TVB Anniversary Awards 2018 Review

Hey everyone!

We are back with a full review of the 2018 TVB Anniversary Awards! Thanks for waiting for our post to come out. We know it's a bit late because we didn't watch the awards right away when it came out. On a general note, the show was much better than last year's gong show, though we were disappointed once again with the award presenters and poor red carpet looks. We were pleased with the majority of the awards except for a few surprising ones. Without further delay, here are our thoughts for each award!

Lifetime Achievement Award: Nancy Sit

Kudos to Nancy Sit for her long acting career of over 60 years. She's been in several dramas in TVB and numerous Hong Kong films and is hosting her shows like Cantopop at 50, and we know from her tear-eyed speech that it hasn't been an easy journey. It's about time this lifetime achievement award went to her, and we are glad that her contributions are recognized.

Most Improved Male Artiste: Matthew Ho - Succession War, Life on the Line, Battle for the Exorcist's Meter, Love Travel With High Speed Rail

Matthew Ho was the best nominee of the category. Undoubtedly, there was immense improvement in his acting from his minor roles to playing second male lead in Life on the Line (LOTL). We found him quite natural as the impulsive and devoted Cheung Ka Kit in the drama, and there were many touching scenes with his FASA training buddies and his father played by Lee Shing Cheong. Actually, we didn't find his voice too bothersome, and we are eager to see him rising to the top within the next few years if he continues working hard. Might we add that his look is dreadful tonight? The hair...the coat...

Most Improved Female Artiste: Crystal Fung - Apple-Colada, Sidewalk Scientist Sr. 6,  Young and Restless, Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2018

Crystal's win was a surprise to us. It is merely the beginning of her acting career, and we've only seen her in her first drama Apple-Colada with a role that wasn't very memorable, and yet she won the award the first year she was nominated for it. From what we can tell, there wasn't much improvement at all. In terms of drama, there was literally nothing to improve upon because she hasn't acted much at all... It seems evident that even she was confused why she got the award as she told the audience that she doesn't feel that she fits the this title. We hope to see some real improvement from her in these coming years so this award wouldn't have been wasted.

Professional Actor/Actress Award:

These were among the most well-deserved awards of the night. We are glad that they've made more awards to celebrate these familiar faces we always see on TV, but have low chances of getting awards against the more popular young actors, though they've put in just as much work into delivering their supporting characters. These true veteran actors are often the ones that make dramas shine, even though they sometimes end up forgotten.

Angelina Lo

Angelina has been onscreen for 45 years, and we've seen her in countless roles as different types of mothers and mother-in-law's, whether loving or unpleasant. She definitely deserves this recognition.

Timothy Cheng
Another well-deserving award! We were very impressed with Timothy Cheng's short speech which wasn't about thanking the executives, but really reflecting on what this award means and that his "professionalism" in acting is shared by those around him. A nice break from his usual evil roles, we extremely enjoyed his recent role as Ying Sir in LOTL, a tough ambulance trainer who always yelled at the trainees, though he wanted the best for them.

Jimmy Au
Jimmy Au also has a wide acting range, capable of excelling in comedic roles such as KC in the different  Come Home Love series, evil roles such as in A Fist Within Four Walls, and serious roles like in An Unholy Alliance. We've noticed that he's been getting more important roles lately which is excellent to see. Contrary to Timothy Cheng's smooth speech, Jimmy's acceptance speech was a funny and a bit awkward, especially his acknowledgement of his filming partner in Lo and Behold, Terry!

Best Non-Drama Programme: 

Faraway Brides Sr. 2
Cooking Beauties
Sammy on the Go Sr. 2
Young and Restless
Think You Know Tokyo Sr. 2

Of this list, we only watched Cooking Beauties and Think You Know Tokyo 2. We personally didn't think Cooking Beauties was that good. It felt like there was something missing to it; perhaps it just didn't match up to the original series or maybe the female cooks nowadays are just too appalling, but something just felt off about it all. Since so much of the food turned out inedible due to the female artistes' horrendous cooking, we thought it was such a waste of food, and it was kind of disrespectful and discouraging, but we do understand the intent was supposed to be funny and light-hearted.

On the other hand, we really enjoyed the travel show Think You Know Tokyo 2. We've seen the first series previously, and found that the second series was just as good with lots of new restaurants with amazing looking food and different activities to try in Tokyo that may not be too popular or famous attractions necessarily. Though it was just Jarvis Chow as the host, we didn't find it boring at all with his youthful energy and many tips and tricks he gathered from living there for some time.

We didn't see the other shows that won, so we don't have much to comment on those, but it's interesting to note that two travel shows in Japan (also Sammy on the Go) got awards.

By the way, Joe Ma and Vincent Wong presenting these awards...just why?

Best Host: Kristal Tin - Pretty Forty

We did not see this show either, but good on Kristal for reaching new heights even when she is not acting!

Most Popular Drama Theme Song:  "但願人長久" by HANA - Life on the Line

Not a huge surprise to see this song win. Frankly, there hasn't been much variety in theme songs this year with Hana Kuk singing songs for Heart and Greed, Deep in the Realm of Conscience, Stealing Seconds, Another Era, Life on the Line (there were 2 songs) and Fist Fight, so there was a pretty high chance of her winning. This ending theme for LOTL happened to be hit, but we think it's because of the drama itself which had high ratings and the story which gave the song more meaning, and this song is not a new song either - it is originally by Lowell Lo which is probably why it sounds better than the recently written songs. So it would have been nice to see an original song win, but it's pretty evident that no song really stood out this year, and we've got to admit that "但願人長久" fitted the theme of the drama quite well.

Most Popular On-Screen Partnership: Edwin Siu, Raymond Cho - Two Men in a Kitchen

The highlight of the whole show was when Edwin told the crowed he got married to Priscilla Wong in April in New Zealand. We were pretty shocked with how long they've kept it secret for and that it was Priscilla who ended up proposing after Edwin's failed attempt to propose on a roller coaster haha. Marriage aside, we also did not watch Two Men in a Kitchen, but we're convinced that Raymond and Edwin would have made an unrivaled partnership this year, knowing that they've been good friends for a long time. This is further affirmed with them (and Matthew Ho) winning this award last year as well.

Best Supporting Actor: Oscar Leung as Charles Chiu - OMG, Your Honour

A surprise to many, but we thought that this was an acceptable award designation. Oscar's role as a poor barrister troubled by his past was by no means a likable character - but we thought his character showed the most depth of the young lawyers in the show. The character of Charles is one undergoing a bit of an identity crisis and struggling with personal relationships, seen with his negligence his mother who sells newspapers (played by Fung So Bo), or with dealing with the chambers' secretary, Anna (played by Harriet Yeung) who develops feelings for Charles. We appreciate the realism put into this character, from his fustrations to how he eventually  There were rumors that Hugo Wong was originally supposed to win this award, but it was given to Oscar last minute, but we think that Oscar is the better choice because Hugo's character, Michael lacked the same depth or background story. 

Also lol Oscar said that if he knew he was going to win an award, he would've put more effort into his look. As you can see he is just wearing sneakers. 

Best Supporting Actress: Mandy Lam as Linda Lung - Lo and Behold

We are incredibly happy that Mandy was able to claim this title after having missed the chance last year due to TVB's poor choices. Mandy's role in Lo and Behold as the harsh and ruthless 大小姐 is always hilarious to see, but her development with 送水輝 (Jack Hui) showcasing her soft and vulnerable side elevated the whole character, so this year she was even more deserving, and we are glad that her character gained so much buzz from netizens too. She was the definite favourite for this category, and another strong competitor for the on-screen partnership award with Jack Hui. We hope to continue watching more of them and see them playing in more dramas as well. Wonderful job Mandy! You truly deserve it! She also looks great in her red dress, really fits her role in the sitcom too.

Singapore and Malaysia Favourite Drama: Threesome

It's pretty amazing to see how nothing could stop Threesome from becoming a fan favourite of the year, even though it was shelved for a couple of years, its episodes were cut down and it was broadcasted on weekends. We really enjoyed it It's good they gave at least some recognition to it by making this award because we know they weren't going to give Threesome Best Drama simply because the ratings weren't that high, which is sadly how TVB works. But the story was nice and clean, the actors had great chemistry, and Mandy Wong really brought the show together.

Most Popular Male Character: Kenneth Ma as Yum Sam-shu - Deep in the Realm of Conscience

Absolutely the worst award of the night. There was ZERO buzz about this character, and we completely forgot about it. When we saw the top 5 nominated list, we scratched our heads when Kenneth's name came up and laughed thinking that he would be the last person to get the award...AND SURE ENOUGH HE GOT IT. He had wooden expressions the whole show and just stood there carrying out the Emperor's orders. We're pretty sure the way he reacted to his name being called off speaks for itself, since he said he wasn't sure why he was even onstage and he thought it would be Chris Lai winning. TVB shouldn't just be giving out random awards to people because they feel bad or want to thank them for their loyalty, and besides, Kenneth already got this award last year for a character that people actually liked. But Yum Sam-shu was a complete joke, and we're still trying to wrap our heads around how this disaster happened. Our pick would have been Carlos Chan for his great role in Daddy Cool which was praised by many, and we are sure that the audience would be much more content if he got the award. But what's a TVB Awards show without some major screwups? 

Also, why was the Nonsense Club presenting the 2 top male awards? First of all, usually there are different guests for each award (favourite male and best actor are separate), and I can hardly see what relationship they have to the awards, other than the majority of them were also award contenders for the night?

Most Popular Female Character: Alice Chan as Princess Taiping - Deep in the Realm of Conscience

This role got a lot of hype for Best Actress and frankly, we didn't see her winning it. The role was pretty standard as palace dramas go being the sabotaging Princess Taiping. We found it to be OTT which the bulging eyes and there was not enough subtlety in her acting for this role. Because the storyline was so poorly written, her 'schemes' were not interesting at all either. This year really seems like who's the best out of the ordinary or the bad characters? Everyone also conveniently forgot about Nancy Wu in the drama because it was a very ordinary performance and the schemes were ordinary as well lol. Honestly, it was a mediocre drama with mediocre acting and over the top costumes as we have said in our review earlier this year. We would have picked Mandy for this award instead because she had 3 characters to play and it showed her diverse acting skills.
About the presenter... Bobby Au-Yeung. What the heck was he doing up there wasting everyone's time. This is not his time to shine and not his awards speech. He made no comment on the awards that he presented. Did not talk about the nominees and what was special about their performance. It was all about him thanking the execs? We hear enough of that already... thanks for wasting the already limited time for the show.

Best Actor: Joe Ma as Mak Chay Tin - Life on the Line

To be honest, we weren't really touched by Joe Ma's performance. We feel that Joe's acting is always the same (serious at work and can be lighthearted with friends and family). The ending part was kinda rushed with his sudden development with Kelly Cheung but it was nice seeing him be paranoid of people hurting his family. It's a change from the usual serious Joe Ma that was in the rest of the drama. We knew that Joe was probably going to win the award because there was literally nobody else. So we do agree that Joe is the best out of the batch this year and nobody is 'deserving' anymore so might as well give this participation award out lol. Of course Dicky Cheung's acting is better than Joe's, TVB was not giving it to him for sure and they broadcasted it late too as an excuse to not give it to him lol. Why was Ben Yuen even nominated for Best Actor for Another Era? He wasn't even a lead? Nothing makes sense lol. And why is the Nonsense Club still here? What? TVB, please get better award presenters. These people are merely workers or ex-workers of TVB and are no way qualified to present the titular award of Best Actor. SMH. If anything, they should get maybe a film king or something to present the award. This is super hea and the girls were just having a gossip session up there. What a downgrade. 

Best Actress: Ali Lee as Ellen Tong Tim Yee - Who Wants A Baby?

We did not watch Who Wants a Baby so we really cannot comment on her performance here although again, she seems to be the one that TVB wants to promote the most and also the most appropriate given Mandy already got the Malaysia and Singapore one. The ratings for the drama were high and it's a topic that many HKer's can relate to. We would have been fine with Mandy or Ali winning. At least their roles were leading roles unlike last year's winner lol. Looking forward to watching Ali act more on TV and hopefully TVB can give her better, more challenging roles. Also, funny thing that Ali played Joe's late wife in Life on the Line and they both won the Best Actor awards. 

Best Drama: Life on the Line

This drama was pretty good for TVB these days. It was entertaining and pretty touching. We liked the messages at the end of each episode that reflected on the meaning of life. We found the FASA training part to be warming with the brotherhood! Great job from the 4 young male stars (Matthew Ho, Joey Law, Arnold Kwok, and Bob Cheung). The scenes were also very realistic and the cases were interesting as well. This was better than the other 'hyped' dramas like Deep in the Realm of Conscience, Another Era, etc. Those 2 really lacked in the plot, especially DITROC.

Would have been nice to have a little compilation of all the dramas this year. It used to be more meaningful when only the best dramas were nominated... now it's literally every drama that was broadcasted so what is the point of the nomination anyways? The other 'anniversary' dramas really paled in comparison. Why have them anymore lol?  

This is a better speech from Liza Wang overall about how TVB still gives people that are not contracted a chance to win awards. Even though we all know that it's not true lol. 

More Pics:

All photos were from the TVB Fans Club. 

Thanks for reading our Awards review this year! Share your thoughts below in the comments!! 

-CeeJay