Chasing Stars

As the older fadans leave TVB, I realize how much time has passed since they started out. I remember sitting in my middle school class arguing with a classmate on who was better: Tavia Yeung or Leila Tong (during the hype of Twins of Brothers). Within a couple of years, Tavia Yeung had risen to the top as a fadans, along with Myolie Wu, Linda Chung, Fala Chen and Kate Tsui. Last year, we saw a lot of change happening in TVB as many actors and actresses left. With the departure of Fala Chen, Myolie Wu and Kate Tsui, the upcoming series in 2016 will feature a huge wave of new generation actors and actresses. In 2015, they took over a fair share of dramas but now it will be literally unavoidable. The only older fandans left are Tavia Yeung (rumored to leave TVB) and Linda Chung holding down the fort but TVB seems to be pushing the two aside to make room for the younger generation…

Grace Chan – There’s no doubt that TVB is promoting the 2013 Miss Hong Kong winner. She graced (no pun intended) our screens in 2014 with The Overachievers. Though a supporting character, her screen time and story line was still pretty heavy. She was able to lead the follow year in Raising the Bar and Captain of Destiny. Grace was heavily criticized for her acting in Captain of Destiny but that did not seem to faze her. Her popularity shot up even more when it was discovered that she and Kevin Cheng (co-star of Blue Veins, upcoming drama) are dating, despite the huge age gap. She snagged the 2015 Most Improved Actress Award (even though there was no improvement at all from Raising the Bar to Captain of Destiny). Grace will also be leading in Brother’s Keeper 2, opposite of Edwin Siu. With the audience criticizing her over the top acting in Captain of Destiny, will TVB will be inclined to boost her status in the future?

Sisley Choi –We first saw Sisley in Officer Geomancer and The Overachievers in 2014. Her performance was mediocre and did not leave much of an impression on the viewers. She was able to nab a lead role opposite of Him Law in 2015’s Young Charioteers (one of the most annoying characters and acting I have seen in recent years...). 2016 seems to be her year with 2 upcoming dramas (Peculiar Taste and Accident, lead) and one drama currently airing (The Speed of Life, supporting). Film actor Anthony Wong even praised her character and acting in interviews so will that help Sisley achieve to the top fandan status?

Rosina Lam – Rosina has been in TVB for a number of years and have participated in numerous series as supporting characters. With Raymond Lam as her cousin and her huge improvement over the years, her popularity is steadily rising. As one of the older actresses among the crowd, Rosina has to compete with the rest of the younger beauty pageants winners. In 2015′s Momentary Lapse of Reason, many praised her acting in the role. Will we see Rosina lead a series or will she be forever stuck in the supporting roles?

Eliza Sam – Eliza’s first series, Divas in Distress, was a breakthrough for her in the acting realm. Many viewers took a liking to her cute and bubbly personality (on and off screen). Since then everyone has called her Heung Heung Princess. Throughout the short time span in TVB, Eliza took on many supporting roles with the exception Coffee Cat Mama and Angel in the Making (lead roles). Her acting is consistent and her Cantonese is improving with each series.  Will her bubbly personality triumph and make her the top fandan of her generation?

Tracy Chu – In Tracy’s first drama, she was paired up with veteran actor Lawrence Ng. Many wondered if she would do well while others already placed bets that she would be horrible in the series. Tracy’s performance in The Hippocratic Crush II surprised many viewers as her acting was terrible but bearable and decent. Her career in TVB has only been in supporting roles but changes are a-coming. Her first lead role in EU: Time Travel Mission (there’s needs to be another name for this…), will hopefully air this year. She was nominated in 2015 for move improved actress but sadly lost to Grace Chan. Tracy has taken some time off to take classes at HKU. Will this hinder her chance in gaining more lead roles in TVB or will her acting win everyone over?

Moon Lau – I think she’s more fitting as a supporting or even second lead. She did well in Raising the Bar but her performance paled in comparison to her co-stars. Although she lacked screen time in Angel in the Making, she did much better (definitely some improvement there). Her upcoming series, A Fist Within Four Walls, pairs her up with film star and martial artist, Philip Ng. Moon has potential but for now, she needs improvement in the secondary roles.

Ali Lee – With her breakout performance in The Overachievers, Ali became popular overnight. From i-Cable news, Ali has followed in Priscilla  Wong and Tony Hung’s footsteps, switching over to acting from news reporting. Many viewers are speculating if Ali has what it takes to lead the fandan line. Popular with the viewers, TVB seizes the opportunity to push her as lead --- casting her as one of the leads in The Legal Stronghold, opposite Alex Fong Chun Sun.

Mandy Wong – From supporting to secondary lead to lead, Mandy has taken upon various roles in a wide variety of dramas. Some say she is following in her good sister, Myolie Wu’s footsteps. Coming from the Miss Hong Kong pageant, Mandy started her career as a supporting actress before earning her first lead role last year in The Fixer. Mandy continues to steadily rise up with her leading and supporting roles.

Priscilla Wong – Kicking off her career in the acting industry, Priscilla was given lead roles after lead roles which led to a puzzlement from the viewers. Some were quick to criticize her relationship with TVB’s executive. All in all, Priscilla was able to snatch lead roles in second rated dramas such as Karma Rider and Reality Check.  She was given her first supporting role in Return of the Silver Tongue but eventually got to lead again in Swipe Tap Love and Madam Cutie on Duty. After filming Madam Cutie on Duty, rumors surfaced about her relationship with Edwin Siu. Their “loving couple” image continues to grow strong. When Love Come Home finished late 2015, Louis Cheung and Priscilla were cast as leads in the continuing sitcom but that caused a lot of ruckus in the community. Many criticized their storyline as boring and draggy which ultimately ended their career in the sitcom. Currently, Priscilla has a couple of projects on hand which include a series with her beau, Edwin.

More to come: Stephanie Ho, Samantha Ko, Jeannie Chan, Jinny Ng and the upcoming actors

Momentary Lapse of Reason: Probably one of the most underrated series of the year, Louis Cheung and Tavia Yeung led a cast of second tiered actors and actresses. Surprising performances came from Matt Yeung who proved that he can carry supporting roles successfully and Rosina Lam who exceled at the character and brought it to life. The best performance, however, came from leading man, Louis Cheung. He was able to successfully portray the complexities of the title character with layers of emotion. The bromance in the series was also very touching and the chemistry between Louis and Matt was strong. Unfortunately, Tavia was overshadowed by her co-stars. Even so, the series provided a gripping story supported by great actors and actresses. I wish it was more recognized although Louis Cheung was nominated for Best Actor in the role and Matt Yeung was nominated for Most Improved Actor (but won for Most Improved in the Malaysian awards!)

Raising the Bar: New faces set among a sea of supporting actors and actresses. This series was light-hearted and young. It was enjoyable to watch the four young female leads in their first major “leading” role. Ben, Elaine, Natalie and Timothy became veterans but managed to shine in their roles as the supporting crew. I enjoyed the cases and the performances by both the younger generation and the older generation of actors and actresses.

Young Charioteers: Another series with a young cast, Young Charioteers failed to keep me awake. Even with multiple leads, Sisley Choi proved that her unstable and new acting is not fit for a leading role yet – perhaps a supporting role or a third tier role would have been more suitable. Michelle Yim balanced out Him Law’s acting in their mother/son moments which made it a little more bearable to watch. Overall, the series was merely an intro to the younger generation of fandans and siu sangs.

Noblesse Oblige: The last Kenneth and Tavia TVB collaboration? With rumors that Tavia is leaving TVB, her last drama with Kenneth comes out weak. The story is forgetful and uninteresting (to be honest, I forgot what happened in the entire series). Yet again, Tavia plays a boring character and Kenneth tries to reenact his silliness from Three Kingdoms. Wasn’t too impressed even with one of my favorite pairings leading the series.

Smooth Talker: Kate’s exit series? Tracy Chu showcased a different side of acting compared to The Fixer and her other series (THCII). She should have won Most Improved with these two series this year. Kate and Joe were surprisingly funny despite the fact that they aren’t often cast in these roles.

Come Home Love: I remember I started watching this sitcom my second semester of college and it ended 3 years later after I graduated. Since I was away from home, the sitcom provided an outlet for me to connect with home (corny I know). The characters are lovable and some of the stories were heartwarming and touching. I was saddened to learn that the series was actually going to end (they talked about the series coming to an end for a year and that never happened). I gave Come Home Love II a chance but I just couldn’t get through it (though I like Louis and Priscilla as actors). I hope that 2016 will bring a new sitcom that can provide similar feelings.

Tiger Cubs 2: The first installment was different and fresh. The cases were gripping and the action was nonstop. Unfortunately, I gave up after a couple of episodes in the second installment. Linda Chung’s bugged eyed tough lady was just too much for me. I applaud Linda for taking on a different kind of role but it just didn’t work for me this time around. Hopefully she improves…

Madam Cutie on Duty: The series that produced real life couple Edwin Siu and Priscilla Wong; the most talked about couple of the year (apart from Kevin Cheng and Grace Chan). The light hearted comedy series explores the lives of housewives. It reminded me a bit of the mid 2007 series The Family Link, but with an undercover cop twist to it. As someone who isn’t native to the HK culture, I always enjoy watching dramas like these.

Brick Slaves: In his first drama as male lead, Vincent Wong did pretty well. To be honest though, the character could have been easily portrayed by any actor but Vincent bought a dorky charm to it. Selena Li’s character however was annoying. Her extreme personality was funny at the beginning but it got annoying as the series progressed.Overall, this series was funny and provided a great laughs along the way.

Eye in the Sky: Why do sales presentation trailers look so much better than the actual series – or why do they need to change up the plot? In the presentation trailer, Tavia was introduced as a sniper/possible villain whereas Ruco is the police officer in charge of taking her down. Awesome right? The writers decided it wasn’t that great so they resorted to adding in another character and take away Tavia’s badass character to make her uninteresting. The concept of “Eye in The Sky” is interesting but the drama fails to address the theme halfway through. Instead we get brotherly revenge and unnecessary side plots. Tavia’s character was basically useless. Waste of a great talented cast on such a weak story. I was anticipating a Ruco-Tavia collab after The Other Truth but I was only let down.

Ghost of Relativity: I failed to see the hype of the series. Kristal and Nancy did a good job in their respective roles but there was no WOW factor. Moses’ character was frustrating, not endearing.  As a comedy series, it had all the right to be stupid which provided entertainment for me. I just didn’t see this drama as anything else – it wasn’t award worthy of anything. It wasn’t surprising that Nancy won BA but it wasn’t deserving for the role and the series.

Limelight Years: “I deserve better!” I think Linda actually did really well with the this character (though this character was a huge dumbo). With Liza Wang and Damien Lau headlining the series, the drama was good up to a certain point. It failed to keep me watching due to the story -- too slow and boring for my taste.

Captain of Destiny: So many issues. If you’ve peeked at my other posts, you can read all about my frustration. Ruco was the only one who kept the series from drowning. Kelly Fu, Tony Hung and Grace Chan proved that they cannot carry a series by themselves without the help of a more talented and experienced actor.

Angel in the Making: Like I mentioned in my previous review, I felt as if the leading stars were Pal Sinn and Alice Chan. I would have liked to see more of the younger stars especially Eliza, Moon and Tony.

Other 2015 series: With or Without You, Under the Veil, Lord of Shanghai, Wudang Rules, The Fixer, The Executioner, Master of Destiny, My Spiritual Ex-Lover, Romantic Repertoire, Every Step You Take

The series had a promising start but like many TVB dramas, it strayed away from the theme and core of the series. In the beginning, we were introduced to the TUNS 6 group and each episode focused on the members of the group so the viewers could get to know the characters. Side stories made their way into the overall plot (aka Dr. Tong, Defea and Sylvia and Ray’s crisis) which changed the focus of the drama in the second half. The second half of the drama was filled with more romantic drama instead of focusing on the medical stuff and the student nurses. We do see how TUNS 6 change and evolve but I wish it was just more focused on these characters instead of Dr. Tong and Defea which took up quite a bit of time (as much I like watching Pal Sinn and Alice Chan, their story could have been executed in the same manner without dragging it on and on).

Pros:

- fresh faces

- Halley and Ray; unexpectedly cute. I also like the individual characters as well. The Devil and the Angel was cliched but a nice touch

- TUNS 6

- the messages in the series were corny but endearing

- I really like the focus on the nurse-doctor relationship

- the themesong!! I love it so much.

- Eliza’s acting - she had her over the top moments but her crying scenes were on point

- Elaine’s acting

Cons:

- fresh faces also means that the acting isn’t always that great. As much as the character was lovable, the actor for Fei Chan was terrible.

- “hip hop” saying hip hop for all the things things isn’t “hip hop” at all; so annoying

- the overly-complicated love stories; especially at the end when her daughter got crushed by a cabinet, I had a WTF face on. Just when their story was over and we could all move on, something else had to happen and we had to keep watching them. So many episodes were wasted on Dr. Tong and Defea.

- Ray’s story took a little bit too long but the suspense was actually a nice touch - wish there was more Halley and Ray scenes

- lack of TUNS 6 - I wish there were more focus on the characters and their relationship as friends.

- the overdramatic Ray shouting: “YOU WILL FAIL” with closeups. Too much over the top acting there, Tony.

- Why did they make Hugo Wong’s character an asshole? He always plays the asshole :(

- the writers most definitely focused all of their attention on Dr. Tong and Defea and paid little to no attention to the other minor characters

This is definitely a filler series and TVB knows it.

Man Ho and Wong Tai Mui had so much chemistry and potential but damn that Tai Mui for being so fickle in love. She basically tells Man Ho she loves him and makes out with him. Then when she thought he was betraying everyone to save his own ass, she flips out on him and doesn’t believe a word he has to say.  How can you love someone and not trust them? In the next episode, she tells CPT that she doesn’t mind dying with the man she loves. BYE. Get your fickle ass out of there and go back to the present day.

Man Ho deserves better. That poor man has been through so much. Although I don’t like Ha Sim, I respect the consistency of the character and her willingness to stay by his side. I still don’t think that Man Ho and Ha Sim should end up together though...I prefer him to end up with Siu Fu (if he was still alive) and Ha Sim as besties and family.

This series is ridiculous but it still got me shipping my homeboy Man Ho and Wong Tai Mui. Everyone else is on that Po Tsai and Wong Tai Mui ship which I understand because Po Tsai’s childish personality matches more with Wong Tai Mui. But after seeing the recent episodes, there’s this spark between Man Ho and Wong Tai Mui that I think is lacking between her and Bo Tsai. Or maybe it’s just because Ruco is so damn good at these romantic scenes.

Man Ho and Wong Tai Mui reminds me of Mr. Darcy and Lizzie Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Man Ho exerts pride and arrogance; he has too much pride to apologize and admit that he’s in the wrong. Just like Lizzie Bennet, Wong Tai Mui thinks that Man Ho is this arrogant cold blooded person. Ha Sim and Wong Yat Hin realized that Man Ho and Wong Tai Mui fight and then help each other and then fight and then make up. After all the verbal fighting, they end up realizing their feelings for each other. It’s kinda like P&P except P&P has a much better story. Though Wong Tai Mui has feelings for the dashing Man Ho, she also still harbors feelings for Po Tsai. Oh Mui Tou....

Whatever happens though, we all know that Man Ho marries Ha Sim :( Ha Sim has been acting like a 7 year old high on sugar bouncing around and I hate it. The only scene I really liked her in so far is when she stood up to the guy that almost raped her. She shined in that moment because she was able to stand up for herself and yell at the jerk. Kudos.

This series has major script issues. I know it's not meant to be historically accurate (because let's face it, none of TVB dramas are ever that) or even serious, but there are so many eye-rolling and what the heck moments. The dialogue is cheesy AF and the storyline is taking way too slow to build up (When is Wong Tai Mui going to meet Man Ho?). The characters are either idiots (i.e. Ha Sim) or annoyingly cutesy that shrieks a lot (i.e. Wong Tai Mui).

When Ha Sim begged Lee Sing Cheung's character, I lost it. This man almost tried to kill you, you know he's a bad man, and he think you killed his son but yet you kneel and beg him to help your master and make sketchy promises. Yes, I know your character is supposed to be innocent and faithful, but this takes idiot to a whole new level of facepalm. And the praying? Don’t even. Every time she causes distress to Man Ho, she prays and hopes that he will overcome that obstacle. And lo behold, Man Ho’s mother ALWAYS comes in and listens at the right moment. And she thinks this is girl is amazing to her son and she’s so kind and innocent. Kelly Fu’s acting is also a bit of a problem, especially when she tries to act like the cutesy naive Ha Sim. She just sounds like an idiot. Kelly isn’t terrible, she’s actually okay. I liked her in Swipe Tap Love but she’s not doing so hot in this one, probably because the character annoys me and is a complete waste of screentime.

As Grace’s third series, she’s alright. A lot of people are bashing her for her over the top acting, which I completely agree with. To be honest, I liked her in the first couple of episodes before she time traveled. She was more tamed but after ending up back in time, she somehow gained so much energy. All the shrieking is annoying but I like Grace and Wong Tai Mui over Kelly and Ha Sim.

Tony’s Cheung Po Tsai is basically a big whiny baby. And Ruco’s Man Ho is so dramatic and very very cold hearted (probably because his father dislikes him so much).

The CGI effects during Cheung Po Tsai and Wong Tai Mui's underwater exploration is so awful. Also, they held their breath for quite a long time (3-4 minutes under water? Cool didn’t know they could do that. They’re setting a record)

They need to hire new writers because the ones who wrote this think that the audience are a bunch of dumbos.

They are just the cutest! So many good Stevia scenes in episode 17 and loving every single moment.

Bing Bing (Tavia) is slowly accepting Steven and learning how to deal with the noisy busybodys in the town.

I like the series so far -- actually more like loving Steven and Tavia. I skim other parts only to watch these two onscreen. Hopefully it will be a happy ending for the two so it can fulfill the hopes and dreams of the fans.