Recently, mainland China’s popular variety show “Infinite Beyond Class 4” was found by netizens to have reproduced classic scenes from the Taiwanese drama “Queen of No. 11”. The segment featured actors such as Zhu Xiaotian and Xiong Dailin. The release of the segment has sparked heated discussions online, with netizens questioning whether proper authorization was obtained.
“Infinite Beyond Class 4” recently aired a remake of scenes from “Queen of No. 11”, featuring actors Zhu Xiaotian and Xiong Dailin. Impressively, the show’s production team recreated the iconic image of the manager “Gecko” (played by Huang Diyang) from “Queen of No. 11”, maneuvering around the set with drinks, calming the director on one side and arranging accommodations for the top female star on the other, a classic scene. Among them, Zhu Xiaotian portrayed a director who waited impatiently, while Xiong Dailin wore a white dress, resisting going on set because she “felt her nose was crooked”, mimicking the appearance and storyline of Taiwanese artist Ceng Guan Ting from the drama.
Although the show faithfully recreated many classic scenes from “Queen of No. 11”, it did not indicate the source, leading to many netizens questioning whether authorization was obtained.
Subsequently, a mainland entertainment blogger released an almost 8-minute video comparing the original and the remake scene by scene, criticizing the remake for being solely an imitation of the external form, with the essence of the characters lost, sparking controversies.
According to reports from Taiwanese media, during the broadcast of “Queen of No. 11”, Taiwanese actor Huang Diyang gained popularity for vividly interpreting the hardships of a manager’s workplace, earning a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor Award at the Golden Bell Awards. The drama won the “Best Drama Program Award” at the 60th Golden Bell Awards, with Yan Yiwen winning Best Director, and Yang Jin Hua and Ceng Guan Ting respectively winning the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards.
In response to the controversy surrounding the accusation of plagiarism of “Queen of No. 11” by the mainland variety show, director Yan Yiwen told “Mirror Report”, “Huh? I haven’t seen it, so I’m not sure.” As for whether the mainland variety show had obtained legal authorization for the script of “Queen of No. 11” in advance, Yan Yiwen clearly stated, “I don’t know, because I’m not the copyright owner.”
As of now, the production team of “Infinite Beyond Class 4” has not publicly responded to whether they obtained the authorization for “Queen of No. 11”, and the topic continues to attract attention. With director Yan Yiwen speaking out for the first time, the focus has shifted to the copyright owner. It is reported that the rights to “Queen of No. 11” belong to the production company Liang Ren Xing and the platform Netflix. Whether they will publicly disclose the status of the authorization is eagerly anticipated.