Frothy ghost set to haunt viewers
IF feisty entrepreneur Robert Chua has his way, a ghost of television past is set to haunt the TV screens again.
Do you remember Guess Who's Coming To Yum Cha ? If you've been resident in this town only since the late '80s you probably don't. (While those who do are by now reaching for the Alka-Seltzer!) It was a series that Chua devised, with a story line based around a mixed marriage (i.e. Caucasian and Chinese) household.
To say the English language soap shown on TVB Pearl was all froth and bubble is putting it mildly. The show bombed out spectacularly.
But now, about eight years on, Chua is in discussion with the TV stations about repeating the show - and we understand they have been surprisingly receptive to the idea.
Not unnaturally, Chua, who had one of his earliest TV successes with TVB's long-running Enjoy Yourself Tonight, which was his brainchild, is defensive about Yum Cha.
''It was never as bad as the critics made it out to be,'' he claimed.
''In fact, it was only the gweilo viewers who criticised it, the Chinese viewers found it more acceptable.'' ''In fact, the show went to the top of the ratings when it was shown in Malaysia.
''But I would like the new generation of viewers - both Chinese and non-Chinese - to have the chance to judge the show for themselves, for it was the first time that anyone had attempted to tackle the subject of mixed marriage in a light-hearted sort of way.'' Stay tuned.
