Chapter 53
The new drama "Summer's Desire" on Kuma, one of the four major platforms, was scheduled to premiere earliest on July 1st, so in the lead-up to the summer vacation, Kuma's promotional efforts were the most intense.
In addition, the male and female leads of this drama are both popular celebrities, so there are quite a few viewers looking forward to this drama.
So on July 1st.
After "Summer's Desire" was officially launched, the number of online viewers on Kumall surged. Subsequent platform statistics showed that the average popularity value of the four episodes of "Summer's Desire" that have been broadcast so far has exceeded 9,000.
This data is already quite impressive, representing a small breakthrough. With continued effort, it's highly likely that it will surpass 10,000.
For a time, fans of both the male and female leads were overjoyed.
The two major fan groups were also extremely active, starting to call on their fans on the Dayan platform to watch the show more and promote it, striving to make the show a huge hit as soon as possible.
Fans are still caught up in the illusion of good data, but many viewers who watched the first four episodes are not buying it.
These girls are purely interested in the soldiers and don't care about these fancy statistics. If the TV series is good, they'll keep watching; if it's not, they'll abandon it without hesitation.
The reason they watched "Summer's Desire" was because of the fame of the lead actors.
After watching four episodes, I found that the plot of this drama was very old-fashioned. The male and female leads were childhood sweethearts who grew up together as neighbors, and the male lead was a cold and aloof academic genius paired with a lively and cute female academic underachiever.
You could also call this a classic combination.
However, classics are not so easy to perform; they can easily become commonplace if not handled carefully.
Clearly, the male and female leads in "Summer's Desire" lacked the acting prowess to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, and the plot of the drama wasn't good enough to keep the audience engaged.
The next day, Coolcat's statistics plummeted, and it was only thanks to the hard work of the lead actors' fans that the show's popularity was barely maintained at 8,000.
After that, the show's popularity declined steadily.
After the premieres of Brown Bear Video's "Who Dares to Challenge" and Xilaiduo's "Empress Wu Zetian" on July 10th, the popularity of "Midsummer Sunny Day" dropped even further.
Zhou Xun was last year's Best Actor at the Vine Flower Awards. His starring role in "Who Dares to Challenge" is a period suspense drama that was highly anticipated by audiences before its premiere.
Now that the TV series has been released, most viewers have gone to Brown Bear Video, and the popularity of "Empress Wu Zetian" is pitifully low.
The lack of star power in "Empress Wu Zetian" is largely due to the negative trending topics it received recently, which is why so few people are willing to join in the fun now.
However, these netizens, who initially just wanted to have some fun, became completely engrossed in the story.
"Wu Zetian" is not as bad as they imagined. On the contrary, the production of this drama is excellent, the characters are well-dressed, and even their speech is refined and elegant.
It felt so good.
This drama seems to be better than I expected...
-The female lead is so beautiful, her face looks like it could be pinched to release water.
If I remember correctly, Tang Ningshuang is almost thirty. How does she maintain her youthful appearance? She looks like a young girl!
Tang Ningshuang is indeed twenty-eight years old.
To make her look like a teenage girl, the costume designer and lighting designer put in a lot of effort. Their hard work paid off, and the audience's praise is the best recognition of their work.
*
On the day "Empress Wu Zetian" was broadcast.
Xu Ying and Lin Zhongxu finished their meal early and planned to go to Xu Ying's house to watch TV series later.
Xu Ying only watched the first five episodes of this drama. Lin Zhongxu worked on the set and knew a bit about the plot, but he hadn't watched a single complete episode.
So the two of them went to Xu Ying's house in high spirits, carrying the melon seeds, peanuts and drinks that Grandma Wang had bought.
"Turn on the TV! Turn on the TV!"
Lin Zhongxu put the snacks he was holding on the coffee table and urged Xu Ying to turn on the TV screen.
Xu Ying did manage to turn it on, but the TV in the house hadn't been turned on since she came back, and this was the first time she'd ever fiddled with it; she didn't know how to do it.
"Never mind, I'll do it," Lin Zhongxu said with a smile as he walked over. He took the remote from her and pressed a button somewhere, and the TV screen stopped turning blue.
Watching him efficiently find dramas to recharge, Xu Ying felt old.
It's so complicated.
"Alright, see?"
Lin Zhongxu finished watching the TV series in a minute and pulled Xu Ying back to sit on the sofa.
Meanwhile, film critic Lao Mao was also watching the show. "Who Dares to Challenge" and "Empress Wu Zetian" were released on the same day, so of course he wouldn't miss them.
He previously posted a video predicting the dark horse of the summer season. Although it was intentionally created to attract traffic, he still needed to understand all four dramas thoroughly since he had already made the prediction.
"Midsummer's Sunny Day" has been cancelled, so now we'll see if the other three dramas can deliver.
Old Cat chose to watch "Who Dares to Challenge" starring Zhou Xun first.
This drama has always been marketed as an ancient costume suspense drama and has been promoting the protagonist's resourcefulness, which is exactly what he likes. He himself likes the suspenseful reasoning and the protagonist's battle of wits against criminals.
"Who Dares to Challenge" also premiered with four episodes.
After watching it, Lao Mao could only say it was okay, watchable but not particularly good. For a seasoned drama fan like him, the first case was too simplistic; he could guess who the murderer was anyway.
He sighed with some disappointment.
Actually, he was most optimistic about this drama. However, based on the plot of the first few episodes, he estimated that the drama would be a hit, but it would be a bit doubtful if it could become a huge hit and break out of its niche.
Hopefully, the later cases will be more exciting.
Old Cat turned off the Brown Bear video and opened Xilaiduo. There were already quite a few comments from viewers in Xilaiduo's "Wu Zetian" comment section. Old Cat clicked in and took a look, and all he saw were praises.
"They probably hired online trolls..."
It's no wonder he's so suspicious; most viewers who click in for the first time have thought the same thing to some extent.
Old Cat clicked on the first episode. Before starting, he also started recording the video, intending to comment on it as he watched, so that he could edit the video as needed later.
He came with the intention of complaining, but the plot of the show completely exceeded his expectations.
The female lead did indeed enter the palace, but not the emperor's palace shown in the trailer. He had watched the trailer for "Empress Wu Zetian" countless times, and he was certain that it featured a young emperor, not the old emperor with a tuft of beard in the TV series.
What's going on?!
Soon, the old cat's question was answered, because Li Zhi, the ninth prince, appeared.
The old cat stared in disbelief: "..."
Based on his years of experience watching dramas, a lot of things flashed through his mind in an instant.
Based on the various scenes in the trailer, it seems that Li Zhi will have an affair with one of his father's concubines and even elevate her to the position of empress?!
If the old emperor knew this in the afterlife, he would probably die with his eyes wide open in disbelief.
The plot is absolutely explosive.
But as expected, humans are inherently fond of melodrama, and after making this guess, Old Cat actually started to look forward to the upcoming plot.
How exactly did the female and male leads fall in love with each other?
As the story continues, Lao Mao glimpsed a bit of the answer in the fourth episode. In this episode, the old emperor falls seriously ill, and the female lead, as a concubine, comes to attend to him. Just then, Li Zhi comes to visit his father.
It's obvious from the look that the director put a lot of effort into filming this scene.
The frequently changing camera angles beautifully and subtly capture the unspoken emotions between the male and female leads. It's impossible not to be subtle, given that they are doing so in front of the old emperor.
It's hell.
The old cat was amused by its own sudden idea.
However, it must be admitted that the two actors' acting skills are indeed superb. This scene of falling in love at first sight was filmed in a very classical and subtle way, revealing the excitement of young hearts everywhere.
Even though Old Cat knew their relationship was illicit, he couldn't help but look forward to what would happen if the two got together.
However, when it comes to love at first sight, Li Zhi undoubtedly fell in love at first sight, but as for whether the female lead did fall in love at first sight, I think that remains to be discussed.
He planned to look at it again later, scrutinize the details from the beginning, and then confirm.
The female lead appears so ambitious from the very beginning. With the old emperor seriously ill and the concubines facing a bleak future, it's hard not to suspect that she's planning to find a new partner for herself.
......
The four episodes of "Empress Wu Zetian" flew by.
The old cat didn't say much in its complaints, but it did utter a lot of strange noises and profanities.
The plot of this drama is very tight, from the female lead being bullied, to her entering the palace, to her failure to win the emperor's favor and her years of silence, and finally, the love at first sight in the last scene... there is so much to cover.
He couldn't concentrate at all while watching the show; he was completely led by the plot.
This show is amazing!
If they can maintain the pace of the first four episodes, it's not impossible for them to become a dark horse in the summer season.
Old Cat felt that God must be looking out for him. When he was struggling to grow his fan base, he came across the trailer for "Empress Wu Zetian". Now, just when his video was about to fail, he suddenly discovered that "Empress Wu Zetian" was of very high quality.
Isn't this a blessing from heaven?!
The old cat can't sleep at night.
He plans to fast-forward through "Empress Wu Zetian" again, then write an article and post a video. This summer, "Empress Wu Zetian" won't be able to get rid of him.
The second day after "Empress Wu Zetian" was released.
The trending topics on the Big Eyes website are overwhelmingly dominated by "Who Dares to Challenge" and "Summer's Desire," the only difference being that one is a good trending topic and the other is a bad one.
When the old cat is oblivious to what's happening outside, he's focused on editing videos at home.
By evening, he had finally finished making the video and updated it on his homepage.
In the video, he humorously explained the content of four episodes of "Wu Zetian" while expressing his love and optimism for the drama.
Of course, he didn't forget to include the classic love-at-first-sight eye contact scene between the male and female leads in the fourth episode to entice fans.
After watching the video, netizens flooded the screen with greetings.
- It's reasonable to suspect that Lao Mao received money.
-No, I thought you were cross-dressing, I didn't expect you to be a regular soldier?!
-The plot sounds really exciting, the crown prince is having an affair with the emperor's concubines, I suddenly feel like watching it.
-Want to see +1
- Has anyone watched this show and can tell me what it's like?
- It's really good. The female lead is ambitious and has her own opinions. I haven't seen a strong female lead who grows and develops in many years. I was so moved while watching it, sob sob sob!
-Who understands the pain of us female lead lovers? Finally, we have a drama with a strong female lead!!!
- Everyone go watch it. Old Cat was right, this show is undeniably good.
-I can't stand you guys anymore! Don't you have any normal values? The female and male leads were just having an affair, what's so great about that?
- You're so high and mighty.
-Everyone else is drunk but you're the only one sober, okay?
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