2005 Warehouse Series

A warehouse series is the series TVB didn't decide to air on TV, only release to oversea fans.

Originally, there are 5 warehouse series of this year, including Strike at Heart, Ten Brothers, Guts of Man, Herbalist Manual and Misleading Track. Then, Misleading Track was aired, that's a great move by TVB, because I love that series, one of my top favorite of the year.

Recently, TVB aired Herbalist Manual, that's a good move too, since that is Michelle's last series. However, when I went to the Herbalist Manual offcial site, Michelle's picture is not even on the banner! What's up with that?! (not sure what I meant? go to: http://tvcity.tvb.com/drama/the_herbalist_s_manual, and see it youself, the banner only has Frankie, Kenneth and Selena!

TVB also decided to air Guts of Man in early next year! Of course they need to air that! Now, only left Strike at Heart and Ten Brothers, which remained as the warehouse series of 2005. They should air Ten Brothers, I like that series...

Current recommendation: The Charm Beneath

The Charm Beneath is a must see!

I know a lot of you might not pay too much attention to this series, I know some people might even think about giving it up after watching couple episodes. But, by the time I finished watching episode 25, I realized this is the must see for this entire year. True, it starts so slow, and there are way too many flashbacks, which might bore you to tears.

But, a series starts out boring, but getting more and more interesting towards the end is much better than a series that starts out great, and getting more and more boring. The Charm Beneath is such a great series but starts out little slower than you expected, sometimes, you are not sure if you want to keep watching or not. But, give it some patience, the more you watch, the more you will be dragged into the whole story. Pay close attention to the some factors, who you think is useless (for example, Anne Heung). But, the most useless character can make you breathless! That's all I have to say, the ending of episode 25 truly caught my breath away... hehe.. don't want to give out to much, wait for my review next week ba...

TVB Square's Power Rankings - Nov. 2005

I always get my crazy ideas late at night, seems to have greater chance of thinking something special. Yesterday, I came home after an exciting Basketball game, and all the sudden, I wanted to do a Power Ranking for TVB. I get that idea from NBA Basketball, they do power rankings of NBA teams every month. So, I was like, why I can't do a power ranking of TVB every month?! So, here it goes. The first ever TVB Square's Power Ranking ;-)

TVB Square's Power Rankings refers to the TVB stars, series or any other TVB related things that grabbed the most attention, and gained the most power within a particular month, to safe your energy and time, I am doing just doing top five, even though NBA does all 40 teams...

Power Ranking number five: Bosco Wong, well deserved most-improved star, who gained everyone's support for winning TVB's award. The increasing rate of his fans were surprise enough. You can say all the great things about Roger Kwok for winning Best Actor, Ha Yu winning the Best Supporting Role. But, Bosco's award was much more deserving...

Power Ranking number four: War of In Laws, even though this is not my favorite series of the year, but it was the most-talk-about series, especially when it won so many awards at the anniversary, it's like "War and Beauty" all over again. Have you noticed that TVB like the word "war"? ["War of Gender" is the number one air rating series of all time; "War and Beauty" is last year's big winner; "War of In-Laws" is this year's big winner... if "Revolving Doors of Vengeance" can be called "War of Vengeance", it might win an award too! lol]

Power Ranking number three: Angela Tong, ever since "Life Made Simple" aired, she gained more attention, even more than Jessica! Just couple months ago, people hating her role in "Fantasy Hotel", now everyone is loving her this month, and winning the award when "Life Made Simple" was not even finished. It's crazy enough, but she needs this award more than everyone else does.

Power Ranking number two: Kenix Kwok. Nope, not Liza, she has too much power already. Ever since Liza won the Best Actress, fans are going crazy. Just about every forum I went, fans are talking about how they pity Kenix, how they support Kenix, how they want Kenix to win instead of Liza. All the sudden, I realized, Kenix didn't win an award, but she gained more attention, especially from the fans. Kenix might not get enough support from TVB inside, but she gets too many support from fans outside.

Power Ranking number one: Niki Chow!!!! I am talking about her award, of course. I support her all the way, but I never thought she can win the award. It's not easy to win a most improved award when you only filmed two series. So, her award was the one got the most arguments, and of course everyone was surprised when she won. Then, the rumor about how TVB wants her to film a series to exchange award. Of course, that is rumor, but rumors like this do drive everyone crazy.

my polls...

Recently, I was being accused of using someone's poll ideas. Well, first of all, I get my poll ideas from my crazy brain, it is possible to do a poll, which everyone else did before. It is hard to have unique polls. Second, I don't go around to search the internet for poll ideas, because fans send those to me all the time anyways. Also, it is hard to copy someone else's poll, people will get bored of voting the same thing over and over again.

p.s. I started my Year-End polls ever since 2003, this is my third year doing it, if I copy poll ideas, I must copied from myself, lol...

Conspiracy...

After watching a long boring TVB Anniversary, I found some conspiracy.. or should we call it the mystery?

Conspiracy one: you know how last year, we all had an argument that Sheren Tang should win the Best Actress award, instead Gigi did? Lots of fans said the TVB doesn't like to give Best Actress award to older actress. And this year? The complete opposite. This surely proves that TVB has no guts to go against Liza. Whenever she is nominated for Best Actress, she is gonna win. Isn't that becoming way too obvious?

Conspiracy two: Joey Leung, the host of Miuntes to Fame, who presented the "Most Creative Award", which he is nominated and won. That is a big no no. In any awards shows, you just don't present the award you will win. Lesson 101, come on, TVB! If you want to copy Oscar, copy it right!

Conspiracy three: last year's anniversary, fans complained that there are way too many performances, and this year? Basically only four, but I am only considering one, the fish performances with Myolie, Tavia and Bernice all together. That was the best performance of the night. Everything else bores me to tears, sigh.

Conspiracy four: I remember I complained that TVB doesn't like to give award to non-contracted stars, and the next thing you know, Niki won. I also said, "Ha Yu - My Family (chance is almost zero)" in my blog for predicting the Best Supporting Actor, but the next thing you know, he won. I am start to wondering if TVB ever reads my blog, haha... trying to prove me wrong or something?

Conspiracy five: for those of you who listen to Bosco's acceptance speech, I am dying to find out who Tina is!!!! He thanks her at the very end, must be someone special!!! Who is Tina?!

Another anniversary, another disappointment

The Winners
Best Actor: Roger Kwok (Life Made Simple)
- just about couple weeks ago, Life Made Simple aired, and all the sudden you realized, Roger Kwok might win again. But, TVB giving the award to him twice for the same type of character is just too hard to accept. I am sure he did great, and of course I am his fan. However, same character just don't win twice...

Best Actress: Liza Wang (War of In-Laws)
- this means Kenix Kwok might never win a Best Actress award... the whole thing about Liza + Kenix + Gigi fight-over-this-award is completely over, and the winner is Liza, of course. If Kenix do win, Liza will go crazy, and never wants to work with TVB again. To Kenix, try again years later, you still have a shot at this, if Liza stop filming TVB series.

Most Improved Actor: Bosco Wong (War of In-Laws)
- I am pretty sure everyone got this prediction right, and everyone is satisfied with this result. I predicted about this ever since last year when Ron won this award, I knew this year is Bosco's. The next year? I will say Kenneth Ma.

Most Improved Actress: Niki Chow (The Gentle Crackdown)
- satisfied indeed. TVB finally decided to give a important award to a non-contracted star. Way to go! I am so happy for Niki, will she consider to sign a contract with TVB?

Best Male Supporting Role: Ha Yu (My Family)
- no one in the world can ever predict this one! Just about the time I am totally forgetting his role, he won the Supporting Role. Even Kenneth Ma deserves this one more than him. Or, John Chiang, or Wayne Lai... So many other people deserves this one more than him!

Best Female Supporting Role: Angela Tong (Life Made Simple)
- she just became famous for her role couple weeks ago, and she won the award for her role. It is pretty quick transformation, but I am happy for her. After all the strange characters she played for many many years, she finally gets into everyone's mind.

Best Host: Dodo Cheng (Justice for All)
- ya. no one can win over Dodo, this is a given in the TVB family

Best Series: War of In-Laws
- War of In Laws win it all at this year's anniversary, which I didn't think is fair. The main reason is that I really dislike episode 12-18 of that series. That is one third of the series in case you didn't realize that. I was little disappointed that Revolving Doors of Vengeance didn't win anything.

Best Variety Show: Minutes to Fame
- this is also a given, pretty easy to predict

Best Promotional Clip: War of In-Laws
- do I ever remember the clip? What kind of award is this? Totally useless award to mention. Why did TVB get rid of the Best Chemistry award?

Most Creative Show: Minutes to Fame
- again, easy to predict, nothing else can win over Minutes to Fame

Best Foreign Series: Jewel In The Palace
- before TVB made this category, we knew this show is going to win. So, it did. Will this category still be awarded for next year? We will see...

Most Valued Award: 1405 Cheng Nam South to Sea
- don't ask me what is this, I am clueless

Best Acting Award: Ha Ping
- this is like a life archievement award.

To further discuss the 38th Anniversary, please visit TVB Square Forum

Top 10 TVB Most Improved

Countdown to TVB Anniversary: 3 days

Top 10 TVB Most Improved Actor Awards
Basically, this category is Bosco vs. Bosco vs. Bosco, if TVB doesn't go crazy, Bosco is the sure win, which role? It's obvious, got to be the one in War of In-Laws.

1. Bosco Wong - The Last Breakthough
2. Bosco Wong - Wong Fei Hung
3. Hawrick Lau - My Family (I think he did improved, after hating him in ATE, I won't hate him anymore)
4. Kenneth Ma - Scanvenger's Paradise (as a new Kenneth fan, I am supporting him all the way, but this year is the year of Bosco, maybe next year can be his?)
5. Sammul Chan - The Academy (try again next year ;-)
6. Johnson Lee - The Gentle Crackdown (I am a big supporter of him, even though he might not win any awards from TVB, but I will put him in my polls for sure)
7. Bosco Wong - War Of In-Laws (99.99% of chance to win, what else do I need to say?)
8. Raymond Cho - Healing Hands III (good role, but not good enough)
9. Ellesmore Choi - Revolving Doors Of Vengeance (surprised to see him in top 10)
10. Raymond Cho - Hidden Treasures (no idea, never watched the show)


Top 10 TVB Most Improved Actress Awards
Basically, this category is the contracted vs. the non-contracted, we will see what TVB will do...

1. Leila Tong - The Last Breakthough (my big favorite! too bad she is not contracted with TVB, but I will still like to put a bet on her)
2. Halina Tam - Shades Of Truth (I totally forgot she is in this series)
3. Bernice Liu - Love Bond (she is TVB's big favorite, I think she has the most chance winning in this year, plus she did improved a lot, and she is contracted)
4. Tavia Yeung - The Prince's Shadow (hey! she already won this award before! why is she still here? did TVB made a mistake?)
5. Niki Chow - The Gentle Crackdown (another big favorite! again, not contracted)
6. Bernice Liu - Healing Hands III (prefer her role in Love Bond more)
7. Winnie Yeung - Revolving Doors Of Vengeance (no way she is going to win)
8. Elaine Yiu - Revolving Doors Of Vengeance (I told you, she is too evil to win)
9. Leila Tong - Life Made Simple (haven't watch yet, but I support her all the way)
10. Selena Li - Real Kung Fu (improved? base on what? I still consider her as new)

TVB Anniversary - Official Top 10 Supporting Awards

Count down to anniversary: 4 days
Top 10 supporting male (not in order)
1. Andrew Lam - The Last Breakthrough (he is not going to win, because he is not in TVB)
2. Bosco Wong - The Last Breakthrough (he might not win, because he will win Most Improved, unless Most Improved goes to someone else, and Bosco will get this one)
3. Power Chan - Wong Fei Hong (not likely to win)
4. Ha Yu - My Family (chance is almost zero)
5. Chun Paul - Love Bond (I will say he has about 40% of chance)
6. Wayne Lai - Scavenger's Paradise (10% chance the most)
7. Wayne Lai - The Gentle Crackdown (I prefer his role in this series a lot more)
8. John Chiang - Revolving Doors of Vengeance (he is my favorite out of the top 10)
9. Kenneth Ma - Into Thin Air (another favorite, but not his chance yet)
10. Hui Siu Hung - Life Made Simple (maybe it's his turn?)

Top 10 supportinf female (not in order)
1. Sheung Tin Ngor - The Last Breakthrough (I don't even remmeber her role)
2. Rebecca Chan - My Family (not strong enough)
3. Joyce Tang - Prince's Shadow (too good to be true, her role is awesome, but the series sucked)
4. Michelle Yim - The Academy (WAY TO GO! MY top choice)
5. Michelle Yim - The Gentle Crackdown (I liker her in this one too, but The Academy one is better)
6. Christine Ng - War of In Laws (hmm.. not sure about her role)
7. Mary Hon - Revolving Doors of Vengeance (yes, but not strong enough compare to Michelle)
8. Elaine Yiu - Revolving Doors of Vengeance (too evil to win)
9. Sheung Tin Ngor - The Charm Beneath (I will vote for her for this role, but her chance is not high)
10. Angela Tong - Life Made Simple (she is getting so popular because of this role, maybe it's her turn?)

When Death Do Us Apart...

guess what? TVB Square is again collecting all the death factors of the year. I guess this is becoming my yearly hobbie now, collecting all the characters who died in the year. You know, death factors have huge impact on me, I have a whole review dedicated to them! Characters just don't die without purposes, I guess this is what I am trying to say. So, here I am, collecting death factors once again. Please visit TVB Square Forum, the 2005 Memorials section, here you can find the death factors I already collected. Pretty sure there are someone. I am also looking for pictures o...

Respect the originals

Why do some people copy other people's work (such as reviews, thoughts, pictures, translated works, etc.)? Respect the originals, how hard is it to understand? People actually works hard to provide the great originals. Coping or stealing someone else's work is just not acceptable! I get mad when people taking stuff out of my website (such as reviews or pictures) and post at somewhere else without crediting TVB Square. I get even madder when people copying someone else's work, and trying to post on TVB Square site! This totally drives me nuts.

To all the copiers, please don't think that you won't get caught, because there are millions of TVB fans out there, reading things from many different sources, it is actually easy to find out who copied from whom. Basically, all you guys need to do is to ask and credit, two simple steps, shouldn't be that hard...

Everybody Loves Forum

Interaction forum becomes more and more popular these days, basically, if you want to run a great website, you need a forum. That is what everyone is trying to tell me for so long. And, the next thing you know. TVB Square opened up its official forum 2 days ago. It is a convertion from the old message board, with more functionalities attached. I am extrememly excited about my new forum, lots of discussions have been going on the last 2 days, you guys should check it out more often.

http://forum.tvbsquare.com/forum/

TVB Anniversary - top 10

Countdown to TVB Anniversary: 8 days
Current standings: This year's 'best male lead' and 'best female lead' awards are voted by people worldwide online. The current standings for female in the top 10 list include: Kenix Kwok (Love Bond, Revolving Door of Vengeance), Jessica Hsuan (Life Made Simple, Just Love), Liza Wang (War of In Laws), Myolie Wu (War of in Laws), Gigi Lai (The Charm Beneath), Sheren Tang (Prince Shadow), Melissa Ng (Into Thin Air) and Louisa So (Misleading Track). The current standings for male in the top 10 list include: Michael Miu (The Academy, Into Thin Air), Bowie Lam (Misleading Track), Roger Kwok (Life Made Simple), Ron Ng (Revolving Door of Vengeance), Joe Ma (Revolving Door of Vengeance), Moses Chan (The Gentle Crackdown), Bosco Wong (War of In Laws), Chung King Fai (My Family) and Nick Cheung (The Last Breakthrough).
What does this mean? Getting into the top 10 list does not mean you will win, or end up at the top 5 official list at the award ceremony. So, this basically means nothing

Partner Series

A partner series is when a series contains Hong Kong stars, Mainland stars, and sometimes Taiwan stars or other oversea stars all combined. Sometimes, TVB make those series, for example: TVB made "Twin of Brothers", which has Mainland stars and TVB stars combined. Sometimes, Mainland also make this type of series, for example: China made "Number One in the World", which also has TVB stars in it. A lot of times, we know what TVB is making, because all the partner series are very important to TVB, they always will have promotion about it, make it really big and air them in Hong Kong. Most of the times, we don't know much about the partner series that is produced in China, because they won't be aired in TVB Jade Channel. So, I decided to make the sources available to you guys if possible...

Currently filming: China production, it is like "The Conqueror's Story" type of series, starring Joe Ma, Sonija Kwok, Chen Kun (mainland star). It is base on a famous history in China, Sonija is playing one of the four most beautiful girl in Chinese History.

The Love of Death

When you are really bored about watching TVB series, and finding nothing else to watch at the moment, what do you do? Dig out a Korean series and watch it! Especially at this time of the year, I wasn't crazy about any of the current series (other than Life Made Simple), so I decided to find out what is going on in the Korean market, and guess what? The super Korean star Rain (Bi) is having a new series coming out right now, it's called "The Love of Death". First of all, I am not a Rain fan, I can't say I am very crazy about his music or dance moves. But, I am a fan of his performances, like the series "Full House", it was awesome. Second of all, The Love of Death, this title just attracts me, what kind of love has death attach to it? Well, anyways, I will give this series a try, since I got nothing else to watch.

The count down continues

Count down to TVB Anniversary: 14 days
What just happened: in case you don't know, Joey Leung (host of Minutes to Fame) was accused of cheating on love. Before this thing was explored, Joey is a gurantee host for the TVB Anniversary, and a sure win for the show "Minutes to Fame", now, he is out of the picture. You see, this is why you don't want to do something wrong, especially when people look up to you as a role model. Now, we don't even know if "Minutes to Fame" will win an award or not. The girl he is having affair with? The first runner-up of Miss HK 2004 Queenie Chu, she says she doesn't even know Joey got a girlfriend! Whatever, even I know he got a girlfriend already, Ms. Margaret Chung, they have been dating ever since Detective Investigation Files 3 was filmed. What are we suppose to learn from this? Don't ever cheat!
Closer look at the awards: since Joey Leung cheated on love, his image is gone, but Hacken Lee still have a good image. "Minutes to Fame" can still win an award, but not many awards. It will be strange if he is the only one accepting that award since Joey Leung is not going to show up at the Anniversary show.
Some "trends": have you ever noticed that who ever won a TVB award is most likely to renew his or her contract with TVB? If he or she didn't renew the contract, they might not win or show up at the next year's anniversary show. (example: Maggie Cheung, who won in 2003, but didn't even show up in 2004 show because she didn't continue her contract; Gigi Lai, who won in 2004, and signed the contract right after). What did we learn from this? Sign the freaking contract!

The rest of the series of 2005

After Anniversary series, the following series will be aired:
11/28 - Lethal Weapons Of Love And Passion (40 ep) takes over The Charm Beneath
12/5 - When Rules Turn Lose (20 ep) takes over Life Made Simple
11/21 - Always Ready (30 ep) takes over Real Kung Fu

I changed my mind about not including these three series in my year end polls. Because, we got very few good series this year, I need these three series to back the 2005 up. Plus, you guys don't have to wait a whole year to vote for the nominees in these three series. The only disadvantage is that, there might be few people watching the 3 series before voting for them. Well, I will try to run my year polls little slow, sounds good?

I am really happy to see two Charmaine series at the same time! Yeah! Can't wait to see all these three series, just too bad that they release too late... Why can't these three be anniversary series?

Closer look

Count down to TVB Anniversary: 16 days
Best Actress race: it is between Lisa Wong and Kenix Kwok. Lisa is everyone's favorite, for her to win this award is almost like a sure win. Unless Kenix becomes the dark horse, and did the magic Gigi Lai did last year. My opinion? Kenix of course, she deserves one after all these years' hard work and series. If she doesn't get it this year, she might never will.
Best Actor race: it is between Moses Chan, Roger Kwok and Joe Ma. Roger already got award before, it is not likely to be him again, especially when he is playing the same style of character. Joe Ma is not in the category yet, consider the fact he is not popular enough. Moses Chan could be the one this year, if he is lucky.
Best Drama race: it is between War of In-Laws and Revolving Doors of Vengeance. If Kenix Kwok won the best actress, War of In-Laws could win this one. If Lisa won the best actress, RDV could be the one. It is hard to say which one will be awarded. One thing I am predicting is that no drama will win many categories.