BLAST FROM THE PAST: 1985 JSG Awards – Opening Music Segment

In a few of my recent posts, I had mentioned the general sentiment that the quality of TVB’s series has declined drastically over the years and there are very few series worth watching anymore.   Well, the same sentiment applies to TVB’s variety programs as well.  Ok, actually, on second thought, the situation with TVB’s variety programs is actually worse than what’s been happening with their series.   At least with their TV series, I can still find a handful of series that are either ‘worth watching’ or I’m willing to sit through (however begrudgingly) in order to support certain artists I may like (though technically, nowadays I just watch certain episodes or scenes and skip the rest of the series)….with their variety shows however, I’ve pretty much lost all motivation to watch.

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, TVB’s variety shows used to be ‘must-watch’ events for me back then.  From JSG to Miss HK to the annual charity shows and of course the anniversary galas, all were grand events where the ‘big’ stars (as well as the ‘not-so-big’ stars) would usually all be in attendance.  Every minute of each show was truly worth watching and it was so easy to be drawn in to the point that I would pretty much do nothing except stare at the TV screen for an hour or two.  Even their specialty programs, game shows, documentaries, etc. were excellent and worthy of watching regardless of whether well-known / popular celebrities were involved or not.  Anyone here remember TVB’s flagship variety program E.Y.T. (Enjoy Yourself Tonight)?  That program served as a ‘launching pad’ for many of HK’s biggest stars, as it gave artists – especially newbies – a platform to showcase their talent (whether in acting or singing) and hone their skills (I personally feel it was especially beneficial for actors/actresses, as they got to ‘practice’ their acting skills by participating in various skits in front of live audiences every night).  E.Y.T. was one of my favorite variety programs back then, so you can probably imagine how sad I was when it ended back in the mid-90s (note:  I’m referring here strictly to the ‘original’ E.Y.T. program that lasted from 1967 to 1994, NOT the ‘failed’ revival attempts of the program that TVB did in the late 90s and once again in the mid-2000s era). 

It’s a shame that TVB is no longer capable of making good variety programs anymore.  Yes, part of it is the lack of talent, but a lot of it also has to do with TVB’s own antiquated policies and ‘modus operandi’, especially where music-related programs are concerned.  This is why TVB has not been able to draw any star power into its music programs for at least 10 years now.  Of course, I don’t blame the big name stars, as I wouldn’t cave in to TVB’s restrictive policies either if I were them – I mean, why limit yourself to only appearing on TVB and be forced to speak only Mandarin in all non-TVB interviews when there are so many media platforms/options to choose from nowadays, especially as it pertains to music?

Anyway, the reason for my post is actually to share the below video (my ‘intro’ above was intended to set-up for this video clip, but I ended up ‘venting’ again about TVB – sorry, couldn’t help myself..LOL).  This video clip is an excerpt from TVB’s 1985 JSG Music Awards.  For those who might not be familiar with how the awards ceremony worked back then (can’t speak to whether it’s the same thing now since I stopped watching JSG more than 10 years ago), the ceremony always started with a huge musical number where all the artists with nominated songs would sing snippets of their songs – think of it as a huge 15 minute remix segment.  Well, the below clip is that ’15 minute remix’ – the intro segment to 1985’s JSG where all the nominated artists who attended sang a few lines of their songs as a refresher for audiences (even those who didn’t attend got to ‘sing’).

In watching this clip, I was of course super-excited -- it has been a long time since I watched the 80s era JSG awards (that’s the next ‘binge re-watching marathon’ that I intend on doing after I finish re-watching all these old 80s/90s era TVB series that I’m doing currently), so getting to re-live that moment was absolutely awesome!  And of course, since I’m familiar with all the songs that were nominated (ah, 80s Cantopop – boy do I miss it!!!), I couldn’t help singing along for the entire 15 minutes (gosh, can’t even remember anymore when I felt the urge to sing along to a TVB music program!).  With that said though, I must admit that part of me was a little bit sad at the same time – one reason of course is because I miss those stars who left us already (Anita, Leslie, Danny), but the other reason is because of the dismal state of the HK music industry nowadays (and the dismal state of the entire HK entertainment industry as a whole).  It definitely makes these ‘nostalgic’ moments worth treasuring, no matter how fleeting they may be….

So, for the next 15 minutes, sit back and enjoy this ‘blast from the past’ (or if you’re an ‘old-timer’ like me, you might feel the urge to stand up and actually sing/jam along to each song and have your own personal karaoke session for 15 minutes…LOL).  For convenience’s sake, I also posted the song list underneath the video clip (wow – they actually sang 40 songs in the clip….it went by so quickly, I didn’t even realize they were actually able to cram all 40 nominated songs into the opening segment!).  And yes, in case you were wondering, I DID go back afterwards and pull all 40 songs from my music collection so I could re-listen to the full versions, since only listening to a few seconds worth in the video wasn’t enough in my opinion.

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**Video credit to cyberwarrior**

Song list:

1) 十分十二吋 - 林子祥

2) 愛情陷阱 - 譚詠麟

3) 此刻你在何處 - 譚詠麟

4) 蔓珠莎華 - 梅艷芳

5) Smile Again 瑪利亞 - 張學友

6) 愛情組曲 - 張學友、鍾鎮濤、蔡國權

7) 誰可相依 - 蘇芮

8) 不羈的風 - 張國榮

9) 少女心事 - 張國榮

10) 情已逝 - 張學友

11) 200度 - 葉蒨文

12) 等 - 陳百強

13) 空凳 - 夏韶聲

14) 雪山飛狐 - 關菊英、呂方

15) 愛不是遊戲 - 蔡楓華

16) 邁向新的一天 - 梅艷芳、李中浩

17) 為你而歌 - 甄妮

18) 日本娃娃 - 許冠傑
19) 壞女孩 - 梅艷芳

20) 雨夜的浪漫 - 譚詠麟

21) 玩的格言 - 譚詠麟、彭健新

22) 長夜 My Love Goodnight - 葉蒨雯

23) 夢幻的擁抱 - 梅艷芳

24) 淚之旅 - 鍾鎮濤

25) 再坐一會 - 鄺美雲

26) 第一次 - 張國榮

27) 全賴有你 - 張國榮

28) 深爱着你 - 陳百強

29) 花店 - 陳慧嫻

30) 你令我快樂過 - 呂方

31) 聽不到的說話 - 呂方

32) 順流逆流 - 徐小鳳

33) 辛運星 - 譚詠麟

34) 情是永願着迷 - 譚詠麟

35) 輕撫你的臉 - 張學友

36) 我願意 - 張國榮

37) 每一個晚上 - 林子祥

38) 從未如此深愛過 - 呂方

39) 暴風女神 Lorelei - 譚詠麟

40) 最緊要好玩 - 許冠傑

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!

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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.

Weibo Fever # 7: The Return of a Classic – E.Y.T. Skit “The Shrimp Family (蝦仔爹哋)”

70s/80s TVB fans take note! Those of you who miss TVB’s famous long-running flagship variety show “Enjoy Yourself Tonight” (known as E.Y.T for short), which ran for 27 years (from November 1967 to October 1994) are in for a treat – one of the most popular skits from the show is coming to a theater near you! Well, sort of….

Long time TVB fans may remember “The Shrimp Family (蝦仔爹哋)”, a hilarious skit within the E.Y.T. program that starred veteran comedic actor Lo Hoi Pang, comedic (and serious) actress Meg Lam, singer/actor Louie Castro, singer/actor Tam Bing Mun, and actresses Jamie Chik, Helena Law, and Sandra Ng (main cast) plus cameos from many famous HK stars throughout the 70s, 80s, and early 90s. The skit played out live in front of audiences every week (the E.Y.T. program aired every night, Monday to Friday, back then) and much of the dialogue was ad-libbed right on the spot by the actors and actresses (especially the immensely talented and funny Lo Hoi Pang) each time.

I pretty much grew up watching E.Y.T. and I remember laughing so hard at the skits (especially “The Shrimp Family”) that my insides would hurt afterwards! And it was definitely a lot of fun to see which famous celebrity would ‘guest star’ each time and also see how Lo Hoi Pang would make up dialogue on the spot and ‘trick’ the other artists, causing them to burst out laughing instead of saying their lines (that’s the beauty of doing the skit live!). The skit was definitely one of the highlights of E.Y.T. and will go down in HK entertainment history as one of the “classic” skits of all time.

As a treat for us ‘old-timer’ fans, the cast of “The Shrimp Family” will be re-uniting next this month (September 20th to 23rd) and the skit will be turned into a stage play, complete with musical numbers, singing, and dancing. And that’s not all – due to Louie Castro and Jamie Chik’s connections in the industry, they have invited many of their famous friends from within the HK entertainment industry to participate in the stage play, taking on cameo roles!

In addition to the regular cast consisting of Lo Hoi Pang, Meg, Jamie, and Louie, plus ‘newer generation’ artists Hanjin Tan, Jerry Lamb, and Oscar Leung, here’s just a partial list of some of the ‘guests’ who will also be participating (I’m sure that long-time TVB watchers will recognize most, if not all, the names): Dodo Cheng, Teresa Mo, Felix Wong, Michael Miu, Eric Tsang, Nat Chan, Susanna Kwan, Annie Liu, Elvina Kong, Michelle Yim, Yu Mo Lian, and Mak Jing Ting (formerly known as Mak Lai Hung). It was recently announced that a few famous singers will also join the cast with cameo roles, including Eason Chan, Miriam Yeung, and Sammi Cheng.

Wow such a stellar veteran cast and so many great guest stars, this will definitely be an awesome event! Just reading the cast list and seeing all of the ‘behind the scenes’ pictures (as well as reading all the articles and posts on Weibo) already made me feel as though I have been transported back to the ‘Golden Era’ of the 1980s and definitely brings back so many awesome memories! My only regret is that I don’t live in HK, so I won’t be able to watch the stage play live (darn!) – I guess all I can do is read up on it and also hope (more like pray hard) that they will end up doing a tour of sorts and perhaps come to the U.S. to perform (pretty please with a cherry on top?!?!?!). NOTE TO THOSE WHO LIVE IN HK: If you’re a long-time TVB fan and/or HK entertainment follower, you have to go watch this!

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the behind the scenes dress rehearsals and practices in preparation for the ‘main event’ in a few weeks (courtesy of Louie Castro’s Weibo).

There will definitely be more follow up posts to come on this...but in the meantime, enjoy!!

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All Photos credited as listed.