This year has without a doubt been a complete mess, and it's time for a sense of normalcy (if only for my own sanity) with TVB Interaction's yearly anniversary awards post.
Every year we joke TVB is nominating everyone, but TVB has truly outdone itself by nominating nearly every last person, including many in the wrong category. Complete newcomers are nominated in the Most Improved category, guest stars who barely registered a blip in their series are nominated in the supporting categories, and supporting actors are competing in the leading actor categories.
See the full list of nominations here.
Best Actor
Top 5: Moses Chan, Wayne Lai, Raymond Lam, Kenneth Ma, Vincent Wong
Predicted Winner: Raymond Lam
Personal Choice: N/A
Snub: Frankie Lam for "Life After Death"
Ouch to a petty TVB not even bothering to nominate Frankie, who recently wrapped up a stint as Vice President of ATV, despite a whooping 22 nominees in this category. Mark Ma, who I was cheering to win Best Supporting Actor, was instead nominated here. Admittedly, it can be difficult to categorize second lead roles, particularly for series with smaller casts, but Mark would have made for very strong competition in the supporting category. Moses and Wayne are the perpetual top 5 nominees, but I wouldn't be surprised if Shaun or Joel kicked out one of the TV Kings for their performances in "Brutally Young." It's hard to see anyone besides Raymond Lam winning to make up for all the years he narrowly lost, though I have heard rumbles of Lau Dan being a black horse. While it was enjoyable to see remnants of the Raymond of yesteryear who got be more lighthearted and charming, he was severely sidelined and underdeveloped, much like everybody in "Line Walker"'s painfully over bloated cast ensemble. He did what he could with the material given to him, but it will very much be a delayed win rather than one deserved for the particular series he is nominated for. And with a lack of competition, I don't particularly care either way.
Best Actress
Top 5: Selena Li, Katy Kung, Mandy Wong, Ali Lee, Sisley Choi
Predicted Winner: Mandy Wong
Personal Choice: Ali
Alrighty guys, if Katy wins for a clearly supporting role (and more importantly, not even a good one - for the last time, bulging your eyes is not acting!) in "Death by Zero," I will be livid. I feel like I say this every year, but this is definitely the weakest competition for Best Actress yet. Even with a lesser 18 nominees here, while no one in the Best Actor category is less than a second male lead, this category is littered with supporting actresses including Crystal Fung and Samantha Ko for "Al Cappuccino." The "Lo and Behold" actresses arguably should be in the supporting categories still, but I am more forgiving for a sitcom where the focus shifts much more between characters.
I've heard Mandy is the hot favorite to win after going home empty-handed despite an acclaimed performance in "Threesome" in 2018. I don't have particular issues with Mandy winning, but she was also clearly a supporting role in "Line Walker" and hardly had room to really display her acting chops. Mandy is someone who is clearly capable of giving a memorable, strong performance, but in recent years has been relegated to boring, uncomplicated roles (she played a straight-edged cop in both her series this year) and this in turn has also made her performances boring. Hopefully, a TV Queen win will finally give her meaty roles again.
Like with Best Actor, there is no one I am supporting to actually win, but if I had to choose, Ali probably gave the best performance of the bunch. While many current actresses seem to only excel in one type of role, after watching her as "Cash" in "Death by Zero," I am persuaded Ali is the most versatile and chameleon-like, having played villain, dramatic, and comedic roles well. She is uninhibited in her acting, which allowed Cash's silly and funny side to shine without making her cartoonish or exaggerated. Though not Best Actress level (then again, who is these days?), I was also impressed with Sisley, who noticeably improved from the first "Legal Mavericks 2" and did much better in her emotional scenes.
Favorite Male Character
Top 5: Joel Chan, Moses Chan, Vincent Wong, Raymond Lam, Michael Miu
Predicted Winner: Joel
Personal Choice: Joel
I am surprised how much I have come to genuinely enjoy Joel's acting in recent years and how much screen presence he now has, especially in "Brutally Young" as the charismatic gangster with a good heart. Vincent could possibly win again, but given Joel went unrecognized last year for "Barrack O'Karma," hopefully he will be able to go home with something this year. Moses' "Zero" is also Moses at his best, playing a suave, confident, and clever yet humorous assassin but just restrained enough he was not over the top and annoying (the same cannot be said for his performance in "Beauty and the Boss").
Favorite Female Character
Top 5: Selena, Sisley, Mandy, Ali, Katy
Predicted Winner: Katy
Personal Choice: Ali
I'm throwing stones a little here, as Selena, Sisley, and Ali have all won this award already. Mandy could win if someone else pulls an upset for Best Actress, but after that, Katy is probably next in line. She garnered buzz for "Death by Zero" (admittedly, not the good kind), and she is nominated for "Hong Kong Love Stories," which has been receiving praise despite its bad time slot.
Best Supporting Actor
Top 5: Brian Tse, Tsui Wing, Benz Hui, Bowie Wu, Kent Tong
Predicted Winner: Brian
Personal Choice: N/A
Snub: Anthony Ho for "Brutally Young"
While he certainly effectively creeped me out in "Death by Zero," I'm still not convinced Brian Tse is a strong actor. With the moderate buzz he received for the series, and the excessive amount he was hounded by the press this year because of the Ashley Chu and Jackson Lai scandal, TVB may be looking to give him some encouragement.
Although not a nominee in this category, I would have supported Mark. I always get nervous when TVB dramas portray characters with any kind of disorder, but Mark clearly took great care in portraying a doctor with autism spectrum disorder, nailing subtle mannerisms while making the character lovable and realistic. It was particularly impressive after watching him as the guy next door in "Lo and Behold," and I look forward to seeing him in more roles. I was not a fan of Tsui Wing's character in "Al Cappuccino" at all, but he is always a solid supporting actor so I'd love to see him win one year.
Anthony got to play a very substantial and meaty role in "Brutally Young" compared to his usual characters and was sympathetic and likable, so it's surprising he did not even get a nomination.
Best Supporting Actress
Top 5: Moon Lau, Yoyo Chen, Angel Chiang, Winki Lai, Suet Nei
Predicted Winner: Winki
Personal Choice: Winki
Snub: Vivien Yeo for "Brutally Young"
There's actually some competition in this category! It's a difficult toss-up for my personal choice between Moon and Winki, but Winki edges out for me. Moon's sweet and affable "Bei Bei" character admittedly has a special place in my heart and her passing over storyline in "The Exorcist's Second Meter" was touching thanks in large part to Moon's performance. Similar to Yoyo, Winki showed in "Al Cappuccino" she is capable of playing far more than the "leng mui" characters she started off in. She played the tough-as-nails big sister character well while conveying the character's more tender side who just wanted to a regular OL. And of course, she had wonderful chemistry with Owen. Winki is probably my favorite of the more up and coming actresses and I'd be more than happy for her to win.
Yoyo is a black horse, having received good buzz for "Life After Death," and based on merit of performance alone I wouldn't go with Yoyo as she had a rather small supporting role where she mostly got to play the loyal, flirty, and fun friend. However, she has gone from mostly only believably playing cute, young girl characters to naturally playing a charming and sexy mature young woman here. With her focus on being a mother, TVB has put her on the sidelines for years, and if she does win, I hope it will propel her to be promoted and receive major roles, much like this award has done for previous winners.
Although she received a Favorite Female Character nomination despite departing TVB this year, Vivien was snubbed for her performance in "Brutally Young" in this category. This is the most emotive Vivien has been, having needed to communicate without speaking, and it is sad her best performance came just as she decided to move on from TVB.
Most Improved Actor
Predicted Winner: Mark Ma
Personal Choice: Mark Ma
In a more ideal situation (for me at least), Mark could win Best Supporting Actor and Brian Tse could win Most Improved, as this is more reflective of their acting progress and experience. Hopefully, Mark has this in the bag. Of all the categories, this is probably the only one I'd genuinely be a bit upset about if my personal choice didn't win, especially if it went to one of the much more green actors I can barely remember the name of.
Most Improved Actress
Predicted Winner: Moon Lau
Personal Choice: Gloria Tang
If we're talking about actual improvement, Gloria has easily improved the most, having been unwatchable during her debut but becoming much more natural and likable in recent series such as "The Exorcist's 2nd Meter." Moon is a relatively heavily promoted actress that has yet to win this award, but Angel Chiang may very well pull a win for "Al Cappuccino," though I still don't find her very believable as the sexy, flirty triad boss.
Best Partnership
Predicted Winner: Vincent Wong, Owen Cheung, and Brian Chu in "Al Cappuccino"
Personal Choice: Vincent Wong, Owen Cheung, and Brian Chu in "Al Cappuccino"
While Vincent's romantic storylines with all four females in "Al Cappuccino" were haphazard and undeveloped (and overall just plain confusing), Vincent and Owen once again pulled off a great bromance and Brian was a welcome added dynamic. Vincent and Owen are probably my favorite male partnership overall, as they are unafraid to get physical with each other while also being great banter partners. I'm also a big fan of Kenneth and Hubert's partnership, but much more so in the original than in this year's sequel given their characters were often more at odds with each other.
Best Theme Song
Predicted Winner: Raymond Lam and HANA's subtheme for "Line Walker"
Personal Choice: Man, I don't care.
Best Drama
Predicted Winner: Line Walker 3: Bull Fight
Personal Choice: Death By Zero
"Line Walker 3" is the big anniversary production with the big cast and overall just part of a major franchise (that I wish would end). While it started off promising, the series already had obvious difficulties integrating characters from the original and the prequel, particularly Benjamin and Priscilla's characters. With the addition of numerous new characters, there was always too much going on and no individual character could be fully developed, leading to a mostly convoluted and disjointed storyline. I was looking forward to watching Kenneth as a villain, but he mostly bulged his eyes.
The dark comedy vibe where a heavy and rather violent subject matter is balanced with witty humor is common in American media such as superhero shows, but not at all with TVB, so I was very hesitant about "Death by Zero." While the tone takes getting used to because of its novelty for a TVB series, it is executed well. This tone and style is of course not everyone's cup of tea, especially much of TVB's target audience, but is very much up my alley so I was pleased with the freshness. While I wish some characters such as Samantha's were better utilized and some minimized, Moses and Ali in particular shined, along with supporting players like Timothy Cheng. Sure, it gets a bit absurd at times and some of our assassins seemingly just kill in plain sight, but it's a hell of a fun and fresh ride and more than deserving of "Best Drama."
