TVB Anniversary Awards 2021 (萬千星輝頒獎典禮2021) Review

Happy New Year everyone! Wishing you good health and happiness in 2022!

Today we are here to give our thoughts on the annual TVB Anniversary Awards. Thank you for your patience as we took some time to find pictures and had a lot of comments we wanted to share. This event took place on January 2nd, 2022 this year with the red carpet ceremony preceding the awards show. Unfortunately TVB did not continue their live stream on YouTube from last year and only put up the red carpet portion of the show. This made it difficult for us fans to watch the event. 

Prior to this event taking place, the increasingly popular Facebook group Subtle TVB Traits held a poll of their own for this year's winners. The results from that are below:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/subtleTVBtraits/permalink/995689634492586

We thought the winners of this pure voting based award to be fair and we agree with most of the winners. TVB on the other hand had other thoughts. In the end, only 3 of the 10 ended up going through to win at the TVB awards. There were a lot of upsets this year... and we will go through each of them below.

The beginning of the show started out with a musical-esque introduction to this year's drama series. It was presented by a lot of newer artists from MHK or TVB Training Classes. The memorial section was presented by a series of actors recalling their memories with late actors. Gin Lee then performed Leslie Cheung’s 明星 as a tribute to the legends that have passed. This year TVB had a live band as well playing on and off throughout the show which was great. We also want to praise the fact they got so many famous guest presenters this year. However, it felt cheap that they used their own emcee nominees to be the hosts of tonight’s show since Dodo Cheng was not here. We actually thought they hosted the show quite well with creativity but we wished they let the nominees actually enjoy the show. 

Lifetime Achievement Award: David Chiang (姜大衛) 

This award was presented by Ti Lung and Paul Chun, both are well respected veterans that currently have their kids in TVB as well. They presented this award to their old friend and brother respectively. We were very happy with this award, and you really can’t go wrong with presenting it to any green leaf actor. We also did not know that he was a child actor either. We have seen David in so many roles that it was surprising he did not get an award before. 

Most Improved Female Artiste: Lesley Chiang (姜麗文) - Lo & Behold, Kids’ Lives Matter

The presenters were Steven Ma and another TVB Artiste Training Class teacher. It was nice to see Steven again (lol he showed up in jeans). We felt like it was fierce competition this year because even after Regina was kicked out of Top 5, there was still Jeannie, Venus, etc. who have already played female leads. We are very happy to see Lesley get this award. She was truly memorable this year. Even though she only had a portion of 2 episodes in Kids’ Lives Matter, she stole the spotlight as a distressed mom worried about her baby. Her role as Liza in Lo & Behold was just so realistic and funny. We enjoyed watching her every time she came on. She is talented in music and acting, and we are glad she is awarded not just because of her dad. We really liked her speech too, and how she took the time to appreciate the Filipino community that has supported her in HK. Looking forward to seeing her shine more in the future. 

Most Improved Male Artiste: Joey Law (羅天宇) - The Runner, The Line Watchers, A Love of No Words, and Karl Ting (丁子朗) -  Battle of the Seven Sisters, The Line Watchers, Children Song Summerfest, Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2021

Why were there two winners? It was really awkward and felt unnecessary. Joey wanted to take his time with the speech but couldn’t because there was a limited amount of time and Karl had to speak too. There should've only been one and that most likely should've been Joey. He has a decade on Karl, and we can tell that Karl is great at sucking up to the executives. To be fair, Karl is pretty good at hosting and we can tell he was well liked by the execs after being able to improvise and keep his cool during the Miss HK 2021 mess up. But Joey spent years on Come Home Love establishing his acting and fan base, then worked through numerous smaller roles just to get male lead in HK Love Stories last year. He has always been humble and hard-working and should’ve gotten this award years ago. The competitors were so close this year, they could not shrink it to the top 5 and 6 nominees were included… really defeats the purpose of having an award. The 2 also look quite similar in their style today. Mark Ma is another tough competitor this year, and we are glad he is being given new characters to act.

Best Supporting Actress: Yoyo Chen - Plan B

The presenters were Elena Kong and Cheung Wai-Yee. They made a good back and forth introducing the top 5 nominations. We knew Yoyo had it in the bag even though we didn't see this drama and this performance. She has been working at TVB for 17 years and finally got recognition for her efforts this year. It started out with the variety show Dub of War, where she eventually won. We still remember her in Best Selling Secrets and then she slowed down her work a little bit to get married in 2011 and give birth to her daughter in 2012. Hopefully we get to see more sides of her in upcoming dramas. We also enjoyed her younger version of Mimi Kung in Kids’ Lives Matter this year. Honorable mentions this year for us were also Mimi Kung and Stephanie Che who are experienced supporting actresses.

Best Supporting Actor: Brian Chu (朱敏瀚) - Take Two

The presenters were Lau Kong and Law Kar Ying this year. Interesting that this was the first award that was presented tonight. Cee's personal pick would've been Him Law for his great performance in Kids Lives Matter playing a doctor with substance abuse issues. It was a more complex character than Brian’s which was simpler. But since he doesn’t have a contract with TVB, we know he isn’t winning it. There was some talk about Hugo Wong getting it too since he had a great performance in The Ringmaster. The competition for this category is always so difficult, and everyone in the top 5 did well. Brian has really grown on us these last 2 years, we still remember his student days in Yes Sir, Sorry Sir. Overall, Brian did well as Bo Kim adding comic relief to Take Two, and we think that comedy actually suits him well. He seemed very calm this year and delivered the speech eloquently. 

Best Non-Drama Programme: Stars Academy (聲夢傳奇)

The presenters were Lo Hoi Pang and Meg Lam, they both haven't showed up on screen in recent years. They were quite funny joking about being older now and going to South Korea for plastic surgery. 

We knew this show was going to get recognized, either through this award or the best song category because it gave HK music fans something else to look forward to besides ViuTV’s King Maker. We actually prefer this show to King Maker because this came off much more professional with how serious they were about developing singing skills. When we tried to watch King Maker IV this year, we were surprised by how poorly most contestants sang and how unprofessional it was. A new group of young talent is on the rise in HK thanks to this show! We tuned in every week to see the competition and TVB put a lot of budget towards it as well inviting dozens of judges from the music industry. The panel of coaches were also stellar and genuinely cared about helping these young hopefuls, especially with the lead coach Hacken Lee. There were some doubts in the beginning when they first started singing, but we have been able to witness their growth in the past year and we’re excited to see what each of them brings in the coming year. We actually also really enjoyed Music War Hall this year because of its creativity but it was aired at such a late time. At least it got to top 5.

Best Information Programme:  The Scoop (東張西望)

This was a well deserved award. All the hosts went into the cockroach infested house and need to be recognized for it. The researchers do a lot of work before the stories can be reported, and it takes courage for reporters to go into scary places or deal with people who could be angry that they are getting caught on camera.

Best Annual Programme: Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2021 (2021香港小姐競選)

The award ultimately went to what we thought was the least deserving. We found more entertainment with the TVB Anniversary Show this year. But this show was a mass improvement, and it made sense how they got this award because of the big stage and set design they had. They even got Jacky Cheung to perform for the show, but we didn’t really pay attention to the Miss HK contestants themselves, which was supposed to be the point of the show.

Best Dressed Actor: Shaun Tam (譚俊彦)

Best Dressed Actress: Jeannie Chan (陳瀅)

Please check out our red carpet review below for comments on their outfits.

Malaysia's Favourite Actress: Linda Chung (鍾嘉欣) - Kids’ Lives Matter

This was presented by Gin Lee and La Duk, fellow Malaysian Chinese in Hong Kong.

We are glad that Linda took her time to thank everyone because she realized that she might not get the chance later on. In an interview after the awards, she told the press she was not disappointed at all by not getting Best Actress. She claims that she used to care a lot about these awards, but ever since she became a mother, she can see further past this stuff and felt relaxed for the night. She has really matured since she left TVB, and she even sounds wiser to us in her speech and her YouTube videos. It might be a good idea for her not to return since she deserves better opportunities elsewhere. We felt bad for her because she flew all the way from Canada and quarantined with her son, but she said in the interview afterwards she sensed she was not going to get the Best Actress. It is so unfortunate TVB fails to recognize those who are deserving and has to use the awards to push forward their favoured stars. Linda handled the speech well at the end of the day and asked TVB to value their artistes.

Malaysia's Favourite Actor: Shaun Tam (譚俊彦) - Take Two

Shaun’s speech was quite short, maybe he was already expecting to get another award.

Malaysia's Favourite Drama Series: Kids’ Lives Matter

Seems like the Malaysian fans know where the awards should truly go, and we agree with it. 

Most Popular Drama Theme Song: 《造夢時學會飛行》- Stars Academy

This award was presented by Eric Kwok and Hanjin Tan. As judges of Stars Academy, it made sense that they were the award presenters. Too bad 舒文 was missing haha! For us there weren't many memorable drama theme songs this year. So we didn't mind that they won the award. They also have a lot of fans and are raking in the cash for TVB, already hosting a few sold out shows, several mall events, etc. Their short performance was simple and they all sang it at the same time. They just had a New Year's concert the night before so it makes sense that they didn't have to coordinate rehearsals for this as well. 

TVB Professionalism Award: Mr. Ma (馬慶豪)

Eric Tsang introduced this award. Mr. Ma the canteen chef started working for TVB in 1983 serving up dishes for TVB's artists. He received a standing ovation from the entire audience. Dicky Cheung made a short clip thanking Mr. Ma for his kindness when he didn't have enough money to pay for the canteen meals. Lau Dan came out to present this award to him and thanked him for his services in the past few decades. Mr. Ma was humble and told everyone that he was grateful that people accepted his food. He even forgot to take his award. He deserves great recognition for his service!

Most Popular On-Screen Partnership: Jack Hui (許家傑) and Mandy Lam (林淑敏) - Lo & Behold

This was presented by 3 Ying Ying x Ka Lok's combos. There was Crystal Fung and Wong Ka-Lok, Yiu Ying Ying and Kalok Chow, Angela Tong and Chin Ka Lok. They have acted this role for the past 4 years. Mandy says one ep they filmed for 15 days only. This is the second time Mandy got an award for her role. Lo & Behold once again has proved its worth, having won several awards over the past years as a sitcom with 1466 episodes and counting. We like Jack and Mandy as Fai Fai and Siu Lin, and having an onscreen partnership for over 4 years is not easy, but they are very convincing as a couple. It seems like they coordinated their speech together, but it would have been nice if they thanked each other too. 

Best Male Host: Johnson Lee (李思捷) - Family Feud

This was presented by Nancy Sit, Kingdom Yuen, Louis Yuen, Yvonne Lam and Joyce Chen from Virtues of Harmony. We guessed it would be Johnson already. Family Feud doesn’t seem like it’s very hard to host, but Johnson did manage to bring a smile to some of the audience with his jokes. Thankfully, his speech was serious about appreciating people who helped him. Also, we noticed Nancy Sit seems to be blurting out a lot of wrong words lately. LOL Sammy Leung's reaction was just too funny. It was pure shock and disgust (jokingly) towards Johnson Lee, probably because he’s buddy buddy with the TVB executives. 

Best Female Host: Janis Chan Pui Yee (陳貝兒) - No Poverty Land

We did not see this show and honestly if any of the other 4 hosts won, we would still be happy. They are all very professional hosts that have been anchors for TVB’s variety shows over the past years.

Most Popular Male Character: Kenneth Ma (馬國明) - Kids’ Lives Matter

The presenters for this award were Bobby Au Yeung and Bowie Lam. Bobby was quite funny because he told Bowie to not mind the time since he took forever speaking last time but they still invited him back. Bowie played along with his jokes initially, but eventually he seemed fed up with him with the limited time they had as Bobby just kept rambling on.  

TVB finally got more award presenters this year that are actually of some substance and not just the people in the audience presenting them to themselves. Up until this point, we were pretty fine with all the awards that were presented tonight. We are so done with this award, it's the 4th time that Kenneth has gotten it and unfortunately we did not find anything to like about his character. He does not need this award. We didn't see much acting at all from him besides him delivering stiff lines. He has been very similar in all his roles, especially as a doctor. He didn’t seem to appreciate it much and was hea in thanking the people. We thought it would be Hubert getting the award, but he ended up empty-handed for the night, and we liked Kevin’s character better than his much more. It seemed like anyone in that category would have been a better pick than him. For goodness’ sake, give it to Ruco who wasn’t even in the top 5 and we would not have been as upset. We thought this photo above captured him very well, always aloof and just genuinely confused as to why he was there.

It seemed all too familiar when we recalled this shocked face of Kenneth getting the same award in 2018 for Deep in the Realm of Conscience (and knowing he did not deserve it). 

Best Actor: Shaun Tam (譚俊彦) - Take Two

We knew that Shaun had this award already, there really was no competition. Although we enjoyed watching Kevin's performance in Kids Lives Matter, he has no other dramas with TVB. Kenneth was a complete snooze as Amos, still don't know how we got my fav character. Ruco's character made no sense to us, letting Rosina continue thinking he had an affair with Crystal. With Shaun’s “warm family man” image this year and his recent showcase of cooking and singing skills, many people were wowed by him, and he began to gain more fans. We could even see that Bobby felt emotional with teary eyes as he congratulated Shaun. We admit that we weren’t a huge fan of his acting a few years ago Succession War, but his acting has been slowly improving through the years. Timothy isn’t his best role to date and there is still much improvement, but we did overall enjoy the series and thought it was acceptable. We look forward to seeing him in Brutally Young 2. We are kind of glad that Owen did not get it because he is just not at the Best Actor level yet. It was great to see how proud his mom, Man-ming Tao and dad, Ti Lung were, especially as they are both actors and can see this honour passed on to the next generation. Ti Lung came off as a strict dad when he spoke and in previous interviews when Shaun spoke of him, so we bet it difficult growing up trying to get his approval. We also thought that Vincent did really well this year in Murder Diary because he had to play 3-4 different personalities and was able to make them all distinct. Unfortunately, the series flopped so there was no way he was going to get it.

Most Popular Female Character: Ali Lee (李佳芯) - Beauty and the Boss

Ron and Bosco were the presenters of this award and we were happy to see them back at TVB. Hopefully Ron stops playing cops, even though he’s with Shaw Brothers now it doesn’t seem to stop. 

It would have made more sense if she got the award for Ah Bo and instead of this one because we thought it was very popular… we didn’t even watch this drama because Moses has been so cringe these past few years. Ali was deserving of this award and she is one of TVB’s top actresses now. 

Best Actress: Rosina Lam (林夏薇) - Battle of the Seven Sisters

Umm....

Ummmm...

Ummmmmm...

Besides that we aren't sure what else to say. What a shocker. We thought that Linda was going to win this one for sure especially since she flew back to HK and quarantined for this. Linda acted well as Eman and allowed that audience to see a much more mature actress capable of showing more complex emotions. If not Linda then for sure Ali would win for her amazing performance as Ah Bo. In terms of acting, Ali had the upper hand. She was able to deliver her performance as the AI with no flaws, resisting the natural urge to blink and slowly adding human emotion when the AI began picking up on the humans around her. We thought Rosina was a letdown this year. She was forgettable in Sinister Beings and one dimensional in 7 Princesses, pretty much grieving her husband who passed away the entire show. Unfortunately, in our books, showing her naked body in the show wasn’t enough to show great acting. We like Rosina and know she is a capable actress, but she is not deserving this year with this role especially against Linda or Ali. We saw a lot of comments also saying Linda was robbed and in their hearts, Linda is the true winner. It’s no surprise TVB is getting a lot of backlash for giving this to Rosina.

Best Series: Battle of the Seven Sisters (七公主)

After two major upsets, we were ready for this award to be given fairly. In our minds, we thought it had to be Kids’ Lives Matter. We did not finish Battle of the Seven Sisters drama because it wasn’t that exciting and wasn’t groundbreaking in terms of the plot. We were not sure what they were trying to get at. At times, it just seemed silly and all over the place. This was a letdown for us, and it must have to do with some internal politics with TVB’s upper management. No comment on whether or not this drama turned out to be good. If you watched it entirely, let us know. We wrote a review on Kids’ Lives Matter because it was probably the only drama worth reviewing this year.

After the last few awards, we truly wondered how impactful the voting was because we doubted that most netizens voted for this drama to win. It was obvious these major awards were rigged. Despite our disappointment, this is how TVB awards tend to work, and we have to accept the results. On the other hand, we thought the show went smoothly and were happy to see different guest presenters who have been absent from TVB for a long time. However, the show seemed less grand than previous years perhaps because only the top 5 nominees of each category showed up. 

Red Carpet:

These are the red carpet pictures in no particular order, just generally grouped into nomination categories. We will be providing a few comments on each look for the awards night. This year, the predominant theme of the red carpet was black, white, or grey and we didn’t see much deviation from that. Unfortunately, that meant that most males looked plain and underwhelming. The ladies failed to wow us either. 

Umm... we don't know what Linda Chung or her designer was thinking. This probably would have looked better if she didn't wear the oversized blazer and went with just a lace long-sleeved shirt and the bra top. Not sure who approved of this... it is no fit for an awards ceremony. 

A safe look from Mandy this year, we think she looks great! The makeup also made her look young and feminine. Her low bun with bangs made her look more elegant.

Another ??? from us. What were her stylists thinking? This is horrendous. If this is how the top HK TV station is dressing their artists then something is REALLY WRONG. Seems like some scrap fabric was left and just patched together. Not only are the mismatch of textures and patterns horrible, the colours make her look old. Can’t believe she thought it looked “dreamy”. 

A safe choice for Elaine although the silhouette of the dress doesn't particularly flatter her. She said she's been wearing too much white in previous events so Joel Chan told her to go with black this year. We've found a lack of jewelry this year, especially when it comes to necklaces. Around 5-10 years ago, we remember actresses donning heavy necklaces worth millions of dollars. Elaine owns her own jewelry company and failed to even get a necklace for herself?

We noticed the theme of exposing backs this year. Rosina’s dress was kind of boring.

We liked the shimmer and colour but for some reason this gown and her hair made her look kind of old. Overall we were disappointed with the top nominees of the best actress category fashion-wise. They had nothing to offer us and did not look like they were dressed for an awards ceremony. Mandy, Elaine and Rosina went for safe choices that looked like they were at a charity show or something. Linda and Ali's looks were disastrous. Kinda sad considering this is one of the most important nights for these actresses and they didnt put in more effort to dress for the occasion. 

Eh, nothing to comment on Kenneth's suit. His pants are a bit too short, makes his head look extra big. 

Also nothing to comment on Shaun's suit. The pattern is a bit old school and the pants don't seem tailored properly to him. It’s a bit different from the other black suits tonight and seems like the press liked it though, or they wouldn’t have chosen his as best outfit.

Owen and Brian are looking sharp in their suits. Owen tried something new this year by wearing white and we liked it!

Yoyo has been known for her red carpet looks in the past few years. She is always able to balance sexy with tasteful. This time she went for a big princess ballgown with spaghetti straps. We think it looks good, definitely one of the better dressed females of the night. Louis Yuen is going for a complementary colour clash... it isn't working for us. Not much to comment on for Luk Ho Ming, he looks good.

Crystal Fung arrived at the red carpet with a loud red suit and black platform heels. It’s alright and we all know she was just there to sit for the night. Telford Wong looks put together but not memorable. Regina Ho wore a silky white ensemble. At first glance it looks like a dress but they're actually pants. We don’t really like the design of the chest area of this outfit.

Luk Wing is looking ok with his brown turtleneck and suit jacket, maybe another colour like white would've looked better? We are not fans of this long hair. Not sure... we are starting to lose hope with these red carpet fashions this year. Mayanne looks kinda old with this makeup and hair. The hi-low dress is very 2009. Weird shoes as well and not sure why she wore the gloves... seems like a wannabe flapper dress. Although she is one of the few actresses with a necklace, it looks more like costume jewelry than anything. Tyson looks ok, it's a nice suit and there's not much else to comment on.

Mandy Lam looks elegant in her off the shoulder navy blue gown. It is a tad simple though and we spot another empty neck. She and Jack Hui matched with the navy blue and look great together for their partnership nomination. Jack looks clean tonight with a subtly patterned suit. Winki's pantsuit made her look shorter than she is. We liked her look from last year a lot more. Also her makeup was horribly done with her complexion erring on the side of ghostly. Her dark lip colour did not help the situation in making her look like a vampire. Again another empty neck... where are the jewelry sponsors?

Unfortunately we cannot name most of these girls. Looks like a high school prom or something... apparently they are MHK contestants. None of these ladies had necklaces but they all could've done with one.

These are the group of hosts this year. The girl on the far left side seems to be wearing something very similar to Venus Wong. The red and black dress on Heidi looks like a Christmas wrapper. Patrick Sir’s head looks larger with the choice of this coat. 

This felt like an awkward group of leftover people who didn't have a partner to walk down the red carpet with. The two best supporting actor nominees picked a grey/beige suit for the big occasion. The two ladies dressed in black and their dresses were kinda plain. Interesting Mimi was here though she didn't get into Top 5 for BSA.

We felt neutral about Jeannie's black dress this year. It was not quite elegant nor was it very sexy. It wasn't classy either, especially with the top part of her pantyhose showing like that... Her neck looked quite bare as well despite the low cut of this dress (maybe we should stop counting how many people showed up to this event with no necklace, it's getting tiring).

Moon says it's her first time wearing red for an event like this. Although she is tall and is probably one of the few ladies at TVB that can carry the dress, she does look a bit buried in it.

JW has always had questionable fashion choices in our opinion so we don't have much to say about this one. She looks fine in it.  

Karl played it safe with an all black outfit and same with Niklas Lam. Actually Karl’s outfit looked very similar to Joey Law’s with the silver chain. Kayan Yau’s dress is fine but the hairdo could be better without the ribbon at the top.

For some reason, Kayee's makeup makes her look fake and plastic like? Maybe it's also her pose and face in this particular photo. A very simple look, not award ceremony worthy.

Venus looked ok in this sheer corset top A-Line dress. AGAIN NO NECKLACE? ok we will stop. 

From left to right we have Kalok Chow, Lesley Chiang and Matthew Ho. Kalok went with a safe grey suit and we knew he probably wasn't going to take home any awards tonight so no need to go all out. Lesley looked happy to be at the awards and the dress fit her fun personality, though it isn’t the most elegant. Matthew's hair for this was... kinda questionable? We weren't sure if it was for a drama but this is not stylish at all. The oversized suit looks like its from the 90's.

No comment on his suit. As plain as it gets.

The group from the show looks silly to say the least. We like that they brought their instruments like Jonathan holding his violin. Dr. X definitely stole the spotlight on the far right. Just a huge mismatch of random outfits... Distasteful in our opinion. It seemed like they were ready for another day of filming the show, not the awards. We would have liked to see them perform tonight since they brought the instruments. 

The four flowers of After Class looked pure and innocent in their white outfits. Gigi seems to be sport high neck/shoulder pad suits or ensembles a lot. Perhaps this is her style and assertion into the next diva image. It was refreshing to see Yumi showing her arms with a nice pantsuit. Windy looks cute in her little white dress but it could've done with a little more? Chantel is cute as always radiating youth in her tea length dress. She could've looked even better with strappy heels instead of those covered ones. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRK9wF4Cr2o&ab_channel=TVB%E5%A8%9B%E6%A8%82%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E%E5%8F%B0 

There was a short interview with Yumi and Linda since there have been people saying they look alike. Linda told Yumi that she was very proud of her and has star power at her young age of 15. Linda joined the Miss Chinese International pageant at 19 years old and struggled to find her place in HK so watching someone so young handle newfound fame so well is great to see. 

Venus needs a haircut and a dress that slims her down. Aeren, Sherman, Kaitlyn look pretty nice and simple tonight. It is very seldom that we see Kaitlyn in a more feminine dress, she looks nice. 

The Stars Academy boys could look better. Aska, Rock, and Steven did not look striking with these clothes unfortunately. What’s with the baggy pants and they look too long for them, where was the tailor this year?

Thank you for making it through the long post. What were your thoughts this year? Which awards do you agree or disagree with? Let us know below!

- CeeJay

Images retrieved from:

https://www.facebook.com/2012tvbdrama

TVB (official) YouTube channel