TVB and OnTV collaboration: Midnight time slot series poll

Ok, so I was catching up on some entertainment news today and came across an article from on.cc (which I’ve linked up below).  In the article, on.cc – or, more accurately, their television division ON TV – officially announced yesterday (9/13) that they are collaborating with TVB on a special poll.  Together with TVB, they’ve chosen 10 ‘classic’ TVB series for netizens to vote on (via Facebook) during the 2 week timespan from 9/14 to 9/28 -- TVB has agreed to re-broadcast the series with the most votes in their midnight timeslot starting on 10/5 (once the currently airing series Time Before Time is finished).

According to the article, the voting will go through 2 phases:  in the first phase, OnTV will post detailed information about each series, including cast photos, plot summary, video clips, recommendations on ‘must-watch’ scenes, etc so that each person voting will supposedly have all the details they need to vote.  The second phase will launch next week, though OnTV didn’t give any details on what this phase consists of.  Also, a very important point – there is no limit to the number of series each person can vote for…so for example, if you like all 10 series, you can vote for all 10 if you want.

Before I list out the 10 series that OnTV and TVB chose, I just want to say this:  maybe I’m thinking too much into things, but I just find it very coincidental that I wrote about this EXACT SAME idea on my blog a few days before this whole thing got rolled out.  Technically, I wrote 2 posts on TVB midnight timeslot – the first one was in July in which I kind of ‘complained’ about TVB’s choice of series and informally gave them some ‘suggestions’ on the next series to air.  Then last week, I did a most detailed post on which series I would’ve chosen if I were the program lineup director.  In addition to that, I also relayed the suggestion of doing a poll to have audiences pick what they want to watch in that timeslot.  Well, looks like now the poll is actually happening – though the part I don’t understand is why OnTV is doing the poll rather than TVB themselves. [Sidenote:  Call me a conspiracy theorist if you want, but there’s a part of me that can’t help but think that OnTV is associated with TVB somehow.  I already suspected this a few weeks ago when I was able to trace a picture that a few websites had used back to OnTV’s video clip – in that picture, OnTV was reporting on news about Lesley Chiang and Fred Cheng’s breakup.  They interviewed Lesley while she was at HKTV’s dinner for their series Hidden Faces, yet in the picture, any reference to HKTV (including their logo and the name of their series) were all blurred out.  When I saw the picture, I had questioned why a mainstream media outlet -- which, in order to maintain credibility and reputability, should take a ‘neutral’ stance when reporting news – would have the need to ‘block out’ another company’s logo and all references to that company’s product (especially since they didn’t block out the logo to the commercial sponsors of that event, Vidal Sassoon).  I later discovered that the picture was ‘clipped’ from the news video posted on OnTV’s website – sure enough, when I went on to check, everything in the video referring to HKTV was blurred out.  This is the first time that I’ve actually seen a mainstream media outlet in HK take such ‘action’ against a company that is not one of their competitors.  Well, now this whole thing with the poll further fuels my ‘suspicion’ about OnTV’s position. I won't go too much into it here, since it's kind of irrelevant to this post, but will probably revisit this topic again later on.]

Now that I’ve said my piece about the poll and OnTV, here are the 10 series that OnTV and TVB have chosen for audiences to vote.  (Discerning readers will probably notice that a few of these series were on my ‘suggestions’ list as well, except my list was limited to series from the 80s and 90s eras only).

Here are the 10 series from OnTV (in no particular order):

War of the Genders (男親女愛) – 2000

Looking Back in Anger (義不容情) – 1989

The Duke of Mount Deer (鹿鼎記) – 1984

The Feud of Two Brothers (流氓大亨) – 1986

It Runs in the Family (孖仔孖心肝) – 1990

Detective Investigation Files (刑事偵緝檔案) – 1995

Don’t Look Now (執到寶) – 1980

Files of Justice (壹號皇庭) – 1992

Police Cadet (新紮師兄) – 1984

A Step Into the Past (尋秦記) – 2001

And which series do I vote for?  Without a doubt, definitely Looking Back in Anger (not hard to guess considering I’ve been ‘harping’ on TVB since July to air that series in their midnight timeslot and also relayed that thought in 2 blog posts).   Outside of that series, I really don’t want to vote for the others because I actually disagree with some of the series on the list.  I’m actually curious to know how they came up with these 10 choices because as a long-time TVB fan who is familiar with their series from the late 70s to now, there are definitely other more ‘classic’ series that would bump some of these series out of top 10 contention. I'll have to do a little more digging but hopefully, either OnTV or TVB explain their criteria for choosing these series somewhere on their website or FB pages.

Source links:  

OnTV Facebook page (series profiles)

on.cc article (brief series intros)

TVB’s midnight timeslot series – part 2 (follow up post)

Back in July, I wrote a post entitled “TVB’s midnight timeslot series” (read it here).  Well, it’s now September and due to some recent things that transpired, I felt the need to do this follow up post.

First….is it just me or has the ‘hype’ surrounding TVB’s midnight timeslot waned?  Does anyone know which series TVB is airing in that timeslot right now? (the answer is Time Before Time in case you haven’t heard)  I don’t blame you if you don’t because the Media sure didn’t ‘talk about’ it as much as they did the earlier series in that timeslot.  Why?  Not the Media’s fault (for once…lol) by any means.  Rather, the problem lies with TVB’s poor choice of subsequent series lineup, resulting in them not being able to keep up the momentum that had started with the airing of The Greed of Man in that timeslot.  Actually, this problem of TVB making stupid decisions is not new -- in fact, it’s such a common issue with them that they’ve actually become notorious for it over the past decade.   I mean, for a station that has been in existence for 48 years and is pretty much the only local option for ordinary Hong Kongers to watch free TV programming, TVB’s lack of proper decision-making ability is appalling!   The complaint over the years that TVB does not know how to properly utilize opportunities that stare them right in the face, but rather, they only know how to employ 24/7 in-your-face promotional tactics without regard for quality or value, is indeed very valid.  The way they handled the midnight timeslot series thing is yet another example of this.

In my earlier post about the midnight timeslot, I had informally given TVB a few suggestions on what they SHOULD HAVE aired following The Greed of Man that would’ve allowed them to maintain the ‘hype’ and ‘momentum’ they had gained.  Well, let me lay it out more clearly.  If I were the person responsible for putting together the midnight timeslot schedule, here’s what I would’ve done:  instead of airing The Justice of Life and The Final Verdict (2 great series for the record, but not ‘the best of the best’), the series I would’ve put in the line-up after TGOM is Looking Back in Anger -- um, hello, given this series’ popularity as well as impact on society and the fact that it has been hailed as one of TVB’s best productions of all-time -- well, to me, this is a NO-BRAINER!  (In my previous post, I actually gave my ‘speculations’ for why TVB decided not to air this series).  Then after that I would’ve aired another one of TVB’s greatest productions of all-time:  Blood of Good and Evil (if LBIA was TVB’s best series to come out of the 80s era, then BOGAE is surely their best series to come out of the 90s era!!) – again, this is also a NO-BRAINER.  With those 2 series alone, TVB would’ve had it made, as there are many many audiences who either haven’t seen these 2 series despite hearing such great things about them (probably because they were born after these series aired or they didn’t ‘follow’ TVB back then) or audiences who have seen these series but love them so much that they would jump at the opportunity to re-watch.  Personally, I fall into the latter category – despite the fact that I’ve re-watched both series more times than I can count AND I own both series as part of my TVB series collection, I have absolutely no problem pulling up a chair and doing nothing but stare at the TV screen for the hour or so that the series is on.

After both of those awesome series, next in my line-up would probably be The Breaking Point (another one of my favorites that I’ve watched a gazillion times), which, coincidentally, TVB is actually re-airing right now during the weekends here on their U.S. satellite channels [sidenote:  I’ve got to say that whoever puts together the lineup for TVB’s overseas satellite channels is much smarter than their counterpart in HK…lol].  TBP was a hugely popular series at the time it aired and rightfully so given the awesome cast and acting (though in my opinion, there were definitely issues with the script/story, but taken as a whole, it’s not hard to overlook those flaws).  Then, to give audiences a ‘break’ from all the heavy, serious dramas (which I personally don’t feel is necessary but fine), I would choose a light-hearted comedy to air.  Actually, from what I read, it sounded like this was TVB’s original intention back after The Greed of Man aired (to give audiences a break by airing something less ‘heavy’).  While that’s not a bad idea, unfortunately TVB picked the wrong series.  If they wanted to air a Stephen Chow classic, they should’ve picked The Final Combat instead, as that series was the most representative of Stephen’s TVB career and was truly the series that shot him to stardom (plus he was the lead in that series whereas he was only supporting in The Justice of Life).  Oh and let’s not forget that while Stephen did show a bit of his trademark ‘mo lei tou’ comedy style in TJOL, it was really in The Final Combat that it’s unleashed in full force – plus the series was unique in terms of being a ‘wuxia comedy’ (which was a rarity back then, since most of the wuxia dramas at the time were pretty serious).

Speaking of wuxia…..how many times have you heard audiences complain about the lack of true wuxia series the past 15 years?  I, for one, hear that complaint every year and my response is always the same:  TVB can’t make wuxia series like they used to – they lack the resources for one and two they lack the know-how (I’m talking about the ‘traditional’ skills and knowledge involved in choreographing complicated fight scenes and working with wiring, not the crappy, fake CGI stuff that they love to use nowadays).  Of course, the fact that they no longer have the rights to remake Jin Yong’s works also doesn’t help (not that I would want another JY remake, as there have been way too many already, plus the remakes get worse every decade).  In terms of program line-up though, to feed the wuxia series drought, I would’ve seized the opportunity to re-broadcast a few classic wuxia series in that timeslot -- anyone familiar with the old days of TVB would know that there are plenty of great wuxia series from the 80s to choose from – for example: Legend of the Condor Heroes, Return of the Condor Heroes, The New Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre, The Two Most Honorable Knights, etc. – all are good choices in terms of wuxia classics that were popular back in the day and absolutely well-made/produced (plus, judging from the comments I’ve heard over the years, it’s obvious that many of the newer generation audiences have not seen the JY remakes from the 80s – well, this would give them the opportunity to see why us old-timers keep praising the 80s remakes as ‘the best’).

If we go back to modern series, other great choices include:  The Bund, Police Cadet ’84 as well as its sequel Police Cadet ’85 (don’t bother with the third and final installment, Police Cadet ’88, because it sucked), The Feud of Two Brothers, The Challenge of Life, Files of Justice, Detective Investigation Files, etc.  I could keep going on forever on this topic actually (I’ve got plenty more ‘classics’ that I would definitely include in the lineup), but I think those of you reading this get my drift already.  

In addition to airing all these series, the other thing I would’ve done is ‘poll the audience’ – meaning that I would send out a survey to audiences with the question:  “Which classic series from the 80s/90s era do you most want to see re-broadcasted in the midnight timeslot?” (keyword here is ‘80s/90s era’ because unfortunately, everyone’s definition of ‘classic’ is different).  This method sounds familiar, you say?  Yes, very discerning!  This is the exact thing that those ‘smart’ people over at HKTV did when they were preparing to launch their station last year – they put up a poll on their website and asked audiences to vote for which series (out of the 16 series they had produced) they wanted to watch first.  As we all know, the outcome was that their political-themed series The Election came out on top.  Originally, the plan was for HKTV to air their cop-themed series The Borderline as their debut series due to the tremendous reception the first episode had garnered months earlier during its ‘test run’ on Youtube.  But last minute, they decided to do a poll instead (which is not surprising since HKTV has had heavy interaction with audiences from the getgo – much unlike TVB who doesn’t give a crap about what their audiences think/feel/want).  I’m sure they were thinking that The Borderline would end up being the winner (so they could just move forward with original plan) but surprisingly (well, maybe not given that this was post-Occupy timeframe), their newest filmed series The Election ended up garnering the most votes (with The Borderline coming in at second place).  So what did HKTV do?  Well, this is where the ‘smart’ part kicks in (no, I didn’t use that word just because I felt like it):  they decided to air both series simultaneously – The Election was aired first, debuting on the weekend, and The Borderline followed right after, debuting the following weekday [sidenote:  for those wondering why The Election aired on a weekend, it’s because the series had just wrapped filming and there was still post-production work that needed to be done on it – by airing it once a week instead of every day, it gave the production team more time to complete the post-production].  So it ended up being a win/win situation for both sides:  the audiences got their pick (The Election) and HKTV still got to move forward with their original plan (air The Borderline as debut series).   See, it’s not that difficult to make audiences happy – so why can’t TVB get it right?? 

In any case, it’s obviously ‘too little too late now’, since TVB already lost their momentum with the midnight timeslot and who knows whether they will be able to gain it back (I highly doubt they can with the idiotic management team running the station currently).  Such a shame!  It’s sad how ‘not in tune’ TVB’s current management team is with their own programming and the station’s history / trends.  My advice:  change out this management team and get people in there who actually know what they are doing and can make proper decisions.  Otherwise….well just take one look at ATV – seeing what happened to them should be enough motivation for TVB to want a competent management team in place that is capable of making wise decisions that actually benefit the station.  I know it’s wishful thinking on my part but hey, I tried….

**EDITED** am730 Editorial: Hong Kong-style investigative TV series

I came across this article the other day and felt like sharing it.  The article is a quick, interesting read that discusses some of the most common ‘characteristics’ of Hong Kong’s investigative/mystery TV series.  Now of course, whether we view these ‘characteristics’ as positive or negative is up to the reader/audience, as each person’s viewpoint is different (though the writer of the article seems to view these characteristics as negative based on the sarcastic tone that he/she used to write the article).

Obviously, the writer is mainly referring to TVB’s series in the article (I guess we could say that is one disadvantage of being the only TV station in HK – when they is ‘criticism’ about “HK television series”, 99.9% of the time they are talking about TVB series).  With that said though, there IS mention of HKTV in the article and one of their series was talked about as having a similar ‘formulaic’ aspect to it (I’m sure those who’ve been following HKTV can guess which series, as I know we’ve talked about it in discussion forums).  To be honest, HKTV’s series also have some formulaic stuff in them, but I’m able to be more forgiving towards them because 1) they did put in huge effort to ‘break’ from the traditional TVB formula and produce series that are different from what HK audiences are used to; 2) they dare to explore topics that are ‘taboo’ or off-limits in HK (i.e. politics, Mainland/HK conflict, etc.), and 3) they have not been in existence for long (though some may argue that they are technically ‘illegitimate’ since they don’t have a license) and already they are exploring different things, whereas TVB has been around for more than 4 decades and despite their series going downhill, they still refuse to change.

Anyway, I digress…..going back to the article, how many of the below defining characteristics of HK television series do you agree with? 

P.S.:  In my translation, I tried to keep the writer’s sarcastic tone as much as possible, since the sarcasm is really what makes this article an interesting, witty read.  However, I recommend reading this article as it was originally written (in Cantonese) to get the full effect.

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999: Hong Kong-style investigative TV series

Source:  am730

Translation:  llwy12

Article originally published July 9, 2015

In the past few decades, Hong Kong’s biggest (and only) TV station has come out with its fair share of investigative series (推理劇). [TN: for the purposes of this article, I will use the word ‘investigative series’ to describe推理劇 however those who prefer ‘detective series’ or ‘mystery series’, feel free to use those terms instead].   These types of series generally have an abundant, complicated storyline and are almost guaranteed to pull in good ratings – indeed, these series had their glory days for a period of time.  However, as we all know, the traditional path for HK’s scriptwriters is to get ‘inspiration’ for their stories from American, Japanese, and Korean investigative series as well as novels.  This is why, in many of HK’s TV series, we often see familiar story concepts such as those found in the works of [Japanese novelist] Jiro Akagawa (赤川次郎), manga series Case Closed (aka Detective Conan), American series such as NYPD Blue and CSI, etc.  Now of course, the scriptwriters can’t copy those works verbatim, so they will always mix in some of their own ‘ideas’ to the story so as to make it their own – and with that, the ‘essential characteristics’ of HK television series was born.

1.       Working professionals (專業人士)

In HK series, the main lead is usually a working professional of some sort:  police officer, lawyer, doctor, high-ranking detective, forensics investigator, professor, etc.  Sometimes the character may even have more than one occupation that covers a combination of these professions.  What about ancient (costume) series, you ask?  Constable, guard, magistrate, bureaucratic official, etc. -- take your pick.  Oh and if they have any sort of martial arts skill, it makes their job of solving cases much easier!  Actually, Western series often go the ‘professional’ route as well, so we’re not too far off, I suppose.  Besides, in recent years, we’ve seen more of an emergence of less professional characters such as insurance agents, theater masters, etc. – I guess we can consider that a bit of improvement!

2.       One case per week (每周一單case)

Everyone knows that most Western investigative series utilize the ‘one case per episode’ route, which makes the story fast-paced and tightly written.  HK investigative series on the other hand, usually have two cases spanning 1 week, with 1 story easily taking up 3 to 4 episodes.  Investigative costume dramas, such as Justice Pao for example, are usually only 1 case per week, which of course means that the plot develops unbelievably slowly and oftentimes the story drags.  Actually, HKTV’s chairman Ricky Wong (王维基) had tried changing things up at one point, sending his scriptwriters overseas to learn the American way of filming series in the hopes of bringing a ray of light to HK audiences.  But we all know how that ended up, right?  No need for further explanation there!  So all you HK audiences out there, don’t even think about getting to watch this type of fast-paced investigative HK series any time soon!

3.       ‘Perfect’ main leads (完美主角)

If you notice in most HK investigative series over the past decades, the main leads are all physically fit and mentally as well as psychologically competent.  Dayo Wong’s (黃子華) character Detective Mok from TVB’s 2003 series To Catch the Uncatchable (棟篤神探) can be considered a rare exception, as he has asthma, so he is not able to heroically carry the series’ female lead Ada Choi (蔡少芬) out of an inferno (like all his other counterparts have done with their female leads).  Scriptwriters of Western series already realized a long time ago that having their main characters be ‘perfect’ is way too unrealistic, so they will usually add some type of ‘flaw’ to the character – for example, making the character have an obsessive-compulsive disorder or some type of physical handicap.

4.       Suspects voluntarily confess (疑兇自爆)

Don’t know why, but in most HK investigative series, when it comes to solving cases, the pattern is almost always the same:  when the suspect is caught and questioned on whether he is the killer, he will first give you that ‘how did you know?’ look, then inevitably he will confess to the crime.  Not only that, he will then start describing in detail every bad thing he did and his justification for doing it – things that perhaps you already knew as well as things that you didn’t.  Boy do we wish that criminals in real life would be this cooperative – we could save a lot of money in attorneys’ fees and also a lot of precious public time and money!

5.       Reenactment of cases (案件重演)

In HK investigative series, once the suspect confesses to the crime, there’s no need to wait for Police Report (警訊) to find out the details of the crime.  Automatically, the case will go into the ‘reenactment’ stage, the scene’s background color will change to either black and white or a lighter color, and the suspect will then start ‘telling his story’ from the beginning:  how he killed the victim, how he disposed of the body, how he framed someone else for the crime, how he misled the police, etc. etc.  In fact, the description will be so detailed that audiences pretty much only need to watch those few minutes of confession and they will already know the exact story that occurred in the previous few episodes.

6.       Voiceover accompaniment (v.o.配畫面)

HK’s TV stations generally believe that reenacting a case in detail is not enough to help the housewives (whose minds are probably numb from doing household chores all day) or the elderly folks (who most likely have weakened vision) understand the case completely from beginning to end.  Therefore, they (the TV stations) will very ‘attentively’ add voiceover (旁白) to accompany the reenactment scenes:  for example, the scene shows the suspect standing over the victim, knife in hand, ready to stab -- the voiceover accompanying that scene involves the suspect saying, “At that moment, I decided to stab him!”  Another example:  the scene shows the suspect digging a big hole in the ground, obviously to bury the body, yet it is necessary to have the voiceover say “I dug a hole and buried the body.”   So attentive indeed!

7.       Homosexuals are killers? (同志係兇手？)

An earlier analysis of HK television series concluded that HK-style investigative series with homosexual characters usually will portray them as killers or other criminals.  A recent example is last year’s TVB series Officer Geomancer (八卦神探) where the lesbian character portrayed by Pauline Chow (周寶霖) ended up being a serial killer.  Oh and remember Kevin Cheng’s (鄭嘉穎) character in 2007’s The Ultimate Crime Fighter (通天幹探) and Kiwi Yuen’s (袁潔儀) character in 2005’s Into Thin Air (人間蒸發)?  Both were homosexuals and both ended up being murderers.   In the few instances where homosexual characters are not written as killers or murder suspects, they are still not portrayed in a good light, with those characters usually being a villain or a bad person.  I wonder if this is considered being prejudiced?

8.       Love story, love story, and more love story (愛情、愛情再愛情)

Not sure if HK’s scriptwriters feel that most Hong Kongers’ lives are dull and uninteresting so they feel the need to ‘spice things up’ with complicated love relationships.  In practically every investigative series, the scriptwriters will add at least one (though more often than not it’s ‘many') love relationship line for each of its main characters – the most classic example of this is Detective Investigation Files IV (刑事偵緝檔案IV), which featured 2 male leads and 4 female leads in love relationships that at times overshadowed the plot itself.  It’s almost as though if a series doesn’t have complicated love relationships, no one will watch.  Wait a minute….I remember now that a scriptwriter told me once that there really was a series that had no love relationship lines whatsoever – the ratings ended up in the toilet and the station even threatened to ax the series!  Well, in that case, what else can I say except to admit that HK audiences truly do need love relationships in order to survive?

9.       The ‘twins’ antidote (孖生解藥)

With investigative series, we know that scriptwriters are endlessly immersed in conjuring up various ideas for their cases.  So it’s reasonable to expect that, at times, they will come up with cases so complicated that even they cannot come up with a plausible way to solve them!  Well, no worries, because when in a rut, the sure-fire way to resolve it is to add a twin brother or twin sister character to the mix!  A few examples:  Ram Tseung’s (蔣志光) character in 1997’s Mystery Files (迷離檔案) as well as Maggie Siu’s (邵美琪) character in Detective Investigation Files IV (刑事偵緝檔案IV) both had twin siblings who ended up being killers (though it’s not discovered until after the characters appear to suffer from schizophrenia, only to realize afterwards that it was the twin all along).  Even HKTV’s The Borderline (警界線) had to resort to the ‘twins’ storyline in order to resolve the ‘mystery’ of killer Pandora’s true identity.

10.   ‘Everything goes’ ending (合該有事)

As if all the ‘out of the ordinary’ cases that the main leads experience throughout the series is not enough (hey, in real life, there are cops who’ve been in the police force for 30 years and don’t encounter the ‘extraordinary’ cases the characters in investigative series do), the scriptwriters find it necessary to make the lead characters' lives as ‘dramatic’ in the finale as possible.  Therefore, in the series’ final case, the tables are usually turned on the main leads, with them either being framed or getting into all manner of trouble that is [seemingly] impossible to get out of.  Oh and of course, in the end, the female lead and / or her family have to be pulled into the mess as well, with the most common situation being kidnapping or holding them hostage.  Don’t believe me?  Go ask Jessica Hsuan (宣萱)! [TN:  Haha…I laughed at that last part – Jessica probably holds the record for being kidnapped/held hostage the most in TVB series].

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Here’s my take on the 10 ‘characteristics’ that the article describes:

The first point about working professionals I actually don’t have a problem with, as it’s kind of hard to avoid.  I basically don’t see a problem with going the ‘working professional’ route as long as the story is written well.

Point #2 I’m definitely in agreement with, as that’s one of the main reasons why a lot of the series get so draggy (though there’s other stuff too, such as the love relationship thing they mentioned in #8).  In fact, isn’t that one of the biggest complaints with TVB’s series in general – that they aren’t “fast-paced” enough and drag on and on unnecessarily?

Point #3 is a bit of an exaggeration (especially with the ‘carrying the female lead out of an inferno’ part), but it does have some truth to it in that oftentimes the main leads in HK series truly are ‘too perfect’.  This one is pretty much an indirect critique on the lack of character development in many of TVB’s scripts.

Point #4 -- I agree that the suspect confession thing truly is overused in most of TVB’s investigative series – the writer made a good point with the example of criminals not being so “cooperative” in real life…I mean, how many times have we seen a suspect get arrested, get proven guilty, and go to jail, but never once confess to committing the crime?  Too many times to count.   

Points #5  and 6 had me laughing really hard.  Yes, the writer was overly sarcastic (I don’t think the housewives and the elderly would appreciate being stereotyped like that), but what he/she said is very true.  This is pretty much a jab at the constant redundant dialogue in TVB’s scripts, which we already know is a big problem for them (this is definitely not the first time it’s been brought up).  When I first read this point, I was reminded of something I had read about HKTV a few years back, how Ricky Wong was so adamant about his scriptwriters not having redundant, wasteful dialogue in their scripts – his philosophy was:  the less dialogue, the better.  It’s obvious that HKTV spent a lot of time refining this area in their scripts, which I as an audience definitely appreciate…

Personally, I’m glad they put point #7 in there because the way TVB portrays / handles homosexual characters has been a long-standing problem with their series and one that is extremely disturbing given how huge an influence their series have on society.  The part I’m not sure of is whether they handle the characters this way out of ignorance or out of bias – either way, it’s definitely a problem.  I will have to say that, so far, I definitely appreciate the approach that HKTV has taken to homosexual characters in their series (which is completely opposite of TVB’s) – and like The Menu’s scriptwriter Poon Man Hung said during an interview:  since she does not have experience writing about homosexual characters and therefore doesn’t have the confidence that she can handle the subject properly, she would rather just touch on it briefly like she did in The Menu and leave it at that….obviously a smart decision!

Point #8 has always been one of my pet peeves since I learned how to write scripts many years ago.  While it’s true that there will always be some type of ‘love’ relationship in all scripts, the part that TVB’s scriptwriters don’t seem to understand is that ‘love relationship’ doesn’t always have to mean romantic love – there’s love between family, friends, even strangers that can be completely platonic.  To me, putting too many complicated love relationships into a series whose focus is not above that at all totally detracts from the original story itself (I think the writer read my mind here because the first example that came to my mind when I read this one was also DIF IV, as that has always been the biggest ‘complaint’ I had about the series – though of course there are many others with the same problem too).

Point #9 is one that I think pretty much everyone agrees with as being a common ‘issue’ with HK series.  I kind of think that HK (meaning TVB) series have a bigger problem with this than others because of the way they operate in terms of casting and availability of artists and yes, the politics.  Oh and of course, the ‘obsession’ with filming a sequel to practically every series with the same or similar cast doesn’t help either….

And finally, point #10 – another point well-made that is very true of many TVB investigative series.  In fact, I feel this type of ‘everything goes’ finale should be ranked right up there with the cheesy BBQ ending thing that TVB gets criticized about all the time (LOL).  And poor Jessica – no wonder she doesn’t want to film for TVB anymore, especially since they keep giving her the same types of roles (that also go through the same types of experiences) over and over again….

REPOST: Top Ten HIGHEST and LOWEST Rated TVB Series from the past 15-20 years (Part 1)

This article was actually written back in September 2013 and I had actually already posted up Part 1 not too long after the original article was published, however, before I got a chance to post up Part 2, I got sidetracked with the whole free TV license thing.  Now that things have settled a bit, I finally found some time to translate Part 2 – therefore, I figured it would be best to ‘re-post’ Part 1 so that people can read both parts together….besides, there are some important ‘disclaimers’ that I wrote when I posted Part 1 initially that also apply to Part 2 – this way, I don’t have to repeat myself for Part 2…LOL.

Anyway….those who didn’t get a chance to read Part 1 can do so now.  Part 2 will follow right after this…

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Here’s an article that I came across earlier in the week.  It’s kind of a ‘two-parter’ special feature of sorts where Singpao (newspaper in HK) counts down the Top 10 highest rated and lowest rated TVB series from the past 15-20 years (the article doesn’t specify the dates, but based on the content, looks like the oldest series is from 1992).

I actually didn’t get the chance to ‘vet’ this article yet to see how ‘credible’ the information is – therefore, please take this article for what it is and don’t get too worked up if certain series are not on the list and you feel they should be (and vice versa).   I personally won’t vouch for the information in this article, but I will say this – I definitely have heard about a few of the series on the list having high or low ratings in the past, so there weren’t too many ‘shockers’ for me when I first read the article (for example:  The Intangible Truth being on the ‘lowest rated’ series list and Square Pegs being on the ‘highest rated’ series list are both accurate for sure, as the star of both series -- Roger Kwok -- had talked about this several years ago on his Be My Guest interview with Stephen Chan).

The one part I question about this article is the timeframe – I wish that it were more clearly defined.  It would make sense to say that the series were all from the past 15 years or so (late 90s to post-2000s), but then they threw in the series Key Man in there, which is from 1992  (which is why I threw the ‘20’ in the title of this post) – true, that was the only early 90s series on the list, but still, makes me wonder about the gap in timeframe.

Anyway, one thing to note – both the ‘highest’ and ‘lowest’ lists only count the ‘top ten’ series….so just because a series didn’t make the list doesn’t mean that it had good or bad ratings – it just didn’t get a ‘placement’ on the list based on mathematical calculation.  I emphasize this point because some people may misread the title and think that this is one of those ‘highest/lowest of all time’ type countdown, which is definitely NOT the case – there are actually NO 1980s or early 1990s series on this list at all.  [As a sidenote:  If you would like an idea of what the top rated TVB series were from the 1970s to early 1990s (1991 or so), check out this particular blog post that I wrote several years back – it’s a recap of the ‘top rated series countdown’ that TVB did themselves during one of their Anniversary Galas (complete with a video excerpt from the gala itself!): TVB 28th Anniversary Gala]

Back to the article…..part 1 will cover the ‘highest rated’ series while Part 2 will cover the ‘lowest rated’ series. (Again, both lists were put together by Singpao – I’m not too familiar with that particular newspaper, so not sure how ‘trustworthy’ it is…therefore, please don’t shoot me if the information is wrong….)

What are your thoughts on this list?  Agree?  Disagree?  Shocked?  Don’t care?

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Top Ten HIGHEST Rated TVB Series 

Source:  Singpao

Translation: llwy12

In recent years, there has been an obvious downward trend in the ratings for TVB series.  Some of the criticisms towards TVB series that have arisen over the years include poor production quality, accusations of ‘copying’ ideas from other series, plot and story arcs being too ‘heavy taste’, etc. – the result is that TVB series have lost a lot of their previous luster and appeal.  In addition, the rapid advancement of technology such as the Internet -- which gives audiences the choice of viewing series online rather than on television -- plus TVB’s recent switch to a different ratings measurement company, all contributed to majority of TVB’s series not being able to reach the 30 point mark in the past year.  In fact, it has gotten to the point where even TVB’s own ‘TV King’ and ‘TV Queen’ winners aren’t able to pull the station out of its ratings rut, as evidenced by the disastrous ratings that both Bullet Brain (神探高倫布) [starring 3-time TV King winner Wayne Lai (黎耀祥)] and Beauty at War (金枝慾孽貳) [starring 2-time TV Queen winner Sheren Tang (鄧萃雯)] garnered.  With all these factors combined together, it’s no wonder that so many people have called into question the relevancy of TVB’s series in recent years.  It wasn’t until this past summer when the airline-themed Triumph in the Skies II (衝上雲霄II) finally aired that TVB was able to regain their lost ground in the ratings department – unfortunately though, since the series was a sequel to their hit series from 10 years ago and brought many of the characters back from the original series, it can be said that the ratings increase was partially due to the popularity of the original.

Given the recent ratings situation, we (Singpao) decided to put together a list of TVB’s highest rated series from the past 15 years or so to ‘reminisce’ together with our readers.  However, one interesting thing to note is that even the number one highest rated HK series on the list could not reach the ‘ratings peak’ that Korean drama Jewel in the Palace (大長今) created when it aired on TVB back in 2005.

Rankings and summary below:

1^st PLACE:  Square Pegs (戇夫成龍) [2003] – averaged 37 points, peaked at 46 points

Set in the late Qing / early Republic era, this series aired at the end of 2002 going into early 2003 and starred Roger Kwok (郭晉安), Jessica Hsuan (宣萱), Raymond Cho (曹永廉), Winnie Yeung (楊婉儀), Yuen Wah (元華), etc.  Not only did the series garner the highest overall ratings (based on calculation), it also proved to pay off greatly for the series’ lead actor Roger Kwok, as he won both the TV King and Favorite TV Male Character awards at that year’s (2003) Anniversary Gala for his performance, which catapulted him once again to the height of his career.  In 2005, the sequel Life Made Simple (阿旺新傳) was made, which was set in the modern era and re-assembled many of the same cast members from the original series – unfortunately though, the series was not able to achieve the type of record-setting success that its predecessor did.

2^nd PLACE:  Return of the Cuckoo (十月初五的月光) [2000] – averaged 36 points, peaked at 46 points

At the mention of this series, the first thing most people will probably remember is Julian ‘Chilam’ Cheung’s (張智霖) character Brother Chor (初哥哥).  Set against the backdrop of one of Macau’s most famous streets (Rua de Cinco de Outubro十月初五街), the main plot of the series revolved around both family love and romance.

In addition to setting ratings records at the time, the series also received quite a few awards, including the Best Serial Drama award from Taiwan’s APTV as well as various awards at TVB’s Anniversary Awards Gala, such as the ‘Favorite Television Character’ award for Chilam Cheung, Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼), and Nancy Sit (薛家燕) [TN: the Favorite Character award back then was given out to as many as 10-15 artists in a given year] and also the ‘Favorite On-screen Partners – Drama Series’ award for Chilam and Charmaine.

The series also successfully cemented lead actress Charmaine Sheh’s ‘first line fadan’ status at TVB; at the same time, Chilam Cheung’s theme song for the series, Wishing Kwan Well (祝君好) became an instant hit and even today, enjoys a status as one of TVB’s most popular, ‘classic’ love ballads.

3^rd PLACE:  Armed Reaction 2 (陀槍師姐II) [2000] – averaged 36 points, peaked at 47 points

Fans who enjoy watching the ‘magical’ chemistry between ‘golden’ pairing Bobby Au Yeung (歐陽震華) and Esther Kwan (關詠荷) can check out their latest collaboration Always and Ever (情逆三世緣) [which just finished airing on TVB].  But when it comes to recounting one of the most representative, ‘classic’ collaborations between these two, the Armed Reaction (陀槍師姐) franchise is definitely at the top of most audience’s lists.   Set in the modern era, the first installment to this police comedy/drama franchise originally aired in 1998 to almost instant popularity, resulting in a sequel to be made in 2000 that not only reunited the entire original cast, it also continued the story exactly where the original left off.  In an interesting twist, the ratings for the second installment far surpassed the original -- not only did the series break ratings records for franchised series, it also shattered the widely held notion that sequels are never as good as the originals.  The franchise also expanded its reach into Taiwan at one point and was well-received there as well.

The characters in the series also left a deep impression with audiences – Esther Kwan’s Ngor Jeh and Joyce Tang’s (滕麗明) Sam Yue’ were especially memorable and can be considered both actresses’ most ‘representative’ performances.

4^th PLACE:  Time Before Time (大鬧廣昌隆) [1997] – averaged 36 points, peaked at 46 points

Starring Gordon Lam (林家棟), Kathy Chow (周海媚), Florence Kwok (郭少芸), etc., this pre-modern ‘supernatural’ themed series premiered in 1997 with a plot that revolved around the romance between ‘Ah Gwong’ (Gordon) and a ‘ghost’ named ‘Siu Fu Yong’ (Kathy) who resides in an umbrella.  Even though the series was technically a ‘ghost story’, the underlying message was actually about interpersonal relationships (whether between family, friends, lovers, etc.) – resulting in a story that resonated on an emotional level with audiences.

5^th PLACE:  Journey to the West (西遊記) [1996] – averaged 36 points, peaked at 43 points

Starring Dicky Cheung (張衛健) in the lead role as the Monkey King, Journey to the West first premiered in 1996.  In 1998, the series was rebroadcast on TVB’s Jade Pearl channel [TN: TVB’s English language channel] in both English and Cantonese – that same year, a sequel to the iconic series, Journey to the West II, debuted on TVB’s Jade channel, however this time around, Dicky’s starring role was replaced by fellow actor Benny Chan (陳浩民).

Journey to the West was an important series in many aspects, but one of its biggest ‘contributions’ was that it shot each of the main actors in the series to almost instant stardom, including ‘Monkey King Sun WuKong’ Dicky Cheung, ‘Tang Sanzang’ Kong Wah (江華), ‘Zhu Bajie’ Wayne Lai (黎耀祥), and ‘Sha Wujing’ Evergreen Mak (麥長青).  The series proved to be immensely popular with audiences, especially the younger crowd – back when the series aired, audiences throughout HK could be heard repeating Dicky Cheung’s ‘golden phrase’ from the series:  “Yo!  Nothing to be afraid of!” [Yo！使乜驚呀！]

6^th PLACE:  Detective Investigation Files III (刑事偵緝檔案III) [1997] – averaged 36 points, peaked at 44 points

When it comes to cop series, the entire Detective Investigation Files franchise can be counted as a ‘classic’ that was immensely popular with audiences back then and continues to be even now.  Back in 1995, the first installment in the franchise debuted to stellar ratings, prompting a sequel to be filmed immediately and aired in December that same year, thereby making DIF the first franchise in TVB history to have both its original and sequel air within the same year.  The 3^rd installment of the franchise – the last one with the original cast from the first 2 installments -- aired in 1997 and broke ratings records.  In addition, the DIF franchise also succeeded in cementing star Michael Tao’s (陶大宇) status as a lead actor – he also became especially popular amongst TVB’s female audiences, earning him the title of ‘housewife killer’ (a title he shared with fellow actor and close friend Bobby AuYeung 歐陽震華).

7^th PLACE:  The Key Man (巨人) [1992] – averaged 36 points, peaked at 43 points 

Out of the 10 series on this list, 1992’s The Key Man can be considered the one that dates back the longest.  Many of the artists who participated in this series became ‘stars’ in their own right – amongst them including Alex Man (萬梓良), Louise Lee (李司棋), Idy Chan (陳玉蓮), Monica Chan (陳法蓉), Dicky Cheung (張衛健), Cutie Mui (梅小惠), etc.  With its storyline surrounding the complicated love/hate relationships between several generations of 2 families, The Key Man can be considered a ‘model’ for classic, family conflict themed modern series.  In addition, this series started the ‘trend’ of series that revolved around business world conflicts and battles amongst families – a theme that was pushed to its ultimate peak with TVB’s famous classic The Greed of Man (大時代), which aired later that year.  This series can also be considered one of veteran actor Alex Man’s most representative works.

8^th PLACE:  War of the Genders (男親女愛) [2000] – averaged 35 points, peaked at 50 points

Every time comedian Dayo Wong (黃子華) films a series for TVB, it almost always garners attention and becomes a hot discussion topic -- in this way, he is absolutely a ‘ratings guarantee’.   In 2000, Dayo teamed up with Dodo Cheng (鄭裕玲), Marsha Yuen (原子鏸), Patrick Tang (鄧健泓), etc. in a situational comedy (sitcom) called War of the Genders that not only became an immensely popular ‘classic’, it also ‘smashed’ ratings records when it peaked at 50 points near the latter part of the series.  War of the Genders was the first TVB series to reach the 50 point mark in ratings and shares the record as being one of only 4 series that have been able to achieve this so far. [TN:  The other series were:  Korean drama Jewel in the Palace (大長今), which aired on TVB in 2005, 2008’s Moonlight Resonance (溏心風暴之家好月圓), and 2009’s Beyond the Realm of Conscience (宮心計)].  In addition, this was one of the few TVB series that was also turned into a stage musical not long after its successful television run, thereby allowing audiences to enjoy the hilarious antics of the cast and the humorous story all over again.

9^th PLACE:   Moonlight Resonance (溏心風暴之家好月圓) [2008] – averaged 35 points, peaked at 50 points

Billed as the ‘sequel’ to 2007’s grand production Heart of Greed (溏心風暴), Moonlight Resonance went down in the history books as one of HK’s highest rated series ever.  With its huge ensemble cast comprised of TV veterans such as Ha Yu (夏雨), Louise Lee (李司棋), Susanna Kwan (關菊英), Michelle Yim (米雪), Lee Heung Kam (李香琴) as well as popular idols such as Raymond Lam (林峯), Moses Chan (陳豪), Linda Chung (鍾嘉欣), Tavia Yeung (楊怡), etc., the series not only lived up to the ‘success’ of its predecessor Heart of Greed, it also far surpassed it in terms of ratings and popularity.  Further to re-assembling most of the original cast from the first installment, the sequel also boasted the addition of popular artists such as future 3-time TV King Wayne La, Kate Tsui (徐子珊), etc.

10^th PLACE:  Beyond the Realm of Conscience (宮心計) [2009] – averaged 35 points, peaked at 50 points

Due to its ancient series genre and palace conflict theme, Beyond the Realm of Conscience has often been compared to TVB’s 2004 hit palace series War and Beauty (金枝慾孽) since it debuted 4 years ago.  At TVB’s Anniversary Awards ceremony in 2009, the battle for TV Queen ended up coming down to a heated race between BTROC’s Tavia Yeung (楊怡) and veteran actress Sheren Tang (鄧萃雯), who was nominated for her phenomenal performance in Rosy Business (巾幗梟雄) [coincidentally, Sheren had also starred in War and Beauty back in 2004 and was widely viewed as having been ‘robbed’ of the TV Queen award that year for her stellar portrayal of Concubine Yu in the series].  In the end, Sheren triumphed by winning the coveted TV Queen award for her portrayal of Fourth Mistress in Rosy Business while Tavia took home the Favorite Female TV Character award for her performance in BTROC.