贺岁情景喜剧《宅男星球》春节热播引关注

During the traditional weeklong Chinese New Year celebration, A six-part sitcom “Planet Homebuddies, launched by Beijing-based entertainment company Mei Tian Mei Yu (Mei Tian)” at the week of February 8, creates great buzz online on top China portals like Youku, Tudou, PPTV, iQiyi and etc. It’s rare for a TV series, especially a sitcom received so many viewings and discussions during this national holiday as most of the family are enjoying their family-union and watching New Year special programs which are broadcast about 80% of TV time. Each episode of “Planet Homebuddies reached over 500,000 viewers just in a few hours after it’s uploaded online, for the whole six episodes, the total viewings exceeds 2,300,000 till Feb. 23^rd.  The Sitcom takes a humorous look at the new trend among China’s white collar youth who live and work at home.

"Planet Homebuddies” follows the lives of six, twenty/thirty somethings, three guys and three girls, who because of various circumstances gather together in a large loft. The lead character Jerry is depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend and losing his advertising business. To get over his misfortune, he decides to rent a large loft with two good friends, Andy, an IT specialist and Sean, a DJ. Together they become “homebuddies” - young people who work and live at home, a new terminology created by Mei Tian.

To help Jerry get over his troubles, Andy invites Molly, Jerry’s older sister from Los Angeles,  to visit them at the loft.  Andy also invites his cousin Bingxue to hang out with them, and add new neighbor Vivian, a self-employed art curator, into the mix, and you have “Planet Homebuddies,” a group of young men and women who share every life moment, mostly in the comfort zone of the loft.

A first for China, the series, penned by TV writers, is also being developed as a TV/Web format for global audiences. Additionally, the show will have specifically designed content for smartphones and tablets. The series marks the first time a China media company will use the Web to pilot domestic and global TV projects.

 “Mei Tian has been keeping a close eye on the cultural trends developing among China’s youth,” commented Jean Zhang, President, Mei Tian.“We noticed that working around the clock on weekdays and hanging out with friends on weekends is how most of today’s youth in China live their lives, with more and more adopting a “homebody” lifestyle. Our new series will serve as the voice of today’s 20-30 year old set in China, and examine this emerging trend.”

“The series represents the current young generation who not only pursue white collar jobs, but also choose to live life on their own terms, be their own boss, and explore a new kind of human dynamic and interaction,” added Larry Namer, President/CEO of Metan Development Group (Metan), the strategic consultant to the project. “ The Internet audience in China is used to longer form programming than what we see from Western audiences. Couple that with the sheer size of the potential audience and it provides an ideal testing ground for TV piloting.”

Another buzz caused by the sitcom happened before it’s launching. Without any promotion in China, the show received many oversea media’s report and discuss. Many oversea media take this drama as a window to know the life of current Chinese young people. And as it tells stories of three young men and three young women, Jimmy Kimmel regards it as “Chinese version of the classical American sitcom Friends” . But surprisingly and extremely happy to its audience, the show’s theme song was truly written by Danny Wilde, creator of the well-known theme music for “Friends”, I'll Be There For You.