A Look into the Past: Recounting TVB’s Most Influential TV Series of All Time (Part 2)

Here’s the second article in the multi-part ‘TV History’ retrospective that TVB Weekly magazine published recently.   I’ve actually been a bit behind on translations lately, so I haven’t been able to get to as many of these as I would like -- I believe there are 14 or 15 articles to this retrospective, so obviously there is still a ways to go before I finish the entire series of articles….for those who have been ‘following’ this retrospective and are anxious to read subsequent articles, I must sincerely apologize for my ‘slowness’ in working on these.   The magazine scans I used this time around aren’t that great either (pictures rather than actual scans), but they will have to suffice for now....if I get a chance to do so later on, I’ll switch out the pictures with better quality ones (don’t hold me to it though, since I may get busy and end up forgetting…).

Anyway, just some quick commentary on the article itself…

I actually haven’t watched the 1970s version of Legend of the Book and the Sword, so can’t really vouch for whether it’s good or not.  The version I’m actually most familiar with is the 1987 TVB remake with Nixon Pang, Jacqueline Law, Fiona Leung, etc. – despite the horrible casting choice of Nixon Pang as the male lead (I sort of ranted about this in the comments to my ‘Tribute to So Hang Suen’ article), the series overall was quite well-made, not to mention the rest of the cast (outside of the male lead) was STELLAR!  I highly recommend watching the 80s version (try to ignore Nixon if you can…LOL), as the ‘all-star’ cast and well-written adapted script are well worth the effort.  As for the 70s version – well, I guess if you’re a fan of any of the leads (Adam Cheng, Gigi Wong, Liza Wang, Louise Lee, etc.), then it’s probably a nice classic to watch (though I’m pretty sure that the 70s version is hard to find now given that so many years have passed…).

The other 2 series mentioned in this article (The Hotel and A House is Not a Home) I actually have watched, however I don’t remember a whole lot from either series because the last time I watched was like back in the 90s some time.  The Hotel is often mentioned in retrospectives and other shows / features about TVB history, so I do have more memory of that series than the other one – the most ‘famous’ scene from the series is of course the one mentioned in the article where Deborah Lee's character shoots and kills Chow Yun Fat’s character (believe me, that scene is so ‘famous’ that people who haven’t watched the series will probably remember it if they saw it, since TVB retrospective shows love playing that scene all the time…LOL!).  The series was one of Chow Yun Fat’s numerous collaborations with Cora Miao and to be honest, I sometimes get that particular series mixed up with a few other ones from the same time period (that happened to feature much of the same cast).  In any case, I do agree that Fat Gor and Cora were a pretty good-looking couple, but my favorite Chow Yun Fat pairing will always be him and Dodo Cheng (they’re actually my all-time favorite couple from the 70s era).

As for the series A House is Not a Home – well, let’s just say that all I remember is Liza Wang’s Lok Lam (including her famous hairstyle…LOL) and Simon Yam’s controversial character…that’s pretty much as far as my memory extends…

For those who are interested in reading part 1 of this ‘special feature’, the link is included below (though to be honest, that article covers the 1960s and early 1970s eras, which is likely before any of us were even born).  It does make for some interesting reading about early TVB history though!

Part 1:  http://llsmusings.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-look-into-past-recounting-tvbs-most.html

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TVB Weekly Magazine Special Feature:  The Most Influential TV Dramas from the Past 45 Years  (Part 2)

Source:  TVB Zone, Issue 819

Article originally published March 4, 2013

Translated by: llwy12

In 1976, TVB produced its first ‘wuxia’ (武俠) series adapted from one of famous novelist Louis Cha’s (金庸) popular works:  The Legend of the Book and the Sword (書劍恩仇錄).  With its status as the inaugural wuxia series as well as Jin Yong adaptation for TVB, this 60 episode grand production is considered one of TVB’s most important drama series from the past 45 years.   It comes as no surprise then that the series featured an all-star cast, however what made this series truly ‘legendary’ is that it did something that even today is unprecedented:  the series featured all 3 of TVB’s most popular first line ‘fa dans’ at the time:  Liza Wang (汪明荃), Louise Lee (李司棋), and Gigi Wong (黃淑儀) – in TVB’s 45 year history, this was the first and only time that the 3 of them participated in a series together as the female leads. 

The series’ male lead was veteran actor/singer Adam Cheng (鄭少秋), who was already a popular ‘siu sang’ at the time despite only playing lead roles in a few TV series.  In a brave but risky move, producer Wong Tin Lam (王天林) cast Adam in 3 of the series’ pivotal roles (Chan Ka Lok, Emperor Qianglong, and Fook On Hong).  The difficulty of portraying 3 different characters with unique personalities (in the same series) can be a challenge to even the most seasoned of actors, let alone someone who only started playing lead roles a few years back.  However, Adam stepped up to the challenge – his performance in this series not only made him a ‘household name’, it also set the stage for him to be cast in numerous ‘wuxia hero’ roles throughout the rest of his career.

Rounding out the ‘all-star’ cast for this epic production were many of TVB’s ‘heavyweight’ veteran actors and actresses from that generation, including Chu Kong (朱江), Candice Yu (余安安), Wong Yuen San (黃元申), Ha Yu (夏雨), Lawrence Ng Wai Kwok (伍衛國), Deborah Lee (狄波拉), Shek Kin (石堅), Kwan Hoi San (關海山), Ko Miu Si (高妙思), etc.

For the 1976 version of The Legend of the Book and the Sword to have such epic status in HK television history, the ‘once in a lifetime’ collaboration of TVB’s ‘big 3’ fa dans no doubt played an important role.

100 episode full length series The Hotel (狂潮) sets precedence

That same year (1976), there was another grand production series produced that is an important part of any discussion about TVB’s most influential drama series:  the 129 episode family conflict-themed series The Hotel (狂潮).  With Chow Yun Fat (周潤發) and Cora Miao (繆騫人) leading an all-star ensemble cast,  The Hotel was an important series on many levels – not only was it TVB’s first foray into the ‘large family conflict’ theme [which obviously becomes a common theme in many of TVB’s subsequent series], but it was also TVB’s first attempt at producing a full length (each episode was 1 hour) drama series that spanned more than 100 episodes.

With such an important series, the production was definitely not taken lightly – TVB invested heavily in the series on all fronts:  cast, script, and even filming location.  In order to get the best results possible, the production team specially rented a 10,000 square feet factory building in Kwai Chung for filming.  In addition, the cast and crew filmed many of the scenes in real life hotels and cafes in HK rather than on a set inside the studio – the result was a more realistic effect that audiences could more easily relate to.

As far as cast goes – not only did the series catapult the 3 the core characters in the series (Chow Yun Fat’s Siu Wah San, Cora Miao’s Cheng Si Ka, and Deborah Lee’s Lui Yan) to instant stardom, it also had a far-reaching effect on HK society as a whole.  At the time the series aired [November 1976 to early 1977], practically all of HK’s television-viewing audiences would stay home and ‘chase’ the series – as a result, many of HK’s restaurants and eateries saw a huge decrease in business during the usual peak dinner timeslot in which the series was broadcast, especially during the weeks when the series’ story arcs reached climactic moments.  When the series aired its finale episode – which consisted of the ‘famous’ scene where Deborah’s Lui Yan shoots and kills Chow Yun Fat’s Siu Wah San – it was reported that 9 out of 10 eateries (restaurants) in HK were practically empty!  This proved that the popularity of the series had already reached ‘fanatic’ levels.

This grand series also had another ‘unique’ and ‘unprecedented’ characteristic:  the countless number of ‘heavyweight’ stars who participated in the series, whether in a recurring role or guest star/cameo role, each had their own unique story arc and it wasn’t until close to the end of the series that the plot was tied back to the main story of Chow Yun Fat’s character seeking revenge on the Cheng family. [TN: As a point of reference, some of the ‘famous names’ who participated in this series include:  Shek Kin, Chu Kong, Gigi Wong, Damian Lau (劉松仁), Lee Heung Kam (李香琴), Miu Kam Fung (苗金鳳), Helena Law (羅蘭), Cecilia Wong (黃杏秀), Meg Lam (林建明), So Hang Suen (蘇杏璇), Simon Yam (任達華), Susanna Kwan (關菊英), Candice Yu, Lawrence Ng Wai Kwok, Wong Wan Choi (黃允財), Kwan Hoi San, etc.]

Due to its well-written story arcs, numerous climactic and suspenseful moments, talented cast, and meticulous production, The Hotel garnered tremendously high ratings when it aired and also set the stage for TVB’s subsequent wave of 100 episode drama series.

 A House Is Not a Home (家變) gives rise to ‘successful career woman’ craze

On August 1, 1977, TVB introduced another ‘family conflict’-themed grand production – the 110 episode  A House Is Not a Home (家變).  This series is important in HK television history because of 2 main reasons.  First, when the series premiered back in 1977, it garnered unprecedented high ratings of 95%, which was equivalent to approximately 5 million viewers – this makes the series one of the ‘most watched’ series in television history.  The second reason is of course the ‘iconic’ character of Lok Lam (洛琳):  the series’ main female protagonist played by Liza Wang.  The character left such a deep impression on audiences at the time that it led to a phenomenon rarely ever seen in HK television history:  the hairstyle that Liza had in the series was so popular that it spawned a trend-setting ‘craze’ whereby many of HK’s young women would run to their local hair salon while the series was airing so that they could get a ‘Lok Lam style’ hairdo.   In addition, the character of Lok Lam also gave rise to the ‘successful career woman’ (女強人) term that started to become more widely used in HK after the series aired.

Of course, the success of a series doesn’t depend on one person alone.  As the saying goes:  ‘a peony flower may be good in and of itself, but still requires its green leaves to support it.’  If Liza Wang was considered the ‘peony flower’ in this series, then actor Chu Kong should definitely be counted as the best ‘green leaf’ for her -- his character Chim Pak Lam was absolutely the ‘ultimate match’ for Lok Lam.  While the couple’s ‘love/hate’ romance in the series was certainly heart-wrenching to many viewers, the friction between the two characters also provided many emotion-charged moments for audiences.

It can be said that one of the biggest draws of this series was its incredible cast, which included many household names such as Chow Yun Fat, Ha Yu, Simon Yam, Nam Hung (南紅), Lee Heung Kam, Tang Bik Wan (鄧碧雲), etc. – however another important element was its strong, fast-paced storyline.  In order to make the series more relevant to audiences, the production team added in story arcs involving ‘hot topics’ in society at the time – for example, the infamous corruptions involving the ICAC during the 1970s era.

A House Is Not a Home was an ‘innovative’ series not just because of its story, but also with the unconventional way it tackled such things as promotion for the series.  For example, when the episode about Lok Lam’s father Lok Fai’s (played by veteran actor Bak Man Biu 白文彪) sudden disappearance aired, promoters for the series took out front page search ads in all of HK’s major newspapers with a message from the ‘Lok family’ stating how much they miss Lok Fai and for him to contact them immediately upon seeing the message.  Such a promotional tactic was a first in the HK television industry and definitely set a high standard to follow for future generations to come.

A Look into the Past: Recounting TVB’s Most Influential TV Series of All Time (Part 1)

TVB Zone (an offshoot of TVB Weekly Magazine) recently started a ‘retrospective’ multi-part series of articles recounting TVB’s most influential TV drama series of all time, starting from the 1960s (specifically 1967 when TVB came into existence) until now.  Of course, with all of the series that TVB has produced in the past 4 decades, there are surely many series that most of us long-time TVB followers would consider ‘classic’ – but when it comes to being ‘influential’, that’s a whole different story altogether.  So far, the dozen or so series that the magazine chose to feature in its articles (note that I haven’t finished reading all the articles yet) have been ‘spot on’ – meaning that those series truly have a very important place in TVB history and certainly live up to its ‘influential’ status (in other words, I agree with most of the choices so far…LOL!).   I also like that the articles so far have been pretty well written and it’s obvious that the author truly did do her homework (which I definitely appreciate, since that’s one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to reading stuff like this).  As the magazine starts diving into the series from the 80s and 90s (series that majority audiences will probably be more familiar with) in subsequent articles, let’s hope that the ‘choices’ will continue to be the ‘correct’ ones (let’s see if the ‘so far so good’ trend continues…haha!).

So far, I’ve enjoyed reading this ‘special feature’ and taking that always welcome trip down TVB memory lane (especially given the current ‘pathetic’ state that the company is in).  Since there hasn’t been a whole lot of interesting TVB-related articles worth translating lately (and frankly, I’m sick and tired of hearing about the same currently popular artists and series over and over again), I figured that a little bit of TVB nostalgia would perhaps be a welcome respite, both for me and for readers of my blog.

So read on and enjoy (and look forward to future articles, which I will continue to translate and post as I have time)!  :0)

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TVB Weekly Magazine Special Feature:  The Most Influential TV Dramas from the Past 45 Years  (Part 1)

Source:  TVB Zone, Issue 818

Article originally published February 25, 2013

The year 1967 can definitely be considered an ‘earth-shattering’ year in Hong Kong television history, as that was the year that TVB opened its doors as a free-to-air television broadcaster.  The emergence of this future powerhouse changed the landscape of HK television – not only was the previous ‘standard’ of having to ‘pay money to watch TV’ [TN: since HK only had cable operators up to that point and no free-to-air TV stations] officially broken, the long-held ‘monopoly’ that Rediffusion Television [ATV’s predecessor RTV] had on the HK television broadcasting market was also ‘dismantled’.  From that moment on, television became an integral part of HK citizens’ daily lives – watching TV became a daily necessity (just like household chores), with discussion of the latest ‘hit’ shows or dramas amongst friends and family becoming an everyday, common societal trend.

In any discussion about TVB, it’s impossible not to mention the station’s TV drama series, which takes up a huge portion of the programming that is produced.   In fact, the time period from the 1970s to the late 1990s is often referred to as the era when Hong Kongers ‘mixed television with rice’ [TN: meaning that watching TV was as common as eating rice and also referring to the habit of HK families back then of having the TV on as they ate dinner, watching and discussing their favorite programs while they ate.].  One reason for this ‘trend’ was due to the fact that not a whole lot of ‘entertainment’ existed during those eras, so most citizens would go straight home every day after work and eat dinner with their families, often with the television on in the background.  Actually, the often-heard term ‘煲劇’ [TN: literally translated as ‘boiling series’, which is a term used to describe the habit of watching one series after another without stopping – similar to what we call doing a ‘movie marathon’ here in the U.S.] was already very common back then.

It all started with Fun, Hong Kong Style (太平山下)

In its 45 year existence, TVB has produced over a thousand television series, many of which hold important positions in HK television history.  In the next few weeks, we [the writer(s) of the article] will take a trip back in time with you [the audiences] and recount some of those ‘important’ series that have had a significant impact on television history.

Of course, trying to choose only a few of the most ‘influential’ TV series from amongst thousands of series is not an easy task at all.  In considering which series to choose, many factors were taken into consideration – for example:  Was the  subject matter of the series  ‘exceptional’ or ‘unique’ (during that time period)?  Did the series have an ‘all-star’ cast back then that can never be assembled again?  Or perhaps the series was chosen because of its impact on the development path of future TV series?  Etc….

The first series in our discussion is a situational comedy (sitcom) entitled Fun, Hong Kong Style (太平山下), which happens to be the very first TV series that TVB produced and aired (back in 1967) in the format of a ½ hour comedy skit every Sunday night.   The series was produced by Chung King Fai (鍾景輝) and starred popular artists from that era such as Yung Yuk Yi (容玉意), Mui Yan (梅欣), Sheung Kwun Kwan Wai (上官筠慧), Lydia Shum (沈殿霞), Lee Tim Sing (李添勝), Helena Law (羅蘭), Lee Heung Kam (李香琴), etc.  Since the broadcast of the series back then was sponsored by the Swiss watch-maker Tugaris, the time slot in which it aired was also known as the ‘Tugaris Theater’ segment.

TVB’s first full length series Love Story (夢斷情天)

The second series in our discussion is 1968’s Love Story (夢斷情天) – as TVB’s very first full length drama series, Love Story originally aired for only 15 minutes every night, however, due to the series quickly becoming a huge hit, 15 minutes turned out to be too short for HK audiences.  Therefore, TVB decided to change the format and air 30 minutes of the series every night instead, which resulted in the series staying on the air for more than half a year.

Due to the tremendous popularity of Love Story, the series’ female lead Gigi Wong (黃淑儀) was catapulted to instant success and her position as TVB’s inaugural ‘first-line fa dan’ was secure -- back when the series aired (in 1968-1969), there was not a single audience who wasn’t familiar with Gigi’s character in the series Sui Fen (瑞芬).  As for the series’ male lead Stanley Fung (馮淬帆) – well, he of course became TVB’s very first full length drama series ‘siu sang’.

The emergence of Love Story not only switched TVB’s most ‘lucrative’ programming from variety programs to drama series, it also set the precedence for Cantonese language TV series to become mainstream amongst HK television programs.  When the series reached its 60^th episode, additional ‘on location’ scenes were filmed and added to the series, which also ‘shaped’ the format of HK television series going forward. 

The Fatal Irony (啼笑因緣) catapults Louise Lee to stardom

In July 1969, TVB’s third official TV series Hard to Escape Justice (法網難逃) began airing in Hong Kong – first in black and white and later in color.  Therefore, this series can be considered a ‘classic’ in that it witnessed one of the television industry’s most important developments --  the switch from the ‘black and white’ TV era to ‘color’ TV.    Hard to Escape Justice was a series that consisted of multiple short stories, with each episode dedicated to a specific criminal case – one particular story in the series, entitled The Audio Recorder Love Murder, was a special 90 minute feature that once again reunited Love Story stars Stanley Fung and Gigi Wong in the main lead roles.  The series not only served as the ‘pioneer’ for TVB’s multi-story format series (單元劇), it also helped to further secure Stanley and Gigi’s positions as TVB’s first generation ‘siu sang’ and ‘fa dan’.

[Afraid that you have a change of heart, your lover’s tears all over the lapel (為怕哥你變左心,情人淚滿襟)….]   Most seasoned TVB fans will probably recognize the above lyrics as the famous opening line to the theme song of 1974’s classic series The Fatal Irony (啼笑因緣) – the song, which was composed by Joseph Koo (顧嘉煇) and sung by Sandra Lang (仙杜拉), became an instant hit and marked the beginning of the TV theme song ‘golden era’.  The series itself, which was adapted from Mainland author Zhang Hen Shui’s (张恨水) novel of the same name, starred actress Louise Lee (李司棋) in the dual roles of Shum Fung Hei and Ho Lai Na – two characters with very opposite personalities.  With her meticulous portrayal of both characters, Louise brought out the willful and unruly nature of the rich young heiress Lai Na while at the same time evoking sympathetic tears from audiences over the poor Fung Hei’s pitiful plight.

The series’ male lead was one of television’s most popular ‘siu sangs’ at the time, Chan Chun Wah (陳振華)   Other co-stars included veteran actor Chan Yau Hou (陳有后) as well as the series’ second female lead Pearl Au (歐嘉慧) [TN: Pearl was the ex-wife of TVB’s ‘golden emcee’ Ivan Ho (何守信).]  Uncle Hou was one of the main instructors for TVB’s Acting Classes back during those days and throughout his career, taught many of the industry’s biggest stars [TN:  Some of Uncle Hou’s famous students include:  Chow Yun Fat, Liza Wang, Ng Man Tat, Johnnie To, Alex Man, etc.]  -- therefore, Uncle Hou’s meticulous and natural acting in the series came as no surprise.   Another ‘interesting’ fact that contributed to this series’ ‘classic’ status:  international superstar Chow Yun Fat (周潤發) – who was relatively unknown at the time – can be spotted playing a random bystander during one of the street scenes!

The switch from ½ hour to 1 hour

 On May 31, 1976, TVB introduced a new 20 episode TV drama series called  A Heart with Thousands of Knots  (心有千千結), which was adapted from popular Taiwanese romance author Qiong Yao’s (瓊瑤) novel of the same name.  The series starred Shek Sau (石修) and Maggie Li (李琳琳) and also featured a theme song sung by the series’ male lead (Shek Sau) and one of HK’s top female singers at the time, Betty Chung (鍾玲玲) -- due to the song’s tremendous popularity at the time, it absolutely qualifies as one of the industry’s most ‘classic’ TV theme songs.  The main reason why this particular series made it onto the ‘most influential series’ list was because it marked another major development in TVB history – starting with this series, the airing time for TVB series was changed from 30 minutes per episode to 1 hour. [TN:  well, technically, if we look at actual drama series airing time, it changed to 45 minutes, as the rest of the time was made up of commercials].

Preview of next article….

Liza Wang (汪明荃) is one of TVB’s ‘gatekeeper treasures’ and the ultimate ‘Ah Jeh’ in everyone’s hearts.  Liza, Gigi Wong, and Louise Lee were considered TVB’s ‘big 3’ fa dans  of that generation (1970s) -- with their positions and busy schedules, the opportunity to have all 3 of them star in the same series together was definitely rare to say the least.  However, such an opportunity did present itself and to this day, it is the only series in HK television history to feature all 3 ‘Ah Jehs’  -- TVB’s first generation fa dans – together.  What was that series?   The answer will be revealed in the next article….

My ‘TVB Rant’ # 4: Where’s Wong Hei??

I just saw something that I absolutely have to blog about – in my opinion, it’s another “injustice” by TVB (yea, what else is new?).

I was reading one of the older editions of TVB Magazine (Issue 677, dated 06/14/2010) and when I got to the ‘Drama Bible’ section (the ‘TV Guide’ section of the magazine with pictures and highlights from TVB’s currently airing series as well as episode summaries), I flipped through the section as I usually do. One of the series that started airing around that time was “Some Day” (天天天晴) – the new sitcom with Louise Lee, Teresa Mo, Wayne Lai, Wong Hei, Krystal Tin, Johnson Lee, etc. Since I like the cast (well, at least most of the cast) and the series just started airing, I figured I would flip through and read about the first few episodes.

As I was flipping through the section and looking at the pictures, I noticed something odd and a particular thought started formulating in my mind -- so I flipped back to the beginning of the section where the cast photo was so I could double check to see if maybe I was mistaken. After checking the cast photo, it turns out that I wasn’t mistaken after all and it further fueled something I was already thinking….

What was it that I ‘noticed’, you ask? I noticed that one of the ‘supposed’ main characters from the series is conspicuously missing from the cast photo and also pretty much relegated to 4th or 5th line artist in the cast listing. The artist I am referring to is Wong Hei.

Last time I checked, Wong He has always been considered a ‘first-line’ actor by audiences and by TVB (at least up to this point). I mean, he has starred as the main lead in numerous TVB series, his acting has always been at a pretty high level, and he has been at TVB for a long time – so in my book, he is considered a ‘siu sang’. But then why is he not in the cast photo, yet a lot of minor characters (some of which I don’t even know their names) are in it??? The answer is simple: TVB is playing their political ‘game’ again – their ‘favorites’ game….

Consider this: the male lead in this series is obviously Wayne Lai, as the series is pretty much supposed to revolve around him, Louise, and Teresa. That’s understandable, since Wayne was last year’s TV King and is a wonderfully awesome actor – so he gets the ‘middle spot’ in the cast photo (for the male side at least) and also ‘top billing’ on the cast list (again, for the male side). I have absolutely no problem with this at all, since Wayne is one of my favorite actors – in fact, I’m very happy that he is getting such recognition (though I must say that one funny thing is that at the time this magazine was published, Wayne had not even joined the cast of “Some Day” yet – he was wrapping filming of RB2 and would join the cast only in August).

Aside from Wayne, let’s look at the rest of the male artists participating in this series (the names are taken directly from the magazine): Wong Hei, Johnson Lee, Tsui Wing, Cheng Tse Sing, Law Tin Chi, Raymond Chiu, Matt Yeung, Geoffrey Wong, Jason Chan, plus the elder ‘green leaf’ veterans such as Lau Dan, Lau Kong, Lee Kar Ting, etc.

Out of this list, the ONLY person who is ‘lead’ material and has played numerous lead roles in TVB series in the last 7-8 years is obviously Wong He….everyone else is pretty much ‘supporting’ material and have never played leading roles in TVB series. So based on the above, one would logically think that with Wong Hei’s quality acting as well as tenure, he would be listed as ‘second lead’ on the male side – or at least have more ‘status’ than all the other male artists listed….

BUT, here’s the kicker – Wong Hei is not in the cast photo PERIOD….yet the other supporting and even minor characters ARE. Not only that, he is listed pretty low in the cast list – basically right before the minor characters and ‘green leaf’ veterans. Just so people can’t say I’m making things up, here’s the cast list from page 110 of the magazine (in the exact order as it is listed in the magazine): Louise Lee, Teresa Mo, Wayne Lai, Johnson Lee, Cheng Tse-Sing, Tsui Wing, Lee Lam Yan, Lau Dan, Krystal Tin, Aimee Chan, Raymond Chiu, Wong Hei, Candy Cheung, Lau Kong, Shuet Nei, Law Tin Chi, Jason Chan, Geoffrey Wong, Matt Yeung.

OK, I have to ask – WHAT THE HECK is TVB thinking???? I mean, not only is Wong Hei listed behind a bunch of supporting and green leaf actors, he’s also listed behind some guy (Lee Lam Yan) I’ve never even heard of!!! I would personally be insulted if I were Wong He.

So the big question is – why is TVB doing this to Wong Hei? Some can argue that perhaps he has a minor role in this series (though it doesn’t sound like it based on the summaries I’ve read so far). But I’ve got my own theory – basically, I feel that TVB is up to their old antics again – they pretty much hate Wong Hei (though they’ll never admit it) and are secretly ‘retaliating’ against him. Why do I think this? Several reasons:

1 – Wong He is no longer a contracted TVB employee – meaning that he no longer has a management contract with them (though I believe he still does have a regular artist contract with them that lists the specific number of ‘shows’ he needs to do for them). So from TVB’s perspective, who cares about Wong Hei? Just use him for his ‘name’ and popularity, then cast him aside.

2 – He is one of former GM Stephen Chan’s closest friends – not only has he continued to publicly support Stephen throughout the entire corruption ordeal, he has also visited him at home, gone to dinners with him, and was part of the ‘crew’ at Stephen’s press conference awhile back ago. Now, we all know the story of Stephen Chan’s downfall and the huge part that TVB played in it – TVB hates Stephen and since Wong Hei supports him (more than any other artist), they hate him too.

3- He is quite known in TVB for having a ‘fierce’ personality – meaning that he is quite independent and likes to do his own thing, which is sometimes viewed as being ‘difficult’. This also means of course that he is NOT ‘obedient’ to TVB (which is a big no-no) and therefore will not be a part of forwarding their stupid ‘political’ agenda (or play any of their ‘games’).

4- Wong Hei has absolutely no problems speaking out against TVB when they do something wrong – and he has certainly done it several times. Those who are familiar with TVB’s management (and politics) know that this is one of TVB’s biggest sore spots – they hate it when people criticize them or say something ‘unfavorable’ about them (even if it is the truth)!


To sum it up, what I am basically trying to say is that TVB is being petty again in this case – this is quite obvious with the way Wong Hei is being treated here.

Lastly, thank you for reading my long rant – all the above is purely my personal opinion and is not meant to convince anyone to lean toward one way or the other. Feel free to read it for what it is – a rant from a disappointed long-time TVB / HK Entertainment ‘follower’.