Surely the award for the Most Stupid Television Channel must go to TVB Pearl.
After spending the whole of Monday dodging phone calls from friends in the US and turning a blind eye (and deaf ear) to all news reports, I was looking forward to getting home and watching the Oscar Awards ceremony on TVB and being surprised to find out who the winners were. So what does the channel do? Following its main evening news report, which I had purposely decided not to watch in case the results of the awards show were announced, TVB Pearl decides to screen yet another one of its dumb promos, this time showing actor Jim Carrey on stage at the ceremonies, various shots of most of the winners, all punctuated by that gormless TVB-induced voice-over going on about: 'Don't worry, Jim, congratulate the winners - Steven Spielberg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Roberto Benigni - and watch all the other surprises.' Huh? What other surprises? The channel managed to blow any surprises it might have had in 30 short seconds.
Then, three minutes later and following the weather report, Pearl Entertainment tells us to stay tuned for all the 'excitement' and 'surprises' of the Oscars while Countdown To The Oscars tried to build up 'all the excitement, all the awards, all the surprises'.
On the subject of the station promos being screened by both English channels (has anyone seen the one for When Good Pets Go Bad?), who on earth writes and creates these? For a lesson in the art of writing and producing good station promos, I would suggest both channels watch some of the on-air promos presently being screened on Star TV.
One of them even makes cricket sound downright exciting to even those who might not know an lbw from a BMW.
HANS EBERT The Peak
