Love, Now


Love, Now is a 2012 to 2013 Taiwanese modern romance comedy drama television series created and developed by SETTV. It stars Annie Chen and George Hu as the main leads, with Bobby Dou, Harry Chang from Taiwanese band Da Mouth and Vivi Lee as the supporting leads. The drama is about regular everyday life, especially finding love while juggling a busy career, and going through and overcoming problems together.
Written and produced from the same team as Sanlih's 2011 to 2012 hit romance drama "Inborn Pair". Filming began on September 16, 2012 and finished on March 3, 2013. It began airing on SETTV ETTV on October 31, 2012 weekly from Monday to Thursday. Each episode has a 45-minute running time. The final episode aired on March 5, 2013 with 72 episodes total, 8 less than the originally intended 80 episodes. This is the first Sanlih drama that has overseas filming.

Synopsis

Yang Yi Ru is a workaholic who never had time to take a break. Her family and friends decide to pull a prank on her to slow her down. They con her into believing she only had six months to live, then pack her off to a vacation spot to clear her mind. She spends her first day on a sunny beach lamenting to a stranger that she wished she had the time to meet Mr. Right, get married, and have kids. Unbeknownst to her, the stranger was a man from her past who was in love with her when they met years ago. He proposes to her the next day and she marries him, but when the prank is revealed, her new husband feels cheated and unleashes his wrath on her.

Plot summary

Lan Shi-de is a tall, handsome and successful young man who manages his family bathroom fixture business, but he is also cold, impatient, and hot-tempered. He hates being deceived, because he was betrayed by former employees in the past, so he always makes sure there is retribution to anyone who crosses him. The only soft spot in his life is his family and the pretty girl who lent him a pen during his final college exam. He cannot forget the girl that lent him a pen and has been searching for her for 6 years. Not knowing her name or who she is the only memory he has of her: a fuzzy image in a picture he keeps on his desk at home and the pen he never got the chance to return to her.
Yang Yi-ru is a hardworking workaholic who basically runs the entire advertising company she works for, due to her boss and co-workers always depending on her for everything. To make matters worse, her boss is a womanizer who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend, whom her father and younger sister treat like a member of the family. Her boss and family con her into taking an actual vacation, by faking her medical test results to say she has cancer and only six months to live. They pack her off on a trip to sunny Boracay, Philippines, telling her to take some time to relax.
Shi-de also happens to be on a business trip in Boracay, and saves Yi-ru when she is in a daze and almost gets run over by a van. He thanks the heavens for finally being able to meet her again, the girl that lent him a pen all those years ago. Seeing how distressed Yi-ru is, he lets her know that she can confide to him about her problems. She spills out to Shi-de about her regrets on not being able to meet someone she will love, get married, have kids and live a happy old life with her husband. When he hears she only has 6 months left to live, he proposes marriage to her immediately. Yi-ru thinks Shi-de’s proposal is out of kindness to make a dying woman happy. Unbeknownst to her, they had actually met in college and that he has been in love with her all these years. Shi-de decides to put his business trip on hold and stay by Yi-ru’s side. He gives her the most romantic and beautiful wedding reception by the beach. He also tries to fulfill her dying wishes.
Touched by all that her new "pretend" husband has done for her to make her happy, she is overcome with emotion and sleeps with him, making their marriage feel real. When Yi-ru finds out her illness was a prank by her family and boss, she leaves for Taiwan immediately, without saying goodbye to Shi-de. Not wanting to lose her again, Shi-de returns to Taiwan and vows to find her, but when he finds her and finds out her illness was a lie, he feels cheated and unleashes his wrath on Yi-ru, making her life miserable because he thinks she had tricked him into dropping his lawsuit against the company she works for. He gives her the advertising account for his company so he can bully her.
When their misunderstanding is finally cleared up, he tries to pursue her again because he is still madly in love with her. Yi-ru being able to see Shi-de’s vindictive side during his wrath on her wants nothing to do with him after their business relationship ends. Knowing how he can’t lose her again he tries hard on changing his perspective on people to win her back. Desperate for Yi-ru to accept his love for her he uses their business relationship and signs up for cooking class with her father just to be able to have a chance to see her. He even ask for her boss's help to better understand Yi-ru's personality, but Yi-ru remains unfazed by all that he has done and tells him to stop wasting his time on her. She even rejects his offering to start all over and be friends so that they can get to know each other better.
During a business outing at an orphanage Yi-ru accidentally spies on Shi-de playing with a bunch of kids and finds out that he is a major sponsor at the orphanage. Being able to see a softer and gentler side of him she starts falling for him and accepts his love for her. They get married and go through family and personal issues together, both realizing they must cherish the present.

Cast

Main cast

  • Annie Chen 陳庭妮 as Yang Yi-ru - Age 28
  • George Hu 胡宇威 as Lan Shi-de - Age 28
  • Bobby Dou 竇智孔 as Sun Qi-ming - Age 33
  • Harry Chang 張懷秋 as Zheng Yu-xiang - Age 25
  • Vivi Lee 李維維 as Lan Shi-yun - Age 32

    Supporting cast

  • Esther Yang as Yang Yi-qing - Age 25
  • Shen Meng-sheng 沈孟生 as Yang Hao
  • as Lan Yi-ping
  • as Lan Ceng Yue-ling
  • Yang Chieh-mei as Fang Xiu-qing
  • Mandy Wei as He Tsai-jung
  • Kao Cheng-peng 高振鵬 as Uncle Kang
  • Liu Hsiang-chun 劉香君 as Su Mei
  • as Xiao Wei
  • as Guo Zi-yuan
  • Huang Chien-hao 黃建豪 as Angus Zhou Jin Chi
  • Albee Liu 劉堇萱 as Albee
  • Wu Rui Zhen 吳芮甄 as Wu Xiao Zhen
  • Shaun Chen as Yan Kai
  • Hong Chenying 洪晨穎 as An Qi
  • Kelly Ko 柯素雲 as Huang Wenling

    Cameos

  • Verna Lin 林欣蓓 as Samantha
  • Xu Wei-xiao 徐維孝 as Zhao Zi-chen
  • Wu Siyu 吳思育 as Professor Ge
  • Paul Hsu 許騰方 as Ouyang Rui
  • Michael Zhang 張勛傑 as Zai Yu Note: Micheal Zhang's character from "A Hint Of You".
  • Irene 豆豆 as Lan Huan-huan

    Soundtrack

  • Go Jogging 一起去跑步 by Cosmic Man 宇宙人
  • You Want To Be Made Into A Movie 想把你拍成一部電影 by Cosmic Man 宇宙人
  • Kick Him 踢踢他 by Cosmic Man 宇宙人
  • Temporary Boyfriend 暫時的男朋友 by Yen-J 嚴爵
  • I alibi 吾在場證明 by Yen-J 嚴爵
  • Fueled 火上加油 by Yen-J 嚴爵
  • Hold Your Hand 執子之手 by Victor 品冠
  • C.J. 倉頡 by Mayday 五月天
  • Wild Beast 野獸 by Ding Dang 丁噹
  • Marksman 射手 by MP Magic Power MP魔幻力量
  • After 經過 by Rene 劉若英
  • Fill in the Blanks 填空 by JiaJia 紀家盈（家家）

    Production team

Produced from the same team that produced SETTV 2011 to 2012 hit Taiwan romance drama "Inborn Pair". Hoping to strike double rating success with their "Inborn Pair" leads, Annie Chen and Chris Wang was then split up to film two different new romance dramas to be aired back to back. Annie Chen was paired up with George Hu who was personally invited by Sanlih to film "Love, Now" after spending the past year filming dramas in Mainland China. In an interview with China's LETV he stated that he had agreed to take on the lead role during early development of the project, when the title, story and plot was still not developed yet, in order to re-establish his presence in Taiwan since he had not appeared in a Taiwan television drama for over a year and was afraid Taiwanese audiences would forget him. While Chris Wang was paired up with Ann Hsu to film "Love Me or Leave Me". Both dramas started filming at the same time.
  • Producer:
  • *Fang Xiaoren 方孝仁
  • *Rong Junyi 戎俊義
  • Screenwriter:
  • *Shao Huiting 邵慧婷
  • *Lín Pèiyú 林珮瑜
  • *Zheng Yingmin 鄭英敏
  • *Huangxiang Min 黃湘玟
  • Directed by: Lian Li Chun 連春利
  • Coordinator: Can Qian Li 李能謙
  • Sponsor:
  • *Acer Computer
  • *Derek Bathroom Fixtures
  • *HTC

    Filming locations

Interiors of the Lan family home, Yang family home, offices of Hao Sheng and Feng Hua are studio built sets at SETTV headquarters. The exterior of the Lan's bathroom fixture office Hao Sheng is an office tower located at Tiding Boulevard, Zhongshan District of Taipei. The exterior of Feng Hua where Yang Yi-ru worked is an office building located at Tiding Boulevard, Neihu District of Taipei. The exterior and lobby of the Lan family residence was filmed at "Future Hill" residential complex located at Wenhuaer Rd, Linkou District of New Taipei City. The exterior and courtyard of the Yang family residence was filmed at a residential complex located at Yanshou St, Songshan District of Taipei. The residence of Sun Qi-ming is actually the office of an landscaping and interior design company called "Lake Forest Design" located at Kangning Road, Neihu District of Taipei. Other major filming locations include "Min-Sheng General Hospital" where He Cai-rong works as a doctor, "A House" cafe where Zheng Yu-xiang operates his cafe and bike messenger business, "Aqua Kiss 2-Surfer" where the main characters frequented to chat and have a drink, and "Fushin Hotel" room 1108 . Hsuan Chuang University and Yuen Ze University were used as the school Lan Si-da and Yang Yi-ru attended university, Boracay Philippines scenes were filmed between October 3 till October 13 of 2012. The bathroom scene of Lan Shi-da talking to the toilet bowl and shower kiss scene in episode 3 and 4 was actually filmed at "Fushin Hotel" in Taipei instead of Alta Vista De Boracay.

''Taipei, Taiwan''

  • Neihu District
  • *Aqua Kiss 2-Surfer 水吻
  • *Acer HQ Taipei
  • *RT-Mart 大潤發
  • *Nakamura Bakery 中村
  • *White Rock Lake Bridge 白石湖吊橋
  • *Fushin Hotel 台北富信大飯店
  • *Lake Forest Design 大湖森林室內裝修設計工程有限公司
  • Zhongzheng District
  • *Cold Stone Creamery 酷聖石冰淇淋
  • Zhongshan District
  • *We-Go Motel 薇閣精品旅館
  • *Shintori Cuisine Japonaise 新都里懷石料理
  • *Taipei Florist 台北花苑
  • Xinyi District
  • *California Pizza Kitchen
  • Daan District
  • *A House Breakfast & Brunch Restaurant
  • *SILEX BOOKS
  • *pH7 Restaurant
  • *Playboy
  • *Single Noble
  • *L'OCCITANE Café 歐舒丹Café
  • *CHUNG's SILVER WORK STUDIO 玩銀工房
  • Datong District
  • *Li Ting Xiang Chinese Bakery 李亭香餅舖
  • Wanhua District
  • *Modern Toilet
  • Sanzhi District
  • *Suang-Lien Presbyterian Church 雙連安養中心教堂

    ''New Taipei City, Taiwan''

  • Linkou District
  • *Future Hills Luxury Complex 遠雄大未來
  • Banqiao District
  • *Megacity Mall 板橋大遠百

    ''Taoyuan County, Taiwan''

  • Taoyuan City
  • *Min-Sheng General Hospital 敏盛綜合醫院
  • Luzhu Township
  • *Decor House
  • Zhongli City
  • *Yuan Ze University 元智大學

    ''Hsinchu City, Taiwan''

  • Xiangshan District
  • *Hsuan Chuang University 玄奘大學

    ''Boracay, Philippines''

  • Puka Shell Beach
  • *Discovery Shores Boracay
  • *Alta Vista De Boracay
  • *D'Mall
  • *Kalibo Airport

    Reception

The pairing of George Hu and Annie Chen was a success. Three month after "Love, Now" finished airing Sanlih decided to pair them up again in 2013's "Love Around" which was aired every Sunday night on Sanlih's other channel TTV.

Broadcast

Episode ratings

Episode description

Awards

  • 2012 Sanlih SETTV Drama Awards - Best Kiss
  • *George Hu & Annie Chen - '''Winner'''