any good TV series recently?

[DavyJonesLocker]

9 hours ago, Wurstmann said:

All because of money. Still better than the American way of doing things though. At least they tell one story from beginning to end. I hate how a lot of US shows just add season after season until they get cancelled.

 

Agree, I  can't watch tv shows now unless they have ended already. Only exception is Game of thrones as it's full on and it will end this year. 

 

The walking dead is god awful slow with a rehashed story line every season! . Reminds me of that pretentious show "lost" from a few years back. 

 

[roddy]

6 hours ago, StChris said:

《都挺好》

I actually watched a bit of that yesterday, happened to see it in the suggested videos after watching 白鹿原 and I recognise 姚晨. The five minutes I saw seemed intriguing. 46 episodes though...

[roddy]

Watched the first episode of 都挺好 - not bad. The characters are a bit on the nose - not only does she not hug her brother because she's on the phone, she's on the phone firing someone - but it's nicely done and assuming the roughly 50/50 past / present split continues that should help maintain interest. May watch a second ep. 

 

Should be a good one for learners, I think, quite a bit of slow speech and lots of pauses, in this ep at least. 

[roddy]

And a second episode. I'm in two minds about continuing. It's all just a bit overplayed - the dad doesn't just skulk off to the toilet, he runs. Etc. But... oooh, 姚晨 makes a fine villain. That whole scene with her dad and the savings books... @StChris how far in are you, and what should I do? 

[StChris]

 

 

22 hours ago, roddy said:

Watched the first episode of 都挺好 - not bad. The characters are a bit on the nose - not only does she not hug her brother because she's on the phone, she's on the phone firing someone - but it's nicely done and assuming the roughly 50/50 past / present split continues that should help maintain interest. May watch a second ep.

 

I think the flashback scenes are quite well done. Normally they either use really bad child actors who look nothing like the adult actors or, even worse, they put 40 year old actors into school uniforms and just pretend that they 14. The younger actors here are pretty good and look remarkably similar to the adult versions. You'll be disappointed to know that the flashbacks seem to be in very short supply after the first couple of episodes.

 

 I'm around episode 7/8. One thing I like about it is how it makes you hate different characters each episode. At first 姚晨 seemed like the villain of the piece, but I've since come to dislike the mother, the 2nd brother and, most recently, the father. I think the older brother will be next. I'm not bored yet. I mostly put it on while I'm doing other stuff and 《创业时代》 is taking priority as a study piece (not because it's better as a drama, but just because of the tech and business vocab I can learn). 

 

Oh, and the wife of the 2nd brother is played by the same actress who played 宋思明's young mistress in 《蜗居》. Just thought I'd put that out there in case anyone thought she seemed familiar but couldn't quite work out where they had heard that cutesy/whiny voice before. It was bothering me for a good couple of episodes anyway!

[imron]

1 hour ago, roddy said:

oooh, 姚晨 makes a fine villain.

We knew this already from 武林外传.

 

1 hour ago, roddy said:

and what should I do?  

I've seen two series with 姚晨 - 武林外传 and 潜伏.  Both are at the top of my list of good Chinese series to watch.  I'd say keep watching (might even start watching it myself).

[roddy]

You actually should watch at least as much as me, if just for the "郭芙蓉, what happened to you!" effect. 

 

I enjoy the flashback scenes, so it's a shame to hear there are less of those. The young daughter is particularly good. Young middle brother is nails on a blackboard though. It's like the kid from 家有儿女 suffered several years of bad parenting.

[StChris]

武林外传 seems to be a bit of a forum favourite (along with that one about the magical mobile phone). I should probably watch them sometime.

 

Speaking of 姚晨, I quite enjoyed watching 《离婚律师》 a couple of years back. 吴秀波 is also good in it (we might not be seeing him for a while given the whole blackmail/affair scandal).

[roddy]

Linguistically it's tough, and I'm not sure what the quality of versions available online is like (what i could find on Youtube wasn't great). But you'll acquire vocab (or at least hear it) at a hell of a rate and me and imron are always happy to watch a clip to help answer any questions...

[imron]

If you're worried about difficulty, watch Magic Mobile Phone first - you've also got the 猪八戒 connection ?

 

When you've got a bunch of series under your belt, and are reasonably comfortable watching TV content, then go for 武林外传.

[StChris]

Thanks, I'll give them a go later.

[roddy]

Third episode of 都挺好 and I'm getting a bit bored. What should I watch in the <30 episodes bracket? 

[@Claire]

《仙剑奇侠传》This is my favorite.It broadcasted in 2005.

[zander1]

北京女子图鉴？or 最好的我们, liked both and both under 25 episodes. 

[Luxi]

And for the silent lovers of "Three Kingdoms" out there: 三国机密  (The Secret of the Three Kingdoms) , based on the book of the same title by  马伯庸 (Ma Boyong), aired in 2018, 54 episodes. It covers the 200-220 AD period in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" - the very last years of the Han Dynasty. I´m only on episode 3 and can´t promise it won't go flat and/or collapse into sickly melodrama, but so far it's good viewing, good acting, good cinematography and a very good story where even the women seem to be endowed with a brain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_of_the_Three_Kingdoms

https://eastasiandrama.com/the-secret-of-the-three-kingdoms-plot-and-review/

 

It's available on youku, iqiyi, You Tube, etc. Also on viki, with subtitles in English and several other languages (but no Chinese subs, sigh!). The actual language on the video is quite clear, spoken slowly and not overly literary.

[abcdefg]

Thanks, @Luxi -- I'm a fan of Three Kingdoms drama for sure. Just returned to China yesterday from a long visit to the US. Will check this out tonight. 

[Luxi]

14 hours ago, abcdefg said:

Will check this out tonight. 

 

It did start to go a bit flat from eps.7 - 8 on, but is not too bad yet.

 

What annoys me is the way the action slows down to a snail pace (even with long takes in slow motion), and the viki player lacks a speed-up button. So obvious that they are trying to fill the committed air time despite a shoestring budget. One has to feel sorry for the producers, especially for the director who seems to have real talent. Still, the story is good, there's a lot to say for seeing the end of the dynasty from the imperial angle (a 'meanwhile at the ranch' view), and it would sure take me a lot longer to read the book. 

[sekkar]

I'm currently follow the new season of 最强大脑之燃烧吧大脑。 It's show where they have a 100 smart people compete against each other through a series of different puzzles and challenges. Every episode they eliminate some people and in the end they will end up with a small group that will compete against some other international teams (I think...)

 

It's not a groundbreaking or a great show, but it's entertaining. There is nothing really "Chinese" about it (based on a German show I believe), which might be a plus to people that can't stand "Chinese TV shows". From a language learning perspective the show has two good features:

1. Natural dialogue, the majority of the dialogue is not scripted
2. The contestants come from all over China, exposing you to lots of different accents

 

[zander1]

On 3/5/2019 at 9:29 PM, Wurstmann said:

我的青春也灿烂

 

Started watching this the other day, very silly and probably won’t change my life but I am enjoying it (I have a real soft spot for these 高考 dramas). Also, at only 22 episodes and 20minutes an episode it’ll be over in a blink of an eye by normal Chinese show standards!

[markhavemann]

On 3/15/2019 at 4:07 PM, zander1 said:

我的青春也灿烂

 

I just had a look at this show and I'm left with so many questions after the first five minutes... 

 

Was Vancouver, Canada located in eastern Europe back in 1990, or has Canadian English pronunciation changed drastically in the last 30 years? Why are they calling American Football "rugby"? How does a father son football (rugby??) game show appreciation for the school's headmasters(plural)? Can he or can he not find someone to pretend to be his father for the match???

 

I only watched a little further and the 1080 video is a big plus, the nostalgic old school feel is nice too. It might be worth it as something not too serious, but I might watch just for another chance to hear more of that sweet sweet Canadian English. 

 

Link below for anyone interested (watch the first five minutes, if nothing else)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QvwzReK4j4&list=PLIxOyXJKQGEvrxty7j3jrxCVJE7PaZpNw