TVB Siu Sangs

Male actors have an advantage over the females since they don't have to worry so much about getting older. Nowadays, it's not uncommon for the 40+ year olds to pair up with someone 10-15 years younger. That's probably why their "shelf life" as actors are much longer. The advantage for these actors is once they get really popular, they can play a variety of roles. For example, Wayne Lai only became popular a few years ago at around the age of 44 and now he's paired up with much younger actresses such as Nancy Wu. I guess a disadvantage would be that it's hard to be promoted to a male lead nowadays since that area is a little more crowded. I think the last successful group of guys that have been promoted were Ron, Raymond, Bosco, and Kenneth. The past few guys that they have promoted (such as Raymond Wong and Ruco) came with many years of acting experience so it seems like it would be harder for a younger siu sang to become lead.

Unlike the females, there are still a lot of male lead actors around. I guess they can be split between the older and younger siu sangs so I'll talk about the older ones first.

Bobby Au Yeung

He only films about one series a year but he is still valued by TVB since he usually helps bring in big ratings. I love watching all his series.

Roger Kwok

This 2-time TVB Best Actor is in the same situation as Bobby where he only films about one series a year since he also films a lot in China. This year, I thought he did a really excellent job in Wax and Wane. He brought many layers to his acting, but the series in general was weak and did not bring in the ratings.

Moses Chan

Moses is one of TVB's most cherished. He's often seen in many grand productions and will most likely be the only returning male in War and Beauty

Wayne Lai

Wayne gained fame late in his career with his award winning turn in Rosy Business. Ever since then, he's been given many lead roles in TVB's grand productions such as Forensic Heroes and To Make A King, since his acting is now highly regarded.

Kevin Cheng

This is the year of Kevin Cheng. I always thought he was a solid actor and never got the recognition he deserved in The Ultimate Crime Fighter and Last One Standing because people usually think of him is his "Knight in Shining Armor" type of roles. It all changed when he played the sloppy looking lawyer in Ghetto Justice. He gained popularity and his momentum is only gaining with the airing of his mainland series. With this, TVB obviously wants to keep him happy with them by allowing him to do more mainland series. I'm not sure the ratio of tvb/mainland series but TVB will not want to lose him.

Notes: Sunny Chan is very dependable but he is not as promoted as much as the other guys but hopefully the airing of Curse of the Royal Harem will change that. Steven Ma wants to leave TVB so I didn't count him. Also, I'm not sure if I would count Michael Tse just yet either. It all depends on if he's able to get the Best Actor TVB award. I think he's a good actor but can he gain recognition for anything other than Laughing? His acting was criticized in Rippling Blossom for being too "chok" and the other series he was lead in did not get very good ratings.

Other Fadans

TVB has been trying to promote the "5 Beauties" as sort of an A-list fadan list. In a way, I do think they succeeded because they are probably the most popular with the general audience and sponsors even though I do think a few of them really need to work on their acting still. If those 5 are considered A-list, I think the following 5 are considered their B-list. Some of them already have had leading roles while others will have their first leading role this year or they usually play a big supporting role.

Nancy Wu

She's yet to have a leading role but she's been able to play a variety of big supporting roles. She's able to play a variety of roles, but has not had the opportunity to play a leading role just yet.
Coming up: an evil role in Curse of the Royal Harem, deaf and mute boxer in Boxing King

Selena Li

She's already had the opportunity to play lead in Life and Times of A Sentinel and will continue to do so in Boxing King and will also be lead behind Myolie in Endless Exchange of Enjoyment. She also moved up to the front row during the TVB lighting ceremony.
Coming up: More lead roles where she is paired up with Kevin Cheng in Boxing King. Kevin has been getting more and more popular and it will be to her advantage when their series airs.

Aimee Chan

Honestly, I think the only reason TVB is promoting her to a front-line fadan is because she's dating Moses and they want to make it seem like one of their top stars is dating another top star. TVB made a lot of money from the Bernice/Moses pairing and they probably want to do the same with this. She's cute and does okay in small supporting roles but her enunciation is pretty bad and her acting is not so good either.
Coming up: big roles in Psychological Warfare, ATF, and Ladder to Heaven

Sharon Chan

She's played a bunch of supporting roles and she finally gained attention for her role in Ghetto Justice. Because of this, it looks like TVB is finally giving her a lead role in Schemes of East and West along with Fala Chen.
Coming up: her first lead role

Natalie Tong

She won the Most Improved Award last year and has been getting a lot of 2nd female lead roles now. I always think of her as really young because I'm used to seeing her in roles as someone's sister, but did you know that she's now 30?
Coming up: Boxing King and a role in King's Makers

Curse of Royal Harem Videos

Opening (sung by Susana Kwan):


Ending (sung by Myolie Wu):


I like both songs. I'm glad Susana did the main theme song because it makes the series seem more grand. :)

TVB Weekly

Since Myolie Wu and Kevin Cheng are the internet's favorites to win the TVB Best Actor and Actress, they will be featured together in the upcoming TVB Weekly cover.

The Voice 3

Is anyone watching season 3 of The Voice on TVB? I think my favorite contestant on it right now is 譚嘉儀 Kayee Tam. I don't think she's perfect since there's some technical stuff she needs to work out, but I think she has a great voice, a cute look, plays the piano, and writes her own song! I think she's very marketable. I hope she goes all the way to the finals. Here's my favorite performance of hers so far:

Apple Daily TVB Awards Poll

Apple Daily took a small poll on the favorites to win this year's TVB awards and Myolie Wu and Kevin Cheng won their categories for TVB king and queen for their roles on Ghetto Justice. The rest of the order for the guys is Kenneth Ma, Bosco Wong, Raymond Lam, and then Michael Tse. For the females, Linda Chung takes 2nd place with only half of Myolie's votes and I don't think anyone else comes close to these 2.

What's interesting is that they were both criticized in 2006. People thought that Kevin unfairly got the TVB Actor award while Myolie's performance in War and Destiny got a lot of negative feedback. Their luck has now changed with the audience on their side and they would probably be happy if they were crowned king and queen.

I agree with these results and would be very happy if this happens.

Forensic Heroes 3 (Episodes 1-5 Thoughts)

When I first heard that they were going to make a Forensic Heroes series without Bobby AuYeung, I didn't really mind since Wayne Lai is one of my favorite actors. I would read complaints on how much it was going to suck since they weren't going to use the old cast. I didn't think it was that big of a deal since one of my favorite series is Detective Investigations 4 and it was a totally different story than the first 3 installments. Also, I was afraid that they would kill off Yoyo if they were to make a part 3 like how they killed off Linda's character!

Anyways, I was hoping that I could enjoy this series on its own, but as I was watching it, I couldn't help but miss the old cast! The introduction of the characters was just so boring. They're all shown within the first few minutes and they are all friends already, which would be realistic, but since this is a show, it makes for a very blah beginning. It makes me not care so much about their relationships since I don't see how any of it is developed. The structure of the show is the same with all the cases but the forensic specialists seem to be more involved know-it-alls while the cops seem a little dumb. I guess they wanted to show that the forensic people are the brains while cops are the brawn?

Here are some more gripes I have so far (SPOILERS)

• Kate ripping the earbuds away from Cilla Kung in the interrogation room. That seems like it's crossing a boundary considering that she was not exactly a suspect.
• Why are all the cops so young? Also, I would think a madam would be more authoritative?
• The use of all those tablets are a little distracting. I just didn't realize that the police dept has that big of a budget.
• I feel that either Wayne or Maggie should have been a cop while Ron or Kate should be a forensic specialist. Actually, I don't think the cast as a whole has that much chemistry right now.

I know I have a lot of complaints but it is getting a little more interesting now that we see Nancy Wu appear. I hope the show gets better and I get less irritated watching it. haha

5 Beauties of TVB

It's no secret that TVB is trying to promote the following five fadans as the new front line female artists. Of the five, I think Myolie, Tavia, and Linda are the better actresses while Fala and Kate are not quite there yet. To me, they still need that one good role to blow people away. I do like all of them and they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

Myolie Wu

Myolie is probably my favorite actress. She first gained attention as the mentally challenged girl in Golden Faith and the sweet girl in Triumph in the Skies which propelled her to leading actress status. I love most of her series, and although her acting seemed to be stagnant a few years ago, I think she bounced back this past year in The Rippling Blossom and Ghetto Justice.
Favorite Series: War of In Laws, Survivor's Law, Rippling Blossom
Least Favorite: The Gateau Affairs

Tavia Yeung

At first, I only liked her in ancient roles because she has a very elegant flair about her, but then I was blown away by her crying scene in Yummy Yummy. She finally got the acclaim she deserved in Moonlight Resonance where she won Best Supporting Actress. To me, she should have won Best Actress that year. I don't get how they considered her supporting but Michelle Yim as leading even though it seemed like she had less screen time.
Favorite Series: Sweetness in the Salt
Least Favorite: Mystery of Love

Linda Chung

I actually became more of a fan of hers when her albums came out. She had some really catchy songs! Acting wise, I think she has a lot of potential.
Favorite Series: Heart of Greed
Least Favorite: Moonlight Resonance

Kate Tsui

She gets a lot of cop roles- I think this is mainly due to her "chok" image. I hope TVB gives her more other roles though. I like her but I never really care for the characters she plays.
Favorite Series: The Four
Least Favorite: Beauty of the Game

Fala Chen

I think Fala is the most conventionally beautiful of the five. She gets a lot of roles in grand productions but I don't think she can pull off a series on her own just yet. She just needs to work on her enunciation but I do see her getting there in a few years.
Favorite Series: Grace Under Fire
Least Favorite: Links to Temptation

Myolie Wu "I Will Always Love You"

Myolie sang a few songs for a concert in Malaysia and one of them was the classic Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston song, "I Will Always Love You". I think she did a really good job considering how hard this song is to sing, and she definitely improved on her singing.

Myolie Wu at the Venice Film Festival

Hi! I haven't made any posts in a long time but I'll try my best to do some more updates again. Here's a slideshow of pictures of Myolie Wu at the Venice Film Festival. She was there to promote Life Without Principal, in which she has a supporting role.