My ‘TVB Rant’ #8: Lamenting the lack of ‘good’ TVB series nowadays....

Over the years, as I've gotten older, watching TV has become a secondary pasttime for me -- meaning that the TV is still on all the time in the house (as it had been throughout my childhood), but instead of it consuming most of my time, it has now been reduced down to 'background noise' pretty much, taking a back seat to the other more important things / tasks that I have to do. Therefore, most of the time, even though the TV is on, I'm not truly 'watching' TV, but rather 'listening' to the TV, and I only look up occasionally from what I'm doing if there is a scene that happens to interest me, then after that scene passes, I quickly look back down and continue with the task at hand. So I guess you could say that I'm not really ‘paying attention’ to what is on TV, but rather focusing more on the task I am working on at the moment.

The above has pretty much become a way of life for me, but looking at it from a different perspective, it also helps me to gauge whether a particular TV series or show is 'good' or not.

In my book, in order for a series to be considered 'good', it has to meet 4 criteria.

First, a ‘good’ series must be able to "distract" me from what I am doing at the moment and cause me to ‘pay attention’ to the series for a long period of time. For a series to be considered 'really good', it has to do more than just "distract" me -- it has to cause me to set aside what I am doing at the moment and concentrate fully on what I am watching -- in other words, it has to pull me in to the point that what I am doing at the moment becomes secondary rather than primary. (Another way to look at is: ‘good’ is equivalent to ‘like’ and ‘really good’ is equivalent to ‘love’).

In addition to the above, the other way I can tell if a series is 'good' and/or 'really good' is whether it has the the 'chasability' factor. What is the 'chasability' factor, you may ask? Well, in Chinese, the word that we use is 追 (zui), which means 'to chase after' -- if you put 'zui' in front of the character for TV series, you get 'chase after TV series' -- which to me, has 2 meanings: 1) if the series airs at a certain time every day, then 'chasing the series' means that you don't want to miss a moment of it, so no matter what you are doing or where you are at, you always manage to get home in time to settle down in front of the TV and watch the next episode; or 2) if you are fortunate enough to own the entire series on DVD (my preferred method, since I like to be in control of my time and hate waiting day after day to watch 1 measly episode), then 'chasing the series' means that you can't stop watching the series and keep putting disc after disc into the DVD player and in the end, you finish watching the entire series in like 2 days (ok, 2 days might be an exaggeration -- though I've done it before -- but the point is that you finish the entire series in pretty much one sitting, however many days that may be).

Another criteria for me is that the series must be memorable in some way – now I don’t mean just being able to remember a character’s name or certain events that happen (though that’s certainly part of it)….when I say ‘memorable’, I mean that it had some type of impact on me to the point that even after I finish watching the entire series, I’m still thinking about the series (or certain parts of it) and perhaps wishing that it wasn’t over so quickly.

The last criteria is the “rewatchability” factor, which is basically – how likely am I to re-watch the series again? This is actually an important criteria for me because to be honest, if I am barely able to sit through the series the first time around (meaning I watch the first few episodes and am already bored out of my wits or I miss a few episodes and don’t even bother to rewatch what I missed), then that’s a sure-fire sign that I am most likely NOT going to waste my time rewatching the series again.

So in a nutshell, for me, there are 4 criteria for determining a 'good' (or 'really good') series -- it must 1) distract me from what I’m doing to the point that I really pay attention, 2) give me that 'chasable' feeling, 3) be memorable in some way (whether it’s character, storyline, or both), and last but not least, 4) be re-watchable.

You may be asking how all of this relates to TVB? Simple -- in the last decade or so, there have been very few TVB series that have met all 4 of my criteria for being a 'good' series (and even fewerhave made it into the 'really good' category)....in fact, in the last 7 years or so, it's gotten progressively worse, to the point that nowadays, I struggle to find even 1 or 2 series that are able to meet my criteria. In comparisons, back in the 80s and even part of the 90s, I could rattle off to you series after series that could EASILY fall into either category (‘good’ or ‘really good’). Also, just as a point of reference: I have watched most of the series from the 80s and early/mid 90s more than 1 time (and of course there are a select few that I have watched upwards of 20 times – and I’m not kidding!).

To illustrate my point, let’s takes the series from the past 3 years or so as examples….

Starting with 2010’s series -- out of all the series that TVB produced last year, the only two series that met all of my criteria were “Gun Metal Grey” (primarily because of Felix and Michael, though I ended up liking the series as a whole) and “No Regrets” (the acting was superb, even if parts of the storyline were a bit draggy -- well, when you’ve got Wayne and Sheren as the leads, it’s hard not to have awesome acting). Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that ALL the rest of the series that year ‘sucked’ (though a few of them did truly suck) – all I’m saying is that the other ones just didn’t quite cut it for me.

Looking at 2009’s series, the stats are even worse -- the only series that I liked out of the bunch (that met my 4 criteria) was “Rosy Business”. Even the series “Born Rich” – with it’s ‘dream’ cast consisting of many of my favorite actors and actresses from the 80s/90s – failed to make the cut because of its awful script and just plain boring storyline (I feel so sorry for the artists in that series – and yes, I’m still pissed at TVB for ‘ruining’ their careers).

2008’s series didn’t fare any better -- I liked “A Journey Called Life” and “Catch Me Now”, but to be honest, it was really a stretch – I had to think hard in order to get both series to fit all 4 criteria. Oh and don’t even get me started on the BIGGEST disappointment of 2008 – “Forensic Heroes 2” (basically, I went from loving the original FH in 2006 to absolutely hating the sequel…but I’ll save that rant for another post).

Going back one more year, to 2007 – “Fathers and Sons” was good and so was “Dicey Business” (both happen to be Bobby AuYeung series – love that guy!), but that was about it (though technically, “Dicey Business” started airing in 2006, so I guess you could say that it is really a 2006 series) – so in 2006, there were only 2 series I liked: DB and also the original “Forensic Heroes”.

And the list goes on…..(but I’m sure you get the picture by now, so I’ll stop the list here)….

So yes, I will reiterate the sentiment that I’ve carried for the past decade regarding TVB’s series nowadays – THEY SURE DON’T MAKE THEM LIKE THEY USED TO!!!

My ‘TVB Rant’ #6: Another LAME-O decision by TVB!!!

"Gun Metal Grey" neglected at TVB Anniversary Gala, Michael Miu & Felix Wong bursts in anger at TVB - AsianFanatics Forum

Felix Wong anger continues: Don't rape the public; TVB tries to 'put out fire' - AsianFanatics Forum

Source: Asianfanatics.net

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Once again, TVB makes a stupid move and successfully pisses off one of its former artists as well as legions of fans and audiences / netizens! When will TVB ever learn their lesson? (Never mind – that’s a rhetorical question….)

I can't believe there was barely any mention of GMG at the anniversary gala -- in fact, it was in the news that the cast of GMG was not even invited to the gala (the supporting cast who were there -- I.e. Nancy, Grace, Oscar) were there only because they were performing in other segments not related to the series.

After watching the show, it was obvious to me that CBML and NR dominated -- NR I can understand since it's an anniversary series, but CBML? Obviously they're playing favorites...

I can totally understand why Felix is mad and goes off on TVB – they are definitely acting stupid again by blatantly showing their favoritism through complete neglect of GMG….extremely DISRESPECTFUL to say the least!

To make things worse, TVB once again responds STUPIDLY to the situation. Talk about lame!!! TVB once again puts their stupid foot in their mouths!!! They now claim that they didn't include GMG in the anniversary gala because it's a cop series and needs to be taken seriously so they can't parody it? Must I remind them that NR is also a "serious" series (in fact, the scenes and theme are probably way more intense than GMG) and it's also about cops? Or did they "conveniently" forget that just so they could cover themselves for neglecting GMG? What kind of a BS lame excuse is that?

And for the stupid producer of the anniversary gala to ‘blame’ the GMG cast by saying that they didn’t show up to rehearsal and so that’s why they weren’t invited? Really? WHAT REHEARSAL? The GMG cast WASN’T EVEN SLATED TO PERFORM!!!! What, was TVB expecting Felix / Michael / Jessica to show up and practice standing around waiting for them to draw names for the raffle prizes? That’s SO STUPID!!!!

Oh, and then for Mr. Ho Lai Chuen to say that there was no favoritism and TVB would invite the GMG cast to the awards ceremony….come on, dude – that’s another lame response and proves that Ho Lai Chuen as well as TVB are “out of touch” with the true situation! Felix DOES NOT CARE about the awards – he is upset that both himself as well as the cast of GMG was disrespected at the anniversary gala….why even mention the awards ceremony????

I am totally with Felix on this one and kudos to him for speaking out! TVB went too far this time and they continue to add insult to injury by deflecting blame and running around in circles with their responses. Why don’t they just simply apologize and move on? Oh, I know why – because that would mean they are wrong and God forbid that they’re ever wrong….they are THE PREMIERE TV station in HK and the biggest and most powerful – they can never do anything wrong!!!!! UGH!!!!!

I could go on for longer since I’m so worked up about this issue, but I think I’m going to stop here before I say something that I’ll probably regret….so I’ll end it with a few last words for TVB: The days of the audiences being stupid and naïve are OVER!!!! So don’t you dare try to ‘play’ us by trying to pull the wool over our eyes…IT’S NOT GOING TO WORK ANYMORE!!!!!

My ‘TVB Rant’ #5: Is TVB Pathetic or What???

Charmaine Sheh is ‘hot favorite’ to win TV Queen; TVB updates its ratings for Can’t Buy Me Love - AsianFanatics Forum#entry6782399

Source: Asianfanatics.net

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Ok, I just read the above in the entertainment news and got so worked up that I have to blog about it to let off steam!! I know I shouldn’t get upset anymore, since by now, I sort of ‘expect’ TVB to pull these types of ‘stupidities’ – but I can’t help it…I get offended whenever they do this stupid stuff because I feel like they are trying to insult my intelligence!

It’s obvious that TVB really wants “Can’t Buy Me Love” to sweep the awards and for Moses as well as Charmaine to win TV King and Queen. TVB announced the ratings for the finale episode of CBML today and for the FIRST TIME ever, they actually decided to count the internet viewership ratings as well (which, in my opinion, is not really fair) -- so according to TVB's calculations, the ratings for the finale of CBML was 51 points: 42 points ratings from TV and 9 points from internet viewership (most likely ratings from people who watched via MyTV on their website).....

Unbelievable!!! Once again, another "bonehead" decision by TVB! It's stupid for them to try to "fudge" their own ratings, since the station is already the ratings winner over all the other stations anyway -- ATV is never going to come close PERIOD!

By "fudging" the ratings, TVB is only proving that it's really all about the politics that run their company (despite their constant denial of this fact)…what they are basically doing is trying to "save face" in the event that RB2 becomes a huge hit, since CBML consists of primarily their own contracted artists (and all the "popular" artists whom they are trying to promote) whereas RB2's main leads are not 'biological' (Wayne and Sheren are not contracted and won’t sign with them PERIOD).

They're also trying to use this as an excuse to ‘set up’ for the anniversary awards – pretty much to let CBML either sweep the awards or perhaps get one or all of the major ones (Best Series, TV King, and TV Queen), regardless of whether RB2 has high ratings (because to be honest, no matter how ‘good’ RB2 is going to be, there is a slim chance that it will get to 50 points without some type of intervention). Pretty much, they are going to say: “Well, since CBML got 51 points, they deserve the award.” (To me, that’s just a bunch of BS!!!).

What’s next? Incorporating overseas (non-HK) viewership numbers? How about the number of people who watch TVB series in public places such as restaurants? Or maybe they should count the “channel surfers” who ‘happen’ to flip to one of their series during a commercial on a different channel, watch like 5 minutes of it, then turn back to the original channel? Better yet, I’ve got a good one – if they’re THAT desperate, why don’t they just count all the (illegal) downloads of their series that occur over the world wide web? (I can just see it now: “Oooh, CBML got downloaded 100,000 times! There goes another 2 points added to our ratings, taking it to 53 points! A record! Woohoo!!!!”) Ok, I’m obviously exaggerating, but still – given how stupid TVB’s decision-making has been lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the above scenarios WERE to happen some where down the line….

I’ve noticed that every time TVB has a series that has majority of their own biological sons/daughters in it and they feel 'threatened' by strong competition from other series that don't have their own 'children' in them (the leads at least), they always try to resort to 'backhanded' tactics to get the results they want. Last year, they did it with “Beyond the Realm of Conscience” by over-promoting the series to death plus also moving the anniversary awards to December for the first time ever....this time, they do it for CBML (notice similar cast) by ‘being creative’ with the ratings.....watch, if they do CBML2 or BTROC2 next year, they are going to come up with another "creative idea" to make those series stick out...I would absolutely bet on that (and win too!).

How much more PATHETIC can TVB get???? I mean, everyone knows they favor their own ‘biological sons/daughters’ over non-contracted artists, but do they have to try THAT hard? I don’t know about anyone else, but to me, this is definitely FAVORITISM, plain and simple! And what irks me the most is how TVB is CONSTANTLY coming out and DENYING the fact that favoritism exists in their organization (Mr Tsang or Ms Lok: “What favoritism? We don’t play favorites!”) or they claim that there is no such thing as ‘biological son/daughter’ and that there are no ‘cliques’ or ‘parties’ in their company. WHO THE HELL ARE THEY TRYING TO FOOL??? If they are truly not playing favorites (remember that they adamantly deny that they play favorites) as they claim, then how do they explain the above actions?

Well, one thing’s for sure -- I'm definitely keeping an eye out for tomorrow's articles to see if Mr Tsang Sing Ming (TVB’s Manager of External Affairs and designated spokesperson) is going to make any type of lame statement regarding the CBML ratings thing. Last time, when TVB ‘mistakenly’ ranked “Pillowcase of Mystery 2” above “Mysteries of Love” as #1 series of the year in terms of ratings, Mr Tsang came out to ‘apologize’ and TVB ‘corrected’ their mistake. In my honest opinion though -- the main reason why they "apologized" and corrected the rankings last time was because they "realized" that the audiences aren't as stupid or naive as they thought (in other words, they ‘realized’ that we actually look at the ratings and can do our own calculations to figure out which one should be ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) -- so pretty much it was due to public pressure. So basically, they weren’t able to ‘pull the wool’ over our eyes that time – which I’m sure they didn’t expect, since TVB is used to always trying to ‘sweep things under the rug’ if they can get away with it....

Oh, and to add insult to injury, one of the media outlets published a ‘list’ of the Top 5 highest rated TVB series – Korean series “Jewel in the Palace” used to be at the top of the list with 50 point rating, followed by “Beyond the Realm of Conscience” (which I personally don’t count as officially receiving a 50 point rating because it only ‘peaked’ at 50 points – meaning that at ONE POINT during the entire 30 episode series, the ratings had reached 50…that ‘one point’ could have been 1 particular scene, or could have even lasted only 1 minute or a few seconds…it doesn’t mean the entire series consistently was at the 50 point mark). Now, “Can’t Buy Me Love” is ‘supposedly’ at the top of that list with its 51 points, beating out “Jewel in the Palace” – how messed up is that???

It's VERY sad that the TRUE highest rated series is a non-TVB series (Jewel in the Palace)....heck, it's not even a HK series! Yet, in order for TVB's own series to get into the 50 point mark, they actually have to "fudge" the numbers!! What a shame! As far as I'm concerned (and not that my opinion matters, but I have the right to state it), CBML is NOT the highest rated series -- in fact, it wouldn't even make this list if we go by the original ratings numbers! If I were TVB, I wouldn't go around "bragging" about the 51 point rating for CBML....because it just makes them look stupid!!!

Bottom line – from my point of view, no matter how much TVB tries to manipulate the numbers for the series they favor, the original Rosy Business is still going to be the TRUE ratings winner no matter which way you look at it....RB was able to get its average 47 point rating purely based on the quality of the acting and the script -- the series had virtually no promotion (especially as compared to BTROC) for one, and two, the ratings were based PURELY on regular channel audience viewership -- there were no HDTV numbers factored into the ratings (whereas all of the series that aired after RB had HDTV ratings factored in) and definitely did not have any of this "internet viewership" crap added in.

I'm waiting to see a TVB series actually get 50 points average overall (entire series) -- none of this "peaking at 50" crap! I wonder if it will happen in my lifetime.....