Lilypie

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Hong Kong Television Serials

I had a super long weekend. My company gave everyone an off day on Monday to tie in with the two public holidays, which accounts for the accumulation of work the past few days.

I have been so bored lately. Now that my salsa classes have ended, with the next stage starting in December, I have taken a break from school and singing, and my social life is almost non-existent with most of my friends busy or dating or married or preparing for marriage, I am lacking of something to do.

So I started being hooked on Hong Kong television series. Not the new ones; those that were filmed around the eighties and nineties. I prefer the older actors to the newer ones as somehow I feel they have more substance, and I enjoy watching their shows! A lot of the newer stars only look good.

There have been lots of drama serials produced in Hong Kong, from period dramas to family to crime thriller. I always go for my favourite genres - crime and justice. Thus, I managed to get the entire File of Justice series (I - V), by far the longest running series from 1991 to 1995.

I also got the Detective Investigation Files series (I - IV). Only the first three are continuous. The fourth series is a totally different story with different actors, but since it is also a police and thief type of show, the producers used back the same name.

The oldest one I have is Return of the Condor Heros. I remember when that was shown on television almost two decades ago, my classmates were all going ga-ga over Andy Lau. At that point in time, he was really handsome and muscular.

The newer series I got is Armed Reaction (I - IV). Plus some of the older shows like Duke of Mount Deer (with the young Tony Leong and Andy Lau) and Legend of the Condor Heroes.

Somehow our local series never attain the standard of Hong Kong shows. The plot, storyline, portrayal of characters are all so real. I think the reason why a lot of people like these drama series can be because the characters reflect anyone of us, ie the things that happened to them can happen to anyone of us.

One can be a high-flyer, but totally messed up in personal and love life. One can be married but still have an affair outside as he / she is not able to find the warmth and love from the spouse. One can give up love just for family and friends.

And not all have happy endings. Not every show has the fairytale ending that the two main characters end up together. The main characters may have to go through lots of trials and upheavels where their relationships are concerned, and still not be together.

There is love and lost, painful breakups, pining for someone, the ache of missing someone. All these can happen to just anyone. Which is why I enjoy watching these shows, as from the story and the various characters, I can relate myself to several of them.

2 comments:

Richard said...

Interesting, a HK friend of mine is hooked on Korean soap operas.

juphelia said...

I like Korean shows too! I've only watched one so far, but planning to get more series. Korean shows can be more sappy compared to Hong Kong shows which are more light-hearted.

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