This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone by now but Princess Agents has finally made its way to number one and it continues to climb in ratings to reach an episode high of 1.48% this week. Rush to the Dead Summer fights the long-running White Deer Plain for the primetime spot, sometimes winning sometimes not. The newly-premiered shows seem to be faring well in general with My Ruby My Love just next in line.
The lower half of the spectrum is made up of Female Butler, Little Valentine and Midnight Diner. Rankings move around quite a bit among the three but I’m becoming curious about Female Butler which seems to be slowly but steadily rising. Interestingly, Mark Chao’s father-daughter tearjerker started airing mid-week (Jun 14th) although I can’t say for certain whether it had any impact on the numbers.
I actually tried watching A Life Time Love but lost the appetite for it after being greeted with an opening scene that brought back memories of Song of Phoenix (not good). I couldn’t get very far after that but I plan to give it another shot because presupposed bad acting aside, I have a biased appreciation for the main leads. At least the show is in the top ten, which is at par with its predecessor Operation Love.
*The above are mostly primetime shows that air at 19:30 while those highlighted in blue air at 22:00. **Rankings are overall rankings across the shows airing in the same night, regardless of air time.
Top Dramas (7-day)
1. Princess Agents
2. Rush to the Dead Summer
3. White Deer Plain
4. Ode to Joy 2
5. Detective Samoyeds
6. Legend of the Dragon Pearl
7. Song of Phoenix
8. Midnight Diner
9. Fighter of the Destiny
10. Female Butler
Top Celebrities (7-day)
1. Zanilia Zhao Li Ying
2. Luhan
3. Zheng Shuang
4. Yang Zi
5. Kenny Lin Gengxin6. Shawn Dou
7. Bai Jing Ting
8. Li Qin
9. Cheney Chen
10. Liu Tao
*The top ten rankings are sourced from Vlinkage. **View count is based on the nine streaming sites (Youku, Tudou, iQiyi, QQ Tencent, LeTV, PPTV, Xunlei, Sohu, Mango) *** Star popularity is based on view count, weibo, douban, tieba, search results, etc
Previous <- Ratings and Top Ten -> Next
Source: Vlinkage
){kind=link}
Lady Jaye
Do you by any chance know if the voices in Princess Agents are dubbed?
Anonymous
Princess Agent is doing really good for its late time slot. I totally expected Rush to the End of Summer to be doing better. But they are both doing good.
I am enjoying Princess Agents a lot so I am glad it is doing well.
Anonymous
I really like A lifetime love despite some bad background screens. I don't have prejudices against the leads and since I read the novel which is extremely good, I know where the plot is going to.
Anonymous
Princess agents is ok, but I have the feeling that the first 20 episodes are quite draggy. I am waiting for something more entertaining
Anonymous
Same. I don't get the hate toward it. It's actually quite enjoyable, though a little draggy but that's common in Chinese dramas.
Anonymous
yes, similar to most ancient dramas that have loud background noise when filming, all voices in PA are dubbed during post-production, the main guy's dubber also dubbed Mark's voice in 3 Lives 3 Worlds, so perhaps he sounds familiar? Zanilia's dubber is also very popular, she dubbed Mini in Gong
Anonymous
Yes, the 1st 10-12 episodes were a bit draggy, had to skip a bunch of scenes not with the main cast (maids, king/consort, etc), but main cast did a very good job, even with inconsistent script, after eps 13, pace picked up a bit, so recommend it to cast's fans
Sunny
Is anyone watching Rush to the Dead Summer? Any opinions? I haven't heard much about it from international fans considering it is being subbed on DramaFever.
Anonymous
Princess Agents only has star power going for it. Plot is draggy and some performances are suspect
Lady Jaye
Ah okay, thank you. For some reason, I thought all dramas were like Nirvana in Fire, where the main cast dubbed themselves in PA. I always get a bit disappointed when I realize the dubbers are different But these dubbers are very good. Definitely much better than the ones in General and I.
Lady Jaye
I disagree that it only has star power going for it. It may not win any critical acclaim, but it is a surprisingly fun and engaging story, IMO. I definitely agree that some performances are VERY suspect with chief among those being Wang Yanlin (Arghhhh!!)
Lady Jaye
Dubbed themselves post-production**
Anonymous
Nirvana is sort of an exception, since Hu Ge & Nick Wang's voices are very recognizable & their accents are more standard, so fans want/expect them to dub themselves during post-production, usually other idol dramas actors voices/pitches are softer, not as recognizable, so fans won't mind as much if they're dubbed, PA's dubbers dub a lot of other idol dramas, they're definitely "A list" dubbers, lol
Anonymous
It does help a lot PA's dubbers are very good at copying/mimicking the cast's own voices, so it's harder to tell they're being dubbed, also read that Zanilia & Kenny (PA's main guy) had scheduling conflicts, so hard for them to dub themselves during post production
Anonymous
Older actors usually don't need to be dubbed or can dub themselves. They are trained for it. The younger crop of actors (post 80s) don't, but Hu Ge and Nick Wang's standard accents and tone helps. People who have baby-ish voices like Tang Yan and Yang Mi can't dub themselves no matter how hard they try. Zhao Liying is not a trained actor at all so she tends to not dub herself as well. I think the Chinese audience do prefer dubbing to the original voices, even if they are fluent speakers.
Lady Jaye
Oh wow. Not being Chinese (or a Chinese speaker), it never occurred to me that so much has to be considered regarding actor's voices!
However, I do think that voices bring a range of emotion and expression that are important for fully conceptualizing a character('s personality), so I am sad whenever I hear a show has been dubbed because I would have liked to see the actor's interpretations.
However, with such a talented dubbing cast, I can't complain. I don't think I'm missing too much. Either way, the dubbing here (and the acting too!) is worlds above anything in General and I (that show scarred me, I tell you! – both in acting and dubbing), so it's cool.
Are contemporary dramas also dubbed? does that mean it wasn't Yang Yang's voice I was hearing in LOVE 020?
Anonymous
No, most contemporary dramas not dubbed, live dialogue more easily recorded while filming since background noise issue not as serious, so no extra step of dubbing, so you heard Yang Yang's own voice in LOVE 020. But I pretty much only watch only ancient or republican era dramas, so I've gotten used to dubbers, especially PA's dubber for Kenny, he does a lot of dubbing for Wallace Huo & Luo Jin, who are my favorite actors, lol
Anonymous
totally agree with you that General & I wasn't that great in acting/dubbing, those dubbers voices quite different than cast's own voices, that was a big mistake, I'm a big fan of Zanilia, so enjoying PA now, I wasn't a fan of Kenny before, but because he has cute chemistry with Zanilia, I like to watch them together, but now plot's arc is putting Zanilia with Shawn, their chemistry not as cute, I'll wait patiently until Zanilia reunites with Kenny, lol
Lady Jaye
Hahahahah. Funny thing is in the beginning, Shawn annoyed me a lot, but he's since really grown on me. I can't wait for the romance to to start with Kenny properly, but in the meantime, I'll enjoy the short days of bliss ZLY has with Shawn.
(That's another rant for another day, how (ancient) Chinese dramas don't know how to pace a show properly. Arghhhh
Anonymous
Shawn's bright teeth was a bit distracting at first, but his sweetness is growing on me too. But I'm just too partial to quiet/serious leads, so Kenny's sad/longing look win hands down over Shawn's awesome smile, lol, glad we both like the show, zanilia brings out the best in her co-leads
Anonymous
I personally like it. The first few episodes are pretty light and reminds you of your school days. I heard it gets melo at the end and it has a sad ending, so :/
Sunny
Thanks. I might give it a try as it's being officially subbed.
Unknown
Princess Agents is good, really like Zanilia. Probably watch Rush to dead summer because of 鄭爽. Skipping A life time love, can't stand Victoria Song. Will not watch any of her dramas, what a waste of good male actors. Is China running out of female actresses. I doubt it.
Frustratedpianist
I have never watched any C drama in my life and I must say that I was totally blown away by Princess Agents. This drama is really good and the casting was perfectly chosen. Yeah some scenes were a bit dragging. Wasted too much time that could have been used to focus on some leads like Chu's background. But hey it's not easy to write a real good script. I just wish that the ending wasn't in a rush. We have 2 episodes left and we still waiting for some things waiting to happen like Yan Xun's marriage to the princess of Liang and Song'ers marriage to Chu's sister Xiaoba. And of course the most long awaiting happy ever after of Yuen Yue and Chu Quaio. And her power coming back to her . Can they actually cover all of these in two episodes ? Lots to cover for 90 minutes lols