Ok, I know I had said that I didn't want to do another ‘TVB rant’ post for a few weeks at least, since I had already done so many of them recently....BUT I can't help it, as I've been mulling over this idea for the past few days and really wanted to blog about it...
As I'm sure you've all heard by now, the 'buzz' in the HK entertainment industry these past few weeks has primarily focused on the recent aggressive 'poaching' of TVB artists, producers, scriptwriters, copy editors, artists managers, etc. by newly formed TV stations (especially Ricky Wong’s City Telecom) -- pretty much they reached out to almost everyone at the company (at least that's what the Media has been reporting, but of course, we all know we should take what the Media says with a grain of salt....)
Anyway, one thing that this whole poaching situation has done so far (which I can't really say is a bad thing) is bring to light alot of the internal 'issues' that exist at TVB -- issues that, to be honest, really are not 'secrets' in that most people (both within and outside the industry) know they exist, but just decided (for whatever reason) to 'sweep' under the rug for so many years. As a quick recap, let’s look at some of the ‘issues’ (aka ‘problems’) that have come to light through this fiasco (Note that the below are only the ‘issues’ that we hear about most often and is NOT all-inclusive):
1) TVB is cheap – This is no surprise, neither is it a secret, as TVB is known for not paying their artists much money. The company itself has even admitted on several occasions that what they pay to artists has always been lower than what’s currently in the market.
2) Long hours, no rest – Again, this is no secret…artists and behind-the-scenes crew alike often work long hours with very little rest. (Artists often tell stories of how they get off work at 4am after having been there since 6am the previous morning and only have time to go home to shower, then are back at work again by 6am.) In fact, this is something that has been going on for decades already (dating back even to the 80s). Personally, I’m not surprised -- since TVB runs its operation like a factory where they are churning out their series one after the other like an assembly line, of course this type of situation is going to occur.
3) Blatant (and not so blatant) Favoritism – I think I’ve ranted enough about this topic already, so I’m not going to go into it again in this post (if you’re interested, feel free to read my previous TVB rants, as I touch on this topic in at least ½ of them, if not more). All I’m going to say is that it’s obvious to pretty much everyone (except for die-hard TVB supporters, that is) that the management plays favorites – and I don’t care how much the management tries to deny this, it’s still not going to change the perception.
4) Lack of respect for veteran artists – This sort of goes hand in hand with point #3. And again, this is no surprise either – just look back at the series from the past 7-8 years and it’s obvious what the current management thinks of veteran artists. In their view, the veteran artists are basically a ‘tool’ to help them promote their favorite biological sons and daughters (and also to ‘fool’ the audience into watching the series and thereby boosting the ratings). Just look at the number of veteran artists who have ‘complained’ about TVB in the past 7-8 years -- whereas in comparisons, I have not heard a single one of the ‘favorites’ currently being promoted complain – and the disparity in treatment is obvious.
Since we all know that the above are already ‘common’ complaints about TVB and have been discussed numerous times in all sorts of arenas in the past decade or so, I’m not going to focus on these particular ‘issues’ in this post. Instead, I’m going to focus on an ‘issue’ that was sort of alluded to in many of the previous articles about this situation, but never really discussed : should TVB even be doing the function of artist management in the first place or should they just stick with what a TV station should truly be doing – producing series?
There has been a barrage of criticism aimed specifically at Virginia Lok (TVB’s director of production and resources and the person overseeing the artists management department) in the past few weeks (which to me, is late in coming – I mean, it took people 8 years to see how much of a bxxch she is??). Most of the criticism has been about how she neglects a lot of the artists (especiall y the veteran ones) and even when their contracts are close to expiring, she doesn’t bother to discuss contract renewal with them (that is, unless the artist is on her ‘favorites’ list of course). There are other complaints as well (I could surely spend an entire ‘rant’ on all of the complaints against Virginia Lok), but for the purposes of this post, I’m going to focus primiarily on the ‘neglect’ one.
One of the ‘excuses’ that TVB (via their spokesperson Tsang Sing Ming) has used to ‘defend’ Ms Lok is that she is not ‘purposefully’ neglecting artists – it’s just that the artists department is so huge and she has so much work to be done that it’s difficult for her to ensure every artist is ‘taken care of’ as well as they would like (personally, I feel that’s a BS excuse, but that’s beside the point right now). Ok, fine – if TVB wants to use this lame excuse, then my ‘response’ to them is: Well, then TVB should think about whether their company is suited to do the ‘artists management’ function in the first place!
I mean, the last I checked, TVB is supposed to be a TV station first and foremost – well, at least that was the intention when Run Run Shaw first started the company back in 1967. But yet, over the years, instead of remaining purely a TV station, TVB has morphed into an entertainment empire, foraying into other arenas such as music and movies. In addition to creating their own music division (TVB Music, which was established in 2003) and their own movie production company (Shaw Brothers studios, which started up again 2 years ago), TVB continued to perform the ‘management company’ (aka ‘agent’) function for artists who choose to sign management contracts with them.
Granted, the function of managing artists has been in existence since the start of the company, but given the complexity of an artist’s career nowdays, how feasible is it for TVB to continue doing this function? I could understand the reasoning behing why TVB would want artists to sign management contracts because that way, they could tie the artist down to only servicing their station and in that regard, control the artist (which I’m totally opposed to, but that’s a whole other ‘rant’). That may have worked back in the beginning years (in the 70s for example) when there were fewer artists to manage and also the artists had less complicated careers. But nowadays, with the ‘norm’ in HK for an artist to be involved in more than 1 ‘arena’ (TV, movies, music) of the entertainment business, it’s no longer as simple as managing an artist’s career in television – as the artist’s manager / agent, there is the added responsibility of managing their movie and singing career as well (plus all the product endorsements, sponsorship events, etc. that go along with it). When all of that is taken into consideration, TVB is no longer purely a TV station, but rather, a TV station / record company / movie studio / management company. If TVB were able to do all 4 things well, then ok fine – but the fact of the matter is that they’ve been doing a half-you-know-what job in EACH AREA in the past few years. Not only that, but the core function of the company’s existence – producing quality TV shows – has eroded to the point that it’s virtually non-existent now (basically, the quality has gone down the toilet – and that’s an understatement!). And on top of that, the artists themselves aren’t happy because of the poor jobs that TVB is doing with managing their careers.
If we are to go with TVB’s argument that they have too many artists to manage and with the complexity of some of the artists’ careers, it’s getting overwhelming for them to handle, so it’s possible that they may have neglected some of the artists – well, then WHY continue to be in that situation? Why can’t TVB just recognize that they can’t be the ‘jack of all trades’ trying to control the entire HK entertainment industry anymore and ‘stop the bleeding’ by scaling back on some of the functions that they really should not have been involved with in the first place?
In looking at all the events that have transpired in the past few weeks (as well as all the ‘issues’ that have accumulated in the past few decades), I feel that in order for TVB to ‘truly’ fix their problems, the action they need to take is to refocus the company back on the ‘core’ of their existence – producing quality TV shows and series (after they fire Virginia Lok, that is – and yes, I’m biased against her). This means that they need to get rid of all the ‘excess’ functions that they were doing (music, movies, artist management) and go back to their roots. Instead of trying to tie down an artist to their station by trying to be the ‘agent’ managing their career, TVB should get out of that business and leave the ‘managing’ to the people who specialize in it (and yes, there are PLENTY of companies as well as individuals out there who specialize in the agent / manager thing). This is definitely a ‘win/win’ solution for both TVB as well as the artists for the following reasons:
1) TVB doesn’t have to worry any longer about being perceived as ‘favoring’ certain artists they manage over others because they won’t be ‘managing’ anyone. All the artists would be ‘free agents’ whose sole relationship with TVB would be to film series for them and that’s it. In a sense, it would work similar to the whole ‘per series / show contract’ that TVB currently has with a lot of artists – the artist would sign a contract agreeing to film a particular series or a certain number of episodes for TVB and once the contractual obligation is fulfilled, they can decide whether they want to continue collaborating on a transactional basis. Overall, the relationship with the artists would be healthier.
2) Image-wise, this would definitely be better for TVB, as it would do away with the whole biological child (artist managed by TVB) versus non-biological child (artist not managed by TVB) problem that has plagued TVB for decades and is the subject of much criticism (as well as scorn) whenever awards time rolls around. It would definitely level the playing field.
3) For the artists, they can gain more experience working with different TV stations and different people – they can truly ‘expand their horizons’ even within HK instead of being stuck working for the same company year after year.
4) By focusing on just ONE thing (producing TV shows / series), it will hopefully allow TVB to go back to producing the QUALITY programs that had once defined them as a TV station. Oh, and by the way – they don’t have to worry about the ‘money’ aspect because if even if they are only doing ONE thing, if they do it WELL (meaning EXCELLENT), the ‘money’ (revenue / profits) will eventually come – I mean, it’s common sense…as consumers, we are more than willing to pay for a quality product, especially if we know it’s well worth the amount we pay – but we are definitely not going to pay for a product that is shoddy and easily broken (the smart ones won’t at least).
Concluding thoughts…
How likely is the above going to happen? Well, honestly I doubt it, given that TVB has been in existence for more than 40 years and is pretty much already ‘set’ in its ways. I think the only way they will be able to do it is if Mona Fong (Run Run Shaw’s wife and TVB’s current Vice-Chairman) rescinds her powers and let’s someone who is willing to embrace the above concept run the company instead. Oh, and definitely they have to get rid of that ‘evil cancer’ Virginia Lok too because so many employees hate her, many of them may not be willing to even give TVB a chance with her still there!
LL's Musings 小賢角落
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Mingpao Interview with Bobby AuYeung (歐陽震華): 30 Years of Excellence
Another great interview from Mingpao! Bobby is one of my all-time favorite actors, so I definitely enjoyed this interview a lot. Oh, and of course, with Bobby’s awesome sense of humor, any interview with him is GUARANTEED to be funny!
Some highlights:
.> I loved the part where Bobby talks about his wife and the ‘money-tree’ thing – it was hilarious! Also, the part where he goes from giving his wife a ‘house’ to giving her a ‘button’…hahaha! That’s the quick-witted Bobby AuYeung for you!
.> I’m glad that Bobby talked about the thing with the ‘gam cho’ artists and how there’s a general lack of respect for them in the industry and in society in general. Those have been my exact sentiments for years now. Go Bobby!
.> Wait, Bobby once had a 24 inch waist? Is he sure about that? Hahahaha!
.> It’s obvious from Bobby’s interviews that he has a good head on his shoulders. I like the way he talked about how he was once neglected and even abandoned by TVB, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing because it helped him expand his horizons and see the outside world (plus he made a lot of money). Talk about turning a negative into a positive!
There were more highlights, but I’ll stop here and let you read the article on your own. It’s definitely a great one!
Enjoy!
.******.
Mingpao Interview with Bobby AuYeung: 30 Years of Excellence
Source: Mingpao
Translated by: llwy12
Bobby AuYeung has spent 30 ‘golden’ years in the entertainment industry. In 1981, he participated in TVB’s Acting Class and when he graduated the next year, he officially became a TVB contracted artist. At the time, he still went by his real name, AuYeung Yiu Chuen (歐陽耀泉) – he had a full head of hair and was skinny, with a 24 inch waist; he describes himself as the ‘Danny Chan’ type. In the past 30 years, he has built a career and family – [in 2000], he won the TV King award for his role as Song Chi in the series "Witness to a Prosecution" and he is the only TVB artist to be nominated for Best Actor at the Asian Emmy Awards for his role in "Dicey Business". Bobby admits that in the past, he had been given the ‘cold shoulder’ by TVB and in fact, was even abandoned by them – luckily, in his dictionary, there is no such word as ‘resentment’ (怨恨), only ‘gratefulness’ for his blessings (飲水思源). Therefore, every year, he makes time in his schedule to return to TVB and film series as a form of repayment.
Some of Bobby’s same year Acting Class classmates include Tony Leung, Stephen Chow, Francis Ng, Eddie Cheung, Eddie Kwan, etc. Upon graduating, each of them rose to ‘leading actor’ status one by one, however at the time, Bobby was still doing mostly small roles [‘ke le fe’] in series. 5 years after graduating from the Acting Class, Bobby had participated in 30 series – unfortunately though, his role in most of those series were so insignificant, most people probably don’t even remember the names of the characters he played.
TVB didn’t promote, but luckily the audiences did
“Back then, it was very rare for someone who came out of TVB not to succeed. I was never promoted, but was able to make it up the ladder on my own. I’m not good-looking, so it’s understandable why they wouldn’t want to promote me, but luckily, the audiences had good taste and knew how to appreciate me – I guess you can say that it’s the audiences who promoted me. Actually, I’m very lucky that the audiences were willing to accept my different types of acting – I’m not the comedian-type, but I’m able to do comedy; in "Forensic Heroes", I wasn’t funny at all, yet the audiences still enjoyed it.”
Bobby started capturing audience’s attention back in 1986, when he participated in grand production series "The Turbulent Decade". To this day, he still has fond memories of the ‘all-star’ cast from that series.
“There were Carina Lau, Margie Tsang, Jamie Chik, Eddie Cheung, Dicky Cheung, Eddie Kwan, etc…just to name a few – in the past, there were plenty of artists. Nowadays, it’s virtually impossible to gather so many first line siu sangs and fa dans all in one series – the norm now is basically one siu sang and one fa dan. This time, in "Men with No Shadows", there is Raymond Lam and myself, which is already a ‘double siu sang’ team.”
Better pay outside of TVB, ‘lucky’ that TVB gave up on him
The breakthrough in Bobby’s career came with the multi-installment series "Files of Justice", which successfully secured his position as ‘first-line male lead’ -- however, it also caused him to leave a company that he had serviced for over a decade.
“Back then, after filming the first and second installments of "Files of Justice", people started to know me and that’s when the invitations for outside jobs started coming in. Prior to my management contract expiring, I had discussed with the Artists Department about changing to a per-series contract, but they pretty much ignored me. All they said was that both parties should think about it more and left it at that – there were no further discussions about the contract. I remember when I was filming "Files of Justice III", the last day of filming was coincidentally also the day my contract was set to expire. At the time, no one sought me out to discuss contract renewal, so having self-knowledge, I took that to mean that they gave up on me! Around the same time, I received an invitation from a Malaysian company that specially liked to ‘pick up’ artists abandoned by TVB, so I accepted. I went over there and filmed a sitcom for them – I was only there for a month but unbelievably received more than 100,000 HKD salary! At the time, my salary at TVB was only about 10,000 HKD a month.”
“I sincerely thank the particular exec at TVB who decided not to renew my contract – if it weren’t for him/her, I wouldn’t know how the outside world is like. That year, the amount of money I made shooting movies and ‘direct to video tape’ series was more than what I had made the previous 10 years combined. Later on, TVB was planning on filming "Files of Justice IV", so the producer requested that I return. In the new contract talks, of course I was no longer going to accept the stipulation of filming 100 shows in 1 year! We ended up re-negotiating the contract terms to a ‘per-series’ contract and that’s the way our collaboration has been up to present day.”
Loves "Armed Reaction" and "Dicey Business" the most
After Bobby returned to TVB, he was tasked as the lead in many series, sometimes filming up to 3 to 4 series a year. At the time, the Mainland China market was not as ‘established’ as it is today.
“There’s a reason why TVB has been at the forefront of the TV industry for so many years. After filming series outside and seeing how sometimes even lighting is lacking, it made me understand that TVB truly has plentiful resources. At TVB, I’ve filmed quite a few series that I personally enjoyed a lot, especially the "Armed Reaction" franchise – now every time I see [the series] producer Kwong Yip Sun (鄺業生), I call him ‘benefactor’ (恩公)! The character ‘Chan Siu Sang’『陳小生』helped me break into the Mainland market and helped me establish the image of ‘good son, good husband, good father’ with audiences. The character was essentially a 100% great character to begin with – having me play the character made it 101% great!”
"Dicey Business" is another one of Bobby’s great works, one that he is extremely proud of. In fact, he highly recommends it as a ‘must-see’ series.
“Earlier, a fan gave me the DVD boxed set of "Dicey Business" as a gift – I spent 2 nights in a row re-watching it. There were a few parts of the series that were especially emotional, to the point that I was moved to tears while watching. It’s not often that I encounter such an excellent script! For most series, the ‘storyline’ comes first and drives the rest of the script – for "Dicey Business" however, the characters came first and drove the storyline. During filming, I didn’t have to change the script at all – I just followed the development of the character and threw myself into the role.”
Specifically praises Myolie Wu and Sire Ma
“In "Dicey Business", Bosco Wong did a very good job. Recently, I watched his performance in "Lives of Omission" and see that he is getting better and better. Earlier in the year, I also noticed Myolie Wu’s performance in "The Rippling Blossom", she has changed as well – in the past, people made fun of her for having a ‘gwing’ look, but now, she really has gotten prettier. I’m not referring to the ‘plastic surgery’ –type pretty, but rather, her looks have ‘opened’ more. I also see the potential for Sire Ma, my sister in "Men With No Shadows" , to be a ‘hot contender’ for the “Most Improved” Award this year – she’s a good girl, very hardworking and doesn’t like to generate rumors.”
Coincidentally, both Sire Ma and Myolie Wu get the chance to collaborate in Bobby’s upcoming series "Yue Fu Hidden Dragon" [temporary name]. Filming an ancient series during the sweltering summer months, Bobby expressed that his ‘record’ was having to change 5 undershirts and 2 pairs of underwear in 1 day due to all the sweat. Laughing, Bobby admitted what attracted him to the series was the group of young actresses that he gets to collaborate with – he says that the fa dans being paired with him are getting younger and younger, inovoking the ‘envy’ of his colleagues. One time, he bumped into long time partner Yoyo Mung in the makeup room and jokingly told her that the next time they collaborate in a series, she should portray his ‘stepmother’!
Collaborating with Mainland artists, he feels like a ‘toad at the bottom of the well’
Last year, after wrapping filming for "Men with No Shadows", Bobby accepted 3 Mainland series in a row, including "Ghostcatcher – Legend of Beauty 2" [天師鍾馗] and collaboration with Charmaine Sheh in "Sword-Bearing Female Constable" [帶刀女捕快] . Filming ancient series in the Mainland can be very difficult as well [due to the weather] – luckily, the production team took care of him and always made sure he had a ‘cow horn fan’ (牛角扇) by his side.
“If I don’t film ancient series, I reduce my workload by 50%. You can say that I’m a ‘money hound’ or that I’m just hardworking – either way, if there’s good opportunity, I don’t mind the toil. As long as I get a 1-2 week rest in between each series for me to re-energize, I can accept filming for 8 to 9 months out of the year. After collaborating with Mainland artists, I realize that I’m a ‘toad at the bottom of the well’. This time around, for "Ghostcatcher", I got the chance to collaborate with Mainland actor Pan Chang Jiang, who has a cameo in the series – he is one of Mainland China’s first class actors and producers, the equivalent to the Mainland version of Eric Tsang – everyone knows him. All of us learned a lot from Teacher Pan.”
‘Experienced’ senior actors, not elder ‘green leaf’ actor
On the subject of ‘experienced’ senior actors (資深演員 ), Bobby’s tone became serious.
“I feel that in HK, there is a general lack of respect for experienced senior actors – the thinking is too utilitarian. Why are these actors called ‘gam cho’ (甘草), ‘green leaf’ (綠葉)? [TN: gam cho’ (甘草) is a term used in the industry to describe experienced, senior ‘green leaf’ actors/actresses over 50 years old]. They are a group of actors with plentiful acting experience, yet they are looked down upon as a ‘side dish’ or ‘flavoring’ for the main dishes? Do you think it would be ‘acceptable’ to write a series about ‘old’ people and have Brother Sau (senior actor Wu Fung) be the male lead? After all, Deanie Ip won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her portrayal of an ‘old’ housekeeper and brought glory for HK!”
Awhile back ago, someone had suggested that Bobby become a producer so he could produce his own series. Actually, in this circumstance, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to find a sponsor willing to invest money, but he enjoys working in front of the camera rather than behind the scenes, so he did not consider it. In the future, would he accept becoming a ‘gam cho’ actor himself?
“When that time comes, I may decide to become a producer and film my own series then! If you ask me to stand next to the main lead and play an ‘Uncle’ character, I definitely won’t do it. If they ever arrange for me to play the part of Raymond Lam’s father, I would suggest to them to go have Ron Ng play Raymond’s father instead! Hahahaha!”
Happy to be his wife’s ‘money-tree’
This year marks the 15th wedding anniversary of Bobby and his wife Fu Kit Han. Back then, the couple had a low-key wedding in Canada.
“The exact date is November 25th. I will be working in the Mainland during that time, so there won’t be special celebration. I’m my wife’s ‘money-tree’, so of course, work is more important! Hey, maybe I’ll give her a ‘house’ (樓) as a gift! Haha!”
Playful Bobby pointed to the ‘button’ on his shirt and laughed heartily– apparently, when he said ‘house’ [prounounced ‘lou’ (樓)], he actually meant ‘button’ [also pronounced ‘lou’but different character (鈕)]. However, when it comes to the date of his wedding anniversary, Bobby is very clear with the date 11/25, even mentioning it twice!
Diligently remembers date of wedding anniversary
“We’re an ‘old couple’ now, so not into the formalties anymore. When we have free time, we like to go around and seek out interesting places to eat or to see things – on anniversaries and such, if there’s time, we we usually just go out to dinner with a few close friends. We definitely won’t do any of the ‘formal’ stuff such as putting on a tuxedo and cutting a cake in front of everyone…plus, my wife is not the socializing type and doesn’t like to go to balls or those types of social gatherings.”
When the Media mentions Mrs. AuYeung, they usually attach her ‘title’: Macau Gambling King Fu Lao Yong’s Granddaughter. From the time his marriage was made public to now, it’s been 15 years, yet occasionally, Bobby’s status as ‘rich tycoon’s grandson-in-law’ is still brought up, even making front page news on magazine covers – luckily though, for Bobby, it no longer bothers him. Bobby reveals that all his earnings go to his wife, so she is truly the ‘keeper’ of the house. Because he knows that he is not good at managing finances, Bobby is perfectly happy with being his wife’s ‘money-tree’: “Yes, I’ve ‘shaken’ so much money out that I’m skinnier now! Haha!”
Bobby and Raymond Lam: no generation gap
In “Men With No Shadows”, Bobby collaborates with Raymond Lam for the first time, though on a personal level, they’ve known each other for a long time and are good ‘brothers’. It’s no surprise then that they are able to get along so well on the set and develop good chemistry.
“Raymond is the type of person who is always very calm no matter what type of situation occurs – he’s very persistent with his pace and doesn’t let anyone affect his rhythm. For instance, when we’re filming together, if I happen to be a few minutes late, I’ll start running when I’m within 20 steps of the filming location to show people that I’m trying to hurry over. Raymond however, refuses to run and instead makes his entrance calmly, like a model. I bet you didn’t think that Raymond’s EQ is actually very high, huh? Even when Tavia [Yeung] is yelling at him and saying ‘Raymond Lam, how long are you going to make me wait for you to get here? Feel like it’s been 10 years already!’ In response, all Raymond does is smile.”
“When filming series, if there is a little bit of delay, it’s understandable – after all, we oftentimes film through the night, but at least after work, we can go home and rest. Except Raymond – he often tells me: ‘Good for you! I still have to go shoot a movie!’ At the same time that he was filming “Men with no Shadows”, he was also shooting 2 movies simultaneously, plus he had to set aside time to rehearse for his concert – seeing that, I felt exhausted for him!”
Bobby expressed that he does not have any ‘generation gap’ working with younger siu sangs. Back when he was filming with Raymond, he had already been introduced to Mavis Pan – plus he is able to get along well with other younger artists such as Ron Ng, Joel Chan, etc. Asked whether the 2 of them introduced Viann Zhang or Florinda Ho to him, Bobby laughed and said: “No!”
“Honestly speaking, a lot of the younger male artists like to invite me out to ‘play’, but I actually like ‘playing’ with the younger female artists instead! Hahaha!”
.--.
Chinese Version:
歐陽震華 30年極品
歐陽震華（Bobby）在娛樂圈度過黃金30年，1981年他參加無綫藝員訓練班，翌年畢業成為TVB合約藝員。當年的歐陽耀泉（真名）一頭濃密頭髮，瘦猛猛，腰圍24吋，他形容自己似陳百強的類型。30年來建立事業與家庭，曾憑《洗冤錄》奪視帝，又是TVB第一人以《賭城風雲》角逐國際艾美獎的最佳男主角。Bobby曾被TVB冷待甚至放棄，幸好他的字典裏沒有「怨恨」，只記飲水思源，每年也度期返TVB拍劇當報恩。
歐陽震華（Bobby）在藝員訓練班同期的同學有梁朝偉、周星馳、吳鎮宇、張兆輝與關禮傑等。他們先後跑出當男主角，Bobby卻一直跑龍套，畢業後5年拍了逾30部劇，佔大部分也叫不出角色名稱的。
TVB不捧 好彩觀眾捧
「當年TVB出來的人很少失手，我不被捧也能自己跑出來。我不是靚仔，沒捧我是可理解的，不過，觀眾有Taste懂欣賞我，是全世界捧我出來的。其實我都好好彩，觀眾接受我不同類型的演出，我不是詼諧類型，但又可以搞笑；拍《法証》我唧都唔笑，又一樣受落。」
Bobby在1986年拍《黃金十年》漸被觀眾認識，他至今仍懷念那大堆頭的演員組合。
「有劉嘉玲、曾華倩、戚美珍、張衛健、張兆輝、關禮傑等，以前演員很多。現在怎可能集這樣多小生花旦在一部劇集？根本上只有單生單旦，今次《不速之約》有我跟林峯已是難得雙生組合。」
外闖酬勞厚 慶幸被放棄
Bobby演藝事業上的轉機是《壹號皇庭》，奠定「男一號」的位置，但亦因此令他一度離開工作10多年的娘家。
「當時拍了《壹號皇庭》I、II輯，開始多人認識亦多外邊邀約的工作。合約屆滿前跟藝員部負責人傾約，我提出轉部頭合約，對方唔理我。只是說雙方也多考慮吓，便沒有再傾；我記得當時我在拍《壹號皇庭III》，最後一日廠期就是合約屆滿日期。沒有人再叫我傾約，自知之明即放棄我啦！那時候馬來西亞有工作機會，專收容TVB棄將，我往拍了一個處境劇逗留了一個月，竟然有10多萬酬勞。當時我在TVB一個月只有萬多元人工。」
「我真心要多謝TVB不跟我續約的高層，若果不是他，我不知道外邊的世界是這樣。該年我拍的電影、錄影帶劇集所掙的錢，比過往10多年所掙的總和還要多。後來《壹號皇庭IV》開拍，監製叫我歸隊，再傾約時，我當然不接受1年拍100個騷，條件也再傾，部頭形式的合作至今了。」
至愛《陀槍師姐》《賭場風雲》
Bobby重返TVB後也曾是多產的主將，一年也3、4部劇集，當時內地市場還未成氣候。
「TVB一直坐龍頭位置是有原因的，拍過外邊的製作，連燈都缺乏的，才知道TVB資源豐富。我在TVB也拍了不少劇集是自己喜歡的，特別是《陀槍師姐》系列，每次見監製鄺業生，我都叫他做恩公的，『陳小生』的角色幫我打開內地市場之門，好兒子、好老公又是好爸爸的形象入晒屋。這根本就是100分的角色，由我來演變101分的好。」
《賭場風雲》是Bobby另一得意傑作，他仍大力推薦說一定要看的劇集。
「早前有fans送了一套《賭場風雲》DVD給我，我連續兩晚通宵重溫。有幾場戲我邊睇邊哭，是感動到喊出聲那種。這是可遇不可求的劇本，一般劇集是故事先行，但《賭場風雲》是由角色發展故事。拍攝時我不需要改劇本，就是跟着角色投入了。」
點名稱讚胡杏兒馬賽
「黃宗澤在《賭場風雲》演得很好，最近我看《潛行狙擊》他做得愈來愈好。年初我也留意胡杏兒在《魚躍在花見》的演出，她亦不同了，以前大家笑她冏樣，現在她真的漂亮了，並非是整容的變樣，而是樣子『開』了。我還睇好《不速之約》我個妹妹馬賽是今年「飛躍進步」的熱門，她好乖、勤力又唔搞緋聞。」
馬賽與胡杏兒在Bobby剛完成的《樂府藏龍》皆有合作，這是他今年的報恩之作。在夏天拍古裝，最高紀錄是一日內要換5件底衫、兩條內褲，因流汗濕透。他笑言吸引他接拍的，是一班年輕的女藝員，他身邊的花旦愈換愈後生，拍胡杏兒與鍾嘉欣，連其他同事也妒忌。有次他在化妝間遇到蒙嘉慧，他開玩笑說下次兩人合作，她要演他的後母角色了。
伙內地演員 自覺井底蛙
Bobby去年拍完《不速之約》一口氣接拍內地3部劇集，包括《天師鍾馗II》，與佘詩曼合作的《帶刀女捕快》。他在內地拍古裝劇也很辛苦，劇組在場地會安排一把牛角扇「招呼」他。
「若不拍古裝劇會減50%工作量，你話我勤力或貪錢都好，有機會我不怕辛苦。總之劇與劇之間給我一、兩星期休息充電，一年拍8、9個月戲可以接受。跟內地演員合作，我才覺得自己是井底蛙，今次《鍾馗》潘長江也有客串，他是國內一級演員兼製作人，是內地的曾志偉，無人不識的。大家也很尊重潘老師。」
資深演員不是甘草綠葉
Bobby提到資深演員問題變得很認真。
「我覺得香港對資深演員欠尊重，太功利主義。為何稱他們是『甘草』、『綠葉』？他們是一班演戲經驗豐富的人，竟被貶為配菜、調味？若果有人肯寫一部老人家的劇集，由修哥（胡楓）擔正主角，你話得唔得？Deanie姐（葉德嫻）是演老工人當威尼斯影后，為港爭光呢！」
早有人提議Bobby兼製作人自拍劇集，他要找投資老闆不困難，但他喜歡幕前演出而未有考慮。問他將來會否接受做「甘草」的安排？
「屆時我可能自己做製作拍劇過戲癮，若果你要我演站男主角旁邊的姨丈角色，我一定唔做。想安排我做林峯的父親？我會提議他們找吳卓羲做林峯老竇。哈哈哈！」
樂做老婆搖錢樹
翻查資料，今年是Bobby跟太太傅潔嫻結婚15周年，當年兩人在加拿大低調結婚。
「是11月25日，這段時間我應該在內地開工，沒打算特別慶祝。我是老婆的搖錢樹，當然工作要緊；我可能送層『樓』給她做禮物。」
鬼馬的Bobby說送「樓」時是指着自己的恤衫「鈕」哈哈笑。不過，他提到結婚紀念日子絕不含糊，清楚講了兩次是11月25日。
謹記結婚紀念日
「老夫老妻了，平日有時間，我跟她喜歡周圍去搵嘢食、去玩，結婚紀念日這些日子，就算有空檔也是相約幾個熟朋友食餐飯。肯定不會穿禮服、晚裝在大家面前切蛋糕那形式，老婆也不喜歡社交場合的應酬。」
傳媒提起Bobby嫂，少不了她的title——澳門第一代賭王傅老榕的孫女。由婚訊曝光至今近15年了，Bobby這個「豪門女婿」身分仍是話題，甚至周刊封面；幸好對他已不再是困擾。他自爆收入全歸老婆所有，Bobby嫂是真正的「揸數人」。自知不擅理財，故他樂意做老婆的「搖錢樹」，他得戚說﹕「你睇我搖到瘦晒，落晒形了！」
Bobby林峯無代溝
Bobby跟林峯在《不速之約》首次合作劇集，私底下早已是好兄弟，想不到工作上也很夾，產生化學作用。
任鬧EQ高
「林峯是任何情况下也很滋油的人，堅持個人步伐，沒有人能影響他的節奏。我跟他開工，有時遲到少少，我會在抵場地前20步，急跑兼喘氣，讓大家知道我是趕過來的。林峯卻是20步也不肯跑，要Model般亮相人前。你估唔到林峯EQ很高，他被楊怡鬧到死說﹕『林峯你要我等你等到幾時？我等了你（開工）10幾年了！』他就是笑笑口作回應。」
「拍劇有少少時間差誤是可體諒的，大家通宵工作，收工回家休息。林峯卻對我說﹕『你就好啦！我要繼續去拍電影呀！』拍《不速之約》同時他拍兩部電影，又要抽時間為演唱會綵排；我看見也戥他辛苦。」
Bobby跟年輕的小生沒有代溝，林峯跟潘霜霜拍拖時早已介紹他認識，還有吳卓羲、陳山聰等一樣玩得埋。問他們有沒有介紹張馨予或何超雲給他認識？Bobby一貫口密，笑說﹕「無呀！」
「坦白講，一班後生仔都鍾意搵我一齊玩，其實我比較喜歡跟後生女一齊玩的，哈哈哈！」
Some highlights:
.> I loved the part where Bobby talks about his wife and the ‘money-tree’ thing – it was hilarious! Also, the part where he goes from giving his wife a ‘house’ to giving her a ‘button’…hahaha! That’s the quick-witted Bobby AuYeung for you!
.> I’m glad that Bobby talked about the thing with the ‘gam cho’ artists and how there’s a general lack of respect for them in the industry and in society in general. Those have been my exact sentiments for years now. Go Bobby!
.> Wait, Bobby once had a 24 inch waist? Is he sure about that? Hahahaha!
.> It’s obvious from Bobby’s interviews that he has a good head on his shoulders. I like the way he talked about how he was once neglected and even abandoned by TVB, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing because it helped him expand his horizons and see the outside world (plus he made a lot of money). Talk about turning a negative into a positive!
There were more highlights, but I’ll stop here and let you read the article on your own. It’s definitely a great one!
Enjoy!
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Mingpao Interview with Bobby AuYeung: 30 Years of Excellence
Source: Mingpao
Translated by: llwy12
Bobby AuYeung has spent 30 ‘golden’ years in the entertainment industry. In 1981, he participated in TVB’s Acting Class and when he graduated the next year, he officially became a TVB contracted artist. At the time, he still went by his real name, AuYeung Yiu Chuen (歐陽耀泉) – he had a full head of hair and was skinny, with a 24 inch waist; he describes himself as the ‘Danny Chan’ type. In the past 30 years, he has built a career and family – [in 2000], he won the TV King award for his role as Song Chi in the series "Witness to a Prosecution" and he is the only TVB artist to be nominated for Best Actor at the Asian Emmy Awards for his role in "Dicey Business". Bobby admits that in the past, he had been given the ‘cold shoulder’ by TVB and in fact, was even abandoned by them – luckily, in his dictionary, there is no such word as ‘resentment’ (怨恨), only ‘gratefulness’ for his blessings (飲水思源). Therefore, every year, he makes time in his schedule to return to TVB and film series as a form of repayment.
Some of Bobby’s same year Acting Class classmates include Tony Leung, Stephen Chow, Francis Ng, Eddie Cheung, Eddie Kwan, etc. Upon graduating, each of them rose to ‘leading actor’ status one by one, however at the time, Bobby was still doing mostly small roles [‘ke le fe’] in series. 5 years after graduating from the Acting Class, Bobby had participated in 30 series – unfortunately though, his role in most of those series were so insignificant, most people probably don’t even remember the names of the characters he played.
TVB didn’t promote, but luckily the audiences did
“Back then, it was very rare for someone who came out of TVB not to succeed. I was never promoted, but was able to make it up the ladder on my own. I’m not good-looking, so it’s understandable why they wouldn’t want to promote me, but luckily, the audiences had good taste and knew how to appreciate me – I guess you can say that it’s the audiences who promoted me. Actually, I’m very lucky that the audiences were willing to accept my different types of acting – I’m not the comedian-type, but I’m able to do comedy; in "Forensic Heroes", I wasn’t funny at all, yet the audiences still enjoyed it.”
Bobby started capturing audience’s attention back in 1986, when he participated in grand production series "The Turbulent Decade". To this day, he still has fond memories of the ‘all-star’ cast from that series.
“There were Carina Lau, Margie Tsang, Jamie Chik, Eddie Cheung, Dicky Cheung, Eddie Kwan, etc…just to name a few – in the past, there were plenty of artists. Nowadays, it’s virtually impossible to gather so many first line siu sangs and fa dans all in one series – the norm now is basically one siu sang and one fa dan. This time, in "Men with No Shadows", there is Raymond Lam and myself, which is already a ‘double siu sang’ team.”
Better pay outside of TVB, ‘lucky’ that TVB gave up on him
The breakthrough in Bobby’s career came with the multi-installment series "Files of Justice", which successfully secured his position as ‘first-line male lead’ -- however, it also caused him to leave a company that he had serviced for over a decade.
“Back then, after filming the first and second installments of "Files of Justice", people started to know me and that’s when the invitations for outside jobs started coming in. Prior to my management contract expiring, I had discussed with the Artists Department about changing to a per-series contract, but they pretty much ignored me. All they said was that both parties should think about it more and left it at that – there were no further discussions about the contract. I remember when I was filming "Files of Justice III", the last day of filming was coincidentally also the day my contract was set to expire. At the time, no one sought me out to discuss contract renewal, so having self-knowledge, I took that to mean that they gave up on me! Around the same time, I received an invitation from a Malaysian company that specially liked to ‘pick up’ artists abandoned by TVB, so I accepted. I went over there and filmed a sitcom for them – I was only there for a month but unbelievably received more than 100,000 HKD salary! At the time, my salary at TVB was only about 10,000 HKD a month.”
“I sincerely thank the particular exec at TVB who decided not to renew my contract – if it weren’t for him/her, I wouldn’t know how the outside world is like. That year, the amount of money I made shooting movies and ‘direct to video tape’ series was more than what I had made the previous 10 years combined. Later on, TVB was planning on filming "Files of Justice IV", so the producer requested that I return. In the new contract talks, of course I was no longer going to accept the stipulation of filming 100 shows in 1 year! We ended up re-negotiating the contract terms to a ‘per-series’ contract and that’s the way our collaboration has been up to present day.”
Loves "Armed Reaction" and "Dicey Business" the most
After Bobby returned to TVB, he was tasked as the lead in many series, sometimes filming up to 3 to 4 series a year. At the time, the Mainland China market was not as ‘established’ as it is today.
“There’s a reason why TVB has been at the forefront of the TV industry for so many years. After filming series outside and seeing how sometimes even lighting is lacking, it made me understand that TVB truly has plentiful resources. At TVB, I’ve filmed quite a few series that I personally enjoyed a lot, especially the "Armed Reaction" franchise – now every time I see [the series] producer Kwong Yip Sun (鄺業生), I call him ‘benefactor’ (恩公)! The character ‘Chan Siu Sang’『陳小生』helped me break into the Mainland market and helped me establish the image of ‘good son, good husband, good father’ with audiences. The character was essentially a 100% great character to begin with – having me play the character made it 101% great!”
"Dicey Business" is another one of Bobby’s great works, one that he is extremely proud of. In fact, he highly recommends it as a ‘must-see’ series.
“Earlier, a fan gave me the DVD boxed set of "Dicey Business" as a gift – I spent 2 nights in a row re-watching it. There were a few parts of the series that were especially emotional, to the point that I was moved to tears while watching. It’s not often that I encounter such an excellent script! For most series, the ‘storyline’ comes first and drives the rest of the script – for "Dicey Business" however, the characters came first and drove the storyline. During filming, I didn’t have to change the script at all – I just followed the development of the character and threw myself into the role.”
Specifically praises Myolie Wu and Sire Ma
“In "Dicey Business", Bosco Wong did a very good job. Recently, I watched his performance in "Lives of Omission" and see that he is getting better and better. Earlier in the year, I also noticed Myolie Wu’s performance in "The Rippling Blossom", she has changed as well – in the past, people made fun of her for having a ‘gwing’ look, but now, she really has gotten prettier. I’m not referring to the ‘plastic surgery’ –type pretty, but rather, her looks have ‘opened’ more. I also see the potential for Sire Ma, my sister in "Men With No Shadows" , to be a ‘hot contender’ for the “Most Improved” Award this year – she’s a good girl, very hardworking and doesn’t like to generate rumors.”
Coincidentally, both Sire Ma and Myolie Wu get the chance to collaborate in Bobby’s upcoming series "Yue Fu Hidden Dragon" [temporary name]. Filming an ancient series during the sweltering summer months, Bobby expressed that his ‘record’ was having to change 5 undershirts and 2 pairs of underwear in 1 day due to all the sweat. Laughing, Bobby admitted what attracted him to the series was the group of young actresses that he gets to collaborate with – he says that the fa dans being paired with him are getting younger and younger, inovoking the ‘envy’ of his colleagues. One time, he bumped into long time partner Yoyo Mung in the makeup room and jokingly told her that the next time they collaborate in a series, she should portray his ‘stepmother’!
Collaborating with Mainland artists, he feels like a ‘toad at the bottom of the well’
Last year, after wrapping filming for "Men with No Shadows", Bobby accepted 3 Mainland series in a row, including "Ghostcatcher – Legend of Beauty 2" [天師鍾馗] and collaboration with Charmaine Sheh in "Sword-Bearing Female Constable" [帶刀女捕快] . Filming ancient series in the Mainland can be very difficult as well [due to the weather] – luckily, the production team took care of him and always made sure he had a ‘cow horn fan’ (牛角扇) by his side.
“If I don’t film ancient series, I reduce my workload by 50%. You can say that I’m a ‘money hound’ or that I’m just hardworking – either way, if there’s good opportunity, I don’t mind the toil. As long as I get a 1-2 week rest in between each series for me to re-energize, I can accept filming for 8 to 9 months out of the year. After collaborating with Mainland artists, I realize that I’m a ‘toad at the bottom of the well’. This time around, for "Ghostcatcher", I got the chance to collaborate with Mainland actor Pan Chang Jiang, who has a cameo in the series – he is one of Mainland China’s first class actors and producers, the equivalent to the Mainland version of Eric Tsang – everyone knows him. All of us learned a lot from Teacher Pan.”
‘Experienced’ senior actors, not elder ‘green leaf’ actor
On the subject of ‘experienced’ senior actors (資深演員 ), Bobby’s tone became serious.
“I feel that in HK, there is a general lack of respect for experienced senior actors – the thinking is too utilitarian. Why are these actors called ‘gam cho’ (甘草), ‘green leaf’ (綠葉)? [TN: gam cho’ (甘草) is a term used in the industry to describe experienced, senior ‘green leaf’ actors/actresses over 50 years old]. They are a group of actors with plentiful acting experience, yet they are looked down upon as a ‘side dish’ or ‘flavoring’ for the main dishes? Do you think it would be ‘acceptable’ to write a series about ‘old’ people and have Brother Sau (senior actor Wu Fung) be the male lead? After all, Deanie Ip won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her portrayal of an ‘old’ housekeeper and brought glory for HK!”
Awhile back ago, someone had suggested that Bobby become a producer so he could produce his own series. Actually, in this circumstance, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to find a sponsor willing to invest money, but he enjoys working in front of the camera rather than behind the scenes, so he did not consider it. In the future, would he accept becoming a ‘gam cho’ actor himself?
“When that time comes, I may decide to become a producer and film my own series then! If you ask me to stand next to the main lead and play an ‘Uncle’ character, I definitely won’t do it. If they ever arrange for me to play the part of Raymond Lam’s father, I would suggest to them to go have Ron Ng play Raymond’s father instead! Hahahaha!”
Happy to be his wife’s ‘money-tree’
This year marks the 15th wedding anniversary of Bobby and his wife Fu Kit Han. Back then, the couple had a low-key wedding in Canada.
“The exact date is November 25th. I will be working in the Mainland during that time, so there won’t be special celebration. I’m my wife’s ‘money-tree’, so of course, work is more important! Hey, maybe I’ll give her a ‘house’ (樓) as a gift! Haha!”
Playful Bobby pointed to the ‘button’ on his shirt and laughed heartily– apparently, when he said ‘house’ [prounounced ‘lou’ (樓)], he actually meant ‘button’ [also pronounced ‘lou’but different character (鈕)]. However, when it comes to the date of his wedding anniversary, Bobby is very clear with the date 11/25, even mentioning it twice!
Diligently remembers date of wedding anniversary
“We’re an ‘old couple’ now, so not into the formalties anymore. When we have free time, we like to go around and seek out interesting places to eat or to see things – on anniversaries and such, if there’s time, we we usually just go out to dinner with a few close friends. We definitely won’t do any of the ‘formal’ stuff such as putting on a tuxedo and cutting a cake in front of everyone…plus, my wife is not the socializing type and doesn’t like to go to balls or those types of social gatherings.”
When the Media mentions Mrs. AuYeung, they usually attach her ‘title’: Macau Gambling King Fu Lao Yong’s Granddaughter. From the time his marriage was made public to now, it’s been 15 years, yet occasionally, Bobby’s status as ‘rich tycoon’s grandson-in-law’ is still brought up, even making front page news on magazine covers – luckily though, for Bobby, it no longer bothers him. Bobby reveals that all his earnings go to his wife, so she is truly the ‘keeper’ of the house. Because he knows that he is not good at managing finances, Bobby is perfectly happy with being his wife’s ‘money-tree’: “Yes, I’ve ‘shaken’ so much money out that I’m skinnier now! Haha!”
Bobby and Raymond Lam: no generation gap
In “Men With No Shadows”, Bobby collaborates with Raymond Lam for the first time, though on a personal level, they’ve known each other for a long time and are good ‘brothers’. It’s no surprise then that they are able to get along so well on the set and develop good chemistry.
“Raymond is the type of person who is always very calm no matter what type of situation occurs – he’s very persistent with his pace and doesn’t let anyone affect his rhythm. For instance, when we’re filming together, if I happen to be a few minutes late, I’ll start running when I’m within 20 steps of the filming location to show people that I’m trying to hurry over. Raymond however, refuses to run and instead makes his entrance calmly, like a model. I bet you didn’t think that Raymond’s EQ is actually very high, huh? Even when Tavia [Yeung] is yelling at him and saying ‘Raymond Lam, how long are you going to make me wait for you to get here? Feel like it’s been 10 years already!’ In response, all Raymond does is smile.”
“When filming series, if there is a little bit of delay, it’s understandable – after all, we oftentimes film through the night, but at least after work, we can go home and rest. Except Raymond – he often tells me: ‘Good for you! I still have to go shoot a movie!’ At the same time that he was filming “Men with no Shadows”, he was also shooting 2 movies simultaneously, plus he had to set aside time to rehearse for his concert – seeing that, I felt exhausted for him!”
Bobby expressed that he does not have any ‘generation gap’ working with younger siu sangs. Back when he was filming with Raymond, he had already been introduced to Mavis Pan – plus he is able to get along well with other younger artists such as Ron Ng, Joel Chan, etc. Asked whether the 2 of them introduced Viann Zhang or Florinda Ho to him, Bobby laughed and said: “No!”
“Honestly speaking, a lot of the younger male artists like to invite me out to ‘play’, but I actually like ‘playing’ with the younger female artists instead! Hahaha!”
.--.
Chinese Version:
歐陽震華 30年極品
歐陽震華（Bobby）在娛樂圈度過黃金30年，1981年他參加無綫藝員訓練班，翌年畢業成為TVB合約藝員。當年的歐陽耀泉（真名）一頭濃密頭髮，瘦猛猛，腰圍24吋，他形容自己似陳百強的類型。30年來建立事業與家庭，曾憑《洗冤錄》奪視帝，又是TVB第一人以《賭城風雲》角逐國際艾美獎的最佳男主角。Bobby曾被TVB冷待甚至放棄，幸好他的字典裏沒有「怨恨」，只記飲水思源，每年也度期返TVB拍劇當報恩。
歐陽震華（Bobby）在藝員訓練班同期的同學有梁朝偉、周星馳、吳鎮宇、張兆輝與關禮傑等。他們先後跑出當男主角，Bobby卻一直跑龍套，畢業後5年拍了逾30部劇，佔大部分也叫不出角色名稱的。
TVB不捧 好彩觀眾捧
「當年TVB出來的人很少失手，我不被捧也能自己跑出來。我不是靚仔，沒捧我是可理解的，不過，觀眾有Taste懂欣賞我，是全世界捧我出來的。其實我都好好彩，觀眾接受我不同類型的演出，我不是詼諧類型，但又可以搞笑；拍《法証》我唧都唔笑，又一樣受落。」
Bobby在1986年拍《黃金十年》漸被觀眾認識，他至今仍懷念那大堆頭的演員組合。
「有劉嘉玲、曾華倩、戚美珍、張衛健、張兆輝、關禮傑等，以前演員很多。現在怎可能集這樣多小生花旦在一部劇集？根本上只有單生單旦，今次《不速之約》有我跟林峯已是難得雙生組合。」
外闖酬勞厚 慶幸被放棄
Bobby演藝事業上的轉機是《壹號皇庭》，奠定「男一號」的位置，但亦因此令他一度離開工作10多年的娘家。
「當時拍了《壹號皇庭》I、II輯，開始多人認識亦多外邊邀約的工作。合約屆滿前跟藝員部負責人傾約，我提出轉部頭合約，對方唔理我。只是說雙方也多考慮吓，便沒有再傾；我記得當時我在拍《壹號皇庭III》，最後一日廠期就是合約屆滿日期。沒有人再叫我傾約，自知之明即放棄我啦！那時候馬來西亞有工作機會，專收容TVB棄將，我往拍了一個處境劇逗留了一個月，竟然有10多萬酬勞。當時我在TVB一個月只有萬多元人工。」
「我真心要多謝TVB不跟我續約的高層，若果不是他，我不知道外邊的世界是這樣。該年我拍的電影、錄影帶劇集所掙的錢，比過往10多年所掙的總和還要多。後來《壹號皇庭IV》開拍，監製叫我歸隊，再傾約時，我當然不接受1年拍100個騷，條件也再傾，部頭形式的合作至今了。」
至愛《陀槍師姐》《賭場風雲》
Bobby重返TVB後也曾是多產的主將，一年也3、4部劇集，當時內地市場還未成氣候。
「TVB一直坐龍頭位置是有原因的，拍過外邊的製作，連燈都缺乏的，才知道TVB資源豐富。我在TVB也拍了不少劇集是自己喜歡的，特別是《陀槍師姐》系列，每次見監製鄺業生，我都叫他做恩公的，『陳小生』的角色幫我打開內地市場之門，好兒子、好老公又是好爸爸的形象入晒屋。這根本就是100分的角色，由我來演變101分的好。」
《賭場風雲》是Bobby另一得意傑作，他仍大力推薦說一定要看的劇集。
「早前有fans送了一套《賭場風雲》DVD給我，我連續兩晚通宵重溫。有幾場戲我邊睇邊哭，是感動到喊出聲那種。這是可遇不可求的劇本，一般劇集是故事先行，但《賭場風雲》是由角色發展故事。拍攝時我不需要改劇本，就是跟着角色投入了。」
點名稱讚胡杏兒馬賽
「黃宗澤在《賭場風雲》演得很好，最近我看《潛行狙擊》他做得愈來愈好。年初我也留意胡杏兒在《魚躍在花見》的演出，她亦不同了，以前大家笑她冏樣，現在她真的漂亮了，並非是整容的變樣，而是樣子『開』了。我還睇好《不速之約》我個妹妹馬賽是今年「飛躍進步」的熱門，她好乖、勤力又唔搞緋聞。」
馬賽與胡杏兒在Bobby剛完成的《樂府藏龍》皆有合作，這是他今年的報恩之作。在夏天拍古裝，最高紀錄是一日內要換5件底衫、兩條內褲，因流汗濕透。他笑言吸引他接拍的，是一班年輕的女藝員，他身邊的花旦愈換愈後生，拍胡杏兒與鍾嘉欣，連其他同事也妒忌。有次他在化妝間遇到蒙嘉慧，他開玩笑說下次兩人合作，她要演他的後母角色了。
伙內地演員 自覺井底蛙
Bobby去年拍完《不速之約》一口氣接拍內地3部劇集，包括《天師鍾馗II》，與佘詩曼合作的《帶刀女捕快》。他在內地拍古裝劇也很辛苦，劇組在場地會安排一把牛角扇「招呼」他。
「若不拍古裝劇會減50%工作量，你話我勤力或貪錢都好，有機會我不怕辛苦。總之劇與劇之間給我一、兩星期休息充電，一年拍8、9個月戲可以接受。跟內地演員合作，我才覺得自己是井底蛙，今次《鍾馗》潘長江也有客串，他是國內一級演員兼製作人，是內地的曾志偉，無人不識的。大家也很尊重潘老師。」
資深演員不是甘草綠葉
Bobby提到資深演員問題變得很認真。
「我覺得香港對資深演員欠尊重，太功利主義。為何稱他們是『甘草』、『綠葉』？他們是一班演戲經驗豐富的人，竟被貶為配菜、調味？若果有人肯寫一部老人家的劇集，由修哥（胡楓）擔正主角，你話得唔得？Deanie姐（葉德嫻）是演老工人當威尼斯影后，為港爭光呢！」
早有人提議Bobby兼製作人自拍劇集，他要找投資老闆不困難，但他喜歡幕前演出而未有考慮。問他將來會否接受做「甘草」的安排？
「屆時我可能自己做製作拍劇過戲癮，若果你要我演站男主角旁邊的姨丈角色，我一定唔做。想安排我做林峯的父親？我會提議他們找吳卓羲做林峯老竇。哈哈哈！」
樂做老婆搖錢樹
翻查資料，今年是Bobby跟太太傅潔嫻結婚15周年，當年兩人在加拿大低調結婚。
「是11月25日，這段時間我應該在內地開工，沒打算特別慶祝。我是老婆的搖錢樹，當然工作要緊；我可能送層『樓』給她做禮物。」
鬼馬的Bobby說送「樓」時是指着自己的恤衫「鈕」哈哈笑。不過，他提到結婚紀念日子絕不含糊，清楚講了兩次是11月25日。
謹記結婚紀念日
「老夫老妻了，平日有時間，我跟她喜歡周圍去搵嘢食、去玩，結婚紀念日這些日子，就算有空檔也是相約幾個熟朋友食餐飯。肯定不會穿禮服、晚裝在大家面前切蛋糕那形式，老婆也不喜歡社交場合的應酬。」
傳媒提起Bobby嫂，少不了她的title——澳門第一代賭王傅老榕的孫女。由婚訊曝光至今近15年了，Bobby這個「豪門女婿」身分仍是話題，甚至周刊封面；幸好對他已不再是困擾。他自爆收入全歸老婆所有，Bobby嫂是真正的「揸數人」。自知不擅理財，故他樂意做老婆的「搖錢樹」，他得戚說﹕「你睇我搖到瘦晒，落晒形了！」
Bobby林峯無代溝
Bobby跟林峯在《不速之約》首次合作劇集，私底下早已是好兄弟，想不到工作上也很夾，產生化學作用。
任鬧EQ高
「林峯是任何情况下也很滋油的人，堅持個人步伐，沒有人能影響他的節奏。我跟他開工，有時遲到少少，我會在抵場地前20步，急跑兼喘氣，讓大家知道我是趕過來的。林峯卻是20步也不肯跑，要Model般亮相人前。你估唔到林峯EQ很高，他被楊怡鬧到死說﹕『林峯你要我等你等到幾時？我等了你（開工）10幾年了！』他就是笑笑口作回應。」
「拍劇有少少時間差誤是可體諒的，大家通宵工作，收工回家休息。林峯卻對我說﹕『你就好啦！我要繼續去拍電影呀！』拍《不速之約》同時他拍兩部電影，又要抽時間為演唱會綵排；我看見也戥他辛苦。」
Bobby跟年輕的小生沒有代溝，林峯跟潘霜霜拍拖時早已介紹他認識，還有吳卓羲、陳山聰等一樣玩得埋。問他們有沒有介紹張馨予或何超雲給他認識？Bobby一貫口密，笑說﹕「無呀！」
「坦白講，一班後生仔都鍾意搵我一齊玩，其實我比較喜歡跟後生女一齊玩的，哈哈哈！」
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Weibo Fever # 9: Opening Performance of "Shrimp Crazy Family" Stage Play
Here's an awesome article recapping the opening night performance of the highly anticipated stage play, "Shrimp Crazy Family" (refer to the previous few posts for details).
The article pretty much says it all, but I also wanted to share some of the behind the scenes pictures and other info from the Weibos of the various 'stars' who participated in the show (majority of them have Weibo accounts, so there is tons of stuff on it).
Here's some behind the scenes stuff that wasn't in the article (which I gathered from Weibo):
.—Even though Michael Miu and Felix Wong did not have to perform on opening night, both of them were present the entire time, primarily backstage. Felix said that he and Michael had very important roles as “阿四”, helping to ‘take care’ of the cast (getting them coffee, tea, water, food, etc.,)…basically, they were ‘busboys’…LOL!
.—The “Shrimp Crazy Family” stage play actually has no affiliation with TVB at all. It was organized by Louie Castro and Jamie Chik as a reunion of sorts for them as well as the artists they worked with back in the day.
.-- Watching / reading all the updates about the show on Weibo and on TV really brought back alot of memories for me. And seeing how 'united' all the artists were (many of the artists who weren't performing until later on still came to support or even help out the cast / crew backstage) almost brought tears to my eyes. This was how the HK entertainment industry used to be in the 80s (before it spiraled downhill in the next 2 decades) and it saddens me to think that we may never see such unity and coming together of veteran artists again. This is partly why I'm taking the time to write up blog posts about each of the performances....I hope to cherish this 'trip down memory lane' as long as I can!
Anyways, hope you enjoy the article and the pictures!
**************
Original article published 9/22/2011
Source: Mingpao
Translated by: llwy12
Opening performance of “Shrimp Crazy Family”: Andy Lau and Eric Tsang ad-lib dialogue, make fun of Jamie Chik’s figure; Joey Yung is publicly ‘touched’ by Meg Lam
The stage production “Shrimp Crazy Family” starring Lo Hoi Pang, Meg Lam, Jamie Chik, and Louie Castro, had its debut show in HK day before yesterday. The opening performance was truly a ‘star-studded’ event, both on stage and off. The special ‘mystery’ guests for opening night were Andy Lau and Joey Yung, who, together with Dodo Cheng, Eric Tsang, Annie Liu, and Elvina Kong, made audiences laugh onstage. Off-stage, many artists came to support the show, including Liza Wang, Michael Miu [technically part of the crew], Michael Tse, Bosco Wong, Chin Kar Lok, Angela Tong, etc.
‘Squinty Eyes’ Lo Hoi Pang continued his comical ways, speaking his dialogue in ‘rhyme’ and also ad-libbing all night – occasionally, he would also incorporate his famous imitation routines, pretending to be Roman Tam singing his hit song《激光中》. When Squinty Eyes’s “arch-enemy” – Meg Lam’s ‘Big Shark’ -- appeared on stage, she headed straight for Pang Gor, purposefully bumping her head repeatedly against his, causing the audiences to laugh non-stop.
Years ago, when Meg Lam was filming a show for ATV, one of the boards on the set accidentally fell on her, causing a head injury that makes it difficult for her to concentrate for long periods of time. Therefore, the script was specially written to give her time to rest backstage in between acts – indeed, while resting on a sofa backstage, she actually fell asleep. It wasn’t until Joey Yung – who played the role of a 3D song goddess – came on stage, then Meg immediately returned on stage, continuing to ‘battle’ with Lo Hoi Pang and steal his scenes. While Joey sang, Pang Gor did numerous funny routines, including purposefully breaking a table to make audiences laugh, while Meg swept her hands around Joey’s body – luckily, Joey was able to contain her laughter and finish singing her song.
When it came time for Eric Tsang and Andy Lau to come on stage, the ‘playfulness’ escalated – the two of them played the roles of Jamie’s ex-boyfriends who ‘showed up’ to fight for her affection. During the skit, there was a scene where Eric and Pang Gor were exchanging a check, however Meg suddenly ran onto the stage, accidentally tripping and falling on the floor – of course, the 2 comedians [Eric and Pang Gor] took advantage of the situation to poke fun at Meg, even saying some curse words and making audiences roar with laughter. Andy Lau appeared near the end of the show – not only did he perform a song (one of the climaxes of the night), he also ad-libbed the dialogue for his role. He pointed out that Louie Castro [who plays Jamie’s husband ‘Shrimp Boy’] cannot compare to himself and Eric: “One is tall, the other is short, one is handsome, the other is ugly”, which threw Louie off and caused him to forget some of his lines. After that, Andy and Eric ‘ganged up’ on Jamie, mocking her and making fun of her figure by saying that she had ‘sagging’ parts.
During interviews after the show, both Andy and Joey indicated that they were happy to be able to participate and had a lot of fun. Asked about being publicly ‘touched’ by Meg, Joey laughed and replied: “It felt like being searched at the airport, but doesn’t matter, as long as everyone had fun. These ‘memories’ are once in a lifetime!” Andy revealed that prior to the show, he had requested to play the part of Jamie’s ex-boyfriend, as he wanted to get the chance to have some fun with acting: “Originally, I was supposed to play a 3D song god, but I wanted to have some dialogue, so I took on the role of one of the ex-boyfriends instead.” Jamie Chik indicated that she was already anticipating that there would be a lot of ad-libbing from the artists and did not mind that Andy made fun of her figure.
Meg Lam admitted that during the performance, she wasn’t 100% alert, which resulted in her nodding off onstage: “Because of my illness, I get sleepy easily, but sometimes, upon hearing Pang Gor’s funny dialogue, I’m laughing so hard that I’m not able to sleep. I will definitely rest more the next couple days in preparation for the remaining 3 shows.”
When Pang Gor was asked about ‘cursing’ onstage during the performance, he refused to admit it, instead saying: “When did I curse? I was following the script exactly!”
.---.
Chinese version:
華仔志偉爆肚 踩阿戚身材
容祖兒被沙姐摸勻全身
【明報專訊】盧海鵬、林建明（沙姐）、賈思樂及戚美珍主演一連四場的音樂舞台劇《蝦仔爹哋》，前晚於灣仔伊館首演獲群星拱照，台上客串的嘉賓有劉德華、容祖兒、鄭裕玲、曾志偉、廖安麗及江欣燕，台下捧場的則有董趙洪娉、汪明荃、苗僑偉、謝天華、黃宗澤、錢嘉樂及湯盈盈等。
沙姐沙發瞓着
「矇豬眼」盧海鵬貫徹搞笑風格，整晚大玩押韻金句兼爆肚，又羅文上身大唱《激光中》，加上扮演「大白鯊」的沙姐甫出場，即衝向死對頭鵬哥，玩頭撞頭，逗得台下笑不停。不過，沙姐早年在亞視拍攝《今日睇真D》時被佈景板撞傷頭部，自此令她難以集中精神，故演出期間，劇情安排她在台上休息，她果然躺在沙發睡着了。直至祖兒扮3D歌后出場時，沙姐立即回魂與鵬哥鬥搶戲，鵬哥刻意掃跌枱搞笑，沙姐則伸手摸勻祖兒全身，幸祖兒施展「忍笑功」能唱完整首歌。
賈思樂難招架
輪到曾志偉和劉德華出場，大家更加玩到癲，兩人飾演前度男友出場爭阿珍，劇中志偉、鵬哥進行遞交支票，不料沙姐撲出場時因體力不支，腳軟仆倒地上，志偉和鵬哥不錯失機會，爆粗搞笑。華仔壓軸出場獻唱再掀高潮，又爆肚指蝦仔賈思樂不及自己和志偉「一個高一個矮，一個靚仔一醜樣」，不夠資格爭女，令賈思樂接不上。之後，華仔與志偉又聯手取笑阿珍身材好「dum」。
完騷後，祖兒與華仔均指有份參演非常好玩。祖兒談到被沙姐摸身，她笑說：「好似海關搜身，但無所謂，好玩就得，這些回憶可一不可再。」華仔則自爆騷前要求換角過戲癮，他說：「原本我演3D歌手，但我想有對白，所以扮埋前度男友一份。」戚美珍預了華仔爆肚，所以不介意被踩身材。
鵬哥不認爆粗
沙姐承認演出時精神不足，在台上睡着了，她說：「因為我有病，所以我有在台上瞓，不過有時聽到鵬哥對白好笑到瞓不到，我會休息多一點，以應付之後三場演出。」鵬哥對於被指激動爆粗，他死口不認，並說：「幾時講過粗口？我跟足劇本的！」
記者：鍾一虹
攝影：黃梓烜
***********
Some additional pictures from Weibo:
The article pretty much says it all, but I also wanted to share some of the behind the scenes pictures and other info from the Weibos of the various 'stars' who participated in the show (majority of them have Weibo accounts, so there is tons of stuff on it).
Here's some behind the scenes stuff that wasn't in the article (which I gathered from Weibo):
.—Even though Michael Miu and Felix Wong did not have to perform on opening night, both of them were present the entire time, primarily backstage. Felix said that he and Michael had very important roles as “阿四”, helping to ‘take care’ of the cast (getting them coffee, tea, water, food, etc.,)…basically, they were ‘busboys’…LOL!
.—The “Shrimp Crazy Family” stage play actually has no affiliation with TVB at all. It was organized by Louie Castro and Jamie Chik as a reunion of sorts for them as well as the artists they worked with back in the day.
.-- Watching / reading all the updates about the show on Weibo and on TV really brought back alot of memories for me. And seeing how 'united' all the artists were (many of the artists who weren't performing until later on still came to support or even help out the cast / crew backstage) almost brought tears to my eyes. This was how the HK entertainment industry used to be in the 80s (before it spiraled downhill in the next 2 decades) and it saddens me to think that we may never see such unity and coming together of veteran artists again. This is partly why I'm taking the time to write up blog posts about each of the performances....I hope to cherish this 'trip down memory lane' as long as I can!
Anyways, hope you enjoy the article and the pictures!
**************
Original article published 9/22/2011
Source: Mingpao
Translated by: llwy12
Opening performance of “Shrimp Crazy Family”: Andy Lau and Eric Tsang ad-lib dialogue, make fun of Jamie Chik’s figure; Joey Yung is publicly ‘touched’ by Meg Lam
The stage production “Shrimp Crazy Family” starring Lo Hoi Pang, Meg Lam, Jamie Chik, and Louie Castro, had its debut show in HK day before yesterday. The opening performance was truly a ‘star-studded’ event, both on stage and off. The special ‘mystery’ guests for opening night were Andy Lau and Joey Yung, who, together with Dodo Cheng, Eric Tsang, Annie Liu, and Elvina Kong, made audiences laugh onstage. Off-stage, many artists came to support the show, including Liza Wang, Michael Miu [technically part of the crew], Michael Tse, Bosco Wong, Chin Kar Lok, Angela Tong, etc.
‘Squinty Eyes’ Lo Hoi Pang continued his comical ways, speaking his dialogue in ‘rhyme’ and also ad-libbing all night – occasionally, he would also incorporate his famous imitation routines, pretending to be Roman Tam singing his hit song《激光中》. When Squinty Eyes’s “arch-enemy” – Meg Lam’s ‘Big Shark’ -- appeared on stage, she headed straight for Pang Gor, purposefully bumping her head repeatedly against his, causing the audiences to laugh non-stop.
Years ago, when Meg Lam was filming a show for ATV, one of the boards on the set accidentally fell on her, causing a head injury that makes it difficult for her to concentrate for long periods of time. Therefore, the script was specially written to give her time to rest backstage in between acts – indeed, while resting on a sofa backstage, she actually fell asleep. It wasn’t until Joey Yung – who played the role of a 3D song goddess – came on stage, then Meg immediately returned on stage, continuing to ‘battle’ with Lo Hoi Pang and steal his scenes. While Joey sang, Pang Gor did numerous funny routines, including purposefully breaking a table to make audiences laugh, while Meg swept her hands around Joey’s body – luckily, Joey was able to contain her laughter and finish singing her song.
When it came time for Eric Tsang and Andy Lau to come on stage, the ‘playfulness’ escalated – the two of them played the roles of Jamie’s ex-boyfriends who ‘showed up’ to fight for her affection. During the skit, there was a scene where Eric and Pang Gor were exchanging a check, however Meg suddenly ran onto the stage, accidentally tripping and falling on the floor – of course, the 2 comedians [Eric and Pang Gor] took advantage of the situation to poke fun at Meg, even saying some curse words and making audiences roar with laughter. Andy Lau appeared near the end of the show – not only did he perform a song (one of the climaxes of the night), he also ad-libbed the dialogue for his role. He pointed out that Louie Castro [who plays Jamie’s husband ‘Shrimp Boy’] cannot compare to himself and Eric: “One is tall, the other is short, one is handsome, the other is ugly”, which threw Louie off and caused him to forget some of his lines. After that, Andy and Eric ‘ganged up’ on Jamie, mocking her and making fun of her figure by saying that she had ‘sagging’ parts.
During interviews after the show, both Andy and Joey indicated that they were happy to be able to participate and had a lot of fun. Asked about being publicly ‘touched’ by Meg, Joey laughed and replied: “It felt like being searched at the airport, but doesn’t matter, as long as everyone had fun. These ‘memories’ are once in a lifetime!” Andy revealed that prior to the show, he had requested to play the part of Jamie’s ex-boyfriend, as he wanted to get the chance to have some fun with acting: “Originally, I was supposed to play a 3D song god, but I wanted to have some dialogue, so I took on the role of one of the ex-boyfriends instead.” Jamie Chik indicated that she was already anticipating that there would be a lot of ad-libbing from the artists and did not mind that Andy made fun of her figure.
Meg Lam admitted that during the performance, she wasn’t 100% alert, which resulted in her nodding off onstage: “Because of my illness, I get sleepy easily, but sometimes, upon hearing Pang Gor’s funny dialogue, I’m laughing so hard that I’m not able to sleep. I will definitely rest more the next couple days in preparation for the remaining 3 shows.”
When Pang Gor was asked about ‘cursing’ onstage during the performance, he refused to admit it, instead saying: “When did I curse? I was following the script exactly!”
.---.
Chinese version:
華仔志偉爆肚 踩阿戚身材
容祖兒被沙姐摸勻全身
【明報專訊】盧海鵬、林建明（沙姐）、賈思樂及戚美珍主演一連四場的音樂舞台劇《蝦仔爹哋》，前晚於灣仔伊館首演獲群星拱照，台上客串的嘉賓有劉德華、容祖兒、鄭裕玲、曾志偉、廖安麗及江欣燕，台下捧場的則有董趙洪娉、汪明荃、苗僑偉、謝天華、黃宗澤、錢嘉樂及湯盈盈等。
沙姐沙發瞓着
「矇豬眼」盧海鵬貫徹搞笑風格，整晚大玩押韻金句兼爆肚，又羅文上身大唱《激光中》，加上扮演「大白鯊」的沙姐甫出場，即衝向死對頭鵬哥，玩頭撞頭，逗得台下笑不停。不過，沙姐早年在亞視拍攝《今日睇真D》時被佈景板撞傷頭部，自此令她難以集中精神，故演出期間，劇情安排她在台上休息，她果然躺在沙發睡着了。直至祖兒扮3D歌后出場時，沙姐立即回魂與鵬哥鬥搶戲，鵬哥刻意掃跌枱搞笑，沙姐則伸手摸勻祖兒全身，幸祖兒施展「忍笑功」能唱完整首歌。
賈思樂難招架
輪到曾志偉和劉德華出場，大家更加玩到癲，兩人飾演前度男友出場爭阿珍，劇中志偉、鵬哥進行遞交支票，不料沙姐撲出場時因體力不支，腳軟仆倒地上，志偉和鵬哥不錯失機會，爆粗搞笑。華仔壓軸出場獻唱再掀高潮，又爆肚指蝦仔賈思樂不及自己和志偉「一個高一個矮，一個靚仔一醜樣」，不夠資格爭女，令賈思樂接不上。之後，華仔與志偉又聯手取笑阿珍身材好「dum」。
完騷後，祖兒與華仔均指有份參演非常好玩。祖兒談到被沙姐摸身，她笑說：「好似海關搜身，但無所謂，好玩就得，這些回憶可一不可再。」華仔則自爆騷前要求換角過戲癮，他說：「原本我演3D歌手，但我想有對白，所以扮埋前度男友一份。」戚美珍預了華仔爆肚，所以不介意被踩身材。
鵬哥不認爆粗
沙姐承認演出時精神不足，在台上睡着了，她說：「因為我有病，所以我有在台上瞓，不過有時聽到鵬哥對白好笑到瞓不到，我會休息多一點，以應付之後三場演出。」鵬哥對於被指激動爆粗，他死口不認，並說：「幾時講過粗口？我跟足劇本的！」
記者：鍾一虹
攝影：黃梓烜
***********
Some additional pictures from Weibo:
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
My 'TVB Rant' # 13: My Thoughts About Veteran Artists Returning to TVB
I must be in my 'TVB rampage' mood recently because I felt the urge to write yet another rant on TVB (the 3rd one in just 2 weeks)...hopefully I won't have to write another one for awhile (hear that TVB? Stop ticking me off please! ) LOL....
Anyway....
I've been reading recently about how some veteran artists return to TVB to film a series or two after being away for a long time. The reason they usually give for why they return is because TVB helped launch their careers back in the day and helped them become popular, so they are 'repaying' the favor out of gratitude (in Chinese, we call it "飲水思源").
First of all, I must applaud the veteran artists who think this way because to be honest, the younger generation nowadays don't have those types of morals. Nowadays, many artists don't have such 'traditional' way of thinking and pretty much could care less about who helped them get to where they are now (hence the stories I hear constantly about the lack of respect for seniors / elders in the industry).
With that said though, I will very frankly admit that I'm not too keen on the veteran artists returning to film series for TVB. Now don't get me wrong -- the reason I think this way isn't because I have anything against the veteran artists or feel that their skills aren't up to par. In fact, it's quite the opposite -- I don't want them to return to TVB because I care alot about those artists (since I grew up watching TVB shows and therefore grew up with many of these veteran artists) and therefore don't want to see them mistreated.
As most people know, TVB has severely deteriorated over the years -- in the past 8 to 9 years especially (since the current management took over), TVB's blatant favoritism of their own contracted artists (alot of whom aren't talented and can't act/sing to save their lives) as well as them allowing their rampant politics to run amok, have severely crippled the management team's ability to run the company properly. The recent surge in artists 'leaving the nest' as well as the increase in 'complaints' against TVB (plus a bunch of other things that have happened the past few years) are proof that things are not as "peachy" as the company would like us to believe.
In TVB's view, all artists are 'dispensable' and can be quickly replaced with a snap of the fingers -- after all, the artists need TVB more than TVB needs them, right? Right -- so that's why the artists must adhere to alot of 'unwritten rules' (and yes, there are unwritten rules -- many artists and industry veterans have confirmed it), such as being 'obedient', always portraying the company in a good light, not complaining about anything bad that goes on, don't be vocal even if an injustice has been done, etc. Oh, and did I mention that they also have to be good-looking (based on the standards of a certain female executive that is) and 'kiss-up' to the right people? (Also, don't forget the 'designer handbag' requirement -- that's an important one! LOL!) If you don't follow these 'rules', don't even THINK about getting promoted!
To clarify, these are the 'rules' that apply to contracted artists -- as much as TVB may try, it is very rare that they are able to get the veteran non-contracted artists to adhere to such ridiculous 'rules'. But, being the greedy company that they are, they don't want to give up on the lucrative opportunity to have these artists in their series.....So what is the best solution? Simple! Put all of the veteran artists in a poorly scripted series and even give them pathetic characters to portray -- after all, the storyline and character don't matter, since the audiences will tune in anyway due to the artists' "star-power". Better yet, put them in series with heavily promoted younger generation contracted artists so that their "star-power" can rub off on them too!....I can just imagine the 'conversations' that go on during the management team's weekly Tuesday meetings: "Ooooh, so and so is coming back to film XYZ series! Since he/she is such a popular artist and well-liked by audiences, let's take advantage of the situation and use them to promote our own contracted artists! After all, this 'opportunity' doesn't come often...besides, they [the veteran artists] won't mind -- they're loyal to TVB -- after all, we gave them their success so they are eternally indebted to us! We definitely have the upper hand here!" [hypothetical dialogue]
Ok, in all seriousness....with all the inherent "issues" that TVB has (and all the complaints), you would think that the logical thing to do is take steps to improve the situation and make changes for the better (as well as to protect the company's future). Yet, for some reason, TVB can't seem to grasp that concept and even now, continues to be in denial that any problems exist (which means that no action will be taken any time in the near future). Instead, they continue to take the 'arrogant' approach, thinking that they can do anything they want because they are essentially 'the only game in town'.
So given this type of environment, why should the veteran artists return and 'help out' TVB by filming series for them again? I mean, most of these artists have been in the industry a long time and have already paid their dues -- why should they subject themselves to mistreatment from a company that is 'arrogant' and doesn't appreciate them? It's almost like these artists are getting 'punished' for being loyal -- which is REALLY messed up!
In a sense, I can understand the 'loyalty' reasoning, but the truth is -- most of the people who had helped these veteran artists get to where they are at now are NO LONGER AT TVB! With the exception of (head of production department) Catherine Tsang and Tommy Leung -- both of whom have been at TVB like forever -- everyone else has pretty much moved on. Ok, granted that some veteran artists may feel a sense of 'loyalty' to TVB's big bosses Run Run Shaw and Mona Fong (aka Uncle and Aunt Six), but really, is it "worth it" to subject yourself to such treatment just to 'give face' to 2 people who are no longer involved as much in day to day operations and probably don't really care anymore anyways? If the veteran artists want to show their loyalty, they can do so in other ways -- they shouldn't need to sacrifice their careers, reputation, money, and most importantly, their personal dignity in order to fulfill or prove their loyalty!
One last point that I've been thinking more and more about over the past few years....
True, TVB may have helped 'launch' many of the veteran artists' careers and so, in a sense, contributed to their current success (though technically, I could argue that it's really certain individuals and not really the company who were responsible for the success) -- BUT, by the same token, where would TVB be if it weren't for these same veteran artists who worked day and night to build up the company's reputation and image to what it is today? Do you think that TVB was able to become such an internationally renown institution over the past 4 decades entirely on their own? Do audiences tune in to watch TVB shows because they want to see the faces of the management team? Of course not! (and in the case of a certain female executive, I'm already annoyed that she keeps showing up at events, so please don't put her on TV too!) The veteran actors and actresses (and many of the behind-the-scenes people such as producers and scriptwriters) were a HUGE reason why TVB became so successful and why they were able to become the 'powerhouse' that they are today!
So my question to TVB is: Where's the APPRECIATION for all of the blood, sweat, and tears that the veteran artists put in to build your company up? I don't see you guys being GRATEFUL to them for their efforts all these years! A healthy relationship is one where there is mutual support and genuine concern for each other -- after all, it's supposed to be a 'two way street', not a one-sided road! The day will come when these veteran artists will finally realize that they've had enough and won't want to work for you -- and when it does, I hope that all the untalented "eyecandy" you've invested in will be able to carry you through!
Anyway....
I've been reading recently about how some veteran artists return to TVB to film a series or two after being away for a long time. The reason they usually give for why they return is because TVB helped launch their careers back in the day and helped them become popular, so they are 'repaying' the favor out of gratitude (in Chinese, we call it "飲水思源").
First of all, I must applaud the veteran artists who think this way because to be honest, the younger generation nowadays don't have those types of morals. Nowadays, many artists don't have such 'traditional' way of thinking and pretty much could care less about who helped them get to where they are now (hence the stories I hear constantly about the lack of respect for seniors / elders in the industry).
With that said though, I will very frankly admit that I'm not too keen on the veteran artists returning to film series for TVB. Now don't get me wrong -- the reason I think this way isn't because I have anything against the veteran artists or feel that their skills aren't up to par. In fact, it's quite the opposite -- I don't want them to return to TVB because I care alot about those artists (since I grew up watching TVB shows and therefore grew up with many of these veteran artists) and therefore don't want to see them mistreated.
As most people know, TVB has severely deteriorated over the years -- in the past 8 to 9 years especially (since the current management took over), TVB's blatant favoritism of their own contracted artists (alot of whom aren't talented and can't act/sing to save their lives) as well as them allowing their rampant politics to run amok, have severely crippled the management team's ability to run the company properly. The recent surge in artists 'leaving the nest' as well as the increase in 'complaints' against TVB (plus a bunch of other things that have happened the past few years) are proof that things are not as "peachy" as the company would like us to believe.
In TVB's view, all artists are 'dispensable' and can be quickly replaced with a snap of the fingers -- after all, the artists need TVB more than TVB needs them, right? Right -- so that's why the artists must adhere to alot of 'unwritten rules' (and yes, there are unwritten rules -- many artists and industry veterans have confirmed it), such as being 'obedient', always portraying the company in a good light, not complaining about anything bad that goes on, don't be vocal even if an injustice has been done, etc. Oh, and did I mention that they also have to be good-looking (based on the standards of a certain female executive that is) and 'kiss-up' to the right people? (Also, don't forget the 'designer handbag' requirement -- that's an important one! LOL!) If you don't follow these 'rules', don't even THINK about getting promoted!
To clarify, these are the 'rules' that apply to contracted artists -- as much as TVB may try, it is very rare that they are able to get the veteran non-contracted artists to adhere to such ridiculous 'rules'. But, being the greedy company that they are, they don't want to give up on the lucrative opportunity to have these artists in their series.....So what is the best solution? Simple! Put all of the veteran artists in a poorly scripted series and even give them pathetic characters to portray -- after all, the storyline and character don't matter, since the audiences will tune in anyway due to the artists' "star-power". Better yet, put them in series with heavily promoted younger generation contracted artists so that their "star-power" can rub off on them too!....I can just imagine the 'conversations' that go on during the management team's weekly Tuesday meetings: "Ooooh, so and so is coming back to film XYZ series! Since he/she is such a popular artist and well-liked by audiences, let's take advantage of the situation and use them to promote our own contracted artists! After all, this 'opportunity' doesn't come often...besides, they [the veteran artists] won't mind -- they're loyal to TVB -- after all, we gave them their success so they are eternally indebted to us! We definitely have the upper hand here!" [hypothetical dialogue]
Ok, in all seriousness....with all the inherent "issues" that TVB has (and all the complaints), you would think that the logical thing to do is take steps to improve the situation and make changes for the better (as well as to protect the company's future). Yet, for some reason, TVB can't seem to grasp that concept and even now, continues to be in denial that any problems exist (which means that no action will be taken any time in the near future). Instead, they continue to take the 'arrogant' approach, thinking that they can do anything they want because they are essentially 'the only game in town'.
So given this type of environment, why should the veteran artists return and 'help out' TVB by filming series for them again? I mean, most of these artists have been in the industry a long time and have already paid their dues -- why should they subject themselves to mistreatment from a company that is 'arrogant' and doesn't appreciate them? It's almost like these artists are getting 'punished' for being loyal -- which is REALLY messed up!
In a sense, I can understand the 'loyalty' reasoning, but the truth is -- most of the people who had helped these veteran artists get to where they are at now are NO LONGER AT TVB! With the exception of (head of production department) Catherine Tsang and Tommy Leung -- both of whom have been at TVB like forever -- everyone else has pretty much moved on. Ok, granted that some veteran artists may feel a sense of 'loyalty' to TVB's big bosses Run Run Shaw and Mona Fong (aka Uncle and Aunt Six), but really, is it "worth it" to subject yourself to such treatment just to 'give face' to 2 people who are no longer involved as much in day to day operations and probably don't really care anymore anyways? If the veteran artists want to show their loyalty, they can do so in other ways -- they shouldn't need to sacrifice their careers, reputation, money, and most importantly, their personal dignity in order to fulfill or prove their loyalty!
One last point that I've been thinking more and more about over the past few years....
True, TVB may have helped 'launch' many of the veteran artists' careers and so, in a sense, contributed to their current success (though technically, I could argue that it's really certain individuals and not really the company who were responsible for the success) -- BUT, by the same token, where would TVB be if it weren't for these same veteran artists who worked day and night to build up the company's reputation and image to what it is today? Do you think that TVB was able to become such an internationally renown institution over the past 4 decades entirely on their own? Do audiences tune in to watch TVB shows because they want to see the faces of the management team? Of course not! (and in the case of a certain female executive, I'm already annoyed that she keeps showing up at events, so please don't put her on TV too!) The veteran actors and actresses (and many of the behind-the-scenes people such as producers and scriptwriters) were a HUGE reason why TVB became so successful and why they were able to become the 'powerhouse' that they are today!
So my question to TVB is: Where's the APPRECIATION for all of the blood, sweat, and tears that the veteran artists put in to build your company up? I don't see you guys being GRATEFUL to them for their efforts all these years! A healthy relationship is one where there is mutual support and genuine concern for each other -- after all, it's supposed to be a 'two way street', not a one-sided road! The day will come when these veteran artists will finally realize that they've had enough and won't want to work for you -- and when it does, I hope that all the untalented "eyecandy" you've invested in will be able to carry you through!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Follow up post to TVB Rant #12: Steven Ma's (馬浚偉) Interview with Mingpao Weekly
As a follow up to my earlier rant about TVB's double standard (see TVB Rant #12), below is a great article that gives insight into what inspired yet another rant from me against TVB.
The article is an interview that Steven Ma had with Mingpao Weekly that was just published this weekend. In it, he outlines very clearly his reasons for why he is leaving TVB -- and does so in a manner that is gracious yet revealing.
Also included is TVB's Artist Department Head Virginia Lok's response to Steven's interview...compare her 'accusatory' response with Steven's gracious one, and you will see why I loathe Virginia Lok so much.
After the article, I also included some comments that I posted regarding this article in AF.
.--.
Article originally published on 09/17/2011
Source: Mingpao Weekly Issue 2236 (as posted on HKChannel)
Translated by: tamaya @ steven ma fanblog
Admitted that He has “Weak Affinity” with Lok Yi Ling; Steven Ma Reveals the Reasons for Tendering his Resignation.
Steven Ma, who has worked in TVB for eighteen years, shockingly requested termination of his contract. I sought confirmation from the horse’s mouth and he candidly admitted its veracity. “I’m not asking for an increase in salary, or for the tv king award, it is just that I am at the bottleneck now, and that I just can’t see any further growth, which makes me uneasy.”
The year before (2009) Steven had already decided to leave the nest but general manager, Stephen Chan, personally persuaded him to stay back, and promised him lots of opportunities to grow in different areas, and so he decided to stay. But with the changes in the higher management, after Apprentice Chef, things came to a halt. The steadily accumulating anxiety and anger ignited by the company's rejection of the Mainland grand tv series production, "The Founding of Yuan Dynasty", finally exploded. “I want to exert it is not that TVB is bad to me but that I often met with unhappy issues….” Is it because of someone’s suppression? “If you want me to answer “no”, I can’t do that!” Naturally, it brought to mind the persistent widespread rumors that Steven and Virginia Lok do not get along. For the first time, Steven speaks out what he had suppressed in his heart for a long time, “Virginia Lok and I, weak affinity!”
For the past few years, Steven has been standing firmly as a first line siu sang, and the series he leads in have high ratings, however, his name never appears in grand productions or in Mainland tv series, either. Moreover, the commercials and advertisements, stage performances and other side jobs all have to depend on himself too. Finally in June this year, he was invited by Tsui Siu Ming to shoot a 50-episode epic historical grand production, "The Founding of Yuan Dynasty", which greatly elated him. “Siu Ming Gor approached me to portray Liu Bingzhong (劉秉忠). He was the founding minister who assisted Kublai Khan (Hu Jun) to found the Yuan Dynasty. Though not a first lead,his role has lots of room to elaborate, moreover, I can also learn from the veteran actors, plus the series will premier next year on CCTV1 on prime time. It will help to further my career. It’s a very good opportunity.”
Without even discussing the fee, he had already indicated his interest to Siu Ming gor his acceptance of this series (reported fee was 1.5 million rmb). He handed the offer to his tvb manager, Hillman, to follow up. Very quickly Hillman responded that Virginia Lok had rejected the offer. The reason being his contract prohibited acceptance of series that will not air on TVB. I recalled distinctly that Myolie Wu’s Mainland tv series was broadcasted early this year on cable tv, and also that Ron Ng snagged the Cable tv king award with his role in another mainland series, why not Steven?
“I don’t know other people’s contracts. I know that my contract has such a clause. Honestly, very regretful but what to do?” He told Siu Ming gor his situation and politely declined the series. Who knows two months later, he received a message that Siu Ming gor was still waiting for him and urged him to vigorously fight for it . At that moment in time, Steven was so touched he felt like tearing up. He forwarded the text message to Ms. Lok to ask her to reconsider. The return text message came with the same previous response: “All artists in this company are subject to this provision in their contract stipulation.”
Afterwards was the most difficult twenty four hours. All that he had gone through in TVB, the happy and unhappy fragments all floated before his eyes. “No matter how hard I continue to shoot series, the outside jobs are truly not many. I believe Hillman is already very diligent in helping me but unfortunately the outcome is always less than satisfactory.…The year before when negotiating with Stephen Chan, I didn’t request salary raise, I’d only wanted to have more opportunities to experience new things. It's only when Stephen Chan agreed to them that I signed up. In the beginning there was Apprentice Chef but when management went through changes, I was back to square one again! I know I’m in a better situation than others, but after 18 years as an artist, one hopes for improvement, right? Can you allow me space to pursue a longer term artistic life?”
Mulling over it he evoked that notion that had been stored for a long time in the back of his mind and activated it. He sent an official letter style text message to Virginia Lok requesting an early release from his contract. (The contract terminates June next year.)
“To make this decision was not easy. I thought of Zhan jie (Catherine Tsang), Uncle Choi (Leung Choi Yuen), they've been good to me. Even Stephen Chan, though the days of our interactions are not long, but these two years I can see that he has been trying very hard to fulfill his promises to me. I’ve the utmost respect for him.”
But to pursue better growth he, in the end, still sent out his text message. The day was August 21. It was rumored that the finale of 'The Life and Times of Sentinel' peaked at 40 points, but the company showed not reaction to it; however it held an ostentatious celebration for Life of Omission that had the same peak rating, and that this had so enraged Steven that in a fit of anger he decided to terminate his contract, this clearly does not hold water as it was not until August 26th that ‘Sentinel’s finale was aired.
“Do you think it's little kids playing toys? If I want a celebration I can pay for one out of my own pocket. I’ve done that many times already.” About Michael Tse's upfront upbraiding him for being “immature”, Steven smiled and said: “I’m not very familiar with Michael. I believe he was just kidding. Steven,I, will never carry out any action because of not having a celebratory event.”
Because talks are still in progress, Steven cannot reveal his rationale for terminating the contract. He can only say that after sending out that text message, on the very next day, Run Run Shaw’s secretary, Chan Fai Kong Run, contacted him to investigate his situation, and soon after, Virginia Lok through Hillman arranged for a meeting with Steven in tvb city. They talked for a while, and shortly there was news that Stephen Chan and Mark Lee had both agreed to exempt that clause from his contract, and permit Steven to accept “The Founding of Yuan Dynasty”. The contract (tn:series) is almost complete now. When finished with shooting “Prosperous Father, he will head up north; it seems like a happy ending.
But Steven says his wanting to terminate his contract has not wavered. “I guess lots of people must be thinking how come Steven is being so audacious. I want to take this opportunity to say, outwardly I’m very strong, I'm used to confronting life and death separation, but it does not mean that I don’t have feelings. When I submitted my request to be released from my contract, it wasn't on a whim. From the moment I sent out that text message, my decision to leave was resolute.”
There are rumors that there are many artists management agencies in Hong Kong and Mainland beckoning him to their companies. Have no choice but to leave, is it because of him be suppressed by a certain person? "If you want me to answer you with a “no”, I can’t do it! Company has many talented people, no need for you to especially do anything for me, but at least, be a little bit fairer!” When brought up the rumors that he has never gotten along with Virginia Lok, he quipped: “Virginia Lok and Me, weak affinity. Don’t know why but we just can’t communicate. And after a while, feel very distant. Some people (tn:tvb human resource department) I can’t even remember. TVB is my management agent.” (tn: as opposed to solely VL)
Virginia Lok's Response to Steven's news article
Responding to Steven Ma’s “weak affinity”, Virginia Lok say: “I hope all artists understand whether have weak or strong affinity with me is not important, what’s important is to have affinity with TVB! Artists are the company’s resources, of course, I will work hard to help everybody fight for opportunities. But not everything, I, Ms. Lok, say is fine then it’s fine. To be successful, also has to depend on opportune timing and favorable conditions.”
She admitted that she does not have much contact with Steven other than business. “ TVB has so many artists, there’s not way I can have contacts with each and every one of them. Unless like Xu Ting Keng (許挺鏗) signing the records company or Fook Lu Sau held a concert, only then will have more mutual contacts. Sometimes when an artist want to make a request and talk personally to me, only then will set up a private meeting to eat together, like Charmaine Sheh.”
Steven claims he has signed contract with TVB for six years, but stage performing, commercials and ads, and other side jobs are far in between, everything has to depend on himself and his colleague to fight for. Ms. Lok say: “I also have asked Hillman (Steven’s manager) why Steven’s jobs are not many? Hillman said that many clients had asked about fees, schedules, but clients are fickle, one minute like this the next like that, so maybe in the end picked another artist. For this I truly feel it is a bit regrettable but you know, there’s supply and there’s demand.”
Talking about “The Founding of Yuan Dynasty’s” contract woes, what came out of Ms. Lok’s mouth was a different version from Steven’s. She said that day she received Steven’s text message, only then did she know about this situation. “That was a Sunday. I immediately called up Hillman to ask what happened? Hillman told me it was because company couldn’t accept certain clauses in the contract. I knew Steven truly wanted to shoot this series. I had helped him ask the company if it could cooperate with him. But during the meeting, they all did not want to waive the clause on the contract. Moreover, he is not even the first lead in the series.”
This stipulation, is it true that all mainland series that the artists participated in must be aired on tvb? “No. Actually, Siu Ming gor and I are very familiar to each other. We once worked together in Rediffusion Television (RTV). If he had truly wanted Steven to shoot in this series he would have called me but he didn’t. Through Hillman I contacted Steven . And we discussed the matter again. Steven expressed that he truly wanted to shoot this series. So I called up Siu Ming gor to ask him to help, to ask the producers to be more accommodating. Consequently the other party accommodated, and we successfully resolved this matter.”
She remembers that it was after successfully resolving this matter with Siu Ming gor that she received Steven’s text message to terminate his contract. “I don’t consider that is an official letter style. In his message, he seemed dispirited, like the company does not care too much about him. But then this is not the first time he expressed his unhappiness. He has expressed his unhappiness to Stephen (SC) and to Zhan Jie (Catherine Tsang). Once in a dinner, after consuming some wine he related his grievances to Executive Deputy Chairman, Norman Leung, and became quite teary as he spoke. Everybody hurriedly comforted him."
“I feel that maybe it is almost year end, and close to the anniversary awards ceremony so he threw some tantrums! Usually prior to and after the anniversary ceremony we seldom negotiate contracts with the artists, too sensitive. Steven’s contract will end next year. We had intended to discuss his contract after the anniversary ceremony.” Steven has expressed his wish, will Ms. Lok make gestures to retain him? “Of course want to retain him. Steven has achievements and has put in efforts, even if does not want to sign management contract, can also stay back to shoot series….but, can he terminate his contract early?"
.*******.
My response to the article:
.-- Great recap of the REAL story....I like how Mingpao presented both sides so that people can decide for themselves who they want to believe.
.-- I personally found Virginia Lok's comments insulting -- especially the part where she practically "accuses" Steven of trying to use his contract thing to gain advantage at the awards ceremony. What a tactless (and stupid) thing for someone in her position to say! As a manager myself, I'm disgusted by VL's blatant bias and lack of professionalism...she's definitely not a good manager -- that's for sure!
.-- Also, I almost threw up when VL tried to make herself sound like a "hero" because she 'supposedly' helped Steven get his Mainland China series back...she's so "full of it", it's not even funny....
.-- The other thing I found interesting with this interview is the issue regarding the contract. It behooves me that TVB would put a stipulation in their artists' contracts stating that TVB artists are not allowed to participate in a Mainland series unless that series airs on TVB....The question I have is: Really? I would be curious to see if the contracts for the other TVB managed artists who filmed series in the Mainland the past couple years (i.e.: Charmaine prior to her contract ending, Kevin, Tavia, Ron, Myolie, Raymond, etc.) had that same stipulation -- if so, then TVB is definitely limiting the growth of their artists, since that greatly narrows the options for their artists in terms of series that they are allowed to film in Mainland (since not every Mainland series will end up airing on TVB).
However, I actually have a feeling that there is no such stipulation in the other artists contracts and TVB is just using this as an excuse to hold Steven back from further opportunities (which means that TVB is trying to play favorites again by allowing their favored artists to film in the Mainland but not others). I mean, it really doesn't make sense to me that they would put such a stipulation in the artists contracts, especially considering how big the Mainland market is and knowing how it's virtually 'impossible' for TVB to try to control that market by buying the broadcast rights for every single series. If that's truly the case, then it's no wonder that majority of the artists in HK don't want to sign management contracts with TVB....heck, if I were those artists and knew ahead of time that the opportunities would be so limited, I wouldn't sign with them either!
.-- And of course, this makes Michael Tse's comment even more insulting and shows more than ever how arrogantly and stupidly he (Michael) answered. Hey, if Steven could respond with such grace and help Michael "save face" by saying that he was probably only joking, the least Michael could have done was just shut the hell up!
The article is an interview that Steven Ma had with Mingpao Weekly that was just published this weekend. In it, he outlines very clearly his reasons for why he is leaving TVB -- and does so in a manner that is gracious yet revealing.
Also included is TVB's Artist Department Head Virginia Lok's response to Steven's interview...compare her 'accusatory' response with Steven's gracious one, and you will see why I loathe Virginia Lok so much.
After the article, I also included some comments that I posted regarding this article in AF.
.--.
Article originally published on 09/17/2011
Source: Mingpao Weekly Issue 2236 (as posted on HKChannel)
Translated by: tamaya @ steven ma fanblog
Admitted that He has “Weak Affinity” with Lok Yi Ling; Steven Ma Reveals the Reasons for Tendering his Resignation.
Steven Ma, who has worked in TVB for eighteen years, shockingly requested termination of his contract. I sought confirmation from the horse’s mouth and he candidly admitted its veracity. “I’m not asking for an increase in salary, or for the tv king award, it is just that I am at the bottleneck now, and that I just can’t see any further growth, which makes me uneasy.”
The year before (2009) Steven had already decided to leave the nest but general manager, Stephen Chan, personally persuaded him to stay back, and promised him lots of opportunities to grow in different areas, and so he decided to stay. But with the changes in the higher management, after Apprentice Chef, things came to a halt. The steadily accumulating anxiety and anger ignited by the company's rejection of the Mainland grand tv series production, "The Founding of Yuan Dynasty", finally exploded. “I want to exert it is not that TVB is bad to me but that I often met with unhappy issues….” Is it because of someone’s suppression? “If you want me to answer “no”, I can’t do that!” Naturally, it brought to mind the persistent widespread rumors that Steven and Virginia Lok do not get along. For the first time, Steven speaks out what he had suppressed in his heart for a long time, “Virginia Lok and I, weak affinity!”
For the past few years, Steven has been standing firmly as a first line siu sang, and the series he leads in have high ratings, however, his name never appears in grand productions or in Mainland tv series, either. Moreover, the commercials and advertisements, stage performances and other side jobs all have to depend on himself too. Finally in June this year, he was invited by Tsui Siu Ming to shoot a 50-episode epic historical grand production, "The Founding of Yuan Dynasty", which greatly elated him. “Siu Ming Gor approached me to portray Liu Bingzhong (劉秉忠). He was the founding minister who assisted Kublai Khan (Hu Jun) to found the Yuan Dynasty. Though not a first lead,his role has lots of room to elaborate, moreover, I can also learn from the veteran actors, plus the series will premier next year on CCTV1 on prime time. It will help to further my career. It’s a very good opportunity.”
Without even discussing the fee, he had already indicated his interest to Siu Ming gor his acceptance of this series (reported fee was 1.5 million rmb). He handed the offer to his tvb manager, Hillman, to follow up. Very quickly Hillman responded that Virginia Lok had rejected the offer. The reason being his contract prohibited acceptance of series that will not air on TVB. I recalled distinctly that Myolie Wu’s Mainland tv series was broadcasted early this year on cable tv, and also that Ron Ng snagged the Cable tv king award with his role in another mainland series, why not Steven?
“I don’t know other people’s contracts. I know that my contract has such a clause. Honestly, very regretful but what to do?” He told Siu Ming gor his situation and politely declined the series. Who knows two months later, he received a message that Siu Ming gor was still waiting for him and urged him to vigorously fight for it . At that moment in time, Steven was so touched he felt like tearing up. He forwarded the text message to Ms. Lok to ask her to reconsider. The return text message came with the same previous response: “All artists in this company are subject to this provision in their contract stipulation.”
Afterwards was the most difficult twenty four hours. All that he had gone through in TVB, the happy and unhappy fragments all floated before his eyes. “No matter how hard I continue to shoot series, the outside jobs are truly not many. I believe Hillman is already very diligent in helping me but unfortunately the outcome is always less than satisfactory.…The year before when negotiating with Stephen Chan, I didn’t request salary raise, I’d only wanted to have more opportunities to experience new things. It's only when Stephen Chan agreed to them that I signed up. In the beginning there was Apprentice Chef but when management went through changes, I was back to square one again! I know I’m in a better situation than others, but after 18 years as an artist, one hopes for improvement, right? Can you allow me space to pursue a longer term artistic life?”
Mulling over it he evoked that notion that had been stored for a long time in the back of his mind and activated it. He sent an official letter style text message to Virginia Lok requesting an early release from his contract. (The contract terminates June next year.)
“To make this decision was not easy. I thought of Zhan jie (Catherine Tsang), Uncle Choi (Leung Choi Yuen), they've been good to me. Even Stephen Chan, though the days of our interactions are not long, but these two years I can see that he has been trying very hard to fulfill his promises to me. I’ve the utmost respect for him.”
But to pursue better growth he, in the end, still sent out his text message. The day was August 21. It was rumored that the finale of 'The Life and Times of Sentinel' peaked at 40 points, but the company showed not reaction to it; however it held an ostentatious celebration for Life of Omission that had the same peak rating, and that this had so enraged Steven that in a fit of anger he decided to terminate his contract, this clearly does not hold water as it was not until August 26th that ‘Sentinel’s finale was aired.
“Do you think it's little kids playing toys? If I want a celebration I can pay for one out of my own pocket. I’ve done that many times already.” About Michael Tse's upfront upbraiding him for being “immature”, Steven smiled and said: “I’m not very familiar with Michael. I believe he was just kidding. Steven,I, will never carry out any action because of not having a celebratory event.”
Because talks are still in progress, Steven cannot reveal his rationale for terminating the contract. He can only say that after sending out that text message, on the very next day, Run Run Shaw’s secretary, Chan Fai Kong Run, contacted him to investigate his situation, and soon after, Virginia Lok through Hillman arranged for a meeting with Steven in tvb city. They talked for a while, and shortly there was news that Stephen Chan and Mark Lee had both agreed to exempt that clause from his contract, and permit Steven to accept “The Founding of Yuan Dynasty”. The contract (tn:series) is almost complete now. When finished with shooting “Prosperous Father, he will head up north; it seems like a happy ending.
But Steven says his wanting to terminate his contract has not wavered. “I guess lots of people must be thinking how come Steven is being so audacious. I want to take this opportunity to say, outwardly I’m very strong, I'm used to confronting life and death separation, but it does not mean that I don’t have feelings. When I submitted my request to be released from my contract, it wasn't on a whim. From the moment I sent out that text message, my decision to leave was resolute.”
There are rumors that there are many artists management agencies in Hong Kong and Mainland beckoning him to their companies. Have no choice but to leave, is it because of him be suppressed by a certain person? "If you want me to answer you with a “no”, I can’t do it! Company has many talented people, no need for you to especially do anything for me, but at least, be a little bit fairer!” When brought up the rumors that he has never gotten along with Virginia Lok, he quipped: “Virginia Lok and Me, weak affinity. Don’t know why but we just can’t communicate. And after a while, feel very distant. Some people (tn:tvb human resource department) I can’t even remember. TVB is my management agent.” (tn: as opposed to solely VL)
Virginia Lok's Response to Steven's news article
Responding to Steven Ma’s “weak affinity”, Virginia Lok say: “I hope all artists understand whether have weak or strong affinity with me is not important, what’s important is to have affinity with TVB! Artists are the company’s resources, of course, I will work hard to help everybody fight for opportunities. But not everything, I, Ms. Lok, say is fine then it’s fine. To be successful, also has to depend on opportune timing and favorable conditions.”
She admitted that she does not have much contact with Steven other than business. “ TVB has so many artists, there’s not way I can have contacts with each and every one of them. Unless like Xu Ting Keng (許挺鏗) signing the records company or Fook Lu Sau held a concert, only then will have more mutual contacts. Sometimes when an artist want to make a request and talk personally to me, only then will set up a private meeting to eat together, like Charmaine Sheh.”
Steven claims he has signed contract with TVB for six years, but stage performing, commercials and ads, and other side jobs are far in between, everything has to depend on himself and his colleague to fight for. Ms. Lok say: “I also have asked Hillman (Steven’s manager) why Steven’s jobs are not many? Hillman said that many clients had asked about fees, schedules, but clients are fickle, one minute like this the next like that, so maybe in the end picked another artist. For this I truly feel it is a bit regrettable but you know, there’s supply and there’s demand.”
Talking about “The Founding of Yuan Dynasty’s” contract woes, what came out of Ms. Lok’s mouth was a different version from Steven’s. She said that day she received Steven’s text message, only then did she know about this situation. “That was a Sunday. I immediately called up Hillman to ask what happened? Hillman told me it was because company couldn’t accept certain clauses in the contract. I knew Steven truly wanted to shoot this series. I had helped him ask the company if it could cooperate with him. But during the meeting, they all did not want to waive the clause on the contract. Moreover, he is not even the first lead in the series.”
This stipulation, is it true that all mainland series that the artists participated in must be aired on tvb? “No. Actually, Siu Ming gor and I are very familiar to each other. We once worked together in Rediffusion Television (RTV). If he had truly wanted Steven to shoot in this series he would have called me but he didn’t. Through Hillman I contacted Steven . And we discussed the matter again. Steven expressed that he truly wanted to shoot this series. So I called up Siu Ming gor to ask him to help, to ask the producers to be more accommodating. Consequently the other party accommodated, and we successfully resolved this matter.”
She remembers that it was after successfully resolving this matter with Siu Ming gor that she received Steven’s text message to terminate his contract. “I don’t consider that is an official letter style. In his message, he seemed dispirited, like the company does not care too much about him. But then this is not the first time he expressed his unhappiness. He has expressed his unhappiness to Stephen (SC) and to Zhan Jie (Catherine Tsang). Once in a dinner, after consuming some wine he related his grievances to Executive Deputy Chairman, Norman Leung, and became quite teary as he spoke. Everybody hurriedly comforted him."
“I feel that maybe it is almost year end, and close to the anniversary awards ceremony so he threw some tantrums! Usually prior to and after the anniversary ceremony we seldom negotiate contracts with the artists, too sensitive. Steven’s contract will end next year. We had intended to discuss his contract after the anniversary ceremony.” Steven has expressed his wish, will Ms. Lok make gestures to retain him? “Of course want to retain him. Steven has achievements and has put in efforts, even if does not want to sign management contract, can also stay back to shoot series….but, can he terminate his contract early?"
.*******.
My response to the article:
.-- Great recap of the REAL story....I like how Mingpao presented both sides so that people can decide for themselves who they want to believe.
.-- I personally found Virginia Lok's comments insulting -- especially the part where she practically "accuses" Steven of trying to use his contract thing to gain advantage at the awards ceremony. What a tactless (and stupid) thing for someone in her position to say! As a manager myself, I'm disgusted by VL's blatant bias and lack of professionalism...she's definitely not a good manager -- that's for sure!
.-- Also, I almost threw up when VL tried to make herself sound like a "hero" because she 'supposedly' helped Steven get his Mainland China series back...she's so "full of it", it's not even funny....
.-- The other thing I found interesting with this interview is the issue regarding the contract. It behooves me that TVB would put a stipulation in their artists' contracts stating that TVB artists are not allowed to participate in a Mainland series unless that series airs on TVB....The question I have is: Really? I would be curious to see if the contracts for the other TVB managed artists who filmed series in the Mainland the past couple years (i.e.: Charmaine prior to her contract ending, Kevin, Tavia, Ron, Myolie, Raymond, etc.) had that same stipulation -- if so, then TVB is definitely limiting the growth of their artists, since that greatly narrows the options for their artists in terms of series that they are allowed to film in Mainland (since not every Mainland series will end up airing on TVB).
However, I actually have a feeling that there is no such stipulation in the other artists contracts and TVB is just using this as an excuse to hold Steven back from further opportunities (which means that TVB is trying to play favorites again by allowing their favored artists to film in the Mainland but not others). I mean, it really doesn't make sense to me that they would put such a stipulation in the artists contracts, especially considering how big the Mainland market is and knowing how it's virtually 'impossible' for TVB to try to control that market by buying the broadcast rights for every single series. If that's truly the case, then it's no wonder that majority of the artists in HK don't want to sign management contracts with TVB....heck, if I were those artists and knew ahead of time that the opportunities would be so limited, I wouldn't sign with them either!
.-- And of course, this makes Michael Tse's comment even more insulting and shows more than ever how arrogantly and stupidly he (Michael) answered. Hey, if Steven could respond with such grace and help Michael "save face" by saying that he was probably only joking, the least Michael could have done was just shut the hell up!
Follow up post to Weibo Fever #7: "The Shrimp Family" Stage Production
Here's an article about the stage play that I mentioned a couple posts earlier (Weibo Fever #7) that will actually be starting up in HK tomorrow.
The article is hilarious, so I figured I would share it here as well.
Hope you enjoy it!
.***.
Article originally published on 9/19/2011
Source: Mingpao
Translated by: llwy12
Michael Miu collaborates with Jamie Chik again after more than 2 decades; will portray her ‘ex’-boyfriend in stage production of “Shrimp Crazy Family”
Long-running TVB variety show E.Y.T.[Enjoy Yourself Tonight] (歡樂今宵), which ran from November 1967 to October 1994, is a classic in HK television history. One of the classic skits from the show, “Shrimp Crazy Family” (蝦仔爹哋), will be turned into a stage play for charity, complete with musical numbers as well as dancing.
Yesterday, the cast of the stage version of “Shrimp Crazy Family” gathered for one of the final dress rehearsals. True to its comedic roots, there has been many a funny moment in almost every one of the rehearsals for “Shrimp Crazy Family” and yesterday was no exception. When some of the other cast members – including (veteran comic actor) Lo Hoi Pang, Jamie Chik, Michael Miu, and Felix Wong -- arrived late for yesterday’s rehearsal, veteran actress Meg Lam, who reprises her role as ‘Big Shark’ (大白鯊), for the stage version, jokingly ‘accused’ the 4 of being ‘big shots’ who purposefully made a ‘little actress’ like her wait for them. This garnered quite a few laughs from those present, both cast and crew alike.
Jamie Chik [who reprises her role as Ah Zhan, the wife of Louie Castro’s character ‘Shrimp Boy’] expressed that so far, the general public’s reaction to the stage version is quite good and all 4 shows are sold out – some audiences even asked if they will be doing a tour of the production in the U.S.! Michael Miu expressed that in the stage production, Felix Wong, Eric Tsang, Nat Chan, and himself will play the fictional role of Jamie’s ex-boyfriend – he revealed that each actor’s portrayal of the character will be markedly different. He jokingly stated: “I will be incorporating many of the same ‘tricks’ that helped me win Jamie’s heart 25 years ago. At the time, the only person I viewed as a ‘rival’ was Louie Castro!” Upon hearing this, Meg Lam immediately ‘revealed’ that due to the fact that the couple [Michael and Jamie] has not worked together in over 20 years, their performances were a bit awkward – even Jamie admitted that every time she looked at Michael, she couldn’t help bursting into laughter and therefore would forget her lines. Laughing, Michael responded: “Yea, she would ‘glare’ at me the same way that she does at home!”
As for Felix Wong, who has not participated in a stage play in over 20 years, he expressed that he has been very busy lately – in addition to rehearsing for the production, he has also taken over the administrative duties on the Celebrity Soccer Team that his fellow teammate, the late Wan Zhi Keung, used to oversee. Asked if he had time to accept other job offers, Felix replied: “Of course! Being able to make ‘real money’ is important. In fact, I have already accepted a high level, grand production film and will also be going back to the Mainland to shoot a series at the end of September – it’s a series that will be set in the post-modern era. I accepted the series with the one condition that they cannot ask me to shave my head.”
In related news, Miss HK contestant (didn’t make it to the finals) Janey Yan was invited to participate in the “Shrimp Crazy Family” production by her mother’s good friend, Jamie Chik. Earlier, there were rumors that Janey was one of the women involved in the situation with Him Law, to which she responded that she had nothing to do with the situation and emphasized that she and Him are only friends.
The article is hilarious, so I figured I would share it here as well.
Hope you enjoy it!
.***.
Article originally published on 9/19/2011
Source: Mingpao
Translated by: llwy12
Michael Miu collaborates with Jamie Chik again after more than 2 decades; will portray her ‘ex’-boyfriend in stage production of “Shrimp Crazy Family”
Long-running TVB variety show E.Y.T.[Enjoy Yourself Tonight] (歡樂今宵), which ran from November 1967 to October 1994, is a classic in HK television history. One of the classic skits from the show, “Shrimp Crazy Family” (蝦仔爹哋), will be turned into a stage play for charity, complete with musical numbers as well as dancing.
Yesterday, the cast of the stage version of “Shrimp Crazy Family” gathered for one of the final dress rehearsals. True to its comedic roots, there has been many a funny moment in almost every one of the rehearsals for “Shrimp Crazy Family” and yesterday was no exception. When some of the other cast members – including (veteran comic actor) Lo Hoi Pang, Jamie Chik, Michael Miu, and Felix Wong -- arrived late for yesterday’s rehearsal, veteran actress Meg Lam, who reprises her role as ‘Big Shark’ (大白鯊), for the stage version, jokingly ‘accused’ the 4 of being ‘big shots’ who purposefully made a ‘little actress’ like her wait for them. This garnered quite a few laughs from those present, both cast and crew alike.
Jamie Chik [who reprises her role as Ah Zhan, the wife of Louie Castro’s character ‘Shrimp Boy’] expressed that so far, the general public’s reaction to the stage version is quite good and all 4 shows are sold out – some audiences even asked if they will be doing a tour of the production in the U.S.! Michael Miu expressed that in the stage production, Felix Wong, Eric Tsang, Nat Chan, and himself will play the fictional role of Jamie’s ex-boyfriend – he revealed that each actor’s portrayal of the character will be markedly different. He jokingly stated: “I will be incorporating many of the same ‘tricks’ that helped me win Jamie’s heart 25 years ago. At the time, the only person I viewed as a ‘rival’ was Louie Castro!” Upon hearing this, Meg Lam immediately ‘revealed’ that due to the fact that the couple [Michael and Jamie] has not worked together in over 20 years, their performances were a bit awkward – even Jamie admitted that every time she looked at Michael, she couldn’t help bursting into laughter and therefore would forget her lines. Laughing, Michael responded: “Yea, she would ‘glare’ at me the same way that she does at home!”
As for Felix Wong, who has not participated in a stage play in over 20 years, he expressed that he has been very busy lately – in addition to rehearsing for the production, he has also taken over the administrative duties on the Celebrity Soccer Team that his fellow teammate, the late Wan Zhi Keung, used to oversee. Asked if he had time to accept other job offers, Felix replied: “Of course! Being able to make ‘real money’ is important. In fact, I have already accepted a high level, grand production film and will also be going back to the Mainland to shoot a series at the end of September – it’s a series that will be set in the post-modern era. I accepted the series with the one condition that they cannot ask me to shave my head.”
In related news, Miss HK contestant (didn’t make it to the finals) Janey Yan was invited to participate in the “Shrimp Crazy Family” production by her mother’s good friend, Jamie Chik. Earlier, there were rumors that Janey was one of the women involved in the situation with Him Law, to which she responded that she had nothing to do with the situation and emphasized that she and Him are only friends.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
My ‘TVB Rant’ # 12: Another Example of TVB’s ‘Double Standard’ (the argument of ‘peak ratings’ versus ‘average ratings’)
Note: ‘Sentinel’ refers to the series “The Life and Times of a Sentinel” and ‘Omission’ refers to the series “Lives of Omission”.
I’ve been reading the various articles in the entertainment news portals as well as a variety of posts and comments on forums, blogs, etc. regarding the whole Sentinel vs Omission situation as well as Michael Tse’s comments criticizing Steven Ma….
Well, I’ve pretty much made my position clear already in terms of what I thought about Michael Tse’s ‘immature’ response....here’s the comment I posted in the AF forum that pretty much sums things up:
What an arrogant and cocky response from Michael! I don't know what it is, but ever since he became popular with the Laughing character last year, it seems to have gotten to his head.....as I've said before, I've never understood the hype over Laughing anyway and I consider Michael 'lucky' that his character happened to appeal to majority of the audiences...instead of reacting with grace, he starts to take on a cocky attitude? WTH? Sorry, but based on everything I've read so far, I feel that the 'immature' one in this situation is Michael, not Steven...
(For those interested in reading more, you can visit this thread in Asianfanatics: “Michael Tse criticizes Steven Ma is being immature”
After reading the various posts in tamaya’s blog as well as lizzy’s most recent post about the situation, ), I felt the urge to do another one of my ‘TVB rants’ about the topic (plus there were quite a few points brought up in lizzy’s post that got me thinking about a few things that I’ve ranted about before and are now coming back to the surface again).
For the purposes of this post, I am going to focus mainly on the ‘ratings’ argument, since that seems to be the primary ‘justification’ that TVB makes for why they should pay more attention to Omission and not to Sentinel (plus some netizens are trying to use the ratings thing to ‘justify’ Michael Tse’s criticism of Steven – which, for the record, is a bunch of BS in my opinion). So what exactly is the ‘ratings argument’? Well, when TVB’s spokesperson Tsang Sing Ming was asked about Sentinel’s peak ratings of 40 points, he “conveniently” used the average ratings of the series to answer the question, inadvertently pointing out that Sentinel’s overall ratings were low and it ended up in 10th place compared with Omission’s 1st place – in a sense, stating that it’s not the peak ratings that matter but rather the average ratings. When Michael ‘criticized’ Steven, he actually made the exact same argument about the average ratings versus peak ratings (that can’t be a coincidence…I sense a major ‘kiss up’ attempt here). Ok, so let me get this straight….according to TVB and Michael Tse: the peak ratings shouldn’t matter, as the overall average ratings of a series is the important part. Even though both Omission and Sentinel hit the 40 point mark in peak ratings (Sentinel actually hit that number first), that’s less important in the scheme of things, because it’s really the average ratings that counts – so since the overall average ratings for Omission consistently exceeded the 30 point mark whereas the average ratings for Sentinel was consistently under 30 points (except for finale week), it ‘goes without saying’ that more attention should be paid to Omission and the series should be acknowledged / celebrated / given special treatment.
In my opinion, lizzy does a good job of explaining the average ratings thing in her post (see above link), so I’m not going to rehash all that in this post. Rather, I’m going to respond to TVB (and Michael Tse)’s argument about the ‘average ratings counting more than the peak ratings’….
First of all, by making this argument, TVB is totally being contradictory because there have been numerous instances in the past where TVB has emphasized peak ratings over average ratings and made a ‘big deal’ out of their series ‘peaking’ at certain points. So for them to say now that the peak ratings don’t mean much and it’s the average ratings that counts is absolutely HYPOCRITICAL! This just goes to show that TVB has an integrity issue and also proves that one of the ‘problems’ that I’ve been complaining about them is true: TVB blatantly ‘uses’ certain situations to their advantage when it suits their needs, but then brushes off (ignores) other situations when they know it’s not favorable toward them, then they’ll make up any ‘lame’ excuse that they can to defend their foolish actions (especially when they are ‘called out’ on it).
For those who think that I’m being too ‘harsh’ on TVB once again (yes, there are quite a few people out there who think this), here’s a recent example of how TVB placed more emphasis on peak ratings rather than average ratings:
Last year, when TVB’s ‘favored’ series “Can’t Buy Me Love” supposedly peaked at 51 points during its finale (the key word here is SUPPOSEDLY….see TVB Rant #5 for details on why I use this word), they made such a big deal out of it, they even dedicated a ‘spread’ to it in one of the issues of their TVB Magazine (the title of that particular article reads: “Can’t Buy Me Love breaks 50 points”…with that kind of title, I’m sure you can figure out the content of the article) – plus all the ‘attention’ it got in the Media (the average ratings for CBML overall was in the low 30s). Ok, so help me understand this – if the peak ratings really don’t matter, then WHY THE HELL did TVB put so much emphasis on CBML breaking 50 points last year? Is it because CBML starred mostly TVB’s own biological sons/daughters that they are heavily promoting and so the series has to succeed no matter what otherwise TVB will lose face (compared to the other 2 ‘big’ series from that year, “No Regrets” and “Gun Metal Grey”, whose main leads were non-contracted artists)? Whatever the reason, the fact of the matter is that for TVB, the ‘peak rating’ was important last year for CBML, but this year, for Sentinel, it’s all of a sudden ‘not important’ (anyone disagree with me that TVB is applying a ‘double standard’ here?)
Note: I can think of a few other examples as well, but since the CBML thing is probably still fresh in a lot of people’s minds, I chose to only use that issue as an example.
From everything that has been made known so far, it’s obvious that TVB favors Omission more than they do Sentinel – not surprisingly, TVB’s ‘blatant favoritism’ rears its ugly head once again! As I read through all the stuff about Omission versus Sentinel, I’m getting a huge sense of déjà vu – TVB did the exact same thing last year when they (heavily) favored “Can’t Buy Me Love” over anniversary series “Gun Metal Grey”, resulting in GMG star Felix Wong’s ‘outburst’ toward TVB (see TVB Rant #6 for details). Oh, and how about the year before that (2009) when TVB over-hyped / over-promoted “Beyond the Realm of Conscience” and pretty much ‘neglected’ the other anniversary series “Born Rich” as well as the unexpected hit “Rosy Business”? Come to think of it, there’s another example right there – when BTROC peaked at 50 points back when it aired (again, during the finale episode only), there was much fanfare and ‘commotion’ over the ‘amazing accomplishment’, whereas when RB peaked at 47 points (on its own, without any special promotion or hype), the only people who seemed to notice were the audiences and the Media. Hmmm, I already see a pattern….I don’t think I need to go further back through the rest of the decade (or at least through the Virginia Lok era) to prove my point, right?
Ok, so now that I let off my steam, I’ll end with some final words: When it comes to TVB, some things never change!
I’ve been reading the various articles in the entertainment news portals as well as a variety of posts and comments on forums, blogs, etc. regarding the whole Sentinel vs Omission situation as well as Michael Tse’s comments criticizing Steven Ma….
Well, I’ve pretty much made my position clear already in terms of what I thought about Michael Tse’s ‘immature’ response....here’s the comment I posted in the AF forum that pretty much sums things up:
What an arrogant and cocky response from Michael! I don't know what it is, but ever since he became popular with the Laughing character last year, it seems to have gotten to his head.....as I've said before, I've never understood the hype over Laughing anyway and I consider Michael 'lucky' that his character happened to appeal to majority of the audiences...instead of reacting with grace, he starts to take on a cocky attitude? WTH? Sorry, but based on everything I've read so far, I feel that the 'immature' one in this situation is Michael, not Steven...
(For those interested in reading more, you can visit this thread in Asianfanatics: “Michael Tse criticizes Steven Ma is being immature”
After reading the various posts in tamaya’s blog as well as lizzy’s most recent post about the situation, ), I felt the urge to do another one of my ‘TVB rants’ about the topic (plus there were quite a few points brought up in lizzy’s post that got me thinking about a few things that I’ve ranted about before and are now coming back to the surface again).
For the purposes of this post, I am going to focus mainly on the ‘ratings’ argument, since that seems to be the primary ‘justification’ that TVB makes for why they should pay more attention to Omission and not to Sentinel (plus some netizens are trying to use the ratings thing to ‘justify’ Michael Tse’s criticism of Steven – which, for the record, is a bunch of BS in my opinion). So what exactly is the ‘ratings argument’? Well, when TVB’s spokesperson Tsang Sing Ming was asked about Sentinel’s peak ratings of 40 points, he “conveniently” used the average ratings of the series to answer the question, inadvertently pointing out that Sentinel’s overall ratings were low and it ended up in 10th place compared with Omission’s 1st place – in a sense, stating that it’s not the peak ratings that matter but rather the average ratings. When Michael ‘criticized’ Steven, he actually made the exact same argument about the average ratings versus peak ratings (that can’t be a coincidence…I sense a major ‘kiss up’ attempt here). Ok, so let me get this straight….according to TVB and Michael Tse: the peak ratings shouldn’t matter, as the overall average ratings of a series is the important part. Even though both Omission and Sentinel hit the 40 point mark in peak ratings (Sentinel actually hit that number first), that’s less important in the scheme of things, because it’s really the average ratings that counts – so since the overall average ratings for Omission consistently exceeded the 30 point mark whereas the average ratings for Sentinel was consistently under 30 points (except for finale week), it ‘goes without saying’ that more attention should be paid to Omission and the series should be acknowledged / celebrated / given special treatment.
In my opinion, lizzy does a good job of explaining the average ratings thing in her post (see above link), so I’m not going to rehash all that in this post. Rather, I’m going to respond to TVB (and Michael Tse)’s argument about the ‘average ratings counting more than the peak ratings’….
First of all, by making this argument, TVB is totally being contradictory because there have been numerous instances in the past where TVB has emphasized peak ratings over average ratings and made a ‘big deal’ out of their series ‘peaking’ at certain points. So for them to say now that the peak ratings don’t mean much and it’s the average ratings that counts is absolutely HYPOCRITICAL! This just goes to show that TVB has an integrity issue and also proves that one of the ‘problems’ that I’ve been complaining about them is true: TVB blatantly ‘uses’ certain situations to their advantage when it suits their needs, but then brushes off (ignores) other situations when they know it’s not favorable toward them, then they’ll make up any ‘lame’ excuse that they can to defend their foolish actions (especially when they are ‘called out’ on it).
For those who think that I’m being too ‘harsh’ on TVB once again (yes, there are quite a few people out there who think this), here’s a recent example of how TVB placed more emphasis on peak ratings rather than average ratings:
Last year, when TVB’s ‘favored’ series “Can’t Buy Me Love” supposedly peaked at 51 points during its finale (the key word here is SUPPOSEDLY….see TVB Rant #5 for details on why I use this word), they made such a big deal out of it, they even dedicated a ‘spread’ to it in one of the issues of their TVB Magazine (the title of that particular article reads: “Can’t Buy Me Love breaks 50 points”…with that kind of title, I’m sure you can figure out the content of the article) – plus all the ‘attention’ it got in the Media (the average ratings for CBML overall was in the low 30s). Ok, so help me understand this – if the peak ratings really don’t matter, then WHY THE HELL did TVB put so much emphasis on CBML breaking 50 points last year? Is it because CBML starred mostly TVB’s own biological sons/daughters that they are heavily promoting and so the series has to succeed no matter what otherwise TVB will lose face (compared to the other 2 ‘big’ series from that year, “No Regrets” and “Gun Metal Grey”, whose main leads were non-contracted artists)? Whatever the reason, the fact of the matter is that for TVB, the ‘peak rating’ was important last year for CBML, but this year, for Sentinel, it’s all of a sudden ‘not important’ (anyone disagree with me that TVB is applying a ‘double standard’ here?)
Note: I can think of a few other examples as well, but since the CBML thing is probably still fresh in a lot of people’s minds, I chose to only use that issue as an example.
From everything that has been made known so far, it’s obvious that TVB favors Omission more than they do Sentinel – not surprisingly, TVB’s ‘blatant favoritism’ rears its ugly head once again! As I read through all the stuff about Omission versus Sentinel, I’m getting a huge sense of déjà vu – TVB did the exact same thing last year when they (heavily) favored “Can’t Buy Me Love” over anniversary series “Gun Metal Grey”, resulting in GMG star Felix Wong’s ‘outburst’ toward TVB (see TVB Rant #6 for details). Oh, and how about the year before that (2009) when TVB over-hyped / over-promoted “Beyond the Realm of Conscience” and pretty much ‘neglected’ the other anniversary series “Born Rich” as well as the unexpected hit “Rosy Business”? Come to think of it, there’s another example right there – when BTROC peaked at 50 points back when it aired (again, during the finale episode only), there was much fanfare and ‘commotion’ over the ‘amazing accomplishment’, whereas when RB peaked at 47 points (on its own, without any special promotion or hype), the only people who seemed to notice were the audiences and the Media. Hmmm, I already see a pattern….I don’t think I need to go further back through the rest of the decade (or at least through the Virginia Lok era) to prove my point, right?
Ok, so now that I let off my steam, I’ll end with some final words: When it comes to TVB, some things never change!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Weibo Fever # 8: My Adoration of Mr. 'Big Nose' (大鼻友) and Mr. 'Big Head' (大頭鱼)…..
As you may have guessed, this is another Jacky related post (yay!!!!).
As most of you fellow Jacky fans probably know, my idol was in Taiwan last month for his concert tour (he held 4 shows at the Coliseum in Taipei). Of course, Taiwan is like a second home to Jacky because he has tons of friends (and fans) there -- one of those friends is his best friend of 20+ years, singer / host Harlem Yu. Over the years, whenever Jacky goes to Taiwan, he of course meets up with Harlem (if Harlem happens to be in town, that is), just like whenever Harlem goes to HK, Jacky makes sure to get together with him if possible. So of course, this time, it was no different.
Before I go on, let me backtrack a little. I started becoming a 'fan' of Harlem's back in the 90s, during my 'Taiwan entertainment' phase when I was pretty much following all things Taiwan (needless to say, I'm past that phase already, so I only know the older Taiwan artists and don't care for any of the newer 'idol' artists). One of my favorite Taiwan variety shows was "Super Sunday", which was hosted by none other than Harlem (as well as Taiwan's "Big Sister of Entertainment" Zhang Xiao Yan) -- I loved that show and I really enjoyed Harlem's sense of humor and liveliness as host, so I started paying attention to him starting at that point. It wasn't until after I started 'following' the show Super Sunday that I found out Harlem was actually a singer -- and a mighty good one too (he's considered one of the 'godfathers' of music in Taiwan).....so I guess you could say that I knew Harlem as a host before I knew him as a singer.
Not long after that, l found out that Harlem was one of Jacky's best friends (no wonder Jacky was such a frequent guest on Super Sunday!) and that's when I started becoming his 'fan' as well. These 2 friends truly have alot in common -- from their shared passion for music and dedication to family to their almost similar birthdays (both were born in the same month and year, but on different days) and everything in between -- it's really no wonder that they became such good friends. For me though, one of the things that I truly love about their friendship is their awesome, magical chemistry -- as Zhang Ziao Yan once said, when these 2 'boys' get together, they go wild (and yes, I call them 'boys' because they get so crazy when they get together, it's almost like they become 2 little boys in grade school, calling each other names and bickering with each other, sometimes even pushing each other around, but all in good fun). It's so cute to watch these 2 poke fun at each other on purpose, not to mention that it's absolutely hilarious listening to their 'brotherly' bantering back and forth (hey, who else can tell Jacky to his face "what are you, a pig?" and get away with it? LOL!). The most recent 'fun' I can remember off the top of my head was during Harlem's concert last year when Jacky attended as musical guest (no surprise there, since they do the musical guest thing for each other's concerts all the time) -- that segment of the concert was so good and I got such a good laugh out of it, I just didn't want it to end -- one of the 'highlights' was when Harlem and Jacky tried to perform a duet and Harlem kept screwing up the song (probably on purpose...LOL!), which threw Jacky off and caused him to forget some of the lyrics (which rarely ever happens) -- then they started jokingly blaming each other and calling each other names, which was absolutely hilarious (if I remember correctly, in the end, Harlem blamed 'lack of familiarity' with the song and Jacky blamed 'old age' for the screw ups....hahaha!)
Ok, so back to my original post....
During Jacky's most recent concert in Taiwan (Aug 18th to 21st), I was really really hoping that, in keeping with tradition, Harlem would be musical guest for at least one of the shows, but that didn't happen -- which, quite honestly, I didn't understand why at first, but then realized the reason: the format of Jacky's concert this time around (with the mini-movie being played out on stage and the various specially choreographed segments) wasn't really conducive to incorporating guest performances, since it would probably mess up the overall routine and format of the show. Nevertheless, the true friend that Harlem is, that didn't stop him from showing Jacky how much he supports him -- in addition to attending Jacky's opening performance on the 18th, he also attended Jacky's closing performance on the 21st, staying the entire time (and grooving to some of the songs from his seat in the audience section). And that's not all -- Harlem also hung out with his buddy backstage (I'm sure he had a VIP pass..LOL!) as well as afterwards, taking him out to eat and such -- plus that awesome present that Harlem had made specially for Jacky (see picture below).....
Anyway, in addition to the totally cool bright red "Hok Yau" Guitar that Harlem gave Jacky, he also sent him a gigantic fruit basket prior to the first night’s performance, complete with Jacky’s favorite fruit – apples (see picture).
The sign attached to the basket read:
To: 大鼻友
四日份水果
提供給破巨蛋記錄者
From: 大頭鱼
Translation:
To: Da Bei Yau ('Big Nose Friend’ – referring to Jacky)
4 days worth of fruits
Supplied to the person who will break the Taipei Coliseum record.
From: Da Tou Yu (‘Big Head Fish’ – referring to Harlem)
.--.
Also, here is what Harlem posted on his Weibo after watching Jacky’s opening show in Taipei:
他用1/2世紀的1/2來唱歌，唱出他的故事，也唱出我們的故事!聽到"如果‧愛"的時候，怎麼我眼睛又濕濕的，是他唱得太好!還是我們都太脆弱!!.....是人生!!
Translation: He [Jacky] used the ½ in ½ century to sing his songs and with that, sang out his life story, while also singing our story! When I was listening to [the song] “Perhaps Love”, why did I once again feel a wetness in my eyes? Is it because his singing is too good!? Or perhaps we are just too fragile!!....That’s life!!
Courtesy of: Harlem Yu’s weibo (posted on 8/19 at 16:18):
.--.
Lastly, here’s a hilarious post from someone’s blog (no clue who the person is) that was forwarded on Weibo. The blog writer wrote about his friend’s ‘ encounter’ with Jacky and Harlem 16 years ago (hats off to the writer for his sense of humor – I was laughing the entire time I read this…LOL).
My interpretation of the ‘encounter’: Awww, Harlem is trying to help Jacky save money….what a friend! (Hahahaha!!)
Source: anhydride.pixnet.net
Originally posted on July 28, 2010
Translated by: llwy12
Asia God of Songs
The time is 1995. The God of Songs [Jacky] came to Taiwan for his concert. It was in the middle of his Taiwan tour and he was staying at the Hotel National [in Taichung].
This blog’s author was very young at the time, so needed to find a girlfriend – she was first love, but later ended up running off with another guy.
But that’s not important. At the time, she was working at Hotel National, in the Chinese food department. All of her colleagues were fighting over the opportunity to go see the Heavenly King [Jacky], however afterwards, when they returned, they appeared quite flustered.
Why?
The God of Songs had just entered his hotel room and so the service staff started performing their room service tasks in order.
The first staff was the bellboy responsible for taking up the luggage. After placing the luggage in the room, the Heavenly King, being who he is, did not put on airs or try to act self-important – instead, he was extremely polite and generously gave the bellboy a $500 (TWD) tip.
That particular colleague was jumping with joy – not only did he get to see the Heavenly King, he also received such a generous tip!
The second colleague was from housekeeping and arrived to clean the room. Actually, it wasn’t much cleaning, but rather just tidying up the various items that adorned the room. Upon completion, the colleague respectfully nodded to the Heavenly King, who was ready to hand over a tip.
Right at that moment, the Heavenly King’s best friend – yes, the one who sings “Let Me Love Enough All At Once” [Harlem] – suddenly appeared at the room. After exchanging greetings, the friend asked the Heavenly King why he didn’t go visit him first?
Laughing, the Heavenly King said that he just got off the plane and so headed over to the hotel first. As he was saying this, he took out a 500 dollar bill [TWD] and was about to hand it over to the housekeeping colleague.
The friend asks: “What are you doing?”
The Heavenly King replies: “They just finished tidying up the room and I’m very grateful to them.”
The friend says: “500 dollars? That much? Are you crazy?”
The Heavenly King replies: “The smallest amount I have is 500 dollar bill.”
The friend says: “Why didn’t you say something earlier? I have 100 dollar bills.” [turns to the housekeeping colleague]: "Come, come, come….thank you very much! Here’s your tip. As for the other room service crew, it’s not needed.”
As the rest of the staff left, they were muttering under their breath about the friend’s ‘stinginess’.
Recently, the writer of this blog saw a massage chair commercial that he [Harlem] did and suddenly remembered this interesting past ‘encounter’.
.***.
Chinese Version:
亞洲歌神
時為1995年，歌神來台開演唱會，台中場，下榻全國大飯店。
版主當時年紀小，所以也要交女朋友，那是初戀，後來跟醫學系的男孩子跑了。
不過這不是重點。那時她在全國大飯店打工，中餐部。所有的同事都搶著去看天王，回來後大家都是氣呼呼的。
為何？歌神剛進房間，服務人員依序做room service。
第一位是提行李的，將行李安置完畢後，天王就是天王，沒有大牌的架子，非常客氣的給了500元的小費。
那名同事雀躍不已，不但能看到天王，還能拿這麼好的小費。
第二名同事，記得是做打掃的，其實也不是什麼打掃，就是把房間的擺飾再喬一次，必恭必敬的跟天王行禮，天王準備給小費。
說時遲，那時快，號稱天王的好朋友，就是"讓我一次愛個夠"的那個，突然出現在房間，看到天王就寒喧起來，問天王怎麼都不先去找他？
天王笑說剛下飛機就先來飯店，一邊說著就掏出500元，準備給那位打掃的同事。
好朋友說：你在幹什麼？
天王說：他們剛剛幫我整理房間，我很感謝他們。
好朋友說：500元？這麼多，你有沒有搞錯？
天王說：我最小的面額就是500
好朋友說：不早說，我有100的，我幫你給，來來來，謝謝你，這是您的小費。其他的room service就不需要了。
全部的人都暗罵那好朋友小氣。最近版主看到他拍按摩椅廣告，突然想起了這段往事。
As most of you fellow Jacky fans probably know, my idol was in Taiwan last month for his concert tour (he held 4 shows at the Coliseum in Taipei). Of course, Taiwan is like a second home to Jacky because he has tons of friends (and fans) there -- one of those friends is his best friend of 20+ years, singer / host Harlem Yu. Over the years, whenever Jacky goes to Taiwan, he of course meets up with Harlem (if Harlem happens to be in town, that is), just like whenever Harlem goes to HK, Jacky makes sure to get together with him if possible. So of course, this time, it was no different.
Before I go on, let me backtrack a little. I started becoming a 'fan' of Harlem's back in the 90s, during my 'Taiwan entertainment' phase when I was pretty much following all things Taiwan (needless to say, I'm past that phase already, so I only know the older Taiwan artists and don't care for any of the newer 'idol' artists). One of my favorite Taiwan variety shows was "Super Sunday", which was hosted by none other than Harlem (as well as Taiwan's "Big Sister of Entertainment" Zhang Xiao Yan) -- I loved that show and I really enjoyed Harlem's sense of humor and liveliness as host, so I started paying attention to him starting at that point. It wasn't until after I started 'following' the show Super Sunday that I found out Harlem was actually a singer -- and a mighty good one too (he's considered one of the 'godfathers' of music in Taiwan).....so I guess you could say that I knew Harlem as a host before I knew him as a singer.
Not long after that, l found out that Harlem was one of Jacky's best friends (no wonder Jacky was such a frequent guest on Super Sunday!) and that's when I started becoming his 'fan' as well. These 2 friends truly have alot in common -- from their shared passion for music and dedication to family to their almost similar birthdays (both were born in the same month and year, but on different days) and everything in between -- it's really no wonder that they became such good friends. For me though, one of the things that I truly love about their friendship is their awesome, magical chemistry -- as Zhang Ziao Yan once said, when these 2 'boys' get together, they go wild (and yes, I call them 'boys' because they get so crazy when they get together, it's almost like they become 2 little boys in grade school, calling each other names and bickering with each other, sometimes even pushing each other around, but all in good fun). It's so cute to watch these 2 poke fun at each other on purpose, not to mention that it's absolutely hilarious listening to their 'brotherly' bantering back and forth (hey, who else can tell Jacky to his face "what are you, a pig?" and get away with it? LOL!). The most recent 'fun' I can remember off the top of my head was during Harlem's concert last year when Jacky attended as musical guest (no surprise there, since they do the musical guest thing for each other's concerts all the time) -- that segment of the concert was so good and I got such a good laugh out of it, I just didn't want it to end -- one of the 'highlights' was when Harlem and Jacky tried to perform a duet and Harlem kept screwing up the song (probably on purpose...LOL!), which threw Jacky off and caused him to forget some of the lyrics (which rarely ever happens) -- then they started jokingly blaming each other and calling each other names, which was absolutely hilarious (if I remember correctly, in the end, Harlem blamed 'lack of familiarity' with the song and Jacky blamed 'old age' for the screw ups....hahaha!)
Ok, so back to my original post....
During Jacky's most recent concert in Taiwan (Aug 18th to 21st), I was really really hoping that, in keeping with tradition, Harlem would be musical guest for at least one of the shows, but that didn't happen -- which, quite honestly, I didn't understand why at first, but then realized the reason: the format of Jacky's concert this time around (with the mini-movie being played out on stage and the various specially choreographed segments) wasn't really conducive to incorporating guest performances, since it would probably mess up the overall routine and format of the show. Nevertheless, the true friend that Harlem is, that didn't stop him from showing Jacky how much he supports him -- in addition to attending Jacky's opening performance on the 18th, he also attended Jacky's closing performance on the 21st, staying the entire time (and grooving to some of the songs from his seat in the audience section). And that's not all -- Harlem also hung out with his buddy backstage (I'm sure he had a VIP pass..LOL!) as well as afterwards, taking him out to eat and such -- plus that awesome present that Harlem had made specially for Jacky (see picture below).....
Pictures Credit as listed
After the first show, when Harlem was asked by reporters backstage, he said he came to "chao xing" (pay homage to 'the King')....but that he was also there to 'check things out' and make sure Jacky's performance was 'up to par'.....and that he would return on Sunday (the day of the last performance) to 'supervise'.....HAHAHAHAHA!! In all seriousness though, I was touched to hear Harlem say that watching Jacky's performance on stage moved him so much, that he actually cried during a few of the songs (awww....).Anyway, in addition to the totally cool bright red "Hok Yau" Guitar that Harlem gave Jacky, he also sent him a gigantic fruit basket prior to the first night’s performance, complete with Jacky’s favorite fruit – apples (see picture).
The sign attached to the basket read:
To: 大鼻友
四日份水果
提供給破巨蛋記錄者
From: 大頭鱼
Translation:
To: Da Bei Yau ('Big Nose Friend’ – referring to Jacky)
4 days worth of fruits
Supplied to the person who will break the Taipei Coliseum record.
From: Da Tou Yu (‘Big Head Fish’ – referring to Harlem)
.--.
Also, here is what Harlem posted on his Weibo after watching Jacky’s opening show in Taipei:
他用1/2世紀的1/2來唱歌，唱出他的故事，也唱出我們的故事!聽到"如果‧愛"的時候，怎麼我眼睛又濕濕的，是他唱得太好!還是我們都太脆弱!!.....是人生!!
Translation: He [Jacky] used the ½ in ½ century to sing his songs and with that, sang out his life story, while also singing our story! When I was listening to [the song] “Perhaps Love”, why did I once again feel a wetness in my eyes? Is it because his singing is too good!? Or perhaps we are just too fragile!!....That’s life!!
Courtesy of: Harlem Yu’s weibo (posted on 8/19 at 16:18):
.--.
Lastly, here’s a hilarious post from someone’s blog (no clue who the person is) that was forwarded on Weibo. The blog writer wrote about his friend’s ‘ encounter’ with Jacky and Harlem 16 years ago (hats off to the writer for his sense of humor – I was laughing the entire time I read this…LOL).
My interpretation of the ‘encounter’: Awww, Harlem is trying to help Jacky save money….what a friend! (Hahahaha!!)
Source: anhydride.pixnet.net
Originally posted on July 28, 2010
Translated by: llwy12
Asia God of Songs
The time is 1995. The God of Songs [Jacky] came to Taiwan for his concert. It was in the middle of his Taiwan tour and he was staying at the Hotel National [in Taichung].
This blog’s author was very young at the time, so needed to find a girlfriend – she was first love, but later ended up running off with another guy.
But that’s not important. At the time, she was working at Hotel National, in the Chinese food department. All of her colleagues were fighting over the opportunity to go see the Heavenly King [Jacky], however afterwards, when they returned, they appeared quite flustered.
Why?
The God of Songs had just entered his hotel room and so the service staff started performing their room service tasks in order.
The first staff was the bellboy responsible for taking up the luggage. After placing the luggage in the room, the Heavenly King, being who he is, did not put on airs or try to act self-important – instead, he was extremely polite and generously gave the bellboy a $500 (TWD) tip.
That particular colleague was jumping with joy – not only did he get to see the Heavenly King, he also received such a generous tip!
The second colleague was from housekeeping and arrived to clean the room. Actually, it wasn’t much cleaning, but rather just tidying up the various items that adorned the room. Upon completion, the colleague respectfully nodded to the Heavenly King, who was ready to hand over a tip.
Right at that moment, the Heavenly King’s best friend – yes, the one who sings “Let Me Love Enough All At Once” [Harlem] – suddenly appeared at the room. After exchanging greetings, the friend asked the Heavenly King why he didn’t go visit him first?
Laughing, the Heavenly King said that he just got off the plane and so headed over to the hotel first. As he was saying this, he took out a 500 dollar bill [TWD] and was about to hand it over to the housekeeping colleague.
The friend asks: “What are you doing?”
The Heavenly King replies: “They just finished tidying up the room and I’m very grateful to them.”
The friend says: “500 dollars? That much? Are you crazy?”
The Heavenly King replies: “The smallest amount I have is 500 dollar bill.”
The friend says: “Why didn’t you say something earlier? I have 100 dollar bills.” [turns to the housekeeping colleague]: "Come, come, come….thank you very much! Here’s your tip. As for the other room service crew, it’s not needed.”
As the rest of the staff left, they were muttering under their breath about the friend’s ‘stinginess’.
Recently, the writer of this blog saw a massage chair commercial that he [Harlem] did and suddenly remembered this interesting past ‘encounter’.
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Chinese Version:
亞洲歌神
時為1995年，歌神來台開演唱會，台中場，下榻全國大飯店。
版主當時年紀小，所以也要交女朋友，那是初戀，後來跟醫學系的男孩子跑了。
不過這不是重點。那時她在全國大飯店打工，中餐部。所有的同事都搶著去看天王，回來後大家都是氣呼呼的。
為何？歌神剛進房間，服務人員依序做room service。
第一位是提行李的，將行李安置完畢後，天王就是天王，沒有大牌的架子，非常客氣的給了500元的小費。
那名同事雀躍不已，不但能看到天王，還能拿這麼好的小費。
第二名同事，記得是做打掃的，其實也不是什麼打掃，就是把房間的擺飾再喬一次，必恭必敬的跟天王行禮，天王準備給小費。
說時遲，那時快，號稱天王的好朋友，就是"讓我一次愛個夠"的那個，突然出現在房間，看到天王就寒喧起來，問天王怎麼都不先去找他？
天王笑說剛下飛機就先來飯店，一邊說著就掏出500元，準備給那位打掃的同事。
好朋友說：你在幹什麼？
天王說：他們剛剛幫我整理房間，我很感謝他們。
好朋友說：500元？這麼多，你有沒有搞錯？
天王說：我最小的面額就是500
好朋友說：不早說，我有100的，我幫你給，來來來，謝謝你，這是您的小費。其他的room service就不需要了。
全部的人都暗罵那好朋友小氣。最近版主看到他拍按摩椅廣告，突然想起了這段往事。