Super Manager
Home, 8.35pm
I didn't think this bizarre game show would make it out of the never-never land of kitsch TV. Yes, it has two great hosts, the award-winning actors Sandra Ng and Francis Ng (above), and is produced by the Emperor Group-backed People's Production. But viewers surely wouldn't tune into a programme that featured bikini-clad young women being force-fed with insects and singing karaoke out of sync and tune, I thought. This being Hong Kong . . . I was wrong.
Despite lower-than-average weekly ratings (which hover between five and six points, or 350,000 viewers), Super Manager has become a talking point. The women on the show are certainly getting their fair share of coverage in the local showbiz weeklies and I am surprised at the number of people - from all walks of life - that have been following this 'competition'. They say the entertainment value is high and it is actually very funny.
Well, I finally watched an episode and in a bizarre sort of way, I agree. The segment in which 'contestants' have to play a part in a mock-up movie (starring, naturally, the two Ngs) is hilarious. They have just finished recording the ninth show of the 13-episode series. One winner emerges from each episode to compete for the grand prize in the grand final. We don't know what the prize is yet because ATV and People's Production have yet to work that one out but I hope, for the women's sake, it is something that is worth swallowing live insects for.
