Entertainment Newsreel #3: Mostly television industry news....

Hello!  My apologies for how late this post is compared to my earlier newsreel post.  I’ve been really busy since returning from Jacky’s concert in mid-February so I’m still trying to play catch-up on some stuff.  Luckily, with the Chinese New Year holiday, there wasn’t a whole lot of major entertainment news the past two weeks (at least not stuff that I care about) so that’s good.

Below is this week’s newsreel post.  Note that it’s shorter than usual because I’m still catching up, plus most of what I wanted to relay about HKTV and the television industry I already posted up detailed articles on last week so make sure you check those out as well.

Television industry news

FOX ASIA

-          Someone asked me earlier if I knew when Fox Asia’s 2 HK series Trading Floor and Stain’d will air.  At the time, I said I don’t know because I truly didn’t know…but last week, I read an article where one of the executives from Fox said that both series are scheduled to air in “Spring 2018”.  Of course, that’s still a big vague, but at least it helps us narrow down the time period – since spring officially starts in March and lasts through May, then it’s pretty safe to say that both series will air anytime within the next 3 months, so watch for the official announcement (which I anticipate will come any minute now).

-          Honestly, I can’t wait, as I’ve been highly anticipating both series.  I even downloaded Fox’s app on my iPad already so I can be prepared once they air (and yes, I already combed through it when I downloaded it to see if there was any info about the 2 series, but so far nothing – I didn’t check last week though so unless they updated recently….).

ATV

-          So far, the only “big” news from ATV is that they are already working on the much-touted television remake of “A Better Tomorrow”.  ATV’s CEO Ng Yu attended an event recently and revealed that they are throwing millions of dollars into the production, though cast has still not been confirmed yet.   I personally still think that the leads are going to be Mainland artists, as Ng Yu pretty much “hinted” at such when he said that they “will be throwing millions of dollars into the production because they want to ensure quality and also well-qualified Mainland actors are expensive” (yes, he actually did mention Mainland actors and production costs in the same sentence, though he didn’t say outright that he was going to cast Mainland artists). 

-          Ng Yu also implied that he originally was thinking about having HK singer/actor William Chan star in the series.  When reporters asked him about the cast for ABT remake, Ng Yu said that they are still working on it, but the biggest problem is with artists’ schedules – for example, in the past, whenever he would approach William Chan to participate in something, he would readily oblige, however nowadays when he approaches him, he is not able to accommodate due to his busy schedule filming in Mainland (remember that Ng Yu was head of EEG before he got pulled out of retirement to head up ATV comeback venture and William was EEG artist, so of course he could get him to do anything he wanted).

-          As I’ve said before, I’m not keen on this whole remake thing, especially with such an iconic classic as ABT, so most likely I won’t watch anyway, no matter who they end up casting.  Personally, I’m just interested in seeing how ATV fares this time around and whether they will succeed in “re-inventing” themselves.  So far, it doesn’t look promising at all (read my previous posts on ATV and you’ll probably understand why) but it’s still early so we’ll see….

OCTB

-          I know everyone is dying to find out latest on OCTB.  The latest “news” on the OCTB front – this comes from a  post that OCTB production team put up on their social media pages back on 2/22: they will officially start filming Season 2 in Spring 2018 (everyone seems to love spring, lol), which pretty much means in the next couple weeks, with anticipated airing date of Winter 2018 (so December it looks like).  This is great news actually, as I originally thought we won’t get to watch season 2 until 2019, but looks like they are pushing for sooner – basically end of the year 2018.

-          The same social media post also indicated that there will be 2 major OCTB-related events coming up soon so watch for those announcements!  [Sidenote:  I have a feeling I might now know what those “events” are but I will hold off since I could be completely wrong for one and two, it sounds like the announcement will come really soon so no point in speculating].

-          The following is actually “old” news from end of February (I read about it at the time but didn’t have time to write up this post on it so figured I’d mention it here):

o   HMV setup a booth at the annual CNY fair in HK a few weeks ago selling all sorts of OCTB paraphernalia – pillows, mugs, playing cards, etc., all with OCTB cast and/or scenes and/or logo on them.   Justin Cheung (aka Jiu Jik) and Benji Chiang (aka Sai Wah) were responsible for manning the booth each day and helping to sell stuff (Justin especially since a lot of the stuff had his Jiu Jik character’s face on them, lol). 

o   Benji was interviewed and said that they actually have plans to release more OCTB merchandise in the coming months for fans to purchase, since it will be awhile before season 2 airs and they wanted to keep the momentum going.  He said that they are super excited about OCTB character action figures that are being made right now and also video games based on the series that are in the works as well.   Looks like they are definitely “going all out” in terms of promo for the series, which they can afford to do now that they’ve got Netflix backing them financially!

o   Speaking of Netflix…Justin was interviewed as well and was asked about season 2 and 3 filming.  He wouldn’t reveal too much of course but he did say that seasons 2 and 3 both got the green light to film.  Both seasons will also air on Netflix, which has become an investor in the series and will be contributing financially to the project (this of course means that future seasons could incorporate Hollywood stars).  Also, Justin’s character will continue to be significant in season 2 and they are currently planning out how his character will evolve…

Entertainment Newsreel #2: More OCTB news + HKFA nominations

Here's this week's HK entertainment news items that I found interesting....

Movie news

Hong Kong Film Awards

-          Nominations list came out today for this year's HKFA (which will be held in April).

-          Ann Hui's wartime epic Our Time Will Come leads the pack with 11 nominations, followed by Sylvia Chang's Love Education and Wilson Yip's Paradox, each with 9 nominations.

-          Best Actor race will be interesting this year, as there are 3 veteran HK actors nominated (Andy Lau forShock Wave, Ronald Cheng for Concerto of the Bully, and Louis Koo for Paradox), 1 newcomer (Ling Man Lung for Tomorrow is Another Day) and 1 Mainland actor (Tian Zhuang Zhuang for Love Education).  This is the first Best Actor nomination for Ronald (he won Best Supporting Actor a couple years ago and also won Best Song twice previously) and I believe the third or fourth nomination for Louis.  No predictions on my part since I didn't watch any of these movies (not yet anyway) but I heard Ronald's performance was good and also quite a departure from his usual comedic roles so if I had to pick someone to root for, it would probably be him.

-          Best Actress nominees were actually anticipated, as most of these were already nominated in other awards shows.  The nominees include:  Chrissie Chau for 29+1, Zhou Xun for Our Time Will Come, Stephy Tang for The Empty Hands, Sylvia Chang for Love Education, and Teresa Mo for Tomorrow is Another Day.  Again, no predictions from my side but considering Stephy Tang already won Best Actress earlier at the Hong Kong Critics Association awards, no doubt that she is one of the hot favorites going into HKFA.  I'm curious to see the results, though I'm not rooting for anyone in particular in this category.

-          I'm not going to recap all the nominees (you can check out the entire list at the link below) however just a few interesting things I saw: 

o   In the Best Supporting Actor category, Philip Keung has 2 nominations – could this finally be his year to win?   Two nominations can be a blessing or a curse, as it could cause the vote to be split, which decreases one's chances.  I like Philip so I'm fine if he wins, though Paul Chun is also nominated in this category again and despite not having watched the movie he was nominated for, I'm still rooting for him because he's one of my favorite actors, lol.  Interestingly, last year's Best Actor winner Gordon Lam is nominated in Best Supporting Actor this year forParadox, which I heard he did a great job in.  

o   Best Supporting Actress category is all over the place, as it pits veteran actresses (i.e. Deanie Ip and Susan Shaw) against film industry newcomers (i.e. Joyce Cheng and Baby Bo).  This will be an interesting race as well, though again, no one in particular that I'm rooting for.

-          Here's the full list of nominees (courtesy of SCMP):  HKFA nominations

Television news

OCTB

- Reference this post I wrote about season 1 airing on Netflix starting this month.  Also, season 2 cast is still a pretty huge discussion point at the moment, with the latest "rumor" being that, due to the Netflix connection, they are currently in talks to secure Hollywood stars to participate in the series.  Details are in the above post.

- I had mentioned in my previous newsreel post that filming for season 2 was scheduled to begin after Chinese New Year.  Well, according to an article that came out today, looks like the plan might have to change now due to an unforeseen circumstance.  In an interview today, producer Jones Soong had the below to say:  "Originally we had already confirmed that a 'big name' artist would participate, someone whom audiences were really looking forward to seeing.  Unfortunately we just received word that there is a slight issue with that artist's schedule, so he will no longer be able to participate.  Of course this will affect the script, so we will need to do some re-writes now."

o   So now, filming will be delayed until March so that the re-writes can be done with the script.  In terms of the delay in filming, Jones Soong wanted to reassure audiences that their intention is to give the very best to audiences:  "I've always been of the mindset that a lot of focus has to be on the script being well-written.  I insist on completing the entire script before commencing filming because in my mind, on-the-fly scripts do nothing to help the production."    Jones also emphasized that he (and his team) won't rush things just to meet a particular deadline or to get their deposit quicker, as they don't operate that way.  The one thing that will be the biggest concern for them is artists' schedules, as that will impact their production significantly.

o   Bummer…looks like we will now have to wait until March for season 2 to start filming.  But I'm fine with it, since they want to make sure the script is properly written before they start.  There are very few production companies out there nowadays that focus on the script like this so kudos to Jones and his team for their efforts!  Though I can't wait for season 2 to start, I also admire and respect the team's decision to make sure the script is 100% good to go before they start – if that means filming is delayed, then so be it!

o   Sidenote:  As to who that artist is who originally committed but had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts?  Of course Jones Soong won't say.  So the reporter tried taking the "highly anticipated by audiences" route and asked Jones about one of the open endings from season 1, which was the identity of "Godfather" Sun Ye's son Michael (featured in a scene with only his backside and also his voice), whose identity was to be revealed in season 2 and whether that is the character affected. [This makes sense to me, as what other character would require the script to be rewritten due to the artist pulling out?].   In response to this, Jones laughed and said:  "Think about who in this industry is named 'Michael'!"  [Ha, that's such an obvious clue, lol!  If the artist Jones is referring to is indeed Michael Tse, then looks like my guess wasn't too off the mark.  Too bad he won't be able to participate in season 2 anymore though, as it would've been awesome to see Chicken (Jordan) and Dai Tin Yee (Michael) reuniting (though of course, they would've been on opposing sides, with Jordan's Phoenix battling Michael's triad leader character).

o   Here's the source of the article for those interested in reading it:  HK01

TVB

-          I read the other day that the series that will be taking over The Forgotten Valley's (the Louisa So series that is currently airing in the regular prime time slot) will be "Watch Out Boss", which is the series starring Flora Chan and Ben Wong that had been filmed 3 years ago (one of TVB's last series that was still buried in their warehouse).  I'm not interested in watching the series, as I'm not too fond of the cast first of all (aside from Flora and Ben, both of whom I like, not really keen on the other 2 leads), plus from what I've seen in previews and such, the story sounds lame (seems like another pointless comedy to me).  However I decided to include a snippet about this series in this post because, well, those who read my first "Entertainment Newsreel" post will probably know that most of the TVB-related stuff I cover in these posts are along the lines of "WTH moments"….given all the controversy surrounding this series at the moment (before the series has even aired), I think this legitimately falls into "WTH" category (ok, probably more like "WTF" territory depending on if you're a Flora fan or not).  So here's the lowdown:

o   Given Flora's popularity with audiences (back during the height of her career, she had won multiple audience-voted "TV artist of the year" awards from a few media outlets), you would think that TVB would cherish the opportunity of having her film for them as a way to get back into HK audiences' good graces (something that TVB desperately needs nowadays).  Well, apparently not – looks like TVB is still its old petty self and continues to have no qualms about playing their internal politics as long as it suits their fancy, even if it is at the expense of their artists and also the audiences who still support them.

o   Earlier, TVB released the trailer for the series as a precursor to the series airing – at that time, fans were already complaining that Flora was barely in the trailer, with her presence being reduced to a teeny tiny shot of her head.  If you think that's bad, wait, there's more...

o   It is now rumored that the episode count of the series has been cut from 20 episodes to 15 episodes.  The reason for the "trimming down" of episodes?  No, not to help the plot flow better by cutting out excess stuff or improve overall quality by editing out mistakes and such (which is what most "normal" production companies would do).  Supposedly, most of the scenes that will be cut are Flora's scenes – the rumor is that through post-editing, TVB is cutting out most of Flora's screen time so that instead of her being first female lead as was the case when she filmed the series, she will be reduced to "supporting" role and the series' second female lead Ali Lee will become first lead instead.  [Sidenote:  I know you're probably wondering how is it even possible to turn a supporting artist into lead and a lead into supporting purely via post-production editing?  Of course it's possible – just go ask world-renown HK director Wong Kar Wai, who practically wrote the playbook on this particular editing skill, though his reasons for doing it has nothing to do with politics – unlike TVB!]

o   So why is TVB doing this?  Some people are saying that TVB is trying to ride the Ali wave and since she's under their management contract, it makes sense that they would try to promote their own people.  While that may be true to some extent, it's not like Ali is a big enough name actress for TVB to give such special treatment to, especially when there are other artists at her level (second female lead whom TVB is currently promoting) filming other series also with veterans, yet same thing (editing out the veteran's scenes) is not happening there.  So to me, this theory doesn't hold any water.

o   The REAL reason why TVB is cutting Flora's scenes goes back to my earlier assertion that TVB is being petty again, as Flora is currently working for their rival station ViuTV.  A couple months back, during ViuTV's sales presentation, it was revealed that Flora will be producing an info series for ViuTV, called "Stages of Marriage".  The program will invite 5 different married couples from different walks of life and also different countries to share their different perspectives on marriage in efforts to help audiences understand how marriage is perceived across cultures.  Flora and her husband will be one of the 5 couples on the show.  Back when she was interviewed during ViuTV's sales presentation, Flora said that she agreed to do this program because the topic interested her but more importantly, it lets her go back to her roots, as audiences may remember that she was a producer for TVB's Pearl channel (their English language channel) prior to becoming an actress.  She indicated that she likes being a producer more because she has more control over the quality of the production (she also said that she is interested in doing more behind-the-scenes work and already completed writing of a script, a society piece  about life choices and decision-making that she hopes to produce / direct herself as a way of giving back to society).

o   While on the one hand, I can understand TVB not wanting to help another station promote their artists, I still feel that it's utterly ridiculous for TVB to take these types of petty actions that do more damage for themselves than good.  I mean, how is the series going to look like after TVB cuts out all of Flora's scenes?  Um, TVB certainly ain't no Wong Kar Wai (not even close!!) and their producers have nowhere near the skill he does.  Besides, I've seen the way TVB edits their programs and believe me, it's horrifying! [Sidenote: It's kind of ironic but subscribing to TVB's channels here in the U.S., we're kind of treated as second-class citizens in that we sometimes get the "shoddily edited" version of their programs complete with scenes cut out – not the same way the program aired in HK – and the ones I've seen have been pure CRAP!  There was one time where I got so frustrated with a variety program that they edited to the point of being unwatchable – literally they were cutting people's dialogue off mid-sentence! – that I actually called up TVB USA and gave them a piece of my mind (luckily TVB USA had and continues to have good customer service and actually is sincere about trying to fix issues – unlike its HK counterpart – so I went easier on them than I normally would other companies, lol)].   So yea, petty TVB is at it again – stroking their own egos and playing politics for politics sake with absolutely zero regard for anyone or anything (even those who support them)!  This kind of bullcrap (which TVB pulls more and more often nowadays) is actually one of the (many) reasons why I've stopped supporting TVB despite being a die-hard fan for 30 years.  IMO, Flora's fans should get together and boycott TVB – or perhaps flood the Communications Authority with complaints deriding TVB's stupid politics and pettiness (though probably this won't happen since HK audiences will always have some amount of sentimentality toward TVB no matter how badly they screw up….).

BREAKING NEWS: OCTB officially airs on Netflix + season 2 news

Not sure how many people remember last year how, practically the day after OCTB's final episode was broadcast on Youtube, the series was "taken down" permanently from the site, which sparked some outcry because many people hadn't watched the finale yet.  At the time, in response to this, I remember producer/director Jones Soong mentioning that they were forced to take the series down for financial reasons (implying that due to the series' success, a media company was interested in buying the series so they had to take it down to protect that company's interests), however Jones insisted that the series will be back "very soon".  At the time, there were rumors that the media company Jones referred to was actually Netflix, but it was never officially confirmed.

Well, it's confirmed now!  According to the below article, OCTB officially airs on Netflix starting today (2/5/18).  Jones Soong said that since removing the series from Youtube, they have spent the last 6 months in post-production, making the series better than  when it originally aired.  For those who are worried that anything substantial changed, Jones said not to worry, as most of the changes were to the aesthetics rather than the plot and also improving upon the visuals such as making the transitions from one scene to the next much smoother.  The biggest change is in the opening theme credits, which will be in English now rather than Chinese.  I don't currently subscribe to Netflix but now I'm considering doing so just so I can check out how the series will look now, lol. 

Oh, and for season 2 news – Jones Soong confirmed that they have more than enough funding for season 2 (most who followed the series last year will probably remember that season 1 funding was a huge challenge and mostly involved Danny Chan, Jones Soong, Sam Lee, and few other friends pooling their life savings together in order to make the series), especially now that Netflix is involved.  When asked whether they will be able to invite "big name" Asian stars to join the cast now, Jones said that they are actually looking at incorporating Hollywood stars.  He said that they are currently in talks with a particular Hollywood star to join the cast – of course, as usual, he won't reveal who the person is but he did say the actor collaborated with famous wrestler-turned-actor The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) in the past (already there is speculation that the Hollywood actor they are in talks with is Fast and Furious star Vin Diesel, however that is of course rumor at this point).  So until the cast is announced, let the speculations begin!!

Link to article: HK01

Entertainment Newsreel #1: Television and some movie news…

As promised in my previous post, here's my first entertainment news updates post for this blog..

I welcome feedback so feel free to leave any suggestions you may have.  Also feel free to bring up any other recent happenings you might have read about in the comments if you want to (remember that I only included tidbits that I was interested in and most of the below was done from memory, so it’s definitely NOT all-inclusive).

Movie industry news

HONG KONG FILM AWARDS

-          Louis Cheung may be banned by TVB (through no fault of his own) but his fans don’t need to worry, as his footing in the HK movie industry is pretty solid.  He will be co-hosting this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards alongside Charlene Choi.  Given that this hosting job traditionally goes to artists who are established in the film industry, this is actually a pretty big deal for Louis, though with his experience in hosting TV programs, I think he’ll do fine.  Look forward to seeing his performance!

-          Speaking of HKFA – the news that came out last week is that ViuTV was granted exclusive broadcasting rights for the awards ceremony this year.  HKFA chair Derek Yee said that he is impressed with ViuTV’s sincerity and commitment to HKFA, as the station has a lot of pre-awards show events and programs planned (i.e. exclusive interviews, special feature pieces on the nominees, etc.).  Basically, ViuTV is doing way more than TVB ever did when they held broadcasting rights (not surprising of course, as it’s obvious TVB doesn’t respect the HKFA awards show).  I will definitely be tuning in this year to see how ViuTV does!  Oh, by the way, HKFA nominations will be announced on February 6th, so for those interested, might want to check on that day to see if their favorite movies / artists got nominated.

Television industry news

OCTB

-          This is kind of “old news” from last week but those of us who are dying to find out who will be joining the OCTB cast for season 2 may not have to wait too much longer.  The show’s co-producer (and lead actor) Danny Chan Kwok Kwan attended a function for his new movie last week and when asked by reporters about OCTB season 2, he confirmed that they will commence filming for season 2 right after the Chinese New Year holiday (which means that the final cast will be announced before then).  Not surprisingly, the reporters also tried to get Danny to reveal who will be joining the cast for the new season (with focus on whether any of the rumored Y&D artists will join), but of course, Danny was tight-lipped and refused to drop names – HOWEVER he did say that he just got word that a big name veteran agreed to do a cameo for them in season 2.  Danny said that they had reached out to the veteran thinking that the person would never agree but turns out they were wrong – the veteran will be filming 1 day for them, though not sure what this equates to in terms of screen time.

-          More OCTB news…I think it was last month (end of December), several of the guys from the OCTB cast (most of whom had become best buds during filming) held a party at veteran actor Michael Chan’s house (he played triad leader “Godfather” in OCTB) – though it was not an official OCTB cast party, there were still quite a few people from the series’ cast and crew there.  Justin Cheung had shared some pics on his social media account and of course, netizens seized the opportunity to “read into” the possibility that the pics might reveal some clues as to upcoming cast.  One of the artists spotted in the pics was actor Chin Siu Ho, who was not part of the original OCTB cast, so instantly, there was speculation that perhaps he would be part of the season 2 cast.  True or not, I have no clue.  I guess we will find out in a few weeks.

-      Sidenote (not really news but just a fun little piece for fellow fans of the series) -- in terms of former Y&D cast joining OCTB, my money is on Michael Tse and/or Anthony Wong (those were 2 out of the 4-5 names circulating on the Internet the past couple months).  I'm basing this on stuff I had read over the past few months and also the little I know of the artists' schedules and backgrounds.  Of course, I could be totally wrong and that's fine, but just thought I would throw this in, lol.  :-)

ATV

-          ATV had their official “re-launch” party last weekend (on January 29^th).  I didn’t watch the program (which I heard was aired live on their app as well as their OTT thingie) but according to several media outlets, the program was a “disaster.” I won’t judge whether the “disaster” part holds any water, since I didn’t watch the show, but here’s a quick recap courtesy of HK01 and also Mingpao:

-           

o   First, the biggest name guest star in attendance at the ceremony was George Lam, who opened the night singing several of his classic hits

o   After that, former “golden MC” Ivan Ho chatted up a storm with a bunch of former TVB/ATV people, but instead of introducing any upcoming ATV programs, they mostly reminisced about the “good old days” of the entertainment industry, even mentioning a few iconic “classic” programs that their supposed rival TVB produced (hmmm, I thought this was ATV’s launch party, why would they mention TVB productions?  Well, I guess one thing they’ve got going for them is that they don’t “censor” the mere mention of their rival station’s name like, um, their “rival station” does, lol….)

o   There were a bunch more musical performances, but almost all of the performances were singers from the 70s/80s who sang classic songs that most of the current audiences (meaning the younger generation audiences that ATV is supposedly targeting) probably had never heard of.  [Sidenote:  I laughed when HK01 noted in one of their articles that they actually thought they were watching TVB’s “Cantopop at 50” (minus the hosts of course) because of the similarity in style (of the launch party) to that program as well as all the veteran singers who participated.]

o   Stephen Chan, whose newly revamped “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” is one of the key “selling points” for ATV’s comeback, was noticeably absent from the launch party.  Supposedly, Stephen Chan fell sick and had to pull out of the show last minute, so his buddy Wong Hei (who will be hosting a variety program for ATV) stepped in to host the ceremony in his place.

o   For me, the biggest “takeaway” from the ceremony in terms of implication for future were:

1)      Singer/actor Richie Jen attended the launch party along with artists under his management company (though the biggest name there from his company was William So…Edmond Leung was originally scheduled to be there too but since his high profile arrest for drunk driving was just a few days prior to the ceremony, obviously he had to skip, since his career has been put on hold at the moment…).  So perhaps this means future collaboration between Richie's artists and ATV?

2)      China 3D’s Stephen Shiu Jr. was in attendance and when interviewed by reporters, he very candidly “talked about” TVB’s ban on his artists and outright said there is a “high probability” that his company will be collaborating with ATV in the future (as a reminder, some of the “bigger names” under his management are -- Chilam Cheung, Myolie Wu, Louis Cheung, Justin Cheung, Gregory Wong).  Don’t be surprised if you see any of these artists filming stuff for ATV in the near future!

-          In terms of the big 64 million dollar question – will ATV resume filming series?  Well, those of you who read my previous 2 posts about ATV’s comeback will probably know that they were originally planning on doing 2 remakes this year:  a TV series remake of John Woo’s iconic movie “A Better Tomorrow” (the one that starred Chow Yun Fat, Leslie Cheung, and Ti Lung) and also a remake of ATV’s own classic hit series “My Date With A Vampire”.  If you read the update to those same posts, you will probably also know that ATV hit a snag with both these planned remakes, as it looks like their new CEO Ng Yu didn’t do his homework prior to announcing their plans (he later admitted that he hadn’t finished going through all of ATV’s old paperwork/records yet, as he was only hired on by the Mainland company that currently owns ATV back in April of last year and so there was still a lot of work to be done in terms of “catching up” with ATV’s past history). 

o   At the re-launch party, Ng Yu confirmed that the remake of “A Better Tomorrow” will move forward despite actor/singer Stephen Fung’s company issuing a statement claiming they hold the rights to ABT and did not authorize ATV to do a remake.  Apparently, Stephen Fung’s company holds the rights to the original TV version while a different company holds the rights to the John Woo movie version – ATV did get permission from the company holding the rights to the John Woo version (that company is supposedly going to release a statement soon), so their remake will proceed.

o   The remake of MDWAV is still a no go (though there was no mention of this at the launch party – not surprising of course given the embarrassment).  Fox Asia still holds the rights to MDWAV (which ATV had sold to them a few years ago but the current execs conveniently forgot) and they are actually planning on remaking the series themselves, so pretty sure they are not going to authorize ATV to do any type of remake.  Ng Yu did say (back in December when Fox issued their statement) that they were going to discuss with Fox and see if they are open to a collaboration – if Fox agrees, then ATV still has a chance…I guess we shall wait and see.

o   Oh and to add salt to the wound -- the series that ATV had previously announced was going to be their “debut” series (Mainland series “The Legend of Ba Qing” starring Fan Bing Bing) which they supposedly spent big bucks to buy….well, it was announced last week that the air date in Mainland China will be delayed, as someone “reported” the series to the authorities and so the producer(s) now need to “fix” some stuff before it will be allowed to air (I had read that the number of episodes will be cut down but I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the details to be honest).  So ATV is basically in a holding pattern right now, with their execs probably “praying” that the issues will be resolved soon.  

  - What a mess for ATV!  I'm not normally superstitious but man, so many obstacles from the getgo can't be a good thing for a station that is trying to re-brand itself.  Not a good way to start their "re-launch" that's for sure!

TVB

 Of course there will be mention about TVB in a recap about entertainment news happenings – however one “disclaimer” that I would like to make:  most of you who have followed my blog for awhile and/or my comments in certain discussion forums probably know what my attitude is toward TVB nowadays.  Basically, when it comes to TVB, don’t expect to see the “latest and greatest” in terms of new upcoming series or whatnot because I barely follow that stuff anymore.  Nowadays, I don’t pay much attention to which new series are airing in TVB’s prime time “golden” timeslots since I don’t watch their (new) series much anymore.  If you’re looking for latest info on new series and/or current generation of TVB artists, there are plenty of fansites out there so feel free to check those out instead.

With that said, the 2 things I wanted to mention about TVB this week (note that most of my TVB mentions in these posts are along the lines of “WTH moments” -- basically stuff that I found "laughable"....):

-          So you guys remember that disaster of an anniversary series Heart and Greed (the 3^rd installment to the Heart Of Greed franchise), right?  Those who’ve been following entertainment news the past few weeks probably know that HAG’s ratings in HK sucked (though I heard their finale episode actually ended on a high note) and word of mouth was horrible as well.  Throughout the month or so that the series aired, it was pretty much “bashed” every day for one thing or another by netizens and audiences alike (and no, it’s not a coincidence that the series was completely shut out of the anniversary awards, despite the “high hopes” of the cast and crew going into the awards).  Given the above, I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that the series was NOT well-received and therefore, the franchise can officially DIE now…

o   Well, um, not quite….it was announced recently that there are plans for BOTH a movie version as well as stage play version of the series (the 3^rd installment specifically).  Not too many details on the movie yet, though I did see a rumor somewhere that Ha Yu might get pegged as the director for the movie version (which makes sense to me, since Ha Yu has his own production company and already directed/produced a few movies the past couple years).  If Ha Yu does end up being the director, the question I’m most interested in is whether his son Dixon Wong will be involved in the production again (as he was in Ha Yu’s previous works) – reason I ask is because Dixon Wong is a ViuTV-contracted artist currently so it will be interesting to see what will happen with that if the movie is still affiliated with TVB. 

o   As for the stage play, TVB already confirmed it’s definitely a go and the veterans – Ha Yu, Louise Lee, Susanna Kwan, etc. -- stated that they have already started planning for it.  Supposedly, the stage play version will be “comedy-heavy”, which I guess means that we will be spared all of those intensely dramatic arguing + crying scenes that were a “staple” of the franchise?  I guess we shall wait and see….

-          Turns out all the backlash that TVB got after the highly contested results of their 50^th Anniversary Awards “paid off” for them, as the ratings report came out last week and this year’s awards garnered 33.6 points (probably the highest ratings for ANY TVB program – series included – in all of 2017), which, according to the media, are the highest ratings the awards has gotten since 2014. 

o   Of course, TVB held a celebratory dinner to commemorate this (in which the behind-the-scenes crew as well as all award winners were in attendance) and the execs took the opportunity to give a bunch of “motivational” speeches.  I won’t repeat the exact content of their speeches (because quite honestly, some of the stuff they said made me want to puke, lol) but just know that, in typical TVB-style, the execs pretty much praised themselves for a job well-done and reiterated once again that the high ratings means that HK audiences still “love” them (yes, bring on the barf bags!!!)

And last but certainly not least….

HKTV

-          After not hearing anything for like 5 months, HKTV was finally “back in the news” last month (January), though depending on which side you’re on, you might be happy or sad at the reason why they are in the news again (personally, I’m both happy and sad, but that’s just me…).

o   As I stated in the comments to one of my recent blog posts, Ricky Wong gave a presentation last month about the launch of his new e-commerce related project (as you may recall from this blog post I wrote up back in August 2017, Ricky Wong sold his stake in HKTV to his partner, so he is no longer the CEO, however he still oversees the HKTVmall side of things).  In a nutshell, Ricky Wong is basically turning HKTV’s multi-million dollar studio in Tseung Kwan O (near where TVB City is located) into a “training ground” for media students with an interest in e-commerce – the students will be able to “rent” HKTV’s facilities and equipment for free to film essentially whatever they want (i.e. supermarket commercials, product promotional videos, etc.).  The purpose is to cultivate potential future business leaders (more specifically in the e-commerce field) while at the same time not letting the facilities go to waste. 

o   Here are links to the 2 articles (from HK01’s Finance/Business section) that has more details on the project: Article 1 and Article 2

o   Like I said elsewhere, from a business perspective, kudos to Ricky Wong for putting in the effort to cultivate a younger generation of potential business leaders – though of course, none of us should be surprised that RW decided to go this route given his background and the fact that he is known for his creativity and being innovative (the phenomenal success of his previous telecom business is proof that he knows what he is doing when it comes business development).  Personally, I feel that this project is a great idea and one that I wish HKTV (more specifically Ricky Wong) the utmost success on.

o   With that said however, the above news, coupled with the fact that Ricky Wong’s HKTVmall e-commerce business is doing extremely well (there is an article that actually had some impressive numbers in it but I didn’t post it because it’s buried in my list somewhere – if I’m able to dig it out anytime soon, I’ll try to at least post up the link to it) – means that for those of us who were looking forward to HKTV resuming production of their series (something that RW had promised would happen if their 2^nd application for a license is approved), the prospect of this happening has gotten a lot dimmer.   The longer the government continues to drag their feet with the second round of applications (it’s been like what, 3 years already since HKTV’s 2^nd application was submitted?), the likelihood of HKTV resuming filming gets dimmer and dimmer.  Personally, I don’t want to go into my spiel about whether I think it’s a good idea for HKTV to resume production or not, since that topic would take up a full post in and of itself, plus I think I already talked about it previously in my blog….but fellow HKTV supporters definitely feel free to express your thoughts on this in the comments below if you want.

That’s it for now, but note that since this is the first post in this particular series and I’m technically a little behind with it (most of the above news was from mid-to late January, some even from December), I will probably be doing another post in a couple of days to “catch up” with this past week’s news.  After that, the plan is to do these posts probably weekly (maybe bi-weekly depending on my schedule) with more current news.

Enjoy! :-)

OCTB Finale Dinner video clips

I seem to be on a roll with blog posts recently, lol.  Anyway, just dropping by to share this video clip from the OCTB finale dinner that took place 2 days ago.  The production team had actually announced on their Facebook last week that they were going to do a little "surprise" for the finale and also to celebrate the series good viewership ratings -- the "surprise" ended up being the production team treating cast and crew to dinner so that they could all watch the final episode together.

This first clip is hosted by Benji Chiang (who plays 細華 in the series) and he pretty much goes around chatting with people while giving us some insight as to behind-the-scenes stuff from the series.  He also introduces some of the newbie artists who did significantly well in the series, so those who are wondering who those artists are in real life should watch this.  There is also a segment where the series' producers Jones Soong and Sam Lee talk about what to expect for season 2 and also things about season 1 that they are going to improve upon (the second video clip).

Note that both Danny Chan and Jordan Chan had work obligations so of course they did not attend.  Regardless though, this is a great clip that all fans of the series definitely need to watch!

Also, one thing I wanted to clarify from an earlier post -- according to the actual dinner finale clips, looks like the issue of the series being taken down was a hot topic at the dinner and ultimately, once the series is put back up, it will very likely require some type of subscription or payment in order to watch.  The news source that I took some of the info from in my earlier post was not as detailed as the clips so it looks like the info was mis-reported.


Anyway, enjoy the clips!! :-)

OCTB - Latest News!!

Source: HK01

So now that OCTB has officially aired its finale, here are some "final numbers" in terms of internet viewership ratings as well as some info about the series and its sequel(s) straight from the mouths of the series' producers (Jones Soong and Danny Chan) and screenwriter.

As anticipated, viewership ratings in Mainland China (via streaming platform Youku) reached 1.3 billion for the finale (quite impressive if you ask me!).  In HK, viewership ratings via Youtube clocked in at 28 million (also impressive considering the production company is relatively unknown and there were duplicate versions of the series uploaded to other channels on Youtube).  During the celebratory dinner, Jones Soong announced that they there will definitely be season 2 (which starts filming early 2018), but to many people's surprise, he also said that they are planning season 3 as well (I actually wasn't surprised, as I had read an interview that Danny Chan did earlier where he said that the script for seasons 1 through 3 had already been written awhile back ago).

As I'm sure those who've been following this series know, there has been much speculation amongst fans on who will be participating in OCTB's sequel(s).  One of the strengths of the series was in its veteran cast and their top-notch acting, which garnered a lot of praise from netizens and general audiences who were tired of the overall crappy performances from TVB's younger generation.  [***SPOILER ALERT***] Those who watched OCTB from beginning to end know that almost all of the veterans in the series either died or went to jail (except for Michael Chan, who remains the head of triad group Wo Hing Sing…for now)….so it makes sense that they will need to recruit another group of veterans for the sequel(s).

On the day the finale aired, the production team held a celebratory banquet attended by the series' cast and crew.  At the dinner, reporters asked the series director / executive producer Jones Soong what the plans were for seasons 2 and 3 as well as whether the rumors about certain artists participating in the sequels have any merit (for the record, the rumored "names" so far that fans are most concerned about are:  Ekin Cheng, Michael Tse, Anthony Wong, Roy Cheung – all from Young and Dangerous franchise).  Here is Jones Soong's response (excerpted and translated directly from the above HK01 article): "All I can say is that for season 2, there will definitely be a few 'heavyweights' participating…who those artists are though, I cannot reveal right now.  We actually have plans to do season 3 as well, so we can't use up all the artists in one shot – we need to add them in slowly.  One thing I can tell you is that the list of rumored artists currently circulating on the internet, majority of them you will likely see [in upcoming seasons].  The purpose of our series is actually to pay tribute to the triad films of the 1990s, so it's natural to incorporate classic characters from the Y&D franchise.  Audiences will need to wait and see!"

Screenwriter Paul Chung (鍾盛遠) revealed that in season 2, 'Dai Sir's' room will be occupied by a "heavyweight" character. [**SPOILER** Remember that in the first season, Dai Sir was played by Philip Chan, who was killed in a bomb blast after being kidnapped by Justin Cheung's character].  He also revealed that in Season 2, one member of the B1-1 police team will "defect to the other side" – who that person is and why, of course we will have to wait until season 2 to find out.

A few other tidbits (some of these are spoilers for those who didn't watch the finale, so read at your own risk)….

-          OCTB's production team gave us a few "Easter eggs" at the end of the series.  One of them was the revelation by Wo Hing Sing's leader Sun Ye (Michael Chan) that he has a son named 'Michael' who will be returning to HK to take over the group.  This is obviously significant given a lot of the stuff that happened in the series was the direct result of the various triad guys fighting over the top leadership spot.   There has been speculation on who 'Michael' will be.  Based on the scene where Sun Ye 'calls' Michael and tells him it's time to come back and we see the back of a guy sitting at a desk picking up the phone, there is much speculation that 'Michael' will be Danny Chan's character turned bad (the backside of the person in the scene actually does look like Danny)….this speculation was further strengthened through the second "Easter egg" where Danny's character meets up with Jordan's character to say goodbye and tells him that, after everything that's happened, he is not sure about his plans for the future and for now just wants a break from everything.  So is Danny actually going to be 'Michael'?  I guess we will have to wait until season 2 to find out.

-          Regarding the speculation about Michael Tse possibly participating in the sequel….supposedly, reporters had asked Michael whether he will be joining the cast and he had said no he won't.  The reporters asked Jones Soong at the celebration dinner, telling him that Michael said he won't be participating in the series.  Jones replied:  "He will be in it.  Actually, from the beginning [season 1], we had invited him to participate, but it wasn't able to happen.  You will see it happen in season 2.." The reporter then asked further whether that means Michael Tse will for sure be part of the season 2 cast, to which Jones then said:  "Let's wait for the official announcement, since I'm not supposed to say anything right now.  We are planning to start filming season 2 in January 2018 and the entire cast will be announced prior to that, so keep an eye out for that.  Since it will be in December, consider it our Christmas present to you!"

-          It's pretty obvious from the finale (the third "Easter Egg") that Justin Cheung will continue to be in season 2 and his villain character Jiu Jik (I probably butchered the spelling) will return to wreak havoc on Wo Hing Sing.  He was essentially the ultimate villain in season 1, but what will his role be in season 2?  From what has come out so far, it sounds like there will be another battle for the Wo Hing Sing top spot in season 2, though to what capacity we don't know. 

-          Rumor has it that Jordan Chan might not return as a lead in season 2..  The production team said that they are working with him, but it depends on his schedule next year.  If they are able to work out his schedule, then he will reprise his role in the same capacity.  If not, then he will still participate in the series, but in a smaller role where he will only show up every once in a while – as often as his schedule allows (in the reduced role, his character will get promoted to Superintendent of Police and will be in scenes as necessary, similar to Gregory Rivers in the first season).  If Jordan won't be able to participate, then that leaves Danny as the main lead going into season 2 – if the rumors of Danny's character defecting are true, then they are going to need another lead to take Jordan's place on the police side…makes it more likely that the person might be Michael Tse or Ekin Cheng (or someone else altogether of course, but it would need to be someone around same level / age).  As I said earlier, I'm pretty sure Anthony Wong will be in season 2 (no confirmation, just a gut feeling on my part), but highly doubt he will take Jordan's spot, as he is too old for that role – most likely he will either be Dai Sir (if he is on the police side) or one of the big shot gangster guys (if he is on the triad side).  Could also be someone else entirely who has not been mentioned yet of course….I guess we will find out in December.

-          Within 24 hours of the final episode's broadcast, the entire series was removed from Youtube.  There was actually warning of this on the production team's Facebook page, but they didn't make the announcement until the day of – obviously they got some heat from audiences on this, since it wasn't enough notice for people who hadn't caught up yet to finish watching the series (there was speculation that the production team took down the series because of marketing concerns and they would have to start charging to watch the series or repackage as DVD).  For  those of you who haven't finished watching the series yet and are freaking out right now – DON'T WORRY….at the dinner, Jones Soong explained the reason for removing the series (to enhance the series and correct any mistakes that were in there) and confirmed that they will be putting back up a 2.0 version that will also be free for audiences to watch.  He said they are not sure when the date will be but to watch for the official announcement on their website.

HK web series OCTB (反黑) - A reunion of HK film industry veteran actors

As promised, here is the article I came across awhile back ago about the veteran artists who essentially stole the show due to their top notch acting in OCTB.  Note that this article came out several weeks ago, back when the first few episodes of OCTB were airing, so of course, many of the veterans who appeared later on in the series – such as Ng Man Tat, Dominic Lam, Carrie Ng, Gregory Rivers, etc. – weren’t mentioned in this particular article.  I am hoping that HK01 does an updated article later on that covers the other veterans as well so that current audiences can know who these veterans are and give them the accolades that they very much deserve!

I have decided that for this particular article, I am going to depart from my regular style – instead of directly translating the entire article pretty much word for word as I normally would, I will be paraphrasing portions of it and adding some of my own commentary.  The reason for this is because I’m actually familiar with all but one of the veteran artists mentioned in this article (I grew up watching most of them on TV) and have some additional knowledge of their backgrounds not mentioned in this article that I feel is necessary to add.  The parts in BLUE lettering are the “tidbits” that I added (not in the article) based on my knowledge of the artists.

**NOTE – there aren’t any spoilers for OCTB in the below article, however for those who never watched the Young and Dangerous movie franchise, some of the “collective memories” that are brought up below may be akin to spoilers for you, so just a heads-up….

Source: HK01

Article originally published 10/3/17

Hong Kong web series OCTB (反黑) has been taking the Chinese television industry by storm!   With only the first 10 episodes aired so far, the series’ viewership ratings in the Mainland has already exceeded 300 million and its popularity in HK has already reached new heights.   [TN: as of today, 10/14/17, with 22 episodes aired, viewership ratings in Mainland is close to 800 million already!]  In addition to praise for former category III actor Justin Cheung’s (張建聲) convincing portrayal of villain character ‘Chiu Jik’, audiences have also given high praise to the group of veteran actors – most of whom older HK audiences grew up watching on screen --  in the series who play the ‘bad guys’ (triad members) as well as the ‘good guys’ (cops).

From the moment all of these ‘uncles’ made their appearances in episode 1, audiences were already excited to see so many familiar actors back together on the screen -- as “icing on the cake” though, some of the characters that these actors portrayed were also ‘familiar names’ – for example, Frankie Ng Chi Hung’s (吳志雄) ‘Uncle Bee’ [his iconic role from the Young and Dangerous movie franchise].  With the resurgence in HK audiences’ penchant for “nostalgia” and “collective memories” in recent years, OCTB hit a sweet spot that has helped propel the series to almost instant popularity.

In this article, we will be taking a look back at these veteran actors and the ‘famous’ characters they portray.

Frankie Ng Chi Hung (吳志雄) – Uncle Bee from first installment of Young and Dangerous (古惑仔)

In the series OCTB, Frankie Ng’s character is also called Uncle Bee, except that this Uncle Bee is a triad boss already in his last days, with little to no power and essentially no say in anything.  In the Young and Dangerous movie franchise, Uncle Bee was a character who only appeared in the first installment, but the righteousness of his character and the way he took care of his juniors endeared him at the time to many audiences….so in the movie, when Uncle Bee and his family were tragically killed -- ‘buried alive’ by Francis Ng’s (吳鎮宇) character Ugly Kwan, it evoked a strong reaction from audiences.  Perhaps because of this, Y&D’s director Andrew Lau (劉偉強) decided to ‘resurrect’ Uncle Bee in the form of a different character played by Frankie in the third installment of the franchise – unfortunately, the effect wasn’t that great, as not too many people were able to recognize ‘Uncle Bee’…even his beloved ‘brothers’ from Hung Hing (Y&D’s triad society) didn’t recognize him!

My commentary:  I never got around to watching the entire Y&D franchise, but I did watch the first installment and I absolutely remember Uncle Bee and family’s death scene – it was pretty dramatic and intense…definitely not for the faint-hearted.  In fact, the entire franchise was actually quite violent with many intense scenes, though I’m not surprised that the franchise became so popular given HK audiences’ love of cop and triad-themed productions.  I can’t remember which installment of Y&D I stopped at, since it was so long ago (I think it was 3^rd or 4^th installment?), but whatever the case, I have no intention of finishing it up anytime soon, especially since I’m already getting my fill of Y&D nostalgia currently with OCTB (which is way less violent in comparisons).

Michael Chan Wai Man (陳惠敏) – “Camel” Lok from third installment of Young and Dangerous

Michael (or Brother Wai Man as he is more commonly referred to) plays the ‘godfather’ crime boss of the Wo Hing Sing triad group in OCTB.  Everyone already knows Brother Wai Man’s ‘strong’ background in real life, so it is no surprise that in pretty much every movie / series he has been in, he almost always plays ‘big boss’ characters.   In the third installment of Young and Dangerous, he played the leader of the Tung Sing triad society, Camel Lok – a crime boss who valued friendship and doing things honorably and therefore encouraged co-existing peacefully with the rival Hung Hing gang rather than fighting them.  Unfortunately, Camel’s “underlings” were not of the same mindset as him --  feeling that he was ‘outdated’ and no longer fit to lead their group, he is killed by one of his “boys” Crow (Roy Cheung), who ends up framing the Hung Hing gang for the murder.

My commentary:  The article didn’t mention much about Brother Wai Man’s background so I will attempt to fill in the gaps for those who are interested.  Brother Wai Man can best be described as a veteran actor who has experience being on ‘both sides of the law’.  In his early days (before joining the entertainment industry), he had served as a correctional officer as well as a cop and was once a boxing champion (a hobby and passion that he still practices today).  It is well-known that Brother Wai Man used to be part of a few triad gangs and even though he is no longer “officially” part of those gangs anymore, he is rumored to still have “close ties” to some of them.  Due to his background, he obviously knows people from ‘both sides.’  In terms of acting career, Brother Wai Man is actually not really active in the industry anymore, as he has a wine business and a production company that keeps him busy, however he will still participate in some movies and/or TV series if he has time.  In a recent interview, Brother Wai Man confirmed that, regardless of his busy schedule and a few health issues he is dealing with, he has already ‘signed up’ to film OCTB season 2 (which is scheduled to commence filming early 2018).

Hugo Ng (吳岱融) – Big Mouth Lin from Jiang Hu – The Triad Zone (江湖告急)

With his oft-praised portrayal as the villain character in TVB series Brother’s Keeper 2 (巨輪2) last year, Hugo Ng not only made a successful comeback to the HK small screen, he has also successfully imprinted his name in the memories of a new generation of television-viewing audiences.  It’s no secret that Hugo participated in a few category III films in the 1990s -- because he often played ‘crazy, psychopathic’ characters in those films, there was a certain ‘villain air’ to him that also led to roles in a series of triad-themed films back then.  One of his most famous movie roles was in the Dante Lam directed Jiang Hu-The Triad Zone where he played a gangster character named Big Mouth Lin who lit up the opening scene by going against the main character played by the film’s star Tony Leung Ka Fai and eventually getting a bottle broken over his head.  Despite only having a brief appearance in the film and a few lines of dialogue, Hugo was able to leave an impression on audiences with his performance – definitely no easy feat!

My commentary:  Most of you may already know this, since Hugo has been active in HK again ever since re-joining TVB again in 2015, but I will give my spiel anyway, lol.  Hugo is originally from Singapore and before joining TVB back in 1987, he was actually already a popular leading actor in the Singaporean television circle.  He filmed quite a few series for TVB in the late 80s and was considered one of TVB’s most popular ‘wuxia’ siu sangs.  His most famous role at TVB was of course as Fa Mo Kuet in 1988’s Two Most Honorable Knights (TVB’s adaptation of Gu Long’s famous wuxia epic Jue Dai Shuang Jiao 絕代雙驕).  His wife is former actress (and beauty pageant winner) Lily Chung (鍾淑慧), whom he had met on the set of TVB series The Man, The Ghost, and The Fox (人·鬼·狐) back in 1992 – they married in 1995 and have a son who is currently serving in the military in Singapore.  Hugo was actually one of my favorite actors back in the 80s (believe me, my ‘favorites’ list was LONG back then, lol) – even back then, his acting was top notch and he was quite versatile, as he was able to handle the wide range of characters thrown at him – good guy, bad guy, and everything in between – with ease.  I know most people probably only remember Hugo’s Fa Mo Kuet role (not surprising, since he was so good in the role) and he was largely typecast in wuxia dramas back then, but he also did a few non-costume dramas as well that are worth watching.  I actually stopped following his career after he left TVB (similar to many other 80s artists, he didn’t part on good terms with TVB), but I did know that both he and his wife did some category III films during the 90s before he shifted his career to Mainland.  I’m glad Hugo is back on HK television screens, as he is a great actor who can definitely carry his weight in the acting realm (oh and I recently discovered that he is a talented singer too!).

Ben Ng (吳毅將) – psychopathic rapist in Red to Kill (弱殺)

As the fiery-tempered For Shi (火屎) in OCTB, Ben’s character seems to be right up his alley!  But actually, his character here can be considered ‘mild’ when compared to the ‘psychopath’ roles he usually played in movies.  His first foray into the ‘psychopath’ role was 1994’s Red to Kill where his chilling portrayal of a psychopathic rapist left a huge impression on audiences, though it also resulted in him being typecast in similar roles later in his career.  In that movie, Ben had actually taken his performance to extremes, not only shedding his clothes for some of the scenes, but also shaving his head in efforts to make the character more realistic.  With that type of ‘extreme’ experience, asking Ben to play an impulsive gangster in OCTB is ‘a piece of cake’ in comparisons!

My commentary:  Not sure how familiar audiences are with Ben now but those who followed ATV and TVB back in the 80s/90s will definitely know who he is.  Ben was a graduate of ATV’s acting class and filmed various series for them up through the 80s, jumping ship to TVB in the mid-90s.  He started filming movies in the 90s and actually has had a simultaneous film and television career ever since.  Ben moved his career to Mainland a long time ago, which is why it’s not surprising if current HK audiences aren’t too familiar with him.  He’s actually a decent actor, though a bit too ‘crazy’ for my tastes, lol.  I remember many of the ATV and TVB series he was in, though I don’t recall any of his roles back then being memorable.  To be honest, I’m actually more familiar with his wife – former actress and Miss HK 2^nd runner up (1984) Joan Tong (唐麗球), even though she was active in the industry for less time than him (probably because she was in series/movies that I actually watched and am familiar with, lol).

Jones Soong (宋本中) – ‘Big Wong’ Ah Chun in 1999 film Street Kids Violence (三五成群)

The name Jones Soong probably won’t sound familiar to most people, but those who did watch the 1999 cult film Street Kids Violence will probably remember Jones playing the character Ah Chun in the film.  If you don’t though, it’s not surprising, as that movie was pretty much Jones’ only ‘memorable’ acting performance – after that film, he played mostly ‘kelefe’ roles in subsequent movies.  With a never-ending passion for film, Jones decided to take his love for the art behind-the-scenes and after much learning as well as hard work, he later became a director and producer.  Jones is co-owner of the production company Visual Brothers (alongside Danny Chan Kwok Kwan), which is the creative team behind OCTB – Jones is credited as executive producer / producer / director for the series and also has a cameo role in the series.  If you didn’t know who Jones was before, you probably know him now after the OCTB’s huge success!

My commentary:  I actually had never heard of Jones Soong until OCTB, lol.  Because of this series, I’ve been reading up on Jones a bit the last couple weeks (there isn’t much information out there unfortunately) and was a little surprised to learn that he’s actually quite well connected in the industry.  I guess it does make sense, since he’s been a producer and director a long time now and has undoubtedly worked with enough people in the industry to be able to establish a good amount of connections.  There were also a few things I learned about Jones and Danny’s company Visual Brothers that I feel are very interesting and also promising in terms of this company’s future endeavors in the area of film and television series production.  I won’t go into too much detail here but will do a separate post later on when I have time.

Philip Chan (陳欣健) – the entertainment industry’s real life ‘Dai Sir’!

In OCTB, there is definitely no shortage of police officers!  The main leads Jordan Chan (陳小春) and Danny Chan (陳國坤) both portray police officers in the series, but let’s not forget that there was another significant police figure above both of them – ‘Dai Sir’ Cheung Kwok Jim, portrayed by veteran actor Philip Chan (陳欣健).  Younger audiences who don’t know Philip Chan’s background might be wondering – what’s so special about this ‘uncle’?  Well, let’s start with the fact that he has been in the entertainment industry for more than 40 years already and has had one of the most prolific careers in the industry – in addition to being an actor, he was also a screenwriter, director, producer, singer, TV program host, record company executive, etc. – the list goes on.  In the 80s and 90s, Philip served as MC for numerous shows and events (both on screen and off) and at one point, was also a high level executive at record label Capital Artists.  It can be said that Philip is truly one of the first generation of HK artists to find success in the industry in various capacities across multiple media platforms.  But Philip’s biggest legacy involved his career prior to entering show business  – in 1965, Philip officially joined the HK Royal Police force and within 9 years, was promoted to Superintendent of Police.  One of the most famous cases he was involved in during his tenure was the Shanghai Street bank robbery hostage case back in 1974 – Philip was the top level officer in charge of the case and was personally at the scene directing police operations…at the time, TVB had sent reporters out to cover the case and even interviewed Philip on site! 

My commentary:  I wouldn’t be surprised if the current generation of audiences don’t have a clue who Philip Chan is, since he was most active in the industry back in the 80s and 90s.  While he is still involved in the industry even now, he mostly does behind-the-scenes work and also hosting for major business and charity events, plus he also has his own companies that do entertainment consulting and event arrangement type stuff.  For those who are wondering how Philip ended up joining the entertainment industry, he’s actually told the story many times over the past 4 decades – in 1975, Philip was offered the opportunity to write a script (in his spare time of course) for a movie about cops that one of the production companies at the time planned on making.  Due to his experience in the HK police force, Philip was able to write a script that was true to life in its portrayal of police officers and the film went down in history as being the HK film industry’s first realistic cop film -- the name of the movie was Jumping Ash (跳灰), which was officially released in theaters in 1976.  [Side note: For all you OCTB fans out there, here’s a fun fact – the theme song to Philip’s movie (in Chinese, the name of the song is 大丈夫, which is loosely translated as “Masculinity”) is the same song that OCTB’s production team decided to have re-produced and used as OCTB’s theme song currently!]  This brief foray into film sparked Philip’s interest in film-making and in 1976, when he was invited by the head of his film’s production company to join their team, he accepted the offer, deciding to give up his high-paying job as police superintendent to enter showbiz.