Info on new HK independent film "The Merger" (我們停戰吧！)

Realizing that many people may not have heard too much about the HK film "The Merger" (我們停戰吧！), I decided to post up some info that I had gathered from various sources over the past few months.  Of course, this post won't be all-inclusive, since it will take me some time to dig up some of the older articles and interviews related to the movie that I had read several months ago.  I've actually been sharing tidbits of info here and there on AF and other sites, but it's a bit scattered so figured I would post the highlights here.  There's also an article that Skypost published last week that gives some pretty good insight into the movie, so I translated it and posted it below.

Here is some general info:

The cast for the movie consists of:  Frankie Lam, Patrick Tam, Rachel Lam, Kathy Yuen, Pinky Cheung, Meiki Wong, Samuel Kwok, Chan On Ying, Wilson Tsui Charles Ying, etc. (all former HKTV artists except Patrick and Pinky).  Also the director is Jimmy Luk (he directed HKTV’s To Be or Not To Be and Night Shift) – this is his first movie ever, as prior to this, he only directed TV series (for both TVB and HKTV).

Rachel Lam, who is also the lead actress, wrote the script.  Just a little background on Rachel – she actually wasn’t a scriptwriter prior to this – The Merger is her first script.  Prior to joining HKTV, she was a host for a few i-Cable shows and then went into acting, participating in a few HKTV series.  She decided to try her hand at scriptwriting, which she was interested in but didn’t really seriously pursue. After she wrote the script, she and Frankie happened to be filming Hidden Faces together for HKTV and hearing that he was interested in starting his own production company, she asked him if he would be willing to invest in her script. He was reluctant at first but after reading the script, he agreed. And since they were working for HKTV at the time, they decided to invite HKTV people to participate in the series (out of the main cast, the only 2 artists not affiliated with HKTV are Patrick Tam and Pinky Cheung). It was definitely a gamble from the beginning and the path from preparation to filming to distribution was difficult due to all the obstacles they encountered (more on this later).

Despite this movie being a small budget independent film with no big names in the cast (also no big name production team and no big name investors/backing), it was able to win 27 awards at various international film festivals, including major awards such as Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, etc.  Plus the movie has gotten quite a bit of critical acclaim and the feedback from audiences who have watched the movie (in pre-release) have been mostly positive.

Also, just some background on this movie’s ‘path’ to being released in HK.  Originally, when the movie was completed a few years back, the team (Rachel, Frankie) had approached various distributors in HK to discuss releasing it to general audiences in HK.  When distributors watched the film, they praised that it was a good movie, however they rejected the request to distribute in HK because 1) the cast had no ‘big names’ so most likely won’t attract audiences, and 2) the movie wasn’t “commercialized” enough (interpret that how you wish).  Since no one would give the movie the time of day in HK, the team decided to try entering it in various film festivals around the world (not a bad idea, since at least some people would see it).  Well, turns out that was the right move because the movie started sweeping up awards left and right – by the time it had swept up 15 awards, those HK distributors that had refused to release the film in HK theatres suddenly changed their tune.  They approached the production team and asked if they were still interested in distributing the movie in HK – well, now the film will be releasing in all HK theaters September 17^th.  By the way, the movie continued to rack up awards at the film festivals and now, the total count is 27 awards…very impressive!

Lastly, about the theme song – it's called "You Still Have Me" (你還有我)...the lyrics were written by Rachel Lam and she also sings the song.  The musical arrangement was done by Kong Fai (actor and one of HKTV’s musical directors).  The theme song MV was officially released last week, which I’ve linked up to below.  Also, here’s a link to Rachel’s blog where she explains in detail her inspiration for the song as well as why she ended up singing it (sorry, but the post is in Chinese).

The Merger Themesong

Below are a more few links.  I'll post up more stuff once I dig it up and have time to translate.  Meanwhile, if you're interested in watching various clips about the movie (including behind the scenes 'making of' clips, blessing ceremony, celebration dinners, and also fun clips from many of the cast's friends), check out Global Saga's Youtube page (Global Saga is the production company formed by Tony Wong, Rachel Lam, and Frankie Lam).  Here's the link:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFzBZ5bIRivXLpt6MpunxhQ

Official Trailer:

Themesong MV:

*****

News Article (originally published September 10, 2015).

Frankie Lam and Rachel Lam’s new film:  a teacher/student romance that gives local HK feel

Source:  Skypost

Forbidden love is a pretty common subject matter for movies.  A taboo love relationship – such as that between a teacher and a student – can become especially poignant yet at the same time oddly alluring when presented on the big screen.  On hearing the movie’s Chinese title (我們停戰吧!), the first thought that comes to mind is that The Merger is about teachers and students warring with each other – however, after diving into the plot, the movie actually isn’t about that at all.  Rather, the movie at its core is about a teacher/student love relationship, a story written in a way that is unique in that it gives off a completely local HK feel.   There are also references to major events in HK history interspersed throughout the movie that are sure to trigger collective memories of the past for local audiences who are familiar with them.  This element makes the romantic relationship in the movie all the more poignant and realistic. 

Helmed by HKTV’s former production team, The Merger does not have any ‘big names’ among its cast – yet it was still able to succeed in sweeping up 27 awards in various international film festivals around the world, included amongst those Best Actor and Best Actress awards for its leads Frankie Lam, Patrick Tam, and Rachel Lam.  The movie starts in the 1990s era with the story of high school student Yip Heung Heung (Rachel Lam), who falls in love with her old-fashioned, ultra-conservative teacher Koo Wah Sung (Frankie Lam) – a relationship that ends with a tragic death.  Many years later, during a visit to the high school, Heung Heung’s daughter Yip Ka Ka (Kathy Yuen) accidentally discovers a long-buried secret – that her foster mother was somehow involved in the death of her biological mother’s lover. 

In the movie, Frankie Lam and Rachel Lam have a few daring bed scenes.  Asked about this, Rachel laughed and expressed that filming intimate scenes in a torridly hot old building was definitely NOT romantic – throughout filming of those scenes, they grumbled constantly about the heat.  “It was scorchingly hot during the filming of those scenes, but I was afraid to move too much because I was nearly half-naked and didn’t want to overexpose myself.  It wasn’t romantic at all!  It was embarrassing to film kissing scenes too, as I felt like laughing and it was hard to keep it in.”

Most of us originally thought this movie was simply a sad but beautiful love story spanning 2 decades in HK, but Rachel – who is the scriptwriter as well as executive producer – revealed that one intent of the movie is that the teacher/student love story will lead audiences to reflect upon their own lives and attitude toward HK in the era leading up to the 1997 handover as well as afterwards.  Revealing a little bit of the plot, Rachel explained:  “With her rebellious nature, Heung Heung sees that the handover is approaching and so wants to leave HK.  But then Teacher Koo talks to her constantly about the city’s rich history and it causes her attitude to slowly change – she eventually realizes that leaving won’t resolve the problems they face.  In the end, when disaster befalls HK, she eventually sacrifices herself.”  Rachel further explained that the story weaves back and forth between pre and post-handover HK, utilizing a ‘story within a story’ method and theater stage play style to bring back collective memories of HK’s and China’s histories. 

TVB and OnTV collaboration: Midnight time slot series poll

Ok, so I was catching up on some entertainment news today and came across an article from on.cc (which I’ve linked up below).  In the article, on.cc – or, more accurately, their television division ON TV – officially announced yesterday (9/13) that they are collaborating with TVB on a special poll.  Together with TVB, they’ve chosen 10 ‘classic’ TVB series for netizens to vote on (via Facebook) during the 2 week timespan from 9/14 to 9/28 -- TVB has agreed to re-broadcast the series with the most votes in their midnight timeslot starting on 10/5 (once the currently airing series Time Before Time is finished).

According to the article, the voting will go through 2 phases:  in the first phase, OnTV will post detailed information about each series, including cast photos, plot summary, video clips, recommendations on ‘must-watch’ scenes, etc so that each person voting will supposedly have all the details they need to vote.  The second phase will launch next week, though OnTV didn’t give any details on what this phase consists of.  Also, a very important point – there is no limit to the number of series each person can vote for…so for example, if you like all 10 series, you can vote for all 10 if you want.

Before I list out the 10 series that OnTV and TVB chose, I just want to say this:  maybe I’m thinking too much into things, but I just find it very coincidental that I wrote about this EXACT SAME idea on my blog a few days before this whole thing got rolled out.  Technically, I wrote 2 posts on TVB midnight timeslot – the first one was in July in which I kind of ‘complained’ about TVB’s choice of series and informally gave them some ‘suggestions’ on the next series to air.  Then last week, I did a most detailed post on which series I would’ve chosen if I were the program lineup director.  In addition to that, I also relayed the suggestion of doing a poll to have audiences pick what they want to watch in that timeslot.  Well, looks like now the poll is actually happening – though the part I don’t understand is why OnTV is doing the poll rather than TVB themselves. [Sidenote:  Call me a conspiracy theorist if you want, but there’s a part of me that can’t help but think that OnTV is associated with TVB somehow.  I already suspected this a few weeks ago when I was able to trace a picture that a few websites had used back to OnTV’s video clip – in that picture, OnTV was reporting on news about Lesley Chiang and Fred Cheng’s breakup.  They interviewed Lesley while she was at HKTV’s dinner for their series Hidden Faces, yet in the picture, any reference to HKTV (including their logo and the name of their series) were all blurred out.  When I saw the picture, I had questioned why a mainstream media outlet -- which, in order to maintain credibility and reputability, should take a ‘neutral’ stance when reporting news – would have the need to ‘block out’ another company’s logo and all references to that company’s product (especially since they didn’t block out the logo to the commercial sponsors of that event, Vidal Sassoon).  I later discovered that the picture was ‘clipped’ from the news video posted on OnTV’s website – sure enough, when I went on to check, everything in the video referring to HKTV was blurred out.  This is the first time that I’ve actually seen a mainstream media outlet in HK take such ‘action’ against a company that is not one of their competitors.  Well, now this whole thing with the poll further fuels my ‘suspicion’ about OnTV’s position. I won't go too much into it here, since it's kind of irrelevant to this post, but will probably revisit this topic again later on.]

Now that I’ve said my piece about the poll and OnTV, here are the 10 series that OnTV and TVB have chosen for audiences to vote.  (Discerning readers will probably notice that a few of these series were on my ‘suggestions’ list as well, except my list was limited to series from the 80s and 90s eras only).

Here are the 10 series from OnTV (in no particular order):

War of the Genders (男親女愛) – 2000

Looking Back in Anger (義不容情) – 1989

The Duke of Mount Deer (鹿鼎記) – 1984

The Feud of Two Brothers (流氓大亨) – 1986

It Runs in the Family (孖仔孖心肝) – 1990

Detective Investigation Files (刑事偵緝檔案) – 1995

Don’t Look Now (執到寶) – 1980

Files of Justice (壹號皇庭) – 1992

Police Cadet (新紮師兄) – 1984

A Step Into the Past (尋秦記) – 2001

And which series do I vote for?  Without a doubt, definitely Looking Back in Anger (not hard to guess considering I’ve been ‘harping’ on TVB since July to air that series in their midnight timeslot and also relayed that thought in 2 blog posts).   Outside of that series, I really don’t want to vote for the others because I actually disagree with some of the series on the list.  I’m actually curious to know how they came up with these 10 choices because as a long-time TVB fan who is familiar with their series from the late 70s to now, there are definitely other more ‘classic’ series that would bump some of these series out of top 10 contention. I'll have to do a little more digging but hopefully, either OnTV or TVB explain their criteria for choosing these series somewhere on their website or FB pages.

Source links:  

OnTV Facebook page (series profiles)

on.cc article (brief series intros)

TVB’s midnight timeslot series – part 2 (follow up post)

Back in July, I wrote a post entitled “TVB’s midnight timeslot series” (read it here).  Well, it’s now September and due to some recent things that transpired, I felt the need to do this follow up post.

First….is it just me or has the ‘hype’ surrounding TVB’s midnight timeslot waned?  Does anyone know which series TVB is airing in that timeslot right now? (the answer is Time Before Time in case you haven’t heard)  I don’t blame you if you don’t because the Media sure didn’t ‘talk about’ it as much as they did the earlier series in that timeslot.  Why?  Not the Media’s fault (for once…lol) by any means.  Rather, the problem lies with TVB’s poor choice of subsequent series lineup, resulting in them not being able to keep up the momentum that had started with the airing of The Greed of Man in that timeslot.  Actually, this problem of TVB making stupid decisions is not new -- in fact, it’s such a common issue with them that they’ve actually become notorious for it over the past decade.   I mean, for a station that has been in existence for 48 years and is pretty much the only local option for ordinary Hong Kongers to watch free TV programming, TVB’s lack of proper decision-making ability is appalling!   The complaint over the years that TVB does not know how to properly utilize opportunities that stare them right in the face, but rather, they only know how to employ 24/7 in-your-face promotional tactics without regard for quality or value, is indeed very valid.  The way they handled the midnight timeslot series thing is yet another example of this.

In my earlier post about the midnight timeslot, I had informally given TVB a few suggestions on what they SHOULD HAVE aired following The Greed of Man that would’ve allowed them to maintain the ‘hype’ and ‘momentum’ they had gained.  Well, let me lay it out more clearly.  If I were the person responsible for putting together the midnight timeslot schedule, here’s what I would’ve done:  instead of airing The Justice of Life and The Final Verdict (2 great series for the record, but not ‘the best of the best’), the series I would’ve put in the line-up after TGOM is Looking Back in Anger -- um, hello, given this series’ popularity as well as impact on society and the fact that it has been hailed as one of TVB’s best productions of all-time -- well, to me, this is a NO-BRAINER!  (In my previous post, I actually gave my ‘speculations’ for why TVB decided not to air this series).  Then after that I would’ve aired another one of TVB’s greatest productions of all-time:  Blood of Good and Evil (if LBIA was TVB’s best series to come out of the 80s era, then BOGAE is surely their best series to come out of the 90s era!!) – again, this is also a NO-BRAINER.  With those 2 series alone, TVB would’ve had it made, as there are many many audiences who either haven’t seen these 2 series despite hearing such great things about them (probably because they were born after these series aired or they didn’t ‘follow’ TVB back then) or audiences who have seen these series but love them so much that they would jump at the opportunity to re-watch.  Personally, I fall into the latter category – despite the fact that I’ve re-watched both series more times than I can count AND I own both series as part of my TVB series collection, I have absolutely no problem pulling up a chair and doing nothing but stare at the TV screen for the hour or so that the series is on.

After both of those awesome series, next in my line-up would probably be The Breaking Point (another one of my favorites that I’ve watched a gazillion times), which, coincidentally, TVB is actually re-airing right now during the weekends here on their U.S. satellite channels [sidenote:  I’ve got to say that whoever puts together the lineup for TVB’s overseas satellite channels is much smarter than their counterpart in HK…lol].  TBP was a hugely popular series at the time it aired and rightfully so given the awesome cast and acting (though in my opinion, there were definitely issues with the script/story, but taken as a whole, it’s not hard to overlook those flaws).  Then, to give audiences a ‘break’ from all the heavy, serious dramas (which I personally don’t feel is necessary but fine), I would choose a light-hearted comedy to air.  Actually, from what I read, it sounded like this was TVB’s original intention back after The Greed of Man aired (to give audiences a break by airing something less ‘heavy’).  While that’s not a bad idea, unfortunately TVB picked the wrong series.  If they wanted to air a Stephen Chow classic, they should’ve picked The Final Combat instead, as that series was the most representative of Stephen’s TVB career and was truly the series that shot him to stardom (plus he was the lead in that series whereas he was only supporting in The Justice of Life).  Oh and let’s not forget that while Stephen did show a bit of his trademark ‘mo lei tou’ comedy style in TJOL, it was really in The Final Combat that it’s unleashed in full force – plus the series was unique in terms of being a ‘wuxia comedy’ (which was a rarity back then, since most of the wuxia dramas at the time were pretty serious).

Speaking of wuxia…..how many times have you heard audiences complain about the lack of true wuxia series the past 15 years?  I, for one, hear that complaint every year and my response is always the same:  TVB can’t make wuxia series like they used to – they lack the resources for one and two they lack the know-how (I’m talking about the ‘traditional’ skills and knowledge involved in choreographing complicated fight scenes and working with wiring, not the crappy, fake CGI stuff that they love to use nowadays).  Of course, the fact that they no longer have the rights to remake Jin Yong’s works also doesn’t help (not that I would want another JY remake, as there have been way too many already, plus the remakes get worse every decade).  In terms of program line-up though, to feed the wuxia series drought, I would’ve seized the opportunity to re-broadcast a few classic wuxia series in that timeslot -- anyone familiar with the old days of TVB would know that there are plenty of great wuxia series from the 80s to choose from – for example: Legend of the Condor Heroes, Return of the Condor Heroes, The New Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre, The Two Most Honorable Knights, etc. – all are good choices in terms of wuxia classics that were popular back in the day and absolutely well-made/produced (plus, judging from the comments I’ve heard over the years, it’s obvious that many of the newer generation audiences have not seen the JY remakes from the 80s – well, this would give them the opportunity to see why us old-timers keep praising the 80s remakes as ‘the best’).

If we go back to modern series, other great choices include:  The Bund, Police Cadet ’84 as well as its sequel Police Cadet ’85 (don’t bother with the third and final installment, Police Cadet ’88, because it sucked), The Feud of Two Brothers, The Challenge of Life, Files of Justice, Detective Investigation Files, etc.  I could keep going on forever on this topic actually (I’ve got plenty more ‘classics’ that I would definitely include in the lineup), but I think those of you reading this get my drift already.  

In addition to airing all these series, the other thing I would’ve done is ‘poll the audience’ – meaning that I would send out a survey to audiences with the question:  “Which classic series from the 80s/90s era do you most want to see re-broadcasted in the midnight timeslot?” (keyword here is ‘80s/90s era’ because unfortunately, everyone’s definition of ‘classic’ is different).  This method sounds familiar, you say?  Yes, very discerning!  This is the exact thing that those ‘smart’ people over at HKTV did when they were preparing to launch their station last year – they put up a poll on their website and asked audiences to vote for which series (out of the 16 series they had produced) they wanted to watch first.  As we all know, the outcome was that their political-themed series The Election came out on top.  Originally, the plan was for HKTV to air their cop-themed series The Borderline as their debut series due to the tremendous reception the first episode had garnered months earlier during its ‘test run’ on Youtube.  But last minute, they decided to do a poll instead (which is not surprising since HKTV has had heavy interaction with audiences from the getgo – much unlike TVB who doesn’t give a crap about what their audiences think/feel/want).  I’m sure they were thinking that The Borderline would end up being the winner (so they could just move forward with original plan) but surprisingly (well, maybe not given that this was post-Occupy timeframe), their newest filmed series The Election ended up garnering the most votes (with The Borderline coming in at second place).  So what did HKTV do?  Well, this is where the ‘smart’ part kicks in (no, I didn’t use that word just because I felt like it):  they decided to air both series simultaneously – The Election was aired first, debuting on the weekend, and The Borderline followed right after, debuting the following weekday [sidenote:  for those wondering why The Election aired on a weekend, it’s because the series had just wrapped filming and there was still post-production work that needed to be done on it – by airing it once a week instead of every day, it gave the production team more time to complete the post-production].  So it ended up being a win/win situation for both sides:  the audiences got their pick (The Election) and HKTV still got to move forward with their original plan (air The Borderline as debut series).   See, it’s not that difficult to make audiences happy – so why can’t TVB get it right?? 

In any case, it’s obviously ‘too little too late now’, since TVB already lost their momentum with the midnight timeslot and who knows whether they will be able to gain it back (I highly doubt they can with the idiotic management team running the station currently).  Such a shame!  It’s sad how ‘not in tune’ TVB’s current management team is with their own programming and the station’s history / trends.  My advice:  change out this management team and get people in there who actually know what they are doing and can make proper decisions.  Otherwise….well just take one look at ATV – seeing what happened to them should be enough motivation for TVB to want a competent management team in place that is capable of making wise decisions that actually benefit the station.  I know it’s wishful thinking on my part but hey, I tried….

TVB series recommendations from the years 1990 and 1991

This is part 6 in a multi-part series of posts about TVB series from the 80s (and now 90s) era that I recommend.  Please read this Introductory post for details about how this came about:  TVB series recommendations from the years 1980 and 1981.

** Note:  I used Wikipedia in conjunction with TVB’s website and a few other sources to gather the information for each series.  Note that the cast lists are not all-inclusive and the English song titles are rough translations.**

Here's my list of recommendations from 1990 and 1991:

BLAST FROM THE PAST: 1985 JSG Awards – Opening Music Segment

In a few of my recent posts, I had mentioned the general sentiment that the quality of TVB’s series has declined drastically over the years and there are very few series worth watching anymore.   Well, the same sentiment applies to TVB’s variety programs as well.  Ok, actually, on second thought, the situation with TVB’s variety programs is actually worse than what’s been happening with their series.   At least with their TV series, I can still find a handful of series that are either ‘worth watching’ or I’m willing to sit through (however begrudgingly) in order to support certain artists I may like (though technically, nowadays I just watch certain episodes or scenes and skip the rest of the series)….with their variety shows however, I’ve pretty much lost all motivation to watch.

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, TVB’s variety shows used to be ‘must-watch’ events for me back then.  From JSG to Miss HK to the annual charity shows and of course the anniversary galas, all were grand events where the ‘big’ stars (as well as the ‘not-so-big’ stars) would usually all be in attendance.  Every minute of each show was truly worth watching and it was so easy to be drawn in to the point that I would pretty much do nothing except stare at the TV screen for an hour or two.  Even their specialty programs, game shows, documentaries, etc. were excellent and worthy of watching regardless of whether well-known / popular celebrities were involved or not.  Anyone here remember TVB’s flagship variety program E.Y.T. (Enjoy Yourself Tonight)?  That program served as a ‘launching pad’ for many of HK’s biggest stars, as it gave artists – especially newbies – a platform to showcase their talent (whether in acting or singing) and hone their skills (I personally feel it was especially beneficial for actors/actresses, as they got to ‘practice’ their acting skills by participating in various skits in front of live audiences every night).  E.Y.T. was one of my favorite variety programs back then, so you can probably imagine how sad I was when it ended back in the mid-90s (note:  I’m referring here strictly to the ‘original’ E.Y.T. program that lasted from 1967 to 1994, NOT the ‘failed’ revival attempts of the program that TVB did in the late 90s and once again in the mid-2000s era). 

It’s a shame that TVB is no longer capable of making good variety programs anymore.  Yes, part of it is the lack of talent, but a lot of it also has to do with TVB’s own antiquated policies and ‘modus operandi’, especially where music-related programs are concerned.  This is why TVB has not been able to draw any star power into its music programs for at least 10 years now.  Of course, I don’t blame the big name stars, as I wouldn’t cave in to TVB’s restrictive policies either if I were them – I mean, why limit yourself to only appearing on TVB and be forced to speak only Mandarin in all non-TVB interviews when there are so many media platforms/options to choose from nowadays, especially as it pertains to music?

Anyway, the reason for my post is actually to share the below video (my ‘intro’ above was intended to set-up for this video clip, but I ended up ‘venting’ again about TVB – sorry, couldn’t help myself..LOL).  This video clip is an excerpt from TVB’s 1985 JSG Music Awards.  For those who might not be familiar with how the awards ceremony worked back then (can’t speak to whether it’s the same thing now since I stopped watching JSG more than 10 years ago), the ceremony always started with a huge musical number where all the artists with nominated songs would sing snippets of their songs – think of it as a huge 15 minute remix segment.  Well, the below clip is that ’15 minute remix’ – the intro segment to 1985’s JSG where all the nominated artists who attended sang a few lines of their songs as a refresher for audiences (even those who didn’t attend got to ‘sing’).

In watching this clip, I was of course super-excited -- it has been a long time since I watched the 80s era JSG awards (that’s the next ‘binge re-watching marathon’ that I intend on doing after I finish re-watching all these old 80s/90s era TVB series that I’m doing currently), so getting to re-live that moment was absolutely awesome!  And of course, since I’m familiar with all the songs that were nominated (ah, 80s Cantopop – boy do I miss it!!!), I couldn’t help singing along for the entire 15 minutes (gosh, can’t even remember anymore when I felt the urge to sing along to a TVB music program!).  With that said though, I must admit that part of me was a little bit sad at the same time – one reason of course is because I miss those stars who left us already (Anita, Leslie, Danny), but the other reason is because of the dismal state of the HK music industry nowadays (and the dismal state of the entire HK entertainment industry as a whole).  It definitely makes these ‘nostalgic’ moments worth treasuring, no matter how fleeting they may be….

So, for the next 15 minutes, sit back and enjoy this ‘blast from the past’ (or if you’re an ‘old-timer’ like me, you might feel the urge to stand up and actually sing/jam along to each song and have your own personal karaoke session for 15 minutes…LOL).  For convenience’s sake, I also posted the song list underneath the video clip (wow – they actually sang 40 songs in the clip….it went by so quickly, I didn’t even realize they were actually able to cram all 40 nominated songs into the opening segment!).  And yes, in case you were wondering, I DID go back afterwards and pull all 40 songs from my music collection so I could re-listen to the full versions, since only listening to a few seconds worth in the video wasn’t enough in my opinion.

***

**Video credit to cyberwarrior**

Song list:

1) 十分十二吋 - 林子祥

2) 愛情陷阱 - 譚詠麟

3) 此刻你在何處 - 譚詠麟

4) 蔓珠莎華 - 梅艷芳

5) Smile Again 瑪利亞 - 張學友

6) 愛情組曲 - 張學友、鍾鎮濤、蔡國權

7) 誰可相依 - 蘇芮

8) 不羈的風 - 張國榮

9) 少女心事 - 張國榮

10) 情已逝 - 張學友

11) 200度 - 葉蒨文

12) 等 - 陳百強

13) 空凳 - 夏韶聲

14) 雪山飛狐 - 關菊英、呂方

15) 愛不是遊戲 - 蔡楓華

16) 邁向新的一天 - 梅艷芳、李中浩

17) 為你而歌 - 甄妮

18) 日本娃娃 - 許冠傑
19) 壞女孩 - 梅艷芳

20) 雨夜的浪漫 - 譚詠麟

21) 玩的格言 - 譚詠麟、彭健新

22) 長夜 My Love Goodnight - 葉蒨雯

23) 夢幻的擁抱 - 梅艷芳

24) 淚之旅 - 鍾鎮濤

25) 再坐一會 - 鄺美雲

26) 第一次 - 張國榮

27) 全賴有你 - 張國榮

28) 深爱着你 - 陳百強

29) 花店 - 陳慧嫻

30) 你令我快樂過 - 呂方

31) 聽不到的說話 - 呂方

32) 順流逆流 - 徐小鳳

33) 辛運星 - 譚詠麟

34) 情是永願着迷 - 譚詠麟

35) 輕撫你的臉 - 張學友

36) 我願意 - 張國榮

37) 每一個晚上 - 林子祥

38) 從未如此深愛過 - 呂方

39) 暴風女神 Lorelei - 譚詠麟

40) 最緊要好玩 - 許冠傑

TVB series recommendations from the years 1988 and 1989

This is part 5 in a multi-part series of posts about TVB series from the 80s era that I recommend.  Please read this Introductory post for details about how this came about:  TVB series recommendations from the years 1980 and 1981.

** Note:  I used Wikipedia in conjunction with TVB’s website and a few other sources to gather the information for each series.  Note that the cast lists are not all-inclusive and the English song titles are rough translations.**

Below is my list of recommendations from 1988 and 1989. 

This rounds out my list of TVB series recommendations from the 80s era.  I'm actually thinking about doing the 90s era as well, since there are also alot of good series from the early part of that era (in fact, a few of my all-time favorite TVB series are actually from the years 1990 and 1991, so I definitely don't want to pass up the opportunity to list those!).  Most likely, I will probably just do the first half of the 90s era (like maybe up to 1994 or so), as the series from the later half of that era I'm pretty sure most people are already familiar with, so less need for recommendation in my opinion.

Anyway....back to 1988 and 1989: