The Crossing Hero is 2015 Taiwanese fantasy, magic realist, time travel idol-drama starring Jiro Wang, Bruce Xie, Hu Yang, Nikki Hsieh, Lorene Ren, Edison Wang, and Jeff Zhang, amongst others. The series also represents Taiwanese singer and actor Jiro Wang's production debut. An original web-based series jointly produced by Hairun Media and Tencent Video,
Synopsis
The Crossing Hero is a time-traveling tale that follows the lives of Hong Xidong --the leader of Ming dynastyEmperor Zhu Yunwen's personal bodyguard detail—and two imperial military guards, Peng Ze and Xu Xiaotian, who are hot in pursuit of a revolving pearl treasure in Hong's possession. All three time-travel into the 21st century, where Peng and Xu encounter Hong Xidong's identical future other, Hong Xiaodong. Peng and Xu's attempts to adjust to life in the future lead to a series of comedic adventures.
The C'stheme song and MV, , performed by Jiro Wang, has garnered more than 243,000 views on Tencent Video in less than a week, since its release on 15 March 2015.
Broadcast
Beginning 23 March 2015, The Crossing Hero airs online, on Tencent Video, from Mondays through Fridays, at 12nn. Beginning 5 April 2015, The Crossing Hero airs on Taiwan's China Television, on Sundays, at 10pm. Beginning 11 April 2015, The Crossing Hero airs on Taiwan's CTi Variety, on Saturdays, at 11pm. In Thailand first airs on PPTV, from Wednesdays to Fridays, at 14.55pm. Beginning 13 November 2015.
Development
As a first-time producer, Jiro Wang spent millions in production costs perfecting the visual quality of The Crossing Hero. His perfectionist nature meant that production costs frequently overran throughout the filming process. "I even spent NT$2 million on one scene, which was spent to build props that would be demolished in a few months. It's distressing, but as a first time producer, I want to do my best," he said. The actor chose to forfeit his actor's paycheck in order to redirect the funds into production costs. On 26 February 2015, a fifteen-second trailer was aired during producer and lead actor Jiro Wang's interview with Azio TV's program, :zh-tw:Citycolor城彩名人堂|City Color.
Reception
The series has generated a buzz online prior to airtime: as of 18 March 2015, the topic #超级大英雄# has already been read 14.29 million times, with more than 39,000 people participating in the discussion on the popular Chinese micro-blogging site, Sina Weibo, with hopes of becoming one of the most popular dramas of the year. The series hit 2.72 million views on its premiere episode within the first two hours, topping the "Hot Topics" list on Sina Weibo at the time. Viewership hit 4.33 million by the end of the day on 23 March 2015. The series crossed a hundred thousand views on Tencent Entertainment following the airing of its 25th episode.
