Justvb | A moment with Just TVB on your mind

 

TVB usually broadcasts three series during the prime time hours. If you catch all of the series during the year, you should be able to watch 25 different series. By the end of the year, aside from the TVB Anniversary Awards, selecting the 'Best Series of the Year', Netizens have also created their own spoof, 'The Series I Dislike the Most in 2011'. The "Top 3" winners for this competition is My Sister of Eternal Flower (Sister Fa) (1st place), When Heaven Burns (WHB) (2nd place) and Men With No Shadows (MNS) (3rd place).

 

The related poll for the 'most disliked series of the year' had over 200 votes. Each person can vote for 3 series. My Sister of Eternal Flower broadcast in May of this year got 87 votes, making the series the most disliked series of the year. In second place is When Heaven Burns with 81 votes and Men with No Shadows follows behind with 78 votes. In 4th place is Only You with 50 votes, while Super Snoops and Curse of the Royal Harem tied in 5 place with 46 votes each.

 

A Netizen described Sister Fa and MNS as the 'can't lose group'. In fact, Charmaine was miserably harmed by Sister Fa since she was being heavily compared before and after the broadcast. Before Sister Fa aired, Charmaine's role as 'Female Version of Ah Wong' was seen as a challenging role and with the addition of popular idol Raymond Lam as her partner, it became one of the most anticipated series of 2011. However, after the broadcast, audience didn't like the mentally challenged story and were in opposition. Charmaine's role was greatly disliked and her acting was criticized. The series only averaged 25 points.

 

In MNS, Raymond's devil role and use of hypnotism was first described by Netizens as 'Schizophrenic King of Chok'. When the series broadcast, the ratings weren't too bad averaging at 27 points and the two hour finale averaged at 32 points.

 

WHB has been named as the 'Drives Away See Lai Drama'. The series has also been criticized for being too draggy, a 30 minute piece dragged out to 1 hour. Although the series is in second placed for being the most disliked series of the year, there are still supportive Netizens: "Dislike does not mean the series is trash, it's just some people don't understand the story."

 

A keen Netizen found the 'Charmaine Code', Charmaine's series WHB is considered a low rated series because her 2005 series with Ekin Cheng and Bowie Lam Always Ready averaged at only 23 points. The coincidence is that aside from Bowie Lam being in both series with her, WHB and AR were both broadcast on November 21st, which couldn't escape from the low rating fate.

Tavia Yeung, Raymond Lam and Bobby Au Yeung's Men with No Shadows is currently airing on TVB. Unexpectedly the content of unbroadcast episodes surprisingly shows up on a Mainland website. The incident alarmed TVB executives who expressed a thorough investigation is to be conducted.

Producer Poon Ka Tak said frankly TVB has already started investigation into the issue. According to the company's regular operations, series are directly given to TVBI (TVB International) for overseas release and would request that TVBI release the episodes either simultaneously with the HK broadcast or later than the HK broadcast. However, it is hard to avoid 'gaps' in the entire procedure.

TVB Deputy Director of Foreign Affairs (Tsang Sing Ming) said without hesitation that for convenience, TVB usually hands over the series to TVBI early. But originated from the same corporation, TVB and TVBI never had trouble in their collaboration and it's rare for mistakes. Since this kind of incident happened to several grand productions, TVB will conduct a thorough investigation.

Men's lead actress Tavia Yeung was asked about the issue. She frankly said there are a lot of fans in Mainland that told her they already seen unbroadcast episodes even before HK gets to see it. She said: "There will be an impact more or less, but its inevitable. Even if we tried to investigate, nothing may be found. I hope HK audience will support us by following the HK broadcast schedule."

Lead actor Bobby Au Yeung was promoting for another classic series airing on TVB Pay Vision last night and regarding the plagairism accusations, he sincerely invites viewers to watch 10 more episodes before making any judgements.

Raymond Lam, Tavia Yeung and Bobby Au Yeung attended the promotional event for TVB new series Men with No Shadows. Raymond expressed his role as a Devil this time is special and uses a new 'do-as-one-pleases' form of acting. To Raymond, it was a great challenge. Asked if he feels pressured replacing the popular hit Lives of Omission? He said: "Its not pressure, it is actually better to replace the series because this can lead viewers in continuing the pursuit for our series too. I should actually be thanking them instead. Although I haven't seen Lives, I heard it was outstanding. I hope we will all get up on the Top 5 together in the end of the year awards." Do you have confidence to defeat Michael Tse? "I don't want to win! It is OK for us to be in the contest together. I just hope, we will all just see it as a really good show that we are taking part of. I am actually thinking of what I'm going to wear when the time comes."

Bobby said: "Their momentum is so strong, that's why Raymond came back to promote the series even if he's busy shooting a film! I have confidence in the series!" He laughed and said he has high expectations for this series, and towards the 'TV King' title, Bobby said: "This year's TV King is mines, just missing Mr. Chan's one vote! However, after so many years I'm indifferent about the awards. Raymond and I settled it, if he gets the award, he has put the award in my house!"

Tavia expressed this is her 4th series this year, but she does not fear the votes will be affected because each one of her roles were different, there's no worries. Does she have confidence to defeat the hot favorite TV Queen candidate Fala Chen? She said: "Fala is good! In fact, there must be confidence, but people that know me, know I feel indifferent about awards, but I will put in the effort in the competition as well." Does she have confidence on the TV ratings for the new series? "Of course the higher the better, we will have to rely on Raymond Choking all the way." What about the accusations made on the series plagiarizing Death Note? She felt its just the plot that is similar.

Raymond Lam, Bobby Au Yeung and Tavia Yeung's Men with No Shadows will be replacing Lives of Omission's time slot on Monday. This year Raymond will have to rely on this one chance to defeat Laughing Sir (Michael Tse) in the race for the TV King title. This year Raymond has two series broadcast. My Sister of Eternal Flower only had average public response and the 'Mavis Pan Scandal' really obstructed his spirit. In Men with No Shadows, Raymond plays an unpredictable devil and will often be the 'King of Chok' generating electricity with his 'Red Eyes'.

Men's producer (Poon Ka Tak) strongly supports Raymond. He praises Raymond absolutely has the power to take the TV King title. He said: "Raymond's performance this time greatly differs from his roles in the past. The style is different from the usual him and also he has tremendous changes. He is very mysterious and unpredictable. Raymond really has the talent for performing and has great capabilities to express the characters. Of course there are many good actors in Men too, if it wasn't for Bobby Au Yeung's 'good person' role, it would be hard to convince audience. Tavia Yeung gets stuck in between Raymond and Bobby, really had that subtle chemistry."

Introducing Men with No Shadows, Producer Poon describes the series as suspense: "This is another type of drama, can be considered a fable story. I want to warn viewers that this series is not written based on a true story in society, there is suspense, illusions and while we were producing the series, we had powerful imaginations. So, when you are enjoying the series, do not think about real life, put yourself into the story. If you feel Raymond is a ghost, then he's a ghost. If you feel he's human, then he's human. Just a small spoiler, the series will have an unexpected ending."

Producer Poon described how Men is revolved around the word 'Trial'. In other people's eyes, he is a 100% good person that goes through trials, but actually good people have their weaknesses. You think Devils are frightening? In fact, the Devil in the heart is even harder to resist! Much of what draws people into doing something bad basically comes from the nature of that person. The saying "Cherish the people you have at present", just how many people really know how to cherish?

After 3 years, Kin meets with an accident. During the edge of death, he meets a devil, Tai Fung (Raymond Lam) who seeks his soul. However, Kin has not fulfilled his wish and begged Fung to let him go. He feels he had not done something wicked when he was a human. He reaches an agreement with Fung to prove himself that he is a good person. With the help of Fung, Kin finally marries Fong. Also, Kin's career has reached a success. But when one feel like he has everything in hand, one's fame will cause a person's ugliest face to be revealed, is this all caused by the trials set by the devil or made by the influence of the inner evil side of himself?

Credits: TVBSeriesCentre

My thoughts:
Mysterious series with full of anticipation. Not sure how it will turn out but I am really glad to see Bobby Au-Yeung cast in TVB series since A pillow case of mystery 2. Is it really true that doctor cannot develop feelings for patients within 3 years? Such a funny restriction. haha. Feel free to share your thoughts about this series. Thank you. ^ ^