Chinese version of ‘Grandpas Over Flowers’ earns popularity

Source:Global Times Published: 2014-6-17 18:13:01

While 2013 was a great year for dads thanks to the highly popular Hunan TV produced show Where Are we Going, Dad?, it seems this year will be the year for grandfathers!

 Since hitting domestic TV screens on Sunday, the Chinese version of Grandpas Over Flowers has become the center of attention among the various entertainment shows out there this summer.

Based on the South Korean TV show of the same name, the Chinese version of Grandpas Over Flowers, which features famous elderly actors traveling around the world, is a coproduction of Dragon TV and the original South Korean production team.

Featuring stars such as Lei Kesheng and Niu Ben from the Chinese mainland, Chin Han from Taiwan, and Hong Kong's Kenneth Tsang, the show's first episode has successfully capture the attention of audiences in China.

At an average age of 77, the four have to travel around dozens of cities in Europe on a limited budget of only 600 yuan ($96.06) a day to cover accommodation, food and all other costs. The four old men won acclaim from audiences for their genuine, duteous and amusing behavior.

"At the beginning Liu Ye (the actor who serves as a tour guide for the seniors during their travel) always stressed that things in foreign countries are very expensive and that the group needed to save money, so they didn't eat lunch for the first two days they were in Paris," said Li Wenyu, managing director of the program. "We had to come up ideas to force them to have lunch."

With a similar program, Divas Hit the Road, also showing on Hunan TV, it seems that TV stations have begun shifting their competition from the battlefield of traditional singing or dancing talent competition shows to new types of reality shows. For now, it seems Grandpas Over Flowers has been a good first move.

Global Times

Posted in: TV

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