Bernice Liu, Anthony Wong to Film New ViuTV Drama
ViuTV recently held its first official press conference for their new Channel 99 TV programming and drew in a lot of positive feedback due to its exciting program lineup.
Besides their own in-house productions, ViuTV disclosed that they will air more Korean shows, including hit series, W <W兩個世界>. Although lead actress Han Hyo Joo was not able to attend the press conference personally, she filmed a promotional video to be aired at the event in advance, showcasing her support for ViuTV.
Also attending ViuTV’s event was Bernice Liu (廖碧兒), who will star in the station’s lighthearted comedy, Mary and David – EX <瑪嘉烈與大衛系列 前度>. Besides voicing her support for the new station, Bernice will be working with i-Cable’s Fantastic Televisions Limited as well.
Bernice will be working opposite Anthony Wong (黃秋生) in Mary and David – EX. Bernice expressed, “He looks mean, but he’s very well versed and knowledgeable about wine.” Asked if there are any intimate scenes between them, Bernice said, “No! He’s very cool and manly – he likes drinking whiskey. I remember on the first day of work, we were already drinking. In fact, we drank many bottles from different years that day.”
Having invested over $183 million HKD on productions and fees, ViuTV’s Vice President Kam Guang Sing (金廣誠) said, “The bottom line isn’t up for discussion – we’re just doing our job and giving viewers more choices. We invested a lot and we just started our station last year – we have to take things step-by-step. We roughly planned 15 series for this year. Last year, we managed to do 39 live shows, with 350 hours of total airtime, as well as over 150 hours of talk show content.”
Hoping to make a breakthrough in the Hong Kong television industry, which is currently dominated by TVB, ViuTV has recruited Angela Yuan (袁澧林), Elva Ni (倪晨曦), Christy Lai (黎紀君), Inez Leong (梁諾妍), Lam Suet (林雪), and Terrance Lau (劉俊謙) to star in their programs.
Source: Oriental Daily
This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.
The name of the series is actually “Margaret and David: Ex” (not Mary and David). Veteran actress Patricia Ha is also leading the series as well (assuming she will be paired with Anthony in the series). I liked last year’s “Margaret and David: Green Bean” but got kind of annoyed that they keep changing the cast (the web series had a different cast from the TV series version and now part 2 TV version has yet a different cast). Full confidence in Anthony’s acting of course but just wish ViuTV would be more consistent with their casting.
In that same press conference, ViuTV also announced that they will be filming more series in-house — good, finally! With I-cable’s Fantastic Television launching in May, ViuTV definitely needs to up their ante. I’m actually looking forward to a few of ViuTV’s variety programs this year, especially the interview show that Alan Tam will be doing. Fantastic Television has yet to announce anything significant, though I’ll be interested in watching the program that Cindy Au (Roger Kwok’s wife) will be hosting.
i watched an episode and i think the show is very very boring. why are they making more of it?! is anyone actually watching the show?
why can’t they make other dramas if they could get anthony wong, they probably have a big financial backing.
@m0m0 The series is based on a book series of the same name. There are 4 books total and so far ViuTV has filmed 2 of the books – the web series was the first book “Margaret and David: The Beginning”, last year’s “Margaret and David: Green Bean” starring Bowie Lam and Catherine Chau (Poon Chan Leung and Bernice Liu rounded out the main cast for that series) was actually the 4th book. The one Anthony Wong is filming (“Margaret and David: Ex”) is the third book. I’m assuming they are going to film the second book as well at some point (maybe next year?) to finish off the series (though it will probably have a different cast again).
I’m guessing not many people watched the series, which isn’t surprising given that it’s a bit of a niche series that won’t appeal to everyone. The filming was also done very differently from traditional HK series (which Bowie Lam can attest to given that he kept mentioning it at practically every interview he did while the series was being filmed). Think of it as an “arthouse” production of sorts about the idiosyncrasies of an ordinary couple going through the various stages of a relationship – there is no outlandish plot, zero action, and pretty much relies on the expressive acting of the series’ stars to move the plot forward (not unlike how a stageplay works). So basically, it’s not surprising that most audiences who are used to TVB’s series would find it slow and boring. My mom (who has been watching TVB for decades) tried to watch it with me but she gave up after the first episode, whereas I kept watching and ended up enjoying it.
I actually feel ViuTV made a great choice by casting Anthony Wong, since he is a theater veteran with top notch acting that is perfect for a series like this one. The only thing I don’t like is that they filmed the book series out of order and with all different casts so it breaks up the flow of the story.
@llwy12 ohh i haven’t watched m&d but with your description i think i might like it. As i actually enjoy watching drama that talk about life and normal ppl. I find a lot of Japanese drama are like that and i really like jdrama.
@happybi Not sure about J-dramas since I don’t follow Japanese entertainment, but Margaret and David is the type of series that requires a bit of patience to watch, since it is slow-moving and the plot isn’t gimmick-driven like alot of TVB’s series are. It almost forces you to focus on the artists’ acting and all its subtleties such as facial expressions, body language, they way they deliver their dialogue, etc. Some may appreciate the focus on acting, some may not,but one thing’s for sure — the series definitely wasn’t made for TVB’s target audience (which was a deliberate move on ViuTV’s part).