Overview - Final Destiny

According to legend, the Buddha's discipline, the Great Peng, travelled to the secular world and caused trouble. The Buddha sent an envoy to pursue him, who began a bitter battle against the Great Peng... Five hundred years later, an injured man (Edwin Siu) lays in the wilderness and is saved by an embroidery worker from a small village (Jessica Kan). Edwin becomes a worker at the embroidery and dye house. In his dreams, he meets an eminent monk and unravels the mystery of his own background. Edwin recalls his name and reunites with his good friend (Sammy Sum). Edwin becomes rivals with female constable Roxanne Tong. As the pair bicker, they secretly develop feelings for each other, but Jessica also expresses her feelings to Edwin. Later, the village falls into a black demon crisis. To save the common people, Edwin decides to let go of love and desire. It turns out there is karma and fate is preordained... 

Overview - Sinister Beings

Ruco Chan is a stellar detective in the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau (OCTB). He is brave, competent, highly regarded by his superiors and admired by his colleagues.  But his ultimate dream is to join the Special Duties Unit. Another elite OCTB detective, Ben Wong, has a shrewd mind and lots of experience. Although Ruco and Ben handle things differently, they appreciate each other’s talent and complement one another’s weaknesses. The police get ambushed by criminals and suffer heavy losses. To find the mastermind behind the plot, Ruco gives up his dream and stays at OCTB. Aside from that, Ruco and Ben face a series of complicated and unpredictable unnatural cases. The two of them use reverse thinking, psychological game theory and careful analysis to deconstruct a criminal’s thinking and motives. Nothing can escape from the nets of heaven! 

April Variety Shows

With Eric Tsang at the helm, TVB released a full line-up of new variety shows in April. Here are my thoughts on them:

• Big Big Old World (尋人記): I watched two episodes of this and it was not as boring as I thought it would be. It was interesting to see what has changed and what hasn't for the subjects of the old news clips. Rating: 5/10.

• Stars Academy (聲夢傳奇): The format of the competition is what makes this show thrilling. The staged totally coincidental twists and turns has me at the edge of my seat each week. The singing talent is good for the most part, but not as great as JW's expressions. Rating: 9/10.

• Mamas' Day (日日媽媽聲): This show is unexpectedly hilarious with the three hosts badgering male guests. It is probably borderline male-hating, but women go through enough with pregnancy and childbirth that they should be allowed to have some fun at the expense of men. Rating: 7/10.

• Have a Big Laugh (開心大綜藝): Many people say this show is just a revival of Enjoy Yourself Tonight (EYT), but I don't mind that. The first episode was way too loud and chaotic, which they thankfully fixed in more recent episodes. The segments range from unfunny to mildly entertaining. Rating: 5/10.

• Prankenstein (大整蠱): This show is a straight-up copy of Johnson Lee's Office of Practical Jokes, except with more immature and juvenile pranks. The only watchable part was the "big" prank of each episode and even most of those fell flat. However, the show gave us this cute segment that basically made me an instant fan of Ali Lee, so I will forgive its shortcomings. Rating: 2/10. 

Even though I don’t love all of the shows, it’s great to see TVB finally putting the “variety” back in its variety shows, rather than just travel and cooking shows!