It’s been coined “
The Emmys of the East”, the media has been saying, but could it truly be recognized as the Emmys if TVB is the only one station receiving the awards, being also the one who is giving them to itself? I’m not an avid watcher of the US Emmys for their Soaps or Primetime, but I do know that nominees and winners alike were from variety of stations like ABC, CBS, NBC, etc., and even cable. If TVB really wants their awards show to be credible as “
The Emmys of East”, they should really think about nominating people and series from foreign areas and competitors (ATV and cable) alike.
Having said all that, I’m a huge TVB fan so I don’t mind seeing only TVB actors and actresses for two hours. The tradition for the past decade or so has focused on TVB series and its actors and actresses, so for TVB fans, it can only be a joyous occasion to predict and watch who is going to take the awards home, and then rant or talk about it with friends, family, and other TVB fans around the world.
Now for this year, the awards show for me was like surfing a wave. It has its ups and down, but it was clearly better then the first time this “
Emmys” style type of ceremony happened in 2005, so I think it would be interesting to recap my thoughts throughout the program starting at the beginning watching it a second time around(for anyone who cares to read a very LONG post lol).
The IntroductionWell, the beginning was probably the coolest part of the whole show though I think they captured the red carpet aspect the best in 2005, which is a snoozefest in itself, but the way the stars appear was done very, very nicely. In this one, it’s still awesome to see the actors and actresses strutting down the red carpet, but it’s just….I can’t explain, not as glamorous and elegant compared to the past two years? Or perhaps it’s the high ratio of females accompanying males? We’ve got Moses walking with both Sheren Tang and Myolie, Raymond walking with both Fala and Linda, Bobby with 3 ladies: Yoyo, Tavia, and Shirley, and Steven Ma with also 3 ladies: Toby Leung, Sharon Chan, and Sonijia Kwok. But you see there are quite a few males who arrived solo (noticing Wong Hei, Ron, Stephen Huynh, etc), so why not have them accompany one of those ladies? It’s alright to see a guy with two gals, but having to accompany three, that’s like a crowd. Perhaps I’m old fashion, but I like seeing pairs of couples walking down the red carpet. It’s part of the “wow-factor” along with the fashion, hair, and jewelry (but these latter things are expected). It’s actually who you walk down the red carpet with that is most captivating to gossip about but considering TVB probably arranged who gets to be seen with who, and they can’t pick whom to appear along with, I’ll have to say at least pair them up as couples from series….it would give fans something to be in awe of.
Then we have Eason singing. The song was alright, but is it really fitting for the event? It’s about the only thing that is upbeat in the whole show though, but the lyrics and the event don’t really correlate. Then we have people appearing down the catwalk. Not surprisingly, we have Liza Wang coming down first, escorted by Bosco, Ron, Kenneth, and Sammul. Why four guys escorting her? I don’t know. I’m thinking these four are probably going to film a lot of serie in the upcoming year. Anyhoo, then we have in order, Charmaine and Kevin, Gigi and Roger, Moses and Bernice, Bobby & Yoyo (looking gorgeous), Heart of Greed’s Lee See Kei, Ha Yu, and Susanna Kwan, Raymond and Myolie (finally a young TVB couple!), Steven Ma and Sonijia (whom I think is a very nice pairing although they had some fallout in the past), Wong Hei and Shirley Yeung (weird pairing right? it’s kind of funny when Amigo has to give a reason saying it’s important that they have audience fate), Kiki Shor tin ngor, Michael Tse, and Sheren Teng, Wayne Lai & Kate Tsui (her makeup is very, very icky…I couldn’t even recognize her!), Michelle Yim & Louis Yuen (whom are quite matching as a couple), Tavia Yeung, Linda Chung, Sharon Chan together (whom are all very beautiful), Harlem, Patrick and I love you Boyz (which is a name I wouldn’t be caught dead in a public ceremony with, and especially in “
The Emmys of the East”!). Then the list got on a little too fast with a whole bunch of newcomers, so I’ll just stop there. Eason sings again, this time a song with lyrics which fit the ceremony (I’m guessing it’s not part of the real song right?), so that concludes Introduction.
The MiddleOk, so that’s good and done with…lets get to the awards! The first presenter is Sin To Lai, a lady whom I’ve seen around in some tvb series in the past….but I don’t know anything else about her. Anyway, I just thought it was kind of crazy of her to yell go, go, go several times to roll the film.
Foodie Two Shoes won, which is expected. Glad to see Patrick Tang and Harlem Yu get their award, thank the people they thank. But get this, they did not thank TVB if I’m not wrong. Just keep this in mind as I continue.
The second and third award presenters were Patrick Tse and Deborah Lai (Nicholas Tse’s parents), and they were to present the Most Improved Artistes (but many would think Actors/Actresses award, and rightfully so since this awards show is mainly all about the acting). These two presenters were pretty hilarious, and Dodo came to joke with them too. It was interesting to note that Deborah was making a comment about those who spreading the wings to fly away….is this a warning for TVB’s young siu sungs eh? Anyhoo…Amigo Chui won. Never seen him as an actor in a serie, but I’m glad he won because over all if you were not to count the acting, I suppose he did improve as a host over the years. Amigo thanked TVB….then somewhere during that speech….we get a shot to top execs sitting in the auditorium. Moving on….the top 5 finalists for Most Improved Female Artistes were Kate Tsui, Natalie Tong, Fala Chen, Toby Leung, and Bernice Lui. Now, hmm…how did Toby Leung get in there? Eeerily, all these actresses are the ones TVB are currently promoting quite heavily. This award, in my opinion, just never gets it right ever since Niki’s win in 2005, so if there was an award for “Plagued with the most unfair winners given by TVB since 2005”, this just might be it. However, Kate Tsui isn’t too bad of a choice compared with Toby Leung and Natalie Tong. I’ve always think Kate Tsui has some potential as an actress despite her voice/accent being very “unique” (it’s funny Patrick Tse had to correct her on saying “I” in Cantonese), and I like her attitude…very direct but still I can’t say it’s really her time to win Most Improved though. Personally, I was rooting for Bernice, but since Kate got it this time, Bernice needs to work harder next year. Gotta say, it’s going to be very touching when she finally does get it…that is if TVB ever gives it to her.
Next presenter is the big guy (Mr Cheng?) and the little kid. I’ve seen Mr. Cheng in a lot of movies, but can’t recall any the movie names. Anyhoo…they present the Best Supporting Actors and Actresses’ spot. Leila Tong, Florence Kwok, Gigi Wong, Mary hon, and Fala Chen were the top 5 finalists. Leila Tong and Gigi Wong weren’t there at all. It’s disappointing Leila didn’t show up, but why show up if you have to sit for two hours and only get onscreen for like 5 seconds…and you know your chance isn’t going to be high either. Fala won….it was expected since she’s so heavily favored by TVB, but yet I think Leila Tong, Florence Kwok and Mary Hon are all more deserving of the award. Fala thanked the “company” (didn’t say TVB directly, but “company” is known as TVB)…..I think twice….and of course they have a shot to top execs sitting at the auditorium again. I like her speech mentioning Lee See Kei about how doing a good job as an artist is what they are suppose to do though. Then, we have best supporting with top 5 finalists Chun Pui, Benz Hui, Wong Jo Lam??, Louis Yuen, and Ng Wai Kwok. They didn’t air the five windows of the finalists, so I’m wondering if it’s because half of them didn’t show up. I saw Benz Hui and of course Louis Yuen, but what about that Wong Jo Lam guy, did he show up? So Louis Yuen won. Seems like the audience and everyone there were happy for him, lots of people cheering. He took out a long sheet of paper (intended to be a list of thanks) and saying it was Bobby’s. It was cheesy, but yet it was about the only thing funny for quite a while now. It was very humble of him to thank the other 10 nominees, and TVB and high execs….and of course a shot to the execs sitting at the auditorium…get my drift?
I’ll breeze though the next two award. For best creative show, the guy who I guess produces the show thanked the “company” and we get usual shot to the execs. For the most inspirational/appreciative award goes to
Sup Nien (Ten Years?), and Sammul was a part of the crew. The award winners got the award and just kind of stood there for a bit. I mean, at least get on with the protocol, thank TVB or the company lol. Quite awkward that Sammul had to say something more.
The next awards are the Mainland Most Favorite Artistes awards. Stephen Chan was the presenter, and he talks about how this award was nicknamed the “pork award” and gave the reasons for this category to be announced at a later time, and it was all good and all until he mentioned that it cost money. I mean, think about it, the award isn’t very worthy if fans have to pay for their award. The announcement of the top 5 finalists didn’t have the windows showing the finalists either. He just announced the winners off the bat.: Gigi Lai and Raymond Lam. Gigi Lai, in my opinion, is not a very eloquent speaker in interviews and such because she often pauses and stutters….but it’s nice to see that her speech this time around is better. She thanked TVB of course, and there was a mini-pause, but it was still nicely said overall. Raymond thanked TVB also and also made note to thank the translators, which is very nice of him. In comparison with Gigi, I always think Raymond is great with how he says things (I suspect in part because he is quite intelligent). And no surprise, there were shots to the execs twice during that session!
On The Road won Best Variety show. The person who represented the show thanked TVB, Stephen Chan, and we get yet another shot of the execs. Sammul’s probably the luckiest of the younger guys with regards to screentime since he got to represent all these variety shows.
Next award….Kevin Cheng and Charmaine and THREE TVBuddies came out and attempt to promote their own shows. It was cute to watch and all, and Dodo cut them off. So this is he only award that
Drive of Life got, which is so sad, because it really was an awesome show....The Best Promotional ad. The winners of course made note to thank the “company”.
Heading Towards the End….
Onwards…..Liu Wai Hung was the next presenter for My favorite female character award. This guy has been through bankruptcy and all, so it was nice to see that he’s still very optimistic. The top five finalists include Charmaine, Lee See Ki, Susanna, Linda Chung, and Gigi Lai. I like the way he disclose the awards, building up the atmosphere (saying it’s HOG….then who is it? Big or small…..and that they both want to win) and then revealed it was Susanna, who thanked TVB, Stephen Chan, Miss. Lok with no surprise there, another shot to the execs.
The top 5 finalists for Favorite Male character was Hai Yui, Moses Chan, Raymond Lam, Bobby for Fathers & Son, Dayo Wong. Glad to see Dayo Wong up there! Idy Chan presented the My favorite male character award to Moses. I think her speech was overall very nice, about cause and effects and acting to inspire other people, but it was not very respectful to mention wanting to give the award to Damian Lau just before she presents the award to someone else. And if I was Damian watching, it would be like pouring salt into a wound. Moses won and accepted the award with grace, mentioning it’s a group award, thanked TVB, shot to execs with two upclose ones of Miss. Lok/Miss. Tsang…you know the drill.
Then Dodo went to nominees section and talked to Bobby, Ha Yui, Raymond Lam, Moses, Kevin cheng (who was joking there’s no chance this year since he won last year) putting them in the spot…but overall their responses were nice and somewhat funny, so I enjoyed that part.
The top 3 serie were
Dicey Business,
Heart of Greed, and
Family Link. So again, I was disappointed
Drive of Life didn’t get into this spot, but even though it did not get noticed at this awards show, I hope it would get noticed by other awards show because DOL was a great serie….just that the HK audience didn’t appreciate it. So Producer Lau and the whole cast of Heart of Greed went onstage to accept the award. Producer Lau thanked TVB, but guess what….no shot to execs! (Surprised?, me too!). It’s funny they didn’t show the empty seats in the artistes’ section lol….maybe b/c they made up half the artistes at TVB lol. I have not finished Heart of Greed, but I’ve always had this sense that this serie is not in the same caliber in terms of writing and everything like War and Beauty was.
Next comes a favorite part of the show for me…the clips of all the past winners in the past. Yup….the good old days…the way it was before TVB went... on a different route...sigh the nice speeches the winners gave. Now that I think of it, at least Maggie Cheung’s speech seems genuine.
Finally, things are winding down. The wonderful orchestra plays “
The Bund” themesong ( which is one of the best parts of the show….the music accompanying the presenters) as Ray Lui comes out to present. His speech was pretty hilarious talking about investment perspective on actresses, and he mentions Sheren Teng and Charmaine (and Dodo was like they’re not new)….and he goes on to mention Myolie (and Dodo says ok, lah), and then he says Gigi Lai (and Dodo was like she’s like around for a while lol). So the top 5 best actress finalists were Charmaine, Jessica, Lee See Kei, Charmaine, and Sheren Teng.
So he announced Lee See Kei, and she walks graciously to the podium stand as everyone stood up for her. Her speech was nice, and she was the only one who mentioned God out of all the winners. She thanked Miss. Tsang, Mo Sin Television (which is just another name for TVB), and by that time….I was already thinking…that’s a pretty long speech already….and then her daughter shows up….and then more minutes were taken up. So I was glad to see her get off the stage already.
Kathy Chow was the next presenter, and I just love the themesong played when she came out. The serie was the one with Deric Wan, Leon Lai, and Maggie Cheung but I don’t remember the name. Anyhoo she talked about the qualities of being a male lead , and it’s funny because they had a glimpse of Raymond elbowing Ha Yui as she was talking….what’s up with that…does Raymond have a crush on Kathy? Lol And I guess she took too long because Dodo rushed her, and she announced the top 5 finalists which were Bobby, Ha Yui, Moses Chan, Damian Lau, and Raymond Lam.
The award goes to Moses Chan, and he talked about it being a long time, and it’s about having small opportunites, he thanked TVB, Miss. Tsang….shot to exec’s in the audience, Miss. Lok, Stephen Chan….shot to the exec’s seats again……..and I think towards the very end, when Moses was asking who else is there…..and someone yell Bernice’s name (who was that?) ….and he said “you too!” It’s too bad, I was hoping he would go public about Bernice if they do have something together. I don't know whether Moses deserve the award, but I personally do like Moses, so I'm glad to see him win.
Towards the end, they invited Lydia Sum out and gave her the big grand achievement award. It was quite sad for me when I saw her because she was just so skinny. I mean, looking at pass clips, Lydia is known to be big, but she was not even chubby at the awards show. So I can imagine people who’ve known her personally must’ve felt very, very sad seeing her so skinny. Her daughter Yan Yee sang a duet for her, and I must say, it was actually pretty decent.
In Conclusion….So why was it somewhat like a cult show? If you’ve been reading the above, you would noticed almost everyone and their moms (ok I kid about the mom’s part) thanked TVB directly or indirectly. And what’s up with all those shots of the top execs in their seats? It’s only touching if the actors or actresses have been there awhile, and they finally won an award (like Gallen Lo and Roger Kwok). I guess, it worked well for Louis Yuen and Moses Chan, but the rest, really was that necessary? I think, what’ve been more fun would be to capture shots of people who are actually famous……like maybe a shot of Bernice’s expression when Moses won…….or Selina Li when Patrick Tang won, or even have a friend’s shot of I guess Ron when Raymond won. So all this thanks to TVB and the shots to the execs were extreme to me, I don’t remember it being like that hardcore in the past. Well at least they got rid of that phrase “With the best effort, I’ll do my best,” which sounds cheesy to me.
I wonder if the cast of DOL was pissed off or knew they’re not going to win many awards since so many of the main cast didn’t appear other than Ray, Charmaine, Sheren, Toby, and Ron. There was no Joe Ma, Jessica, Damian, Ng Wai Kwok, Michael Mui, or even Gigi Wong. Other than them, Ada Choi, Dayo Wong, and Leila Tong were also not there.
Now, am I happy with who won? I would say overall, the results were ok though I was disappointed with Most Improved Female Artist and Best Supporting Female….and I’m not very happy with
Heart of Greed sweeping all the awards. This past year, TVB had a lot of great series under its belt,
Dicey Business,
Family Link,
Drive of Life,
Fathers & Son,
Evil Kin, and even
Brink of Law was pretty good….but Heart of Greed seemed to hogged all the spotlight, so that was the most disappointing aspect of the show for me. And it was also a shame that there are many artistes who should be credited, but did not get the recognition they so rightfully deserve.
Just two more things to gossip about: In one scene when Amigo was in between the male and female artistes, it looks like Bosco was sneaking a look at Myolie? Anyone saw that? Well it could be that he was just looking that way since they’re placed side by side of each other lol.
And two,
themissingpiece brought up a point that there was some seat switching between Tavia and Linda. I didn’t notice it but when I watch the second time, Fala did get seated in the second row and Tavia was placed in the back. So favoritisms at the awards show! Dun Dun Dun! Here is the link to pictures: http://asianfanatics.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=469669
A nice picture I found of LEE See Kei and Shirley Yeung See Kei from
Szeki Forum hugging. It's a pity they didn't get to cooperate together yet. Hopefully they will in the future.
The last game/segment was pretty funny when Eric and Kong Chi Li were revealing the cards. Towards the end, Eric was so happy when he thought he won but it turns out it was Kate, and he got pissed over it lol. And I haven’t see Kong Chi Li in a long time…has she been acting in any series? I like her more than Natalie Tong, but Natalie is getting more promoted now.
