UPDATES on free TV license issue and HKTV protests

Here are a few recent articles (from yesterday and today) from SCMP that provide some good updates on the whole licensing issue as well as some of the highlights from HKTV’s ongoing protests in front of government headquarters (though the latest news from HKTV Trade Union’s Facebook page is that they will stop camping out in front of government headquarters and send everyone home to rest, since they have another big rally scheduled for November 6^th).

With regard to the specific articles below….

While on the one hand, I’m happy to see all the support that HKTV has been getting, especially from high profile stars like Chow Yun Fat and Andy Lau, the situation is actually looking more and more grim as the days go on.   As much as I hate to say it, HKTV’s chances of getting a license are pretty much zero at this point (I explain why in the comments to some of my previous posts) and despite all the support for HKTV from the HK general public as well as from so many celebrities, there’s basically no chance in hell that Chief Executive C.Y. Leung is going to take any action on the matter (HKTV Trade Union gave the Chief Executive 7 days to provide an explanation and he obviously ignored that deadline).  With the type of leadership they have currently, well, unfortunately, HK is officially ‘screwed’…..

I also wanted to make a quick comment about the Frankie Lam article.  I was actually a bit saddened when I read it because I truly do like Frankie and Kenix (both are definitely on my ‘favorites’ list in terms of actors and actresses I like watching) – it will definitely be unfortunate if they do decide to move out of HK because of  all the issues with the city.  So I guess this means we can add Frankie and Kenix to the list of artists who will no longer be active in the HK entertainment industry in the near future (in addition to Deno Cheung, Wilson Tsui, Rain Lau, and others who have said that they will likely change professions if things don’t work out with the license thing).  Oh and let’s not forget Benji and Lesley, whose careers are pretty much over now (which I’m definitely saddened over because both of them have such great potential in music).  I actually dread seeing how this whole issue is going to ultimately end because so far, I don’t like what I’m seeing.  I hate to be pessimistic, but I can’t help thinking that the fallout from this issue is going to be worse than we expected and that the ‘casualties’ resulting from this free TV license war are only going to increase as the months go on….

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Article 1:  

Andy Lau among celebrities to add support to last night of HKTV protest

Source:  South China Morning Post

Celebrities, including actor Andy Lau Tak-wah, offered their support to the tens of thousands of protesters outside government headquarters last night.

It was the sixth and probably final night of the week-long protest of the government's decision to deny Hong Kong Television Network's (HKTV) free-to-air TV licence application.

The space outside Tamar government headquarters, also known as Civic Square, and Tin Mei Avenue were packed within half an hour of the protest start at 8pm.

Those who were unable to squeeze into the space were later directed to Tamar Park and the Legco car park.

HKTV crew and actors, as well as industry veterans, took turns to share their thoughts on stage.

Celebrities including Anita Yuen Wing-yee and Ekin Cheng were also among the protestors captured in a film shown on big screens erected in Civic Square. Actor Paul Chun Pui also appeared on stage with his children, HKTV artists Benji and Lesley Chiang.

HKTV staff union chairman Henry Yeung Chi-ho estimated more than 100,000 people attended the rally.

Police said that by 10.30pm, the number peaked at 11,900.

Singer and actor Andy Lau, whom some joked would make an ideal chief executive candidate because of his popularity, showed his support in a video broadcast at the rally. When his message was shown on screen, some screamed: "The chief executive speaks!"

The crowd's emotions were stirred when British singer Kashy Keegan performed his London Olympics anthem This is My Dream. The song was later adopted by HKTV.

"I'm really touched people have embraced the song and got behind it ... It's about persevering," said Keegan.

Lyricist Lin Xi also drew a big response from the crowd. "The nature of creativity is revolution," he said. "If you talk about your dream, and no one says you're crazy, your dream stinks like preserved fish."

Veteran actor Chun's arrival on stage came as a surprise. "Support HKTV!" he exclaimed. "When I said I wanted to enter the industry, my parents said, 'You've got to work hard and be prepared.'

"Now my daughter has asked me the same question, and I gave her the same answer. She can do it as long as she likes it and is willing to work hard. But how would I know if the government thinks otherwise?"

Actress Yoyo Mung Ka-wai said: "I have always thought there could only be improvements when there is competition. Why should we make ourselves stop? Why can't we be given the chance to improve?"

Annie Lee, a fashion retailer, was at the rally with her husband, who is a civil servant at the Labour Department. She said they had been sitting outside government headquarters every evening since Sunday, and that they would bring their three children with them to future rallies.

"It's unacceptable that the government ignored the people's will without giving a reason," said Lee.

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Article 2:

Frankie Lam vows to quit HK if government refuses HKTV a licence

Source:  South China Morning Post

A top actor with Hong Kong Television Network says his family will consider leaving the city if the government is adamant about refusing HKTV's free-to-air television licence application.

Frankie Lam Man-lung described himself as "a Hongkonger through and through".

But the government's defence of its licensing decision, without giving a reason, stirred up very gloomy sentiments in both him and his wife, actress Kenix Kwok Ho-ying, about the future of this city, he said.

Lam launched his tirade against the decision in an interview yesterday with the South China Morning Post.

"Hong Kong has turned into a mess. How can people still believe that justice can be upheld in our society?" Lam asked.

"There have been many failed policies, including his [the chief executive's] own illegal structures, since he took office. But still I thought we could give him some time if he admitted his mistakes sincerely.

"If the national education [curriculum] is introduced, I can still choose to send my daughter overseas to study.
But now, this dispute is simply forcing people to turn political," the father of a three-year-old said, during the interview at Hotel Icon.

The couple had agreed to leave the city if there was no turnaround, he said.

Lam said the HKTV rally outside the government headquarters was the only protest he had joined in more than two decades. The last time he joined a protest was in 1989, after the June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

A leading man in countless television dramas, Lam has been in show business for 20 years. He left TVB two years ago to join the new HKTV venture chaired by Ricky Wong Wai-kay and said he has no regrets. "I would never regret that because this is where I have found happiness through the quality of work," he said.

He worked non-stop for five days and nights shooting a TVB drama and sacrifices were made on the show's quality - in a network with no competition.

But at HKTV, he said, Wong would accept nothing but the best. "We are shooting dramas of movie standard. The equipment and the scripts are of the highest standards, and actors get enough rest to enjoy acting and ponder their characters."

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Article 3:

Singer Benji Chiang says he fears his singing career is over

Source:  South China Morning Post

Little more than a week ago, Benji Chiang had high hopes for his career as a musician and actor.
Now he's worried he may completely disappear from Hong Kong television.

"I just got KO'd from the industry altogether [by last week's decision by the government not to give Hong Kong Television Network a free-to-air television licence]," the 32-year-old said.

Unlike other former TVB entertainers who have been invited to rejoin the leading free-to-air channel's "big family", Chiang said his chances were slim. "I'm blacklisted," he claimed.

Chiang was sacked in 2011 after seven years as a host of TVB's music programme Global Rhythm and less than a year after he and his sister - as Benji and Lesley - won bronze in the group category of TVB's Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards for their album, Showtime.

It marked the first time the award had gone to a self-funded album.

Chiang, son of award-winning actor Paul Chun, said he was sacked after being seen at a party hosted by HKTV chief Ricky Wong Wai-kay.

"A production assistant sent me a message saying 'programme direction change, MC change, thank you'."

He then suffered from depression.

Chiang saw hope when HKTV's Wong approached him, offering him acting jobs and a free hand in direction of music programmes, but now he feels he has lost his future. "I have cried three times a day over the past week," he said. "But I won't give up."

Chiang was among tens of thousands of people who took to the streets on Sunday to protest against the government's decision to deny HKTV a licence without an explanation.

He said the decision meant there would be no change to Hong Kong's music scene, which had been strangled by lack of competition in the television industry.

His TVB show, first aired at 11pm, was then put back to 1.30am and eventually ran at 3.30am. TVB's long-time weekly music chart show Jade Solid Gold was turned into a game show. Young people didn't get a chance to learn about local musicians on television, so they turned to pop music from elsewhere, he said.

TVB host Eric Tsang Chi-wai, who stepped down yesterday as chairman of the Performing Artistes Guild after it was criticised for an ambiguous response to the licence row, said the guild had been fighting for the rights of its members and had called upon stations to hire former HKTV staff. He said TVB had extended an invitation, while Cable TV and Now TV had also expressed a willingness to hire.

"From the artists' point of view, the more licences, the better," he said.

The guild came under fire after it did not put its name to a declaration signed by other film industry associations. Tsang said he stepped down as chairman to take responsibility and to protect the guild from negative comments.

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Article 4:  

Bid to use special Legco powers to investigate HKTV case falters

Source:  SCMP

Pan-democrats have lost their initial attempt to invoke the legislature's powers to order an investigation into the government decision to deny Hong Kong Television Network a free-to-air television licence.

A motion to apply the Legco (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance was defeated 27 to 33 in the House Committee of the Legislative Council yesterday.

Most pro-establishment members who had spoken out strongly against the government's decision did not put their words into action. All of the "yes" votes came from pan-democrats.

Tabled by information technology representative Charles Mok, the motion was intended to force the government to produce all relevant papers involved in the vetting and approval of licence applications.

One lawmaker abstained, while seven others, including Liberal Party leader James Tien Pei-chun and Labour Party pan-democrat Cyd Ho Sau-lan, neither voted nor abstained.

HKTV chairman Ricky Wong Wai-kay said: "I'm very disappointed … Why are lawmakers not listening to public opinion that overwhelmingly supports the revelation [of documents]? Everyone wants to know the truth."

Mok will have a second chance to table the motion at the full council meeting on November 6.

However, the motion faces a higher threshold at the full meeting. Instead of the simple majority needed on the committee, Mok must achieve majority support in both geographical and functional constituencies, which have 35 legislators in each.

Earlier, Tien had failed to get his Beijing-loyalist allies to sign up to a petition with the pan-democratic camp to appeal for a licence for HKTV. Tien had also indicated that all five Liberal Party lawmakers would support the motion in principle.

Yesterday, he did not vote at all on the motion, and the other four Liberal lawmakers voted against it.

Ma Fung-kwok, lawmaker for sports, performing arts, culture and publication, abstained from the vote, despite having joined calls for an explanation of the rationale behind HKTV's fallout.

The motion failed despite a last-minute amendment by Mok limiting the scope of any disclosure of non-confidential files.

Beijing loyalists expressed concern over a looming judicial review and the Executive Council's confidentiality rule.

Michael Tien Puk-sun of the New People's Party, who did not vote, said Exco's files and records risked being exposed by invoking the ordinance.

"A judicial review is the most effective way to force an official explanation," he said.

Wong will file a legal challenge in "two to three weeks".

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Article 5:

Hong Kong's opaque governance exposes Exco as a joke

Source:  SCMP

What purpose is served by the Executive Council? This question comes into sharp focus in the wake of the current TV licensing debacle.

Executive councils were an integral part of the British colonial system, established to ensure governors had the local elite on their side and to provide yet more opportunities to reward allies with the trappings of high office. Notably in Hong Kong, the old executive councils also gave the biggest colonial companies a seat at the top table to ensure the preservation of their interests.

Since their establishment, Excos have largely comprised of senior bureaucrats who run government departments. They are rarely prepared to put their careers on the line by upsetting their bosses, so it is safe to assume that, generally speaking, the advice they proffer is what the boss wants to hear.

No wonder this system appealed to Beijing and the old Exco was incorporated into the new constitution. The Basic Law, however, sheds little light on its functions, merely saying that it "shall be an organ for assisting the Chief Executive in policy-making".

There is now intense controversy over whether its members supported, opposed or even seriously considered the new TV licensing regime that has sparked mass protests. One member, Laura Cha Shih May-lung, has a conflict of interest on this matter but the black-box style of governance favoured by the Leung Chun-ying regime will not even reveal whether this was declared.

Most members of the current Exco, like those of previous councils, are little more than time-servers whose main asset is their loyalty to the chief executive. This situation is not so very different from that which prevailed in the past.

To be fair to Leung, he appointed Lam Woon-kwong as convenor of his Exco. Lam has proved to be independently minded and showed some spirit in leading the Equal Opportunities Commission. It is also possible to make the case for the independence of thought of two other Exco members: Anna Wu Hung-yuk and Bernard Chan. Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee is a wild card but reserves her independence of mind to focus on personal ambitions.

So, in theory, the current Exco has the potential to provide a better source of advice than its predecessors. The important caveat is that, under the Basic Law, the chief executive is not obliged to accept their advice but members, by convention, are obliged to back whatever policy he pursues.

It is rumoured that there was dissent in Exco over the TV licensing decision. It is equally possible that the government's policy simply went through on the nod.

Whatever the truth, the only tangible evidence we have of the fruits of the current Exco's labours is a series of disasters, ranging from the national education debacle to the more personal issues of dealing with corrupt officials and Leung's own illegal structures.

If it is the case that sensible advice was offered by Exco members and that it has been ignored by the chief executive, why are those who gave this advice still members? However, it may be that Exco members either did not spot the political minefields the chief executive intended to ignite or, if they did, kept silent. If this is so, they are worse than useless.

The system does not work now, and might not do so in the unlikely event that a democratic system is devised for electing the chief executive soon. Bereft of the proper checks and balances combined with genuine accountability that make governments function better, Exco is likely to remain an obstacle to good administration and even more likely to continue being the kind of running farce that it is today.

Stephen Vines is a Hong Kong-based journalist and entrepreneur

Mingpao Special Feature: Unearthing TVB’s “All Star Challenge” from 30 years ago – A look back at the 5 Tigers’ ‘historical’ first performance

As most of you know, I’m an avid reader of Mingpao Weekly magazine – I’ve pretty much been reading it ever since I learned how to read Chinese back in the 90s.  There are many things I like about the magazine (obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t ‘support’ it for so many years) – aside from the in depth interviews that they do with celebrities (and not just the ‘big name’ ones – they interview a lot of lesser known artists as well as some who we may not have heard from  in a long time), another awesome feature they do is a 集體回憶[literally translated as ‘Collectively Recalling’] segment where Mingpao opens their ‘time capsule’ and shares with its readers some of the HK entertainment industry’s most ‘historic’ events / news, etc. (mostly about artists from the 70s, 80s, and 90s).  For me, reading this segment is always a trip down memory lane, since I’ve been following HK entertainment for long time and actually do remember some of the events they recall – this is one of the reasons why I enjoy reading the magazine so much, since I can get quite nostalgic when it comes to these types of things.

In last week’s issue, the 集體回憶 segment recalled one of TVB’s biggest charity events from the 80s:  TVB All Star Challenge (星光熠熠勁爭輝).  Now, unless you were following TVB in the 80s, most likely you may have never heard of this show before, since the name of the show changed in the mid-80s and also again later in the decade – but regardless of the name, the fact of the matter is that these type of charity fundraising shows were a ‘staple’ at TVB back then….the shows usually took place yearly and often featured performances by the station’s biggest stars (almost comparable to TVB’s yearly anniversary galas!)  Even though the show continued to take place over the past few decades, unfortunately the ‘star power’ has dwindled tremendously – to the point that nowadays, the show is not even worth watching anymore.

Anyway, back to the article….

The All Star Challenge show that MP features in the below article happens to be the one where the 5 Tigers famously ‘debut’ and Andy Lau does his ‘stone-breaking’ routine (which continues to be ‘talked about’ even now).   I was too young at the time that this show took place (1983!!) to have watched it at that time, but fortunately I was able to find the show on videotape several years later (around the time I started following HK entertainment myself) and watch it then.  I honestly don’t recall a whole lot from the show, since the last time I re-watched the show was some time in the 90s (when I did a ‘marathon re-watch’ of all the TVB variety shows from my family’s TVB collection), but I do recall the 5 Tigers’ performance, since that was a huge highlight from the show and would get ‘featured’ over and over again on various shows over the past 2 decades.  This made the experience of reading  some of the backstory to the performance in the below article all the more poignant and interesting (not to mention it reminds me once again how much the artists from previous generations had to endure to get to where they are today).  Of course, the bit about the ‘irate fan’ also reminded me that some things never change – there were a lot of ‘crazy’ fans back then just as there are now…LOL.

Also, I found the piece about Cheung Hing Lung and how he got injured quite interesting because all these years, I don’t think many people knew the actual background story (I surely didn’t – in fact, I don’t even remember that segment from the show at all).  It makes sense now why Cheung Hing Leung left the Little Tigers group and why so few people even knew he existed (when he participated in the Little Tigers reunion tour a few years back, I had read a lot of comments from people who had no clue who he was – some were even harshly criticizing him for trying to ‘piggyback’ on the Little Tigers’ glory, which I felt was totally mean and uncalled for..).  I’m glad Cheung Hing Leung was able to tell his side of the story this time, though it probably isn’t going to have much impact on anything – but at least those of us who care finally know what happened.

Lastly, I do have to say that reading this article and looking through the pictures was a bit emotional for me – especially seeing that many of the artists who participated in that year’s event are no longer active in the industry and some have even left us forever (i.e. Barbara Yung, Roman Tam, Anita Mui, etc.).  On the one hand, it was fun and nostalgic to ‘relive’ the moments from that show (and I definitely enjoyed doing it), but at the same time, it served as a further reminder of how badly the HK entertainment industry has deteriorated over the years.

In any case….hope other fans of 80s era TVB shows enjoy reading this article!   :0)

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Mingpao Special Feature:  Unearthing TVB’s “All Star Challenge” from 30 years ago – A look back at the 5 Tigers’ ‘historical’ first performance

Source:  Mingpao Weekly, Issue 2310 

Translation:  llwy12

One day, while searching through some archive photos, we [Mingpao’s reporters] came across a few rolls of film taken during rehearsals for one of TVB’s charity events from 30 years ago:  1983’s TVB All Star Challenge (星光熠熠勁爭輝).  Interestingly, the rolls of film that we found did not show any signs of being opened or edited, which usually means only one thing – the photographs were never ‘exposed’ prior to this point!

Upon asking around, a fellow colleague who was already employed at that time [back in the 80s] explained that the reason why the rehearsal photos didn’t get published back then essentially boiled down to a ‘timing’ issue:  since the All Star Challenge charity program had already aired on TV, the rehearsal photos were considered ‘old news’ that was not worth publishing anymore.

Now, with all that has happened over the past 30 years, this long forgotten ‘photo trove’ has undoubtedly increased significantly in value.  Therefore, let’s use these photos as an opportunity to reminisce about a show that featured the very first collaborative performance by TVB’s 5 Tigers as well as other sentimental, ‘historic’ moments such as a rare dance performance by late actress Barbara Yung (翁美玲) and her then boyfriend Kent Tong (湯鎮業); music legend Anita Mui (梅艷芳) in her ‘newcomer’ days posing as a ‘cheerleader’ trying to earn points for her team, etc.

TVB’s ‘grand’ production shows of the past were truly that – grand, splendid, and resounding!

Felix Wong reminisces about 5 Tigers’ first performance; Tony Leung chips his tooth

In early 1983, due to the departure of many first-line siu sangs [from the 70s era], TVB ‘announced’ their upcoming intention of heavily promoting 5 ‘new’ siu sangs:  Andy Lau (劉德華), Tony Leung (梁朝偉), Felix Wong (黃日華), Michael Miu (苗僑偉), and Kent Tong (湯鎮業) – the 5 of them would come together and be promoted as a ‘group’ called ‘TVB’s Five Tigers’.    In September 1983, the 5 Tigers made their official debut as a ‘group’ during TVB’s annual charity competition show, TVB All Star Challenge (星光熠熠勁爭輝):  they were featured in one of the show’s most anticipated main segments -- ‘Leaping and Surging Five Tigers’ (飛躍翻騰五虎將) -- during which they were slated to perform challenging acrobatic stunts to win points for their team.

“It was the very first performance that the 5 Tigers did together – of course I remember it!”  recounts Felix Wong with a smile.  He expressed that for their short 10 to 15 minute performance, the 5 of them practiced for close to 2 months:  “At the time, all 5 of us were in the middle of filming series too, so we could only get together to practice after work.  We would go practice on the rooftop of the old CTV building on Broadcast Drive [TN: close to where TVB studios was at the time] nearly every day and when the time got closer, we decided to stop working for the time being so we could focus entirely on practicing.”

With 5 vigorous, energetic youth ‘throwing’ each other around and performing risky stunts every day, of course injury was unavoidable:  “Tony was the one who got the most ‘severely’ injured – he was practicing a backflip and accidentally slammed his mouth into the table, resulting in one of his front teeth snapping in half.  We were scared and concerned because when we looked, half of the front tooth was really missing!  But with the date of the performance approaching, it would be impossible to get the tooth fixed before then, so the only option was to stick it back together.”  (Stick it back together?  How?)  “I believe he asked the dentist to stick something on the tooth to cover it up for the time being and then after the show, go back and get it fixed.” (We heard that you [Felix] injured your shoulder as well?)  “That’s nothing –only a small injury!  Andy was also injured – when he was practicing a somersault, he accidentally bit his tongue!”

The only one who didn’t injure himself in the process was Kent Tong:  “He was extremely careful and always considered safety first.  Prior to doing a somersault, he always had to make sure that the floormat was neat and tidy – such an ‘old fox’!  But hey, at least that way he couldn’t injure himself easily like the rest of us – we really should give him a ‘Safety Team Captain’ award!”

In terms of the ‘Best Performance Award’, Felix expressed that no other person deserved it more than Andy:  “He’s not afraid of difficult or exhaustive work;  in fact, when challenging tasks come up, he’s the first to volunteer for them – this is a good attitude to have!   For the ‘stone-breaking’ segment [TN:  the famous ‘highlight’ of the show where Andy gets 2 large slabs of stone broken on his chest], the company (TVB) asked if anyone wanted to do it – Andy was the first to raise his hand and say ‘I’ll do it!’”

Andy Lau reveals the ‘secret’ to stone-breaking segment; his first ‘taste’ of the price of fame

As the saying goes:  ‘In order to win, you need to have a competitive spirit.’  Indeed, Andy Lau’s ‘stone-breaking’ segment was truly the ‘highlight’ of the entire All Star Challenge show – seeing Master Kong To Hoi [TN:  famous stunt coordinator back in the 80s] slamming a huge hammer onto 2 slabs of stone lying atop Andy’s chest was undoubtedly a stunning scene:  “The company hoped to do something different and special this year – at first they thought about having me perform on a unicycle, but later we scrapped that idea because it wasn’t a fresh enough idea, plus it would take too much time to learn.  In the end, Master Kong suggested the ‘stone-breaking’ idea.”   Back in 1983, after the ‘historical’ performance, Andy accepted an interview with Mingpao Weekly during which he revealed the ‘secret’ to his performance:  “The ‘secret’ is really in choosing the type of stone to use – the ones we used for the performance were coarse granite, which is more brittle and easier to break apart.  If we had used regular granite, I would be dead!”

During rehearsals, we saw that Andy only had 1 piece of granite on his chest, however during the actual performance, the 1 piece turned into 2 pieces – Andy described this as ‘taking a gamble’:  “That night, we were scheduled to perform around 8:30pm and it wasn’t until 6pm or so that we decided to use 2 pieces of granite – the reason was because we felt 1 piece wasn’t convincing enough and this was pretty much our only chance to pull in a lot of points.  At the time, we only had 2 pieces of granite left, so we couldn’t practice ahead of time – all I could do was try putting both pieces on my chest to test the weight and take a gamble [that things will work out] during the actual performance.  To be honest, I really didn’t have much confidence.”

The combined weight of the 2 pieces of granite was more than 280 pounds, which was almost double Andy’s weight at the time (he weighed 147 pounds).  During the performance, he had to first expand his chest to support the weight, then use his hands to hold the granite in place:  “Master Kong told me that as soon as I felt the force of the hammer, I should breathe out a bit if I felt the granite becoming heavy on my chest – this would help distribute the force and also prevent injury internally.”  Even with all the advice and safety precautions, seeing the hammer come down on his chest was still a very scary moment:  “When we first practiced it, I would look away when the hammer came down – I was afraid to look.”  After the performance, Andy felt tired, but luckily didn’t feel ill in any way.

The efforts that the 5 Tigers put in proved to be worth it – not only did their team [the artists team] win the competition, they also received tremendous praise and accolades from the audiences.  Even the usually reserved Tony Leung couldn’t help but become excited at how well everyone reacted to their performance:  “After the performance, I may have looked a bit tired and scared, but in reality, I was very excited!  You know, the excitement stayed with me for 3 days straight – every time I closed my eyes, I would think back to that moment [the performance] and remember everything that happened very clearly…every move, every person who applauded, etc…..”

From that moment on, the 5 Tigers truly ‘took over’ and became the ‘pillars’ of TVB.  Even back then, in the early stages of their ‘popularity’, they already got a taste of the price they would have to pay for fame.  Andy recounts:  “That night of the performance, we only had ½ hour for dinner.  When the 5 of us went outside to go eat, we were greeted by close to 200 fans who were waiting to get autographs – we had to explain to them the time restrictions and then rush over to the nearby food area to eat.  When we returned, the fans were still waiting there hoping for autographs.  We realized that if we were to sign autographs for each person, it could take up to ½ hour, which would make us late and we’d get in trouble with the company, so we went back in without signing any autographs.”

Later that night, one of the workers handed the guys an envelope with ‘To Five Tigers’ written on it.  Inside was a letter that started off ‘Dear 5 Tigers’ – however the word ‘Dear’ was crossed out – the rest of the letter consisted of a ‘rant’ by an irate fan [TN: most likely one of the fans who had been waiting outside for autographs]: ‘Even Roman Tam (羅文) was able to autograph for us, yet you guys couldn’t?  Who do you 5 think you are?  You’re trash, annoying fools!’ -- included with the letter were shredded up 5 Tigers posters, photographs, etc.  At the time, Andy [and the rest of the Tigers] couldn’t understand why some fans could get so unreasonable:  “Why aren’t they able to empathize with us?  True, if they like us and support us, we do have an obligation to autograph for them, but if we don’t have time to do so right then, all we can do is tell them next time – some fans are very understanding of this.”

These types of difficulties and challenges that the Tigers faced on their paths to success were a big deal to them at that time, but looking back now, these were simply ‘trivial’ matters.

‘A speck of gold beats ten thousand specks of sand’;  Cheung Hing Lung saves Anita Mui from injury

TVB’s All Star Challenge (星光熠熠勁爭輝) charity show started back in 1981 as an annual fundraising event for HK’s Po Leung Kuk (保良局), a multi-faceted charity organization providing various services to the community.    The show is in a competition format whereby participating celebrities separate into ‘Singers Group’ and ‘Artists Group’ [TN:  ‘artist’ group back then always consisted of actors/actresses from the drama and non-drama departments as well as hosts] and put on various performances against each other – the judges panel consisted of 44 executives and donors from Po Leung Kuk who would press a button to determine which team wins each round.  After 4 years, the name of the show was changed (in 1985) to Platinum All Stars Shine on Po Leung (白金巨星耀保良) and still later, it was changed once again to All Star Gala Spectacular (星光熠熠耀保良), which is the name it currently uses.

As the saying goes:  ‘The nobility journeying out brings on wind and rain’.  This was surely the case with the All Star Challenge show that took place in 1983.  Originally, TVB had wanted to set up brightly lit lights at the entrance of the Lee Gardens stage [TN: the venue where the event took place] to strengthen the atmosphere, however the sudden onslaught of a major typhoon in HK during that time caused plans to be cancelled.  Luckily, the typhoon did not last too long, so the show itself did not end up getting affected.  In terms of ‘line-up’ [celebrities in attendance at the event], no doubt that the Singers group had an advantage, as the number of singers in attendance definitely outnumbered  the Artists group by far.  But, as the leader of the Artists group Ivan Ho (何守信) aptly stated, it was the quality of the performances that mattered, not the number of people:  “We are a small but efficient troop – it’s not about having the most people at all.  Don’t you know that one speck of gold can beat ten thousand specks of sand?”

Even though one of the main highlights of the show that night was the ‘debut’ of the Five Tigers, that didn’t prevent the rest of the artists from putting 100% effort into their performances.  In fact, the Artists group put on quite a few strong and refreshing performances that night, including ‘big brothers’ Patrick Tse (謝賢) and Adam Cheng (鄭少秋) collaborating on a ‘shadow dance’, Lydia Shum (沈殿霞) doing a ‘sexy little wildcat’ dance routine, and also popular couple Barbara Yung (翁美玲) and Kent Tong (湯鎮業) performing a dance segment together.  In the end, the Artists group easily beat the Singers group [led by Roman Tam (羅文)] to win the overall competition that night.

Music Queen Anita Mui (梅艷芳) also participated in the show that year, however since she was a newcomer back then (having won the New Talent Singing Competition only 1 year prior to that), her performance was quite limited – in fact, the 2 segments that she did participate in were group performances involving other singers from her team.   During the very last segment where the singers performed various dance moves from the past 100 years, a major accident occurred that may not have affected the show itself at the time, but did end up halting a singer’s career indefinitely -- Anita’s  fellow New Talent Competition teammate Cheung Hing Lung (蔣慶龍) was injured during one of the dance routines and had to be rushed to the hospital.  [TN:  Cheung Hing Lung was one of the original members of HK’s Little Tigers (小虎隊) along with Lam Lei (林利), William Hu (胡渭康) and Suen Ming Gwong (孫明光) but he left the group shortly after his injury].

At the time of the accident, the Media reports stated that during the last dance segment, Cheung Hing Lung was supposed to catch Anita when she was thrown towards him, but because of his severe nearsightedness, the strength he used wasn’t right and even though he did catch her, he ended up severely injuring his back.  Thinking back, Cheung Hing Lung expressed that he remembers the incident very clearly:  “It had absolutely nothing to do with my nearsightedness!   When the person threw Anita towards me, he didn’t use enough strength and the positioning wasn’t right either.  I saw the potential risk of injury, but thought to myself ‘It’s better that I get injured rather than Anita’, so I quickly changed position and stepped forward so I’d be able to successfully catch her.  Actually, the moment she landed on me, I could already feel that my back was severely injured – I could barely stand up straight and they almost had to carry me backstage.  I was immediately sent to the hospital for treatment.”

Turns out that Cheung Hing Lung had injured his backbone – in addition to staying in the hospital for a long period of time, he also had to endure 3 to 5 months of physical therapy before he completely healed.  Unfortunately, by that time, he had already missed the ‘golden’ opportunity of his career:  “Originally, that show [All Stars Challenge] was supposed to be a testing ground for the 4 of us [him, William, Lam Lei, and Suen Ming Gwong] in preparation to attend the upcoming Tokyo Music Festival, but because of my injury, our performance that night was cancelled.  I remember one day when Florence Chan (陳淑芬) [she was one of Capital Artists’ top execs at the time] came to visit me in the hospital, she told me: ‘I’m afraid we won’t be able to wait too long.  You may have to withdraw [from the group] and try other development opportunities instead.’  I felt very helpless!”

Cheung Hing Lung’s record company advised him to wait for other opportunities, but coming from a poor background, how long could he afford to wait?  After his contract with Capital Artists expired, he had no choice but to temporarily leave the entertainment industry and find a more steady job instead.  Asked whether Anita knew the truth of what had happened, Cheung Hing Lung replied:  “I don’t believe so.  I don’t’ blame anyone for what happened though – perhaps it was destined to be, it’s fate!”

News Article: Mingpao Special Feature: A career in review – looking back at TVB producer Lee Tim Sing’s Top 5 series

Here's a MUST READ article for 80s TVB fans (well, it sort of extends back to the 70s as well).

As most of you probably know, 'golden' producer Lee Tim Sing (李添勝) has plans to retire next year -- for the past 43 years, he has been responsible for producing many many TVB series, most of which we would consider 'classics'. With his anticipated retirement at the end of next year (as well as the recent success of his latest series "Bottled Passion"), Mingpao Weekly did a special feature on Lee Tim Sing, interviewing him about 5 of the top series he had produced in his career.

I'm sure that many old-school TVB fans have probably watched the 5 series discussed in this article at some point in their lives -- if so, here's some behind-the-scenes information about those series, as recounted by Tim Gor himself.

As an 80s/90s TVB fan (and the 70s to some extent), I definitely enjoyed reading this article! Whether you are a fan of TVB or not, if you've watched any of the 5 series mentioned, I hope that this article will help shed some light on things that perhaps were not previously known about the series.

Anyway, enjoy!! :-)

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Article originally published on January 7th, 2012

Mingpao Special Feature: A career in review – looking back at TVB producer Lee Tim Sing’s Top 5 series

Source: Mingpao Weekly, Issue 2252

Now that “Bottled Passion” has ended and his next series “Stairway to Heaven” is in post-production, TVB golden producer Lee Tim Sing (Tim Gor) has started preparing for his newest series “Detective Columbo” – actor Wayne Lai will star in this new series, which could very well be Tim Gor’s last production prior to retirement: “Unless something unexpected comes up, yes, this will most likely be the last one.” TV fans are surely hoping for something ‘unexpected’ to happen! After spending 4 decades in the industry, will Tim Gor miss the work? “It’s not really a matter of missing or not. I’m already 65 years old – it’s truly time for me to step down.”

With a career that spans 43 years and numerous hit series to his credit, Tim Gor does not wish to deliberately pick any one series as his ‘representative’ work: “I put my heart and soul into every single series I produce and each time, I strive to make the best series possible – though of course, it’s not always possible!” With limited production resources, of course it may not always be possible to achieve the best visual effects, however when it comes to choosing suitable actors and actresses for his series, Tim Gor certainly has an eye for talent. From a casting perspective, Tim Gor feels that “The Duke of Mount Deer” (1984) and “The Emissary” (1982) were ‘very close to perfection’, while classics such as “The Fate” (1981) and “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” (1979) had ‘golden couple’ Chow Yun Fat and Dodo (Carol) Cheng – two of his ‘beloved’ artists whom Tim Gor collaborated with often back in the day. Of course, the most ‘memorable’ experience for him was producing 1985’s grand anniversary series “The Yang’s Saga” in which every single artist employed by TVB at the time participated: “Back then, whenever we had a war to fight, everyone was invigorated!” [TN: the ‘war’ was between TVB and ATV: at that time, TVB produced the series to ‘fight’ ATV’s highly rated inaugural Miss Asia Beauty Pageant].

Looking at the state of TVB nowadays, does Tim Gor’s spirit and vitality still exist?


‘Close to perfect’ casting: Tony Leung (梁朝偉) and Andy Lau (劉德華) in “The Duke of Mount Deer” 《鹿鼎記》and “The Emissary” 《獵鷹》

In April of 1969, Lee Tim Sing joined TVB and was given the worker’s identification number of ‘365’ – perhaps it was fate that from that day forward, Tim Gor would work ‘365 days’ a year, every year, producing series for the small screen.

Having experienced the ‘golden era’ of TVB [back in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s] as a producer, it is of course difficult for Tim Gor not to lament TVB’s dire state today: “Back in the day, TVB truly had many great talents – in addition to the Five Tigers, there were also the more ‘mature’ actors such as Chow Yun Fat, Adam Cheng, Simon Yam, etc. – so in a sense, casting for series was easy!” A ‘classic’ example of this – TVB’s popular 1984 Jin Yong remake, “The Duke of Mount Deer”: “If at that time, our ‘artists vault’ did not consist of an actor named Tony Leung, the series definitely would have lost a lot of its vibrancy!” As Tim Gor describes it, Tony Leung’s portrayal of ‘Wai Siu Bo’ was akin to a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity – since then, the character has become ‘extinct’ so to speak: “When I had Jordan Chan (陳小春) play that role [in the 90s remake], it was a different feeling -- even Tony Leung himself, if he were to do the same role years later, would not be able to pull it off with the same freshness and purity as the original portrayal, since he would have gone through more experiences and his acting matured.”

Thinking back to that time, when TVB’s then Head of Production Lau Tin Chi (劉天賜) called Tim Gor into his office to give him the ‘marching orders’ to start production on “The Duke of Mount Deer”, Tim Gor’s first reaction was: “Ok, then Tony Leung will play Wai Siu Bo and Andy Lau will play Emperor Hong Hei!” Tim Gor revealed that the first time he cast Tony in one of his series was in 1982’s “The Emissary” – he did so primarily because Tony at that time was “a short, young boy who had a pleasant face and was obedient – the perfect fit to play Barbara Chan (陳敏兒)’s younger brother!” However, as filming of the series progressed, Tony’s meticulous acting and focus caused Tim Gor to see him in a new light: “Of course, when most audiences watch series, they will only pay attention to the main leads playing their roles in the front, but as a producer, I have to pay attention to those in the background as well. In “The Emissary”, Tony only played a supporting role and when [main leads] Andy and Barbara were playing their parts in the front, he would usually only be in the background – yet, the way he remained so focused and absorbed in the scene – it was obvious that in the future, that was the type of actor I wanted to work with; after all, who would want to work with a wandering spirit with no focus?”

Andy Lau’s situation was similar to Tony’s – the reason he got the ‘golden’ opportunity to be male lead in “The Emissary” was also because of his ‘background focus’: “In the series “The Lonely Hunter” (1981), there was a scene where a group of youth from the Acting Classes were cast as school students and had to perform the song ‘On the Songhua River’. I was in the control room and noticed that one of the students was especially enthusiastic and put 100% effort into performing that scene, so I asked my assistant to write down that student’s name. When it came time for me to start filming on “The Emissary” (in 1982), the first person that I thought about to play the lead role of a youngster from the police academy was that name I had written down: Andy Lau.”

Therefore, when it came time to film “The Duke of Mount Deer”, Tony and Andy were the first choice to play Wai Siu Bo and Emperor Hong Hei: “I would have to say that the casting for that series was close to perfection – even [veteran actor] Chun Wong playing the role of Mao Sap Bat was so well-suited!” The role that had the most ‘controversy’ at the time was Kiki Sheung playing ‘Ah Ngo’ – Tim Gor admits that back then, when he had decided to cast her in the role, there were definitely some people who objected: “As a producer, I cannot be wishy-washy – once the decision has been made, need to follow through with it. If I were to switch artists around all the time, not only would the artists themselves be unhappy, it would also affect the production. In addition to focusing on the quality of the series, I also need to be concerned with the artists’ feelings.” In deciding to cast Kiki for the role, Tim Gor states that her ‘obstinate’ personality was perfectly suited to the character: “If you say that Kiki is not pretty enough for the part, I probably wouldn’t refute you, but the character of Ah Ngo is the illegitimate daughter born out of wedlock to Chan Yuen Yuen and Lee Chi Sing and from childhood, was raised by a one-armed nun – based on her experiences, the character is supposed to have a self-determined, independent kind of stubbornness about her…Kiki definitely had this temperament that made her perfect for the role.”

In Jin Yong’s popular wuxia novels, anything is possible, however adapting the novels to the small screen is a challenge unto itself, both for the cast and crew alike. Tim Gor responds with a smile: “The scene where Wai Siu Bo finds the treasure was especially difficult to film, as there are limitations to what we are able to do in the studio. We did the best we could at the time, building a special set with an underground passage and tried to make the ‘treasure’ as realistic as we could….but of course, there will always be comparisons made! Look at all the Western films with those types of scenes – all the pillars, stones, etc. always look so grand – then take a look at ours…can’t compare!” When that scene was being filmed, Tim Gor had to give special instruction to the director to be careful with the camera angles and make the scene as short as possible: “No point in embarrassing ourselves!”

At this point in the interview, the scene in TVB’s recent anniversary series “Curse of the Royal Harem” where the Emperor and Empress are ‘riding’ in that makeshift balloon comes to mind….aiye….


Andy Lau and Deanie Ip’s mother/son relationship in “The Emissary”

In the 70s, TVB’s biggest competition was RTV [TN: Rediffusion Television, which later became ATV] and during that decade, a big focus for both stations was filming police dramas. After years of filming heavily male-oriented police investigative series, Lee Tim Sing (Tim Gor) suddenly had a thought – instead of filming regular police dramas, why not film a series about police cadets?: “Just like that, the series “The Emissary” was born!”

Prior to this series, Andy Lau did have some acting experience, however since this was his first time in a lead role, a bit of nervousness was unavoidable: “If you ask me whether Andy’s acting skills were always proficient, I would tell you ‘of course not!’ In the beginning, his acting was extremely stiff – my assistant would tell me: ‘that’s not going to work!’ to which I would reply: ‘give him a few more days and he’ll be fine!’” Tim Gor had a lot of confidence in Andy and very carefully helped him figure out where the problem was: “In times like that, you absolutely cannot yell at the actors because if you do, the situation becomes worse. Plus, at that time, it wasn’t completely Andy’s fault – during filming, there were a lot of people in the studio and it was quite noisy – unless you’re used to that type of filming environment, it’s difficult not to become slightly intimidated. As a producer, as long as you understand the circumstances, then it’s no big deal – the more at ease the artists are, the better the acting becomes. A few days later, when I bumped into Andy in the makeup room, I gave him a pat on the shoulder and told him: ‘You’ve been doing much better!’”

Of course, let’s not forget that Andy also had great ‘teachers’ to learn from, as other artists participating in the series included Deanie Ip (葉德嫻), Paul Chun (秦沛), Lau Kong (劉江), etc. – all of them were veteran artists who are known for their solid acting skills: “The veteran artists were very willing to help teach the younger artists at that time; after all, helping the younger artists was the same as helping themselves, since it meant everyone could get off work on time.” In real life, Deanie Ip and Andy Lau truly have a special ‘mother/son’ relationship and have remained close even now, 30 years later – with regard to Tim Gor’s role in bringing these two together, he states: “Actually, there really wasn’t any special reason why I decided to cast Deanie Ip in the series. My intention at the time was to create a very close-knit, unique mother/son relationship where the two of them could joke with each other and act like sister and brother rather than mother and son. I knew Deanie from years back, around 1972 or so, when I was still in an assistant (場務員) role and she was already singing in “Star Show” – later on, we got the chance to collaborate on a series – I remember that every time I saw her, I noticed that she was always smiling, so she was perfect for the ‘happy mother’ character I had in mind for “The Emissary”.”


‘Golden’ pairing of Chow Yun Fat (周潤發) and Dodo Cheng (鄭裕玲) in “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” 《網中人》and “The Fate” 《火鳳凰》

Talking about ‘classic’ collaborations – Tim Gor’s 1979 production “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” created the ‘golden’ pairing of Chow Yun Fat (Fat Jai) and Carol (Dodo) Cheng: “Chow Yun Fat’s acting skills are unquestionably great and Dodo is an actress I love collaborating with! I remember back when CTV (Commercial Television) closed down, TVB had bought a lot of that station’s series. One of my scriptwriters at the time told me I should go watch Dodo Cheng’s performance in those series – to be honest, in the past, what time would I have to check out CTV’s series?” [TN: Dodo Cheng started her television career at Commercial Television in the mid 70s – when CTV went bankrupt and TVB bought them out in 1978, she became a TVB artist].

As soon as Tim Gor saw Dodo’s performance, he knew immediately that she was a talented actress – but, how she ended up becoming part of the ‘golden pairing’ with Chow Yun Fat was partly due to fate and the right timing. As we all know, in the series “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”, Fat Jai was also paired up with actress Cora Miao (繆騫人) and part of the storyline revolved around which woman he would ultimately choose: “The original plan [for the storyline] was that when a man [Fat Jai’s character Cheng Wai] is faced with two women – one who is a perfect match for him in terms of background, education, and thought process and who he had once been in love with [Dodo’s character Fong Hei Mun] and the other who is his dream ‘goddess’ and who understands him well, takes care of him, and is very considerate of his thoughts and feelings [Cora’s character He Ying] – who will he ultimately choose?”

Before the writers had a chance to make a decision, fate already made the choice for ‘Cheng Wai’: “After Cora Miao resigned in the middle of filming the series, the answer was already obvious, as there was no other choice – Fat Jai will definitely be paired with Dodo in the end. Any other characters who were added as love interests after that (Susanna Au Yeung for example) were all ‘facades’ whose purpose was to ultimately bring Fat Jai and Dodo together and move their relationship forward.” Back when the series aired, TVB claimed to have received 200 letters from audiences on a daily basis complaining about ‘Cheng Wai’ being paired with a different love interest as well as requesting that he and ‘Fong Hei Mun’ reunite. When the pair did get back together in the finale, it appeared that TVB had complied with the audiences wishes, but in reality, Tim Gor already had that ending in mind long ago: “Actually, as soon as He Ying was written out of the script [the character died in a car accident], the storyline of Cheng Wai ultimately getting back together with Fong Hei Mun was already set. When Cora quit, we had to ‘give up’ a lot of the storyline that we had originally planned for her – for instance, we had written that George Lam (林子祥)’s character was originally going to fight Cheng Wai for He Ying, but in the end, his character was forced to ‘disappear’. With much of the storyline gone, there was a huge hole that we had to fill and on such short notice, it was not feasible to switch over artists who were currently filming other series, so in the end, we picked Susanna Au Yeung (歐陽佩珊).” When Tim Gor asked for Susanna’s help to participate in the series, he was very up front with her: “It was necessary to be honest from the start that her character (Au Hui Wah) was ultimately going to die – I told her that it was definitely unfair to her and I felt sorry having to wrong her like that, but since we lost Cora, we really didn’t have much choice.”

In the end, Susanna’s character is killed while trying to save Cheng Wai and his mother and later on, he gets back together with Fong Hei Mun – the series ends with the famous ‘last scene’ where Fat Jai and Dodo kiss for close to 35 seconds, which at that time, was billed as the ‘marathon kiss of the century’: “We never planned the timing of the kiss itself – my only request during filming was that the cart pushing the camera do one full circle. The cart had to be pushed slowly because if it went too fast, the cameraman would get upset – after practicing the speed a few times, we did the official take with Fat Jai and Dodo…we finished in one take.” Why not film a few more takes so that there would be more options to choose from? “Camera film was expensive in those days: it cost almost a dollar a foot, and that didn’t include printing and developing – if you film too many excess scenes, the company didn’t like it!”

The ratings for the series went through the roof and there was also much praise from the audiences. However, there were a few audiences who questioned a few aspects of the storyline: “Some people complained that it didn’t make sense for Fat Jai’s character to ruin his career and life by stealing $100,000 in order to help his mother [played by the late Tang Bik Wan (鄧碧雲)], as he could have easily borrowed that money. When I heard that complaint, I was puzzled – why would someone go borrow $100,000 from someone else for no good reason, especially considering that was the year 1979?” At the time, there were also complaints that Liu Wai Hung (廖偉雄)’s character Cheng Chan eating 30 hamburgers in one shot was unreasonable, to which Tim Gor responded: “Yes, I understand that it is difficult for an ordinary person to eat 30 hamburgers all at once, but the purpose of that scene was to show how foolish and ridiculous the character’s thought process was as well as demonstrate the concept of new immigrants wanting to try Western trends [eating a hamburger].” Indeed, the character of ‘Cheng Chan’ had a huge effect on HK audiences and even helped to coin the phrase ‘Ah Chan’ as a nickname for new immigrants settling in HK from Mainland China: “During that time, it was common for HK people to go back to visit their ancestral relatives in the villages and oftentimes, they would exaggerate how HK was a ‘land of gold’, which caused a lot of Mainlanders to come here illegally. I basically ‘borrowed’ the idea after listening to several brothers from the village tell their stories and based the character on this. As for why we chose the name ‘Ah Chan’ – well, that was due to a lot of the stereotypical nicknames that were prevalent in our old society.”

While “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” reflected the struggles of ordinary citizens trying to survive everyday life, Tim Gor’s series “The Fate”《火鳳凰》reflected a different type of struggle – one on a more psychological and emotional level involving the upper eschelons of society. Once again, Chow Yun Fat and Dodo Cheng were paired together – was this arranged by the company given the couple’s popularity from earlier? “No – the most important thing for me is the character and how suited the artist is to portray the role. The main character in “The Fate” is the adopted son of a former triad king and starting from the first scene, there are already scenes involving his background – when it comes to portraying ‘grassroots’ characters, Fat Jai definitely has a knack for it!”

Dodo’s character in the series is the daughter of a rich lawyer, so in order to emphasize the importance of her family’s background, Tim Gor specially purchased a real leather sofa worth ten thousand dollars (remember, this is back in 1981) to use as part of the setting for the scenes involving her home: “Of course, the company complained about the expense, but from my perspective, the family is affluent and in order to match the background and storyline, it made sense to have an expensive sofa – would you expect them to have a sofa made from cheap fabric in their home? Besides, I only bought that one piece of furniture!” Tim Gor was persistent, but it paid off: “Sure, I got yelled at a little, but I don’t care – as long as I’m able to put the investment to good use and it pays off, those people will stop complaining.”


Filming grand production anniversary series “The Yang’s Saga” 《楊家將》

In 1985, the ‘golden couple’ of Chow Yun Fat and Dodo Cheng was taken to a different level – both became ‘deities’! In the grand anniversary series “The Yang’s Saga”, Fat Jai played Lui Dong Bun and Dodo played Ho Sin Gu [TN: historical characters], however both roles were only cameos that they agreed to do to help the company [TVB] fight a war: “At the time, the ratings for flagship program EYT had dropped drastically (and the company had to battle ATV’s Miss Asia pageant finals) – in order to fight back, the company ordered that all their resources be utilized for a grand production and filming had to commence 10 days from the order being handed down. Back then, the organization and structure of the company was strong – as soon as the order was received, we notified the Artists department and they immediately posted letters to all the artists’ lockers letting them know to be prepared. Artists such as Fat Jai, Dodo, Maggie [Cheung] all had series that they were currently filming, so they were asked to return for 1 or 2 days only to film cameo roles as ‘deities’. The director at that time was Johnnie To (杜琪峰) and he asked me how deities were supposed to appear, as it’s not ‘realistic’ to have them just walk out – after some thought, I realized he was right. The result was that we created a precedent by utilizing 18 wires all at once to have all the deities ‘fly’ out in the first scene of the series!”

The reason why the historical story of the Yangs was chosen for this series was primarily due to the short timeframe with which the series needed to be filmed and released: “If we had done a modern series instead, we would have had to spend too much time explaining the story to audiences and promotion of the series would be too strenuous – however as soon as we say “The Yang’s Saga”, everyone already knows the story.” With the popularity of the 5 Tigers at the time, it made sense that they would be recruited to play major roles in the production: “Michael Miu, Felix Wong, Andy Lau, and Tony Leung were arranged to play the roles of the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Yang brothers, all of whom carried much of the storyline – the personalities and mannerisms fit perfectly.” (Kent Tong did not participate because he was on hiatus due to Barbara Yung’s passing).

In the studio, everyone was originally in high spirits and ready to fight the battle, however after filming nonstop for a few days without any sleep, the situation became a bit volatile: “Everyone hadn’t slept for days, many people were in bad moods, and people were complaining. Johnnie To was pretty much yelling at people left and right – if the crew did their jobs quickly, then of course everything would be fine, but if they slowed down a little bit, then he would get upset and yell. At this point, I had no choice but to be the mediator and help settle things.” But Tim Gor also was filming without rest, right along with them: “Yes, but if I got upset too, we’d be dead! I had to keep the big picture into consideration.”

Tim Gor is definitely deserving of the title ‘natural born leader’!

POLL RESULTS: Which of TVB’s 5 Tigers was (is) your favorite?

First of all, to all those who voted in this poll, thank you! I created this poll as a way of commemorating some of the most memorable HK entertainment events of the 80s and 90s.

For the first topic, I decided to do a poll on the 5 Tigers (Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Michael Miu, Felix Wong, Kent Tong) primarily because as individuals, they were the most definitive artists of the 80s, starring in many of the most popular and classic series of that era – as a ‘group’, they have been able to maintain a special brotherly friendship that has been able to endure almost 3 decades – definitely not an easy feat to be sure.

Each Tiger is definitely talented in his own right and even though each of them have taken different paths in life, I am sure that each of them have long-time, dedicated fans who continue to support them whether they are still active in the industry or not. So what are the 5 Tigers doing now? Well, just as a brief summary:

Andy is still active in HK as a singer and actor in film and has won many awards in both disciplines; Tony is active as a film actor and not only is he a multiple award winner, he can also be considered an ‘international’ film star with his award wins in several international film festivals; Michael made his return from the business world back to the TV world a couple years ago and is still active as a TV actor, though he is also back into the eyeglasses business again as well; Felix is ‘semi-retired’ and lives a leisurely life doing the things he enjoys (including playing soccer, tending his garden, acting as ‘chauffeur’ for his wife and daughter, and performing in mainland China), though he does still film TV series and/or movies whenever he feels like it; and Kent is a successful businessman in China who still occasionally participates in mainland TV series.

So back to the poll – for me personally, it was VERY hard to vote for just 1 of the Tigers as a ‘favorite’ because as a HK entertainment fanatic growing up in the 80s, I of course was a huge fan of the 5 Tigers and saw pretty much every single series these 5 were in (and continued to follow news about them going into the next 2 decades). I guess you could say that I like all 5 Tigers to some extent, so for me to pick a favorite is definitely not an easy task. If I were asked this question in the 1980s, I would probably choose either Tony or Michael, just because they filmed the most series in that era and also starred in many of the most popular ones (and yes, I will admit that I did have a little bit of a ‘crush’ on both of them back then because I was so mesmerized by the characters they played in the majority of their series). But after thinking long and hard, I actually voted for Felix this time around – I guess part of it is because I finished watching “Gun Metal Grey” a few months ago and was thoroughly impressed by his performance (it’s been many years, but he definitely still has the acting skill in him!).  But really, the main reason I chose Felix is because I’ve gotten to know him a little better these past few years since he has become more active and I really admire his work ethic as well as his personality. And he actually has a great sense of humor that, even though I knew he had since the 80s, I never really learned to appreciate until the past year or so.

Ok, now that I’ve done my ‘intro’ and given the reason behind my vote, here are the official results of the poll:

Out of a total of 15 people who voted...

• Michael = 1 vote
• Felix = 5 votes
• Andy = 6 votes
• Tony = 3 votes
• Kent = 0 votes

So the winner of the poll is……ANDY LAU (with FELIX WONG coming in a close second)! Congratulations!

Thank you to all those who voted – if you would like to share who you voted for and the reason behind it, feel free to leave a comment on this post.

Please stay tuned for the next 80s/90s poll, which will be posted within the next few days.

2003 HKFA Awards Ceremony (第22屆香港電影金像獎颁獎典禮)

I just finished re-watching the 2003 HK Film Awards Ceremony and I’ve got to say that it brings back a lot of memories.

To be honest, I didn’t purposefully re-watch this show – I just happened to come across it again when I was searching for something in Tudou, so I decided to go ahead and re-watch.

The 2003 ceremony was very different from the previous ones in many ways. First of all, that was the year that SARS hit Hong Kong and the entire population was suffering from the epidemic. It had gotten so bad that there were advisories put out by the government suggesting that non-HK citizens should not travel to HK and if they did, it would be at their own risk. The spirit and mood of the people were at an all-time low. Just when they thought things couldn’t get any worse, the HK entertainment industry is rocked by devastating news: music and film icon Leslie Cheung jumps from the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel – and within minutes, he was gone.

In less than 5 days from this tragic event, the 22nd annual HK Film Awards ceremony was scheduled to take place – given everything that happened, many wondered if they should move forward with the event as planned. In the end, they decided to proceed with the show as usual. The night of the ceremony, HKFA association chairman (and host of the event that night) Eric Tsang gave the opening speech (a very moving one) and in it, he reveals the reason why they decided to go on with the show. He said that after what happened, he didn’t want to do the show anymore – but then he saw something on TV that made him change his mind. There was a news report about how, at the peak of the SARS epidemic, a group of several dozen doctors were asked who amongst them would volunteer to ‘get in the trenches’ and go into the deepest hit areas to help out (and risk the possibility of losing their lives) – without any hesitation, every single of them raised their hands and volunteered to go. Eric was moved when he saw this and also felt motivated – he indicated that the entertainment industry should not let the events of the past several months beat them down…instead, they should show the same ‘fighting spirit’ as the doctors and do the jobs that they were meant to do – entertain the audiences, bring up people’s spirits, and help everyone – ordinary citizen and celebrity alike – temporarily forget their sorrow and pain for one night.

This particular awards ceremony was also unique and special because of 2 reasons:

Majority of the artists who were nominated in the various categories were not in attendance at the ceremony and even many of those who won did not attend. Now before we start blaming the artists, we have to understand the environment in HK during that time – as I said earlier, SARS was at its peak and so many people were sick that the entire region became a big hospital ward, it seemed. And as mentioned earlier, the government had issued advisories regarding travel to HK….also, the hosts Eric Tsang and John Shum did mention that most of the non-HK artists were advised not to come to HK, so it’s actually not too surprising that they did not attend. In fact, the only non-HK artist in attendance at the ceremony was Zhang Zhen, who presented one of the awards.

Second, despite the lack of non-HK artists and the ‘tense’ atmosphere, this was still one of the most memorable ceremonies in HKFA history because it showed how united the HK entertainment industry truly is. A few of HK’s biggest celebrities who had not attended the HK Film Awards in years were in attendance at this particular awards ceremony.…this may not seem like a big deal, but what makes this truly unique is that most of the ‘big name’ celebrities attended primarily to support HK and the industry – many of them were neither nominees nor presenters. And a few of them were actually out of the country, but purposefully flew back to HK just to support.

For example, film icon Chow Yun Fat and his wife Jasmine attended the ceremony to show their support, as did singer/actor Alan Tam (both had not attended the HKFA in years) – both Fat Gor and Alan were the special guests who gave a 4 minute monologue at the end of the ceremony -- a great speech that was filled with humor and jokes at each other’s expense, but was a great source of encouragement for everyone in HK. Stephen Chow also made a rare appearance prior to the presentation of the Best New Director award (which he was not the presenter for) to say a few words of encouragement to the people of HK. For me though, the biggest highlight of all was the extremely rare performance by of all 4 Cantopop Kings (Jacky, Andy, Leon, Aaron), who had not performed together since the late 90s – they did an acappella rendition of Leslie’s classic hit Dong Nin Ching (當年情) as a tribute to him. I definitely have to applaud Jacky for attending just to do the tribute, given his close relationship with Leslie and knowing that he was probably grieving during that time – plus he was not nominated for anything that year and wasn’t even a presenter (both Andy and Leon were nominated for Best Actor and Aaron was a presenter for the Best Actress award, so at least the other 3 had a reason to attend aside from the tribute).

Also, in the very last segment (after Fat Gor and Alan did their speech), the hosts invited everyone (all the presenters, nominees, and pretty much everyone else who wanted to go up there) on to the stage so that Hacken Lee (who was invited up after the speech) and Alan could lead the entire group in a song that represented HK’s fighting spirit. It was a pretty appropriate closing if you ask me.