Image: Screen grab via Barbie Hsu’s Intagram
Sixteen years after, “Meteor Garden” is set for a reboot. Show creator Angie Chai announced last Tuesday (April 11) that the phenomenal trailblazing TV drama will be brought back to life, as reported by The Straits Times.
Originally aired in 2001 in Taiwan, the show launched the careers of then-young-stars-turned-instant-global heartthrobs Ken Chu, Vaness Wu, Vic Chou and Jerry Yan, formerly known as F4.
The series, which was originally based on the Japanese comic series “Boys Over Flowers”, will have a 48-episode run for the reboot. Said to be “fuller” and “flashier”, it will be made with a reportedly monstrous NT$720 million budget (almost $24 million). That would be NT$15 million per episode. This budget is 30 times higher than its 2001 predecessor, as per the publication.
Chai announced the reboot following female lead Barbie Hsu’s posts on Instagram. Hsu played the character of Shan Cai, actor Jerry Yan’s (Dao Ming Si) love interest in the series.
The actress’ post got netizens reacting ecstatically, most of them going nostalgic about how so crazy they were for “Meteor Garden”. JB
Image: Screen grab of netizens’ comments on Barbie Hsu’s Instagram post
Image: Screen grab of netizens’ comments on Barbie Hsu’s Instagram post