The 2011 TVB Anniversary Awards will be held on December 5, 2011. Kevin Cheng (鄭嘉穎) and Michael Tse (謝天華) were the hot favorites in the TV King race this year. Portraying an uncouth lawyer in Ghetto Justice "怒火街頭", Kevin Cheng’s acting was praised to have improved immensely. In addition, critically acclaimed mainland drama, Bu Bu Jing Xin "步步驚心", received wide popularity, boosting Kevin’s recognition through the stratosphere! This year, “Poisonous Kevin’s” luck turned around, allowing him the chance to return to mainland each week to earn money. It was expected that Kevin will even replace Moses Chan (陳豪) as TVB’s top earning artist! In order to retain a new “Golden Egg,” TVB executive, Virginia Lok (樂易玲) pulled out all stops to convince TVB management to give Kevin Cheng the TV King title. “Laughing Gor” Michael Tse could only accompany the Best Actor race and be happy for someone else!
Kevin Cheng’s Chances of Winning Are High
On November 10th, TVB revealed the nomination list for the upcoming Anniversary Awards. The race for TV King and TV Queen were the most popular awards categories. The list of the 15 Best Actor nominees included Wayne Lai (黎耀祥), who won the TV King title the last consecutive years. Unfortunately, Wayne’s Forensic Heroes 3 "法證先鋒III" was not a big hit and his chances of winning the TV King title for the third time was defeated. In addition, Yes Sir, Sorry Sir’s "點解阿Sir係阿Sir" Moses Chan and Men With No Shadows’ "不速之約" Raymond Lam (林峯) admitted that they were only accompanying the Best Actor race.
Early Favoritism for Michael Tse Slipped Away TVB secured Francis Ng (吳鎮宇) to costar with Michael Tse in film, Laughing Gor, Potential Criminals "Laughing Gor之潛罪犯". TVB’s favoritism towards Michael was obvious and his apparent domination as the TV King was almost guaranteed initially. However, Kevin’s mainland drama, Bu Bu Jing Xin, became a popular hit last month, resurrecting “Poisonous Kevin’s” career. Over the last few months, Kevin had the opportunity to travel to China each week to earn real money. Last week, Kevin appeared in functions in Hongzhou, Beijing, and Wuhan, earning nearly $300,000 Yuan per event in appearance fees. In one week alone, Kevin earned $1 million Yuan! Kevin’s luck turned around completely and was estimated to overturn Moses Chan as the top money-making actor at TVB!
Aside from bringing in additional income from promotional events, Kevin’s filming fees increased tenfold, jumping from past fees of $10,000 Yuan to current fees of $160,000 Yuan per episode. After filming mainland drama Palace Spy Video "深宮諜影" in Shanghai in October, additional mainland companies invited Kevin to partake in new series. Committed to filming Ghetto Justice 2, Kevin will be unable to film dramas in China until December. Placing TVB’s priority first under all circumstances, Kevin gave face to the company.
Kevin Loved By Virginia LokBecoming the new “Golden Egg,” Kevin was one of Virginia Lok’s beloved artists. Due to his astonishing ability to generate money, Kevin once again became highly favored. Ms. Lok put in her best efforts to back Kevin’s chances of winning the TV King award. Michael Tse was fortunate to receive the support of TVB executive, Tommy Leung (梁家樹), who believed that this will increase promotion and box office draw for the release of Laughing Gor, Potential Criminal’s theatrical release in December 2011.
TVB executive support for the TV King winner was important; however, the company valued popular opinion as well. In the past, the winner was largely determined via TVB executives’ votes, while this year, audience’s votes were the last determining factor. This placed the favor in Kevin’s hands, who possessed a large number of fans in China. After one week of voting on TVB.com, Michael Tse’s top position was edged out by Kevin Cheng, who surged to number one in both the Best Actor and My Favorite Male Actor awards categories. In the Best Actor poll at TVB.com, Kevin received 38% of votes, Michael Tse received 25% of votes, and Wayne Lai received 8% of votes.
Fala Chen Pulls Her Magic The TV Queen race was a sole battle between Myolie Wu (胡杏兒) and Fala Chen (陳法拉). Virginia Lok highly favored Fala and to overturn Myolie, adjusted the nomination list. This year’s Anniversary Awards set up a new rule to restrict only one nominated series for each artist. Instead of being nominated for her role in Ghetto Justice, Myolie was nominated for her performance as the evil empress in Curse of the Royal Harem "萬凰之王", weakening her votes in the Best Actress Award race. However, the finale of Curse of the Royal Harem will be aired two days before the TVB Anniversary Awards take place.
In addition, OTO massage chair was this year’s TVB Anniversary Awards online voting sponsor. As OTO’s spokesperson and appearing in the OTO ad placed before the voting page, Fala possessed the advantage of having the exposure. OTO sponsored over $1 million HKD in advertising fees and requested that Fala maintain a high number of votes. The timing favored Fala, who possessed a high chance to win the Best Actress Award.
Artists Speak Out for Their Favorites
The battles for TV King and TV Queen were getting heated, with different supporters emerging for Kevin Cheng and Michael Tse. The ever popular Wayne Lai and dark horse candidate, Raymond Lam, also had their share of supporters, making the battle become increasingly fierce!
Chapman To (杜汶澤): “There were so many episodes to the Laughing saga, which made the character very well known among the audience, increasing Michael Tse’s chance in winning.”
Raymond Lam (林峯): “Forensic Heroes 3 received good ratings and word-of-mouth. I have always felt confident in Wayne Lai, so I pick him!”
Linda Chung (鍾嘉欣): “Earlier, I collaborated with Myolie Wu and felt that her acting was very good. She portrayed her roles in Ghetto Justice and Curse of the Royal Harem very well this year.”
Tavia Yeung (楊怡): “I think Fala Chen has a good chance, since she improved a lot and matured very quickly.”
Translated by: Jayne @ JayneStars
