WE INTERRUPT normal programming to bring you a newsflash: Paul George, the face of TVB Pearl for the past six years is leaving the station.
Hang on, this just in: he isn't really leaving, but actually . . . well, why not let him pick up the script from here.
George has quit TVB Pearl, but will still work for the channel on a limited basis as a freelance contributor. ''Time to move on,'' the urbane presenter said with a shrug. ''Time for fresh challenges.'' No mysteries, no wrangling with the station that helped him break into the industry, no storming off in a tantrum.
''I feel I can make more money on the outside,'' said George over lunch. With the ink on his resignation barely dry, he claimed to have increased his income by ''a considerable amount without even trying''.
Among the projects he is pursuing are a sports programme and a Vietnam project with TVB colleague Sue Brooks.
To Joe Viewer, it will appear as if nothing has changed. George will continue to appear on camera during Eye on Hong Kong and write scripts. But that is as far as his involvement will go.
Money on a different level is another reason George left. With minuscule production budgets on which to operate, he said it was difficult to create programming.
