atmospheres:
You bring up an interesting point, one that has been frequently discussed online by domestic viewers and cnetizens -- that cdramas, especially idol dramas, in the past few years are trending more towards FL-centric, FL-driven, and reverse harem, with less ML-centric and ML-driven dramas being made (and most of them that were being made, pre-ban, were BL adaptations). However, the caveat is that, if so, it's hardly a win for women because the dramas are still by a vast majority written, directed, and produced by men resulting in weird and not empowering or accurate/representative characterizations and depictions of women. Personally, I don't know if this purported trend is true and as far as I know, nobody has actually sat down and tallied up how many FL-centric vs. ML-centric shows were made in the past 5 years, it is just an impression that cnetizens have been talking about.
Yes. It's like that in Western entertainment too. If a few female centric shows / movies are successful, there's a lot of discussion, because some people lose their minds at that idea. And yes, it doesn't always mean the best portrayal of women (looking at you Court Lady).
That's one thing that infuriated me about the superficial criticism of LYF by people that I don't think even watched the show, that claimed to be 'feminist.' Yet they trashed a drama that was produced, written, directed by women, and was female centric!
atmospheres:
So it could very well be that because of where TJC is situated in the star hierarchy right now -- mid-tier liuliang not top-tier like a Xu Kai/Yang Yang/Cheng Yi/Xiao Zhan/Wang Hedi etc., he's probably not being offered a lot of ML-centric scripts with the exceptions of UTS2 (which is a bit different bc it's 2 MLs and not technically an idol drama) and maybe Go East.
I'm cool with that, as long as his roles are interesting, different, and give him a chance to shine. I mean, if you think about it, Under the Skin was actually female centric, despite having two male co-leads. The cases mostly dealt with women, women's issues, and their first major enemy was a woman -- not to mention, all the competent people at the police station were women.
Though I STILL want to see a Wang Hedi / Tan Jian Ci buddy action movie... costume or otherwise. That could be so funny.