Curse of the Royal Harem Episode 1-9 Thoughts

Random Thoughts:

• This show is getting really good with Jessica finally fighting back! Jessica's character was a little boring to me in the beginning, but I'm glad that she's finally taking a stand! The other scene I really liked with Jessica was when she was with Sunny and he thought he was going to die.
• I think Myolie's character is not very likable so far, but I think she's doing a really good job with her role playing a bratty and immature empress. I totally cackled when Nancy was freaking her out and got her to confess her wrongdoings, but I wish that Myolie suffered some more. I also really like seeing her with Joel because I think you see the real her, instead of what her mom wants her to be.

• People need to stop complaining about what their ages are supposed to be and how Jessica's role is supposed to be younger than Myolie's and blah blah blah. It's a story, not a documentary.
• I also like Jess Shum and Vivien Yeo's bickering. I wish it lasted longer, and I also hope to see Jess more in this series.

• The scenes revolving around the males is pretty boring to me. I'd rather see more catfighting!
• Although I really like seeing Joel and Myolie together, I also like seeing him with Sire Ma. I'm not a fan of Joel Chan as a person, but I do think he's a pretty good actor and I like his role here.
• I can't wait to watch the rest of the series. I hope the end doesn't disappoint.

More Beauties

TVB is promoting the 5 Beauties of TVB as their first line artists and that includes: Myolie, Tavia, Linda, Kate, and Fala. After them, there's another crop of female artists that are considered another 5 Golden Flowers that lines up behind them. My original guess is that it would Aimee Chan but someone put together this other list which excludes her and has Elaine Yiu instead.

(From left to right: Elaine Yiu, Nancy Wu, Natalie Tong, Selena Li, Sharon Chan)

Do you agree with this list? Is there anyone you would replace?

More TVB Awards Rumors!

Ben Wong (Lives of Omission) is rumored to get the Best Supporting Actor while Ruco Chan will get Most Improved Male (but that's kinda obvious). Other competitors going up for for Supporting Actor is Pierre Ngo and many other veterans including Law Lok Lam, who gained worldwide recognition for dying 5 times within 72 hours in 5 different series.



Best Supporting Actress will be between Sharon Chan and Nancy Wu, with more buzz around Sharon Chan right now. I would be happy with either of them getting it but I'm thinking Sharon has a higher chance since she's never received an award before. Also, she'll be in her first leading role along with Fala and Roger. Other nominations will include Aimee Chan, Helena Ma, Mannor Chan, Natalie Tong, and Vivien Yeo. No rumors for Most Improved Female yet.



Who are your choices for Best Supporting Actor/Actress and Most Improved Actor/Actress?

Rumored List for TVB Best Actor/Actress Nominations

BEST ACTRESS
Charmaine Sheh - My Sister of Eternal Flower
Myolie Wu - Ghetto Justice
Fala Chen - Lives of Omission
Kate Tsui - Lives of Omission
Maggie Cheung - Forensic Heroes III
Tavia Yeung - The Other Truth
Linda Chung - Yes Sir, Sorry Sir
Jessica Hsuan - Curse of the Royal Harem
Liza Wang - Home Troopers
Louise Lee - Only You
Selena Li - Life and Times of a Sentinel
Sonjia Kwok - 7 Days in Life
Yoyo Mung - Only You
Kiki Sheung - Til Love Do Us Lie
Liu Xuan - Grace Under Fire

BEST ACTOR
Michael Tse - Lives of Omission
Bosco Wong - Lives of Omission
Kevin Cheng - Ghetto Justice
Wayne Lai - Forensic Heroes III
Moses Chan - Yes Sir, Sorry Sir
Raymond Lam - Men with no Shadows
Steven Ma - Life and Times of a Sentinel
Kenneth Ma - Life and Times of a Sentinel
Joe Ma - Relic of an Emissary
Raymond Wong - The Other Truth
Chilam Cheung - The Rippling Blossom
Roger Kwok - Wax and Wane
Ron Ng - Wax and Wane
Sunny Chan - Curse of the Royal Harem
Eddie Cheung - Til Love Do Us Lie

Comments: This is only a rumored list so it may not be totally accurate.

The Best Actor award is between Kevin Cheng and Michael Tse. There's a new rumor that they might give the award to Chilam Cheung because they really want him to film Triumph in the Skies. I'm surprised that Raymong Wong is nominated for The Other Truth but Ruco Chan isn't but it's probably because it's almost guaranteed that Ruco will be winning Most Improved Actor. Wax and Wane was not a very good series and it didn't have good ratings, but the one shining spot of that series was Roger Kwok! He showed so many layers in his acting and actually think this is the best I've ever seen him. There might've been more noise surrounding him if the ratings were higher.

The Best Actress is between Fala Chen and Myolie Wu. I think TVB is trying to create more drama to get ratings for their award show by generating this fight and I'm pretty sure they'll try and add in Tavia, Kate, and Linda to the gossip. Myolie has experience, ratings, and a good role on her side (and it helps that they're filming a sequel!) so I think she has a very good chance to getting the award. However, anything can happen and Fala can end up with the award. I'm not a hater, but I don't think Fala acted very well in her role in Lives of Omission, but her role was likable. I think people tend to confuse the characters with the acting. Also, I think her acting was better in Grace Under Fire so if they wanted to nominate her for an acting role, it should have been for that. But it's TVB so it's kinda expected. LOL. I think a better "fight" would have been between Myolie and Linda since her role was memorable and they're creating a sequel for her too, but I think she's guaranteed the Favorite Female Character Award. Tavia is currently winning one of the polls for Best Actress, which is no surprise to me because I think she has one of the most rabid fanbases online. She's nominated for The Other Truth, which she filmed while she was sick and they also had to cut her screentime because of this. I could tell that her sickness affected her speech, which is a shame because I think this was a very good role for her.

Kayee Tam- Episode 13 of The Voice

Wow, I thought that Carrie's performance of 你今晚想念的人是不是我 was very powerful! She did have a few weird notes and she let the emotion get the best of her at the end, but I thought that added to her performance because I could feel how genuine it was. I thought she deserved a higher score than she received. Go Carrie! I'm rooting for you!

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: