TVB Anniversary Awards 2017: Results + Comments

Global Netizen’s Favorite Drama: “The Exorcist’s Meter”

Not a surprise and well-deserved. I’m so glad TVB didn’t give this to “Line Walker 2” and always love a good underdog story. This series had a low budget and the farest thing from a star-studded cast, but heart and creativity. There probably isn’t any other series in the last few years that dealt with the subject of human loss and love so well, much less while tying together supernatural elements.

Most Improved Actor: Mat Yeung

I said “Matthew” out loud just as the winner was announced and was completely blindsided in the best way possible when Mat’s name was announced instead. I pegged Mat as having no chance, especially as the two drama series he is nominated for did not receive much attention. Yes he’s overqualified for the award, and perhaps Owen deserved it most solely in terms of actual improvements in acting, but I am so happy that he has finally received recognition. Next stop, best supporting actor with the big boys?

Most Improved Actress: Mayanne Mak

I was totally surprised by this, and don’t watch variety shows so I cannot give an opinion as to whether or not Mayanne deserves it. From all the applause and cheers she received, it seems like she did, and in that respect I’m happy for her. However, I still think TVB needs to separate out the most improved acting and hosting categories. I’m mostly just glad Jacqueline Wong didn’t win (sorry Kenneth).

Most Popular Drama Theme Song: Hubert Wu’s theme song for “The Exorcist’s Meter”

Woo so happy Hana didn’t win for her sub theme for “Line Walker 2”! This is definitely my favorite theme song of the year. No complaints. So glad Hubert, who is a far superior singer, finally nabbed this award out of the hands of Jinny, Hana, and Co. Also loved the "Hearts of Fencing" reunion. When I first heard the theme song by 2R start playing, I was wondering why it sounded so familiar before I was flooded with memories of the series.

Most Favorite Onscreen Partnership: Edwin Siu, Raymond Cho, and Matthew Ho for “A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch”

I didn’t actually put this down as my prediction, but did expect this would be a very likely scenario. Edwin, Raymond, and Matthew were such a fun ensemble with chemistry while each having comedic talent in their own right. Edwin looked completely surprised and unprepared when giving the acceptance speech though, which was quite funny.

Best Supporting Actor: Joel Chan for “The Unholy Alliance”

Top 5: Joel Chan, Jimmy Au, Andrew Yuen, Owen Cheung, Anthony Ho

This category was obviously one “The Unholy Alliance” co-star versus another. In the end, I’m not surprised Joel won, and that is more fitting anyway because as solid of an actor as Jimmy is, his bodyguard role in the series probably could not even have been considered a supporting role. Joel was one of the more emotional people of the night, which makes sense given he was given a second opportunity at TVB and has experienced so much more success this time around after putting in a lot of hard work. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Joel. It was sweet seeing Elaine present the award to Joel and tearing up behind him as he gave his speech, before regaining composure and watching him in admiration.

Best Supporting Actress: Rebecca Zhu for “A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch”

Top 5: Rebecca Zhu, Tracy Chu, Mandy Lam, Elaine Yiu, Sharon Chan

I don’t think I’ve ever been so genuinely offended and confused by an anniversary awards winner in my life? While I did not agree with Katy and Elaine’s wins in the last two years for this award, at least they were for meaty roles. Meanwhile, Rebecca had the least to do of all the females in “A General.” She stood around and flirted with Matthew sometimes. What’s even more offensive is that her co-star Grace Wong did not even place into a top 5 despite giving a far superior, more entertaining performance. However, I was pleasantly surprised Mandy Lam placed for “Lo and Behold.” I haven’t been watching it, but been hearing good things about her and always like it when actors from sitcoms can get short-listed. Either Tracy, Mandy, or Elaine winning would have been better than Rebecca. And this is saying a lot, considering Tracy only had a guest starring role and Elaine gave a typical performance and already previously won. I can’t believe Sharon was short-listed for her cringeworthy, adulterer role in “Heart and Greed 3” either. This has been one of the weakest categories in the last few years, but Rebecca’s win is probably one of the most uncalled for and unfair since Fala first won in 2007 very shortly after debuting.

Favorite Male Character: Kenneth Ma for “The Exorcist’s Meter”

Top 5: Kenneth Ma, Vincent Wong, Moses Chan, Edwin Siu, Benjamin Yuen

Most of us definitely called this. “Ma Kwai” is definitely one of the most easily likable characters of the year. All the top five nominees’ characters were likable though, which is a nice change from some categories sometimes not even having one solid nominee recently.

Favorite Female Character: Sisley Choi for “Legal Mavericks”

Top 5: Sisley Choi, Natalie Tong, Nancy Wu, Mandy Wong, Ali Lee

Slightly surprising, but not that much considering it’s TVB. Sisley should have been nominated for and won Most Improved Actress instead. If we are looking solely at character, I really did like her “Din Jie” character, which was a refreshing female character who was bad ass, did not care she was unattractive, and was unapologetically herself. I would still easily choose Ali’s “Paris” over Sisley, and am disappointed Ali went home empty-handed despite giving such a solid performance in “My Ages Apart.” Unfortunately, what I dreaded would happen to Ali happened to Sisley instead. She isn’t necessarily undeserving and has genuinely improved, but she won such a major award sooner than others usually do, which has already given her criticism. TVB is hurting Sisley more than helping her by pulling this move, while the audience may have actually been happy for her had she won Most Improved.

I might be in the minority here, but I liked Sisley’s speech about how the criticism she has received for her acting made her question her self-worth, while getting to play this role helped her to finally get some it back. You can tell that the attacks and negative words have really gotten to her, but instead of questioning why people are criticizing her (ahem, Grace Chan), or letting it get the best of her her, but you can also tell she has taken it to heart and tried her best to improve. But yes, it was bizarre that she didn’t actually thank people in her speech. On another note, every main cast member except Mandy deserved praise for “The Exorcist’s Meter,” but here we are. Moon Lau should have taken her place.

Best Actor: Vincent Wong for “Legal Mavericks”

Top 5: Vincent Wong, Kenneth Ma, Ruco Chan, Michael Miu, Moses Chan

Expected, but still satisfying. Vincent obviously knew he was going to win barring an upset by Kenneth, so he was calm and collected and had a well-rehearsed speech. Vincent is a perfect example of someone who may not have as much experience under his belt as other winners (12 years, and just a mere three series as a leading actor), but won based on merit instead of timing, and the luck of receiving a great role he could nail. I would love to see more actors in the future winning based on the merit of performance alone, rather than it just being “the right time” or the luck of being cast in a series with high buzz. I definitely felt Vincent had the potential to win TV King when “Legal Mavericks” and his role was first announced - called it!

Best Actress: Natalie Tong for “My Unfair Lady”

Top 5: Natalie Tong, Jessica Hsuan, Nancy Wu, Nina Paw, Ali Lee

My jaw dropped when Natalie’s name was called. I wasn’t angry like for Rebecca, but I was just shocked. I did not read the reports that Natalie’s fans had been campaigning for her or that she was rumored to sign a new contract in exchange for the award, so I was completely confused. I have liked Natalie for a long time and think she is a good actress, but not Best Actress caliber (she was also in the awkward position of being a second lead in “My Unfair Lady,” neither a leading or supporting actress).

Best Drama: “My Ages Apart”

I’m surprised that TVB didn’t give this award to “Line Walker: The Prelude” and allowed it to go home empty-handed. But if this award was going to go to any other series, I’m not surprised they decided to give it to the anniversary drama that didn’t make a splash, but at least didn’t completely tank (ahem, Heart and Greed). I am very happy this series won though, because it was a refreshing series with a great sense of humor. I am a fan of meta and satirical humor, as well as series that are not afraid to poke fun at themselves. As crazy as the main family and some plot lines could get, you could tell the writers were well-aware of its own absurdity and never took themselves too seriously. It’s something I really wish more TVB comedies could incorporate. And while it understandably dragged sometimes at a whooping length of 50 episodes, with its large ensemble, I did not feel like it dragged significantly more than series that ran just a mere 20 or 30 episodes can sometimes. I wish more people would have tuned in.

"Presumed Accidents" Review

*Warning: This review includes major spoilers about the series' plot twists and ending.

There are two lens for which I could evaluate "Presumed Accidents" under: my usual objective one, and the one that has only thoroughly enjoyed (and finished!) two series this year ("Fashion War" and surprisingly, "My Dangerous Mafia Retirement Plan" for those curious).

In the context of the terrible series TVB has been churning out this year, "Presumed Accidents" is one of the better series of the year. It has a solid leading man in Lawrence Ng, a good supporting cast full of veterans and newer faces, and mixes elements of drama, action, and suspense. However, if I look at it objectively, this so-called "crime thriller" still fell flat for me.

"Presumed Accidents" suffers the most from its incoherence, initially taking the form of a procedural drama for three quarters of the series and zoning in on various cases of insurance fraud. While these cases were usually over the top and unrealistic, some of them were still entertaining to watch.

However, maybe because I've grown tired of the procedural format these days, but my interest in these cases started to drop towards the middle of the series. I was starting to feel like these characters and the story had stalled.

Then in one episode, the writers decided to throw us a huge plot twist (more like half a dozen of them) and reveal a boatload of shocking and mind boggling information at once. The series then returns to its procedural format as Sisley Choi's character tries to grapple with this new bizarre information, before abandoning the cases for a serialized story line with suspense to finish off the last third of the series.

The series' biggest problem lies in its supernatural aspect - yes, you read that right. The plot twist of Lawrence's character being an undead person, although foreshadowed in the series' opening scene, was completely unexpected since it wasn't advertised as a supernatural drama. It seems throwing in a supernatural character is TVB's idea of "creativity" these days.

As shocked as I was by the supernatural twist in Lawrence's character, I was more disappointed in its execution, which is what ended up causing me to dislike it. Although the way in which Lawrence becomes immortal is pretty crazy (apparently all it takes is a pill now, everyone!), even less explanation and exploration is put towards developing this important characteristic of his. It felt so shoehorned in that this whole story line probably could have been cut from the series to make it a typical procedural drama with little consequence other than trimming down its episode count. We do not know if there are more people like Lawrence or what he intends on doing with his life when his children inevitably die. His true identity is exposed at the end of the series, and all that comes out of it is that Lawrence up and leaves.

What left me feeling most uncomfortable though is the revelation that Lawrence is Sisley's biological father. Although I started to suspect it shortly before it was revealed, I kept denying it to myself since I thought there was no way TVB would ever go in such a direction. Boy, was I wrong. This plot twist would have been less cringe worthy if the writers hadn't spent so many episodes setting up Lawrence as being obviously romantically interested in Sisley. Perhaps we were supposed to believe that this is what the circumstances appeared to be from Sisley's eyes, which I will choose to believe to make it less disturbing, but it was nevertheless very creepy thinking back to the two's early interactions after finding out their true relationship.

Cast and Characters

With these criticisms out in the open, it is still worth noting that the cast performs adequately, or well.

Lawrence possesses a very calm and gentlemanly demeanor as George, and is enjoyable to watch despite all of the flaws of his character.

Sisley does not show any regressions in her acting here, but I wouldn't say she improved
much either. The actress seems to be well-aware of the criticisms of her high-pitched voice and as a result, like in "Fashion War," she tries very hard to speak her lines in a deeper register. While she is clearly working on her voice control, this understandably usually hinders her ability to act more naturally, and her emotional scenes are still raw.

Although Lawrence is a whooping 27 years older than Sisley, the maturity of Sisley's character allowed the scenes between the two in the early part of the series to be natural and not cringe worthy. This is a big pleasant surprise, as this pairing was what I dreaded most going into this series, but of course the writers had to ruin it later on.

Surprisingly, Sisley struggled more in sparking chemistry with Lai Lok Yi, who looks much more physically compatible with her. While Lok Yi has little problems in being natural while showing physical affection towards Sisley, she looks stiff and uncomfortable in these scenes. This reminds me of Fala, who in her time at TVB was able to create a fun and enjoyable chemistry with many of her male costars, but unable to be natural in more romantic or physical scenes.

I was probably looking most forward to this series to finally see Lok Yi in another role after three years as "John Ma." Unfortunately, his character is mostly a snooze fest through out most of the series, only serving as the man Sisley's Eunice goes to after realizing the man she was interested in was her father. Oops. However, he turns it around in the last few episodes of the series as a chilling villain when his true character becomes apparent to the others. While the script provides next to no transition from portraying Mantus as a seemingly calm and friendly character hiding a dark past to an aggressive and angry psychopath, Lok Yi does incredibly well with what he is given. He succeeded in scaring me with his performance in the last stretch of the series, acting as a villain who was quiet but seemed ready to burst at any minute, and is the first villain in a while to actually spark some fear in me. I saw no signs of the playful, clever, but kindhearted "John Ma" in this performance, and that's what Lok Yi so badly needed as he transitions back into dramas. Here's to hoping his next character is even better.

The biggest acting disappointment does not lie in Sisley, but Selena Li, though this is not her fault. In promoting the series, TVB seemed to want to push Selena as an intriguing guest star who plays three different and complex roles. However, we all knew "guest star" was really just a fancy word for demotion. Selena plays three undeveloped and uninteresting characters under the constraints of very little screen time, which all share the characteristic of having pretty darn bad luck. Faye, the main character that Selena plays, is weak and quite ambiguous with her actions. This is one of the weakest performances from her in a while, and it is all because of the mess of a script she was given for her characters.

Joyce Tang and Raymond Cho provide comic relief and deliver as always, but were disposable to the overall story line, though Raymond becomes more significant to the main plot towards the end. There was no use in spending so much time on Joyce's messy divorce, but I did enjoy the scenes she and Raymond shared together.

Rounding out the supporting cast were relatively fresh faces Winki Lai and Snow Suen.

Although Winki is way too young to realistically be heading a police department, I was surprised by
how much more mature she looked here and how naturally she stepped into the role despite the usual student characters she plays. She's quickly becoming one of my favorite new actresses and while I had reservations of her playing more major characters outside of the student, I have more confidence in her now and looking forward to seeing her more.

Snow was very likable as the upbeat, positive, and happy I.I. Although the character annoyed me at times with how often she'd suddenly show up at Eunice's house while Eunice wasn't home, Snow's positive energy and smiles were infectious. It was sad to see her character go.

Overall

"Presumed Accidents" isn't without its merits or entertainment value. It has a good cast and mixes different elements including drama, comedy, action, and towards the end, suspense. It's enjoyable, but suffers from its disjointedness and inconsistencies in pacing. Is it one of the better series this year? Sure, but that isn't saying much. I wanted to like "Presumed Accidents" more, but by the halfway point, I felt over it. Luckily, the last third was able to hook me back in, and I would have liked the rest of the series to have had a similar serialized, thrilling format.


Rating: 3.5 stars

"Fashion War" Review

TVB finally offers up something different from their usual family and romance-heavy dramas, and this time it paid off. Although "Fashion War" may have initially looked unappealing to me due to the cast, it has surprisingly become the first series I breezed through this year and could say I thoroughly enjoyed. The writers waste no time diving right into the world of office politics in the intriguing but cutthroat fashion magazine industry. 

Not only is office politics the theme of the series, but it takes front and center, with next to zero romance, which was surprising in a cast full of attractive females. This allowed "Fashion War" to be very plot-driven and character dynamic-driven. While it could become a little overwhelming (seriously, between all this plotting against each other and trying to protect themselves, when do these people have time to actually do their jobs?), the office politics theme was entertaining and kept me on the edge of my seat. 

Although I'm glad it was not dragged out, it is another series that would have benefitted from a couple more episodes because with all the characters the series possessed, further development of them individually wouldn't have hurt. Instead, we focus more on how these characters interact with and work (or rather, compete) amongst each other.

My main concern going into this series was the cast. In particular, I haven't enjoyed Moses Chan in a series since probably 2002's "Family Man" and wasn't thrilled to see Sisley Choi leading. 

For Moses, as annoyed as I could get by the pretentious aura he gave off, especially in the early episodes, I have to admit he brings out the cool and aloof image of "Yip Long" well. However, it is in the later parts of the series where he shows some emotion, such as when he expresses proudness of Ah Yan, that I really started to warm up to him. After 20 episodes though, I still just barely tolerate that skunk hairstyle.

Sisley is adequate as "Cheung Yat Ling" (or more commonly referred to as "Ah Yan"). It's obvious she tried very hard to control her voice so that it would not get too high-pitched and grating for
viewers. The result is that she's likable enough, especially with her character's genuine passion for MODES in comparison to the ulterior motives everyone else has for doing what they do. Ultimately my biggest complaint is about the character Yan herself. Time and time again Yip Long and the writers remind us that Ah Yan is incredibly gifted and poised to become the next editor-in-chief and trendsetter of the fashion world. Yet, we are never shown that, other than for her messing around with the magazine spread on the wall before her first interview. We just keep getting told it. By the end, I still did not think that Ah Yan had the capability to take over for Yip Long. 

Ali Lee gives the strongest performance of all the females as "Kei Wan Wan" or "Vincy," though that is also in part because of her more fleshed out character. She is convincing as the smart and manipulative advertising manager without going too overboard. At the same time, she also brings out the vulnerabilities in her character. She gives off a very similar aura to Kate in regards to her more mean but strong girl look, but her acting is already much more natural than Kate's was at this point in her career. I have a lot of confidence in Ali and am looking forward to seeing her in her next leading roles. 

Him Law rounds out the cast by providing some comic relief in the beginning. As lazy as he was in the beginning, I found it hilarious whenever he was supposedly sleeping, but still heard everything else the others would say and would chime in with a blunt but true remark then promptly go back to sleep. I enjoyed his friendship with Ah Yan, and loved how she positively influenced him to work hard and tap into his potential. "Ah Fan" states that without modeling he is nothing, but I would've liked for him to realize he truly did like working at the fashion magazine and acknowledge he had talent. However, the writing for the character got sloppy towards the end when
he suddenly started showing so much concern for Vincy. 

The rest of the cast is unsurprisingly mediocre, although not too cringeworthy. The series is plot-driven enough that, coupled with its large cast, made it easy to overlook the acting. For example, Jacqueline Chong says almost all her lines in the same way with the same facial expression, even though she is sometimes content and other times angry. Yet, it can be overlooked since "Danielle" is probably the most indifferent of the supporting characters. Vivien Yeo is probably the most confusing supporting character because she perpetually looks pretty mad or annoyed, yet we never find out "Ada"'s true motive for staying with MODES. It's definitely not because she genuinely loves MODES, and I don't buy that she has feelings for Yip Long. If there was one person who made me want to rip my hair out though, it wasn't one of the girls, but Hanjin Tam for his obnoxious and almost cartoon-ish character. 

Mediocre acting from the supporting cast aside, "Fashion War" is worth checking out because it's very different from anything TVB has been doing lately, making it a breath of fresh air. It is a treat that for once, a series isn't being bogged down by draggy romantic storylines and instead focusing on the central plot and interpersonal working relationships. The pacing is fast and the plot is juicy. Overall, it's the most entertaining thing TVB has put out all year. 

Rating: 4 stars