Premiere of HKTV Series online -- PART 2

More feedback on the episode 1 trailer clips that HKTV has been posting online the past few days....

Hakka Women (客家女人)

My Comments:

.— Wow -- absolutely awesome first 11 minutes!   Definitely want to continue watching to see what happens next!

.—My only ‘complaint’ with the trailer is that the first 2 minutes or so were a bit torturous, as the 2 actresses who play the younger versions of Maggie and Prudence’s characters really weren’t good at all in terms of the acting.  I have no clue who either young lady was, but I’m assuming they were newbies because their acting definitely needed work – the one who played the young Prudence especially, as she sounded like she was reading her dialogue.  Even though that scene ‘sets the stage’ so to speak, it was very short and not really worth haggling over, so I’ll let it slide…lol!

.— The rest of the 8-9 minutes or so were primarily filled with scenes involving Maggie (her character’s name in the series is ‘Anson’) and her boyfriend Poon Chan Leung (his character is ‘AuYeung Shan’).

.—Of course, with Maggie’s acting chops, no need for me to go into how good her performance was (even if it was only the first few minutes of the series).  As expected, Maggie’s acting was ‘spot-on’:  from her facial expressions to body language to delivery of dialogue, she was great all around!  Definitely enjoyed watching her scenes.

.—Poon Chan Leung was a surprise to me because even though I was familiar with who he was (a well-respected, award-winning theater actor), I had obviously never seen any of his acting performances before, so didn’t really know what to expect.  He was great though and absolutely delivered the goods, holding his own opposite a strong, experienced actress such as Maggie.  But then again, I probably shouldn’t be surprised – since Poon Chan Leung comes from the theater world, of course his acting would be good!  As a sidenote – I personally ‘love’ theater actors/actresses and have a high level of respect for them!

.—So many familiar faces during that ‘wedding’ segment in the last few minutes!  Of course, there were Prudence and Savio (both of whom will have significant screen time, since they are considered leads in the series – yay!!) – glad that we got to see a little bit of them in the first 11 minutes!  Then during the actual wedding ceremony scene itself, there were May Tse and Wilson Tsui (happy to see Auntie May again – hadn’t seen her in such a long time!) – I also spotted Peter Lai and Leung Kin Ping in the crowd of wedding guests as well as a few others whose names I don’t remember at the moment.

.—Lastly (for now)….great ‘argument’ scene between Maggie and Prudence at the end!   Absolutely looking forward to seeing how the relationship between these 2 sisters evolve and how much of an impact they will have on each other’s lives.  Despite the fact that I’m not a fan of either of the female leads, I have a feeling that I’m going to end up enjoying this series!

Hidden Faces (三面形醫)

My comments:

.—Very interesting series indeed!  The clip was only 7 minutes, but yet there was already plenty going on --  we got to see all 3 main doctors (John Gor, Frankie, Wilson) in ‘action’…in those short 7 minutes alone, we already get to see what each doctor’s main specialty is as well as an idea of their personalities. 

.—I’m actually quite excited to see Wilson Tsui playing a doctor again -- so far I like his character quite a lot.  Frankie’s character also sounds interesting – definitely different from the way I’m used to seeing him (he definitely looks a bit haggard and ‘rough around the edges’ in this series, which I think is part of the character?)…anyway, sounds like he will be a doctor ‘with an attitude’!

.—I’m actually curious to find out the name of the actress who played Lun Jai’s mother in this segment – she definitely looks familiar....is that Koei Leung Suet Mei?  Because there's a bit of a resemblance there but the voice doesn't sound like her (unless her voice changed or something).  In any case, she was actually quite good in these first few minutes!

.— One thing that I was concerned about is whether the dialogue and some of the scenes will be able to pass the strict ‘censors’ of the Broadcasting Authority (now the Communications Authority).  I have a huge feeling that when the series actually airs on TV, it will likely be heavily edited to fit within the restrictions of television rules (in that case, I prefer to watch the web version!).

.—Overall, this is definitely another series I am looking forward to watching!

Flow of the Years (歲月樓情)

My Comments:

.—For starters…what, only 5 minutes???  NO!!! Definitely not enough!!!

.—I actually really want to watch this series primarily because of the cast, since most of the ‘main players’ are artists whom I haven’t seen in awhile, so it will be nice to see them grace my television screen again! 

.—I have a feeling this is going to be one of those series where even if the script / plot is not 100% up to par, it’s not going to be as noticeable because the acting chops of the main leads will make up for it.  I mean, in what other series do we see such a talented group of actors / actresses?   Ha Yu, Paw Hee Ching, Felix, Emily, Leila, Savio, Lam Lei, etc. – awesome cast!!

.—Glad that this clip actually has Leila in it (I must admit that I was a tad bit disappointed that the Police Boundaries clip didn’t have Leila…lol).  She’s one of my favorite ‘newer generation’ younger actresses and I was really starting to miss seeing her in series!

.— Based on the clip as well as stuff I’ve read, it sounds like this series will have some interesting relationship arcs going on…no, I’m not talking about the typical love triangle stuff that we’re used to seeing, but rather a focus on all the other types of relationships outside of that (i.e. father/son, mother/daughter, friends and neighbors, etc.).  Good to see that we’ll be able to get away from all that ‘lovey-dovey’ stuff for once and actually see some pure, intense relationship stories for a change!

.—And of course, having Felix in the cast is an added plus because that’s pretty much a guarantee that I’ll be watching this series (obviously a Felix supporter…haha!).  His role actually sounds quite interesting in here and I’m really curious to see how everything turns out for him, especially in his relationship with his father (Ha Yu) as well as with Emily and Leila…oh and it doesn’t help that Felix had been ‘dropping hints’ on his Weibo earlier in the year after he read the script and actually started filming the series…made me even more curious to watch the series….lol!

.—Obviously a ‘must-watch’ for me!  If this will truly be the ‘grand production’ opening series for HKTV once they get their license (well, at least that was the rumor, though not sure how true it is), I for one totally support it (though I’m ok with a few of the others being ‘opening series’ too)!

My Thoughts on CTI’s ‘Sales Presentation and Name Changing’ Ceremony (Part 3) – Feedback on drama series clips

Ok, now that everyone has had a chance to watch the Sales Presentation clips (I mean the actual drama series and variety program clips, not the Sales Presentation show itself), including myself, here’s my feedback on which programs I’m ‘anticipating’ and which ones I will probably ‘pass’ on….


**Note: There’s no special significance to the order in which the drama series are listed – I pretty much listed them based on the order in which the preview clips are shown in the Youtube links.**

Overall feedback: I have to hand it to the CTI/HKTV cast and crew for doing such a great job with the filming and editing of the clips. The high quality filming equipment and techniques really show – the way the preview clips came out, I truly felt that I was watching trailer clips for upcoming Hollywood movies / TV shows!

Due to time constraints, I didn’t actually link any of the series back to the previous posts that I did but if anyone is interested in looking at the cast lists or plot summaries, let me know and I’ll be glad to point you in the right direction.

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Fantasy Love Song 201314 (童話戀曲201314)  [already finished filming]


My Thoughts: This series reminds me of the movie “Chicago” with the whole music / dance theme + love story thing. Anyway, I’m not tremendously fond of the main cast (though I like majority of the supporting cast), but the storyline does sound interesting and the scenery looks absolutely stunning…plus I love musicals – it’s one of my favorite ‘genres’ for one, and two, I haven’t watched a musical in such a long time, so it will be fun to get back into one again. Also, it’s nice to see actual singers in this series (since it’s a ‘musical’ after all) as opposed to actors/actresses ‘pretending’ to sing. Another ‘plus’ is the fact that they got a pretty well-known record producer / songwriter (Mark Lui) to ‘do’ (produce) all the music / songs in this series so at least there’s a bit of ‘name recognition’ there.

Based on what I’ve seen / read so far, this series is definitely on my ‘to watch’ list. Hope the final product lives up to the expectation!


Three Sides of Shape Doctors (三面形醫) [currently filming]

My Thoughts: Definitely interested in this series, since the 3 main leads (John Chiang, Frankie Lam, Wilson Tsui) are among my ‘favorites’ in terms of actors (I like the supporting cast as well). The trailer clip was pretty riveting and the theme is quite refreshing, since very few (if any) HK series explore the subject of plastic surgery in such detail (key word here is ‘HK series’). I know many people said this series is similar to the American drama “Nip/Tuck”, which is probably true, but since I’ve never watched that series, I can’t really comment on this piece of it. The other ‘draw’ with this series is that it will supposedly show real life surgery scenes, though I’m assuming that those scenes will be cut out in the TV version (since the HK audiences are ‘ultra-conservative’ plus there are limitations to what is allowed to be shown on TV based on broadcasting regulations) – so it looks like most of us will need to watch the ‘web version’ of the series in order to get the ‘complete’ viewing experience with this series.

The only thing about this series that I’m not sure about is the fact that it doesn’t have any strong female leads in it (at least none that are familiar to me) – supposedly, Kate Yeung is the ‘female lead’ in this series, but honestly, I have no clue who she is or how her acting is like, so not sure at this point how/ if that is going to affect my ‘viewing experience’ with this series.



Fiery News Catalyst (導火新聞線) [starts filming in 2013]

My Thoughts: This is actually a ‘new’ series that has not been formally announced yet (hence the lack of cast list and series summary) and won’t actually commence filming until 2013. I read a little bit on what this series will be about on Weibo (it’s about the tabloid /newsmagazine reporting industry) and so far, it sounds interesting. Looks like the biggest ‘selling point’ of this series will be Noel Leung playing the part of a ruthless, ethically questionable editor-in-chief a news agency who is willing to go to great lengths for a news story, even if it means harming others in the process -- this type of character is definitely different from the typecasted ‘sweet angelic girl’ roles that Noel usually got when she was at TVB. Noel has always been a ‘decent’ actress to me, so I definitely don’t mind watching her in a series.

The preview trailer for the series was quite gripping with the whole ‘pregnant woman jumping off a building’ scene and the aftermath of that….will definitely be interesting to see what happens. Since the series hasn’t started filming yet, I’m assuming the script isn’t complete yet (that’s one of the big differences between CTI and TVB – filming doesn’t start until a complete script is in hand), which means that the story concept and cast could still change. Anyway, let’s wait and see once more details come out next year (when the series is ‘officially’ announced)…


Still Have Time to Love You Again (還來得及再愛你) [already finished filming]

My Thoughts: Ok, I can already say right now that this series is a ‘skip’ for me, primarily because I can’t stand ‘idol series’ nowadays (I’ve watched quite a few of them in the past and hated them!) plus I’m not a big fan of the vampire theme. Also, the cast of this series is the least ‘appealing’ to me because I barely know any of them (not surprising since this IS an idol series after all, so the main cast consists primarily of youngsters, most of whom are probably newbies).

I know one of the ‘selling points’ of this series is its main lead, Taiwanese actor Danson Tang – sorry, nothing against the guy, but I stopped following Taiwanese entertainment ‘religiously’ years ago, so I have no clue who all the ‘popular’ artists are in Taiwan nowadays. Personally, I had never heard of Danson Tang until CTI/HKTV came along, so to me, whether he is in the series or not doesn’t make a difference – it won’t change my opinion about whether to watch this series or not.


Frightful Century (驚異世紀) [already finished filming]

My Thoughts: This series will also be a definite ‘skip’ for me because, well, I don’t like to watch horror flicks. Ok, fine, I admit I have a ‘weak heart’ and have never been able to ‘tolerate’ that particular genre – way too intense for me! I actually do like the cast of the series and from all the stuff I’ve read, it sounds like the artists had very challenging roles, which means these particular performances could be ‘breakthroughs’ of sorts for them in terms of acting. Unfortunately though, based on the trailer, the series looks way too scary – I actually covered my eyes practically the entire time that I was watching the trailer for the series because the scenes shown were too ‘horrifying’ for me (never did that before!). Ah well – luckily this same cast is in other series as well, so I’ll still get a chance to see them in action elsewhere.


Police Boundaries (警界線) [started filming, continuing in 2013]

My Thoughts: This is definitely one of my most anticipated CTI/HKTV series! I’ve always been somewhat of a ‘fan’ of cop series – that particular theme / genre just never seems to get old, no matter how many times it is ‘re-used’. Based on what I gather from the trailer as well as the series summary, it does sound like the series will deal with the ‘black cop’ concept again, which has pretty much been filmed to death by both TVB as well as the HK movie industry already, so it will be interesting to see what type of different spin HKTV brings to it.

I’m actually very excited about this series because I love the cast – it’s been years since I’ve seen veteran actor Liu Kai Chi on the small screen --he’s been doing movies for more than a decade already, but since I don’t watch HK movies as much now as I used to, I definitely miss seeing him! Oh and Dominic Lam is in this one as well (his name is listed second after Liu Kai Chi’s), along with Leila Tong, Deno Cheung, Lam Lei, Felix Lok, Annie Liu, etc. – a lot of artists I like and enjoy watching! From the trailer, it looks like Liu Kai Chi will play the ‘black cop’ in the series, which means that he will be taking on a villain role again (it’s been years since I’ve seen him in a villain role) and matching wits against Dominic Lam (wonder whether his role will be good guy or villain – or little bit of both?) as well as Lawrence Chou. Can’t wait!

Oh, by the way – all reports indicate that HKTV is going to air this series as their ‘opening series’ – meaning it’s going to be the very first series they air when they finally get their license and ‘open up shop’. At first I was wondering how this was going to work, since the series is still being filmed and isn’t even close to completion yet – but then I remembered that they said they were going to make a movie version of this series first and then the storyline will continue as a TV series…so it looks like they will probably air the movie version (assuming it will probably be a few hours?), then later on follow it up with the actual series (not sure if there will actually be a time lapse in between). Smart choice if you think about it because cop series traditionally fare well with audiences and since it appears from the trailer that there will be quite a few ‘action-packed’ scenes, it’s pretty much guaranteed to be a hit with audiences…great way to start off with a bang!


Second Life (第二人生) [already finished filming]

My Thoughts: Based on the trailer and the series summary, sounds like this will be HKTV’s ‘time travel’ series – though unlike the TVB ones, it’s not going to be the obvious ‘ancient time to modern time’ and vice versa type. Instead, the characters are going to remain in the modern world and essentially will ‘travel back in time’ to get a second chance at living their lives differently. It’s supposed to be one of those motivational, life inspiring, feel good type of series….whether the series will actually live up to that remains to be seen.

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the cast (though I found most of the artists in here quite tolerable) but I’ll probably watch this series just to see how they do the ‘time travel’ theme – plus there’s a huge music component to this series as well (obviously, since majority of the cast consists of singers), so that will be nice to watch. Oh, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the special ‘concert’ thing that they did for the series – the first time ever where the cast held a live concert (complete with real life audiences) at an actual arena (the Asia Expo Centre) and integrated it into the series….not sure how the editing is going to work or whether the cast will actually be playing the characters in the series or themselves, but it will definitely be interesting to watch!


Brain Opening Detective (開腦儆探) [currently filming]

My Thoughts: Of course this is a ‘must watch’ for me, given the fact that Felix Wong is the lead in the series (obvious Felix fan here…haha!). Other than Felix, the rest of the cast might not be too ‘impressive’ (other than perhaps Sam Lee and Lo Hoi Pang) but I’m ok with that because I already knew going into it that the cast will consist of quite a few ‘newbies’. Besides, it looks like the ‘draw’ of the series (based on the trailer and series summary) will be the storyline more than the cast – the ‘X-Men’ type spin on the traditional investigative / detective storyline sounds really interesting!

Another reason why I’m looking forward to this series is because it’s also the ‘debut’ series for Felix’s real life daughter Adrian Wong – I’m curious to see how her performance will be (though with her parents’ acting genes plus her dad personally ‘teaching’ her on set, can’t be that bad I’m assuming). And for those who might be curious – no, they are NOT playing father / daughter in this series. Oh, and one other interesting ‘tidbit’ about this series: Felix’s ‘other daughter’ is in the series as well….now before anyone gets confused, I’m referring to the actress who played his daughter in TVB’s anniversary series from 2010, Gun Metal Grey – yes, she(Janice Ting) also joined CTI and will be collaborating with Felix again in this series (though not sure about her role). Interesting!


Kung Fu (功夫) [starts filming in 2013]

My Thoughts: Not sure about this one actually, since this series hasn’t been announced yet, so I have no clue in terms of cast and storyline. All I know is that this is the kung fu themed series Yuen Wah mentioned awhile back ago that he would be filming. Not surprisingly, both Sin Ho Ying and Li Ka are featured in the trailer as well (both have martial arts / kung fu backgrounds so of course they would be in this series) – the others who were featured all have some type of martial arts or action hero / heroine background too…so if all of them will be in the cast, then at least the action scenes and the ‘fighting’ will look decently genuine! Die-hard kung fu / martial arts fans will most likely enjoy this series!

For me, I’m actually going to hold off judgment until I found out more about the series, since virtually nothing has been released about this series yet (this is the only series out of the 12 featured where there has been no information whatsoever on Weibo or in the various entertainment news sites – at least none that I’ve been able to find). So let’s wait and see…



Hakka Women (客家女人) [currently filming]

My Thoughts: I have a feeling this is going to be one of the more highly promoted series for HKTV because it stars 2 award-winning actresses: TV Queen (Maggie Cheung) and Movie Queen (Prudence Liew). The two will play sisters who grow up in completely different environments and live very different lives – they are at odds with each other but will be brought back together due to some things that occur. From watching the trailer, I do agree that the series looks a bit on the ‘soapy’ side (meaning ‘soap opera’) – not sure if that’s a good or bad thing….but one thing that the scriptwriter / director ‘promised’ on Weibo (yes, I’ve been following the Weibo accounts of most of the behind-the-scenes people) is that this series will be ‘different’ from the traditional ‘see lai’ (housewife) series that we are used to seeing at TVB (for one, there won’t be a ‘love triangle’ thing between the 2 sisters in the series….good!).

In terms of the rest of the cast – well, it looks like Savio Tsang will have a heavy role in this series (I believe he’s second male lead here?), which is great because it’s been years since he’s had a ‘decent’ role (he pretty much got pushed down to 3rd / 4th line status at TVB…). And even though I have no clue how Poon Chan Leung’s acting will be since he’s a theater actor and I obviously can’t watch stageplays due to not living in HK, I read that he’s won quite a few awards in the theater world, so the ‘credentials’ are definitely there. The rest of the supporting cast is made up of actors and actresses that I’m familiar with (and grew up watching) as well, so that’s definitely another ‘plus’ for me. I’ll probably keep this one on my ‘watch’ list, at least based on what I’ve read and seen so far…


Age of Housing Passion (歲月樓情) [starts filming in 2013]

My Thoughts: From a casting perspective, this series is probably the most ‘heavyweight’ one out of all the series -- let’s see, there’s TV King Ha Yu and Movie Queen Paw Hee Ching (2 excellent, award-winning veteran artists) plus Felix Wong (haven’t seen him and Ha Yu collaborate in a series since like back in the 80s), Savio Tsang, and Lam Lei. On the actress side, there’s Emily Kwan (whom I haven’t seen in a long time) and Leila Tong (this is probably her 3rd series now with HKTV?) – both of whom will have some type of relationship with Felix in the series (if I read correctly that is). Hmmm – Felix and Leila….interesting pairing!

Anyway, since this series has not been officially announced yet either and there is no series / plot summary available yet, can’t really tell what the series will be about based on the short trailer. But with the strong cast (and Felix of course…LOL!), this one is also on my ‘watch’ list….at least for now!

CTI to hold 2013 Sales Presentation during TVB’s Anniversary Awards month

Yay!  Finally!  I've actually been waiting for CTI to do some sort of sales presentation thing to introduce their series, since I've been reading about the ones already announced and a few of them do sound quite interesting.

Oh and finally got confirmation that Ha Yu joined CTI (I had him on my list earlier, but because there wasn't 'confirmed' info yet, I removed him).  I was actually surprised to see that Paw Hee Ching joined as well -- ok, well, I guess 'surprised' isn't really the right word, since at this point, working for CTI is probably better than working for ATV given the fact that ATV is in bad shape and doesn't even film series anymore.  What I mean is that when I first saw Felix's Weibo post (prior to the one with the picture of Ha Yu and Paw Hee Ching) where he posted a picture of a script for his next CTI series with the description that a 'drama king' and 'movie queen' will be starring in the series, I immediately thought that the 'drama king' was referring to Felix -- so I was trying to figure out which 'movie queen' he was referring to (the few that I came up with were appropriate 'matches' with Felix in terms of acting and such)....but it turns out that the 'drama king' wasn't referring to him at all, which meant that the 'movie queen' was definitely not going to be the actresses I was thinking about.  That's the 'surprise' piece that I was referring to.

In any case, I'm excited to watch the Sales Presentation because to be honest, I'm actually looking forward more to watching most of CTI's series that have already been announced (as well as the ones that haven't been announed yet, such as the Ha Yu series for example) than I am to watching any of TVB's upcoming series (the ones planned for next year don't sound appealing to me at all except for like 1 or 2 series).

Anyway, here's the latest article about CTI as well as some info I found on CTI's Weibo page....can't wait for more info to be announced on the 2013 series....

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CTI to hold 2013 Sales Presentation during TVB’s Anniversary Awards month

Source:  HK Channel, Sina Weibo

Translation:  llwy12

Even though CTI has not received their free-to-air TV license yet, that has not stopped the company’s leader Ricky Wong (王維基) from continuing to push forward his plans to build a TV empire.  In his latest attempt at ‘knocking’ TVB, Ricky Wong finally persuaded TVB’s 2008 Best Actor (TV King) winner Ha Yu (夏雨) to join CTI -- in addition, the company will be holding its Sales Presentation event in December, which, as everyone knows, is the same month that rival TVB holds their Anniversary Awards ceremony. 

HK’s current free-to-air TV stations – TVB and ATV – normally hold a Sale Presentation event every  year in which they outline their plans for the coming year and introduce planned series / variety shows to their advertisers and business sponsors.  Even though Ricky Wong’s CTI has not ‘officially’ opened its doors for business yet, he is already planning a ‘grand’ Sales Presentation event to take place on December 4^th, during which practically all of the more than 100 artists who joined his company will attend as a means of support.

With 2 series in the works, former TVB siu sang Felix Wong (黃日華) continues to be one of CTI’s biggest advocates.  In addition to attending practically every CTI event, Felix also recently revealed that 2 ‘heavyweights’ recently joined CTI.  Earlier, Felix posted on his Weibo a picture of a man and a woman sitting on a bench with a cameraman and a crowd of onlookers in the background – along with the picture, Felix wrote:  “The ‘drama king’ and ‘movie queen’ participating in CTI’s planned new series for next year歲月樓情  are the two of them…I will be playing the ‘drama king’s’ son!”  Even though only the backsides of the 2 artists were visible in the picture, majority of netizens were able to recognize the ‘drama king’ as [former TVB TV King] Ha Yu and ‘movie queen’ as [one of ATV’s former main actresses + 2009 HKFA Best Actress winner] Paw Hee Ching (鲍起静).

Contacted via phone yesterday, Ha Yu confirmed that he will be attending the Sales Presentation event in December:  “Yes, I will be going.  This time, I will be collaborating with CTI on a ‘per series’ contract basis.  Mr. [Ricky] Wong already contacted me over a year ago, but at the time, my contract with TVB was not up yet.”

This past year, CTI has already started filming on 8 series, with half of them already completed and in post-production stage, as well as 3 variety / specialty shows already under wraps.  In addition to showing clips from the filming of these 8 series + 3 variety shows from this year at the Sales Presentation, CTI will also be introducing a few of the series that will commence filming in 2013, including the series starring ‘heavyweights’ Ha Yu, Paw Hee Ching, Felix Wong; a kung fu series starring veteran martial artist Yuen Wah (元華); a detective series about a guide dog, etc. [TN:  See below Weibo post for more info].

Indirectly ‘pressuring’ the government?

By holding its Sales Presentation in December, it’s obvious that CTI is trying to draw attention away from TVB’s Anniversary Awards ceremony to take place on December 17^th, however CTI’s deputy director Cheng Jing Man denied this, stating:  “We’re just starting up [in the TV industry]  -- our goal is to give HK television audiences more choices.  We’re not looking to be compared with others.”  Asked if they are also taking the opportunity to exert ‘pressure’ on the government to issue their free TV license, Ms. Cheng responded:  “The government has been stalling for too long – we just want them to see how much preparation CTI has already done with the number of series and variety programs that have already been filmed.”

In related news, former TVB ‘green leaf’ artist Peter Pang (彭冠中), who recently joined CTI, accepted an interview with Wong He’s radio program yesterday during which he admitted that due to CTI not receiving their license yet, he is unsure at the moment  what his future will look like.

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Additional Sales Preso info from CTI’s Weibo:

CTI's Sales Presentation for 2013 will take place on December 4, 2012. The Sales Preso will include clips from the series that have already been filmed (the 8 series that have already been announced) as well as information on the series that will be filmed in the coming year, including: 1) Ha Yu, Paw Hee Ching, and Felix Wong's new series 歲月樓情, 2) Yuen Wah's new kung fu series, 3) a detective series about a guide dog (aka a dog that leads blind people), 4) a forensics-themed series that promises a more 'modern' way of looking at autopsies, and 5) a sneak peak at Noelle Leung's new series "TM" (a series about a newspaper reporter).

“Reaching Out (美麗人生)"

** Warning: This post contains spoilers – read at your own risk. **

Just finished watching an old TVB series from 2001 called "Reaching Out". It's actually airing on TV right now on the weekends, but because it's a pretty good series and I went ahead and watched the rest of it on my own.

There are many things to like about this series, one of them being the cast, which is quite well-balanced between newbies and veterans. The main/supporting leads in this series are Gordon Lam, Kenix Kwok, Benny Chan, Nicola Cheung, Michelle Ye, Ha Yu, Michelle Yim, and Sammul Chan -- plus a pretty solid cast of 'green leaf' veterans such as Gordon Lau, Wu Fung, Luo Lan, etc. The story primarily revolves around childhood friends Gordon, Benny, and Nicola, who grew up in an orphanage together and have a close-knit brother/sister relationship. It's interesting how different each of their personalities are, despite growing up together -- the chemistry of the 3 together in this series was also very well done:

> Gordon plays the quintessential 'big brother' Fook Sung who always has an optimistic and positive outlook on life no matter what happens to him (and alot does happen)...even when people wrong him, he always forgives them and always tries to put a positive spin on a negative situation -- his life philosophy is to "be the match that illuminates other people's lives". I actually liked the way Gordon portrayed the character because he was able to bring forth the essence of the character without going overboard and making it look cheesy. And I think that whoever cast him in that role knew that he would be a perfect fit because I've always felt that Gordon is good at portraying 'positive' characters that have a certain ‘boy-next-door’ 'naiveness' and 'aloofness' about them -- in fact, I sort of saw his character in this series as a modern day equivalent to the character he played in the ancient series "Crimson Sabre" (Yuen Sing Chi). The personality and character attributes are very similar.

> Benny plays 'second' brother Yee Sook who is pretty much a lazy bum with a big ego who likes chasing after pretty girls. I was a bit annoyed by his character at first, especially with how he constantly tries to take advantage of Gordon’s kindness and also his attitude toward his father, Ha Yu. But later on in the series, he redeems himself (after some things happen of course), gets a job, quits the ‘chasing pretty girls’ bit, and becomes more likable. He also brings a bit of ‘comic relief’ to the series, especially in his scenes with Ha Yu as well as Gordon.

> Nicola plays ‘little sister’ Ting Ting who has a secret crush on Gordon’s character but ends up becoming a couple with Benny’s character. She is a feisty reporter who is also very hard-working. She has a bit of that ‘little girl’ innocence that causes her to sometimes get ‘worked up’ over minor things and overreact at times, but her intentions are always well-meaning. I rarely ever watch any of Nicola’s series and frankly I’ve never really liked her because I always felt that she has an arrogant attitude. But I must admit that she did a good job with the character (though to be honest, I also found her character annoying at times because she would try to be ‘overly’ righteous and stubborn about a particular issue when she should just ‘let up’ a little).

In terms of the other artists / characters in the story, I will make a brief mention of the main ones:

> Kenix Kwok – she actually has a dual role in this story, as she plays the character Yuk Hiu Gwan as well as her older look-alike sister Yuk Hiu Nga. Kenix’s acting skills really shine in this series because the 2 characters she plays have completely opposite personalities: older sister Hiu Nga (who is plagued with an incurable hereditary illness) is very reserved, quiet, reasonable, extremely nice (the typical ‘school teacher’), and is the ultimate optimist, whereas younger sister Hiu Gwan (who is portrayed as a rich, young socialite with a complicated background) is loud, stubborn, can be mean and obnoxious at times when she wants to be (ex: making a production company ‘delete’ all their film just because they accidently captured her on film as she was walking by, filing lawsuits against people for minor issues, etc.), and is the ultimate pessimist.

Hiu Gwan’s relationship with Fook Sung is very interesting and actually quite enjoyable (it’s sort of a ‘love/hate’ relationship that ends up blossoming into true love). Ever the pessimist, Hiu Gwan’s goal throughout most of the series is to prove to her older sister that there are no ‘good’ people in this world and that Fook Sung – whom her sister regards very highly – is no exception. So she constantly tries to do stuff to ‘hurt’ Fook Sung (ex: trying to sabotage his relationships with his friends, etc.) in the hopes that he will reveal his ‘true colors’ (aka get mad at her and cut off all ties with her), but of course he never does. Instead, he sort of ‘plays along’ and uses his goodness and righteousness to change her (obviously, they fall in love and end up as a couple).

I’ve always enjoyed Kenix’s acting and have liked almost every single series she has been in. Her acting was absolutely awesome in this series and her pairing with Gordon was very unique and refreshing (I don’t think they were ever a couple in any other series). My only complaint is that she appeared way too late in the series – her character wasn’t ‘in the picture’ until episode 26 or 27…..since the series is 50 episodes (very long!), she was pretty much there for ½ the series, but I would have liked to see her more, especially since I enjoyed the scenes she had with Gordon.

> Michelle Ye – she played Gordon’s first girlfriend Shuet Yi who later leaves him and falls for Sammul instead (who is young and rich). Her character is very arrogant and also has a big ego – I hated how she ‘used’ Gordon’s character as a “shui po” after her failed relationship with her cousin and tries to ‘use’ him again after she breaks up with Sammul. Her character was the only one that I couldn’t stand throughout the entire series, especially in the last few episodes when she tries to ‘come between’ Gordon and Kenix.

If I remember correctly, I think this was one of Michelle’s first series, so for a newbie, she wasn’t bad in terms of the acting, though there was definitely lots of room for improvement. I still didn’t like her character though and to be honest, I don’t think she’s a good match for Gordon – she has more of that ‘childish’ look that is better fitted with Sammul than with Gordon. Plus, seeing Gordon and Kenix as a couple was much more endearing to me.

> Ha Yu / Michelle Yim – knowing nothing about this series going into it, I wasn’t expecting Ha Yu and Michelle’s pairing at all (I had thought that their first ‘official’ collaboration as a couple was in “Moonlight Resonance”). But I’m glad that they were in this series because – as usual – their acting was brilliant! Ha Yu played Benny’s father and Michelle played Gordon’s mother (though we find out later in the series that she is not really his mother). I love the chemistry between these two and how they would constantly bicker one minute then be friendly with each other the next minute….it was actually kind of funny at times. And their acting is “perfect” as usual -- just the right amount of delivery to get the characters’ personalities across without going overboard…..2 great veterans and a great pairing that I’m looking forward to seeing more of in the future.

In terms of the storyline and series itself, I feel that this is definitely one of the better ones that TVB has done. It has the perfect balance of comedic and dramatic elements and also sends a very positive message of hope, optimism, and the power of love. The series is very heartwarming and I personally was really touched by the storyline and what some of the characters go through. This message / theme was really brought forth through the evolvement of Gordon and Kenix’s relationship in the series, especially with the sacrifices that they had to make in order to find true love and happiness.

The last 10 episodes or so of the series were an emotional roller coaster for me, as there were moments of light humor and laughter (Ha Yu/Michelle and Benny / Nicola), but also moments of poignancy and tears (Gordon / Kenix). The last episode where Hiu Gwan (Kenix) was on the brink of death due to her hereditary illness and the sacrifice that Fook Sung (Gordon) made for her was especially touching – I cried when watching it, which is rare for me, especially with TVB series (the only other 2 series where I’ve gotten teary-eyed while watching are “A Kindred Spirit” and “Remembrance” – both of which happened to have Kenix as well….)

Anyway, even though this series was extremely long (50 episodes!) and there were parts that sort of dragged out unnecessarily (some of which I skipped), overall, it was very well-made! I definitely recommend this series to anyone who wants to watch a good quality series!