Pan-entertainment top self-media only talks about practical information and hard logic
Original by Rhino Entertainment
Written by Shen Wanting Editor | Pu Fang
For a long time, urban dramas, period dramas, spy war dramas and other themes have been the types of dramas that have dominated TV screens for many years.
This year is no exception. However, with the further reduction and increase in the quality of TV drama creation and production and the upgrading and iteration of audience aesthetics, the tastes of this TV audience continue to be enthusiastic about classic categories, but also have a little more interest in diverse and innovative content. compatible.
So which series are proving popular with TV viewers in 2023? This article will combine the relevant viewing data of CVB and Kuyun to sort out the dramas that performed well on TV this year, and observe the characteristics of the content of these dramas.
Realism that directly hits the "pain points"
Realistic themes have occupied a mainstream position in the creation of domestic TV dramas in recent years.
On the demand side, realistic-themed works are more likely to arouse widespread discussion and empathy among audiences due to their authentic, life-like artistic styles and ever-expanding diverse topics. Therefore, they have natural advantages in terms of social attention and public topics.
On the supply side, the proportion of reality-themed drama series has grown steadily. The "2023 China Drama Development Report" released in October this year shows that in the first three quarters of 2023, the number of reality-themed TV dramas accounted for 81.65% of the number of headquarters. This proportion has increased compared with the number in the whole of 2022.
In the past year, we have witnessed the expansion of perspectives in the breadth and depth of reality-themed TV dramas. "Hurry", which is popular among Taiwan and Internet, is the most typical representative. The peak attention of
Kuyun live broadcast reached nearly 4%, breaking the ratings record of CCTV 8 in the past 9 years. Whether it is online or on TV, "The Rush" is a veritable "king of dramas" in 2023. The pursuit of the in-depth value of realism is one of the important reasons why this drama has received such a great response.
Compared with most realistic-themed works, "Hurricane"'s approach to realism is undoubtedly adventurous, breaking various "taboos" that exist in the minds of creators and audiences. As a drama focusing on combating gangs and eliminating evil, the drama has made bold breakthroughs in the creation of villains and the presentation of social contradictions. It also blends suspense, comedy, etc. on the basis of adhering to the background of realism. Type elements go out of the traditional black and white comfort zone of character construction.
Facts have proved that the current audience has enough ability to identify beauty and ugliness and tolerate diverse expressions. Moreover, conflicts and problems are inevitably involved in the creation of realistic themes. The key is that the ending should give people warmth and hope.
If dramas like "Hurry" are rare and rare phenomenon-level dramas in the field of realistic themes, then urban dramas that are closest to the audience's lives are the "evergreen" types of realistic themes.
In the past two years, female-oriented themes in urban dramas have often attracted high attention and topicality. Such dramas usually face the difficulties faced by women in the workplace, relationships, marriage, etc., focusing on portraying women’s positive attitudes and giving the audience a positive attitude. Energetic inspiration. However, when similar themes gather together, homogeneity inevitably occurs, forcing creators to seek breakthroughs in genre narratives, such as "All My Wishes Come True", "She Shines", "Reaching the Sun", "Good Things Come in Twos" and "The Sun Comes Together". Me", "Fearless" and many other dramas.
Take "Good Things Come in Twos", which received outstanding ratings in the urban drama circuit this year, as an example. The drama built a "new" female relationship, and women who were originally love rivals formed the "Avengers". "Scumbag" breaks through difficulties and finds his own value in life. This character setting with a dramatic conflict alone is enough to attract a lot of attention and topics, and it is also in line with TV audiences' consistent support for strong dramatic content.
Another example is the urban emotional workplace drama "All the Way to the Sun", which carries out a panoramic analysis of the work, relationships and life of two "Beijing drifters" girls. The true description of workplace life has won the sympathy of current migrant workers, and the drama is about friendship, love and life. The emotional conflict of love also arouses the audience's desire for discussion.
The popularity of realistic themes on television once again proves that works that reflect reality and provide emotional comfort can always stir people's hearts and arouse resonance.
Period dramas that strive to share the same frequency with young audiences
TV viewers in 2023 still love to watch period dramas, which is evident from the ratings data of this year's star dramas. According to CVB's single-day peak ratings, half of the top ten dramas in ratings so far are period dramas, including "Glory of Our Fathers", "The Road of Life", "Days of Our Lives" and "Nine Ways of Love" "Pearl River People".
Compared with modern and contemporary themes, the creative background of period dramas is further away from the real environment, but they can always win the love of the audience through the portrayal of small characters and delicate emotional expressions. Audiences love to watch period dramas because they essentially gain a source of strength and spiritual solace from the attitudes and experiences of their fathers, thereby filling them with hope and courage for today's life.
For example, the period drama "Glory of Our Fathers", which has achieved great results in both ratings and word-of-mouth, uses an almost line drawing technique to tell the story of 30 years of changes in an ordinary family in a forest farm in Northeast China. It uses small cuts in the family and forest farm to reflect the continuous progress of the country's ecological construction. Promote in depth and convey the simple, wise and tenacious life attitude of ordinary workers to the audience.
It is worth mentioning that this drama about the story of distant fathers has been passed down by word of mouth by many young viewers. In the drama, the sincere and deep emotional ties of the young generation of forest farm people to their hometown form an intertextual relationship with the current reality that more and more young people choose to return to their hometowns for development, providing an inspiration and motivation. There are more examples of
capturing young audiences with its emotional resonance. For example, the TV series "The Road to Life" is partly based on Lu Yao's novel "Life". It has a realistic and heavy sense of age but also has a texture of youth and hope. Through the creation of plump and three-dimensional portraits of young people, it focuses on the mental journey and struggle experience of young people when facing various life choices, thereby observing the confusion and growth topics of the current youth group.
In addition, the influx of young actors is also one of the factors why period dramas are becoming more and more popular among young audiences. Take "The Sea in Dreams" as an example. The drama stars Li Qin, a popular zodiac sign whose partner is a post-90s "little flower". This cast has brought considerable attention to the drama, especially the popular zodiac sign. The battle contributed most of the traffic and broadened the base of the TV audience.
There are many such period dramas. For example, Zhang Wanyi, who played one of the leading roles in "The Glory of Our Fathers" mentioned above, and Han Dongjun, who partnered with Reyza in "Nine Ways of Love", chose "The Night Before". Ou Hao, Zhang Huiwen, etc., who play the lead role of male and female.
can resonate with young audiences at the same frequency, which will undoubtedly enable period dramas to break through the circle and achieve wider dissemination. But overall, period dramas still need to continue to work hard on the road to "rejuvenation".
Spy war dramas are becoming more and more “new”
Spy war dramas are almost never absent from the annual ratings list.
For a long time, spy war dramas have been favored by the majority of TV audiences for their strong plots and high suspense. High-quality spy war dramas have also become a strong guarantee for ratings. However, the unchanging plot routines will inevitably make the audience tired. Therefore, the spy dramas in the past two years have also been trying to give them new vitality by expanding the subject space and incorporating other types of elements.
Judging from the ratings data, "Stalker", which premiered on CCTV-8 during prime time this summer, is the most eye-catching spy drama this year. Since its launch, the show has repeatedly topped the ratings list, with CVB's highest single-day ratings reaching 2.431%.
The innovation of the play is that on the one hand, it adds a family narrative structure to the spy war drama. From the perspective of the family life drama and the creation of "real person" group portraits, it injects the realistic temperament of life flow and gives the spy war story a more realistic feel. Rich in emotional value. On the other hand, it creates a strong sense of the times in details such as serving the road and serving the plot at all times. At the same time, the series also retains the emotional energy of the espionage theme itself, and depicts the surging sense of faith among underground workers in detail.
Among the spy dramas broadcast by major satellite TV stations, dramas such as "Infernal Affairs", "Plum Blossoms of Hearts", "Thin Ice" and "Secret Agent Mission" also performed well in the ratings.
For example, "Plum Blossoms of Hearts", starring Guan Xiaotong and Han Dongjun, topped the Kuyun Live Attention and China Audiovisual Big Data Satellite TV Drama Daily List many times during its broadcast. The play combines youthful expression with the spy drama genre, whether it is the character setting of the two young revolutionary workers, the dual advancement of the main spy plot and the emotional sub-line, as well as the blending of comedy, workplace and other elements, All opened up a new way of presentation for spy dramas.
The innovation of this year’s spy war dramas also lies in broadening the scope of themes. For example, this year’s national security drama "Secret Agent", which has the best reputation in terms of reputation, is different from previous spy war stories that focused on the Anti-Japanese War and the revolutionary period. The drama sets the background of the story. Set in a modern city, starting from an online game, it combines the real world with the online virtual space, and through intricate power contests and foggy counter-espionage struggles, it puts the audience into a tense narrative atmosphere, and also alerts the audience to improve their counter-espionage awareness. .
What needs attention is that although spy dramas show a trend of innovative integration, their reputation effect is not so satisfactory. Most of the spy dramas broadcast this year have Douban scores hovering near the passing line. It seems that There is a long way to go to break through the barriers of circles and retain more viewers.
Recently, the 2024 drama lists of CCTV and major satellite TV have been announced one after another, and the battle for TV screens in the new year is about to begin. We also look forward to more new content entering the hearts of thousands of TV viewers in the coming year.
