CBN Friday Special丨Legal drama “Draw the Line” makes the law real and relatable for everyone

Hello! Welcome to this edition of CBN Friday Special. I’m Stephanie Li.

Based on ordinary people's real experiences and offering a glimpse at a different side of society than viewers are familiar with, workplace TV dramas and movies are often one of the most popular genres among TV audiences.

Recently a new workplace TV series become a hit in China, earning numerous positive reviews with its storytelling and representation of actual legal cases. Draw the Line, a legal drama starring popular actors Jin Dong, Cheng Yi and Cai Wenjing, has quickly caught the attention of audiences since its first episode aired on Sept 19.

The 40-episode series, created with guidance from the Supreme People's Court, the country's top court, focuses on various hot legal issues including those concerning live-streaming, sexual harassment, justified self-defence and the Civil Code. It educates audiences about the law by telling the stories about judges and cases in grassroots-level courts.

For example, one case depicted in the series involves a man who hid his illness from his fiancee before they got married. She found out and successfully sued to have the marriage annulled in line with the Civil Code.

As the show aired its finale on Tuesday, all episodes had been watched 1.3 billion times on Hunan Television-affiliated live-streaming site Mango TV.

Data from box-office tracker Maoyan showed the drama was one of the most discussed topics across Chinese social media platforms, as posts tagged "TV series, Draw the Line" have been viewed nearly 3.4 billion times as of today on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, with 9.4 million discussions. Some clips from the drama have also aroused interest on major video-sharing platforms Douyin and Kuaishou.

Workers in the judicial system have also praised the show. A judge from Beijing said that he and his colleagues talked about Draw the Line and agreed it was like watching themselves at work.

"The drama doesn't caricature judges, lawyers or litigants. Instead, every role has multiple identities. It's close to people's daily lives, so everyone can find themselves in this TV series," he said.

"Everyone in the audience can somehow relate to and reflect on the show, because what the main characters face in each case is also what ordinary people would suffer in their own life in the same situation," writer Fei Huijun said.

In fact, in order to recreate the most original life in court, the crew spent a massive amount of time with the judges to observe their looks, moves and even way of thinking when working.

The series was conceived and planned in 2019, and was worked on for three years and more than 1,128 hours were spent on polishing the , which had 20 drafts.

During the preparatory stage, the team visited more than 60 courts and mediation organisations in Chinese cities such as Changsha, Hengyang, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Guangzhou for inspiration. Director Liu Guotong said that they interviewed more than 200 judges and created different character prototype files for reference.

In terms of content, the project team collected more than 300 representative legal cases of various types and established a case material library.

The popular TV series has also bolstered public interest in how the rule of law is developing and how courts work in China, while revealing how the country's judicial reforms have continued to unfold through vivid depictions of actual cases, which to some extent is a “legal enlightenment drama” that blazed a trail for the creation of future legal shows that actually make a difference in the ever-evolving Chinese audience.

And that’s so much for today. See you next time.

“给最高法写封信，反映服装问题……，尤其是那个夏装，一个是难看，再一个呢，还厚，热死人，一出汗顺着后背qqrepair exe 。”

由制服引发的一系列调侃来自最近一段时间出圈的法治剧《底线》，由最高法指导、法院专家全程驻组协拍，全方位真实反映法官生活和工作状态，调解顶在前，加班是常态，让更多人认识熟悉又陌生的法官和法院qqrepair exe 。与以往严肃的法律剧不同，真实感和烟火气贯穿全剧始终。有法官表示：我怀疑这部剧打开了上班监控。

这部法治题材剧开播当日收视便表现不俗：CSM全国网、CSM城域、CSM64城、欢网、酷云、CCData中均位列第一；微博词条#电视剧底线#9日阅读量达4522.7万次，还登顶了9月19日至9月25日微博剧集影响力榜的榜首qqrepair exe 。11日，《底线》迎来大结局，根据猫眼专业版，《底线》由湖南省广播电视台出品，在芒果TV爱奇艺等多平台上线，其中芒果TV累计播放量已超13亿，豆瓣评分8.3，连续20天稳定猫眼热度日冠，播放量和口碑“双丰收”。

作为一部现实主义题材的作品，《底线》展示了真实生活的点滴，生活中的小事、琐事都在底线有了展现qqrepair exe 。但众所周知，这是一部由最高法“背书”的普法剧，号称深入60余家法院实地调研，深度采访200余名法院干警，剧本历时3年创作，修改共计20多稿。

欲登其堂，先迈其槛qqrepair exe 。立案是审判活动的起始，这部剧讲述了基层法院立案庭的故事，恰恰是这个选择，才让整个剧集有了更强烈的烟火气息。

据《底线》导演刘国彤介绍，从开始就确定要做一个极其真实、温暖现实主义的剧集qqrepair exe 。法律是在救助弱者，扶危救困是法律的最主要的工作。“我们希望不仅仅是写几个人物或者是一个法院的生态，要更多呈现整个中国司法格局的变化。”

《底线》的另一个与众不同之处，是在于打破了观众对法律剧一本正经的刻板印象，剧中来自法院人的自黑让剧集生动、活泼，话语风趣幽默，法官变得接地气qqrepair exe 。这一方面平衡了法治剧的沉重感或严肃感，另一方面，剧组通过采风调研，发现很大一部分法院人说话风趣幽默。但一旦涉及法律、涉及当事人，法官就会非常讲原则，甚至翻脸不认人。

《底线》爆火背后，除却真实，也是专业qqrepair exe 。剧中清晰地传递了宪法法律至上、法律面前人人平等的法治理念，有案必立，不论大小；公正司法，抵御来自金钱、网络审判的压力，正如剧中主角的表述“欢迎网络监督，但不能、也不会接受舆论审判”。

这些专业化呈现的背后，离不开扎实的采风调研和专业团队的支持qqrepair exe 。在拍摄过程中，还有三名法官全程驻场把关，以便从演员到场景更真实还原法院状态。创作团队搭建了模拟法庭，开庭审理的流程、现场表述的重点、原被告的表述都在模拟法庭上做了演练。

除了抠细节，爆款剧的背后都离不开对现实问题的思考qqrepair exe 。剧中讨论了审判面临的“新”案子、“新”问题，如主播直播猝死案，探讨新型就业形态下劳动权益如何维护的问题；“雷星宇杀人案”，激活了正当防卫这款僵尸条款，也对高利贷暴力催收行为敲响了警钟。

中国文艺评论家协会副主席尹鸿表示，《底线》在一定程度上甚至可以说是一部中国特色的“法治启蒙剧”，闯出了一条中国式的律政剧创作之路qqrepair exe 。通过来自现实的典型司法案例，用生活的鲜活性、社会的尖锐性和司法的复杂性，塑造了当代司法人的生动形象，既维护了法律公平公正的底线，又表达了崇德向善的关怀，体现了中国法治社会的进步，触动了观众对社会安定和谐的热切渴望，表达了对法治中国建设的未来信心。

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI

Sound Editor: Stephanie LI

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

Presented by SFC

编委: 于晓娜

策划、编辑：李艳霞

播音：李莹亮

撰稿：李莹亮

音频制作：李莹亮

设计：郑文静、廖苑妮

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