Text | Xiaoyu
This year's TVB Thousands of Stars Awards Ceremony once again sent a wave of "memory killing" to Hong Kong drama fans.
"Golden Night Mansion 2" Chen Shancong was named "Emperor of Sight", "Shangche Family" Jiang Meiyi was promoted to "Queen", and the two popular post-70s actors won awards and were praised. Zeng Lizhen, "Sister Zhen" who has worked for TVB for 49 years, Zeng Zhiwei, who is now the deputy general manager of TVB, and other high-level people sit in the office, showing the strength of the veteran backbone.
The award guest lineup is super luxurious, with Ren Dahua, Zheng Zeshi, Ye Tong, Zhang Aijia and other actors and actresses gathering together to attract attention. There are also reunions of the crew of "Criminal Investigation Files" represented by Tao Dayu, Liang Rongzhong and Guo Keying and the crew of "The Legend of Relying on the Sky and Slaying the Dragon" represented by Wu Qihua and Zhang Zhaohui.
In addition to the award winners, the focus of the annual TVB awards ceremony is also focused on the famous old artists, and the weight of the combination of the two basically determines the volume of the awards ceremony on that day. This year, this heavy wave of "memory killing" continued to help the awards ceremony gain high attention from audiences and media in both places.
However, in the carnival of "Ye Qing Hui", it is always accompanied by sighs about the serious status quo of TVB actors. Especially in the eyes of mainland audiences, TVB has rarely had strong new faces emerging in recent years
01
Shortlisted and nominated, a list of new generation artists
Although the best male and female protagonist laurels fall on the old artists who have debuted for decades, the overall award distribution of this year's TVB Awards is actually biased towards the younger generation.
The most popular TV male role second only to the honor of "Emperor of Vision" was awarded to post-95 actor Zhou Jialuo, and the opponents who competed with him were Lin Minqing, Ma Guoming and other predecessors.
As one of TVB's most popular students in recent years, Zhou Jialuo honed his acting skills in sitcoms earlier. In 2019, he won the award with the first nomination for "Love Home Happy Express", becoming the youngest and best actor in TVB history. Last year, this green leaf was officially promoted to the protagonist, playing the male protagonist Ji Wei in the costume romantic comedy "His Royal Highness the Riffraff ". At the same time, he also played an important supporting role in the major theme tribute drama "Return".
Next, "His Royal Highness the Riffraff" has confirmed that the original cast has returned to shoot a sequel. He also played a sibling love in "Pet Pet Pet" with his partner "Behind the Eyes" Lin Xiawei, and played a supporting role in "Romeo and Zhu Yingtai" and "Tsundere and Zhang Jing" starring Chen Hao.
With both tangible acting skills and audience popularity, and sufficient resources to pave the way, Zhou Jialuo may not be unable to become the "next Ma Guoming".
Chen Ying (89), the heroine of "His Royal Highness the Riffraff", is also an artist favored by TVB, and lost this competition "after the eyes". The starring drama she broadcast last year also included the TVB Taiwan celebratory drama "Beautiful Battlefield", but unfortunately the reputation failed, and the Douban score was only 4.0. The audience generally recognized Chen Ying's performance in the two dramas, but appreciated the actress Jiang Jiamin (89 years) of "Beautiful Battlefield". Her role as the "anti-bone qi" Zhong Jiaqi made the audience hate it and gnash their teeth, and finally won the Best Actress Award.
Another heroine of "Beautiful Battlefield", Liu Peiyue (89), won the Malaysia's favorite TVB actress award for this drama. Previously, the medical professional drama "Jumping Lifeline" starring her was the first drama to be broadcast simultaneously in the mainland and TVB. Subsequently, Liu Peiyue's drama reserves are also quite rich, and the main supporting roles are equally responsible.
The purpose of the Leap Progressive Artist Award is to encourage a new generation of actors, and this time it was won by Wu Weihao and Guo Baiyan respectively. The 98-year-old Wu Weihao is also a sitcom, and last year he played the role of "Multi-gold Boss" Au Jiaqian in "Return" and received praise. The 97-year-old Guo Baiyan has only been in the industry for two years, but has appeared in many dramas. Last year, they performed well in "Return" and "The Boarding Family", and the next works to be broadcast include "The Exorcist Dragon Family Ma Xiaoling" and "The Infernal War", all starring well-known old artists. The young and good-looking Wu Weihao and Guo Baiyan are obviously potential stocks worth looking forward to.
The 90-year-old Wang Haoer is an entertainer who has developed a singer and actor amphibious development, and her theme song "Wish" for "White Strongman 2" won the honor of the most popular TV song. Last year, she participated in "His Royal Highness the Riffraff" and "Beautiful Battlefield", and was nominated as a female artist who leapfrogged forward.
The award is always in a state of more monks and less porridge, and it also has a certain gold content to be able to get the slightly inferior top ten nominations. In 96, Chen Jiahui played the heroine in the short drama "Falling in Love with My God of Decline", which was nominated for awards such as the most popular female role and the leap forward female artist. In 97, Liu Yingxuan was shortlisted for Best Actress with the fantasy action drama "Super Messenger". Yan Mingxi, who was 05, won many mainland fans in the co-organized variety show "Endless Sound", and she was also nominated for the Leap Progress Female Artist Award. Ding Zilang in 97 was nominated for Best Actor, and He Guangpei in 88 and Zhang Zhenlang in 87 were nominated for the most popular TV male role. In addition, Luo Yuyi, You Jiaxin, Zhu Minhan and other small flowers and students are also new forces that have attracted a lot of attention in TVB.
Lin Xiawei is Lin Feng's cousin and entered TVB earlier. He switched to the arms of Shaw Brothers Pictures four years ago and recently reappeared on the TVB artist list. Lin Xiawei used the unflattering "Seven Princesses" to beat Zhong Jiaxin to win the "Behind the Eye", which caused great controversy, and I don't know if returning to TVB can convince the audience. In addition to "Pet Pet Pet", works such as "The Law Speaker" and "The Curious Case Against the Sky 2" starring her will be broadcast successively this year.
Similar to Lin Xiawei's situation, although Cai Sibei in 91 was praised as "behind the scenes" by the owner, her wind reviews and acting skills made her audience popular. Her starring drama "Hello, My Doctor" is partnered with He Guangpei, Wu Weihao and other artists, and the "Infernal War" and "King of Kings" are tentatively scheduled to be broadcast this year.
The TVB Awards Ceremony has always been an internal family gathering, and the results are determined by the audience, TVB artists and managers, and the final winners often have the recognition of both the audience and the company's senior management. Therefore, the artists who are honored at the awards ceremony are naturally more likely to become the new generation that supports TVB.
02
Reasons for discontinuity:
TVB audience narrowed, and the cultivation process was limited
Many of the artists mentioned above are also continuing to output high-quality film and television works, but compared with the era when Hong Kong stars were crowded in the mainland, many of them are not even as well-known as domestic entertainment idols. Old artists keep going north to set off a wave of nostalgia, but new artists are close to "stealth", how did TVB's green and yellow state cause it?
Works are the foundation of artists, and the reason why the veteran Hong Kong stars can make mainland audiences treasure is because their works are classics, and some have influenced the conceptual changes of a generation. Now, the repeated narrowing of the audience of Hong Kong dramas has trapped TVB newcomers, and they have also lost an efficient way to transmit to the mainland.
Take the TVB Awards Ceremony's Best Drama "The Boarding Family" as an example, which is broadcast exclusively by Jade Channel, buried in piles and webcast, and is not authorized to be broadcast on mainland TV stations and mainstream video platforms. If mainland audiences do not take the initiative to understand the TVB broadcast plan, they will basically not be able to contact the information of the drama, which makes similar Hong Kong dramas less likely to develop more new users. Compared with the mainland dramas that are evaluated by tens of thousands of people, the number of Douban ratings of the drama is only just over 5,000.
Of course, TVB and mainland partners should have other considerations for not introducing the drama, perhaps limited to special regional themes, or perhaps intended to promote new webcasting apps. Last year, Youku Video, which cooperates closely with TVB, launched a number of TVB works as always, including the traditional legal drama "Forensic Pioneer 5", as well as the novel fantasy action drama "Super Messenger", but the popularity is average. In fact, since 2014's "Apostle Walker", TVB has not had any dramas that have swept the mainland, and most of them are only out of the circle in a small area.
In addition to the decline of Hong Kong dramas in the mainland, TVB's artist training model and casting process also set many restrictions on newcomers. Newcomers sign a manager contract with TVB, and TVB is completely responsible for the artist's work arrangement. At the beginning, the manager will arrange various training, acting, hosting and other work, and then observe the actual ability and characteristics of the artist to arrange the most suitable position.
On the one hand, this mode and process allows the actors of TVB dramas to fit the characters as much as possible, but on the other hand, it also shackles the actors' path. Whoever has successfully played a policeman will always play a policeman; Whoever doesn't look like the protagonist can only be a supporting role all the time. The quality of the series may be initially guaranteed, but it is difficult for the development of artists to reach a higher level.
TVB artists are relatively rare to play the leading role once they are signed, and everyone has to train in small supporting roles for some years, and then meet the right opportunity to be promoted to starring. The post-85 artists mentioned above have basically debuted for more than ten years, and have either been playing important supporting roles, or have only had the opportunity to play important supporting roles and protagonists in recent years. Moreover, in this year's award list, many artists played protagonists and supporting roles at the same time, and the overlap rate of works was very high. These are different from the mainland star-making industry, and the cost and difficulty of TVB new artists are obviously much higher.
In addition, the poor treatment of artists is also a problem that TVB has been criticized, which is an important reason for the serious loss of the company's artists. The last "five lives" and "five flowers" of TVB's golden age are only Ma Guoming, and the others have left the nest.
It is not necessarily the salary problem that prompts them to find another way, but it is an indisputable fact that TVB cannot retain people. The ability of these Mesozoic pillars to carry dramas is undoubted, if they continue to play for TVB, they may be able to better play the tradition of "old with new" and continue the popularity of Hong Kong dramas. Newcomers who are not valued will hardly have a future in TVB, and they cannot seek external resources without permission, and the result is that they have potential and can only be consumed by time.
03
Nostalgia brand is high risk,
TVB needs a new generation of artists
Since the average age of the starring actors of the series is often above 40+, TVB Jade Channel has been complained by some viewers as "Old Man Channel". TVB loves to produce a sequel, and the best choice is definitely the return of the original cast, but the problem of the increasing age of the actors cannot be avoided. Moreover, actors with the ability to carry dramas have not been updated, and it has become the norm for new and old artists to be ranked according to seniority, and TVB's starring lineup will never be able to turn over tricks.
The risk of nostalgia is high, and TVB must use the power of the new generation of artists to take a younger path.
Youth idol dramas are a major way for domestic entertainment to export young artists, but it is not TVB's specialty. In various professions, police bandits, and palace fighting dramas, familiar old faces make both the capital and the audience feel more secure.
However, in the past two years, some of the youth romance dramas output by TVB have a light tone, and although the ratings are not as good as traditional genre dramas, the volume on social networking sites is higher. Such as "Beautiful Battlefield", "His Royal Highness the Riffraff" and so on. The most popular TV partner of this year's awards ceremony was awarded to "His Royal Highness the Riffraff ", in which the four main actors Zhou Jialuo, Chen Ying, Wang Haoer and Zhu Minhan are only 89 years old, with an average age of about 30 years old.
Once the northbound road led by TVB directors and followed by artists, now TVB management takes the initiative to expand the mainland market and get closer to mainland audiences. The connection between TVB and domestic entertainment is getting stronger and stronger, but the continuous focus on nostalgia has made many netizens think that TVB will only "eat the old book" to make money in the mainland.
This is certainly not the purpose of TVB, but it does illustrate the long way to go for TVB's revival. It is hoped that TVB can enable newcomers to conquer mainland audiences with solid business capabilities and inject real fresh power.
TVB once represented the highland of Asian film and television culture, and its goals will not be limited to the mainland. As Li Ruigang, a non-executive director of the board, said, "TVB is necessary to expand and integrate the mainland, but as a platform and base for Hong Kong's creative culture, TVB's vision and pursuit should be more oriented towards the vast world." ”
TVB's dramas are representative of Hong Kong dramas, which, like mainland dramas and Taiwanese dramas, contain unique cultural symbols and regional needs. We still look forward to the three giving full play to their strengths, healthy competition, and creating brilliant Chinese dramas together.