Reaching Out
Jade, 7.30pm
TVB launches a new Canto-drama with a ring of familiarity to it this week. Reaching Out, produced by Lee Tim-shing, revolves around the relationships between three orphans (played by Lam Ka-tung, Benny Chan, both above, and Nicola Cheung) who grew up together. One of the sub-plots has Lam's character falling for a terminally ill woman (Kenix Kwok). Perhaps it has something to do with the series' Cantonese title, but doesn't that remind you of the popular Japanese soap Beautiful Life in which Kimura Takuya becomes hopelessly in love with the dying Tokiwa Takako?
Then again, originality is hardly a quality you would normally associate with locally-produced TV dramas these days. They are, in general, poorly written, badly acted and rather predictable. Even the extremely popular series Healing Hands was branded by critics as the local version of the American hospital drama ER. Its sequel, Healing Hands II, despite high ratings, did not quite match the appeal of the first series. ATV will soon be airing its medical drama (written by Gary Tang Tack-hee, who wrote Healing Hands) which is provisionally - and perhaps confusingly - called Healing Hearts.
So what's going on? Canto-dramas have not always been this bad. Way back in the 70s and 80s people used to rush home to watch these homemade series. Award-winning actors including Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Francis Ng, Carina Lau Ka-ling and Maggie Cheung Man-yuk have all, at some point in their careers, acted in local TV productions. OK, last year's War Of The Genders surprised many with its great script and did wonders for the careers of Dodo Cheng and comedian Dayo Wong.
But these success stories are few and far between. The problem lies mainly with a lack of good scriptwriters and competition. I have received many complaints about TVB's comedy drama Broadcast Life over its pointlessness. However, I will not be at all surprised if it has high ratings. After all, for thousands in Hong Kong, turning on TVB is just a reflex action as they return home in the evening.