Show Me The Happy

Show Me the Happy was pretty boring actually, the gags didn't make me laugh at all and the stories were largely boring not even my favourite actress Michelle Yim could save this. The stories didn't match up and a lot of the characters were unnecessary in the end so all in all it was a rather weak drama. The ending wasn't interesting either. There were a few funny parts but then you get the highly illogical and pure fantasy such as Bernice Liu's master. Everything was just not funny in the end.

Best Actor

Roger Kwok

Nothing special but Roger did well to lead the series, I nominate him he did an ok job but he isn't going to win any awards from this.

Best Actress

Michelle Yim

Michelle is the queen of sitcoms however this sitcom paled in comparison to "Mind Our Own Business" however I still loved Michelle's scenes

Best Supporting Actor

Paul Chun

A decent job but nothing special.

Best Supporting Actress

No Nominees

Breakthrough Performance

Lam Sau Yi

Lam Sau Yi is a newcomer to TVB I like her freshness and she definitely has potential, I'd like to see her in more series.

Best Chemistry

Michelle Yim Vs Liu On Lai

I liked their little scuffles, it's a shame how they didn't fully exploit that.

Recognition Award

Bernice Liu

Bernice Liu wasn't great in this but I still feel she needs some recognition so here you go.

Only You

I really liked Only You at the start but I think towards the end it wavered a bit, maybe it was the length of the drama as it started to lag and most of the stories couldn't carry the plot for 30 episodes. However it was a nice light watch but I think it needed a more solid base story. I did however like watching the different mini plots go on, however there were almost too many stories it's difficult to remember how many of them there were.

Best Actor

No Nominees

Best Actress

Yoyo Mung

Yoyo Mung is becoming one of my favourite actresses I don't know why but I just enjoy her acting much more now than I did before. I think she portrayed Ah Mun very realistically, I love her "Gong Lui" feel! lol. I especially loved it when she was desperately trying to find a boyfriend. 

Louise Lee

Louise Lee is a lovely actress, I think her best attribute is her ability to play emotional scenes with passion and  conviction. Louise Lee seems to be picking these quite "Lai Chi" stories nowadays which isn't a bad thing but I'd wish we'll be able to see her in a grand production.

Best Supporting Actor

Ruco Chan

Whilst only in a few episodes I find Ruco Chan a refreshing actor amongst TVB, he has a very distinctive style of portraying his characters which allows him to play the "grittier" actors well. I hope he gets more chances this year as he deserves to be recognised.

Chris Lai

Chris Lai just needs to be given a chance, he portrayed his character decently and in general I like watching Chris

Evergreen Mak

A nice portrayal of a Hong Kong dad, sometimes arrogant but in the end is a good father and husband.

Best Supporting Actress

Kristal Tin

I loved her housewife with ambitions stance to life. Her bickering with Evergreen seemed very genuine, it was definitely a lovely pairing.

Best Couple

Chris Lai and Elaine Yiu

Originally I wasn't planning on giving this award to any couple, funny isn't it - a drama revolving around marriage doesn't have a favourite couple! But then Chris and Elaine's last scene sealed the deal for me. That was such a shocking end to the couple but then I started to think about all the scenes they had together and I just got won over by the rather dramatic end which seemed scarily sweet. Basically they were hit by a driver that had taken drugs. Both of them were trapped by the bonnet of the car, both obviously in critical danger but then the car explodes! That really woke me up, I almost got a bit teary because they had just taken their wedding photos.

Favourite Male Character

No Nominees

Favourite Female Character

Yoyo Mung

Go 港女!

Recognition Award

Yvonne Ho

Yvonne isn't the best actress but she is always a great addition to an all female group. I loved her scenes with Yoyo Mung.

Meini Cheung

I rarely see Meini in a series but she always does decently in a series I think, she needs more chances.

The Rippling Blossom

The Rippling Blossom is very watchable but there are a few annoying quirks that didn't work for me. For one I found the main drama storyline of Michael Tse fighting with Angelina Lo over inheritance dull. It just wasn't written well and the whole backdrop to the story seemed a bit dated and at times illogical. The highlight of this drama is definitely to the right of the poster - Myolie Wu, Julian Cheung, Damian Lau and Eileen Yeow's part of the story. That section was much more enjoyable to watch and brought the audience a lot of sweetness, though I did find the last episode of the Myolie/Julian pair a bit odd when she left him because she thought she was a lifebuoy to him. I think the Michael Tse/Tavia Yeung story was poorly written, it tried to bring a more serious and dramatic tone to this drama but I thought it fell flat. In the first few episodes I was really confused about the two, I didn't understand where they fell in love, at first I thought they knew each other beforehand but they didn't so that seemed a bit illogical. Also not to nitpick but an annoying error I found is that Luisa Lui is portraying a 50 year old Michael Tse, her son, is 35... Ok I'm not saying it's impossible for Luisa Lui to have Michael Tse but she's a mistress, are they trying to say that Felix Lok impregnated her when she was a teen? Felix publicly recognises Michael Tse as his son so wouldn't there be a media raucous if this was true? I honestly doubt TVB would write such a storyline. I think it should have ditched a lot of the darker side of the storyline and focused more on the light-hearted sweetness of the drama. Anyway onto the nominations.

Best Actor

Julian Cheung

A good job by Julian Cheung, his character was likeable already but Julian put his own slant in his portrayal to make him more likeable. This character won't (or shouldn't) win him any Best Actor Awards but he's definitely in contention to winning my (own) favourite character award.

Best Actress

Tavia Yeung

Tavia always provides a decent portrayal even for some of the more boring characters. Whilst I think Tavia acted her scenes well, especially the emotional ones, I found that her story and character were written quite badly she seems to flip 180 every so often and is rather simple minded for a character that delves into the darker side of this plot. Whilst Tavia is always a delight to watch Tavia's character will not be what I remember for this series.

Myolie Wu

I was debating to myself whether to nominate her, obviously in the end I did. I think Myolie does overact at times but that's why she suits more light hearted roles like this one and she has great comedic timing. I was unsure whether to nominate her or not because of her slight overacting but I think it actually made her all the more adorable in this character.

Best Supporting Actor

Pierre Ngo

One will definitely compare Pierre with previous portrayals of mentally disabled characters as there aren't that many memorable ones. To be honest at this moment I can only remember Myolie Wu in Golden Faith and Roger Kwok in Life Made Simple. With Myolie's portrayal she was still very much a newbie at the time but I found her portrayal endearing and quite accurate, though at times you could also find it hard to distinguish whether her character was a girly teen or actually disabled. With Roger I thought he was endearing, slightly overrated, but still a good performance. Then we have Pierre, I think Pierre did well and in my opinion out of the three I have mentioned he probably did the best in actually portraying a mentally disabled child, I think he was the most realistic. What won me over was that he never actually looked at people, I think he spent a lot of time researching the character and that's what makes him stand out. However I think his acting was still a bit raw at times but I still commend Pierre for this.

Damian Lau

I think Damian was a little out of his depth for this character but he transformed brilliantly into his role. At times he did look a bit over the top but like Myolie I think it made him more endearing e.g. the times when he pouted, I think it's to do with him not being use to this type of character but instead when he did it it made him more likeable. I think acting wise he suits the more serious dramas but this is probably my favourite character of his.

Best Supporting Actress

Eileen Yeow

Eileen seems to be getting a lot more promotion lately, well I like Eileen so that's fine with me. She portrayed her character very well, the soft spoken traditional woman who just wanted to be besides her love. She was a lovely part of the plot, very likeable and demure.

Best Couple

Julian Cheung and Myolie Wu

I love their chemistry and its always great to watch a comedic romance plot. They will definitely be strong contenders for this award at the end of the year. I loved the whole "Common Man's Diary" thing and the post it notes were also very touching, these details are much more well thought out than the darker side to this drama and that's why TVB needs to learn that not all dramas need a dramatic touch.

Favourite Male Character

Julian Cheung

As I said how can you not like this kind of character and Julian suited this role perfectly.

Favourite Female Charcater

Myolie Wu

Myolie needs some recognition and this character should be (though it probably wouldn't be) the one to get her there. 

Best Chemistry

Damian, Eileen, Julian, Myolie

They made this drama work, without their chemistry this drama would be an absolutely snore.

Home Troopers

I liked this series at the start but by the latter episodes it had just changed so much it was unrecognisable. The characters just didn't flow as well because of the unnecessary drama written into the story. The ending was a little bland as well. Whilst it wouldn't fit well with the series I'd almost rather see Liza die to create some sort of reaction rather than the "happily ever after" scenario. I liked the earlier episodes much more for it's hearty family drama appeal.

Best Actor

Ha Yu

Ha Yu always puts in a decent performance. He plays the caring father really well and he has good comedic timing. However I didn't like the Angela Tong and Ha Yu storyline - it never made sense to me and it just didn't seem to have a purpose - and was there a purpose for Angela Tong? I like Angela but her character and some others just didn't seem necessary. I think there were too many characters for this small drama which made it difficult to give all of them enough screen time for their characters to make sense.

Best Actress

Liza Wang

I'm starting to like Liza Wang's acting. The past three or four series Liza Wang has done a very good job I think and Home Troopers continues that trend. I think she portrayed her character very well and made the series more interesting to watch. Her role didn't make sense in the latter episodes because it seemed uncharacteristic of her character to do what she did but she still performed well.

Best Supporting Actor

No Nominees

Best Supporting Actress

Mandy Wong

Mandy Wong continues to impress and in her largest role she has shown the beginnings to a great actress. She is very natural in her emotions I think and her character was portrayed very believably. Good job Mandy.

Best Couple

No Nominees

Most Improved Actor

No Nominees

Most Improves Actress

No Nominees

Favourite Male Character

No Nominees

Favourite Female Character

No Nominees

Breakthrough Performance

No Nominees

Best Chemistry

No Nominees

Most Annoying Character

Christine Kuo

I'm not necessarily annoyed by her performance here but I'm annoyed with Christine because I'm disappointed. I love Christine, she is absolutely beautiful and classy but acting is not her thing and sadly I'd wish she just not pursue it. Her Cantonese is awful and even if she improves it she does not have the confidence to make it not distract. She already seemed very quiet and reserved at Miss Chinese International so I don't see how she could become a good actress. I have to compare her to Fala Chen here, I'm not saying Fala is the best but she has really improved and she is becoming one of the best new line actresses. Fala has the confidence and the charm which makes her a credible actress but Christine doesn't have that and therefore she is better off as eye candy.

Recognition Award

No Nominees

I just wanted to mention Vincent Wong and the two twins even though I haven't nominated them for anything. Vincent did well here, though he didn't stand out I'd say so I haven't nominated him. Whilst the twins did well for newbies but I'm not really bothered about them so I haven't nominated them for anything.

I was going to nominate Kevin Cheng but I felt his character was too one note and his acting was consequently so. Bernice Liu could have been nominated a favourite character award but then her character got confusing and her character was written awfully on the latter episodes.

I leave you now with an image of the cast in Thai costume!

Links to Temptation

Links to Temptation had its highs and its lows, the plot was interesting and some areas were developed really well but there were also many illogical sections of the storyline. One of the few illogical parts (SPOILER) was Timmy Hung's character. The fact that he was the one who killed Lau Dan and Yoyo Mung on Kenny's orders was just totally random. Whilst I understand the logic in why Timmy would do that, Kenny being his only "friend" that stuck with him, I think they should have developed that a bit more. That part of the plot makes sense but it doesn't flow smoothly. However I did like how we all forgot about Kenny but he was in fact the person behind the chaos - that was really well developed in my opinion. The whole series were filled with these clever plots/illogical plots, I enjoyed watching Links to Temptation because it was different, very characteristic of Tsui Yu On but I think the story needed a bit more development.

This story had the potential to be big but it failed on some accounts and the ending was a bit anti-climatic, like a lot of TVB series.

Best Actor

Steven Ma

It was a solid performance from Steven Ma. It wasn't his best though. Whilst there was nothing to complain about he just didn't stand out for me, neither did I like his character. One of the flaws I found in the plot was Steven's undying love for Fala, where did their relationship develop? All I remember is that Steven one day went to Macau, saw a poster of Fala and suddenly fell head over heals for her. Now that sounds really really shallow. Steven's love for Fala didn't develop, it started and ended the same crazy way. I think it would have been better if we were introduced into the story in a different way because the Steven/Fala plot just didn't work for me.

Best Actress

Yoyo Mung

Yoyo Mung was undoubtedly my favourite in this series. Her acting may not have been solid in every single scene e.g. her eyes still lack emotion at times, but she did a very good job overall and her character was much more interesting, though slightly illogical, compared to the rest. I think this is one of Yoyo's best performances and I'm surprised she could act her character so well.

Fala Chen

By the end Fala's character annoyed me but I do think Fala did a decent job in this series. I think this type of character suits her quite well. Fala is becoming a very well rounded actress, whilst I don't agree on her having won two best supporting actress awards already I think she is becoming one of TVB's best young artistes. I just want to comment on her character though, it annoyed me that she followed Yoyo so diligently to the point she'd drug Lau Dan, yet again the story needed to develop the strong foundations between Yoyo and Fala, possibly through flashbacks because we were just introduced to their "strong" friendship and nothing was done to make it believable.

Best Supporting Actor

Johnson Lee

I guess his character was the most normal, but how he was written didn't allow the viewer to relate to him, he always provided logic but he never showed that much emotion and that's where his character failed to gel with the viewer but Johnson did do well in this series. You forget that Johnson is actually a decent actor after watching him in stuff like Fuk Luk Sau.

Kenny Wong

I think Kenny did well in this series, he was annoying and utterly evil, but one thing which was good was that he stayed that way throughout. His acting was believable and he played that spoiled son character convincingly. It's important to have a character to hate throughout and he played that character well.

Lau Dan

Another character I felt pity for, Lau Dan made this role very nice to watch, it was interesting to see what would happen with him and Fala and throughout the series he was one of the characters of reason, somebody neither crazy, delusional or OTT. It was quite sad seeing him being plotted against because he was a lovely father.

Best Supporting Actress

No Nominees

Best Couple

No Nominees

Most Improved Actor

No Nominees

Most Improved Actress

No Nominees

Favourite Male Character

No Nominees

Favourite Female Character

Yoyo Mung

Yes really. I hated her character at the start, how she tied up her mother, bent on revenge and lied to every "friend" she had, but after everybody found out about her craziness her character became more likeable. By the end when she died I just couldn't dislike her, instead I pitied her character. I just seemed to forget about all the atrocities she had done but instead came to, in some way, understand her character. I think a mix of good character development and acting allowed Yoyo's character to be rather likeable towards the end.

Breakthrough Performance

Sarah Song

This is the second series I have seen Sarah Song in, the first she was a cameo in Twilight Investigation but she held a larger role in Links to Temptation. I think Sarah's acting is quite natural actually, I'd definitely like to see her in more series. She was also a true and realistic friend.

Best Chemistry

No Nominees

Most Annoying Character

Timmy Hung

Timmy's character didn't annoy me until the big reveal at the end, his character just seemed illogical, as I have already said earlier on. The stuttering I think was meant to make the audience pity him but it just made him more annoying when I think about it, because his character didn't need that, by the end it just got repetitive and irrelevant.

Recognition Award

Mary Hon

Mary Hon doesn't get much recognition from TVB so I'm giving her this award.

Twilight Investigation

My first post on a series part of the TVB 44th Anniversary. I must admit I fell in love with this series. The plot is actually quite engaging and interesting, it is definitely one of TVB's best comedy/mystery series. I just found this series a bit different to the normal fare of TVB and the cast is decent. I would definitely put it as one of my favourite TVB series this year and it will be a strong contender, for me, in the 44th Anniversary Awards. It's a shame that it's broadcast time is just after the awards ceremony and right around the Christmas period, generally a filler position. It's ratings haven't been high, which is a shame, because Twilight deserves much better than 28/29 points.

Clichéd but there's a gap in my life without Twilight Investigation! Very few TVB series have made me feel this way but this year three managed that, A Fistful of Stances, No Regrets and now Twilight Investigation. The ending however left me split. I didn't really know how to react, though I must say it was a very good ending. But should I feel sad that Wong Hei died? Or should I be happy that he is reunited with Linda Chung, both as humans. It feels so weird that a happy ending requires the main lead to die. However in my heart I always knew if there was a "logical" happy ending Wong Hei would need to die and meet Linda again. Whilst I loved how they filmed the final scenes where they were reunited as children I think it would have been even better if they linked it back with how Linda told Wong Hei how he could find her, like the dried prawns thing.

There were flaws in the story, I admit. The cases were at times typical of TVB standards. However most of the cases were generally engaging but I found the last case, which rounded off the series, a bit bland. It was quite obvious how the story was going to develop. However what made this series, in my opinion, better than many of its kind, was that it focused on developing one main plot - the relationship of Wong Hei and Linda Chung, the cases were only a side comment to the series. Yes there were many other interesting relationships, which is another key to its success, but it did spend enough time in making the romantic link between Wong Hei and Linda believable. I find many TVB series just make the romantic link and then leave it, nothing continues, the story seems to head in other directions when they get together but in Twilight Investigation they kept that main plot going.

Acting wise nobody really gave an award winning performance but I think they all had their strengths and I would happily consider many actors or actresses in this series for awards. So here are, yet again, my nominations...

Best Actor

Wong Hei

I haven't liked most of Wong Hei's recent characters but Gei On Gui, love the name, was a good character for him. Wong Hei still provided some quite cringe-worthy moments, he doesn't deliver comedy that naturally so it was a challenge for Wong Hei. However I liked Wong Hei in this series, he and Linda had an interesting chemistry. But I think Wong Hei has past his heyday, his best portrayals were when he was playing the brash, tough and slightly arrogant characters he did 10 years ago such as Burning Flame I and II, definitely not III because III was boring - that's why TVB don't make a Forensic Heroes III - I'm not a huge fan of Forensic Heroes but it doesn't need any extra episodes!

Anyway it was quite funny when Linda used Johnson to tell Wong Hei that he should wear looser shirts, he did like to wear shirts which were a bit too tight - I wonder if it was his own wardrobe or styled?

Best Actress

Linda Chung

Many may argue that Linda Chung overacted in this series but I think that was necessary to make her character seem rather childish and slightly over the top. Yes there were times when Linda may have slightly overdone it but in general Linda did very well in this role. It's interesting to see Linda play this type of character as she is always likeable and quite cute in these roles, just like in Legend of the Demigods. I think the role of a ghost really made this character one of the best in her repertoire, I was so shocked to find out that Linda Chung was actually a ghost, that was really the turning point in this series - the point when I became intrigued.

Whilst Linda won't win any awards for this character I think she deserved to be considered for Best Character at least because Tuk Chai was just so adorable.

Best Supporting Actor

Raymond Wong

Another series of Raymond Wong, but I'm still not tired of seeing him! He does still have his stiff moments where his eyes look like they are about to pop out of his skull, they just don't seem to convey as much emotion as the rest of his body. But I liked Raymond's comedy input into this series. One side mention, his character was quite well dressed! I think his charisma really helps viewers gravitate towards him.

Power Chan

I really liked Power, especially in his earlier scenes when he just got to know Linda (when Linda still didn't know she was a ghost). I'm not sure Power's character was allowed to develop that much but out of the three (Wong Hei, Linda Chung and Power Chan) Power Chan was the most consistent, acting wise, but that also may be because he wasn't in as many scenes. It's amazing seeing Power Chan transform with every role, he manages to portray these quite outspoken characters despite being nothing like that in real life. It's time Power Chan got some recognition! Sadly TVB will never consider him in a series like this. I would have liked to see Power's character develop a bit more, the part when he stayed in jail because he thought he needed to repent was a bit rushed in my opinion.

Best Supporting Actress

Rebecca Chan

Twilight Investigation allowed Rebecca to shine through based solely on her acting merit. Her character was engaging and actually quite lovable. I loved her name Gei Ho Yan (which sounds like "slightly nice person" in chinese, fits with her character perfectly). I haven't seen Rebecca portray many characters like this but it gave her a lot of memorable screen time and she stood out from most of the cast.

Queenie Chu

Without a doubt Queenie Chu performs the best acting as a serious, commanding woman. Her best portrayals seem to be when she is as a policewoman. Yet again there are still some obvious flaws in her acting but I enjoyed the story so much I didn't really focus too much attention of them. I think Queenie should develop along this route, portray "strong woman" characters and carry on from there. She is actually very believable as a policewoman and she seems to get her "discerning, thinking, angry" expressions very well.

I just have to add, it was really funny seeing how many actors got to try their hand at Linda's character (as Linda occasionally "used their bodies!") but Queenie's scene was one of the most amusing. Queenie was in a coma but her boyfriend, Ben Wong, wanted her to die, Linda saw all of this and used Queenie's body to stop him. The scene that led from this was just so funny, seeing Queenie so exaggerated and Ben so scared that she had suddenly sprung alive and then went back into a coma - priceless.

Best Couple

Linda Chung and Wong Hei

On paper this pair would never work but it did in Twilight Investigation. Maybe it was more to do with the story but I really got to like the Linda/Hei couple.

Raymond Wong (Agassi Cheng) and Queenie Chu

Something about this pairing just worked even when the two weren't together! I wanted to see a lot more scenes of them! But this couple would be incomplete without mentioning their son Agassi Cheng. The fighting and bickering between the two just really worked. From the get go I loved this pair, I remember Queenie was interrogating Raymond at the police station and then Raymond's phone rang, he then asked Queenie in front of everyone in the police station, whether he was going to their sons school or her. I just love those moments in this drama. Twilight Investigation seems to do really well at changing what your initial conception into something else.

Most Improved Actor

No Nominees

Most Improved Actress

Lee Yee Man

Lee Yee Man has been in a few series but I don't really remember any of them but here she did relatively well - good job.

Queenie Chu

Expect to see Queenie in my Top 5 for Most Improved at my 44th Anniversary Awards!

Favourite Male Character

Raymond Wong

Funny and charismatic Raymond Wong's character Chow Ka-sing really stood out as an extremely likeable character and his relationship with his son was adorable.

Favourite Female Character

Linda Chung

ADORABLE!

Breakthrough Performance

Oceane Zhu

I believe this is Oceane's first TVB series, already I'm loving her! It would be nice if she could speak in Cantonese, as it'll limit the roles she'll be able to take in the future, but in this series it was integrated well and her acting is very realistic.

Best Chemistry

Everybody that could see Linda Chung

The Wong Hei-Power Chan-Linda Chung trio and Wong Hei-Johnson Lee-Raymond Wong-Linda Chung quartet were both great, especially the trio, it was heart-warming to see the three reunited in the ending.

Most Annoying Character

Ram Tseung

Why destroy the harmony! The car crash he caused was so damn evil! And he tried to use being mentally ill as an excuse for his crimes! His character was plain annoying but then couple that with Ram Tseung! I like Ram but his laugh just annoys me, especially when he tries to laugh evilly!

Recognition Award

Johnson Lee

Whilst individually I don't think he was strong enough to be nominated he made a great duo with Raymond Wong, it was weird seeing TVB writing a bromance relationship!

Agassi Cheng

Agassi was such an adorable kid and definitely one of the more natural child actors on TVB.

Mandy Lam

Mandy needs some recognition! She's beautiful and actually a very good actress.

Macy Chan

A good performance from Macy, her character was also very interesting.

Janice Shum

Sorry can't find a good image of her but I was slightly teary when I saw her in the interrogation room admitting her crimes she was so emotional.

Now I leave you with a fabulous graphics to round off my first review for a TVB 44th Anniversary series.