Reality Check review

This series stars Ruco Chan as a tv producer who was abandoned by his biological mom (Rebecca Chan) so he is grateful and loyal to his adopted mom (Louise Lee). The first 5 episodes centers around Ruco producing a reality series when he brings a spoiled young kid (Hero Yuen) to the countryside to see how he will survive without electronics. Stanley Cheung, Evergreen Mak, and Priscilla Wong are part of the tv crew that comes along. The story is very cliche and predictable, but I still found it very enjoyable. It was sweet and had a nice moral and I liked how Hero ended up changing and was able to appreciate his father more afterwards.

The other 15 episodes is a love triangle of sorts but it involves Ruco and his two moms. Louise's husband passes away suddenly and she tries to pretend that everything is okay while her 2 biological kids are trying to rush her into selling away the apartment so that they can split the money. This leads to Louise having a gambling addiction since she feels alone without the support of her kids. I think they could have done a better job explaining why her kids became such jerks even though they were raised in a loving and supporting family. I also think they could have stretched out Louise's gambling addiction in the beginning instead of having Ruco discover it so quickly. It just seemed like she gambled a few times and all of a sudden had an addiction. Her gambling did come back later on but I felt like it would have a bigger impact if it built up more towards the end. The whole storyline just seemed a little repetitive the gambling, kids being mean, and repeat.

This was Priscilla's first role since joining TVB and her acting is just okay. Her voice just quivers through everything and she seems like she's going to constantly cry, but at least her cantonese is good? This was also Owen Cheung's first big role and he is seriously an ugly version of Bosco Wong. Of the newer people, I was most impressed by Hero Yuen. I see a lot of potential in him and I really liked his relationship with his dad in this series. I wish they showed more of them throughout the series after he returns from the countryside instead of just towards the end.

Overall, this series was just okay but I did enjoy the first 5 episodes the most.

Inbound Troubles Review

Inbound Troubles is a story about 2 cousins, Wong Cho Lam and Roger Kwok, and their friends and family. Wong Cho Lam is from Mainland and he visits Hong Kong and it's supposed to show that although there are differences in their culture, the most important thing is to get along. There are good catchphrases, memorable characters, and an entertaining storyline so I will definitely recommend this as one to watch.

This is Joey Meng's first series with TVB so I was very excited to see this but I really enjoyed Ivana Wong, Louis Cheung, and Bob Lam in their debut TVB series as well! This series brought more fame to a lot of these actors. Ivana released a top-selling album as her character in this series and Bob Lam, Corina Chamberlain, and May Chan became more popular and gained money through more promotional appearances. Louis Cheung really surprised me because I only knew him as Kay Tse's husband but his popularity also shot up as the metrosexual boyfriend of Ivana. He recently said that his first love is actually acting and that's why he signed a 2 year contract with TVB. He's been give a lot of big supporting roles such as the upcoming Big Wheel and Vinegar Lady which will begin filming in November.

I know that I didn't say that much about the storyline, but what made me really like this series was all the characters. I do wish that they put in more of the China vs Hong Kong differences into the series though. Overall, you should go watch it!

Seasons of Love Review

Seasons of Love is basically a filler series. Triumph in the Skies II was actually supposed to start filming but they had to delay it while they waited for Francis Ng's schedule to clear up. Since they had the extra time and cast available, a lot of their stars (Myolie Wu, Kenneth Ma, Ron Ng, Nancy Wu, Him Law, Toby Leung) were available to film short love stories. Each love story had 5 episodes that were weaved together by Kenneth's character who is a private investigator. The thing I liked about this series is that each story had a slightly faster pace and it was easy to skip any stories you didn't care about. However, they didn't do a really good job weaving together all the stories and I thought the romance factor can be ramped up.

Here's my short thoughts on each story. 

Skipped Series

I've watched every single TVB series for maybe the past 8 years. This year, I have skipped 2 so far: The Day of Days and Beauty at War, and there might be a third one I'm going to add to this list: Karma Rider. There's been a bunch of bad series, but I was still able to finish them. However, these series got so boring that I just remain unmotivated to finish them!

The Day of Days

I really wanted to like this series since I like Sunny Chan and he took a long break to take care of his son. It was just really boring mixed in with some confusing parts when they do flashbacks, and I eventually just stopped caring. I stopped at episode 9 and I can't even remember anything that happened.

Beauty At War

This was the highly anticipated sequel to War and Beauty, which I believe is one of their highest rated TVB dramas ever. I liked the original but I was not as obsessed with it as many other people were. That's probably why I didn't mind when a lot of the original cast (other than Sheren and Moses) didn't return since I liked the addition of Ada and Christine Ng. I did think they should have added some more star power in the male side... the first guy that comes to mind is Wayne Lai. When it was time for the series to air, it was plagued with negative news and reviews, especially regarding Sheren Teng. She did a lot of interviews talking about the script changes, not understanding the series, and generally not promoting the series in a positive manner. I don't have a problem with anything Sheren had to say, but she should realize that there would be consequences to her words. I do believe that Sheren's lack of support is only one factor in why the ratings did not do well. The perception was that the main star of the series did not even like this series, so why should viewers bother giving it a chance? The main problem is the slow storyline, although I only watched the first 5 episodes so the pace could have picked up later. The first half of the first episode was really confusing and introduced a bunch of people that no one cares about. The fans want to see Sheren and Moses! They want to see their favorite characters from the first series and they just took too long to show them. By the time they showed up, viewers were probably already too confused and stopped caring.

Someone please convince me that these series are worth picking up again!

Friendly Fire Review

Friendly Fire has a big all star cast which includes Michael Tse, Tavia Yeung, Louis Yuen, Sharon Chan, Sammy Leung, and many others. This series started out pretty well and Michael and Tavia have great chemistry right off the bat. They're already a couple in the beginning which is refreshing but it slightly falls apart after Tavia rejects Michael's marriage proposal since her family has a history of breast cancer. She's afraid that she will cause him heartache if she dies, and she doesn't want to remove her breasts because she thinks he will leave her anyways due not to being a whole female. Couldn't she just get a boob job though?? Sigh... I guess they had to have some drama to get people to root for them though. Sammy and Sharon also make a cute couple and are more of the light-hearted comic relief of the series. 

While I like the characters, the thing that made me dislike the series were the cases!!! There were 5 different cases but it was the last 3 that drove me crazy. *spoilers ahead* There was one case with the murder of a cop, and as the audience, we know who actually did it. However, the case had no real evidence and the main witness was a cop (Patrick Tang) who had already broken the law and proven to had lied on the stand. By the way, Patrick was pretty terrible in this role. Sammy Shum (who played the murderer) was found guilty on faulty evidence and that wouldn't be that bad but then they had the next case where the victim had evidence and witnesses on her side but she still lost. That was the case in which Samantha Ko was raped and although she was in shock, she went straight to the police and had a rape kit done on her. The defendant tried to say she was a liar and a slut since she had once worked as a beer girl... because I guess that's the same as being a prostitute? I don't get it.. and I don't get how Michael could be so incompetent as a lawyer! I guess the lesson is that even if you were raped, went straight to the police, and got a rape kit, you will still not be able to prove you were raped unless you are a 100% pure virgin angel. I know I'm a little worked up but I had hoped that after the string of rapes that TVB has aired, they would present a story that would be able to help any victims of rape. 

In general, I liked most of the actors and their characters, but the storyline deteriorated throughout the series and the cases made me scream. I would not recommend this series.   

Missing You Review

Missing You

*All my series reviews are going to be pretty short. I'm basically going to let you know if I liked the series or not, as well as noting some pros and/or cons.

Missing You stars Linda Chung and Jason Chan in his first leading role and the result is not so great. We basically have Linda acting her little heart out and Jason's wooden acting in comparison is quite jarring. Linda's character here actually reminds me of her role in Moonlight Resonance in which she's in love with a guy that has a boyfriend and she feels guilty about her feelings. I think they made the love triangle a little too cliche by having Lin Xia Wei by having her cheat on Jason. I actually preferred Linda with Mat Yeung at first, but then of course they had to make him a bad guy.

The cases itself are okay but nothing really memorable. I guess my favorite would be the one with Raymond Wong and Elaine Yiu only because I like the actors.

Overall, it was just an OK series and I would recommend it to Linda fans.

Seven Sisters Review

Seven Sisters is an older 32-episode drama from 2001 that stars Gallen Lo, Charmaine Sheh, Kong Wah, and Anne Heung. I thought that this drama was going to be a ghost story about seven sisters but it turns out that only one of them is a ghost. Then, I realized that it was more about Gallen and Charmaine than the ghost story of Kong Wah and Anne.

In short, would I recommend this series? NO! You can read below for why but beware of spoilers.

Thoughts on Current TVB Series

I'm watching all three series that is currently airing on TVB now and I just wanted to give you my current thoughts. Please be aware of some spoilers, and my opinion can still change once I'm finished watching.

Come Home Love
I'm up to episode 79 and it was recently extended to 300 episodes. I hope this means they won't drag out some of the storylines though. The series centers around the Ma family and I think they're all really cute. I enjoy watching the family interactions more than the office storylines right now. Chris Lai's character is my favorite although I'm also anticipating Florence Kwok and Carlos Ng to finally get together. I find their episodes really sweet. I actually enjoyed the last sitcom more but this is enjoyable so far.

King Maker (eps 1-15)
The first few episodes were a little confusing and didn't really capture my attention. It only got more interesting when Kristal Tin and her gang appeared. I really liked the interactions between Wayne and them. I guess I'm finding most of the scenes of them in the palace a little boring, so I'm happy that Wayne and Pierre have left it again. I'm looking forward to seeing Wayne reunite with his family.

Divas in Distress (eps 1-5)
Ehhh.. I'm not really liking the series so far. For a comedy, it's completely over-dramatic. I find both Liza and Gigi's characters really annoying and I wish they switched characters. I think it would be more interesting to see Liza play a sloppy character instead. I like watching Chin Ka Lok hosting more than his acting and Eliza Sum is okay enough for a newbie and her facial expressions fit in for a comedy. However, I don't know why TVB insists on giving newbies big dramatic scenes when most of them can't handle it. Eliza's emotional scenes make me cringe. I also find Him's character a bit creepy. He's basically stalking Mandy and making her life miserable because he likes her. Am I supposed to find this cute?! My favorite character is "So Gei" so I hope to see more of him.

I'll see if I change my mind later.

Ghetto Justice 2 Review/ Final Thoughts

I just finished the whole series and decided to give you my thoughts. There might be some spoilers but I tried not to give anything big away.

Random thoughts:

Wish and Switch Series Thoughts

Short review (includes spoilers)

2011 Series Review

Below is my quick judgement on all the series released in 2011 by TVB. I'm not going to give a synopsis, so I'm just assuming that you know the basic plot for everything. I have actually watched every series that they released so far, but I don't necessarily give my review by comparing them to each other. I do have my own biases and preferences so take that into consideration if you read this. Also, beware of spoilers. I try not to give anything big away but there might be some plot points spoiled.

7 Days In Life: This series started out strong but I think the 7 days concept for this series was too limited to stretch out to 20 episodes. Only some of the characters were interesting so when it focused on others, I found myself really bored. My favorite scenes involve Bosco and Joyce (who may not be the best actress but is very cute in this role). I found Steven Ma's character to be really annoying (even though he had a motive) and didn't really find him believable as this playboy type.

Rest of the 2011 Series-