“Chinatown” Dropped for “Go! Go! Go! Operation C9”

It may take another year before fans can see Ruco Chan (陳展鵬) in a drama again. Although Ruco’s martial arts drama Chinatown <唐人街> was originally set to air on September 21, it is now postponed to pave the way for the broadcast of Go! Go! Go! Operation C9 <C9特工>, which stars Kenneth Ma (馬國明) and Samantha Ko (高海寧).

Regarding the sudden change, a TVB representative explained, “We have not officially announced any air dates yet. Program scheduling changes are very common occurrences. When these things happen, it is primarily because of having to coordinate with global broadcast arrangements.”

As this will be Samantha’s fourth consecutively-aired drama this year after Death by Zero <殺手>, On-Lie Game, <網絡騙案>, and Al Cappuccino <反黑路人甲>, many believe that this is a tactical change to capitalize on exposure for the 33-year-old actress, who is speculated to be nominated and likely win a TVB Anniversary Award this year. Samantha responded, “I feel very grateful to have so many of my projects aired and enjoyed by viewers this year. My hard work for the past couple of years have not gone to waste. I am very fortunate that all of my roles’ personalities and characteristics are different. This is a very good opportunity for everyone to see how I interpret different characters. I don’t want to be typecast so early on in my career. I want to explore more of my potential and possibilities!”

While viewers get to see more of Samantha, it has been two years since Ruco’s last drama was broadcast. It is disappointing that Chinatown will likely not be aired this year. When approached about the delay in the airing of Chinatown, Ruco expressed, “Will everyone think that I have retired? Actually, I am an active individual. Recently, I have been more involved with my music. Additionally, I am also preparing for a new drama now.”

Source: On.cc

This article is written by Huynh for JayneStars.com.

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Responses

  1. i don’t think samatha’s parts on the killer show or the gangster show is big enough of a role. probably a best supporting award? i had to think to recall that she was in these shows. i think the glass eyed girl is more worth promoting than SK given her role is so likeable.

    1. @m0m0 all roles were mediocre and nothing special. she was just there but brought nothing to the table. let’s not mention how terrible onlie game was…

      Honestly. I don’t think she’s a great actress

    1. @bubbles23 He shouldn’t be happy. It’s been too long for an entertainer to be out of the public eye. His top actor status is now down, probably below Joel. I see it as Wayne/Moses/Roger/Raymond (if he comes back again), Kenneth, Vincent, Joel, maybe even Pakho, Shaun, Him Law, and Owen as the pecking order. Add in the Bens and Priscilla’s husband and he has no room. Special stars like Bobby, Joe Ma, Kevin, Phillip Keung makes it even harder.

      There’s also the danger of having 3 of his series air next year which will make people tired of him when they do see him.

      1. @potatochip he fell out of favour real fast. I agree, especially with the addition of Pakho last year he needs to find himself a selling point. He’s not important to tvb like Moses, surely not a Wayne, and lacks the fandom popularity that Kenneth and the younger guys have.
        His post tv king dramas definitely did not help him, much less acting AFWFW X3 (yeah I’m counting TUA too lol)
        Also I feel like Ben Yuen hasn’t made much progress since LW2 as well.

      2. @bubbles23 The thing about Ruco is that he needs to stop making fighting and action series with Jazz Boon. Its always the same cast and plotline and I feel like the audience are tired of it. I know he is more of an action series actor but I feel like he should try other genre. For example I think he did really good at Brothers Keeper.
        The problem with Benjamin Yuen is that he failed to deliver with his role last year in The Defected where everyone was hyped about. That’s why he went to main lead role to to 4th male lead in LW3 and 3rd male lead in TMD

      3. @potatochip Even though Ruco hasn’t been onscreen for quite a long time and his status has dropped quite a bit. I still think he is a top 5/6 actor in the tvb. He can easily be the main lead in any series.

      4. @scre @bubbles 23 I agree that even though his status dropped, he is still going to be lead for some time. AFWFW was above average, but it was overhyped and then that caused a backlash. It shouldn’t have done the blind plot point and had Ruco become a sappy love idiot constantly chasing after Nancy. The break ups were repetitive. He should have been more mature and focused on his parents’ deaths instead. TUA was a raunchy, poorly written mess that was a waste of everyone’s talents. Jazz Boon is a one trick pony. Burning hands was also cliche and did not focus on the fun deception parts but got into the goopy romantic nonsense.

        Succession War was actually pretty good but no one watched it. If finally let him be more of a dramatic actor. The storyline did falter because it did not go far enough to make him ore despicable.

        Ruco is probably the best lead for fighting and action series, but those tend to be poorly written. They need to put him back into dramas. Besides Nancy, Kristal and possibly Selena, he has had weak lead actresses to work with. It’s a shame.

        Ben Yuen was very likeable in LW2 and Threesome, even though his acting still needed improvement. The Defected was his golden chance with a character/storyline that was made to win awards. But he really failed to deliver, painfully so.

      5. @potatochip I agree AFWFW was good, but not worth winning all those awards back in 2016. I was thinking Ali and Ruco would be something interesting and fresh for both of them but I am not sure, I think Ali is still not in good terms with tvb.

  2. I wonder what happened because everyone was promoting it, literally is suppose to air in like two weeks and Phillip flew to HK to promote it

  3. Chinatown is giving me A Fist Within Four Walls vibe, would have liked to see Nancy Wu in it too but I was looking forward to it nonetheless

    1. @hbc1 Its basically the same thing, the only difference is that its filmed in Thailand. I think Nancy isn’t in it because she and Ruco dated a few years ago and its kind of awkward for them to film together.

  4. Samantha having 4 dramas aired in a row does more harm than good. So many people are upset seeing her on T.V everyday

    1. @jcc10 Problem is because she hasn’t deliver anything special. It could be to do with the writing. I felt they could’ve done more for her characters in DBZ and AC, but then she wasn’t the lead in both series.

  5. @scre yes I think that would be a fresh pairing too. I miss Ruco in those lighthearted family/office dramas, but then again he’s older now so dunno if he will deliver the same vibes again. I think aside from Nancy his onscreen romances aren’t too great, dunno if it’s bad writing or he just can’t channel the chemistry. His brother sister relationship with GraceW was way better. We need Ruco to play an anti hero or a villain again.
    @potatochip I didn’t think Ben did that poorly in The Defected, but literally everyone outshone him, he became the lemon. From Benz Hui to Ben Wong, to Oscar Leung to Sisley. Literally everyone else was more believable and delivered.

  6. What!!! was looking forward to see Ruco on screen!!!
    and Samantha Ko…three consecutive times on air..definitely TVB is promoting her for the coming award…no thoughts about her…feel sorry for Ruco and the new drama!!

  7. Oh no! Was actually looking forward to watching Ruco. And a bigger OH NO! Not another SK series! She was acceptable in DBZ but sadly, after that, her acting as well as all her characters were forgettable…The only acting I find worse than hers in Al Cappucino was from Christy Fung…Stop already!

  8. Samantha Ko is overexposed. Actually viewership will drop and I have no interest in seeing her again. TVB is so political, one day you are in , another day you are out. It has nothing to do with acting abilities. I am also tired of seeing Moses Chan.

    1. @afan202 All big corporates are political, not surprised that TVB is too. It’s not the first time they overexpose an artiste, I remember grumbling about seeing too much of Myolie and now I switch off every time she’s onscreen.

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