A Look Back at TVB’s Past ‘TV King’ Winners (1997 – 2011)

Seeing that TVB’s Anniversary Awards ceremony will take place on Monday (only 2 days away), I figured it was appropriate for me to post the translation for this article that I came across several weeks ago.  Basically, the article recaps the winners of TVB’s Best Actor (aka TV King) award starting from the very first awards ceremony (held during the annual anniversary gala back in 1997) all the way up to last year’s (2011) event.

Reading this article was a nice trip down memory lane for me.  Even though there really wasn’t "anything new" presented in the article (meaning nothing that I didn’t already know), it was still interesting to read nonetheless.

Not sure what’s going to happen with this year’s awards ceremony, since TVB has implemented that new OVPP ‘gimmick’ thing to have audiences vote for TV King, TV Queen, and Best Series.  As I’ve said before -- personally, I feel this is a foolish move because it turns those awards into ‘popularity’ awards rather than actual ‘acting’ awards.  With these circumstances at play, it makes me ‘reminisce’ even more about the ‘olden days’ and how the TV King / Queen awards were actually prestigious and meaningful back then, but nowadays have lost all credibility and importance -- truly sad and disappointing.

Anyway, back to the article – this is actually a great recap of TVB’s past TV King winners, though the only ‘bad’ thing is that it only talks about those who won the award more than once -- the others are only ‘mentioned’ briefly at the beginning and end of the article.  Ah well...still a good recap nonetheless!

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TVB’s ‘Best Actors’

Written by:  MonJeh

Translated by:  llwy12

Source:  YumCha!(yesasia.com)

Article originally published November 19, 2012 (the day of TVB’s Anniversary Gala)


If we were asked to name the TVB program that has garnered the most ‘feedback’ in HK recently, that ‘title’ would go to the interview show Telling Maria (最佳男主角) hosted by [veteran reporter and entertainment news host] Luisa Maria Leitao (黎芷珊).  In the program, Maria sits down with some of the HK film industry’s most popular Best Actor winners from the past few decades and chats with them about career, life, and much more – having so many ‘big names’ from the industry reveal intimate details about themselves, of course it’s no surprise that the program was able to ‘attract’ so many viewers.   However, let’s not forget the ‘other’ Best Actors out there – the ones from the TV world who have a certain ‘attractiveness’ of their own that is equally appealing to audiences! 

With this year being TVB’s 45^th anniversary celebration, let us take a look back at TVB’s Best Actor winners from the past 15 years (starting with the 30^th anniversary celebration in 1997) and reminisce about their careers as well as ‘classic’ performances.

Starting in 1997, TVB added an awards element to their annual TVB Anniversary Gala (萬千星輝賀台慶) event.   In 2006, the awards portion was ‘broken off’ into its own independent program -- the TVB Anniversary Awards show (萬千星輝頒獎典禮) – and over the years, it has become one of the station’s most highly anticipated events.  Two of the event’s ‘top honors’ -- TV King (Best Actor) and TV Queen (Best Actress) – are awards that the station’s many actors and actresses ‘battle’ over every year.  

In the 15 years that TVB’s Anniversary Awards has been in existence, a total of 9 TV Kings (Best Actors) have been crowned.  Amongst them, actor Gallen Lo (羅嘉良) tops the list as the ‘TV King of Kings’, as he has won the coveted award 3 times (a record that has yet to be broken);  close behind him are 4 actors who have each won the award twice:  Roger Kwok (郭晉安), Wayne Lai (黎耀祥), Kevin Cheng (鄭嘉穎), and Louis Koo (古天樂).  Rounding out the rest of the TV King winners list are Bobby Au Yeung (歐陽震華), Moses Chan (陳豪), Bowie Lam (林保怡), and Ha Yu (夏雨).

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Gallen Lo (羅嘉良)

Nicknamed ‘Lo Kar’ (撈家), Gallen Lo entered the industry in 1984 after participating in that year’s New Talent Singing Competition, where he caught the attention of renown songwriter Jim Lo (盧國沾).  Possessing an ‘honest, clean-cut, gentlemanly’ image, Gallen was often cast in the shy, quiet, introverted good guy roles early on in his career – such as the role of Mimi Lau’s (劉淑華) ‘wooden’ boyfriend ‘Johnson’ in 1986’s City Japes (城市故事) [TN: which was also Gallen’s debut series], the late Tang Bik Wan’s (鄧碧雲) shy son ‘Sai Dee’ in 1987’s The Seasons (季節), and ruthless villain Luk Kwok Wing’s [played by veteran actor Kenneth Tsang (曾江)] introverted son in 1988’s ‘classic’ series The Final Verdict (誓不低頭).  Even though Gallen’s ‘honest good guy’ image was extremely well-received by audiences since early on in his career, it unfortunately also limited his development in the TV industry, as he continued to play similar type roles in many series through those first few years.  In 1990, his performances in the series Rain in the Heart (成功路上), The Hunter’s Prey (烏金血劍), and Silken Hands (自梳女) continued to gain favor with audiences, however there was still not much ‘breakthrough’ in terms of his career.

It wasn’t until 1992, when Gallen showed a ‘different side’ of himself as the main villain ‘Kiu Lik’ in that year’s hit series Vengeance (火玫瑰) that he started to gain recognition, with audiences finally realizing that Gallen was indeed capable of playing villain roles.  In 1994’s remake of Legend of the Condor Heroes (射鵰英雄傳), Gallen got the opportunity to play ‘Yeung Hong’ [a role that Michael Miu (苗僑偉) made famous in the 80s version of the series], which was a pretty big challenge for him acting-wise at that point in his career.  However, the role that truly catapulted Gallen to fame and popularity was his portrayal of ultimate villain ‘Tsui Kar Lap’ in 1996’s grand production series Cold Blood Warm Heart (天地男兒).  With the series spanning 65 episodes, audiences got to ‘witness’ Tsui Kar Lap’s transformation from ‘promising youth’ to ‘ruthless murderer’ practically every night – a character that was willing to sacrifice anything for power and money, not only betraying his closest family members, but also causing the death of the woman he loved most.  While watching the series, audiences hated his character (Tsui Kar Lap) with a passion, yet at the same time, they also started to see Gallen’s acting prowess in a different light.

Cold Blood Warm Heart helped Gallen establish his ‘leading actor’ status at TVB and also brought him many new opportunities.  Subsequently, he continued to expand his acting skills by taking on a variety of different roles, such as those in 1996’s Dark Tales (聊齋), Once Upon a Time in Shanghai (新上海灘), Criminal Investigator 2  (O記實錄II) , etc. --all of which brought him praises for his ‘high quality’ performances.   However, if we were to recount the role that left the deepest impression on audiences, it would have to be Gallen’s performance in 1997’s Old Time Buddy (難兄難弟), where he starred opposite a strong leading cast consisting of Francis Ng (吳鎮宇), Jessica Hsuan (宣萱), and Maggie Cheung (張可頤).  In the series, his portrayal of ‘Lui Kei’ (one of the Shaw Brothers era’s most popular leading actors) was so realistic and convincing that many audiences felt that he WAS ‘Lui Kei’.  His performance also led audiences to realize that in addition to playing ‘good guy’ and ‘villain’ characters so convincingly, he was also able to grasp comedic roles perfectly as well – therefore, he was dubbed as one of TVB’s most ‘versatile leading actors’ at that time.  Not only did the series Old Time Buddy garner high ratings for TVB, it also created a ‘ripple effect’ popularity craze unlike anything seen before at TVB – first, the original soundtrack album to the series sold out in various stores in HK, then the series was made into a movie version entitled Those Were the Days (精裝難兄難弟) that same year (1997); the following year (1998), the series was made into a theatrical stage play and a follow up sequel to the TV series – Old Time Buddy:  To Catch a Thief (難兄難弟之神探李奇) -- was also released.

In 1998, Gallen led an ‘all-star’ cast in another grand production series, Secret of the Heart (天地豪情), playing the role of ‘Cheuk Seung Man’ – a person that women both loved and hated.  In addition to his leading role in the series, Gallen was also tasked with singing all of the theme and sub-theme songs for the series, which all became huge hits when the series aired – in fact, at the time, the original soundtrack album for the series reached 75,000 units sold in a few short weeks, which landed it in the number one spot on IFPI’s Top Sales chart for many weeks!  Because of this,  Gallen also got the opportunity to hold his very own concert for the first time at the HK Coliseum.  That same year, due to his role in Secret of the Heart, Gallen ended up winning the TV King award at TVB’s Anniversary Gala for the second time in a row [he had already won his first TV King award in 1997 for his performance in Old Time Buddy].

It can be said that from the late 90s to the early 2000s, the television industry ‘belonged’ to Gallen Lo – in addition to being crowned TV King twice, all of the series he participated in during that time were also hugely popular among audiences; in addition, starting in the year 1997, Gallen was selected as one of the ‘Top Ten TV Artists’ by the HK Media for 7 years straight. 

In 1999, to commemorate the arrival of the new millennium, TVB gathered many of its top artists together in the special 100 episode grand production drama series At the Threshold of an Era (創世紀) [1999-2000] – of course, TVB’s ‘number one brother’ Gallen Lo was included amongst the ‘all-star’ cast that consisted of many top siu sangs and fadans such as Roger Kwok (郭晉安), Sunny Chan (陳錦鴻), Louis Koo (古天樂), Kenix Kwok (郭可盈), Ada Choi (蔡少芬), Flora Chan (陳慧珊), Liza Wang (汪明荃), etc. and got the chance to ‘battle’ acting chops with this stellar group of actors and actresses.  In 2005, when the series was re-broadcast in the midnight timeslot, so many audiences tuned in to ‘chase’ the series that it ended up achieving 94% ratings share, which is recordbreaking for that particular timeslot.

The 2002 anniversary grand production series Golden Faith (流金歲月) became Gallen’s last ‘representative work’ prior to leaving TVB.  It was also the series that gave Gallen his 3^rd TV King award, achieving a ‘record’ in TVB anniversary awards history that no other male artist has been able to break (so far).  This series also ‘reunited’ Gallen with his long-time on-screen partner Jessica Hsuan  – the onscreen chemistry between these two was unquestionable, but most importantly, audiences loved their pairing so much that even to this day, there are many who still wish to see another collaboration between these two ‘old partners’ someday.

In 2008, Gallen made a brief return to TVB, filming the series When a Dog Loves a Cat (當狗愛上貓) as well as 2009’s anniversary series Born Rich (富貴門).  Since then, Gallen shifted his career to the Mainland and has not filmed any more series for TVB.

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Roger Kwok (郭晉安)

Right behind Gallen Lo’s record-setting 3-time TV King win are 4 siu sangs who have each won the award twice.  The first one we would like to introduce is Roger Kwok.

Just like Gallen Lo, Roger was ‘discovered’ back in 1985 by songwriter Jim Lo (盧國沾) – not surprisingly then, Roger’s debut series at TVB was also the 1986 sitcom City Japes, which was also the first time that he became ‘familiar’ to HK audiences.  In 1988, Roger also starred alongside Gallen in The Final Verdict (誓不低頭), in which he played the son of Adam Cheng’s (鄭少秋) character in the series.

Since his debut in 1986 at TVB, Roger’s ‘steadfast youth’ image was very well-received by audiences – in addition, his handsome looks and physical stature at the time resembled singer/actor Leslie Cheung (張國榮), which resulted in him being dubbed as Leslie’s ‘successor’.  Therefore, a few short years after he started in the industry, Roger was already playing lead roles in many modern and ancient series, such as 1988’s The Saga of the Lost Kingdom (嬴單傳奇), 1989’s The Vixen’s Tale (萬家傳說), 1990’s Rain in the Heart (成功路上), the 1990 sitcom When the Sun Shines (同居三人組), 1991’s Mystery of the Twin Swords (日月神劍), etc.  With his healthy image and steady acting skills, which endeared him to audiences, Roger was able to quickly make his way to ‘first line siu sang’ status in the late 80s.

In the mid-90s, after filming the series The Intangible Truth (生死訟) [1994], Instinct (笑看風雲) [1994], When a Man Loves a Woman (新同居關係) [1995], etc., Roger left TVB briefly to try his luck outside.

After his return to TVB, it wasn’t until 2003 that Roger encountered the ‘breakthrough’ role of his career:  the character of ‘Ah Wong’ in the series Square Pegs (戇夫成龍).  Winning the TV King award for the first time due to his performance in this series, Roger’s hard work over the years finally paid off.   In 2005, Roger played the same ‘Ah Wong’ character in the ‘modern’ version of Square Pegs – the series Life Made Simple (阿旺新傳) – which gave him his second TV King title and at the same time made anniversary awards history by being the first (and ‘only’ so far) artist to win TV King twice playing the same character.  In addition to bringing ‘good luck’ for Roger himself, the character of ‘Ah Wong’ also proved to be TVB’s ‘secret weapon’ over the years, as the character continues to be very popular with audiences – every time any ‘Ah Wong’ related memorabilia is released into the market, the items are quickly snatched up by fans.

Despite already having 2 TV King titles under his belt, Roger continues to work untiringly over the years to enhance his acting skills and bring more depth to his roles by participating in a variety of different series  -- for example:  light, comedic series such as 2005’s Scavengers’ Paradise (同撈同煲), 2008’s D.I.E. (古靈精探) and 2009’s D.I.E. sequel (古靈精探B);  series involving the battle of mind and strength such as 2004’s To Get Unstuck in Time (隔世追兇), 2008’s Last One Standing (與敵同行), 2009’s Wax and Wane (團圓), etc.

With his strong acting skills as well as his ability to grasp the essence of each of his performances accurately (plus that ‘eternal babyface’ of his), we’re sure that Roger’s ‘first line siu sang’ status will continue to remain steady, even 10 years down the road!

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Wayne Lai (黎耀祥)

Another artist who was crowned TV King twice and also has been in the industry for more than 20 years is ‘talent path’ actor Wayne Lai.  Even though he may not have the physical ‘looks’ that other actors may have, one thing he does have is a steady foundation [in acting].  He joined TVB back in the 1980s, however, for the majority of his career, he never got the opportunity to rise to ‘leading actor’ status – it wasn’t until a few years ago that he finally made it to ‘first line siu sang’ level, taking on the lead role in one TV series after another and also being crowned TV King for 2 of those roles.

After graduating from TVB’s Acting Class, Wayne Lai started participating in TVB series in 1986, however he mostly had minor roles [TN:  what we call ‘kelefe’ or ‘extra’ type roles].  It wasn’t until 1990, when he participated in the series The Challenge of Life (人在邊緣), playing the role of Leon Lai’s (黎明) buddy ‘Cockroach’, that he first left an impression on television audiences.

In the mid-90s, Wayne filmed quite a few series that were either remakes or spinoffs of renown author Jin Yong’s (金庸) works, such as 1992’s Rage and Passion (中神通王重陽), 1994’s Legend of the Condor Heroes (射鵰英雄傳) as well as The Condor Heroes Return (射鵰英雄傳之南帝北丐) and 1995’s Return of the Condor Heroes (神鵰俠侶) – playing the role of ‘Chow Bak Tung’ in all 4 series.  Aside from veteran actor Chun Wong (秦煌) [who portrayed ‘Chow Bak Tung’ 5 times in HK television series], Wayne is the only other actor who has played the role of ‘Chow Bak Tung’ the most times.  In addition, his portrayal of the character was very well-received and to this day, is still considered one of Wayne’s most ‘classic’ characters.

After that, Wayne once again got to play the same character in 2 grand production series:  1996’s Journey to the West (西遊記) and 1998’s sequel, Journey to the West 2 (西遊記貳).  In both series, he played the role of Pig (Zhu Bajie) to near perfection – this was another one of his ‘classic’ roles that still leaves a deep impression on audiences to this day; in fact, 10 years after his portrayal, Wayne was tasked with hosting a documentary program about the historic ‘journey’ in TVB’s special program Master of Monkey King (大唐西遊記) [2008]. 

Aside from playing the characters of ‘Chow Bak Tung’ and ‘Zhu BaJie’ multiple times, Wayne has also played the character of Eunuch Li Lian Ying (李蓮英) twice as well.  Of course, we all know that he plays the character of Eunuch Li in the currently airing anniversary series The Confidant (大太監), however not many people remember that he also played the same character 17 years ago in 1995’s Man of Wisdom 2 (金牙大狀II ) .  Based on this ‘record’, Wayne Lai could very possibly be the only actor in HK television history who has played the same characters the most times!

Wayne’s other ‘representative works’ in the 1990s era include the Files of Justice (壹號皇庭) franchise [1992-1997], 1994’s Filthy Rich (豪門插班生), 1995’s From Act to Act (娛樂插班生), 1995’s To Love with Love (水餃皇后), 1997’s A Road and A Will (香港人在廣州), etc.  Among those works, Wayne’s imitation of legendary pop superstar Roman Tam (羅文) in 1997’s Show Time Blues (樂壇插班生) left a huge impression on audiences and helped him gain recognition for his ‘imitation’ skills – after that, he continued to imitate Roman Tam in various events.

Wayne left TVB in 1998 to pursue a movie career and after his return in 2002, he didn’t miss a beat, continuing to give strong performances in numerous series, such as 2004’s The Conqueror’s Story (楚漢驕雄), 2005’s The Gentle Crackdown (秀才遇著兵), 2006’s Safeguards (鐵血保鏢), 2007’s Devil’s Disciples (強劍), 2008’s Moonlight Resonance (溏心風暴之家好月圓), etc.  He also participated in over 1000 episodes of sitcoms, including 2007’s Best Selling Secrets (同事三分親), 2008’s Off Pedder (畢打自己人), and 2010’s Some Day(天天天晴) – with filming that took place over a span of 3 years, this allowed Wayne to remain a ‘fixture’ in HK audience’s households for a long period of time.

Wayne can actually be considered the ultimate ‘representative’ of the Chinese saying ‘a great talent matures slowly’ (大器晚成) – after having ‘toiled’ diligently and silently for more than 20 years, Wayne’s efforts finally paid off in 2008 when he received his very first TV-related award:  Best Supporting Actor for his dual role of two brothers in 2008’s The Gentle Crackdown 2 (秀才愛上兵).  After that, Wayne’s acting career went smoothly and he was quickly elevated to ‘first line siu sang’ status.  In 2009, Wayne’s portrayal of the character ‘Chai Gau’ in that year’s runaway hit series Rosy Business (巾幗梟雄) pushed his popularity to a level that he had never experienced before in his 23 year career – to this day, every one still remembers his ‘golden phrase’ from that series:  ‘How many 10 years are there in life?’ (人生有幾多個十年？).  The impact of the series was huge and the positive feedback from audiences was overwhelming, culminating in both Wayne and his ‘partner’ in the series, actress Sheren Tang (鄧萃雯) being crowned TV King and Queen that year (2009).  Wayne himself also won the ‘My Favorite Male Character’ award as well as the ‘Tvb.com Popularity Award’ that year, thereby becoming the first ‘triple award TV King’ [TN:  for ‘bagging’ 3 awards that night] in the history of the anniversary awards.  He is also the first artist to receive the TV King (Best Actor) award the year right after he won the Best Supporting Actor award.

In 2010, Wayne was crowned TV King once again for his portrayal of ‘Lau Sing’ in the sequel to Rosy Business:  2010’s anniversary series No Regrets (巾幗梟雄之義海豪情).  He’s the second artist in anniversary awards history to win TV King 2 years in a row [the first artist was Gallen Lo for his wins in 1997 and again in 1998].

After winning TV King for the second time, Wayne’s next series was 2011’s anniversary series Forensic Heroes 3 (法證先鋒III), which ended up being one of the most highly rated series that year.  This year (2012) appears to be another great year for Wayne – he has 3 series released this year, including The Greatness of a Hero (盛世仁傑), King Maker (造王者), and the currently airing anniversary series The Confidant.  In addition, his performance in The Confidant has made him a ‘hot favorite’ for the TV King award once again this year.  Will Wayne be able to match Gallen Lo’s record by winning the TV King award again for the 3^rd time?  We will have to wait until the awards ceremony takes place on December 17^th to find out!

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Kevin Cheng (鄭嘉穎)

The third artist who was crowned TV King twice is singer turned actor Kevin Cheng. 

In the 1990s era, Kevin signed with one of HK’s biggest record companies – Polygram (now Universal) and in 1993, upon release of his first album, he quickly became the ‘newcomer of the year’, winning numerous music awards.  Unfortunately, he later had a ‘fall-out’ with his manager and mentor Dai See Chung (戴思聰) and ended up leaving HK for Taiwan, where he started his acting career filming TV series.  In 1999, Kevin’s portrayal of the character ‘Kong Yuk Long’ in Taiwan’s version of The Legendary Siblings (絕代雙驕) caught the attention of TVB and he was invited back to HK to film series for them.  After joining TVB, he participated in a bunch of series, including 2002’s Burning Flame 2 (烈火雄心II), 2003’s Loving You (Loving You我愛你2) and Not Just a Pretty Face (美麗在望), etc. -- but mostly in supporting roles.

2004’s Hard Fate (翡翠戀曲) proved to be the turning point of Kevin Cheng’s career – not only did he get the chance to take on a lead role in the series, it also marked the first time that he paired up with his ‘best onscreen partner’ (and rumored girlfriend) Niki Chow (周麗淇).  The Kevin/Niki pairing was so popular and well-received by audiences at the time that TVB decided to keep up the momentum by pairing the two of them up again in 2006’s Under the Canopy of Love (天幕下的戀人) and 2008’s The Seventh Day (最美麗的第七天).

The series Under the Canopy of Love also brought Kevin the first peak of his career, ultimately resulting in him being crowned TV King in 2006.  Despite his popularity that year, unfortunately Kevin was not able to gain the recognition of audiences and the general public, causing his TV King win to be shrouded in controversy – the backlash and negativity he received at the time definitely impacted his confidence.  Luckily, he did not give up and instead, worked hard to improve his acting the next few years in a variety of series, such as 2007’s Devil’s Disciples and The Ultimate Crime Fighter (通天幹探), 2008’s Forensic Heroes 2 (法證先鋒II) and Last One Standing (與敵同行), 2009’s Burning Flame 3 (烈火雄心III) and Beyond the Realm of Conscience (宮心計), 2010’s Fistful of Stances (鐵馬尋橋), 2011’s Only You (Only You 只有您), etc.

In 2011, Kevin’s breakthrough role as rogue lawyer ‘L.A. Law’ in the hit series Ghetto Justice (怒火街頭) not only gave him the second major peak of his career, it also earned him a second TV King award.  This time around, the reaction from the audiences was very different –  his willingness to let go of his ‘handsome gentleman’ image to play a boorish rogue lawyer paid off, as he received widespread recognition for his acting and became the ‘expected’ winner of the TV King award that year.  In addition to winning TV King, Kevin also won the ‘My Favorite Male Character’ and ‘TVB.com Popularity’ awards that same year, thereby becoming the second actor (after Wayne Lai) to become ‘triple award TV King’.

In recent years, Kevin has been actively pursuing the Mainland TV market, filming many series there in a short period of time – in addition, he is planning on making a comeback to the music world, as he recently signed with record company EEG.  Despite all this, Kevin has not forgotten his fans in HK, as he had 2 TVB series released in HK this year – Gloves Come Off (拳王) and Ghetto Justice 2 (怒火街頭2).  In addition, he is also nominated once again for TV King in this year’s anniversary awards.

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Louis Koo (古天樂)

 

The last ‘double TV King’ winner we’ll look at is an artist who already left the TV industry many years ago and is currently a ‘super star’ in the movie industry – Louis Koo.

Out of all the TV King winners featured in this article, Louis Koo’s career with TVB was the shortest – from the time he was ‘discovered’ in 1993 (due to filming a music video) to his departure in 2001 (after winning his second TV King title), he was only at TVB for a total of 8 years.  Even though Louis’ career in the TV industry was short, it was a bright one nevertheless.

After entering the industry in 1993, Louis’ first official series was 1994’s Knot to Treasure (婚姻物語), which starred audience favorites Ekin Cheng (鄭伊健) and Nnadia Chan (陳松伶) – even though Louis’ role was only a supporting one, the positive feedback that he received was no less than that of the main leads.  Therefore, TVB decided to heavily promote Louis by first arranging for him to participate in the sitcom Happy Harmony (餐餐有宋家) [1994] to brush up on his acting – not long after that, he was selected to co-star with Heavenly King Leon Lai in the 1994 grand production series Class of Distinction (阿SIR早晨) – from that moment on, his acting career took off.

In the subsequent years, Louis continued to be heavily promoted by TVB – along with Leo Ku (古巨基), Carlo Ng (吳家樂), Hawick Lau (劉愷威), and Keith Ho (何遠恒), Louis became part of the ‘new Five Tigers’ group that came about in the mid-90s.  In addition, Louis was ‘hand-picked’ to take on the heavy role of ‘Yang Guo’ in the 1995 remake of Jin Yong’s classic Return of the Condor Heroes.  After soaring to popularity with this series, Louis continued to star in many heavyweight series, including 1996’s Cold Blood Warm Heart, 1997’s Recipe for the Heart (美味天王), 1998’s Burning Flame (烈火雄心), etc.  In 1999’s Man’s Best Friend (寵物情緣), Louis got the chance to collaborate with music queen Sammi Cheng (鄭秀文) for the first time – the pairing was very well-received by audiences and set the stage for their pairing in film projects later on.

In 1999, Louis also collaborated once again with long-time onscreen partner Jessica Hsuan (宣萱) in heavyweight series Detective Investigation Files IV (刑事偵緝檔案IV), which ended up becoming one of the most popular series of that year.  In addition, both Louis and Jessica were crowned TV King and Queen at that year’s Anniversary Awards, which also marked the first time that the leads from the same series received those 2 awards at the same time.  The following year, Louis also participated in grand production series At the Threshold of an Era (創世紀) – his villain character ‘Cheung Chi Lik’ proved to be the biggest acting challenge of his career at the time.  That same year, he also joined the music world, releasing an album and also singing the subtheme songs for a few of his series.

In 2001, Louis filmed what was to be his last series with TVB – the time-travel mega production A Step into the Past (尋秦記), in which Louis was once again ‘reunited’ with his ‘best onscreen partner’ Jessica Hsuan.   To this day, the series is still hugely popular and is considered a ‘classic’ by many audiences – it also earned Louis his second TV King title, marking a ‘perfect’ end to his TV career.

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Complete list of TVB’s Anniversary Awards ‘Best Actor’ (TV King) Winners:

>> 1997: Gallen Lo for Old Time Buddy
>> 1998: Gallen Lo for Secret of the Heart
>> 1999: Louis Koo for Detective Investigation Files IV
>> 2000: Bobby Au Yeung for Witness to a Prosecution
>> 2001: Louis Koo for A Step into the Past
>> 2002: Gallen Lo for Golden Faith
>> 2003: Roger Kwok for Square Pegs
>> 2004: Bowie Lam for War and Beauty
>> 2005: Roger Kwok for Life Made Simple
>> 2006: Kevin Cheng for Under the Canopy of Love
>>2007: Moses Chan for Heart of Greed
>> 2008: Ha Yu for Moonlight Resonance
>> 2009: Wayne Lai for Rosy Business

>> 2010: Wayne Lai for No Regrets
>> 2011: Kevin Cheng for Ghetto Justice

Interview with Raymond Wong: “A magazine once asked me to collaborate on fake rumors!”

This is a pretty interesting interview with an actor whom I've started to notice more and more the past few years -- Raymond Wong (黄浩然).  Raymond actually isn't a 'newbie' in terms of acting, as he has been in the industry for over a decade already (started in the industry in 1997) -- however he only started gaining popularity a few years ago after joining TVB (in 2007)...prior to that, he had small roles in movies and  had a few supporting roles during the few years he worked for ATV.

I actually started noticing Raymond back in 2010 with the series "When Lanes Merge" (even though he had filmed quite a few series prior to that).  I really enjoyed his performance in that series and so far, I've liked his performances in the series I've seen of his after that (even if I don't like the series itself, I still like his performances).  Oh and of course, due to my 'obsession' with the series "Bottled Passion" earlier, it made me pay attention to Raymond even more (LOL...)!

The newest series of Raymond's that I'm watching right now is "Gloves Come Off" (拳王), which has so far been a decent series (though I'm not too fond of the storyline or some of the characters in the series). I'm not as excited about the series as I was with some of the other earlier ones, but at least the acting is decent, so that has helped keep the series going for me.  However, I haven't decided whether I'm going to write a review for this series or not (I'm leaning toward 'not'), so for those interested in this series, hopefully the article will give some insight.

In this particular interview, Raymond shares some of his experiences filming GCO and also talks about his [relatively] new role of becoming a father.   After reading this article, my respect for Raymond actually went up a few more notches (he was relatively high on my list already due to his good acting skills), especially when I read the part about his dedication to his son and also refusing to collaborate with tabloids to create rumors for himself.   In the competitve world of entertainment, an artist like him who is so well-grounded and would rather reduce his media exposure (keep in mind that his acting career is still very much active right now) so that he can spend more time with his family is definitely very very rare!  Kudos to Raymond for his good work ethics as well as dedication to his family!  :-)

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Interview with Raymond Wong:  “A magazine once asked me to collaborate on fake rumors!”

Source:  Information Times

Translation:  llwy12

Handsome guys may not necessarily know how to fight,however in TVB series Gloves Come Off《拳王》, Raymond Wong not only shows off his sturdy build, he also demonstrates his physical prowess – after many years of practicing martial arts, he is finally able to put his skills to use. From his reserved, scheming character in his previous series Bottled Passion《我的如意狼君》, Raymond turns into the character of ‘Bat Ka Sing’ in Gloves Come Off – a ‘big kid’ at heart with a fearless nature. Towards his role in Gloves Come Off, Raymond expressed that filming the series has been one of the most difficult of his career – at the time, his baby son had just been born and after becoming a father, he realized that it was time for his lifestyle to change: “In the 5 years that I joined TVB, I had not taken a single day off, not even when I was sick. However, after filming Gloves Come Off, I decided to take 3 months off work because after having a baby, I realized that life isn’t just about rushing blindly forward with a career.”

The day before yesterday, Raymond Wong accepted an interview with Information Times during which, in addition to sharing his joy at becoming a father, he also reveals how he was once contacted by a magazine and asked to ‘generate’ fake news for them.


Partner: Kevin Cheng filmed Gloves Come Off while injured

In the series, Raymond Wong and Kevin Cheng go from a ‘brotherly’ relationship to ‘enemies’ fighting to obtain the ‘boxing champion’ title. Outside of the series, action scenes consultant Sin Ho Ying blasted Kevin Cheng, accusing him of questioning certain sequences and refusing to do them because he was afraid of getting hurt. In response to this, Raymond Wong put in many good words of support for his ‘brother’, stating that Kevin filmed the series while already injured and so being especially cautious with the action sequences was very normal: “Before filming on the series started, Kevin had accidentally injured his back when he was filming Startling with Each Step 《步步惊心》in the Mainland. Therefore, when filming for Gloves Come Off started, he had to see a doctor to get therapy for his back at the same time. All of Kevin’s action scenes were actually filmed at the end – the first half of the filming focused primarily on his scenes with his son and also his romance storyline.”

Raymond continues: “When audiences watch on TV, our boxing sequences appear so easy, but in reality, filming those few minute scenes actually took us hours – it was normal for us to film from 4pm in the evening to 4am the next morning just on that one scene.” Raymond expressed that most of the scenes in the boxing ring were filmed on a specially built set at TVB City. Oftentimes, in order to let the equipment [used in the series] cool down, the air conditioning would be turned on full blast, to the point that some of the crew actually had to wear down jackets in order to keep warm: “Despite the cold, we had to film the boxing scenes shirtless – not only that, we also sprayed water on our bodies to make it look like we were sweating. We were so cold, we would be trembling!” In order to make the boxing sequences look as realistic as possible, they would often film each scene at least 10 times – and that didn’t even include NG scenes – which obviously consumed a lot of the actors’ physical strength and energy. “Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to prepare much for the role ahead of time, as I started filming Gloves Come Off almost immediately after I finished Bottled Passion – I didn’t have time to get into shape. Luckily I had a little bit of martial arts background and generally kept up with exercising, so I was satisfied with the end result in terms of how things turned out physically.”

In the series, Kevin Cheng’s character ‘Tong Sap Yat’ has a reserved, quiet type of manliness to him while Raymond’s character ‘Bat Ka Sing’ comes across like a big kid who still has not grown up, with exaggerated facial expressions and constantly moving about, unable to stay still for a minute. Raymond expressed that the series’ producer [Marco Law] wanted the huge contrast between the 2 characters: “I exaggerated some of the movements on purpose so that later on in the series when my character’s personality changes, the audiences will notice the changes more.” So far, his performance has been both praised as well as criticized, however Raymond expressed that he does not mind either way, as he is already satisfied that he got the chance to play such an interesting character. Most importantly, with his performance in the series, Raymond gained a lot of little kid fans – as a new father himself, this made him especially happy.

Starting with this week’s episodes, the relationship between Raymond and Kevin in the series will slowly start to deteriorate – when the friendship between these 2 ‘brothers’ starts to rupture, it cannot be mended in a short amount of time: “There’s the saying that ‘sincere advice is jarring on the ears’ – unfortunately, both men allow the bad advice of the people around them get to their heads, causing the misunderstandings between them to deepen.” Raymond bluntly stated that his own personality is very different in that if he were to encounter a similar situation, he would clear it up with the person face to face and not allow the misunderstanding to fester: “Communication is a mutual thing – how much you give is how much you’ll receive. There are some people that it’s easy to become ‘brothers’ with and confide in them about all matters, while there are others who are only suitable as ‘acquaintances’. Each person has their own ‘list’ in their hearts.”


Father: Return home to accompany son every chance he gets

In the series, Raymond marries his girlfriend (played by Natalie Tong) after she becomes pregnant and he ends up ‘reluctantly’ becoming a dad. In real life, Raymond and his wife have been together 10 years and are still a loving couple -- 3 years after the couple married, Raymond became a dad and almost instantly, he went from being a ‘workaholic’ to a devoted father. The filming schedule for Gloves Come Off was quite intense and there were days where they filmed for 20 hours straight, so by the time Raymond returned home, his son was already asleep, which definitely caused him to feel guilty about ‘neglecting’ his family. As soon as the subject of his son came up, Raymond’s voice became softer and with a smile, he expressed that his son is just learning how to walk – seeing him teetering back and forth as he learned to balance himself was extremely cute: “After my son was born, I realized what it truly meant to have a sense of responsibility. I don’t want to miss a single minute watching my son grow up! In the past, I always felt that my career was the most important thing in my life and so I never wanted to take time off, but now, whenever I have even a 2 to 3 hour break, I rush home to be with my son.” After a 3 month hiatus, Raymond’s first ‘job’ upon his return was filming the series The Confidant《大太监》, which required him to be away from his family for a few weeks due to filming on location in Hengdian [China]. As soon as Raymond left HK, he received word from his wife that their son was sick: “It’s one thing when they’re by my side, but when I’m away, of course I worry about my son being sick and whether my wife will be able to handle the situation by herself – therefore, I chat with them via webcam every night.” Raymond feels that parents have a huge impact on their children, so he insists on sharing in the responsibility of taking care of his son right alongside his wife, even if it means sacrificing their personal time. Raymond states that he often waits until after his son is asleep before he studies his scripts or he and his wife chat about their days: “There are only 24 hours in a day and now with an additional person in our lives, it’s inevitable that we’ll have less personal time.”


Rumors: Refuse to collaborate with tabloids in creating ‘false’ news

Raymond Wong is an ‘infrequent visitor’ when it comes to tabloids, as he rarely has any gossip reports or rumors surrounding him. Raymond revealed that one time, a tabloid reporter called him up to ask if he was willing to collaborate with them in ‘making news’ – for instance, having him ‘photographed’ holding another woman’s hand while walking down the street or eating dinner together: “This kind of thing is actually very common within the industry -- everyone knows it and a lot of artists will actually go along with it, since they know that the tabloids need to have something to write about. However, I absolutely refuse to go along with this kind of thing! I would rather have less media exposure and go slower [in terms of career path] than to be involved in these types of negative reports. I have enough pride and confidence in myself! I’ve never had to purposefully generate rumors like that and I’ve still been able to survive on my own for this long – I have not let myself down!” Raymond expressed that he normally only agrees to interviews during the promotional periods for his series – when he became a father, he especially wanted to dedicate more time to his son, so he purposefully reduced his media exposure even more.


Low point: Practicing ‘dai sing pik gwa’ martial arts helped bring positive energy

In the series, Raymond’s Thai boxing moves are very nimble and agile – part of that can be attributed to him practicing ‘dai sing pik gwa’ martial arts in real life with Master Sin Ho Ying: “I started practicing martial arts back when I was experiencing a low point in my career – it was during a time when I didn’t have much work and was constantly unhappy.” Later on, he discovered that physical exercise, jogging, practicing martials arts, etc. all made him feel happier, so he continued on this path and now exercise is as natural to him as eating: “When I have time, I go practice martial arts and on days when I don’t need to film, I get up at 6am to go jogging, then shower and start my day with attending events and such. I realize now that happiness truly cannot be bought with money!”

TVB Anniversary Awards 2011 (萬千星輝頒獎典禮2011) – My Thoughts

** Note: I made a slight revision to the part about Felix...see "Best Supporting Actress" section.**

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I'm sure by now, everyone knows who this year's winners are, since it's all over the (entertainment) news outlets in HK and also on Weibo.

To be honest, this year especially, I really had no interest in watching the awards show because almost all of the series this year basically sucked (except for a select few that I could pretty much count on one hand) and most of the performances were mediocre at best. But the biggest reason why I had no interest in watching was because very few of my favorite actors / actresses were nominated and those who did make it into the top 5 were artists I didn’t much for – even the winners I wasn’t too keen on, except for maybe 1 or 2.

I guess you could pretty much say that my only reason for watching the award show this year was for the presenters, since I was interested in seeing who would present and what type of clever speeches they would come up with (though I was a bit disappointed in this area as well – but more on that later). Mostly, I watched the show because there was nothing else to watch on TV (since they pretty much pre-empted every single show that was to air and kept re-broadcasting the award show over and over again) – plus I wanted to have something to blog about (LOL).

Anyway, back to the results…below is the list of winners this year, my reaction to the results, as well as my opinion on a few of the categories and the show overall.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Lee Heung Kam

.—In my opinion, this was one of the most deserving awards of the night (though it was already announced a few days back, so it’s not like no one knew). It’s about time they gave Kam Jeh this award, as her contributions to the HK entertainment industry is unquestionable. It was great how Kam Jeh was accompanied by a few of the people closest to her – veteran actor Ray Lui (her god-son), senior actor Wu Fung (good friend), veteran actor Felix Wong, veteran actress Cecilia Wong (Nat Chan’s wife), and also Kam Jeh’s doctor and one of her relatives. I definitely enjoyed seeing so many familiar faces again – plus I have a lot of respect for Kam Jeh, as she is one of my favorite ‘gam cho’ (elder) artists and truly a ‘legend’ in the industry.

.-- A few things about this particular segment of the awards ceremony:

.> It was absolutely annoying how they cut Kam Jeh off near the end of her speech -- sure, it was only a few seconds and probably barely noticeable to some people, but still….she’s 80 years old and has been in the industry for 60+ years – before any of us (and maybe even some of our parents) were even conceived, so at least give her some respect! Sheesh!!

.> The beginning part of that segment where Vice-Chairman Norman Leung came out to give an intro on Kam Jeh was really unnecessary, as the video clip that they played right afterwards basically said the exact same thing. What a waste of time for Norman Leung to come out and speak (plus he spoke annoyingly SLOW) – they should have just cut his speech and given Kam Jeh more time for her acceptance speech (instead of rudely cutting her off). Once again, TVB has their priorities wrong!

.> Also, did anyone catch Norman Leung’s ‘jab’ at ATV? That particular piece was pretty much the ONLY thing he said that was not already part of the video segment…it makes me wonder that perhaps the opportunity to take a jab at ATV was the reason why TVB had him come out and give that lame speech of his?

Most Admirable Program: “Hong Kong Back Then”

.-- I actually don’t have much opinion about this category, since I didn’t watch any of the shows that were nominated. However, I do find it ironic that the show that ended up winning the award (which was determined by an independent panel of judges not related to TVB) was the one hosted by Wong Hei.


TVB.com Weibo Popularity Award: Kevin Cheng

.—To be honest, I sort of consider this a ‘pork’ award so I don’t really care who wins it…though knowing now that Kevin ended up with 3 awards, it would have been nice if someone else won this particular award….sure, it might be an insignificant award, but hey, for some people, getting any type of award is better than none right? Oh well…I guess I should just be grateful that Raymond Lam didn’t win this award again (how many times has he won this in the past? Lost count already….)

.—The presenters of this award were Wu Fung and Lau Yi Dat. I’m fine with Wu Fung as presenter, but honest to goodness, who the heck invited Lau Yi Dat? That guy is a nutcase and always looks (and acts) as though he is half asleep (or perhaps in a drunken stupor?) – it’s annoying that he’s rarely ever coherent when he speaks, yet TVB invites him to be a presenter. And when he read Kevin Cheng’s name wrong? Some people may have thought it was funny, but I actually found it annoying!


Most Improved Male Artist: MC Jin

.—I actually didn’t really care who won this award, since I wasn’t too keen on any of the nominees. The only ones that I actually recognized were MC Jin and Jazz Lam, but I don’t know either artist well enough to give an opinion on who deserved the award more – therefore, not really going to comment on the ‘deserving’ part of it. All I will say is that I did like MC Jin’s performance in “Lives of Omission” because it was refreshing and different – but considering that this is the ‘Most Improved’ award we are talking about, it shouldn’t be based on only one series. Also, the winner of this award is usually someone who will be heavily promoted by TVB in the future, so it was interesting that TVB gave it to MC Jin (a non-contracted artist) over the others (I believe all the rest were contracted).


Most Improved Female Artist: Sire Ma

.—I didn’t really care about this category either, since I don’t like any of the artists nominated – though I would probably say that acting wise, I would have probably chosen Mandy Wong over Sire Ma, only because I feel that Mandy has more potential as an actress based on what I’ve seen so far. Also, one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to watching series is not being able to understand what the characters / artists are saying – and of course, Sire Ma falls into this category because of her accent…I watched most of the series that she was in this year and honestly speaking, it was hard to get past the dialogue, since it always sounded like she was exerting a lot of effort trying to ‘recite’ the dialogue with the correct pronunciation – plus to me, her acting always seems a bit forced (probably because of the dialogue thing).

.—In terms of her acceptance speech, it actually didn’t sit well with me – it sounded fake to me…also, I found it interesting that she was one of the few to specially thank Virginia Lok (and only VL, not anyone else)…sounded a little like a ‘kiss up’ to me…


Best Supporting Actor: Ben Wong

.— Out of all the awards, this was by far the most deserving of the night! Ben was excellent as ‘Spicy Ginger’ in LOO (I will admit that I only watched that series because of him and Damian Lau) – in fact, he performed well in every series that he participated in this year (LOO, “Life and Times of a Sentinel”, “Curse of the Royal Harem”, and even his cameo in “When Heaven Burns”), plus he has always been a consistently good actor, so he absolutely deserves to win! I’m glad to see him finally get the recognition he deserves (though of course I feel that he should have gotten recognized a long time ago – better late than never I guess).

.—It’s interesting that every year, the Best Supporting Actor category is the one that is the most ‘intense’ for me and the one I get the most emotional over – probably because every year, the really talented actors are nominated in this category and most of them are my favorites (yup, since most of my favorite lead artists left TVB, the only ones left that I like are pretty much the supporting artists).

.—Out of all the winners, I enjoyed Ben’s speech the most – short, sweet, and to the point, yet at the same time, very encouraging and heartfelt. And it was nice of him to mention Catherine Tsang inviting him to play ‘Ah Hoi’ in “A Kindred Spirit” back in the 90s, which was pretty much the role that put his name on the map in the first place.


Best Supporting Actress: Sharon Chan

.—It was obvious from the start that in this category, the ‘battle’ was between Sharon Chan and Nancy Wu, so I wasn’t surprised in the least that Sharon won. I’m actually ok with either Sharon or Nancy winning because both truly did great jobs this year – both of their performances really stuck out in their respective series so it was definitely hard to choose.

.—The presenter of this award was none other than one of my favorite actors, Felix Wong. It was great to see him (though I’m already ‘stalking’ him on Weibo every day, so it’s not like I haven’t seen him in a long time…LOL) and I loved how he came right out and told everyone why he is constantly criticizing TVB. He is always ‘cute’ in my book and his great sense of humor is infectious! The other thing I love about Felix is how he is always so supportive of the younger generation – what he said about Nancy was so sweet and touching (if I were Nancy, I would feel that hearing that compliment from him is better than winning any type of ‘rigged’ award from TVB!) – and even though Nancy didn’t win, Felix was still very happy for Sharon and was very gracious…it was so sweet of him to hold Sharon’s hand and purposefully ask the artists sitting onstage to give her applause once again…such a gentleman! Felix’s segment was definitely one of the highlights of the entire award ceremony for me.

.-- One more thing regarding Felix's segment. Obviously, both Felix and Michael support Nancy for this award and both of them had actually been dropping hints on their Weibos encouraging people to vote for Nancy (which is why when Felix opened the envelope and saw that Nancy didn't win, he said ' 3 gor, our mission failed')...also, Felix has been filming in the Mainland (the movie "Glory Days" with Eric Tsang, Max Mok, Michael Miu, and other veteran artists) and purposefully re-arranged his schedule to return to HK in order to attend the awards ceremony and present the Supporting Actress award. Knowing all this, I respect Felix even more as a person because even though he was rooting for Nancy (and wasn't shy about making that known to everyone, since he openly praised Nancy as being the "best in his heart"), he was still very genuine in his praise of Elena's acting as well as his happiness for Sharon. That type of gracious attitude is definitely hard to come by -- especially in the entertainment industry!


Best Variety Program: “All Star Glam Exam” & Best Variety Program Hosts: Grasshoppers (for “All Star Glam Exam”)

.—These were 2 separate awards, but I’m actually going to talk about them together, since it makes the most sense. Not surprisingly, Grasshoppers won for their hosting of “All Star Glam Exam” and the show itself won Best Variety Program. The reason why I say this is not surprising is because TVB has a pattern of giving this award to the ‘guests’ who host shows for them (previous winners include Susie Wong, Harlem Yu, Sandra Ng) – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing given that most of the time, the shows hosted by the guests are way better than the ones hosted by their own people (with a few exceptions of course).

.-- In terms of the Grasshoppers winning this year, I’m actually fine with it because they did do a good job and the show was actually interesting and refreshing (at least it wasn’t the absurd, stupid stuff that Super Trio had being doing the past couple years). Personally, if I were to choose a winner in the host category, I would have picked Steven Ma (and no, I’m not just saying this because I like him as an actor). The reason I would have chosen Steven is because I feel that both of his hosting jobs (for “Book of Words” – which was not nominated -- and “Apprentice Chef”) were very challenging because it requires that the host do alot of 'homework' and other prep work in order for the outcome to be as good as it was ...it wasn't the typical game show host type stuff, which I feel that pretty much any experienced (or even unexperienced) host with an outgoing personality can pretty much do….now, I’m not saying that Grasshoppers had it easy or didn’t have to do any prep work, but compared to what Steven had to do to prepare for his hosting gig, it's just different.

.—In terms of presenters, I really hated that they had Ng Yu there – he just kept going on and on about a bunch of nonsense…plus I always feel that he sounds arrogant and condescending when he talks, so I always get annoyed listening to him.


Best Informational Program: “Water of Life”

.—I didn’t watch this program (no interest in watching it either) or any of the other ones in this category, so to me, it didn’t matter who won. No opinion on my side.


My Favorite Female TV Character: Myolie Wu (“Ghetto Justice”)

.—This category (along with the Male TV Character award) is generally known as a ‘consolation’ prize for whoever doesn’t win TV Queen – though there have been a few years where the same actress who wins TV Queen also takes this award. The Top 5 finalists in this category were: Linda Chung (“Yes Sir, Sorry Sir”), Maggie Cheung (“Forensic Heroes 3”), Myolie Wu (“Ghetto Justice”), Fala Chan (“Lives of Omission”), and Aimee Chan (“Forensic Heroes 3”).

.—First of all, what the heck was TVB thinking putting Aimee Chan in the top 5? Her character wasn’t memorable at all! There were so many more deserving characters that could have taken that spot – totally pathetic of TVB to put her in there just because they are planning on promoting her in the coming years (obviously, I can’t stand Aimee…her horrible acting totally annoys me).

.—I honestly don’t care for any of the artists nominated in this category because to be honest, I felt that all the female performances were pretty weak this year….but given the top 5, if I had to choose my favorite, I would have probably picked Maggie Cheung’s character from FH3 (for the record, I’m not a Maggie fan at all – in fact, I don’t even like her – but she was quite good in FH3 and her character was the most memorable to me out of the 5).

.—Though I don’t have a problem with Myolie winning in this category (since I don’t like any of the actresses nominated this year anyway), I would have preferred for someone else to win in this category because to be honest, it was a bit much for Myolie to win this award and TV Queen. They should have nominated her for TV Queen with “Ghetto Justice” and used “Curse of the Royal Harem” for this category – this way, most likely someone else would have won the award.


My Favorite Male TV Character: Kevin Cheng (“Ghetto Justice”)

.— The Top 5 in this category were: Kevin Cheng (“Ghetto Justice”), Ruco Chan (“The Other Truth”), Michael Tse (“Lives of Omission”), Bosco Wong (“Lives of Omission”), Wayne Lai (“Forensic Heroes 3”)

.-- Looks like TVB decided not to do the consolation prize thing with this award like they did last year. Well, that’s a good thing actually, but unfortunately, they gave the award to Kevin when they really didn’t have to (especially since they were already planning on giving him TV King). I was actually rooting for Ruco Chan to win this award, as his character of Keith Lau in “The Other Truth” was definitely a stand out and he pretty much shot to popularity due to that role. I guess I should be happy that he got into the Top 5 at least…but still, really was hoping that he could win this one.

.— I was actually surprised that TVB decided to give this award to Kevin instead of to Michael because I really thought that they would at least give Michael an award as consolation, since there was no way that they were going to give him TV King. Personally though, I’m fine with Michael Tse not winning anything because to be honest, I can’t stand him now…the Laughing Gor thing has gotten really overboard now to the point of being annoying (plus his arrogant attitude totally turns me off).

.—The highlight of this segment was seeing Marianne Chan again (she was the presenter for this award). Since she gave up her acting career and is a successful business woman now, it’s rare to see her at these types of events, so I definitely enjoyed seeing her again. She looked absolutely awesome – so elegant and pretty…she was better dressed than most of the nominees themselves! Also, I absolutely loved her speech – it was so clever how she was able to relate her speech back to business while at the same time, incorporating stuff about the nominees – very well put together and memorable! Hers was definitely the best speech of the night amongst the presenters.


Best Series: “Lives of Omission”

.—The Top 5: “Lives of Omission”, “Forensic Heroes 3”, “The Other Truth”, “Ghetto Justice”, “Yes Sir, Sorry Sir”

.—First of all, it’s very obvious that this was a ‘consolation’ prize for LOO due to them losing out on many of the awards (especially the big ones). I definitely would have preferred TOT or GJ to win, since both of those were better series than LOO in my opinion (though not the best, but given the 5 nominated, those would be my picks).

.—I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that YSSR got into Top 5 for Best Series…WTH??? That stupid series was so silly, it wasn’t even worth watching (I personally couldn’t even get through the first episode) – and it’s consider good enough for top 5? Huh? I could think of so many other series this year that would have been better candidates! Whoever nominated that series for Top 5 must not have their head screwed on right!

.— Also, it was weird seeing this award being presented in the middle of the ceremony…it’s usually presented last, right before the Lifetime Achievement award, as a type of ‘last hurrah’ for the cast to all come on stage. Not sure if there was a certain purpose behind doing it this way…not that it mattered really, but it just felt awkward. I wonder if they will do it the same way next year?


TV Queen (Best Actress): Myolie Wu (“Curse of the Royal Harem”

.—Top 5 in this category: Liza Wang (“Home Troopers”), Linda Chung (“Yes Sir, Sorry Sir), Myolie Wu (“Curse of the Royal Harem”), Fala Chan (“Lives of Omission”), Maggie Cheung (“Forensic Heroes 3”)

.—In terms of the Top 5, it really ticked me off to see Liza Wang in there once again! It seems like every single time Liza participates in a series, TVB always puts her in the Top 5, no matter how she performs. That is just so unfair and so stupid! Come on now – first they had to ‘rig’ the game thing at the Anniversary gala so that Liza could participate and get prize money and now, they have to ‘rig’ the awrads so that she gets a spot in the final five for TV Queen? WTH??? I mean, REALLY??? Why is it that Liza always has to be in the limelight? Is she afraid that audiences will forget her so she has to hog the spotlight all the time instead of giving other artists the chance? Ugh!!! I get so pissed now whenever I see TVB giving Liza such blatant preferential treatment at other artists’ expense – ok, I understand that Liza has “tenure” with the company and she has a reputation for being overbearing and bossy, but does that mean that TVB has to give in to her every whim? The way Liza is the focus of attention all the time, TVB should just rename their company the Ah Jeh station or something! Goshdarnit!!

.—Other than my ‘rant’ about Liza Wang getting into Top 5, I really don’t have an opinion when it comes to who took home the TV Queen award because as I’ve said in previous posts, the actresses’ performances this year were all fairly weak – besides, I didn’t like any of the actresses nominated anyway, so it really didn’t make a difference to me, as long as it made sense why the person won. In fact, as much as I dislike Myolie, I actually expected her to win given that the rest of the field was quite weak.

.—The presenters of the TV Queen award were Patrick Tse and Francis Ng (the ‘real’ and ‘imitation’ Brother Four). I’m not a fan of either artist, but it was fun to watch the two of them taking jabs at each other – and I loved how Patrick Tse was saying that Liza Wang talked too much and basically indirectly told her to shut up (since the host Dodo Cheng kept asking for her opinion on stuff, which was the other thing that annoyed me – why keep interviewing Liza when it’s obvious it wasn’t her night?)…only Patrick would have dared to say something like that, given his close relationship with Liza…LOL!


TV King (Best Actor): Kevin Cheng (“Ghetto Justice”)

,-- Top 5: Moses Chan (“Yes Sir, Sorry Sir”), Kevin Cheng (“Ghetto Justice”), Michael Tse (“Lives of Omission”), Bosco Wong (“Lives of Omission”), Wayne Lai (“Forensic Heroes 3”)

.—Just like with TV Queen, I really was not too concerned about who won in this category either, as long as arrogant Michael Tse didn’t win. Basically, the only thing I wanted to know in terms of this category was whether TVB was going to make the stupid move of 'rewarding' Michael Tse for his arrogance by giving him the TV King award -- other than that, who got what award didn't matter to me, since I don't care for any of the artist who were nominated (except for Wayne, but I already knew he didn’t have a chance). Turns out that ‘cocky’ Laughing Gor got shut out completely from the awards, as he went home completely empty-handed (I’m considering that ‘icing on the cake’ for me, since I was only hoping that he wouldn’t get TV King – never thought that TVB would shut him out completely!).

.—In terms of Kevin winning TV King – well, as I had said in an earlier post, I pretty much expected it because he really stood out this year with his GJ role as well as his Mainland series “Bu Bu Jing Xin.” I’m still very much anti-Kevin Cheng as I’ve always been, but I will acknowledge that he has shown huge improvement in his acting from when he started – and given how the rest of the field was relatively weak and the other series were quite horrible, giving him the award made the most sense. Hopefully he is able to live up to the TV King title and doesn’t take steps back in terms of his acting.


Extraordinarily Elegant Male and Female Artists: Bosco Wong & Myolie Wu

.—To be honest, I don’t know what the heck this award was for, as they never really explained it. Basically, the hosts (Dodo Cheng and Vincent Wong) kept referring to a screen where it showed the names of the male and female artists who had the most votes. Then, about two-thirds of the way through the show, they announced the winners as Bosco and Myolie.

.—Not sure what the point was of this award – perhaps it was just an excuse to give Myolie another award? Or maybe to give Bosco an award, since Kevin basically swept all the other awards (he and Myolie took home 3 awards a piece). Whatever the case, doesn’t really matter to me because I consider this a ‘pork’ award anyway.


CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:

Overall, the award show itself was so-so….if it weren’t for some of the interesting presenters and their awesome speeches, I probably would have passed on watching the show.

.—It was very obvious from the start that TVB is not what it used to be. There were actually very few fa dans and siu sangs present – most of the artists who attended were 2nd and 3rd line (some even 4th and 5th line or below). It was actually sort of sad to see, since the awards shows in the past came across way more glamorous since more people showed up. The audience was lacking too, as I spotted quite a few empty chairs when the cameras actually panned over to where the audience was sitting – most of those in the audience were TVB employees who probably HAD to be there….

.—I don’t know about others who watched the show, but I personally felt that it wasn’t as well put together this year as in years past. There were a lot of moments where there was awkward silence and the applause (when there was applause that is) was barely audible. I wonder if TVB was too cheap to hire a music and sound person – or maybe that person left too? Whatever the case, it felt weird….

.—It was nice to see Ruco Chan sitting in the front row – TVB is finally recognizing him it seems (or it could be that so many artists left and there were so few first line siu sangs in attendance, they had no choice but to put him in front). Either way, I’ll enjoy it while it lasts…hahaha!

.—I definitely have to give kudos to Wayne Lai for being such a good sport. He already knew that his chances of getting TV King this year was pretty much non-existent, yet he still came to show his support. And when Dodo asked him why he was there if he didn’t feel he had a chance, he humbly answered that he was there to show his support for all of his colleagues, since they put in a lot of effort in their performances.

.— I was actually surprised that Kevin and Myolie got so many awards – honestly, I felt it was excessive to give them 3 awards a piece…there was really no need for that (but oh well – it’s TVB…can’t expect anything logical from them). Other than that piece, the rest of the results were pretty much anticipated. As I've been saying previously, overall I really don't care who wins this year, since I'm not too keen on many of the artists nominated and I know that it's never going to be 'fair' anyway considering that this is a TVB award show after all...for me, as long as MT didn't win TV King, then I'm happy. Goes to show that being cocky and arrogant won't get you anywhere…that’s probably the biggest ‘lesson’ that came out of this whole awards show!