TVB Anniversary Awards 2012: Recap of the Winners + My Thoughts

TVB’s annual Anniversary Awards show took place much later than usual this year, which isn’t too surprising given the fact that TVB had to wait until their 2 anniversary series finished airing so that both programs could be included in the awards ceremony.

This year’s awards show was also different from previous years because of the new ‘rules’ that TVB set in efforts to attract more audiences to watch and participate in the show.  Instead of having TVB executives and producers determine the winners for all award categories, TVB chose instead to have the 3 biggest award categories – Best Actor (TV King), Best Actress (TV Queen), and Best Series – be determined 100% by audience vote (what they call the OVPP system).  Since I already stated my opinion multiple times about the OVPP thing and why I don’t feel that it’s a good idea, I’m not going to rehash that ‘argument’ here.  But I will say that TVB pretty much used the whole OVPP thing as a ‘gimmick’ in efforts to ‘change up’ the awards show and also get more audiences to watch as well as participate (which seemed to have worked, since the latest update is that the ratings for the show shot through the roof:  ratings averaged 36 points, peaking at 41 points….even higher ratings than TVB’s series!!).

Unlike last year’s award ceremony, which I had no interest in watching whatsoever (though I still ended up watching and writing up a recap post on it), I was actually interested this year because there were quite a few artists and series nominated that I actually like…plus I was curious to see how the whole OVPP thing would turn out (and whether the Miss HK voting fiasco would repeat itself or not).

Overall, I felt that the results were satisfactory and I wasn’t too surprised with who ended up winning (well, except for in 1-2 categories that is).  The awards were pretty evenly distributed this time around and the people whom I expected to win did (for the most part). 

Of course, the biggest surprise for me was the presentation of the “Outstanding Artist” awards to the 5 ‘veteran’ artists – even though I already knew that TVB was going to have this ‘new’ award this year (it was announced a few weeks ago), I had no clue what the criteria would be or who the nominees were, since TVB didn’t release any details about it.  Prior to the awards show, there was widespread speculation in the Media that this award was created as a ‘consolation prize’ to calm the backlash that erupted over the blatant omission of certain artists from the nominations list (i.e. Ben Wong, Raymond Cho, Linda Chung, etc.) – in fact, I even saw some Media outlet ‘claim’ that they had the ‘official list of winners’ from TVB and those 3 names (Ben, Raymond, Linda, etc.) were on it as the ‘winners’ of this award!  Obviously, that ‘report’ turned out to be BOGUS (again, be careful what you read in the Media and don’t believe everything you read / hear!).  The purpose of the “Outstanding Artist” award turned out to be completely different – it wasn’t a ‘consolation prize’ for those not nominated, but rather a ‘professionalism’ award to recognize those veteran artists who’ve worked hard for years and show professionalism both at work and outside of it.  Sure, people can say that this was pretty much a ‘pork’ award, but hey, the way I see it, at least TVB made the effort to recognize those artists (even if they probably only did so because of the external ‘pressure’ from HKTV and not wanting to lose those artists to competitors).  In any case, I’ll talk more about the winners for this award below and my feelings about it.

The other overall comment I had is that I was a bit disappointed with the lack of ‘meaningful’ presenters this year.  Every year, the ‘highlight’ of the anniversary awards show for me isn’t necessarily the nominees or the award winners (since I’ve lost confidence in TVB’s awards in the past decade, so I could really care less who won) – rather, I tune in to watch the awards mainly because of the presenters, since most years, TVB manages to invite artists / entertainment industry people whom we haven’t seen in a long time to present for them.  Also, the ‘speeches’ that the presenters give are usually the most interesting (and usually the funniest) part of the entire show.  I’ll talk a little bit about some of the presenters who were at the ceremony, but outside of those few, there really wasn’t much ‘excitement’ in this area this year.

Ok, so with all that said, here’s the list of the winners, my thoughts / opinion on their wins, and comments about the actual show itself.

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Lifetime Achievement Award:  Liza Wang
(Award presented by TVB’s Deputy Chairman Norman Leung)

.-- Even though I absolutely can’t stand Liza Wang, I’m actually ok with TVB giving her this award because she truly has contributed a lot to the industry and so for that, she does deserve to be recognized.  Plus I would much rather they give Liza this award than to keep giving her a spot in the Top 5 for TV Queen just to please her (which they didn’t do this year – thank God!).  I mean, seriously, must she get nominated for TV Queen each time she participates in a series?  How about saving that spot for the younger ones fadans who actually ‘need’ the TV Queen award more than she does?

.-- Anyway, I honestly didn’t pay much attention to Liza’s acceptance speech because, well, frankly I really didn’t care much – just wanted them to get the segment over with and move on.

.-- One comment about this segment of the awards ceremony:  Um, in the future, can TVB please not have Norman Leung speak?  I mean, ok fine, have him present the award if needed, but gosh, please don’t let the man open his mouth!   Not only does he speak incredibly SLOW, he’s also very incoherent (honestly, Sir Run Run Show is 104 years old and he probably speaks more clearly than Norman Leung!).  Also, most people probably didn’t notice, but Mr. Leung got some information wrong in his speech (when he was recounting some of the series that Liza participated in) – my mom and I were literally sitting there scratching our heads and wondering:  Huh?  I don’t hear Norman Leung giving long speeches too often, so I’m not sure if he speaks that way normally or if he was just really nervous that night (though I had the same feeling about his speech last year too – CRINGEWORTHY!). Argh!


Most Improved Female Artist:  Mandy Wong
(Award presented by Lawrence Cheng, Chin Kar Lok, and Janice Man)

.—First, a word about the presenters:  it actually did make sense for TVB to invite Lawrence and Chin Kar Lok to present this particular award (which is pretty much the ‘Best Newcomer’ award) because 1) Lawrence is currently one of the ‘main instructors’ for TVB’s newly revamped Acting Classes (he’s responsible for cultivating TVB’s new batch of ‘talents’, hence the connection to the newcomer award) and 2) Chin Kar Lok was one of the first winners of the ‘Most Improved’ award (as Lawrence reminded us during his ‘speech’) back in the 90s when the Anniversary Awards first started (back when they had the award separated into ‘drama’ and ‘non-drama’ categories) – so as the ‘big brother’, it was most appropriate for him to present the award to his ‘juniors’.  As for Janice Man – well, she’s a ‘newcomer’ to the film industry (and music too, right?) so that made sense too – though honestly, she didn’t really say much, since Lawrence and Kar Lok did most of the talking, so she probably didn’t really need to be there…

.— In terms of the winner….of course, the ‘expected’ winner in this category was Mandy, so no surprise there.  Actually, she is long overdue for this award already, as she actually should have already gotten it last year, but since she didn’t, then it only makes sense for her to get it this year. 

.—I definitely agree with Mandy winning this award because this year truly was ‘her year’ – not only was she in a lot of series this year, she also performed well in all of them…in some cases, even ‘stealing the show’ from the leads.  TVB definitely made a wise choice by giving this award to Mandy instead of the others who were nominated….in fact, I would venture to say that if TVB had pulled an ‘upset’ and given the award to someone else, all hell would have broken loose.


Most Improved Male Artist:  Oscar Leung
(Award presented by Lawrence Cheng, Chin Kar Lok, and Janice Man)

.—This was probably the only other category I actually ‘cared’ about going into the awards show because I really really wanted Oscar Leung to win.  Oscar pulled off excellent performances in pretty much every series he participated in this year and truly did deserve to win -- so yes, I am definitely glad he did win!  I actually don’t remember if Oscar was nominated last year or not but to me, he has always been a pretty solid actor, even back around the time that he started – seeing such promising young actors like Oscar do well makes me very happy because it reinstates some of the hope in the TV industry that I had lost years ago!

.—I will admit that  I was a little worried in the beginning whether TVB would choose to give the award to Him Law instead of Oscar….now don’t get me wrong – Him is a good actor too and certainly deserving of the Most Improved award as well (though to be honest, both Him and Oscar are sort of past the ‘newbie’ stage already….but hey, getting that award is better than getting nothing, right?) – but this year, Oscar definitely ‘stood out’ more in terms of his acting, as he had a wider range of roles that required more versatile acting versus Him’s roles this year pretty much being the same from one series to another.  Definitely very happy for Oscar!!

.—Lastly – I liked Oscar’s acceptance speech….it was touching to hear him thank all the people who had helped ‘teach’ him and give him advice over the years….and definitely very ‘sweet’ of him to thank his girlfriend Tina, who has stuck with him through thick and thin for the past 10 years.  Good for him!



Best Host of a Variety Program:  Luisa Maria Leitao (“Telling Maria”)
(Award presented by Mak Ling Ling and Lee Sing Chak)

.—This was not a surprise at all, as everyone was pretty much expecting Luisa to take this award.  Out of all the nominees, she was definitely the best one – not to mention her popularity soared big time this year due to her interview program being so well received.  I have no problems with Luisa winning at all – in fact, I’m very happy that she is also finally getting the recognition she should have gotten a long time ago (she’s been in the industry for 30 years).  Lastly – she also gave one of the most moving speeches of the night (especially the last part of her speech when she thanked her ex-boyfriend for all the support he had given her and helping to promote the program).



Outstanding Artist Award:  Chin Kar Lok, Benz Hui, Sunny Chan, Lee Sing Cheong, Dodo Cheng
(Award presented by Eric Tsang)

.—As I said earlier, I was pleasantly surprised with this award because I had no clue whatsoever that TVB would choose to ‘recognize’ its veteran artists (though it makes sense now given the volatile situation with additional stations vying for licenses).

.—First, let’s talk about Eric Tsang presenting this award.  Definitely a very appropriate choice given Eric’s tenure and status in the industry – plus he’s one of the few artists currently at TVB who was actually around when these veteran artists were still active and knows them very well (of course, he has collaborated with most of them in some way or another as well).  Eric’s ‘speech’ introducing each of the artists was very touching (and ‘humorous’ in the case of Chin Kar Lok) – good job in this area!

As for the winners of the award – all of them were definitely well-deserved.  I liked how TVB did the ‘surprise’ element with this award, as none of the 5 artists knew that they were going to get this award until their names were called to go on stage.

.—Chin Kar Lok – to be honest, I may not be too fond of Kar Lok as an actor, but I definitely admire and respect him as a person.  I remember the first time I knew of him was back in the mid-90s when he ‘replaced’ Jordan Chan as one of the co-hosts of Super Trio (he went on to host for many years alongside Eric Tsang and Jerry Lamb).  I’ve seen him in many hosting gigs since then and also I’ve seen him in series too – but his biggest contribution I feel is his role as action choreographer for movies, which is really his strength (plus it’s something that he’s been doing for years and recently won an award for).  So yes, totally deserving of this award because of his contributions to the industry but also his good overall attitude as well.


.—Benz Hui  -- I was absolutely ecstatic that Benz FINALLY got recognition – not just for his contributions to the TV (and movie) industry, but also for his great attitude and personality off-screen as well!   As Eric stated in his introduction, Benz was one of the graduates of TVB’s very first Acting Class (back in 1971-72) and he has pretty much worked for TVB since that time (40 years!!).  I myself grew up watching Benz in series after series (he was especially active back in the 80s) and over the years, he has become one of my favorite ‘green leaf’ actors of all time!  As an actor, he is brilliantly talented (he can do comical, serious, villain, grassroots, etc. – absolutely versatile!).  As a person – well, the introduction that TVB put together about Benz described him perfectly in my opinion – he definitely brings joy and laughter to everyone, no matter where he goes, as he has a truly infectious sense of humor that just endears him to everyone. 

From my recollection, in the 40 years that Benz has worked for TVB, he hasn’t gotten a single award (though as he said, from day one, he has never thought about getting any awards), so for him to get one now is definitely long overdue.  No wonder Benz was so touched (he almost cried, though he was able to hold it in and use his trademark sense of humor to lighten the mood) – I mean, I was almost in tears too (tears of joy that is) seeing one of my favorite artists finally get ‘rewarded’ after so many years!  Absolutely well-deserved!!


.—Sunny Chan – I was equally surprised when Sunny’s name was called because despite his great acting talent (obviously he’s one of my favorite actors as well), he has never been ‘recognized’ by TVB for any type of award (even though he did get nominated a few times, but was never in ‘serious’ contention).  I’ve liked Sunny as an actor since he started in the 90s – which is why for the past decade (ever since Sunny returned to TVB after a brief stint at ATV), I’ve been ticked off at TVB for giving him such lame roles in equally lame series and for ‘warehousing’ majority of his series.  To be honest, he can give any of the TV Kings from the past decade a run for their money in the area of acting, yet he is so under-promoted and under-utilized that it’s ridiculous – especially since he is a lead actor and has been since the 90s!  As a person, I have the utmost respect and admiration for Sunny, especially in the last few years after I found out how great of a father he is and all the sacrifices that he was willing to make for his autistic son – definitely a man of honor who absolutely deserves to be rewarded!

I’m so glad that TVB finally ‘woke up’ and recognized how much talent Sunny has as an actor (maybe, just maybe, I’ll stop being pissed at them now for ‘neglecting’ Sunny all these years)!   And I absolutely enjoyed Sunny’s acceptance speech (haha…Eric Tsang was spot on when he said that Sunny will ‘talk your ear off’ if he got the chance…but hey, that’s part of what makes him so endearing!) – you could totally tell that Sunny was overjoyed at getting the award (he was like a big kid who just got a big present…LOL!).  Great job, Sunny!


.—Lee Sing Cheong – I was pleasantly surprised that Lee Sing Cheong got an award because he has also been with TVB for decades and never got much recognition up until now!  He’s another actor I grew up watching (I started watching him in series when he actually still had hair…hehe!) and needless to say, he’s definitely another one of my favorites.  Lee Sing Cheong has always been a very versatile, talented actor who can take pretty much any type of role and run with it – he can be a ruthless villain one minute, a benevolent father the next minute, or a comedic sidekick the next minute.  He is tremendously underrated as an actor and absolutely deserves more recognition than he has ever gotten – which is why I was so happy to see him get this award.  It was obvious from his acceptance speech that he didn’t know about the award either (since TVB told him to attend the awards ceremony because they were going to have him present an award – though they never told him who he would be presenting to…turns out that was just an ‘excuse’ to get him to attend so they could ‘surprise’ him with the award).  Lee Sing Cheong was very moved by the gesture and even though he didn’t cry, other artists did shed a few tears because they were so happy for him (Myolie gave him a standing ovation and Fala was wiping tears from her eyes) – though it was very emotional for me as well, it was at the same time very heartwarming to see.  Congratulations and absolutely well-deserved!!


.—Dodo Cheng – the 5^th Outstanding Artist award went to Dodo Cheng, which absolutely makes sense in my opinion because in all the years that she has been in the industry, Dodo is pretty much the ‘epitome’ of professionalism (if anyone needs examples of this, let me know!).  I loved her as an actress back in the 70s/80s (when she was with TVB) and even when she went into movies, I still enjoyed her works.  For me personally, I feel it’s a pity that she stopped acting and decided to do hosting full time instead because she’s an absolutely talented actress (though of course, she’s a great host as well – one of the best there is in the industry).  Definitely well-deserved and a natural choice to win this award! (And I loved how Dodo didn’t miss a beat – right after her speech, she continued right into her duties of wrapping up the segment for a commercial!)



Favorite Female TV Character:  Kate Tsui (as ‘Pat Chan’ in Highs and Lows)
(Award presented by Myolie Wu and Kevin Cheng)

.—There was no top 5 this year – pretty much all 10 nominees in the category were ‘finalists’, which I felt was kind of weird.  They should have at least narrowed it down to Top 5 like they did previous years – at least make the award more ‘important’ (especially since the award already has a ‘negative’ stigma of being a ‘consolation prize’).  I don’t know about others, but for me, the way they did this award, I really wasn’t too excited about the award itself – when they announced the winner, it was pretty much like: ‘oh ok – next?’

.—I actually have no comment about Kate winning because this year, I actually have not paid a whole lot of attention to the performances of the females – just like last year and the year before, none of the performances from the ladies stood out much to me, so as long as whoever wins in this category makes sense and doesn’t create backlash, then I’m fine with it.



Favorite Male TV Character:  Kenneth Ma (as ‘Cheung Yat Kin’ in The Hippocratic Crush)
(Award presented by Ng Man Tat and Benz Hui)

.—Compared to the Female Fav character award, the Male one was definitely much more ‘exciting’, probably because the male performances were definitely better this year and majority of the characters / artists nominated I felt deserved to win.

.—Again, no Top 5 for this category, which was a bit weird, but ok fine (though it would have made things more interesting to narrow the list and only pick one person from it). 

.—Of course, since I loved the series The Hippocratic Crush and loved Kenneth’s character in it, I’m absolutely fine with him winning – though as I said earlier, I would have been fine with any of the others winning as well (yes, even Raymond – his ‘Happy Sir’ character truly was a departure from the types of characters he used to play and in my opinion, it’s one of the more decent roles he’s had in the past couple years). 

.—Kenneth definitely gave a great speech – I loved how he was so honest in saying that people seem to not want the Favorite Male Character award because the person who receives it usually won’t get TV King, but he’s totally fine with it and doesn’t mind getting that award every year if no one wants it!  Haha…silly Kenneth!  One thing I like about Kenneth is that he is one of the few artists who actually thanks all the behind-the-scenes people in his speeches (i.e. the scriptwriters, costume, hair and makeup, etc.) – I respect him for that, especially since the behind-the-scenes people usually never get any type of recognition whatsoever.

.—The highlight of this segment for me was definitely the presenters – Tat Gor and Uncle Benz!  TVB made a great choice putting these 2 ‘funny men’ together – their ‘banter’ back and forth was absolutely hilarious!!   I already talked about Benz earlier, so not too much more comment there…but I was absolutely thrilled to see Tat Gor again!  Since he moved his career to Mainland, I had not seen any of Tat Gor’s works in recent years, so I was definitely starting to miss him – especially since he’s one of my favorite comedic actors (though he’s also very versatile and can do a variety of other roles as well).  Based on his presentation speech, he has not lost his comedic timing one bit!   Love it!



Best Supporting Actress:  Nancy Wu (Gloves Come Off)
(Award presented by Mandy Wong)

.—TVB did this award differently this year by first announcing the Top 2 artists in this category (basically the 2 artists who received the most number of votes).  Both artists were invited to the front of the stage and allowed to give a brief ‘acceptance’ speech – then they were given the envelope with the name of the winner and the person who doesn’t get the award is responsible for presenting the award to the winner.

.—Honestly, I didn’t like the way they did this because it was too awkward – especially since they didn’t set aside enough time for it.  The whole segment was so rushed, I sort of got ticked off at how ‘messy ‘ it was.

.—The top 2 finalists in this category were Nancy Wu and Mandy Wong.  Of course, I’m not surprised about Nancy, since she was the ‘hot favorite’ going into the awards and pretty much the one expected to win.  But I WAS surprised about Mandy getting the second highest number of votes – I honestly thought the ‘battle’ for Supporting Actress was between Nancy and Elena Kong (whom I felt was the only one out of the rest of the nominees who had a real chance at beating Nancy)…ah well, I guess it doesn’t make a difference now…

.—Anyway, absolutely fine with Nancy winning this award – in fact, she actually should have gotten this award a long time ago…glad TVB finally ‘recognized’ her, but really wish they would have done so earlier!



Best Supporting Actor:  Koo Ming Wah (Divas in Distress)
(Award presented by Power Chan)

.—Same format as the Supporting Actress award, except that this segment ran more smoothly – less awkward and the timing was a lot better.

.—The 2 finalists were (obviously) Power Chan and Koo Ming Wah.  To be honest, I love both actors, so it’s really hard for me to choose who I would have wanted to win – I’m pretty much ok with either one winning, though as I said before, I really wished this category would have been a tie so that both of them could win! 

.-- One thing I will say is that I was thrilled to see these 2 great actors FINALLY getting the recognition they deserve – it was definitely a very emotional moment for me seeing the 2 of them up there and seeing how much support both of them were getting from everyone (especially Power Chan, since I’ve been following his career since the 80s and pretty much grew up watching him). 

.—I absolutely loved Power’s ‘thank you’ speech, even though it was only 2 sentences!  It was so sweet of him to tell his wife and daughter how much he loved them (and kudos to the other artists for applauding when he made his ‘declaration’).  Awww, Power is such a good man!  Love him and continue to support him!

.—Koo Ming Wah gave a great speech as well – he was very emotional and thanked pretty much everyone – from TVB to the series producers and behind the scenes staff to his family to the fans who supported him.  I’m very happy for him, as he definitely deserved the award for his performance (though as I said earlier, Power was also equally deserving).



Best Variety Program:  Map of Happiness
(Award presented by Chung King Fai and Jerry Lamb)

.—I will be honest and say that I was surprised that Map of Happiness won because I absolutely thought that Telling Maria had this award in the bag.  Not sure what happened here because the result was totally unexpected in my opinion….but I’m not really going to complain because I did watch Map of Happiness and it WAS a pretty good program…one of the better ones that TVB has made over the years.

.—About the presenting:  Hahaha….at first I wasn’t sure why they had Jerry Lamb present with King Sir, but as soon as Jerry opened his mouth, I instantly remembered:   one of Jerry’s ‘hidden talents’ is that he is able to do an absolutely ‘dead-on’ impersonation of King Sir.  Omg, his impersonation was SO good (and it was funny to hear all the artists chuckling in the background…LOL!)



Best Informational Program:  Pilgrimage of Hope
(Award presented by Chung King Fai and Jerry Lamb)

.—Not much comment about this category, since I didn’t watch this program at all (though I do know some stuff about it based on reading up on it).



Best Actress (TV Queen):  Tavia Yeung (Silver Spoons, Sterling Shackles)
(Award presented by Miriam Yeung)            

.—Top 5 in this category:  Tavia Yeung (Silver Spoons, Sterling Shackles), Michelle Yim (The Confidant), Charmaine Sheh (When Heaven Burns), Linda Chung (Witness Insecurity), Kate Tsui (Highs and Lows)    

.—My honest opinion:  Doesn’t matter to me, since, like I said earlier, I wasn’t too impressed overall with the performances from the females this year.  I’m fine with the Top 5, since those were the same artists I expected to get into the ‘final’ list anyway.  Plus none of those who got into Top 5 are my favorites anyway…though if I had really had to pick based on performance, I probably would have picked Charmaine because she had the most impactful and difficult performance out of the 5.

.—My only other comment – not sure if I liked Tavia’s speech…I actually felt she was doing fine until she mentioned the part about Liza Wang – not sure what the point was of that?



Best Actor (TV King):  Wayne Lai (The Confidant)
(Award presented by Deanie Ip)                     

.—Top 5 in this category:  Damian Lau (Silver Spoons, Sterling Shackles), Moses Chan (The Last Steep Ascent), Raymond Lam (Highs and Lows), Wayne Lai (The Confidant), Kenneth Ma (The Hippocratic Crush)

.—I will say that I was surprised Wayne won because with the whole OVPP thing, I was thinking for sure that Raymond Lam had the award in the bag due to his large fan base.  Don’t get me wrong…I’m happy that Wayne won and from an acting standpoint, his skills are unquestionable – but is he really more ‘popular’ than Raymond to the point that he would receive more votes than him (this is assuming that TVB didn’t mess with the results that is)?  I’ve actually been thinking about this question the past few days and it’s actually starting to make more sense to me now….Wayne’s fan base isn’t really as small as we think – over the past 4-5 years, he has gained a lot of fans, especially after he became leading actor status – not only do the ‘housewives’ (and other audiences) love him, he also has a lot of support from his colleagues and others whom he’s worked with.  I mean, why else has TVB been promoting him so much and treating him so well when he’s not even a ‘biological son’ of theirs (and he’s still not as far as I know)?  It’s because Wayne is a ‘cash cow’ for TVB due to his overwhelming popularity with their main demographic – the ‘housewife’ audiences (and for those who think that the ‘housewife’ audiences don’t know how to use a computer or mobile app to vote – well, there is such a thing as having their kids do it for them, right?).  Of course, no complaints here, since I adore Wayne – it’s just that I wasn’t expecting him to win this time around…but he did and I’m very happy for him!

.—Wayne actually gave a very good speech – he was very calm, composed, coherent, and was able to thank everyone he wanted to thank with making it seem rushed or awkward….of course, I shouldn’t be surprised because Wayne has always been a very well-spoken person.  And with this being his third TV King win, he has ‘experience’ enough now to keep his composure during these types of events and not break down.

.—Lastly, a word about the presenter:  Deanie was very elegant as usual but also funny in her own unique way.  I liked how she was able to make a comment about each of the top 5 nominees – then when she got to Kenneth, she asked “Who is Kenneth Ma?” (obviously she doesn’t watch much TV…haha).  That part was funny!



Best Series:  When Heaven Burns
(Award presented by Ng See Yuen)

.—Top 3:  The Hippocratic Crush, The Confidant, When Heaven Burns

.-- A lot of people were surprised that WHB won Best Series, considering it was the 2^nd lowest rated series of the year and it didn’t appeal to majority of TVB’s audience demographic:  the housewives.  Back when the series aired, there were complaints galore about the ‘cannabalism’ theme (which turned out to be over-exaggerated) and the ‘differentness’ of the series that caused majority of housewives not to understand what the series was about or what they were watching.  It wasn’t until after the series aired that people really started picking up on this series (primary reason was because of the addictive sub-themesong, which spread like wildfire, and also the ending of the series, which was very well-done and a definite departure from TVB’s standard fare).  I actually find it kind of ironic that audiences only started liking the series after it aired – to the point that TVB parted from tradition and specially placed all episodes of the series on MyTV for an entire week so that netizens who missed the series when it aired on TV could watch in its entirety!   With netizens literally ‘adoring’ this series and even dubbing it as a ‘godly’ series, it’s not surprising in the least that majority of the audiences would vote for WHB as the Best Series.

.-- The part that WAS surprising – that TVB actually allowed WHB to win!  Given that majority of the main cast already left TVB (Charmaine, Bowie, etc.) and most of the behind-the-scenes people are gone too (scriptwriter Chow Yuk Ming already left TVB a few months back and producer Jonathan Chik will be leaving at the end of this month), plus the ratings were pathetically low, I didn’t think that TVB would allow it to get anything!

.—Lastly…about Ng See Yuen presenting…again, another surprise because he’s the President of the HK Film Workers Association and recently took the lead in holding a press conference urging the government to issue additional free-to-air licenses to other TV stations (and thereby ‘opposing’ TVB’s firm stance on the issue).  The press conference just occurred last week (so still ‘fresh’ in a sense), so it felt a bit weird (to me at least) that TVB would turn around and invite him to present one of the night’s biggest awards.

Review of “The Life and Times of a Sentinel (紫禁驚雷)”

Over the past decade, I’ve pretty much lost faith in TVB’s series and in the last 5 to 6 years especially, I’ve given up on watching TVB series as ‘religiously’ as I used to because the quality just isn’t there. And it’s not just about the scripts being mediocre or the acting being horrendous in some cases, it’s more the overall feeling of insincerity that I get from TVB when they try to stick similarly-themed series with the same artists in our faces over and over again (if the script and acting were good, then I could still tolerate the repetition – but seeing that both have been lacking, it has become an “annoyance” over the years). I will honestly say that out of all the series that either aired or were scheduled to air this year, there wasn’t a single one that I was looking forward to – either the storylines didn’t sound interesting or I didn’t like the cast. Or perhaps I got so jaded from the many mediocre series that had aired up to this point, I just wasn’t expecting anything ‘good’ from TVB anymore.

A week or so before TVB’s newest series “The Life and Times of a Sentinel” was to start airing, the previews to the series had already started up – even as I watched the previews, I knew that the series would be different from some of the other series that had aired recently, but I still didn’t really feel a sense of excitement for the series. But since I like the cast (especially the male side) and the storyline seemed like something I would be able to tolerate, I decided to give the series a try. I’m actually quite glad I did because this series was excellent – one of the best that I’ve seen in a long time (given my disdain for newer TVB series, that’s definitely a compliment…LOL). From the first episode that aired at the end of July, I was instantly hooked by the engaging storyline and the suspenseful sequence of events. As the series progressed, it kept a pretty steady pace, though there were a few episodes that did feel excessively draggy and boring (mostly the concubine scenes near the beginning of the series) – luckily though, the less engaging parts were few and far between. The last episode was absolutely awesome and so well-written, I couldn’t help being captivated by the intensity and emotion of the ending, which had me literally in tears during some of the most pivotal scenes (actually, there were several scenes throughout the entire series that tugged at my heartstrings). Of course, no series is perfect and this one definitely had its flaws (some of which I’ll talk about later) – but even taking those ‘flaws’ into consideration, this series was still of a higher caliber overall. It has definitely been a long time since I’ve watched such an exciting, high quality series!

With this review, I will attempt to cover some of the highlights of the series (though it definitely won’t be all-inclusive) with a focus on the characters and the artists who portrayed them.


Cast / Characters

With regard to the cast, my opinion is that overall, the male cast – both the leads and supporting – were quite good and kept the series going, whereas the females were quite weak (except for Ching Hor Wai and Helen Ma). I will be honest and say that I didn’t like the female cast much (again, with the exception of Ching Hor Wai, Helen Ma, and maybe Selena Li), so obviously, I decided to watch this series because of the strong male cast (many of whom I like) – such as Steven Ma, Kenneth Ma, Power Chan, Evergreen Mak, Jack Wu, Lau Gong, Felix Lok, Sunny Chan, KK Cheung, Kwok Fung, etc. Even Chris Lai – whom I’m sort of indifferent towards, since I haven’t really watched too many of his series – did a great job with the few scenes that he had (primarily in the first episode).
Since this series has a complicated storyline and a big cast, I’m only going to focus on a few of the ‘main players’ for the purposes of this review. Again, this review is not all-inclusive – it’s pretty much just summary of my thoughts on the series.

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Steven Ma (Nip Dor Bo) -- Steven's character in the series, Nip Dor Bo, is a very complex one, as his background is quite complicated (given his initial family background of being the grandson of a palace guard and losing his entire family due to one person's selfishness, then the subsequent revelation of his true identity as actual royalty) and the various situations he encounters as well as the relationships he forges (be it family, friendship, love, etc.) all require varying degrees of emotion. I feel that the character of Nip Dor Bo was very well-developed, but more importantly, he was very "relatable" for the audiences -- as a person, he was not perfect by any means and oftentimes allowed his own emotions and biases to cloud his judgement, which caused him to do things that were irrational or foolish. And his personality is a bit bold and daring -- sometimes too much, to the point that he gets himself in situations that could have been avoided. But yet, despite his flaws, we can't help but admire his fiery passion in upholding his values and seeking justice for others (and himself), his moving filialness and love for his adoptive parents as well as his righteous dedication to his friends.....there was a good "balance" to his character that made him come across as both realistic and likable. I know for me personally, I enjoyed the character of Nip Dor Bo very much.

In terms of Steven's performance as Nip Dor Bo...well, let me just say that after finishing this series, the best way to describe my reaction to Steven's performance is through one word: WOW!!! Obviously, I can't praise Steven enough for his excellent acting in this series (if he doesn't deserve TV King this year, then no one else does!!). His emotion-filled performance was very powerful on all fronts, to the point that watching many of his most pivotal scenes brought me to tears (can't remember the last time I cried like that while watching a TVB series) -- the scene where Steven (Dor Bo) watches his beloved parents (brilliantly played by Kwok Fung and Helen Ma) die right before his eyes, yet he is not able to do anything about it; the scene at the end where the woman he loves (Selena Li) dies in his arms; and of course, the entire dramatic palace scene after Steven's character reveals his true identity -- more specifically, his 'reunion' scene with his grandmother, the Empress Dowager (played by Ching Hor Wai) as well as the part where he prevents his brother Fook Chuen (Kenneth Ma) from killing himself by using his own hand (and blood) to block the sword (including the dialogue that takes place right after that). The emotional energy that came out of those scenes was so great that I actually had to compose myself after watching them! Basically, Steven’s portrayal of Nip Dor Bo was “perfect” in my opinion!

I can’t say that I’m a fan of Steven’s because to be honest, I only really started paying attention to him in the past few years and so I don’t know enough about him to call myself a fan. However I definitely remember him from the first 2 series that I watched of his – “Files of Justice” and “Healing Hands” – back in the 90s. And even back then, it was obvious that he had potential. I’ve always felt that Steven is one of those rare talents in the entertainment industry who has both the skills (in acting and singing) as well as good looks – and as if that weren't enough, he also has excellent penmanship (he wrote several books and also has his own column in a magazine) and is also a very engaging host (evident from his hosting of “Apprentice Chef” and “Book of Words” in recent years). All in all, the level of respect that I have for Steven as an artist just went up several major notches – and yes, he has definitely made it onto my ‘favorite actors’ list!

In terms of the TV King award this year, I’m definitely in Steven’s corner. I know that there are more series that have not aired yet this year, but honestly speaking, given the list of series that are scheduled to air between now and the awards ceremony, I highly highly doubt that there will be any other performance that will be able to top Steven’s. Even though I know that Steven’s chance of getting the award is very slim (based purely off the fact that certain influential TVB management doesn’t like him), I am still going to root for him (though for the record, it doesn’t matter to me whether he gets the award or not – he’s already the Best Actor of the year in my heart).


Kenneth Ma (Prince Fook Chuen) – Kenneth’s character Fook Chuen was the primary villain in the series. Fook Chuen is actually a very intelligent man and excelled in almost everything he did and in many ways, seemed to be better than his younger brother Yuan Yip (aka Emperor Hong Hei). Even his father, Emperor Shun Ji, thought highly of him and told him that he would be the successor to the throne. However, Emperor Shun Ji’s mother, Empress Dowager Hao Chong didn’t feel that Fook Chuen would be a good emperor because of his aggressive personality and selfish nature – she felt that Yuan Yip would be a better emperor because of his innate compassionate nature. So of course, when Emperor Shun Ji ‘abdicates’ the throne (the announcement to the public was that he had died, but in reality, he was alive and had become a monk) and Yuan Yip becomes successor as Emperor, Fook Chuen is upset and bitter. But he tries not to show it and as he grows up, pretends to be on the Emperor’s side, playing the role of ‘good brother’ and ‘good grandson’ – behind the scenes though, he secretly goes against the Emperor and Empress Dowager and plots to try to take the throne from his brother, using / manipulating everyone around him in the process in order to meet his objective (especially his ‘brotherly friend’ Nip Dor Bo, who, it turns out, is revealed at the end to be his real brother, the 4th Prince). Needless to say, Fook Chuen does not succeed in overthrowing Emperor Hong Hei in the end.

Overall, I feel that Kenneth did a decent job in his role as Fook Chuen. There were several points in the series where I was really impressed with the way he portrayed the character, though there were other parts where I needed some convincing. I think that the biggest problem I had with Kenneth’s performance in the series is that he wasn’t “evil” enough – I could tell that he was trying, but I guess I was expecting a little more, which is probably why I kept feeling like something was missing. It also doesn’t help that I’m so used to seeing Kenneth in those ‘sweet, boyish, bordering on comedic’ roles that was typical of his other characters in the past, so it took me a few episodes to “warm up” to his villain character in this series. With that said, Kenneth didn’t do too bad, considering that this was only his second(?) villain role and the character itself was quite complex.

In terms of acting, I feel that Kenneth has a lot of potential and he’s actually the only one out of the ‘newbies’ from his generation that I’m able to tolerate and even like (I’m sure it’s obvious from my other posts how much I can’t stand the other younger generation artists). He’s a good actor, but definitely has a ways to go before he can reach Steven’s level (Steven was consistently strong throughout the entire series, whereas Kenneth was a bit of a hit and miss).


Power Chan (Emperor Hong Hei) -- At first, I truly felt that Power was miscast as Emperor Hong Hei, as he didn't seem to be able to bring out that 'powerful monarch' feel to the character (seemed too overly compassionate). However, as the series progressed -- and especially after watching the ending -- I realize that the problem really wasn't with Power's acting, but rather, with the way the character itself (Emperor Hong Hei) was written. The feeling that I get after watching the entire series is that the scriptwriter (perhaps intentionally?) focused more on the compassionate side of the Emperor rather than on his sovereignty as a ruler because he/she wanted to created a strong juxtaposition to the aggressiveness of Hong Hei's brother Fook Chuen, whose main goal in life was to 'take back' the throne that was supposedly promised to him by his father (Emperor Shun Ji). I think the writer was trying to emphasize how Hong Hei was the best choice for Emperor because of his compassionate disposition. The only thing is -- in my opinion at least -- the writer made the character of Hong Hei TOO compassionate, to the point that there wasn't enough balance between his sovereign side and his compassionate side.

Historically, Hong Hei was known for being one of the best Emperors that Imperial China ever had, as he truly had a heart for the people and was different from previous Emperors who only selfishly cared about themselves and whether someone was going to come steal their throne / empire (and thereby getting rid of anyone who got in their way). Not only was he a fair and just Emperor, he was also compassionate and righteous when it came to resolving matters (though at the same time, maintaining his sovereignty as the ruler of the country).

Looking at it from this perspective, I feel that Power did his job (quite well, as a matter of fact) in that he successfully brought out the compassionate side of Emperor Hong Hei. As the Emperor, he didn’t order any of the men who helped Fook Chuen to be killed, but rather stripped them of their titles and military power, while rewarding those who loyally and faithfully defended him during the crisis (very appropriate actions and in line with what I would expect the real life Emperor Hong Hei to do). As for his relationship with his wives (the fact that he was extremely lenient and compassionate toward Elaine Yiu’s character) – well, that wasn’t really supposed to be the focus of the series anyway, so I’m ok with the way that piece was handled.

Overall, in terms of Power’s performance in the series, I’m fine with it, as I feel that the limitations of the character through the way it was written was the primarily reason for the impression that he wasn’t portraying the character well. Power is still one of my favorite supporting actors – that definitely hasn’t changed!


Ching Hor Wai (Empress Dowager Hao Chong) – From a historical perspective, Empress Dowager Hao Chong played a critical role in supporting one of the most well-known Emperors (Hong Hei) to the imperial throne. Given all the historical significance, the role of Hao Chong was not an easy one to play. In this particular series, the role was extra difficult because on the one hand, the portrayal of the character couldn’t stray too much from history in terms of personality, yet still had to accommodate the fictional storyline.

At first, I disliked how the Empress Dowager was portrayed to be such a vicious, heartless person in the beginning because honestly speaking, she’s really not an evil person – as the matriarch of the imperial family, she had to take matters into her own hands to ensure that the kingdom continued to run smoothly when her son Shun Ji decided to abdicate the throne. Having the best interests of the people in mind, she chose Hong Hei to be successor because she felt that he would make a better Emperor than Fook Chuen (whom her son had chosen as successor) – of course, this meant that she had to lie about Shun Ji’s ‘last will and testament’ and take extreme measurements to protect this secret (and in turn, protect Emperor Hong Hei). This actually sets the stage for the entire story. The ironic thing is that Hao Chong actually made the right decision, as Hong Hei truly was the best choice for Emperor – the only thing is that the way she went about securing his reign (getting rid of people who knew the secret) was wrong. As I watched how Hao Chong’s character develops throughout the series, I understand that the intention really wasn’t to portray her as an evil villain, but rather to convey the message that despite her status as the elder matriarch, at the end of the day, she is only human and will make mistakes just like anyone else (she actually admits this herself during one of the last scenes when she tells Dor Bo that her decision has proven to be correct, it’s just the way she went about it was wrong).

Ching Hor Wai’s portrayal of Hao Chong actually was quite good – I wasn’t too impressed with the first 2 episodes or so, but after I started getting into the series more, I realized that the casting was actually correct. Now, thinking through the list of veteran ‘green leaf’ actresses who may possibly have been good ‘candidates’ for the role, I don’t feel that they would have been as successful as she was in the role. The palace court scene during the finale was especially critical and Ching Hor Wai definitely pulled out all the stops, matching Steven in her emotional intensity, especially with her facial expressions. The younger artists could definitely learn a thing or two from her performance in this series!


Selena Li (Zhi Ying/Princess Duen Mun) – Selena’s character Zhi Ying is the adopted daughter of a rebel leader from the previous dynasty (played by KK Cheung). She does not know her true identity at first and thinks that she is truly KK’s daughter, only to find out later on that she is actually a Manchu Princess (the half sister of Emperor Hong Hei). She is devastated by the revelation because all her life, she was taught to hate the Manchus because they invaded their land (the Han peoples) and overthrew the previous (Ming) dynasty. Prior to discovering her identity, she meets Dor Bo and they become friends – they start to have feelings for each other, but before the relationship even gets a chance to start, Zhi Ying’s identity is revealed and they aren’t able to further their relationship. In the end, when we find out that Dor Bo is actually the 4th Prince, that means Zhi Ying is his half-sister (though she dies without knowing this) – so in a sense, it’s not a bad thing that their relationship never got a chance to develop….

With regard to Selena’s performance in this series, I guess I should say that I’m indifferent to it – I neither like it nor hate. I like Selena in general, but for some reason, I feel that she didn’t quite perform up to the standard that I know she is capable of. Throughout the series, I really didn’t feel anything for her character and to be honest, I didn’t feel a whole lot of chemistry between her and Steven. I’m not sure if it’s because she didn’t have a whole lot of screen time or her character was underdeveloped. I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt in this case and say that perhaps the focus was more on the Steven / Kenneth conflict, so there wasn’t enough time to develop Selena’s character or her relationships?

Kwok Fung / Helen Ma (Nip Dor Bo’s parents) – Both of these veteran artists turned in brilliant performances as Nip Dor Bo’s adoptive parents. Dor Bo’s relationship with his parents is a unique one, as they love each other even more than biological parents / children. Each time I watched the interaction between Dor Bo and his parents, I’m entirely moved by their relationship and especially how his parents are willing to sacrifice everything for him – even committing suicide for his sake. I mean, how many adoptive parents are willing to do that for their non-biological children? Better yet, how many adoptive parents are willing / able to show such unconditional love for a child whom they raised but is not theirs biologically? From the moment Kwok Fung and Helen’s characters appeared to the moment they died, they did not waver in their love for and support of Dor Bo. Now here’s a great example of how 2 characters can have very little screen time, but absolutely have a huge impact on the series! Interestingly, the 2 of them were my favorite characters from this series – I liked them from the beginning to the end.

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Since I talked about the main male characters already (I’m not going to go into much detail about the rest of the characters, as there were way too many to talk about individually – as I said earlier though, they all did great jobs!)

In terms of the rest of the females (other than the ones I mentioned above)….well, most of them turned in poor performances, in my opinion. To me, this was really one of the biggest flaws of the series – other than the ones I mentioned above, the rest of the female characters should have either been cut from the series / script or re-casted….here’s the brief ‘lowdown’…

.—Natalie Tong (Fook Chuen’s wife Guai Lun): Her performance was horrible! I already didn’t like the character to begin with because the character itself was so pathetic, but Natalie’s bad acting made it even worse. From the first scene that she was in, it was obvious that she was merely “reciting” her lines rather than actually acting out her part – I was able to tolerate it for the first episode, but after she kept doing it every time she appeared, it started to get extremely annoying. Also, her acting overall was very wooden and stiff – it just came across as really fake to me. Sorry to say this, but Natalie’s first attempt at ancient series was a major failure – she definitely needs to keep to modern series only!

.—Elaine Yiu (Emperor Hong Hei’s concubine Man Gwan): I really wasn’t too keen on Elaine’s performance in this series, though I admit that I probably didn’t like her character much because she just wasn’t very convincing with her acting. I guess I’m so used to seeing her in those annoying ‘bxxchy’ roles that when she actually does try to do the ‘demure wife’ role, it’s not believable (to me at least).

.—Christine Kuo (5th Brother Chang Ning’s wife): All I’m going to say is, I’m glad she had very little screen time because at least that meant I didn’t have to sit through too many of her scenes. I think what annoyed me most about Christine’s performance is that her voice was dubbed – not only that, whoever ‘dubbed’ it did a poor job because the voice over sounded really weird and fake and watching the lip movements that didn’t match was extremely annoying – to the point that I cringed each time she opened her mouth (hey TVB, if you’re going to dub, at least do it properly!!)

.—Grace Wong (Concubine Wai): Um, Grace’s character was a ‘mis-cast’ of major proportions (boy am I glad that she was only in a few scenes at the beginning of the series)! How stupid is it to cast someone who already cannot speak Cantonese properly in the first place in an ancient series where the dialogue is poetic and complex by nature? I swear, I could not understand a single word Grace said in any of her scenes – plus her character was kind of useless anyway, so what was the point of even including her? If they really needed her character, they could have cast others in that role (there are surely tons of other pageant winners with mediocre acting skills that they could have chosen from).

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Additional thoughts / comments:

Below is a compilation of comments that I had posted in the series thread on AF throughout the time that I was watching the series. Since I took the time to write the comments, I figured I should at least include them here as well (though some of the comments are a bit random), as the comments provide additional insight on what I thought about the series overall:

The Script / Storyline:

.—For a fictional story that is loosely based on historical events / figures, I think that the scriptwriter actually did a pretty decent job with the script. True, there were some parts that were a bit confusing and didn’t really make a lot of sense (though I think this was partly due to the editing and the fact that some of the ‘flashback’ scenes weren’t in chronological order), but overall, it was a good story.

One thing that people should keep in mind is that this series is supposed to be loosely based on ancient Chinese history and culture, which makes the writing of the script very tricky -- the most challenging part is that the scriptwriter needs to add in fictional elements to make the story interesting, but can't take too much liberty and stray too far from the history and culture of those times because then the story wouldn't be convincing (plus it would most likely backfire on them if they tried to change history completely).

Of course, the series has its flaws (as expected) and yes, there were definitely some parts that didn't flow too well, but given the complexity of the story and the historical as well as cultural background that had to be incorporated into the story, I actually think that the scriptwriter was successful in incorporating the various elements. Compare this script to the scripts of most of the other series that TVB has produced the past few years and you'll see the difference in quality!


The Ending:

.-- The series ended exactly the same way it began – intense, riveting, suspenseful. Unlike a lot of TVB’s recent series (which are seriously mediocre and bland compared to this one), the writers/producer were truly able to bring this series ‘full circle’ -- and I’m not just referring to the format of having the series start off episode 1 with a scene from the finale – but also in terms of overall impact (the climactic intensity of the opening episode and the ending episode).

.-- For some reason, I wasn't surprised with the ending, probably because I already knew it since the beginning. Not sure if TVB aired the same previews of the series in HK as they did in the U.S., but in the preview that I saw (here in the U.S.), the narrator doing the commentary for the preview already said that Steven 'discovers that he is actually the descendant of the Emperor' (Emperor in this case refers to Shun Ji)....so to me, there really wasn't a 'big secret' at all. The only part that I was surprised about is that Selena was actually the Princess, because for some reason, I always thought that was a 'setup' by Selena's father KK...I guess I was wrong about that piece....

.-- The ending was amazing and kept me glued to my seat the entire time (despite already knowing exactly what happens and what the 'big secret' was since the beginning)....goes to show how intense the ending was. The emotional impact was also quite high -- I was literally crying along with the characters during the last few scenes. I truly feel that everyone in the cast gave it their all during the ending -- that last episode definitely made up for any of the 'issues' I had with the series earlier! In fact, now that the series is over, I'm starting to feel a bit down myself...

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I would absolutely recommend this series to anyone who enjoys watching ancient series and doesn’t have a problem with poetic, flowery dialogue (I say this because not everyone likes watching these types of series because they don’t understand the dialogue). It is definitely of a higher quality than most of the other TVB series out there and for that reason alone, it is already worth watching! This series is easily my pick for Best Series of the Year!