As many of you know I have been interested in this show’s stats so I have been actively researching stats on multiple sites including Douban. From Oct 27-Oct 31, the score was never below 8.9. Even as late as 12pm ET, the score was still in that range. Plus the number of reviewers was already above 5K. Literally, overnight, a barrage of reviews in the 1 and 2 range were published. If you scroll through the reviews, you will see Nov 1st as the timestamp.

That’s very suspicious since the viewership was highest on Oct 30. It’s possible but, highly unlikely, that the several thousand reviewers held their score for 2 days and then published on the same date.

My understanding of Douban is that it’s the equivalent of IMDB in the West. This means that it’s driven by accounts that users create on the site. In addition Douban, like IMDB, has limited means to control the creation of fake accounts aka sock puppets.

This is a real problem on IMDB, and the main reason why most people and studios now disregard the IMDB scores. A few years ago, users and studios started noticing a pattern with negative scores and some movies. If the movie featured non traditional characters or non traditional actors in conventional roles, the scores were always significantly lower than content that was more traditional. This all came to a breaking point when The Black Panther was released. Despite overwhelmingly positive reviews from the audience, the IMDB score was in the low 7s. Investigations found that many of the reviewers were created by accounts that had not existed until a few hours or days before they posted. Investigations showed that it was possible to create accounts on a large scale to bombard the site.

It appears that the same thing is happening to FoF.

I haven't looked at Douban scores yet or the stats, but China has already been dealing with these types of activities for the last few years This is why some dramas such as The Longest Promise and New Vanity Fair had a long gap between airing to publishing official scores. They are checking accounts and time-lines/activities. Even once the scores have been published, it's been known that if a certain star has some sort of black press, scores can change well beyond its original published score.

That makes sense. That‘s why I don’t cite IMDB or Douban scores; they’re too easily manipulated and there’s an entire IT industry dedicated to creating ghost accounts and spam. However, it seems like there’s an attempt on Weibo today to state that the show isn’t popular based on today’s Douban Score

I don't follow what goes on with Weibo as it's quite well known it's taken over by marketing accounts whether from rivals or the production teams themselves. If you ever get a chance to watch New Vanity Fair, that drama ruffled a few feathers and the ratings dived big time. Although I didn't like that drama, it offers an insight into the world of idol actors trying to move from idol dramas onto more serious dramas. A GJM style director (someone who wrote first and gained fame and entered the movies/drama world) was also in the cast and that must have upset some industry insiders along with who the ML was really modelled on. 

It's a touchy subject in China right now. BTW, GJM dramas are normally not liked and with his past history of being frozened out by the industry, it has meant he usually doesn't use his real name in many of his newer creations to avoid a repeat of his past.