After Ratings Disaster for “The Witness”, Will “Line Walker 3” Live Up to Expectations?

The TVB ratings report for the week ending November 15, 2020 had mixed results. The Witness <木棘証人> disappointed in ratings in its finale week, sitting in the bottom three dramas of the year. Airing during the coveted Anniversary period in the late fall/ early winter, The Witness nevertheless was a ratings disaster, making many wonder if Line Walker: Bull Fight <使徒行者3> would be able to attract more viewers despite the recent downtrend in the station’s viewership.

The Witness averaged 23.2 ratings points in its last week of broadcast, and 23.9 points in the final episode. Overall, the drama had an average of 22.1 ratings points. Though The Witness received positive reviews, several factors may have affected its ratings. The light-hearted comedy is perhaps better suited for the earlier 8:30 p.m. time slot when most viewers would be having dinner before their televisions, instead of the later 9:30 p.m. time slot it was allotted. Airing the week right after Go! Go! Go! Operation C9 < C9特工> ended may have also led to The Witness‘ poor results, as the former drama along with Mainland Chinese drama The Song of Glory <锦绣南歌> were dramas with the lowest ratings this year.

Another noteworthy development worth watching is that Line Walker: Bull Fight <使徒行者3> reached 27.6 points in its premiere episode. Line Walker: Bull Fight‘s ratings is a stark contrast to its predecessor The Song of Glory which only reached 19.8 points. There is almost an eight-point difference which means that 500,000 more viewers tuned in. Though Line Walker: Bull Fight is Raymond Lam‘s ( 林峯) comeback drama and features a stellar ensemble cast, it averaged a modest 25.2 points in its first week of broadcast, which may have been affected by the fact that it had already finished airing on online Chinese platforms.

Meanwhile, long-running sitcom Come Home Love: Lo and Behold <愛·回家之開心速遞> maintained stable ratings with an average of 25 points for the week, and the rerun of Under the Canopy of Love <天幕下的戀人> in the midnight time slot averaged 5.1 points.

Source: HK01

This article is written by Kiki for JayneStars.com.

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Responses

  1. no way! line walker 3 is super boring.

    shocked the witness didn’t fare better ratings as the serie was great ..this means ratings mean nothing when it comes to whether a serie is good or not

  2. With Line Walker being completely aired online already, how can its ratings be great?

    So far, I am only on episode 10 and it’s been dull. I fell asleep while watching one episode.

  3. Honestly I can’t stand all these big budget nonsense like Line Walker and Flying Tiger and all their sequels. I’m also tired of watching “clever” legal dramas like Legal Mavericks 2 which is obviously cashing in on the success of its predecessor. It’s like what the Cantonese call frying cold rice. Honestly I’m not surprised at the poor ratings of The Witness. It was super boring and I couldn’t watch beyond episode 1. The story was same old same old and Him Law can act for sh-iat. Give me suspenseful dramas like the very underrated Brutally Young. I’ve just had time to catch it and 10 mins in, it had me hooked. The other very underrated drama imo is Destination Nowhere. These 2 dramas are waaaaaay better those so-called big budget trash.

  4. Brutally Young was good, but then I lost interest once they gave Sam PTSD…Anyone watch Single Papa, that one looks heartwarming.

    1. I hope Line Walker 3 and Legal Mavericks 2 don’t make it into the top 10 ratings. So that Brutally Young can stay at #10. That was such a good drama. I just re-watched it again.

      LM2 was good, I enjoyed it – I thought it was better than the first one actually. LW3 on the other hand was bad. Plot was all over the place and too many ‘main’ characters. TVB’s big productions always disappoint.

      1. @boomer the tvb paradox: small production have better storylines but crappy sets and cinematography; blockbusters have the big celebrities but horrible character development/ plots. They just cannot have both.
        The ratings this year are too dependent on the covid situation in HK… I really hope LW3 does poorly just cause I don’t want it to win Best Drama.

    2. @exodus I did! Single Papa was surprisingly good. You should give it a try. I like how they they tell the stories of the minor characters in it. I read somewhere they said this is viutv version of Miriam wonder woman. That is totally untrue. Single Papa is realistic. It started off boring and there were some parts which are quite repetitive, but the storyline is good. I missed Maggie!

      1. @yuyu Cool, I am going to watch it cause it has Crisel in it! As well as Maggie and Ronald. I feel like the viutv series like to break barriers unlike what tvb is currently doing. Watching Iron ladies right now and I know people said it was boring but to me it’s about how mature you are in abling to comprehend each of the stories that are in it. The swinging part was hilarious.

      2. @exodus I tried 2 episodes of Iron Ladies but gave up because of Myolie. Maybe I should continue again. Agree with you on viutv. If you have time, try watching who sells bricks in HK. I watched it because I like all the casts! It’s funny actually.

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