Love Again

Plot Core: The "Strange" Dating Diary of a Retired Professor

Zhang Guoli plays retired literature professor Shen Zhuoran, who, encouraged by his children after the death of his wife, embarks on a dating adventure. He encounters four distinctly different women:

Head Nurse (Mei Ting) chooses to break up over property disputes.
Female Scientist (Xu Di) leaves without a word, hiding her cancer recurrence.
Union Director (Zhou Yemang) exerts psychological pressure with her strong personality.
Wife's Doppelgänger (Yang Tongshu) proposes a "role-playing" relationship.
These experiences lead Shen Zhuoran to redefine "companionship" and "true love," unexpectedly resolving intergenerational conflicts with his son (Tong Dawei), such as a storyline addressing "differences in parenting views" that resonates with modern family issues.

Character Depth: The Survival Experience of Veteran Actors

Zhang Guoli breaks away from his usual "benevolent father" image, portraying a transformation from reserved to open-minded, exemplified in scenes of "awkward dancing in the park."
Mei Ting challenges the role of a "materialist elder," revealing anxieties about elder care through disputes over "property notarization."
Tong Dawei plays the "sandwich generation" son, evolving from opposing his father's remarriage to understanding his emotional needs, reflecting family issues similar to those in All Is Well.

Production Highlights and Social Concerns

Novel Adaptation: Wang Meng's original work uses absurdity to critique elderly dating phenomena, with the series maintaining the core premise that the four dating candidates symbolize various societal prejudices.
Comedic Rhythm: Director Dong Fulai (executive director of Go Go Squid) employs a "stacking misunderstandings" approach to tackle heavy themes, such as the "smartphone teaching" scenes that enhance intergenerational contrast humor.
Silver-Haired Issues: The series addresses topics like "nursing home selection controversies" and "inheritance distribution traps," drawing from the 2024 "China Elderly Society Tracking Survey," reflecting the reality that the population aged 60 and above has reached 280 million.

Broadcast and Market Strategy

Broadcast Rules: CCTV-8 will air two episodes nightly at 7:30 PM, while Tencent Video members will have access to three episodes on the first day, with SVIP members able to unlock them early.
Trailer Data: A clip featuring Zhang Guoli's "park bench monologue" has garnered 120 million views on Douyin, with the hashtag #HowDifficultIsDad'sBlindDate# resonating with middle-aged audiences.

(This article is compiled from information provided at the drama's press conference and analyses of the original novel; specific details are subject to the actual broadcast version.)

Note:

The "wife's doppelgänger" storyline references narrative techniques from the Japanese film Chronicle Of My Mother, exploring emotional dependency through memory displacement.
The "smartphone teaching" scenes incorporate the 2023 "digital divide among the silver-haired" social experiment, highlighting conflicts arising from failed mobile payment attempts.