Filmart 2018 - A Look at TVB's Upcoming Dramas
Welcome back to our blog!
Today, we are bringing you some of our thoughts for the upcoming TVB dramas that were featured in the 2018 Filmart! Usually, we like to do a review of TVB's calendar every year, but since the whole calendar was just a compilation of promotional posters for the upcoming dramas, we saw no point in doing a review, which would have just been full of complaints. In fact, you will find many pictures in this taken from TVB's 2018 calendar. Here are our opinions with the dramas are in no particular order:
Life on the Line (跳躍生命線):
Anticipation Level: 7/10
Today, we are bringing you some of our thoughts for the upcoming TVB dramas that were featured in the 2018 Filmart! Usually, we like to do a review of TVB's calendar every year, but since the whole calendar was just a compilation of promotional posters for the upcoming dramas, we saw no point in doing a review, which would have just been full of complaints. In fact, you will find many pictures in this taken from TVB's 2018 calendar. Here are our opinions with the dramas are in no particular order:
Life on the Line (跳躍生命線):
Anticipation Level: 7/10
Life on the Line seems like a promising filler drama, filled with suspense and perhaps emotion. Joe Ma's always been a decent lead, and we are anticipating Matthew Ho's performance as second male lead. Hopefully, he shows further improvement in this show. It seems like an entertaining drama, but for now, we doubt there will be any major breakthroughs.
The Offliners: (堅離地愛堅離地)
Anticipation Level: 5/10
Honestly not looking forward to this at all. Even the Chinese title of the show sounds like a joke. Not sure how Owen Cheung and Katy Kung are gonna do leading this show, but the whole cast honestly seems quite weak. The plot sounds really boring centering around technology and having big dreams or something like that.
The Ghetto-Fabulous Lady (危城First Lady):
Anticipation Level: 6/10
Judgin from the traailer, it seems like this show will just be one for big laughs. Doesn't seem too interesting, but we do want to see some of the older cast such as Adia Chan, Ben Wong, and Alice Chan.
Stealing Seconds (棟仁的時光)
Anticipation Level: 8.5/10
This is one of the dramas we are actually quite looking forward to. The story about a man who keeps himself alive by stealing other people's time sounds pretty interesting, and the trailer has a k-drama feel to it that has not been explored much . Benjamin Yuen and Natalie Tong has had great chemistry before in The Speed of Life, so were are excited to see them together again. Ben's been doing great for the Threesome lady, and we think he will do well as the main character of the drama. We hope that Natalie and Rebecca won't disappoint.
Our Unwinding Ethos (十二傳說):
Anticipation Level: 6.5/10
The trailer to this drama made it seem like TVB was edging towards more legit horror which is surprising, since back then with House of Spirits, the most that could be done with the ghosts was to make a comedy. But since The Exorcist's Meter was a huge hit, it makes sense that TVB is looking explore more in the paranormal genre. The cast seems pretty strong, and it sounds like they are going to make this a drama about solving cases - which isn't anything new - but still entertaining enough.
The Stunt (特技人):
Anticipation Level: 6/10
We're not too confident that Rebecca will be a strong lead, but hopefully she surprises us with improved acting skills and screen charisma. We think it's nice to recognize the stunt doubles in the filming industry, but we hope it won't end up being too cliche of a story with the stunt doubles not getting recognized for their hard work and they are actually the true heroes behind the scene and so on. It would be ironic if the stunt tricks they did in the drama were shot with doubles haha!
The Learning Curve of a Warlord (大帥哥):
Anticipation Level: 6/10
Another pre-modern drama that's for laughs after the introduction to The Ghetto-Fabulous Lady...It's sad to see that TVB can only make comedies for these types of pre-modern dramas, as they can't pull off anything serious, like in Rogue Emperor. Not really looking forward to Tong Hung.
Daddy Cool (逆緣):
Anticipation Level: 7.5/10
First of all, what's with the name Daddy Cool? Not sure if it's got some significance to the drama...lol. We relatively excited to watch this, since the plot sounds intriguing with the guy being frozen or something for a long time and he is reawaken years later, but hasn't aged (sounds like Captain America?), and it's been a while since Wayne Lai's been on screen. We not too familiar with female lead, so we look forward to seeing some other faces.
Succession War (天命)
Anticipation Level: 8/10
We've been waiting for Succession War to come out for quite some time now, and we're still looking forward to it. Ruco Chan was mediocre in his recent dramas. We really hope he has another breakthrough here, knowing that he is pretty good in ancient series, like in Captain of Destiny. We like the idea that his character isn't exactly good, because it is boring to always see the hero protagonist. We are eager to see Selena Lee's return with Elaine Yiu and Natalie Tong, who are all solid actresses. We hope that the addition of Shaun Tam who isn't a TVB actor wil bring some freshness to the series.
Another Era (再創世紀):
Anticipation Level: 8.5/10
Another Era has a very promising cast with Roger Kwok, Frankie Lam, and the return of some TVB actresses like Niki Chow, Tavia Yeung, and Linda Chung.We hope this won't just be about some conflicts within the upper class and struggles in business. We would like to see a well-developed plot with strong character development, given that this is a large production.
OMG, Your Honour (是咁的，法官閣下)
Anticipation Level: 7.5/10
Looks like Ben Wong is leading again - we're glad to see his position stabilized in TVB as he is a strong actor. We are mainly looking forward to the younger bunch like Louisa Mak and Hugo Wong, as this drama will be focused more towards the young lawyers of Hong Kong.
Fist Fight (兄弟):
Anticipation Level: 8.5/10
Even after seeing the trailer, the story seems quite jumbled, and we aren't sure what the focus of the series will be. But since there's Vincent Wong, Philip Ng, and Matt Yeung, and there's gonna be action and fighting scenes, we're in! Also, it's pretty surprising that Kama Kong snatched a pretty big role. We're used to seeing her as the cute, smart schoolgirl, so we are really excited to see her in a different role, since she's a very natural actress. There's Rebecca again in the front; it's crazy to see how heavily promoted she is by TVB in at least 3 upcoming dramas!
Justice Bao: The First Years (包青天：風雲再起)
Anticipation Level: 5.5/10
Not much to say honestly...just don't you think there's been way too many dramas about Bao Gong in the past?
Big White Duel (白色強人):
Anticipation Level: 8/10
Couldn't find a proper poster for the drama. We are mainly excited for the drama because Roger and Kenneth are leading. It seems like they are emphasizing more on the health care sstem in Hong Kong than the practice of doctors in this drama, which will be a nice break from normal medical dramas. Looking forward to a breakthrough role for Kenneth Ma.
Deep in the Realm of the Conscience (深宫計):
Anticipation Level: 8.5/10
It's been a very long time since TVB has had any decent historical dramas, so we are pretty pumped to see this series, especially as we really enjoyed the first series. Of course, we aren't expecting the sequel to match quality of the first, but we hope it's at least watchable. Some TVB sequels have jsut been complete trash! We are mainly interested in seeing some of the new costumes and setting that will add a fresh touch.
Flying Tiger (飛虎極戰):
Anticipation Level: 9/10
We also wanted to mention Flying Tiger, since it is one of the dramas we are absolutely looking forward to. The return of Bosco Wong and Ron Ng with Michael Miu leading the series sounds very appealing, especially with the SDU, action-packed backdrop, which we always enjoy watching. We loved the sub-theme sung by Bosco and Ron, and it brought back memories of the previous TVB era in the 2000s. The trailer was super intense and immediately piqued our interest, making this the top anticipated drama for us.
Thanks for reading this review. Let us know which dramas you are looking forward to watching!
-CeeJay
Good to see you posting again, CeeJay! Nice recap of upcoming TVB dramas, though to be honest, I’m not looking forward to any of them. The only one that remotely interests me is Another Era, but that’s mostly because of Roger (who appears to be playing a villain role again – yay!) and the supporting cast (mostly the males). I’m actually not fond of any of the female leads though and Frankie has always been “hit and miss” actor for me – hopefully the role in the series suits him enough that he will be able to give a good performance (though to be honest, from the trailer, his character felt like a repeat of My Unfair Lady character…hopefully I’m wrong). I’m also hoping the series won’t be as long as Threshold was, as we all know TVB is incapable of producing long series nowadays without them being tremendously draggy….also the Mainland collaboration element (with some of the artists actually speaking Mandarin) reminds me too much of The Drive of Life, which was another grand production that TVB screwed up big time. Basically, I’m still on the fence in terms of whether I plan to watch this one….I guess we’ll have to see…
ReplyDeleteBy the way, is it just me or does the poster for The Ghetto-Fabulous Lady look very similar to Once Upon a Time in Shanghai (from 1996)? I honestly did a double take when I first saw it. I’m starting to wonder if that was a deliberate move on TVB’s part, as there are too many coincidences: not only do the posters look similar, the genre is also similar plus both series happen to star Nadia Chan. I’m seriously hoping the content isn’t going to be similar too….
Yes, I agree that there have been way too many dramas about Justice Pao in the past (though compared with the bajillion Jin Yong adaptations that all the production companies keep making/remaking, Justice Pao isn’t being re-made much at all, lol). In terms of TVB’s newest iteration of Justice Pao – frankly, I’m not interested at all. The cast is weak first of all and it’s way too obvious that the only reason TVB is making this series is to take advantage of audience nostalgia – plus I hate the fact that TVB is being overly “gimmicky” with this series by casting Shaun Tam in a role that his father Ti Lung made famous. If they were truly serious about making another Justice Pao series, they should’ve cast someone else more appropriate in the role and not try to link it to the old version.
It’s interesting that you’re most looking forward to Flying Tiger, since that’s Shaw Brothers web series and to be honest, ever since they “re-instated” Shaw Brothers a couple years back, none of what they produced has been any good (in fact, I’m actually kind of ticked that TVB has been tarnishing the iconic Shaw Brothers name but that’s a rant for another time, lol). But hey, who knows, maybe this is the series that will finally “legitimize” Shaw Brothers’ comeback…I’m not planning on watching the series but I’m definitely interested in seeing how things pan out in terms of whether the series will be “successful” or not.
Hey there, llwy12! Thanks for your support and comment!
ReplyDeleteWe are also excited to see Roger play a villain. He was superb in Black Heart White Soul! Another Era feels like one of those dramas that will either be really good, or a major flop - like The Drive of Life you mentioned. Hopefully it will live up to its hype.
Now that you mention it, we see the similarity of the poster to the one for Once Upon a Time in Shanghai! It's probably another use of nostalgia to try to get more interest from the audience, which is just silly because The Ghetto-Fabulous Lady is a completely different drama.
It seems like TVB never understands that what the audience want aren't sequels or remakes of old dramas again and again. Justice Bao doesn't seem appealing at all, and we will probably skip the drama unless we have time and nothing better to watch. We also hope Flying Tiger will turn out to be a series that helps Shaw Brothers renew their reputation lol, but it's definitely one we will watch since we like action series.
It's kinda sad how our anticipation level for the upcoming dramas are relatively low compared to what we would have given years ago, and we all know the reason for that...We were outraged when we heard that they are making a Triumph in the Skies 3 and Forensic Heroes 4. TITS 2 wasn't even that great to be honest, and we just can't believe they're STILL doing Forensic Heroes. We thought the series was done ages ago. If they wanted to make another forensic drama, they should just start something completely new and not have it under the label of FH. It's the same issue with Justice Bao that you said. Hopefully, we'll get surprised with some of these dramas, and they don't turn out as bad as we think they will!
Forensic Heroes sucked (I'm being extremely blunt), in my opinion. There were a few characters I liked though, like Roxanne Tong (who was in the reshoots) and Michelle Yim (who was just in the first case); in fact, it kind of started getting predictable after the first few episodes. It's a bit like the scriptwriters got lazy after the first case. They could have planned it out better and put some foreshadowing; it especially irked me in Case 7, which was related to one of the main characters. Alice Chan's character's boyfriend got killed and some random guy who's never seen before (his friend, apparently) shows up, talked to her about her boyfriend's death, turns out he's the killer. Could have put some sort of twist to make it less predictable. It could have been better if the romance plots didn't take up a lot of the screen time and weren't as rushed. They kinda paired everyone up for the finale and some came out of nowhere. (Oh, and there was this one case in the middle about clowns, two of the main character's sister (I forgot their names) were abducted by clowns, AND there was some sort of "cliffhanger" at the end of the last episode which AGAIN involves clowns. Honestly...)
DeleteI didn't really watch the previous ones though I heard they were good. I honestly hope they aren't making another one because I saw some reports saying that TVB is planning to make another sequel. It's been about 2 decades, for gosh sakes.
Welp... This is pretty much a rant about how this sucked. Sorry.
Hi Tacocat,
DeleteWe agree with you completely about Forensic Heroes IV. The plot was terrible, and it seemed like they were only trying to show off some new technology. It got to the point where the police and forensic scientists sat in the meeting room with their ipads and solved all the cases. There was no suspense at all, and like you said, the guy that randomly began to appear during Timothy Cheng's (Alice's boyfriend) was obviously the killer because there was literally no one else. That was a joke. The clown case was so boring and not even a mystery, and they should stop using cases with clowns. We also thought that they focused too much on the romance though the pairs were mostly uninteresting, and the pairings were kind of forced like why Rebecca Zhu was randomly paired with Fred Cheng in the end, even though they had zero chemistry to begin with and barely talked to each other. Another part that made no sense was the forensic guys deciding to "help" interrogate the suspects in the interrogation room.
We honestly hope they won't make another one...this was dreadful enough. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this drama!
-CeeJay