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!

****

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).

---

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.

---

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!

---

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!

----

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.

----

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.

---

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

Review of TVB series “Rain in the Heart 成功路上" (1990)

The series “Rain in the Heart” from 1990 recently re-ran on TV and since it’s been awhile since I watched this series, I decided to re-watch it again (despite the fact that I’ve probably seen this series like at least 5 times already if not more…LOL). Now you may ask: is the series really that good to the point that I watched it more than twice already? Well, the answer is that no, the series may not necessarily be ‘good’ in the sense of ‘classic’ and for some people, it might not even appeal to them because it’s another one of those ‘tales of encouragement’ type series along the lines of “To Love With Love” (which means the storyline can get quite draggy). However, I personally enjoyed the series and despite its predictable and slow storyline (as well as so-so performances from some of the cast members), the series overall is still better made than many of today’s series (in my opinion anyway) – the fact that I’ve re-watched this series several times already in the past 20 years is proof alone that the series is somewhat decent and worthy of re-watching (if I can’t stand a series, I usually don’t even bother finishing it one time, let alone re-watching it!).

One of the biggest reasons why I like this series is the cast, since a lot of my favorites (lead and supporting) are in it. The main cast consists of Roger Kwok (郭晉安), Kathy Chow (周海媚), Gallen Lo (羅嘉良), Dominic Lam (林嘉華), Josephine Lam (林其欣), May Ho (何美婷), Winnie Lau (劉小慧), and veteran artists Kwan Hoi San (關海山), Bak Yan (白茵), Tam Bing Mun (譚炳文), Benz Hui (許紹雄), Nam Hung (南紅), Wong Hoi Yan (黃愷欣), Wong Wai (王偉), etc. Of course, there are others, but not going to list all of them. As usual, later on in my review, I will go into more detail about each character and the artist’s performance, but first, a little bit about the storyline.

As I mentioned earlier, the premise of the story is in the typical TVB modern series formula – an ‘inspirational’ rags to riches story about the main characters’ life struggles in the areas of relationship (love), power, money, friendship, and pretty much everything else. The Chinese title of the series (成功路上) – literally translated as ‘on the road to success’ -- is actually very fitting to the storyline about 2 childhood friends (Roger and Dominic) who go through thick and thin together on the way to achieving success and fortune. [As a sidebar, I have no clue how TVB came up with the English title (“Rain in the Heart”) to this series – the title seems to have absolutely no correlation to the series whatsoever. Perhaps this is another example of TVB ‘attempting’ to be creative with their titles? I don’t know for sure but it’s just weird that the English title is so far off from the series itself.] Of course, knowing the premise of the series, it’s not surprising that parts of the storyline will be a bit dull and draggy (plus the series is 40 episodes long, which is typical of most of the series back in those days, so for some, this series might be too long to sit through – it’s perfect for me though, since I grew up watching 40 episode series, so I’m used to it).

In terms of the characters and performances from the artists – well, I would have to say that it was sort of a mixed bag with this series: some of the characters were well developed and some were not…by the same token, some of the artists gave excellent performances, and others were mediocre (some were even ‘cringe-worthy’!). For the rest of this review, I am going to talk a bit about each of the main characters (as well as a few of the supporting ones), as this will give insight into the development of the overall story.

.--.

Main Cast / Characters

Roger Kwok (Lau Kar Wai) – Roger’s character Kar Wai is the typical ‘good guy’ (very similar to the roles he usually plays) who is honest, upright, reserved, etc., except that he has a certain willful stubbornness about him (especially when it relates to his family) that sets him apart in terms of personality. Even though he technically was born into a rich family (his father is played by late veteran actor Kwan Hoi San and his mother is played by Wong Hoi Yan), the reality is that he grew up in a ‘pseudo’ single parent household due to family circumstances: not only did his father already have a family of his own when he met his mother (which meant that she was technically the mistress), there was also a huge age difference between the two. Because of this, he always had a strained relationship with his father and continued to be at odds with him until the father dies and he finds out the truth about the relationship between his parents (yes, very clichéd indeed). His father of course bequeaths his business (a Chinese bakery) to him, however due to conflicts with family (since his father had a wife and kids already), all he ended up getting was a ‘shell’ of a company. From that point on, Kar Wai and his friends work to rebuild the bakery that his father put so much heart and soul into -- of course, in the end, they are successful in doing so, though they encounter many obstacles along the way (see, told you the storyline is predictable!). Oh, and needless to say, he ends up falling in love along the way, first with Kong Hor Ling (Josephine Lam) then with Tong Yiu (Kathy Chow).

To be honest, I really don’t know what to make of Roger’s performance in this series. Don’t get me wrong – he is definitely one of my favorite actors (I’ve pretty much been following his career since the 80s) and his acting was good in this series, but the character that he played was kind of ‘bland’ if you ask me (pretty much the type of character that Roger can do in his sleep!). The other thing too was that I felt Roger didn’t really fit the character – well, maybe during the first half he did, but later on, when his character is supposed to be a more mature businessman, I just don’t feel he looked mature enough…part of this could be because Roger has always had a ‘boyish’ characteristic about him (which could be why he’s excellent as Ah Wong) and back then, he truly looked a lot more boyish than he does now, so it was kind of awkward at times to watch his romantic scenes with Josephine and Kathy (both look more mature than him, though Kathy definitely matched him better in comparisons). But honestly speaking, this was the case in a few of his other series as well back then, not just this one – during those early years, I felt that a lot of the actresses who got paired up with Roger in series appeared to be older than him (though most were actually younger), which threw the chemistry off a bit in my opinion.

Anyway, despite the flaws with his character, I still felt that overall, Roger did a good job (and I’m not just saying this because I like Roger). As I said earlier, I’ve been following Roger’s career since the 80s, so of course, I’ve seen the majority of his series and I must say that his acting has definitely matured over the years – he’s more polished now and a lot more convincing in the ‘mature’ roles that he plays (loved him in “Wax and Wane” from earlier in the year – he was the only reason why that pathetic series was even watchable!). Roger’s life story is actually an inspirational one, especially given all the ups and downs he experienced in his career (which is partly why he was in tears when he accepted the TV King award in 2003 for his fine performance in “Square Pegs” – it took TVB 17 years to recognize and appreciate him! I’m sure many of his supporters – including myself – cried with him at that moment). He definitely deserves every bit of success and fame that he has right now!


Dominic Lam (Cheung Shun Ban) – Dominic’s character Ah Ban is the quintessential ‘best friend’ to the main character (Roger) – personality-wise, he is pretty much the happy-go-lucky, charismatic, less than perfect ‘guy next door’(literally – since his family did live next door to Roger’s family…LOL). On the surface, the two friends appear to be complete opposites – Ah Ban is loud and obnoxious and physically always looks like he just rolled out of bed (meaning his hair is constantly disheveled and he always seems to be wearing the same shirt and shorts…haha), whereas Ah Wai is more refined, educated, and just overall less ‘messy’. Ah Ban lives next door to his best friend, but unfortunately, their families don’t get along, as his mother (played by Bak Yan) is loud, haughty, rude, and money-hungry and spends most of her time gossiping about the neighbors – she constantly yells at her son for being a good-for-nothing and treats her younger daughter (played by Winnie Lau) as a money-tree. His father (played by Tam Bing Mun) is pretty much a good-for-nothing as well (like father like son..lol) and is extremely afraid of the mother. Despite all this, Ah Ban takes everything in stride and actually is able to maintain a good relationship with his family -- his character is very much a ‘comedic’ one who still knows how to be ‘serious’ when needed. Even though each person in his family is flawed, I actually like this family the most, as they come across as the most genuine. Personally, Dominic’s character was my favorite in the series (yes, I liked his character more than Roger’s).

Dominic absolutely stole the show in this series – to be honest, I don’t think I would have enjoyed the series as much if it weren’t for him (especially given the predictable, slow storyline). He was awesome in this series and really brought the character of Cheung Shun Ban to life (of course, it helped that the character he played was very endearing, but it does take a certain caliber actor to pull that kind of character off – and he was perfect for it!). I’ve actually always liked Dominic as an actor and have always felt that he is extremely underrated -- he’s definitely not your typical ‘leading man’, that’s for sure, since he isn’t good looking at all – but that doesn’t matter because he is a greatly talented actor.

I actually know Dominic better as a host, as that was his primary job when he first joined TVB in 1980 (he started in the industry in the 1970s working for Rediffusion Television) – he hosted a lot of variety programs for TVB such as “Sports World” and “Good Morning Hong Kong” as well as some of their bigger gala events. Even after he immigrated to Canada in the mid-90s, he continued to be active in the industry, hosting various programs for Chinese TV and radio stations in Canada. It’s too bad that after he returned to TVB in the after 2000s era, he was relegated to playing lesser characters and villains (though he did have a few good roles, but not enough in my opinion). I know that he started getting recognition as a solid veteran actor after his brilliant performance as the villain Wing Tak in “A Fistful of Stances” in 2010 – well, I’m happy for him but he should have gotten recognition way before that!


Gallen Lo (Chung Mun Kit) – Gallen’s character Ah Kit is the son of a rich car manufacturing tycoon (played by Wong Wai) who, as the only son, works for his dad’s business and pretty much was sheltered all his life. In terms of personality, he’s different from other ‘rich young master’ types in that he is honest and upright and doesn’t flaunt his wealth, but he’s also a bit naïve due to being protected all his life. Through a series of events, Ah Kit gets to know Kar Wai and Ah Ban and the 3 of them become good friends and later on become ‘brothers’ (literally -- because Ah Kit eventually marries Ah Ban’s sister Zhi San so they become brothers-in-law and Ah Kit’s father later marries Kar Wai’s mother, so they become stepbrothers). [Note that the relationships in this series – both family and love relationships – are quite complicated; in a nutshell, all 3 guys and their families will all become ‘relatives’ in one way or another by the end of the series]. The 3 of them try to go into business together, but even though that effort fails, their friendship is not affected and they end up working together to rebuild Kar Wai’s family bakery.

To be honest, I didn’t really like Gallen’s character all that much – to me, his character was just ‘there’ and didn’t really enhance the plot too much, except for the part in the second half of the series where Kar Wai and Ah Ban are at odds with each other and he is caught in the middle. I guess they just needed someone to be the rich dude in the series and out of the 3 main guys, he looked the most like a rich young person? His character really didn’t stand out much – in fact, I felt that his character was very stereotypical and a bit boring overall.

In terms of the acting…well, back then (late 80s/early 90s), Gallen was known for being a bit wooden with his acting partly because he was typecasted into playing the same roles over and over again earlier on in his career – it wasn’t until he started doing villain roles in the mid-90s that his acting started to gain recognition and eventually shot to fame. Of course, now he is one of the finest actors in the TV industry and highly sought after too! I personally think that it was a good move for Gallen to take on villain roles in the 90s because it allowed him to come out of his shell and acting-wise, that’s when he really started to thrive. I must say that even though I wasn’t too fond of Gallen’s character in this series, he was definitely much better here than in his first few series (compare his performance here to his very first series “City Stories” and already, you’ll see a difference).

Of course, with this being another Gallen / Roger collaboration, I feel that this is a good time to talk about their relationship and why they collaborated so often in series throughout the years (if my memory serves me right, “Rain in the Heart” was their 3rd collaboration – prior to that, they collaborated in “City Stories” in 1986 and “The Final Verdict” in 1988). The ‘short’ answer to why they collaborated so often: they were both under the same manager, songwriter Lo Kwok Jim (盧國沾), at the time. The ‘long’ answer: both Gallen and Roger were ‘discovered’ by Lo Kwok Jim after he heard them sing (yes, both of them started as singers before they became actors), so he took them under his wing and helped to launch their careers in music and television. Unfortunately though, they (Roger and Lo Kwok Jim specifically) had a fall-out later on in the 90s and terminated their relationship.


Kathy Chow (Tong Yiu) – Kathy’s character Yiu Yiu is a social worker who has a compassionate heart and goes to great lengths if needed in order to help the ‘children’ that she is assigned to look after. She is pretty, but also educated and reserved – the typical ‘good girl’ type (her character is pretty much the opposite of Josephine Lam’s character Kong Hor Ling, which will become evident later on in this review). She grew up in a single parent home, as her father died when she was young and was raised by her mother (played by veteran actress Leung Shun Yin) and her ‘medicine pot’ uncle (played by Benz Hui) – despite the circumstances, the family is very tightly-knit. She meets Roger and Dominic’s characters (Kar Wai and Ah Ban) and they become friends – Ah Ban actually has a crush on her, but he feels that he is not a good match for her because of his background and such, so when she ends up falling in love with Kar Wai, he immediately lets go and doesn’t pursue further (this part is actually a bit cliched because the exact same thing happened preivously with Hor Ling – Ah Ban had a crush on her at first too, but decided to give her up to Kar Wai). Later on, Yiu Yiu and Kar Wai break up due to Hor Ling’s scheming but in the end, they get back together (typical TVB love triangle stuff – no surprise there).

Kathy’s character in this series was nothing special actually – like Roger’s character, her character is quite ordinary and is the type of role that she could do in her sleep as well (meaning it wasn’t really a challenging role). In terms of the females, I did like her character best, mostly because the other main female characters were rather weak (except for the veteran supporting females, namely Bak Yan and Wong Hoi Yan’s characters). In terms of her pairing with Roger in this series – well, as I said earlier, because of Roger’s ‘boyish’ looks, I didn’t think he matched well with most of the actresses from that generation (80s/early 90s), though I definitely prefer Roger and Kathy as a couple over Roger and Josephine. Kathy actually used to look ‘girlish’ herself when she started off in the mid-80s (she can be considered a former Miss HK, as she was a contestant in the 1985 MHK pageant, but didn’t make it into the finals), but heading into the 90s, she definitely matured a lot.

Kathy is one of my favorite actresses from the late 80s/early 90s and I can truly say that I’ve watched practically every single one of the series that she made while at TVB. Compared to some of the other actresses from the 80s, I wouldn’t necessarily say that her acting was the greatest, because to be honest, it wasn’t (she’s not as versatile an actress as some of the other actresses from her generation and earlier on, she was usually typecast in similar ‘good girl’ roles), but what I like about her is that she is very natural and comfortable to watch on-screen (both in terms of looks and acting). Now that Kathy has moved to the Mainland and focused her career there, audiences in HK don’t get to see her on screen too often, though she did come back briefly in 2009 to film 2 series for TVB – can’t compare to her previous series though.


Josephine Lam (Kong Hor Ling) – Josephine’s character is a poor village girl from the Mainland who goes to HK by herself (since her parents are dead) in the hopes of bettering her life. Because she is poor (though she did receive some education back in the Mainland), she has to stay with Ah Ban (Dominic)’s family, since they are the only relatives she has in HK (they are only distant relatives). Ah Ban’s mother treats her badly because she is poor, constantly yelling at her and making her do chores around the house. However, the rest of the family treats her well and both Ah Ban and his sister Ah San develop a friendship with her. She meets Kar Wai (who lives next door to the Cheung family) and soon, they become a couple. At first, their relationship is a happy one – when Hor Ling has to go find a job because her uncle in the village would no longer send her monetary support and Ah Ban’s mom is threatening to kick her out, Kar Wai encourages her and helps her find a job. Unfortunately though, the happiness is short-lived – Hor Ling meets a rich older man (played by Felix Lok) and because of the suffering she had gone through due to being poor, she jumps at the opportunity to live a life of glamour and wealth…therefore, she leaves Kar Wai and becomes the rich man’s mistress. Years later, she becomes tired of the glamorous and ‘partying’ lifestyle and also being with a man she doesn’t love, so she returns to Kar Wai’s side in the hopes of starting over again – of course, by this time, Kar Wai and Yiu Yiu are already together and even close to the point of marriage. She becomes jealous and determined to get Kar Wai back, so she does a lot of scheming behind-the-scenes -- eventually she is successful in breaking them up and gets her wish of being together with Kar Wai again. She also manages to damage the ‘brotherly’ relationship between Ah Ban and Kar Wai as well, causing them to be at odds with each other. Predictably, Kar Wai (and everyone else) finds out about her bad deeds in the end and needless to say, Hor Ling gets her due punishment and everyone reconciles in the end.

Though Josephine’s character can be classified as the ‘villain’ in this series, she really was more an ‘antagonist’ than a villain, as she didn’t really do anything that was considered ‘horrific’ (i.e. kill people). [In fact, nothing of that tragic nature happens in this series.] At the end of the day, her character is just an insecure, selfish woman who chose money over love and regretted it when it was too late – I feel that her character is more pathetic than evil.

Josephine is another former MHK contestant (participated in the 1986 pageant and also didn’t make it into the finals) who ended up signing on with TVB as an actress. She’s been in a lot of series over the past few decades, but mostly in supporting roles – this particular series was pretty much the only one in which she was the second female lead (as far as I can remember) and where she had a significant amount of screentime. To be honest, I’m really not too fond of her acting, as she comes across as a bit fake to me. I think she did a better job in the second half of the series than in the first half because in the first half, she is supposed to be a poor village girl and she definitely does NOT look the part -- perhaps because she always plays the ‘glamorous, sexy vixen’ type roles, so when she tries to play a demure, poor village girl being mistreated by her relatives, it’s just not convincing to me. Also, she absolutely did not match with Roger AT ALL – in the series, she looked more like his older sister than his girlfriend! Absolutely worst pairing for Roger (back in those days at least).

After a largely lackluster career (I can barely remember any of the series she was in after this one), Josephine retired from the industry in the early 2000s and has gone into business instead.


May Ho (Lee Yuk Yin)-- May’s character Yuk Yin is the granddaughter of the bakery tycoon played by Kwan Hoi San, which means that technically, she is Kar Wai (Roger)’s niece (though he isn’t that much older than her in the series). Her mother (played by veteran actress Nam Hung) dislikes the fact that her dad (Kwan Hoi San) has another wife and child outside of their family because that would mean more people fighting for the inheritance (yes, typical TVB family conflict / fighting over inheritance stuff). Despite having a bad mother who does nothing but scheme all day long to get her dad’s money (amongst other bad things), Yuk Yin has a completely opposite personality, as she is compassionate and is the only one in the family who is accepting of Kar Wai and his mother. After her grandfather dies and she finds out that her mother purposefully ‘embezzled’ all the money from the bakery so that Kar Wai would only get an ‘empty shell’ of a company, she disowns her parents and uses her connections to help Kar Wai and his friends rebuild the bakery. Along the way, she falls in love with Ah Ban (good, because he’s the only one she matches with in the series) in the typical ‘bickering rivals turned lovers’ fashion and they eventually get married. Of course, her parents return (after having lost all their money) later on in the series and family conflict arises when they move in with her and her husband’s family (actually, those were some of the most hilarious scenes in the entire series).

As far as May’s pairing with Dominic goes, I actually liked the two of them together in the series, as there was a certain freshness to the relationship and they had an interesting chemistry. Of course, since May has not participated in a whole lot of series (more on that below), I can’t really say that her acting was really good, but overall, it was decent – plus she had the benefit of pairing with Dominic, whose awesome performance helped to ‘carry’ her as well.

I doubt that too many people remember May Ho and unless you’ve seen the classic sitcom “City Stories” (1986-87), you probably won’t even know who she is. May only participated in a handful of series when she was at TVB – in fact, “Rain in the Heart” was her very last series with them (she left to go to ATV that same year). She participated in a few series when she was at ATV, but never really became popular. She retired from the industry in the mid-90s and later in that decade, she got married and immigrated to the U.S., where she lives currently with her family.

There actually isn’t a whole lot of information about May out there, since her acting career was so short-lived. Those of us who do remember her though know that she got her start in the industry by participating in the “Miss Aerobic Beauty Pageant” in 1985 (yes, there was such a pageant – it was a pretty big deal that year and most 80s TVB fanatics will probably remember it – several TVB actresses such as Cutie Mui, Eugenia Lau, Cary Choi, and Ma Ching Yee came out of that pageant as well). She of course joined TVB not long after that and the following year (1986), she participated in her first series, “Siblings of Vice and Virtue” (with Eddie Cheung, Chan Man Yee, Kenneth Tsang, Lee Kwok Lun, etc). That same year, she participated in the sitcom “City Stories” (my all-time favorite sitcom – watched it so many times, I practically have it memorized!) – she actually had quite a significant role in the series, as she played co-star Deric Wan’s cousin and love interest. It was around this time that May and Deric began dating in real life, though their relationship was short-lived (I know they were still together in early 1988 because they actually participated in a special TVB variety program / documentary hosted by Lydia Shum around that time – I think they broke up shortly thereafter).

Interestingly, since “City Stories” also starred Roger Kwok and Gallen Lo, she was essentially ‘reunited’ with them when she filmed “Rain in the Heart” several years later.


Winnie Lau (Cheung Zhi San) – Winnie’s character Zhi San is the little sister of Ah Ban (Dominic). Because she is young and beautiful, she is heavily ‘protected’ by her parents (played by Bak Yan and Tam Bing Mun), as they feel that with her ‘qualifications’, she should be able to marry a rich man in the future and be ‘set for life’. Of course, that is exactly what ends up happening when Zhi San meets her brother’s friend Ah Kit (Gallen) – he becomes smitten with her almost immediately and they get married not too long after that. Unfortunately though, because she married young (right out of school) and became a housewife sitting at home all day, plus prior to that she was heavily protected by her family, she never got to experience the ‘real world’ for herself. This causes some friction in her marriage and in her relationship with her family later on in the series (of course, everything eventually turns out fine in the end).

Very honestly speaking, Winnie’s character in this series is pretty much one of those ‘vase’ roles where her job is really to ‘look pretty’ – her scenes with Gallen were kind of boring in my opinion. I’m thinking that perhaps because there are so many sub-storylines in this series and so many people / relationships that need to be addressed, it’s inevitable that the writers would do a good job developing some of the relationships and do mediocre jobs on the others - namely the Gallen / Winnie relationship (too much ground to cover).

In terms of acting, I really can’t comment on whether her acting skills are up to par or not because she hasn’t been in enough series for me to judge (I think she has only participated in like 3 series in her entire career). Of course, we all know that she was a singer first and foremost back in the 90s and only dabbled in acting in series most likely to get her name out there and perhaps help boost her singing career (though I read that she actually started out as an actress in movies before becoming a singer). As for her singing career, I don’t know if I would really call it ‘successful’ or not, as she did release a few albums and win a few awards, but that was basically it (I personally only know 1 song of hers). In the late 90s, she married fellow singer Edmond So (from the group Grasshoppers) and they currently have 2 daughters. It was also around that time that Winnie retired from the industry.

An interesting fact about Winnie: she and Roger dated for a number of years in the 90s, though the relationship was pretty much ‘underground’ and for the longest time, neither party admitted to it. I actually don’t know the exact timeframe of when they started dating, but I’m assuming it might have been some time after their collaboration in this series, since Winnie did not participate in very many series so probably would not have gotten the chance to collaborate with Roger otherwise (the rumors about their relationship started in 1992, but they could have been dating before that). At the time, Roger was very dedicated to Winnie and apparently invested a lot into the relationship. Coincidentally, during the mid-90s was when Roger experienced the lowest point in his career and actually ended up leaving HK for awhile in order to make a living. During an interview on “Be My Guest” a few years ago, Roger ‘hinted’ that his relationship with Winnie ended because a 3rd party entered the relationship (that 3rd party is assumed to be Edmond So). Based on the timelines, I believe Roger and Winnie broke up sometime in 1996.


Honorable Mentions

I really have to say that the supporting cast in this series was AMAZING! They really gave the young stars in this series a ‘run for their money’. Even if some of the main cast was not too appealing, the performances by the supporting cast pretty much made up for it in my opinion.

A few highlights:

-- Benz Hui’s portrayal of Uncle Leung (Kathy’s uncle) was excellent (as usual)! In the series, Uncle Leung was a hypochondriac who grew up ‘carrying a medicine pot’ all his life, so even when he is in his 40s, he still ‘sticks’ to his older sister (Leung Sun Yin) and relies on her to take care of him. In reality though, his health is fine, he’s just constantly paranoid – plus he’s a bit of a ‘scaredy-cat’ – so it’s hard for him to hold down a job for a long period of time. I loved Benz’s performance, as it was funny but at the same time heartwarming – and the thing is, he doesn’t even try to be funny…it just comes naturally! I truly enjoyed every single one of his scenes (too bad there weren’t a whole lot, but enough to make him a pretty significant supporting character). His character was actually my second favorite after Dominic’s.

.-- Veteran artists (or, more appropriately, ‘gam cho’ artists) Bak Yan and Tam Bing Mun played the roles of Dominic and Winnie’s parents. Bak Yan’s character was a bit of a nuisance with her loud mouth and constant yelling and Tam Bing Mun’s ‘timid husband’ persona was very similar to some of the roles he played in the past, but together, these 2 made for a very interesting couple. I loved their interaction with Dominic in this series – comical to some extent, but also serious at certain points. Definitely a fine job by these 2 veteran artists!

.-- Veteran actress Nam Hung (the wife of director / actor Chor Yuen) was excellent in her role as Kwan Hoi San’s daughter who plotted with the rest of the family to scam Roger out of his inheritance (but redeems herself later on in the series). One of the reasons why I like Nam Hung as an actress is because of her versatility – she can play both the ‘benevolent mother’ as well as the ‘bxxch’ roles extremely well. Her arguing scenes in this series (and there sure were a lot of them) were all very well-done (not OTT, yet extremely convincing). Of course, she is an experienced actress with decades of acting under her belt, so it’s not surprising that she did such a great job – but since many of the veteran artists usually don’t get recognized, I wanted to give her a little mention here.

.-- Kwan Hoi San and Wong Hoi Yan, who played Roger’s father and mother respectively, were great in their roles! Even with the huge gap in their ages, the two of them didn’t look awkward on screen at all. In fact, I thought that they looked quite sweet together. When he was alive, Kwan Hoi San played a lot of rich father / grandfather roles and this one was certainly no exception. I grew up watching him, as he was always the ‘actor of choice’ for those types of roles, which was actually fine with me, since he did those roles so well – I definitely miss his acting! As for Wong Hoi Yan, she was one of my favorite supporting actresses as well from the 80s and 90s (which is when she was the most active) – just like many of the actresses from that era, she had good acting skills that made her come across so natural on screen, no matter what type of role she played.


Concluding Thoughts

As I mentioned earlier, this series is very much a ‘formulaic’ TVB modern series from the late 80s/early 90s era (the series was actually filmed in 1989, but broadcast in early 1990) – therefore, it might not appeal to all audiences. Even though the script is flawed and a lot of the storyline is quite clichéd, I would still recommend the series because the cast is enjoyable to watch (as long as you skip some of the overly draggy parts such as some of the Gallen/Winnie scenes). If you’re the type who is into lighthearted family conflict / love story type dramas, then most likely you’ll like this series – on the other hand, if fast pace and excitement are what you’re looking for, then this series is probably not a good choice, as it does get a bit slow during certain parts.