Panned TV remake forces viewers to question Chinese production values

[File photo: CGTN]

TV remakes have long been viewed as a safer bet in China than developing original series from scratch, thanks to the established fame and popularity of the original work. However, a recent Chinese remake of a Japanese TV hit series has flopped so spectacularly that it has put the commercial TV production system under question.

The Chinese version of “Shinya Shokudo” (Midnight Diner), a Japanese manga later adapted into a TV series in 2009, debuted on Monday and was immediately lambasted by viewers for its “poor quality”.

By Thursday morning, more than 40,000 fans had flocked onto Douban, a Chinese website similar to Rotten Tomatoes, leaving the remake with an average rating of 2.3 out of 10, the lowest score ever given to a TV show in recent years. On Mtime, China’s answer to IMDB, the show was given 3.6 out of 10 by disappointed viewers.

This is in stark contrast to the original Japanese series, which has proved popular with Chinese audiences, scoring highly on Douban and Mtime.

Set in a late night restaurant in modern day China, the Chinese edition copies the original storyline and the entire Japanese screenplay, with each episode revolving around one diner’s personal story in relation to a dish.

Angry fans of the original Japanese work have taken to Chinese social media to accuse the team behind the remake of “disregarding Chinese culture by transplanting the original stories without necessary local input”.  

The remake is also full of product placement, leading to the show being criticized as “money driven”.

However, that product placement so despised by the show’s unhappy viewers may have saved this remake from being a financial bomb as well as a critical flop.

According to an investigation by Beijing Shangbao, the revenue generated by product placement could offset a fair share of the production costs before taking into account audience figures. The profit created by selling the show to broadcasters has also lifted the financial burden from the remake’s under-fire producers.

The show is the latest in a string of examples of commercial TV projects in China to have massively flopped on the small screen. The Chinese version of Midnight Diner could become the straw that finally broke the camel’s back for viewers, if it pushes their tolerance for low-quality manufactured TV dramas over the edge.

The remake’s most fierce critics argue that TV investors and producers are failing to understand the demands of audiences for good quality original drama, and are instead misled into believing that simply combining a household name and a hitherto popular novel is a recipe for success. The money to be gained from product placement and sales to broadcasters have further fueled the push for profit over quality.   

Song Wanjin, a senior TV scriptwriter, revealed to the National Business Daily earlier this year that firms refuse to take their time over rights to stories they have just bought, and instead put “inexperienced scriptwriters” in charge of adaptations almost immediately, to get the show ready for broadcast as soon as possible.

“Big budget adaptions are bound to flop in 2017,” Song predicted.

TV stations' rating figures should be used to put poor and unpopular productions in check. However, it’s still rare for China's state-owned broadcasters to pull an entire series before it runs through a whole season.

Remakes and adaptations are believed to involve less of a financial risk than commissioning original works – TV executives believe that no matter the quality, audiences for remakes will automatically be filled by pre-existing fan bases.

A study by Jiemian.com shows that 36 percent of all TV series aired in 2016 were adaptions, and that number looks set to triple in 2017. Adaptions have proved a successful model for series streamed on the Internet, which has become a major source of profit for TV producers. The five best-received drama series streamed online in 2016 were all adaptations.