Meteor Garden (2018 TV series)
Meteor Garden is a 2018 mainland Chinese television series starring Shen Yue, Dylan Wang, Darren Chen, Caesar Wu, and Connor Leong. The series is based on the Japanese manga series Boys Over Flowers written by Yoko Kamio, and a remake of the 2001 Taiwanese series of the same name. The series is produced by the maker of the original Taiwanese series Angie Chai and directed by Lin Helong. It is set in Shanghai and London.
The series reboot was first broadcast in China on Hunan Television, then made available after its airing to VIP users of its streaming counterpart, Mango TV. The stream was then made available to everyone the day after it aired. Two episodes were released per day on a Monday to Wednesday basis. It was also available globally via Netflix exclusive international distribution programming|Netflix] from October 2018 through December 2024.
Plot
The story centers around an ordinary girl, Dong Shancai, who is accepted into the most prestigious university in the country, Ming De University. Shancai is a girl from a family that barely makes ends meet. Due to her strong sense of fairness and the nature of her personality, she immediately clashes with F4, an elite clique composed of the four most popular boys in the institution, especially its spoiled, rich and arrogant leader - Daoming Si. Gradually, Daoming Si falls deeply in love with Shancai, only to realize that she is in love with one of his best friends, Huaze Lei.Eventually, the four boys begin to acknowledge Shancai's unyielding personality that is like her namesake: a weed that can never be destroyed. Shancai begins to see the good in the boys, paving the way for friendships and an eventual romance. However, Daoming Si's mother strongly disapproves of Shancai due to her social status and family background, thus the former doing all things in order to break Shancai and Daoming Si's relationship.
Cast
Supporting
- Wang Lin 王琳 as Daoming Feng 道明枫
- Dee Hsu as Daoming Zhuang 道明莊
- Li Jiaqi 厉嘉琪 as Jiang Xiaoyou 蒋小优
- Liu Yinhao 刘尹昊 as Chen Qinghe 陈青和
- Dong Xin 董馨 as Li Zhen 李真
- Sun Qian 孙千 as He Yuanzi 何原姿
- Cai Huiquan 蔡慧泉 as Young Dong Shancai 董杉菜（童年）
- Liu Huanhua 刘画画 as Young Daoming Si 道明寺（童年）
- Zhang Bowen 张博文 as Young HuaZe Lei 花泽类（童年）
- Bei Jiaxin 裴佳欣 as Young Tengtang Jing 腾唐静（童年）
Cameo
- Harlem Yu
- Amber Kuo
- Tang Jingmei
- Wang Yue 王月 as Sister Yue 月姐
Production
In April 2017, Angie Chai announced the remake of Meteor Garden, which she produced in 2001. Prior to the announcement, Barbie Hsu hinted at the news on her Weibo account. Chai planned on making the remake a "fuller —and flashier— adaptation of the books". The drama was budgeted at 720 million New Taiwan dollars with 15 million per episode, thirty times higher than the original.A casting call was announced on social media on June 21, 2017 with a video and the topic, "#FindingF4". On November 7, 2017, the actors playing F4 were revealed, namely Dylan Wang, Darren Chen, Caesar Wu and Connor Leong. Shen Yue's role as Dong Shancai was unveiled at a press conference in Shanghai on November 9.
Dee Hsu auditioned for the role of Daoming Feng and was cast as Daoming Zhuang. The role of Daoming Feng was eventually portrayed by actress Wang Lin.
In February 2018, it was announced that the director had been changed from Xu Fuxiang to Lin Helong.
Reception
Ratings
In this table, represent the lowest ratings and represent the highest ratings.In China, ratings of at least 1.0% is considered high due to its large population and numerous TV share.