A Watchdog's Tale

Whilst the cast of "A Watchdog's Tale" led me to watch this, lured by the potential of it being the next "A Journey Called Life" I was rather disappointed. There were some good characters in the plot and some enjoyable storytelling but the whole plot of the story was an utter mess from start to finish, one thing starts and gets built up for like 5 episodes and then is concluded in half an episode! The cycle continues with no ending feeling really worthwhile. The whole story is also a bit wishy washy and very TVBesque when they are dealing heavily with an obvious theme. There was also the problem of TVB trying too many genres at once, in the end it was just very random. I think the very last scenes with Kent Cheng and Maggie Siu really do sum up this series, random beginnings - long midsection - haphazard endings.

Anyway here are my nominees.

Best Actor
Steven Ma

Whilst this is by no means Steven's best performance he took to his character well, it was somewhat refreshing seeing any lead role like Chow Yung Kung and I think Steven did go for it most of the time. There were a few stiff areas but on the whole it was a commendable effort.

Best Actress
No Nominees

Best Supporting Actor
No Nominees

Best Supporting Actress
Ching Hor Wai

I was quite drawn to Ching Hor Wai's character because she played the caring foster mum really convincingly. I really did enjoy her scenes with Steven bar the final bits when she was trying to send Steven back to his real mum - that was so TVB and so predictable and probably done to the zillionth time. Anyway she was a joy to watch.

Best Couple
Natalie Tong and Raymond Wong

Yet again it's a supporting couple that gets my vote - out of the 4 series I've done (one still pending) 3 out 4 of my favourite couples are from the supporting cast!
Anyway whilst I don't think the connection was as strong as Vivien and Raymond I still liked Natalie and Raymond, they looked very compatible in the series and their development was quite nice to watch unlike Steven and Linda - uh please, they just made drama for the sake of drama, there was very little logic in it.

Recognition Award

Natalie Tong
Natalie has gone for too long without any recognition whatsoever. I don't actually understand it, she's a decent actress and very pretty - what's the reason? Whilst this series may not be one of her best it definitely shows Natalie can be as good as any young leading lady.

Yvonne Lam
I was a huge fan of Mind Our Own Business, which Yvonne was a part of. Whilst Michelle Yim was the one that stole the show for me in Mind Our Own Business Yvonne played a vital role in the show making it even more watchable. It was quite shocking the first time I saw Yvonne filming for TVB and now she's getting more and more roles albeit small supporting ones. I do think Yvonne is a very good actress, her role in A Watchdog's Tale brought me right back to Mind Our Business with Liu Kai Chi, though she does tend to overact slightly in these kind of roles it is her signature style - and personally I think her acting in her next series, A Beauty of the Game, is even better!