Source: Oriental Daily
Translated by: llwy12
** Note: Only the part of the article related to Lee Tim Sing was translated**
With all the changes that TVB has been going through recently, the internal politics have been a mess and now, even elders who’ve always been ‘ratings guarantees’ are falling victim to the internal unrest.
Golden producer Lee Tim Sing (Tim Gor), who contributed greatly to TVB’s success for several decades, invited singer/actress Niki Chow to return to TVB last year to film the series “Bottled Passion” with actor Raymond Wong. Around the time of last year’s Sales Presentation, the plan was to arrange for the series to air during October’s ‘golden’ timeslot. Unfortunately, due to internal politics, “Bottled Passion” was moved to the December ‘cannon fodder’ timeslot and replaced instead with Liza Wang and the three gods’ anniversary series “Super Snoops”.
Currently in its finale week, the storyline for “Bottled Passion” revolves around a love story, which seems to be the perfect fit for TVB’s housewife audience’s tastes compared with the cannibalism-themed series “When Heaven Burns”, which is also in its finale week. However, TVB has arranged for the finale of “When Heaven Burns” to air on Sunday (January 1st), pushing “Bottled Passion”s finale to Monday, Jan 2nd (the first time that a TVB series has aired its finale on a Monday). This further added fuel to an already burning fire. It is rumored that because Tim Gor is planning to retire next year, someone is seizing upon the opportunity to give him the ‘cold shoulder’. Despite his previous accomplishments, including last year’s highly rated anniversary series “No Regrets”, Tim Gor was not given any face, causing his newest series to become ‘high quality cannon fodder’!
Our reporter contacted Tim Gor for clarification. When the issue of his series being placed in a cannon fodder timeslot was brought up, a usually mellow Tim Gor became upset, angrily blasting TVB: “Of course there will be someone sacrificed in the PK timeslot! [TN: 'PK' in this context represents a Cantonese curse word]. Several years ago, my series “A Fistful of Stances” was the same way – whether there is a particular motive to it, I really don’t know! It’s not worth getting upset over anymore – besides, I’m not the first one treated this way – cannon fodder or not, doesn’t matter anymore!” Tim Gor expressed that TVB’s action of moving “Bottled Passion” to such a timeslot was hugely discouraging to the cast and crew and he has been trying his best to bring the morale back up. He stated: “I can’t lie – the ratings truly aren’t that great. The worst part is that the series has good word of mouth….the screenwriting team is definitely upset. Aiye! During the holidays, there are at least 600,000 to 700,000 people who leave town for travel, so of course they won’t be sitting in front of their TVs watching the series. If the series was placed in the October timeslot as originally planned, the ratings would be at least 2 points higher, if not more! But I’m used to it already!”
When the series was originally taken out of the October timeslot, Tim Gor had angrily gone up to the drama department to inquire as to the reason: “I admit that the series [Bottled Passion] is not a ‘star-studded’ production, as the main leads are Niki and Raymond. But Niki has truly shown great improvement in her acting, Raymond is a perfect fit for the role, and Joel [Chan] did a good job as anticipated. I put a lot of heart into coming up with this story and the plot was carefully arranged. When I first heard about the series airing in the October timeslot, I thought to myself that it would surely succeed. Unexpectedly though, the drama department pulled the series out of that timeslot last minute – when I asked why, they said it was because of a ‘particular reason’ and even apologized to me!”
Asked about plans to retire, Tim Gor replied that the final decision will be made at the end of next year: “At the end of next year, I will be 65 years old. The company’s retirement age is 60 years, so I have already exceeded by 5 years – it is enough! I still have the heart for it, but not the strength. My colleagues sometimes see me limping when I’m walking, so I already know that health-wise, it’s taking a toll on me!”
.***.
Chinese Version:
李添勝怒插無綫 周麗淇愁爆
無綫易主，內亂紛紛，任你是公司有收視保證的老臣子亦一樣冇面畀！曾為無綫立下不少汗馬功勞的金牌監製李添勝，去年躊躇滿志邀周麗淇（Niki）夥拍首次擔正的黃浩然合作劇集《我的如意狼君》，年初節目巡禮亦打算安排該劇在十月黃金檔首播，可惜因為政治因素，《我》劇被燉落聖誕炮灰檔期，由汪明荃主演的《荃加福祿壽探案》頂上。
明年退休被冷待
因《我》劇劇情夠老土，迎合師奶口味，本周進入結局周，無綫卻安排周日（一月一日）播比較重口味的《天與地》大結局，《我》劇大結局則安排下周一（一月二日）播出，被節目部高層一燉再燉。據知因添哥打算明年退休，有人借勢冷待他，故這位收視爆燈的《巾幗梟雄》監製亦冇例外，《我》劇慘成極品炮灰！
本報致電添哥，提到嘔心瀝血之作變炮灰劇，一向待人接物不慍不火的添哥亦扯火，怒轟無綫：「實有人食PK檔！我以前套《鐵馬尋橋》都食過，係咪用人唯親真係唔知！都嬲唔到咁多，況且我又唔係第一個，都冇話炮唔炮灰囉！」添哥表示，無綫此舉令《我》劇台前幕後意興闌珊，他早已安撫幕後人員。他說：「唔可以講大話，收視真係普通，最慘係口碑好，搞到啲編劇仲唔開心！唉！假期有六、七十萬人離港，如果擺黃金檔起碼高兩點收視啦！不過我都慣喇！」
讚Niki進步神速
添哥更怒氣沖沖踩上節目部質問《我》劇被抽起原因：「我認《我》劇唔係大堆頭粒粒星，孭飛都係Niki同浩然。不過Niki真係進步得好快，浩然又好適合個角色，山聰做得好一早係意料之內。我好畀心機度呢個故事，成件事都有計算，當安排十月檔仲以為一定得。點知畀節目部臨時抽起，話有某啲原因喎，仲同我講對唔住。」
提到退休問題，添哥打算明年底自有決定，他說：「明年年尾滿六十五歲，公司要六十歲退休，做多五年都夠皮啦！我有心無力喇！同事見我行路拐吓拐吓，就知自己體能唔得！」
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