(Roy Qiu…why you so hot part 17)

Warning: This is a rant.

The trouble when dramas rate, they get extended, the story stretched and unnecessary agony dumped on the audience. This is what’s happening to Office Girls right now since TTV decided to take advantage of its good fortune in the ratings by extending the romance-comedy, and has turned it into some sort of a melodrama.

This is why I like Japanese serials. There’s a sense of consistency and stability knowing that there’s just going to be 11 episodes for a series. There’s no element of surprise. I guess that’s being consistent too with the Japanese way, they want everything to be uniform and steady.

Back to Office Girls, shouldn’t the philosophy be when extending the life of a highly-rating show is to reward its audience? Which means not subjecting it to undeserved suspense and agony? I guess not.

I am okay extending Office Girls, why not. It means having more of Roy Qiu, why you so hot.

I don’t mind the blandness of Alice Ke’s Shen Xing Ren. But I do mind the scheming, lifeless acting of Tia Li as Zheng Kai Er. I’m so annoyed that I had to ask her on Weibo when she is going to die disappear from this drama. That’s how pissed I am.

I watch dramas to entertain myself. I can accept the follies of the characters, I can watch the bad characters play out their roles but only to a certain extent. The repetitive churning of a sub-plot is not just unnecessary to me, it is also enough to switch the OFF button on the remote (or in my case, since I watch on my laptop, the X button).

You want more ratings? Then give the audience fresh reasons to keep on watching. Not a recycled version of Zheng Kai Er’s lifeless form (yes, that’s how much I can’t stand her I am so fixated over this). Even Shi Te Long’s physical comedy is becoming a pain to watch already. You gotta quit while you’re still ahead, writers, and not wait till Skip Beat beats you. And I do wish Skip Beat does beat Office Girls if only to serve as lesson for greedy networks to stop stretching the audience’s patience.

Here’s last Sunday’s ratings according to China Times Showbiz:

★週日22:00-24:10 (2011.12.18)
1     小資女孩向前衝 (台視)     5.78
2     華麗的挑戰(民視)     1.35
3     真心請按兩次鈴 (華視)     0.59
3     門當父不對 (中視)

Office Girls has managed to retain the top spot after losing it the previous Sunday to In Time With You’s finale. But it has to watch out because Skip Beat rated very high among the 15-44 and 35-44, which it used to monopolize. For example in its 12th episode, the highest rating to date with 5.97, Office Girls rated 9.89 for the 35-44 bracket.

民視《華麗的挑戰》首播
15-44歲收視: 7.12
35-44歲收視: 8.42

So if Office Girls loses that audience segment to Skip Beat, I ain’t the one crying. Skip Beat has the attraction among teenagers because of its Korean stars (though it’s a turn-off that they are dubbed) and the fact that it’s based on a popular manga. This drama is one of the highly anticipated dramas ever since it was first announced with Ariel Lin and Jerry Yan in the lead.

All I’m saying is, fine, extend Office Girls but move on to more important matters like resolving Qin Zi Qi’s real identity and focus more on the trust issues. Take that witch out of the equation and please, don’t pair her with Paul because he is such a nice boy and shouldn’t end up with a scheming bitch himself.

Truth be told, I have been fast-forwarding and missing key scenes in episode 18 because I don’t have the patience for it anymore.

Maybe if the drama will have more scenes like this:

Is it that hard to do?

Good thing that Qiu Ze just keeps on getting hotter even if the temperature is getting colder.

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