TVB Series and Asian Popular Culture...

In general, I’m a pretty loyal viewer when it comes to TVB. I rarely touch series from Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan etc. However, I was just thinking about popular series that were such a huge hit in the Asian hemisphere (or at least a huge part of it), and I couldn’t think of any from TVB that reached that status. And by status, I’m judging that the serie was so popular that it played a part in helping propelled its stars from essentially nobodies to immense IDOL popularity and maintained popularity for years in the Asian hemisphere and other Asian communities in the West as well. So which series have been able to do that?



China/Taiwan- Huan Ze Ge Ge aka The Princess Pearl I
Idols: Vicki Zhao, Alec Su, Ruby Lin
These three were huge after Hzgg I, especially Vicki for her portrayal of ‘Little Swallow’. It’s like “who doesn’t know ‘Little Swallow and Wu ah ge”? I know Vicki was from China, and Alec & Ruby were from Taiwan, so perhaps this collaboration and the plot was fresh for many people, and their characters were very well liked. Then there were rumors between Alec-Vicki and Alec-Ruby, and who doesn’t remember the massive Vicki vs Ruby debates. I know, because I participated in some anti-Ruby postings myself! In some ways, I don’t even remember why I loved this serie so much when I saw it. All I remember is that Vicki was very funny and cute as “Little Swallow”, and I love watching her with the emperor and the fifth prince (Wu ah ge). I actually didn’t watch this serie until several years after it first aired, but it was still popular after I watched. This serie was my first serie from China. These three were also so popular that they were invited to act together again in The Princess Pearl II/HZZG 2, and years later in Romance in the Rain.



Taiwan: Meteor Garden
Idols: F4 (Jerry, Vic, Vanness, Ken), Barbie Hsu
I think if you’re Asian, somewhere somehow you’re heard of F4 and Meteor Garden. They were so huge in the Asian community that it’s not even funny. They were huge anywhere with an Asian population actually. People have watched this serie not only once, but probably twice or more. It’s like Titanic, only it’s a serie and it consists of Taiwanese people. Like many, it was my first Taiwanese serie and introduced me to the world of Taiwanese idol series. So what the heck made me and so many others love it so much that it got soooo HUGE? Is it the hairs? Is it the themesong sang by Harlem? Is it because it’s named after Meteors? lol….I don’t know, all I can say is that I loved it a lot years ago, and every time I heard Qing Fei De Yi, I will remember it fondly lol. So I’m placing my bets heavily on the story (which was based on a Japanese manga “Hana Yori Dango” which was very popular for manga fans I believe), good songs, and somewhat good-looking, yet unique guys (I mean face it, without their hair styles, they wouldn’t make F4 that iconic) lol.



Korea: Full House; Jewel in the Palace/ Dae Jang Geum
Idols: Rain aka Bi/ Jung Ji-Hoon; Lee Young-ae
Now, I’m not a fan of Korean series, but to have heard of these names everywhere even though I’m not a fan does say something. With Rain, I’m not sure whether he was popular before Full House, but thank goodness for Wikipedia, it tells me that he actually released an album and starred in another serie before Full House, but Full House was the serie that led him to be recognized in Asia (and also Asian communities on the western hemisphere I suppose).

Now for Jewel in the Palace, I don’t know what the hype is for this one, but reading wikipedia, the series is quite huge (look under Commercial Success section)….even more huge than Full House. I mean I should’ve known anyway, it’s no wonder when I go to Korean restaurants, I’ll see the main actresses’ poster hanging up! Anyway, from wikipedia, this serie is credited to be one of the factors of the Korean wave spreading around East Asia. How’s that for huge?

As for me, my first Korean Series was All About Eve, of which I thought was actually quite good. However, it never led me to watch other Korean series though.

TVB/Hong Kong Series: ??
Idols: ??
Now lets look at TVB and Hong Kong series. To my realization, as of now, I’m having trouble thinking up of series that made such a huge impact compared with those mentioned above. Perhaps War & Beauty? Well it had a good script, and it was a beautiful series, but did it make such a huge impact? Triumph in the Skies? Yea, it propelled S4 to insta stardom in HK, but what about other Asian places? How about Duke of Mount Deer 2000? Or how about older series like The Bund...did it have that huge of an impact?

This boggles my mind, so I want to make a thread on it in AF later, so maybe I would get some insight and opinions from fellow TVB fans there.

Wikipedia Links:
Wiki: Full House
Wiki: Rain
Wiki: Meteor_Garden
Jewel in the Palace

HZZG sites where pictures are found:
http://public.fotki.com/biogirl/c2tv_drama/hzgg_captures/page2.html
http://groups.msn.com/HuanZhuGeGeForever/shoebox.msnw