Wednesday, November 9, 2011

TVB 44th Anniversary Awards Nominations (TVB Interaction Picks)

I know I haven't updated in forever, but since Anniversary Awards are still my favorite time of year for TVB, I am coming out of hibernation!  Instead of making predictions this year, I will be making my own list of nominations.  These are my personal picks with minimal influence from predictions and gossip.  Most of these people will most likely not be nominated or have no chances of winning.  There is no set number of nominations, I nominated as many (or as little) as I thought deserved a nomination.   Note that there is some bias since these are my personal choices and I skipped many series this year.

Best Actor
Ruco Chan - The Other Truth
Joe Ma - Relic of an Emissary
Chilam Cheung - The Rippling Blossom
Roger Kwok - Wax and Wane

Ruco portrayed Keith with so much charisma and genuine emotion he should at lest be nominated and get into the top 5!  I'm not a fan of Laughing Gor and only watched 7 episodes of "Lives of Omission", so Michael Tse is not included.  Wayne gives a solid performance in "Forensic Heroes III", but it's not new territory for the versatile veteran actor who has already won this award twice.  My close friend noted that Joe's performance in "Relic" was superb yet underrated.  Although I did not watch the series, I don't want the underdog to go unnoticed!  While Chilam's performance and character was nothing extraordinary, he was cute and likable.  He is rumored to take home this award as an incentive/"bribe" from TVB so that he will agree to film "Triumph in the Skies II".  Roger's performance in "Wax and Wane" may not be anything new, but he portrays "Yee Chun" with so much charm and sincerity.  After seeing him in many lackluster comedic roles recently, it was refreshing to see him in a dramatic role that showed his emotional range and soft side.

Best Actress
Myolie Wu - Ghetto Justice
Maggie Cheung - Forensic Heroes III

If the male performances for this year weren't award worthy, the females were even less so.  My only choices are Myolie and Maggie.  Myolie was great as a witty and intelligent lawyer.  Maggie is very professional as "Dr. Chung" and pulls off the role of a pathologist very well.

Best Supporting Actor
Damien Lau - The Rippling Blossom
Derek Kwok - Wax and Wane
Patrick Tang - 7 Days in Life
Raymond Wong - The Other Truth

In a smaller role than he usually plays, Damien is surprisingly hilarious in the first comedic role I've ever seen of his!  He portrays the grumpiness and roughness of his character so well and had so much chemistry with Myolie and Chilam.  Derek Kwok consistently delivers as a solid supporting actor, and "Wax and Wane" is no exception.  Patrick isn't the best actor and "7 Days in Life" has sadly been long forgotten, but is my honorable mention.  He proved that he has great comedic timing.  I never expected him to be so genuinely cute and funny or have so much chemistry with Mimi Lo.  Raymond Wong did well in "The Other Truth" has the cool, rich boy and shared many cute scenes with Tavia (and this is a Ruco-Tavia fan speaking).

Best Supporting Actress
Kate Tsui - Lives of Omission
Mimi Lo - 7 Days in Love
Nancy Wu - Forensic Heroes III
Sharon Chan - Ghetto Justice

Despite not watching "Lives of Omission", I think Kate has improved so much as an actress.  Mimi Lo is hilarious and adorable in "7 Days" with Patrick!  They had so much chemistry and were very underrated.  "Eva" is unlike any other character Nancy has played and quite intriguing.  Sharon is the hot choice to win this year, and I support her.  Her performance may not have been spectacular, but she was likable and has been so hardworking in her career I'm willing to turn a blind eye to that.  Perhaps it's time for Sharon to finally shine!

My Favorite Male Character
Ruco Chan - The Other Truth, "Keith"
Roger Kwok - Wax and Wane, "Yee Chun"
Kevin Cheng - Ghetto Justice, "Law Ba"

Keith is righteous and professional, yet tries to push his limits and do whatever he can to establish justice.  Charming and sweet, yet rebellious.  A great example of a grey character!  Yee Chun was the classic tough-exterior, soft-exterior character, an archetype I never seem to get tired of.  He came off as serious and slightly cold but inside, had the deepest care and love for his family.  Law Ba is the hot favorite, and was indeed an entertaining and unique character.  However, Keith is still my favorite character of the year, with Yee Chun as a close second.

My Favorite Female Character
Myolie Wu - Ghetto Justice, "Kris"
Kate Tsui - Wax and Wane, "Peace"

I usually have countless female characters that I love, so the number this year is disappointing.  Kris is so professional and witty it's endearing.  Although Kate could've done a better job at her portrayal of Peace, the character was incredibly sweet and cute.  I loved how she was the only one that could get Yee Chun to open up!  The little notes she wrote for him were adorable.  With every note she wrote for him, he came closer to falling in love with her. :)

Most Improved Actor
Ruco Chan
Edwin Siu

I really don't think I need to keep restating my love, admiration, and respect for Ruco.  This award has his name written on it even though he's overqualified for the award considering how much experience he has.  When asked about winning any awards, he replied “Many people feel that I have a good chance in winning the Most Improved Actor Award. However, if the award title were changed to ‘Oldest Qualified Newcomer Award,’ then I have confidence to win!”  So cute, yet so true.  Edwin Siu seems to be getting promoting more lately, which he deserves.  He is cute and has a lively acting style different from other young actors, and I think he can groomed to become a leading actor over time.

Most Improved Actress
Mandy Wong

My one and only choice.  Mandy is rather plain looking, but puts so much effort into her performances, making her extremely likable.  Out of the new young actresses, I strongly believe she has the most potential.  TVB, give her bigger roles!

TVB Weibo Popularity 
Ruco Chan

Following his breakthrough and success from "The Other Truth", Ruco has finally received the recognition and fans he deserves.  He has been the #1 artiste on tvb.com for a while and has gained many more followers on Weibo since portraying Keith.

Lifetime Achievement
Liza Wang

At 64 years old, Liza still possesses the youthfulness and spirit of someone much younger.  She exceeds at everything she does and has been loyal to TVB for countless years.

Best Drama
Ghetto Justice

With the most original, creative, and solidly written script and characters for a TVB series in years, "Ghetto Justice" deserves to win hands down.  "7 Days in Life" is a honorable mention for its original and comedic storyline, but its lead characters were not executed well.  "The Other Truth" was a highlight only for Ruco/Keith, while the series itself was mediocre.  "Forensic Heroes III" is addictive and entertaining, but not outstanding.

6 comments:

  1. yes, it's time of the year again! exciting! but then, i don't really respect tvb's awards that much cos the company has made it so commercialized. as in, awards only go to people who can generate the best interest for the company. as such, actors/actresses who have acted well in a show with low viewership will never win any award. but of course, from a business point of view, this is a tvb award, so naturally they aren't neutral, so there will always be a bias on what the company can gain from giving out the awards.

    The below are MY picks, which I think are people who wouldn't win because as a viewer, I don't care how much commercial value these people will be for tvb. and of course, just my personal opinion as 1 of the millions of tvb viewers worldwide. :)

    BEST ACTOR
    My picks are Ruco Chan (TOT), Kevin Cheng (GJ), Steven Ma (LATOAS). My reasons for Ruco are the same as yours. For Kevin, I thought this is really his breakthrough role in a long long time. And from how he was stiff and wooden in his expressions when he first started till now, esp in GJ, i think he has finally relaxed much more to put his emotions through. Finally, Steven. He is a black horse that I've been rooting for years. I love how he's so good in portraying serious characters in ancient series all these years, but have never been recognized. after his good performance last year with that ghost story with Linda & Fala (what's the title?), he has put in another great one in LATOAS).

    BEST ACTRESS
    Kristal Tin (BHFD), Maggie Cheung (FH3), Linda Chung (YSSS). Like you mentioned, it's so hard to think of good leading actresses this year! I've already tweeted why i thought Maggie is fantastic in FH3. Kristal did a great job in BHFD, as always, but lacking recognition, probably will never come since she's passed her prime (age) for TVB to 'reap' from her. Finally Linda, I thought, was finally given a slightly different role from her usual which she did a great job (although i don't like the character itself, but it's not her fault). she acted cool and detached, but yet when her emotions were supposed to explode, it REALLY exploded well. I didn't pick Myolie (though I agree she did well in GJ too) because her portrayal here reminds of me of her portrayal in survival's law.

    BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
    Patrick Tang (7 Days). Ok, this is harder than picking best actress. I can't think of any to commend! raymond did well in TOT, but no breakthroughs from last yr which he has already been commended with an award (best newcomer or something?). you know, it's a lot of "as usuals" around in supporting actors, nobody that impresses in particular. ;P

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  2. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
    Sharon Chan (GJ), Nancy Wu (FH3), Elena Kong (ROW). No need to explain my choice of Sharon and Nancy. For Elena, her emotional scenes were fabulous in the super duper boring ROW (which I saw bits and pieces here when someone else was watching ROW at home). whenever she came up in ROW, it captivates me to stop to watch her until her scenes are over.
    I want to mention Kate here since you pick her. This year, I must say I like Kate better too. Or maybe I got used to her? I don't know. She has this natural fierce, bad girl look in her eyes. So i'm never impressed with her whenever she took on bad girl or cool cop girl roles. but over time, it grows on me. i don't know if you notice, how Tavia Yeung had to STARE so hard to look evil, but with Kate, she always has this fierce/mean/bad girl stare naturally, in almost every role she takes. however, I like that she's one of the few tvb leading actresses who is really fit and shows real strength on screen when she don't action moves. oh, her kicks were powerful! i like that. so with her this sorta natural cool bad girl aura, i feel she can't do goody goody roles. or rather, she hasn't mastered doing goody goody roles, in my opinion. in W&W, to me, she looked tired. i thought maybe because she was trying so hard to throw her natural bad girl stare away, tone down her strong fierce spirit so much, that it felt that her entire person lost energy. while she acted the good character of Peace to bring the story along, yet it feels like man ka fu is lacking in spirit. i do i put it? as in i felt she did the physical of man ka fu, but unable to portray the spirit of Peace. This is my one major difference in opinion with you in your entire post. :)

    MY FAV MALE CHAR
    Julian Cheung (RB)
    Since this is fav male character, i choose Julian in RB for being a handsome and fun-loving character. haha.

    MY FAV FEMALE CHAR
    it has to be Maggie Cheung or Kate Tsui in FH3. Both great professional smart and cool female characters in modern life!

    BEST DRAMA
    GJ, TOT, LATOAS and FH3. These are serials that I enjoy this year. Considering that I've only watched up till ep 16 for FH3, at this point, my choice for THE best drama is FH3. i may change my mind if i finished it, since i always find tvb serials started really really well, only to wane towards the end. some waned more, some less. for me, GJ was one of those that waned, but still good enough to be one of my choices for best. I like FH3 cos the cases were good, but most important it's the 2 female characters who captivated me and last but not least, it brought back memories of the good old days of Flora Chan in business suits in TVB.

    Whew! Now that comment is a post on its own! Haha... Looking forward to your comment! :)

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  3. queen_owl - Whoa, it's been so long since I've replied to a comment on TVB Interaction! Haha, you wrote so much you had to split it into two comments! Wikipedia referred to the Anniversary Awards as the equivalent to an Emmy, which I scoff at. An Emmy is the ultimate, most prestigious award for TV actors while TVB awards nowadays are bribes. However, that's because Emmy's are awarded by a TV committee and it's based only on the person's acting while TVB awards it themselves. That explains why it's so commercialized/biased. If it weren't up to TVB to decide who gets what, it'd be much more fair. There's still something so entertaining following all the corrupted politics of TVB tho, lol.

    The nominations list is out, check it out on hyn5's blog!

    Yay for another Ruco supporter. :) I agree, this is probably the first role Kevin was so genuinely more relaxed and laid back. These characters fit him much better. His performance as the angry guy in A Fistful of Stances was just a mess. Steven..sigh. Did you find out he's leaving TVB? After being so loyal and diligently slaving away for TVB for so long, he's finally had enough. They wanted to give him Best Actor and he was at one point the hot choice, but he has since declined saying he doesn't want it. He's maintaining a good attitude, saying that at this point, he just wants to be let out of his contract and move on with his career. Nevertheless, I agree he does well portraying the good guy roles and consistently delivers solid performances. Personality wise and acting wise, Steven is one of my favorite actors in TVB and I will miss him dearly. Btw, that "ghost story" series "Ghost Writer", you name-forgetter. ;)

    I like Kristal, so it's a shame she's never recognized. (I also find it cute how she's married to Chapman To aka "Leven" in "OL Supreme"!) I couldn't even get past the first few episodes of YSSS, so I never even saw Linda appear. However, I've heard more praise for her character than the acting itself, so your opinion comes as a surprise. I don't support her as Best Actress tho, as her acting is still not up to par for me. Compared to the other fa dans like Myolie, Fala, or Kate, Linda still doesn't rank up there for me. If Kate has trouble getting into good roles with her evil eyes, Linda has trouble getting into bad roles with her naturally sweet and innocent aura.

    When you say Patrick Tang, do you mean he's one of your choices too? Didn't quite get what you were trying to say. I'm genuinely surprised yet pleased he was nominated, but disappointed his partner in crime wasn't. I guess Mimi's used to being neglected despite having such great comedic timing. :/ I'm tired of people criticizing his acting even tho he's far from the worst actor. His less than attractive looks seems to make people prefer the pretty boy with less acting talent. Yet, Damien wasn't nominated. Funny, when I was predicting who I wanted to be nominated and who would actually be nominated, I guessed Patrick wouldn't be while Damien wouldn't. Major snub right there! I agree that Raymond Wong's performance in TOT was nothing new. I don't have anyone to support for this award who actually has a chance of winning. :( Extremely surprised by names like Lee Sing Cheung and Lee Kwok Lun, considering the former's minor character and the latter's short guest appearance.

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  4. Elena is nominated for Best Actress in ROW despite being supporting, and nominated for Best Supporting in LOO. Odd. You bring up interesting points about Kate. I agree that Kate does seem to put a great deal of effort into shedding her "evil" look. That evil look of hers gives her a great advantage in portraying bad characters too. Unlike in Wax & Wane, Kate successfully sheds the evil glare in FH3 while still retaining her energy, fierceness, and coolness while still coming off as sweet and cute. It's not an outstanding performance itself, but I still consider this year a breakthrough in her acting. I agree with what you said, her performance was acceptable enough to move the story along (and she still had chemistry with Roger!), but she was lacking in spirit. However, she seems to work very well in creating chemistry with all her co-stars! I like Fala, but am starting to like her a bit less because she seems too detached in romantic/emotional scenes and always opts for camera tricks for her kiss scenes. She can do cute, flirting scenes like in "The Stew of Life" with Timmy Hung, but can't do more heavy romantic scenes. This will pull her down as a professional and serious actress. On the other hand, Kate is much more openminded.

    Chilam is cute, I like him. Since someone has to take Francis' place in Triumph in the Skies II, I don't mind it being him. Did you watch the first TITS? I was looking forward to him pairing up with Myo again, but realized he's pairing up with Fala while Myolie's paired up with Raymond Lam.

    Love Maggie and Kate in FH3! But usually, I like this award going to the heavier, more developed characters (which are nonexistent this year). Kate is nominated for LOO tho. But I do agree, both great professional, smart, and cool female characters in modern times. ;) I also enjoy watching their friendship. They come off very naturally as friends despite the age difference. Again, Kate gets along great with co-stars!

    Plot wise, I don't find FH3 too outstanding and Ron needs more substance in his character. But it's still incredibly enjoyable! I have a feeling it'll be neglected at the awards tho. I actually thought GJ started off a bit slow, picked up, and became very addictive. The last few eps weren't draggy, they were just more intense/dramatic compared to the more relaxed and comedic feel before. However, I do understand why you enjoy FH3 so much.

    Now THAT was a few dozen mouthfuls. Probably to make up for how little we've talked recently! :)

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  5. yes i miss those times where we could share our views on tvb series. i guess that stopped for a while cos tvb was disappointing for a while and that sorta killed our enthusiasm to discuss it. haha... hopefully they hv more good shows to excite us.

    i haven't really followed steven's news, but i can understand why tvb didn't value him. cos he has very commercials / sponsors, which means the company can't earn much from him, unlike, say, Charmaine Sheh. with her in so much demand for commercials etc, she was the cash cow for tvb.

    agree with you on Linda Chung, and how you compare her to Kate about shedding that evil eye. haha, good one! in terms of acting, she's definitely not there yet with the other fa dans. no doubt there. however, i put her as one of my choices because i saw her role in YSSS as a breakthrough for her. so maybe she should be most improved? haha... seriously, i HATE her character in YSSS, cos she was so stupid in there. haha...

    yes yes patrick was the only one i picked if i am forced to think of one person for best supporting actor. i don't even know who those 2 people u mentioned who were nominated with minor roles. not even motivated enough to google them, cos it's definitely people i don't agree should be nominated. haha.

    for W&W, i couldn't finish the series and i guess i stopped too soon to see too much of her chemistry with roger. i didn't really watch LOO so wouldn't know about her and bosco too. but in FH3, yes! she has great chemistry with Maggie, as well as Ron!

    For Fala, I think with Kate around for comparison, she really needs to toughen up if she wants to play cop roles. otherwise, she should just stick to the more feminine ones. Besides emotional detachment, do you find Fala also weak in narrating her dialogues? her diction tends to weaken at the end of sentences. just my observation. but i don't mind her as long as she doesn't do the role of toughies.

    Talking of FH3, the couple which i find lacking in chemistry is Aimee Chan and her male colleague, whatever his name. so awkward to see them together. the bickering between them, instead of making them look cute and compatible, makes me feel they really aren't for each other. ;P

    What Raymond Lam's in Triumph II too? Wah! So many cute guys in there! But of course, between Raymond Lam and Chilam, Chilam will be my MUCH preferred choice. ;P yes of course i watched Triumph I. that was the Flora Chan era! it was only towards the end where Flora started 'diversifying' too much by taking up too many (what I considered) 'bad roles' that I dislike her. i mean, she was neither young nor typically actress-standard kind of pretty even then. what made her famous was her being able to portray a professional modern career woman so naturally and perfectly. so when she 'diversified', she was still acceptable in the beginning with very good scripts (like Triumph), but otherwise, and over time, it was hmmm...
    Anyway, this is off-topic. haha.

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  6. Hm, didn't realize that about Steven. That's a shame. Either way, he was still very loyal and I'm surprised I didn't see the day where he got fed up coming.

    Lol, how was Linda stupid in YSSS? I believe she's more pegged to win My Favorite Female Character. She already won Most Improved back in 2006, which was premature. If I were to pick between Linda and Kate, I think Kate has what it takes to be the next fa dan more.

    Damien played a major supporting role in TRB, he was Myolie's father. :P There were some hilarious scenes between them and Chilam.

    Now that you mention it, Fala is a bit weak in delivering her dialogue, but it's more noticable in LOO. She just seemed way too detached even tho I don't think her character was supposed to be.

    Aimee's co-star is Edwin Siu, who I find to be cute with a lot of potential. However, together, they're not that compatible. I agree it feels like the same old, same old again. But at this point in FH3 (I'm caught up on all episodes), I see them as friends as they get along quite well now.

    Raymond is taking Sammul's place. :( Between the two, I'd prefer if Sammul was in Triumph II. Raymond is very boring nowadays and I miss watching Sammul in TVB series dearly. Even when he films a TVB series, it's always a bad or small character who doesn't do much.

    Interesting point you make about Flora Chan. I've only watched half of Triumph and Family Man with her, so I'm not crazy about the actress. While I won't argue against you that she can portray a professional, modern career woman, I don't find her a very versatile actress. Particularly her crying scenes. But since Flora is pretty Westernized and was originally a reporter, I can see her as a modern woman!

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