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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

My ‘TVB Rant’ # 23: TVB expanding into Mainland market – good news or bad news?


First off, my apologies to those who have been actively following my blog, as I recognize that I’ve been doing a poor job keeping it updated lately – some things came up and I just haven’t been able to dedicate as much time to it as I would like.  Though I’ve continued to stay on top of the latest ‘happenings’ in the HK entertainment world, I unfortunately haven’t found the chance to ‘blog’ about stuff or do too many translations lately, so I’ve actually got a long list of stuff that I would like to post about still – hopefully I’ll get a chance to do so more consistently in the coming months.

Anyway, back to the post at hand….

I know I haven’t ‘ranted’ about TVB in a long time – of course there has been plenty of stuff to rant about the past few months (probably enough for several posts actually…LOL), but as I said earlier, I’ve had a lot going on, so haven’t had time to gather all my thoughts into a coherent post until now. 

Amongst the many TVB-related ‘happenings’ worth ranting about lately, one piece of news from the past few days got me worked up enough to rant about at the moment:  recently, TVB outlined in more detail their ‘plans’ for expanding into the Mainland China market (they already started doing so a little while back with the creation of TVBC – the Mainland China arm of TVB – but didn’t really talk too much in detail about their plans until now). 

Before I go into my actual rant, let me set the background for this post by briefly summarizing what TVB’s plans are in the Mainland (based on an interview that Virginia Lok did with ND Daily, which was published yesterday – link to original article here).

In summary, the plans are as follows:

.—The goal this year is to elevate the status of TVB artists in the Mainland.  Therefore, any programs that TVBC invests in, TVB will recommend its own ‘contracted’ artists (primarily their own ‘biological’ children who are under management contract) for the programs.

.—More ‘collaborative’ series (series where HK artists will collaborate with Mainland artists – similar to what they did in the series Drive of Life, Growing Through Life, etc.) will be filmed.  TVB will provide the scripts and the artists while SMG (the production company that TVB is collaborating with in Mainland) will provide the filming locations and equipment.

.—TVB siu sangs and fadans will formulate ‘teams’ that will travel to Mainland and collaborate with various ‘teams’ of artists over there.  Also, TVB will continue to seek out other Mainland TV stations and film/TV production companies to collaborate with as well.  Artists who rarely ever film in Mainland (those mentioned in the interview include Moses Chan, Fala Chen, Wayne Lai, Kate Tsui, etc.) will eventually be heading up North one after another…

.—One of the goals that Virginia Lok (as head of the Artists Management Department) has been actively pursuing is to push the current ‘second tier’ TVB artists (VL mentions artists such as Eliza Sam, Christine Kuo, Rebecca Zhu, Oscar Leung, etc. in the interview)  up to ‘first tier’ fadan / siu sang level.  With many of the ‘first tier’ artists heading to Mainland, this will open up the door for TVB to further push this goal in the upcoming year.

.—As for the question of where their scripts will come from (since TVB will be providing the scripts and most of their long-time scriptwriters already left the company), Virginia Lok stated that they are ‘encouraging’ more variety in scripts by having them come from different sources – for example:  Eric Tsang will be writing some scripts specifically tailored for TVB; artists such as Wong Cho Lam will continue to provide ideas and outlines of scripts for TVB’s scriptwriters to work with. 

.—This year, TVB will be sending 10 of its singers to participate in the popular Mainland singing contest “Voice of China”.   [Note:  VL didn’t elaborate on this so not sure if she means TVB-groomed singers such as those who came out of their own singing contest “The Voice” or their so-called ‘actors/actresses turned singers’ – my guess is that she means their “The Voice” singers, as I’m assuming that TVB isn’t going to be foolish enough to send their actors and actresses (most of whom can’t sing to save their lives) to a Mainland singing contest where everyone is levels above them…it would be way too embarrassing….]

.—Lastly, according to Virginia Lok, they are hoping to reach a wider audience in HK – meaning break the tradition of catering to ‘housewife’ audiences only and instead try to appeal to more younger audiences. [TN:  Hmmm…not sure how true this part is because VL’s boss – TVB’s Assistant General Manager Au Wai Lam – stated in an interview for TVB Magazine last year that they will continue to cater to housewife audiences in the future because that’s the majority of the audience pool in HK].

In a nutshell – towards TVB’s ‘lofty’ goal of establishing TVBC and expanding into the Mainland market, TVB’s director of external affairs Tsang Sing Ming had this to say:  “We believe that with this method [creation of TVBC], it will encourage some of the siu sangs and fadans who were previously interested in leaving to stay behind now.  At the same time, it will also attract those ‘heavyweight’ artists who already left – such as Charmaine Sheh, Sheren Tang, etc. – to return.  The ‘worth’ (aka salaries) of TVBC artists will be calculated according to Mainland market rates.”   [TN:  I guess this means TVBC artists won’t have to work for ‘dirt cheap’ measly salaries like their HK counterparts do:  good news for those who get ‘chosen’ to be TVBC artists, but definitely bad news for those who remain behind in HK and must continue to ‘slave’ for peanuts (unfortunately, this is majority of the artists currently at TVB – especially the veteran third/fourth line ones….)]


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Now that the background is laid out,  here goes the rant…..

To be very honest, I actually don’t really give a damn about TVB expanding into the Mainland market, as I don’t watch Mainland series anyway and I’m not planning to watch in the future either (doesn’t matter if some of my favorite artists film in the Mainland – the series just don’t interest me).  So basically, what they decide to do over there is not my problem – that’s for the Mainland entertainment world to ‘worry’ about.

The piece that I’m most concerned about is how this expansion into the Mainland thing is going to affect TVB in HK – both the quality of series overall as well as the artists who will be ‘left behind’ so to speak. 

In terms of artists, I’m referring specifically to those third/fourth/fifth tier ‘green leaf’/’gam cho’ artists who are not ‘popular enough’ (meaning they are not on the ‘most favored’ list) to be given the time of day by TVB.  What’s going to happen to these talented green leaf artists who, under the current ‘system’, are already largely ignored and neglected by TVB?  What are the options?  Continue to work slave hours for cheap TVB at below market salaries that are barely enough to make ends meet in the hopes that 20 years down the road (if they make it that far) they will finally be able to climb to ‘recognizable’ status?  Or get out now while there’s still a chance and find something better to do than to work for a company that doesn’t give a damn about them (and never will as long as there are other more ‘popular’ artists to tend to)?

Of course, the ideal situation would be for these artists to ‘have a way out’ in the form of being able to continue doing what they love best (acting) in their own home territory (Hong Kong) -- namely, having the option to work for a different TV station in HK that better suits their needs.  Unfortunately, with this whole free TV license thing still in limbo (and no clear end in sight), the options are very limited – artists who still want to film TV series in HK must either work for slave-driving TVB or the ‘most likely soon to fold’ ATV (newsbrief: ATV’s top exec James Shing recently announced at FILMART that they will go back to producing series again – hmmm…given ATV’s current situation, let’s see if that actually pans out or not).  HKTV is probably the best option out there for most of these artists, but until they get their license (which could take a LONG time), it’s still a bit of a risky choice.

Oh and how about the quality of future series that TVB produces?  I mean, you’d think that TVB learned its lesson from the drastic decline in the quality of their series the past decade or so – just when you think that the quality couldn’t get any worse, now they’re planning on mixing in more ‘collaborative’ series  in the years to come, despite the fact that those types of series were never well-received by HK audiences (understandably so). 

And even with the collaborative series thing aside, the quality will still continue to suffer because the fact of the matter is, many of the ‘second tier’ artists that TVB is planning to promote JUST DON’T CUT IT – majority of the them need to go through acting training big time (oh and while they’re at it, some of them should go through ‘Cantonese as a Second Language’ courses as well…). 

Hmmm….all this makes me think whether TVB’s move to expand into the Mainland market is really because they want their artists to be ‘more known’ in Mainland (as they claim) or they’re actually motivated by something else (like greed and the hunger for power, for example).  I mean, honestly, TVB already has a huge problem with lack of capable artists at home (HK) -- instead of trying to ‘expand’ their empire further, shouldn’t they be more concerned with ‘fixing’ the issues they have at home first (by investing in acting training and changing some of their antiquated policies for example)?

The piece that gets me really worked up about this whole thing is the fact that TVB is so adamantly opposed to opening up the market in HK to allow more free TV stations in (and are doing everything in their power to prevent new licenses from being issued).  Sure, I understand the ‘argument’ about trying to protect business interests and profits, etc. but fact of the matter is, those are just excuses because anyone with common sense knows that TVB is not going to go bankrupt just because more TV stations are added to the mix.  I mean, let’s be real – we’re talking about a company that makes billions of dollars every year and while most companies are struggling to even survive, they are still turning over a hefty profit year after year (and now with the full-fledged expansion into the Mainland market, they will be raking in even more profit due to the lucrative market over there).  Given the great prospective and outlook in their favor, why does TVB need to continue selfishly holding on to their monopoly in HK when they know full well that they are stifling the growth of the industry (and threatening people’s livelihoods in the process)?

Bottom line – I don’t have the answer to whether TVB’s expansion into the Mainland is a good thing or bad one, as it really depends on the way you look at it.  But I do know that for me at least, I’m not too thrilled about it (for the reasons stated above).  Whatever the case, let’s see where this decision of TVB’s ends up leading...




25 comments:

  1. I've never lost so much interest in TVB's drama in my entire life. The fact that I'm more interested in watching US sitcoms, anime, and J dramas than TVB's speaks for itself. I was so excited for HKTV(CTI)'s dramas but god knows when the government (be it HK or China) releases those licenses. Until HKTV gets their license I'll continue to stay far away from HK dramas with their poor scripts and quality.

    Even my favorite Ruco Chan can't get me interested in watching a series where he's the lead. I'm still waiting for the ATF, Coastline series with Ruco and Raymond Wong, and possibly Big Wheel. Everything else I just ignore. I heard there's going to be Tiger Cubs 2, lets see how that turns out.

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    1. @sport3888: I totally hear ya! I’m in the same spot as well, except I spend my time watching old TVB dramas from the 70s/80s/90s rather than dramas from other countries. The fact that so many people are doing the same thing (watching old dramas or series from other countries instead) definitely speaks volumes as to how badly things have gotten at TVB. Like I mentioned in my post, the part that irks me is that instead of truly peeling back the layers and finding a fix to the root cause problems they’re having, they’re doing the band-aid approach thinking that will solve things when it’s obvious that it won’t. And of course, the whole HKTV license thing pisses me off too and just adds fuel to the fire in the whole scheme of things.

      I can understand the part about even favorite artists can’t get you interested in watching certain series because I feel the same way too. It’s sort of like with that Bobby and Esther series, which I was really looking forward to watching since I love both of them, but after finding out the rest of the cast, I was no longer interested (what’s the point of watching if I have to skip a lot of the scenes and switch on subtitles due to some of the cast not being able to speak Canto properly?). I like Ruco too and I did enjoy Reality Check, but that was pretty much an anomaly for me because I wasn’t even planning on watching the series in the first place….not sure about his other 3 series at this point because it sounds like all of them will be airing this year and so I’m afraid it’s going to be too much in one shot…we’ll have to see what happens.

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  2. I find it intriging how V Lok suddenly says they'll focus more on the "young market" when they've never have int he past decade! I bet it's the pressure from HKTV who's target market are the youngsters of HK that TVB has complete ignored since forever! All those younger audience would rather watch Taiwan, Japanese, Korean, and US shows than TVB's which doesn't resonate with them at all!

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    1. @sport3888: Haha…yup, I was surprised with that piece too because up until this point, TVB has been pretty adamant about catering to the housewife audience because they truly believe that’s the majority of the audiences in HK. While it may be true that housewives still make up a large part of the audience pool, it’s definitely not the same as in the past – there are a lot more younger housewives out there now who are more sophisticated and most of them actually work or have a social life….it’s not like back in the 70s/80s and even 90s when the majority audience pool were older housewives who stayed home looking after the children, doing household chores, and cooking dinner and would have the TV on in the background to accompany them. Also there are a lot more single people nowadays too and younger people who have better things to do with their lives than to sit in front of the TV all day waiting for a series to come on, so it definitely takes more effort to appeal to these audiences.

      I’m interested in seeing whether this ‘appealing to a younger audience thing’ is actually going to be a recurring theme with TVB because up to this point, VL is the only one who mentioned it in this particular interview – I haven’t heard anyone else in TVB management mention this previously….

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  3. Actually(we leave TVB first) the expansion of several artistes to mainland which leaves a big gap in TVB has its good thing.

    -Now Ruco Chan is confirmed as one of the new first line along with Oscar Leung and several others(unfortunately including can't act Jason Chan) and cemented Kenneth Ma's position as a first liner.

    -Now Ben Wong can also rise to leading position with the lack of first liner leads.

    -TVB brings us nostalgia by getting help from outside veterans to fill in.

    -Now first liners who are well sought after in mainland - Kevin Cheng, Raymond Lam, Bosco are not staple faces in TVB anymore and that means we can see more fresh faces on TVB and more leading opportunity as exampled by Ben Wong above, which happened after Raymond Lam denied the part.

    Besides as Miss Lok is busy in mainland, it gives other executives for example Tsang Jeh and Sandy Yu more power for TVB HK. Sandy Yu introduced Priscilla as a fresh face and I like her. She's cute and can act well for a newcomer.

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    1. Of course, there will also be unfair-ness for those who are waiting for opportunity to expand to mainland with Miss Lok exclusively mentioning "Artists who rarely ever film in Mainland (those mentioned in the interview include Moses Chan, Fala Chen, Wayne Lai, Kate Tsui, etc.) will eventually be heading up North one after another…" it is inevitable that some names NOT mentioned will be left out of this push.

      This statement below also shows where her favoritism among the "new generation" lies. It's inevitable that some talents might get left out.

      "One of the goals that Virginia Lok (as head of the Artists Management Department) has been actively pursuing is to push the current ‘second tier’ TVB artists (VL mentions artists such as Eliza Sam, Christine Kuo, Rebecca Zhu, Oscar Leung, etc. in the interview) up to ‘first tier’ fadan / siu sang level."

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    2. @Anonymous: Here’s the way I see it: if TVB’s expansion into the Mainland means that acting talents such as Ben Wong, Nancy Wu, Raymond Cho, etc. get to be elevated to lead status, then yes, I’m all for it. But unfortunately, I don’t have much confidence in TVB right now and based on the ‘names’ that were mentioned in the interview (assuming that everything in the interview is true), I have a bad feeling that those who don’t deserve to be promoted will be pushed up and the ones who truly have acting talent will remain in their positions. Basically, if expansion into Mainland means that we will be forced to see more of artists such as Christine Kuo, Eliza Sam, Rebecca Zhu, etc. (all of whom I already can’t bear to watch right now given their poor acting skills and bad Cantonese) then thanks but no thanks…..

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    3. @Anonymous: While I agree that so far, some of the artists who have reached or are approaching that ‘first level’ status (Ruco, Ben, Kenneth, Oscar, etc.) are being given more opportunities and it’s a good thing, it’s unfortunately only a small part of the equation….they still need to supplement with other artists who may not be at the same level and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Plus after awhile, audiences are eventually going to get tired of seeing the same people over and over again – of course, if the person has good acting skills and each performance is an enjoyable experience, then fine, but if the person’s acting sucks, then putting them in our faces over and over again is just going to make us dislike the artist.

      Like I said earlier, I like Ruco and definitely glad that he is finally getting the chance to shine, but I just hope that TVB doesn’t overdo it – after all, too much of a good thing doesn’t necessarily turn out well either. I would have been happy if TVB decided only to air 2 of Ruco’s series this year and save the other ones for next year, but it looks like they are planning to air all 4 of his series this year, which might end up hurting him rather than helping. Reality Check just finished airing last week and already they are planning to air Slow Boat Home (the Coastline series with Ruco and Raymond Wong) in May…if Brother’s Keeper (Big Wheel) does air in the anniversary timeslot as rumored, then that leaves Ruse of Engagement to air some time between that….oh and don’t forget that he still has Outbound Love (that’s the series with Aimee Chan and Lin Xiawei), which he is currently filming….depending on how things go, there’s still a possibility that series might air this year as well…I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of the year, audiences end up getting annoyed with the ‘overexposure’.

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    4. @Aonymous: I’m happy to see Ben Wong getting a lead role again, as he totally deserves it given his solid acting chops….but part of me can’t help wondering how long it’s going to last and whether TVB will pull the same crap they did back in the 90s when Ben’s first leading role series tanked and so they put him back into the supporting position (even though the primary reason why that particular series tanked was because of the poorly written script). It’s too early to tell at this point, since Food for Slaves has barely started filming….I guess we will have to wait and see…

      As for the whole ‘bringing back the veterans’ thing – well, as I’ve said before, I should probably be happy since I get to see the artists I grew up with on screen again (and I’m definitely all for nostalgia), but in actuality, it kind of ticks me off more than anything else because of the way TVB is doing it. As we’ve seen with majority of the veteran comeback series the past decade, very few of them have been successful and it turns out doing more harm than good because the veterans’ hard-earned reputations end up getting dragged through the mud. This is primarily because in most of the cases, TVB is just relying on the ‘star power’ of the veteran making the comeback and not paying attention to the script, so the series ends up sucking due to the poor storyline and flow (amongst other things). If they’re going to bring the veteran artists back but give them lame roles to play or a sucky script, then I would rather the veterans not come back….it’s too painful for me to see them have to go through hell and back all because they came back to film for TVB – it’s definitely not worth the effort….

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    5. Let's hope Food for Slaves will create the magic that Inbound Troubles created in HK.

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  4. llwy12 I agree if this means actors such as Ruco, Ben, Nancy Wu, get their rigthful leading roles fine but we all know from past history that TVB would rather promote those can can't act! Aimee Chan and Fala Chan are great examples was those who can't act yet get pushed to leading roles!

    I'm also worried, hope they don't air all of Ruco's series that would make audience sick of him! Although I didn't watch Reality Check since that series doesn't appeal me. I'm waiting for Coastline, Ruse of Engagement, and Big Wheel. Not too fond of the hair style and image they gave him for that new series with Aimee Chan (again!). It's like TVB doesn't have any actresses, rather he pair with someone closer to his age and acting level! That new series he's filming with Aimee doesn't look appealing at all!

    At times like these how I wish Mark KwokYiuMing and some other past male actors were still with TVB because they might finally get the push to leading roles that was always ignored.

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    1. @sport3888: In terms of Ruco -- I know what you mean…I’m not fond of him being paired with Aimee either (and to be honest, I’m not fond of the Linda pairing either)….that’s why I’m actually not looking forward to any of his upcoming series -- not sure about his pairing in Coastline, but that series just doesn’t appeal to me cuz it sounds too much like an idol series, plus I’m not fond of the females in that series at all; in both Ruse of Engagement and Outbound Love (that’s the new series he’s currently filming), I believe he’s paired with Aimee (arghh) and of course in Brother’s Keeper, he’s paired with Linda (I honestly think they should have switched the pairings – put Kristal with Ruco, since they were such a cute pair in No Good Either Way, and put Linda with Edwin instead).

      Yup, definitely times like these would have been the perfect chance for former up and comers (such as Mark Kwok as you mentioned) to possibly get a push – most of them can outperform today’s siu sangs any day. The other former actor I was thinking about is Ellesmere Choi – I’ve always liked him as an actor and felt that he was way underrated…he has the looks and the acting talent, so it still baffles me why he was never really promoted by TVB. People compare Ellesmere to Joe Ma a lot (probably cuz they’re both ‘tall and handsome’ supposedly), but in my opinion, Ellesmere has more charisma as an actor), plus he’s more versatile (Joe is too ‘wooden’ for my liking and oftentimes I find his performances very ‘one-track’ and boring)….I know for me personally, I would rather watch Ellesmere over Joe any day….

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    2. Ruco pairing with Linda is not a bad thing at all. It means his status is elevated to "first line". Linda is one of the "5 TVB fadans". It's much better than having Ruco pairing with Eliza Sam or Rebecca Zhu who still struggle to act and may need their partner to lead them.

      Besides Linda has great reception last year for her chemistry with Bosco in Witness Insecurity, and that series became the highest rated series of the year and boosted Bosco and Linda's popularity in mainland. Linda's fans sound excited whenever Linda has a cute love story onscreen, so this will boost up Ruco's popularity.

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    3. @Anonymous: All true, but I was speaking more from an “acting” perspective (sorry, but I’m still of the opinion that Linda can’t really act, even though I did like her performance in WI last year). Perhaps from a “popularity” perspective, pairing with Linda isn’t a bad thing, but from an “acting” perspective, I would think that with Ruco’s acting skills, he deserves to be paired with someone who has higher acting caliber (acting level wise, Ruco and Linda don’t match at all).

      Now of course, if we look at it from the perspective of Ruco pairing with the likes of Aimee / Eliza / Rebecca / Christine versus pairing with Linda, then that’s a different story altogether…..after all, pairing with anyone is better than pairing those ladies! LOL!

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    4. @llwy12 lol so true so true, pairing with anyone is better than piaring with those ladies you listed. From what I hear Raymond Wong is paired with Aimee in Coastline while Ruco is paired with Selena but still. Aimee in 3 of Ruco's series is just over kill. I just hope she doesn't ruin those series for me. I look forward to Coastline mainly for the 3 actors I like, Ruco Chan x RaymondWong x Matt Yeung. They look like great "brothers" as well so their chemistry should be something to look forward to. If anything I'll try to ignore the female leads...

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  5. Seriously how can someone so goodlooking not get his chance as a leading actor and only give jerk of the century and negative roles!

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    1. I've forgotten that Mark was in Modern version of Virtues of Harmony for one episode =/ miss his acting so much. Been wishing so much for Ricky Wong to contact him and bring him back to the acting industry! http://imgsrc.baidu.com/forum/w%3D580%3Bcp%3Dtieba%2C10%2C294%3Bap%3D%B9%F9%D2%AB%C3%F7%B0%C9%2C90%2C302/sign=5ee72e0f377adab43dd01b4bbbefd06c/1b4c510fd9f9d72ac6a78d3ad52a2834359bbbd2.jpg

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    2. OMG I know right? I was just watching VOHII over here in Canada and he appeared as Bondy's ex who liked her husband haha. My sister and I were wondering what happened to him. He's def. got the looks and the acting skills. I'll always remember him from A Kindred Spirit as that bald guy's son, er or Winnie's husband. Sorry, I'm bad with names xD

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    3. lol Yes that was probably his most "famous" role that made a great "good" impression on the audiences. TVB gave him a 2nd male lead in Time Off but I think the series didn't do too well and afterwards they always gave him "female lead/support actress cheating bf". He was almost always the "cheating bf/husband/jerk that Charmaine Sheh would dump afterwards in her series. It got so horrible to watch =/

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  6. huh? Why are these names even in the 2nd-tier? -> Christine Kuo, Eliza Sam, Rebecca Zhu ... they are total newbies (acting are really -_-), can't speak proper Cantonese (not sure about Rebecca but the other two, u know)... I would categorize them as "flower-vase" more...

    I agreed with Oscar Leung, Raymond Cho, Ben Wong and Kenneth Ma.

    And I dont really give a hoot to TVB expansion to mainland - not watching TVB drama as avidly as last time.

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    1. @fangorn: I know…I wouldn’t have put those 3 (Christine, Eliza, Rebecca) in ‘second tier’ either….but then again, this IS TVB we’re talking about and they’re notorious for their over-the-top promotion of talentless individuals, so I’m not surprised to say the least. Besides, VL is the type who bases her choices on looks, hype, and whoever does a good job of kissing her you-know-what rather than actual talent/acting skill, so I’m not surprised that those 3 would be ‘highly regarded’ in her book. Sorry to say, but if the above is what we have to ‘look forward to’ as a result of TVB expanding into the Mainland, then that’s truly very sad.

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    2. I also don't know what's so great about Eliza, Christine and Rebecca. All I see is either exaggerated, wooden of awkward faces in TVB series. All of them can't speak Cantonese fluently.

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    3. TVB has made their move to promote Eliza and Christine. Both of them are given leading heroine roles in two different HK movies which I suspected has TVB's deal at the back with these movie companies, the same way TVB dealt with Pegasus to sign a contract with Raymond Lam previously, and to let Kate Tsui involve in their movies.

      Guess what, Eliza will also team up with Michelle Yim and Bosco for a new drama in May. Why do I have this feeling that Eliza will be the female lead, while Michelle will just be the "veteran"? It's also interesting that TVB get Bosco back from mainland to specifically partner with Eliza.

      Sooner or later all the main actresses in TVB might be those who has trouble speaking Cantonese in a Cantonese TV drama and all hail from overseas! Sorry Mandy Wong and Nancy Wu.

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    4. @Anonymous: Haha…well, that gives me all the more reason to stop watching TVB (not like I haven’t done so already…LOL)! And I’m sorry, but I’ve always had an issue with TVB getting involved in movies, just like I’ve always had a problem with them putting their ‘hands’ into music… it’s enough that they’re already ‘ruining’ the TV industry with their lame policies and overpromotion of talentless individuals, but must they extend that to the music and movie world too? Can’t we at least have an alternate place to run to without having to encounter TVB’s handprint? No wonder so many people opt to watch entertainment from other countries instead….LOL.

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    5. God I couldn't agree more, it's enough that they're ruining tv viewing for audience but they ruined music and now ruining the movie industry by pushing their actors into movies and filming lame ass movies.

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