Roger Kwok and Joey Meng to Star in New TVB Drama
With the talent drain crisis that TVB was facing, the company was eager to partner with experienced artists who possessed ability to draw audience ratings. TVB was interested in featuring former ATV actress, Joey Meng (萬綺雯), opposite Roger Kwok (郭晉安) in new comedy, Cousin, You Are Good <老表你好嘢>. Wong Cho Lam (王祖藍) will be one of the scriptwriters for the series.
After signing Alice Chan (陳煒), TVB was close in securing another former ATV first-line actress, Joey Meng, who was best known for leading the My Date With A Vampire <我和殭屍有個約會> trilogy. The 41-year-old long-legged beauty possessed good acting skills and affinity with the audience. TVB executive, Virginia Lok (樂易玲), had reportedly handled the discussions with Joey personally.
Joey stated that she was still in the midst of discussions with TVB. Joey appeared to be pleased with TVB’s proposition, who offered her the ability to star in her first comedy. Since marrying Chan Sap Sam (陳十三), the scriptwriter from My Date With A Vampire installments, twelve years ago, Joey placed her family life foremost. She will assess how much freedom the filming proposition offered before deciding to accept TVB’s offer.
Joey stated, “If the partnership works out, I will highly anticipate working with Roger Kwok and Wong Cho Lam, who are both very good men. Roger is very serious towards work and regards his family with utmost importance. Cho Lam is very creative. I believe that there will be a great deal of chemistry and everyone will work well together.”
Producer Wong Wai Sing revealed that Cousin, You Are Good will revolve around hot topics in Hong Kong, such as the trend of pregnant mainland Chinese women traveling to Hong Kong to give birth, in order to seek permanent resident status for their children. In 2010, 45% of births in Hong Kong were from mainland Chinese women, which placed strains on Hong Kong’s health care resources. Wong Kong Leung and Wong Cho Lam will portray father and son in the new TVB drama.
Source: Ming Pao Weekly via ihktv.com
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Jayne: TVB will likely continue to chase after former ATV artists to inject new blood into their line-up, as their current managed artists leave for mainland China or rival Hong Kong stations.
That’s Joey Meng? Seriously? I mean I can’t recognise her!!
Probably because she’s not wearing makeup.
Yea, I almost did not recognize her too. I guess she has aged and isn’t wearing make up.
Me neither.
Joey Meng acts so much better than TVB’s current so-called fadans. Even when compared with the Dong Ka Fadans, she is still up to par.
I agree! Joey Meng is pretty and cute! i miss watching her… i haven’t seen her for a long time so don’t know how her acting is anymore. But it would definitely be refreshing on screen!
Dunno how her new drama will do because comedy isn’t really her thing and comedies usually don’t get high ratings and the drama sounds low budget.
Looks like she negotiated a better contract with TVB than Alice Chan did…. Alice got supporting roles instead.
I really missed her too!! Cannot wait for her return!!
I agree and can’t wait to see Joey in a new TVB series. She is a good actress and I have not seen her for many years. I thought that she would retire for good so it is really nice to see her again.
Joey Meng is heads and shoulders above any TVB actress, right now. Good move.
YEAH!!! JOEY MENG!!! I’ve been expecting this. Now we need Pinky Cheung.
WOW. It has been a long time from her last series.
Why didn’t CTI approach Joey? She is way superior in acting than most of TVB’s current so-called fadans.
CTI seems to be only interested on poaching from TVB.
I guess they want to poach from TVB so that they can take everyone away and make TVB suffer. If that is the case, then they are directing battling against TVB.
CTI is definitely battling against TVB only. They hope to destroyed TVB but what good would it be for the general public if they become the next TVB? Competition is good and hopefully it will be a healthy competition but I seriously doubt it.
It doesn’t help that CTI steal TVB’s food when they have access supply elsewhere.
Go and read “The art of War” Ricky!
Yes, Joey Meng! She will definitely give the show (and TVB) a boost.
TVB should promote the extremeley talented Malaysian actress Vivien Yeo to be their first line actress. Vivien is most probably the most talented but underated actress at TVB right now
IMO Vivien Yeo can’t act and the way she talk is kinda weird.
I used to think Vivien Yeo couldn’t act either until watching her in A Great Way to Care. She gave a winning performance in that series.
I agree her accent is a huge problem though. I can’t take her seriously half the time.
Frankly she can act but seriously, mediocre. I am not awed nor am I moved and yes accent is a problem. However I’ve seen her hosting food show and she was rather good, she has wide vocabulary and she is rather sweet in a very feminine way. She avoids dressing overly sexy when in location. However acting itself I am sorry to say she bores me. In fact most of the new actresses is boring.
Joey Meng and Roger Kwok = YES PLEASE!
However, imo instead of chasing ATV stars TVB should just get some of their 90s fa dans back. By you know, treating them better and give them freedom.
This sounds exciting! I really like Joey Meng. Pairing her up with Roger sounds like a good idea too!
sound awesome!
Joey Meng looks so much older in this photo. She used to be a young and cute actress in ATV, but she looked very old in the last ATV legal drama series.
Vivian is pretty, but her acting is not good. Her Cantonese is barely acceptable.
Everyone has to age and get old one day since no one can be forever young. But the main thing is if you age well or not. It is great to see her again and am so happy that she is coming back to act.
I did not know that many mainland Chinese women come to HK to give birth. It surprises me that Hk accepts it. I know that many people from other countries come to the US just to give birth so that they can claim US citizenship and then go back to their country. If they don’t want to even live in the US, then what is the point of claiming US citizenship?? I still wonder why the US allows it?
Maybe US wanted money? and these preggie women are rich enough to afford to give birth there?
I was thinking the same thing since my brother told me that regardless of where you live,if you are a citizen of any country, you will have to pay taxes to the government of the country in which you are a citizen of. Also, yea you have to pay a big fee as well so they get more money… I hope that they will pass a law to stop that because it isn’t fair to others.
its hard to enforce a law to forbid foreigners from attaining citizenship if their bb is born in the US. Same goes to country, where illegal immigrants’ babies who are born here get citizenship status right away.. my country is worse, we even offer free citizenship to those who come illegally w/o harsh penalty/punishment just because of politic reason. he-he. In country, u can find large amount of nigerians, middle easterns, mainlanders, bangladeshis, indonesians, indians, myanmars, etc walking freely/roaming in the city everyday..where sometimes u will feel like you’re in their country rather than your own one.
*In my country*
Yea, I know it is hard to enforce a law like that but I think if it gets too much just like with how it is with HK and CHina, they will have to enforce a law to stop it.I am sure that a country would want to put their own people first over other foreigners. I live in California where there are a lot of Mexicans and latinos. They speak so much Spanish that I wonder if I am their country at times too.
HeTieShou,
Here’s a very interesting article about Chinese cross-border births, the trend of wealthy mothers to give birth in USA and Hong Kong in order to obtain desirable citizenship for their kids.
http://behindthewall.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/13/10394026-birth-rights-battle-china-vs-hong-kong
There is a rise of “birth tourism” where travel agencies help pregnant mainland woman make travel plans in order to have their children born in the country of preference.
Shirley Yeung also had a cross-border birth, since her daughter was born in Los Angeles, USA.
I wonder if it was Wong Cho Lam who specifically proposed the idea to feature cross-border births in the new series? As I mentioned earlier, his proposal to TVB creative department must have been very compelling in order for the company to allow him to be one of the scriptwriters in the new drama.
Jayne,
WOW, thanks for the article! I will read it to see… I remember that Alyssa Jia wanted to give birth in the US too but many opposed it so I think she gave birth in SHanghai or was it Taiwan?? I don’t remember, but in the end her daughter can still claim US citizenship since her ex husband is a US citizen. I guess they want their kids to have US or HK citizenship so that they can come and live there one day in case something happens to their home country.
Oh yea, Shirley did give birth in the US. Maybe she wants her daughter to reside in the US one day since her brother lives there as well??
When Shirley’s daughter goes to State universities in California, her tuition fees will be very low vs. overseas students’. She can also get free education from Grade 1 to 12. Really good benefits for her in future, and Shirley will not have to worry about her daughter’s education at all. It is a good deal to give birth to her daughter in L.A.
is that what they called “Free education” where Government will funds poor ppl children until certain age? and these children doesn’t need to pay the govn back when they finished school?
All students get free education anyway (from kindergarten to Grade 12) if you are a permanent resident in the States or Canada. You also pay a lower tuition fee if you go to your own State university because you are a permanent resident there.
Thanks for the info Sandcherry…. your government is certainly caring to its citizens.. unlike ours hehe..
Well you can also think in a sense that when you work and earn a lot, you will have to pay all of that back in taxes so if you think that way, it is not really free….
Tuition fees for overseas students are way higher than resident students. Even the students from other states have to pay alot more than students from California. I guess Shirley was thinking all of that through so made a good move to give birth to her daughter in the US.
You pay taxes whether you get free education or not. So, I don’t consider that as pay back for the tuition fee. Every citizen has to pay taxes.
HTS,
I’m not sure of how your country runs but here in Msia, some student who took government loans for study, most doesn’t pay back due to bad moral and etc. Even after they’re working now, some were not taxed due to their low income which haven’t even reach the standard for being taxable.. What I’m trying to say here not all get taxable because these students, well, some are still pretty “useless” and lazy hoping the govn will spoonfeed them..
If you’re talking about other taxes then yes, ppl in msia have to pay taxes for whatever they buy, watch and eat..
It surprise me me too. No wonder the HK’ers don’t like mainlanders very much.
They come to give birth in HK bc it’s free? Besides their children will get access to social benefits in HK.
Doubt the US Gov. will let you give birth in US if you were poor. They want your money to help curb their shrinking economy.
Truth is that if you have money lots of it then there won’t be any problems applying for citizenship anywhere. Countries will welcome you with open arms.
i think every country wants rich ppl to migrate to their country so they can help to build the economy…unlike my country, my gives away free citizenship to illegals lol..
It depends on the country… I heard that it is not that easy for immigrants and illegals to get US citizenship anymore since they do a lot of background checks and other things now. They don’t want anymore terrorists or other bad people as citizens. But sadly, they still allow people to give birth and claim citizenship for their kids.
I heard it is really hard to claim citizenship in Japan even if you were born there.
In japan yes, they’ve tight rules for foreigners..for 3rd category countries like indonesia, malaysia, thailand, myanmar etc, they still require Visa to travel/visit Japan. And the visa period is very short too, like maximum 2 weeks. The jap govn also doesn’t practise using foreigner as construction labour, and other hard works..they prefer to give their ppl more job opportunities..BUT there are still illegal chineses residing in Japan esp in Chinatown though. They probably went to japan as tourist but just overstay there for job reason..some even married local jap woman and assimilated with their culture..
You are right …..”Everyone has to age and get old one day”, but age will restrict an actress to act certain characters.
I saw Joey Meng in a legal drama series (with Amy Chan Sau Ming, Chan Kwok Tai, So Wing Hong, Ng Kai Wah, Pinky Cheung, and some Mainland Chinese actresses) produced by ATV. I almost could not recognize her. She looked quite different (rather old) and not as sweet as she was in .
This is a bad picture. I cant recognise who is she.
Yea, I agree that is also a bad photo of her. I don’t think she should look that bad even at 41.
Yay, Joey Ming . I always thought she is really pretty. Her face is ver cute!, I think she look quite good for someone 41. Like her in Bian se long w/ eric back then, 1998?. Wow 14 years ago. Tvb can’t produce new fad an, most of the fadan now is xi lai.
Deep down I still wished Joey Meng ended up with Donnie Yen!! =( … i liked that pairing when I was young. Still do….. but Joey married some not so good looking guy. and Donnie has 2 kids now…
I think her husband doesn’t look too bad and plus, it is WAY more than just looks in a marriage/relationship.
Nice to hear about Joey Meng rather than seeing the same TVB stars on the news all the time.
Keep on posting the news about non TVB siu sangs and fadans Jayne. The mix is good 😀
Yay Ma Siu Ling is going to be on TV again. I think most people who manage to get themselves on television/movies are “cute and young”, but how many do you remember?
Talent is ageless, look at Ada Choi and Sheren Tang.
I love Joey Meng. She definitely has the talent and the looks. I’m not sure it’s appropriate to be comparing her to the current TVB Fadans. She is 10 years or so older and thus has that much more experience. It feels more appropriate comparing her to Ada, Kenix, Jessica, etc.
I don’t understand why TVB does not promote her own 2nd line actresses, such as Nancy Wu, Elena Kong, Joyce Tang, Krystal Kin, who act very well. It is cheaper, and also it would encourage her own artistes to stay and work for her if they see their future with TVB.
I used to really like Joyce Tang when she was fadan doing strong female leads, I have not been able to connect with her since her return doing all the “si lai” and men dependent roles. Best recently has been her role as Michael Tse’s wife in L’escargot but she ended being the woman who cried all the time.
I also dun understand what tvb don’t see in Joyce Tang? she got the looks and aura of a 1st line atleast better than aimee lol.