A look back at TVB Anniversary dramas in the past several years.
2011
Forensic Heroes III – The popular Forensic Heroes franchise was rebooted with a fresh cast in an ultra-high-tech atmosphere. Reigning TV King Wayne Lai finds chemistry with a new partner in Maggie Cheung, boosting the series to the top rank in ratings for 2011. Still, Wayne and the series lose to Kevin Cheng’s Law Ba and Ghetto Justice.
Curse of the Royal Harem – Another palace-scheming production pitting very intelligent women against each other and a rather useless emperor in the background. The series was a new challenge to the actresses as Jessica Hsuan participated in her first Qing-dynasty palace drama and Myolie Wu was cast in her first villian role. Though Jessica’s character prevails in the series, Myolie is the ultimate winner in capturing her first TV Queen title.
Super Snoops – Liza Wang and the Three Gods bring their cross-dressing and imitation talents from variety show to drama. This was the first comedy used as a TVB Anniversary series since 2007. However, the silliness of the series didn’t attract many viewers and the series only managed average ratings, not even breaking into the top ten for the year.
2010
Gun Metal Grey – This series had an intriguing premise about a vigilante police officer, supported by a stellar cast, including two of the Five Tigers – Michael Miu and Felix Wong. Felix agreed to return to TVB for the 30th anniversary of the first collaboration between him and Michael. Unfortunately, TVB seemed to favour No Regrets more and neglect Gun Metal Grey, leading to a sour ending for TVB and Felix.
No Regrets – Following the success of Rosy Business, Wayne Lai and Sheren Tang led the audience back to the wartime era. The epic and moving story of Lau Sing and Miss Kau easily matched the success of its predecessor as it nearly swept the awards ceremony. Wayne and Sheren became the first duo to win back-to-back TV King and Queen. Surprisingly though, No Regrets lost out on the Best Drama award to Can’t Buy Me Love.
2009
Born Rich – Featuring a cast of A-listers, the drama marked the return to TVB of several prominent actors, such as Ray Lui, Kenix Kwok and Jamie Chik. But in the end, it failed to materialize as the audience were simply uninterested in the case of older generation actors and the illogical plot.
2008
Gem of Life – The 82 episode mega-production was all about glamour and riches. It was the most expensive television drama ever produced in Hong Kong history, having a $100 million budget. However, the convoluted plot, messy character relations and sheer length of the series turned away many viewers.
When Easterly Showers Fall on the Sunny West – Joe Ma and Charmaine Sheh find themselves together again after the critically acclaimed Maiden’s Vow. But their chemistry wasn’t enough to save the series from finishing near the bottom in terms of ratings.
- Wayne Lai has now starred in an anniversary series for three consecutive years (No Regrets, Forensic Heroes III and The Confidant)
- Nancy Wu has been a part of five anniversary series in the past three years (No Regrets, Gun Metal Grey, Forensic Heroes III, COTRH, The Confidant).
- This is the second year in a row that Wayne and Nancy play a pair in an anniversary series (Forensic Heroes III, The Confidant)
No doubt I love No Regrets, but Gun Metal Grey was totally underrated! I personally liked the series alot too (one of the better series that year) as the cases were quite interesting. Too bad....
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