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SINGAPORE: Romantic drama "A Tale of 2 Cities" is off to a brilliant start after attracting more than a million viewers when it debuted on Valentine's Day.
According to figures from MediaCorp, the ratings for the drama's debut episode is the highest among the recent crop of high profile Mandarin dramas on Channel 8, such as the blockbuster drama "Breakout" and crime thriller "Unriddle".
"A Tale of 2 Cities", which revolves around the lives and loves of four odd couples, even managed to beat last year's overall ratings champ, the supernatural family drama "With You".
"With You" garnered 923,000 viewers when it debuted at the same 9pm time slot compared to the debut episode of "A Tale of 2 Cities", which drew a whopping 1,016,000 viewers.
"A Tale of 2 Cities" executive producer Paul Yuen attributed the successful debut of the show to its believable story setting and of course, the hard work of its cast.
"I wanted to create something different with this drama. We used different editing techniques and made sure Singaporeans can relate to the story.
"One aspect of this drama's storyline for example is how families think about money and happiness. I didn't want it to be too burdensome with themes like revenge or whatever," Yuen explained to channelnewsasia.com.
"The cast was also very willing to challenge themselves by playing roles that they have never done before and did not worry about hurting their public image," he said.
Yuen cited how Rui En took great pains to play the spoiled, ultra-feminine rich girl Zhang Ya Le, who falls from grace and has to struggle to find happiness in the show, as a good example of the cast's willingness to try new things.
It may have been hard work for Rui En, but the positive reception the show's debut episode received makes it all worthwhile.
"As long as I can entertain my audience, any sacrifice is worth it. Including the awful gel manicures," Rui En told channelnewsasia.com.
"I am very surprised and happy [the show debuted well]. I didn't expect that a ditzy 'princess' would be such a draw."
Yuen had also praised Joanne Peh for daring to discard her good-girl image and play Pan Le Yao, a sexy, materialistic man-eater with a wicked sense of humour.
However, Peh's fans will have to wait for Tuesday night's episode of "A Tale of Two Cities", when her character debuts at 9pm, to see that different side of her.
-CNA/ha
"A Tale of 2 Cities" airs every weekday night at 9pm on Channel 8.
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