she moved out of my apartment and I moved in. I played them over and over, or at least the best parts of them over and over. Didn't pay much attention to the subtitles. Just worked on understanding them by ear, matching up what was happening on screen with what was being said. 

[Flickserve]

On 2/6/2021 at 6:52 PM, alantin said:

My problem is that I can't yet pick up spoken dialogue in TV and subtitles, that aren't exact match, throw me off so that I end up reading them and stop listening to the dialogue.

Is this when the actor speaks standard mandarin or when they use an accent? If it’s slurred, I think there is next to no chance to understanding. After a few times of listening, throw in the towel, record it on the your phone and ask a native Chinese chat group what do they hear. ... 

 

 

[alantin]

@Flickserve haha! I’ll have to try that!

[Balthazar]

Anyone else watching 小舍得？Pretty good drama, imo (topical too, re the whole "why are people not having more kids" discussion). The first two episodes are pretty slow, but it quickly picks up the pace. Currently on episode nine.

 

First four episodes are available for free on Youtube (subbed into seven different languages, but, puzzingly, not Chinese). The rest are available elsewhere.

[EnergyReaper]

Started watching The Day of Becoming You (2021) 变成你的那一天. Up to ep 12 now. Two main roles' acting is very good.