TVB has decided to cancel the Mr. Hong Kong Pageant for 2012, citing the need to clearly re-think the program’s future direction. TVB’s Director of Production, Sandy Yu (余詠珊) said that it was necessary to be clear on whether the Mr. Hong Kong Pageant should emphasize the entertainment value or pursue a high-class/ elegant path.
Sandy Yu said, “Since 2005, the Mr. Hong Kong Pageant has been in existence for 7 years. There have been strong reactions from our society regarding the program. I do not know in the future whether to pursue a high or low track–whether to feature more explosive and entertaining elements or follow a high-class track. Since it is impossible to establish a middle ground between the opposing tracks, we will not produce a Mr. Hong Kong Pageant this year.”
TVB Diverting Company Resources
Since the first Mr. Hong Kong Pageant took place in 2005, the program has attracted many muscular contestants and was extremely popular among female viewers. Although the pageant produced memorable winners such as Matthew Ko (高鈞賢), Benjamin Yuen (袁偉豪), and William Chak (翟威廉) over the years, the winners have not achieved career results on par with the Miss Hong Kong Pageant winners in recent years.
TVB’s decision to cancel the Mr. Hong Kong Pageant this year was clearly made at a time when the company must clearly rethink its programming choices; this year was especially critical for the company to retain viewership due to the entry of new competitors such as City Telecom (CTI) and Now TV.
While TVB cited that it wished to clarify the Mr. Hong Kong Pageant’s focus, the format of the 2012 Miss Hong Kong Pageant was announced to incorporate Reality TV elements, which will clearly increase the program’s entertainment value.
TVB to Develop Police or FireFighter Reality TV Shows?
Sandy Yu expressed the interest to develop new Reality TV shows, such as programs to select legal enforcement personnel. Ms. Yu said , “Firefighters and police officers are heroes in the eyes of the audience. I have proposed the idea [of such a Reality TV show] to the respective City contacts, but they thought I was joking. I will continue to try hard.”
TVB to Devote Resources to Recruit Talent
Losing many of its production staff and artists to CTI, TVB will launch a wide-scale recruitment campaign this summer. An acting training class will also be implemented.
Sources: Ming Pao, Oriental Daily
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Jayne: The Mr. Hong Kong Pageant has enough viewership interest. Although the program’s format was used as a reason, I suspect that they decided to cancel it as it always has been treated as a “stepchild” in comparison the the Miss Hong Kong Pageant. The planning for the programs usually occur concurrently, in which Mr. Hong Kong was held in July and Miss Hong Kong in August. It requires a huge production effort to run the contests one after the other.
I suspect that with the reported mass exodus of TVB production staff gone, they do not have the resources to run two large pageants concurrently. Thus Mr. Hong Kong was sacrificed this year. Obviously, if they wish to make Miss Hong Kong more entertaining this year, while pursuing even more Reality TV programs, then controversy and entertainment value are obviously paths that TVB wish to go down the future.
They just didn’t want to admit that do not have the money and staff to handle Mr. Hong Kong this year. Moving it to later in the year likely conflicts with other variety programming planning and scheduling, new “Bride Wannabes” part 2, Anniversary Gala, Anniversary Awards etc.
That’s too bad! Mr. Hong Kong has become one of the summer’s highights for me!
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I never watched Mr. Hong Kong. The only one I did watch was the year William Chak won, and I was scarred ever since LOL. No doubt the show is EXTREMELY entertaining, but I think TVB had always treated the Mr. HK pageants as a joke (hence why none of the Mr. HKs have really made themselves a name yet) anyways. The whole program is just a cheap, douchey version of Miss HK.
I like the idea of reality shows. A reality show of celebrities sound awesome too LOL. But I’m more of a variety person – so I hope TVB will produce more entertaining variety shows in the future, as in, please bring the Super Trio series back.
Best thing in this article, actually, is that TVB’s finally putting in more sources on training their people.
Addy,
“The only one I did watch was the year William Chak won, and I was scarred ever since LOL.”
Why so scarred? Both the Mr. and Miss Hong Kong Pageants poke fun at the contestants, but I still find Carol Cheng to be a much more respectful MC than Eric Tsang is.
Haha I’ve seen every year of it but I must say it’s more of an entertaining show than anything serious. It’s almost embarrassing to watch the guys strutting in their speedos. And even though Dodo is more respectful as a host, the atmosphere doesn’t allow her to show off her ‘professional’ side. For example, the female guests/judges are so ‘thirsty’ it’s almost annoying although funny (e.g. Christine Ng, etc).
I’m never seen any of the Mr. HK contest but I’ve always felt like many girls go through Miss HK pageants as means of getting into the entertainment circle and thus becoming an actress. I wonder if Mr. HK contestants just want to become actors. If so, maybe TVB should come up with a show like The X Factor.
Good riddance! I have always preferred acting/training class graduates to pageant winners. For the most part, their acting seems more consistent.
Well of course Mr Hong Kongs don’t end up having as great careers to Mrs Hong Kong!
TVB always always promotes Mrs Hong Kongs right away while Mr Hong Kongs always starts off small ( not that they are good in acting, since they all arent good in it) the only one who started to gain good roles was Matthew Ko. And that took a long while compared to Rebecca Zhu who got a lead role right away or Aimee Chan
I thought Him Law is a mr Hong Kong as well.
I think of the Mr Hk’s, the only prominent ones are Matthew Ko and especially Benjamin Yuen. The other ones are Stephen Huynh, and William Chak. As controversial as it is, Mr HK has always been pure entertainment to me, not anything grand and it’s not really like they will represent HK in goodwill activities or international pageants like Miss Hong Kongs would.
I would support more reality TV shows though, Although American TV is saturated with these shows, there is still a lot of opportunity in the HK market and I think the audience will like them as they would be able to relate to the participants in the show. Besides recruiting new talent by putting more focus on training again, the reality shows will be another way to recruit new artists, because not everyone would want to enter a pageant and walk in a swimsuit, and not everyone is a talented singer to enter the Voice. But with the reality TV shows, I think it will attract some talents with unique personalities or good acting skills by starting the proper way such as taking acting classes, and not just have new faces from the pageants or contests that are mainly based on looks.
I’m sad. I’ve enjoyed the previous installments of Mr.HK very much. I hope this cancellation is just temporary and they will bring back the competition in 2013.
Developing more reality-based programming would make sense for TVB. They’re cheaper to produce than scripted shows, and they tap into a relatively open HK market.
However, although that makes sense for them as a business, I won’t like it as a consumer. American television is now saturated with reality programming, much of it low quality and exploitative in nature. I tune in to HK programming to watch series that are acted and written by professionals. Here’s hoping that the additional TV stations will result in more choices for viewers, including some quality programming.
Why? WHY?! Why not divert funding and create star search instead?
B/c Stephen Chan is the only one capable of “diverting funds” and now he’s gone.
Hmm… now I think about it. SC quits and they cancel Mr. Hk the same yr. Coincidence?
Look at it this way. He created this for his own eye candy?? Is that it?
Where did SC quit too?
Uh oh… first signs of restructuring, changes happening with TxB. Wait and see.
They should invest the money in good scriptwriters… Good dramas will attract good actors – I’m sure they’d forsake a bit of their salary in return for a good amount of fame and reputation.
If they had to come up with a variety show, why not one based on an acting training class? Similar to BBC’s “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?” where they were searching for the next musical star? But I guess you can’t just launch the winner straight into first line actor status, whereas starting off on measly roles just don’t sound enticing enough. It’s a shame people are only concerned with a quick shot to fame.
Hope they’ll reopen it next year. It is an interesting show, somehow more interesting than Ms. HK to me.
I think MR HK fail in TVB because TVB keep promoting the older actor like Bobby Aun Yeung ,Bowie Lam ,Everygreen mak,instead of younger actor ,well most of Miss HK finalist success in TVB because it more easily for them to sleep with TVB director ,manager etc compare to MR HK and most of TVB director are man ,except those MR HK and those TVB director big guy are gay ,is very hard for man to survive in TVB world compare to women ,this a fact.
reality element for Miss HK pageant? more entertainment? this will be a fail too. shame on you tvb.
Hope they’ll not cancel this year and finally Ms Yu changes her mind. It is an interesting show, somehow more interesting than Ms. HK to me.
They can change the contest by the way like 2007 when was introduced junior and senior group instead “macho” and stilyst group (2005 and 2006), or in 2010 with the one group contestants with duel mode in the talent show,…
As in this article Ms Sandy Yu says “that it was necessary to be clear on whether the Mr. Hong Kong Pageant should emphasize the entertainment value or pursue a high-class/ elegant path” then why they don’t change the contest format like the other years????
Hey girls,we can complain in mass to TVB!!! I’ve already complain!!!
http://www.tvb.com/info/enquiry/e_enquiry_form.html
I Love watching MR HK! Always looking forward to see it every year. I think is much more interesting than Miss HK. Can’t believe is 7years already.