“Heart and Greed” Ratings Fall; Viewers Want Smarter Dramas?
Despite the hype and buzz for TVB’s Heart and Greed <溏心風暴3>, the show’s ratings continue to slip. The total ratings for its second week of broadcast were 21. 5 points, which includes regular television and online viewers. In stark contrast to the record breaking ratings of the show’s predecessors Heart of Greed <溏心風暴> and Moonlight Resonance <家好月圓>, the third installment failed to sustain viewers’ interest.
Heart and Greed featured the return of its veteran cast, featuring Ha Yu (夏雨), Louise Lee (李司棋), Michelle Yim (米雪), and Susanna Kwan (關菊英). Bosco Wong (黃宗澤), Vincent Wong (王浩信), Priscilla Wong (黃翠如), and Eliza Sam (岑麗香) also add to the cast’s appeal.
The strong cast, however, failed to cover the flaws in Heart and Greed’s weak script. Were viewers tired of dramas centering around feuding families? In the last decade, many dramas centered around feuding families have been a hit, including the American TV series, Game of Thrones. Many popular Korean dramas also featured feuding families as well, but added more thrilling aspects to its plot such as corporate maneuvers. However, Heart and Greed’s depiction of family members fighting for corporate control only featured the constant arguments among its boisterous female cast; it did not feature new handling of an overused theme.
Combining comedy and paranormal elements,The Exorcist’s Meter <降魔的> was praised for being refreshing. Unlike The Exorcist’s Meter’s steady ratings, Heart and Greed will likely not see a rise in viewership if the storyline continues the way it is. If TVB maintains its habit of churning out dramas according to formula and keeping the plots as simple as possible, the station is failing to keep up with the changing of times and viewers’ more sophisticated tastes.
Source: HK01.com
This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.
In all honesty I am enjoying Heart and Greed even if it is stupid, it does have some good moments in terms of depiction of the dynamics of a family. Business wise, this series is bankrupt. It is so stupid I wonder if a business is run like this, no way Hk will be first world. BUT I do think performances are very strong even if I wonder when will anyone of any importance do something rather than nothing (BOSCO!!). I am however no patiene for Sharon Chan and her lust for her professor cum colleague and the very very important position in any company that it must be repeated at leas 10 times per episode, the C! E! O!
@funnlim everyone who loves a good written story should boycott this stupid recycled drama. if ppl stay watching because of the actors then it is a encouragement for them to make more of such trash things.
LOL…well, so much for the assertion by HOG’s producer Lau Ka Ho that he was “merely giving audiences what they wanted to see”. Obviously he is assuming that TVB’s audience still only consists of stay-at-home housewives who have the TV on as background noise while they do their chores or cook dinner, so as long as the characters in the series keep up the noise level with everyone and their mothers (literally) yelling at each other, who the hell cares about the script / story? Honestly, Lau Ka Ho and Mui Siu Ching need to retire already – I used to like the series they produced back in the 80s and 90s, but in the recent decade, most of what they’ve churned out has been formulaic….and worst of all, it looks like they’ve started subscribing to the Wong Jing school of thought: there’s no need for quality and substance in their productions, since HK audiences are too dense to understand anything too complicated anyway…just keep recycling old storylines / characters / plots, bring back a bunch of veterans whom audiences love, throw in a bunch of popular current/up-and-coming siu sangs and fa dans, up the nostalgia factor a hundred fold, stir up as much hype as possible, and voila, there you have it – a tried and true formula that works every time (NOT!).
@llwy12 Mr Lau fails to understand that people are getting smarter and are tired of watching the same kind of scripts again and again. However, it happens in US when the producers made many sequels until the series die. Everyone should get his team together to formulate new story lines and forget about cycling old scripts. A sequel should only be done if there are really unfinished business in the original. If a producer fails to understand this, he really should retire.
@lewismcchan
Agreed! Unfortunately though, as much as we may complain about it, we also know it’s wishful thinking because the fact of the matter is that doing sequels / spinoffs, recycling old storylines/characters, etc. is an easy money grab – it’s the best way to make money without having to put in as much effort in the creativity department. Yes, it’s true that Hollywood and pretty much all other places do it too, but it’s worse when HK does it because the (entertainment) market is so small there. At least with Hollywood, if we don’t like a particular program or movie or whatnot, there are a million other options we can turn to – also, in terms of TV series, there is more motivation to make a good series that appeals to audiences and maintains good ratings because if you don’t, you might not make the cut the following year and/or you could even get axed mid-season immediately after debut. In HK, that’s not an option, since there is essentially only 1 local TV station (since both ViuTV and Fantastic Television are too new and haven’t produced enough content to be included on the same level) and no motivation to do better, since there is no competition, which means the ratings are also meaningless (and no, TVB isn’t going to ax their own series midway – they’ve only done this once in their 50 year history and it technically wasn’t because of ratings either). So basically TVB has carte blanche to keep churning out crap and if audiences don’t like it, then the other option is to either turn to internet series or watch series from other countries (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Mainland China, U.S., etc.).
@llwy12 I am just glad people stopped drinking the HOG kool aid and are slowly realizing how flawed the premise in general is. And let’s not get started on the cheesy family scenes and golden words. I saw a bit of the new one and goodness that musical chairs thing is cringy beyond belief.
Third installments can be hit or miss too especially if the plot is lacking.
The series is definitely stupid, but I’m still watching it mainly because I really do love the cast. I love the older generation (especially Michelle Yim!!, and Bosco, Vincent, Eliza, Sharon, Michael. Those random moments where they suddenly stop eating dinner to play musical chairs is definitely cringey and I am embarrassed for the person who came up with that idea. I’m also liking Lee Kwok Lun’s role as Alan, rather than his usual scheming typecasted characters.
The actors/characters I must say I’m not a fan of in the drama are Lee Shing Cheong, Susanna Kwan, and Priscilla Wong. Lee Shing Cheong and Susanna are both just a matter of typecasted roles… they literally play the same character for every drama and they are both so loud and ridiculous that I honestly find them very annoying. The only redeeming parts is they seemed to have toned down the ridiculousness this drama (although Jacquelin Chn’g is doing a splendid job helpnig them with it.. ha.). Louis Yuen is also on that boat.
Priscilla is just … her acting isn’t AWFUL but I’ve finally found what my problem with her acting is. She plays herself in every drama that she’s in. There is practically no difference between her role as Sonia vs. her role as Cheng Suk Mui vs. her role in Swipe Tap Love / that Madam Cutie drama / that wedding drama with Tony. Even her evil role in the drama with Edwin/Bosco was the same, at least towards the beginning… she just suddenly became very evil for like one scene. She is always the chill, happy-go-lucky, everyone-loves-her girl-next-door girl…
@melia880 @lewismcchan They’ve missed out Chris lai. I wonder why he didn’t join the sequel of Heart of greed 3? It’s not that I’m against them adding new cast members but without all the original cast members, the drama doesn’t feel like Heart of greed anymore.
@unknown
Keep on fantasizing and dreaming about Chris Lai….
@jimmyszeto I’m not fantasizing and dreaming about Chris Lai. I’m just curious to know as to why he didn’t join the third installment of Heart of greed. Since he was in the first and second installment of heart of greed, it makes me wonder why he wasn’t invited to join heart of greed 3.
@unknown
Why are repeating my asking and copying members in then. There are plenty of others missing from the cast too.
@jimmyszeto Yes there are other original cast members such as tavia, fala chen, linda cheung and raymond lam who had already left TVB, so it’s understandable that they didn’t join the third installment of Heart of greed 3. But Chris lai is still at TVB, so it makes me wonder why he wasn’t invinted to join heart of greed 3.
@unknown I think he was doing something else that the moment. Someone told me that they had a guest star role for him. Let see if he pops up later on in the series.
By the way – there’s another article that HK01 did where they break down the 3 main reasons why HOG 3’s ratings are low and overall hasn’t been able to capture HK audience’s attention. This article is a nice supplementary piece to the article above and the arguments are quite valid (especially the part about switching focus to Mainland China market)…if you can read Chinese, I recommend reading this one too: https://www.hk01.com/娛樂/140894/-溏心風暴3-任噏亂評-三大原因導致收視差-不過TVB應該好少理
A lot of people are buying the non-TVB boxes to watch tv these days, TVB ratings don’t account for those.
I hope the ratings continue to slip below 20 points. Then we can be spared the ordeal of a 4th instalmeht.
@passingby
how about dropping the series entirely? didn’t that happen before or is it b/c there’s no competitors, they can put trash on screen even if it’s got 0 pts?
@m0m0 The reality is, even if the ratings drop down to zero points in HK, TVB is still going to air it because all that matters to them nowadays is how well the series does in Mainland China. The ratings for HOG3 in HK currently are dismal, but in Mainland, it has garnered nearly 400 million views so far – sure, this number is nowhere near what Line Walker 2 was able to get in Mainland, but still relatively impressive (for TVB’s standards) considering that number is 50X the population of HK (which only has a population of 7 million versus China’s 1.3 billion). And it’s kind of obvious that LKH made the series with Mainland audiences in mind (after all, his and his wife’s official producer titles at TVB do have “Mainland China” on them now). So bottom line – doesn’t matter what the ratings are in HK or what HK audiences think….as long as Mainland audiences like the series (and so far it looks like they do as there has been mostly positive feedback from that front), that’s the only thing that’s going to count in TVB’s eyes.
@llwy12
I don’t have a problem with that. Screw Hong Kong. It’s a tiny market anyway. Just give them some sitcoms and daft humour and they will be elated.
Going to have to agree that HOG3 is nowhere near as good as the first two. Michelle Yim, Ha Yu, and and Louise Lee are all wasted here, as their screen time is fairly limited to them eating dinner at home or in a meeting room. Although, I’m not sure that the basis of their characters are even all that different than the previous installments.
Echoing @melia880 that Lee Shing Cheong, Susanna Kwan, and Louis Yuen are type casted. And they’re ultra annoying. Jacqueline Ch’ng is horrible to watch too. Also hit the nail on the head about Priscilla being exactly the same in every drama she’s ever been in. Unrelated but I also think that Pakho is on the same boat (all his movie roles are the same and interchangeable).
Aside from the cheese “golden lines,” random singing, and very cringeworthy **SPOILER ALERT** affair between Sharon and Michael, the only thing I’m really enjoying is the relationship between Vincent and Eliza.
@kaykay
Re: Priscilla being the same in every drama she’s ever been in — yes!! Even her clothes are the same baggy pastel coloured clothes!!
Also agree with you about enjoying Vincent and Eliza’s relationship. I’m looking forward to seeing how they will develop since that’s the only real thing to look forward to… Sharon and Michael’s affair makes me VERY uncomfortable.
@melia880
Seems like it is Priscilla from ‘swipe tap love’ but with a different dog. Don’t find Michael and Sharon relationship uncomfortable at all. It happens a lot in reality. They are very brave on taking on the characters since it can’t be very likeable to the viewers. Very professional performances. Sharon Chan is very underrated…
@jimmyszeto disagree that Sharon Chan is underrated. I find her acting so-so at best, which isn’t good considering how long she’s been in the industry. I feel like she’s had little improvement over the years. I do agree that she and Michael are both very professional in their portrayal though.
There are just certain aspects of their interactions that makes me feel uncomfortable. For example, after their first sexual encounter, she asked him the next morning “how was I?” or something along the lines of that and it just came off so awkward and strange. They also made her character transition so abrupt. All of a sudden she stopped dressing conservatively and her glasses disappeared? I dunno, just not sold on it. Even Moon’s performance as a third party in Two Steps From Heaven was better.
@kaykay
I find that her hurt and dilemma of intruding in the relationship as the best I have seen. It is a tough role. Normally the role is portraying as direct evil husband steal like Kenix Kwok in ‘Born Rich’. Michael Tong who I once tipped to be first lead over a decade ago has seriously improved since his stint in China. The love relationships have been done well in this Heart of Greed. The family bond though is not as strong as the previous series. Only Susanna and Ha Yu of the veterans have kept the standard up supported by Louis Yuen.
Priscilla Wong (黃翠如), Sharon Chan (陳敏之), Eliza Sam (岑麗香)
wrong casting, they just dont fit especially sharon chan
Priscilla Wong (黃翠如), Sharon Chan (陳敏之), Eliza Sam (岑麗香)
Really don’t like this casting. They cant carry themselve especially sharon
@furby2222 Priscilla should take Sharon’s role. Eliza should take Priscilla’s role. Or Eliza remains and Priscilla recast with Moon.
@furby2222 Out the three person, Eliza Sam is the worst one…Her acting is even more terrible than Linda…
@snoopy Eliza has been in this industry for so long, yet she hasn’t got any breakthrough in her career. She’s just sooooo boring. Even her image has changed so much. She used to look cute and cuddly. Now she just looks sickly thin and haggard.
@kaykay @elizabeth They’ve missed out Chris lai. I wonder why he didn’t join the sequel of Heart of greed 3? It’s not that I’m against them adding new cast members but without all the original cast members, the drama doesn’t feel like Heart of greed anymore.
I think they changed the scriptwriter for this one. The scriptwriter for the previous 2 installments was better.
I think the series may be better if they don’t try to shove so many stars into one series. There is not enough story for all of them to develop. I am only watching as my parents want to watch it. So far, seeing Sharon and Michael Tong makes me want to slap them.
@elizabeth
Real brave, admirable acting by Sharon Chan. Considering being married with a child.
Some series are recycled and characters typecast but still watchable because of solid actors and solid standard. Ha Yu and Louis Yuen are always amazing. Louise Lee though seems unhealthy and the energy she puts into her character seems forced and needs to retire. I don’t think viewers intelligence have improved at a significant pace. At few years back lots of brilliant Jonathan Chik series were dismissed because viewers found them too complicated although there was some genius plots. Heart of Greed is still very watchable and suits the Hong Kong audience.
Priscilla must have very very good connections to be able to land lead roles in 2 anniversary dramas this year. Having a billionaire dad helps a lot. After catching up with more episodes of LW2, i can finally understand why netizens are baying for her blood. Her role in LW2 is sooooooooo annoying, it makes you wonder how on earth she could be an undercover cop. She fumbled and bungled her way around. If this wasn’t TV she would have been dead many times over. She acted more like a wide-eyed innocent girl than an undercover. I don’t know if I can make it through the rest of the drama, uggghhhhh.
recycle plot who doesn’t now a day, every drama will now have similar plot, HOG3 is very watchable their still in the phase of introducing and building up the characters, im sure its gonna be more dramatic and intense as we reach the last portion of the serie but so far enjoying the comedy side of it.
@vodka @funnlim They’ve missed out Chris lai. I wonder why he didn’t join the sequel of Heart of greed 3? It’s not that I’m against them adding new cast members but without all the original cast members, the drama doesn’t feel like Heart of greed anymore.
One real difference is that Heart of Greed does not have the strong family bonding feel as the earlier versions. The veterans have either deteriorated in acting (Louise Lee) or given much less screen time (Michelle Yim)
To think they delayed the TVB awards for this show. I don’t see anybody who should be nominated in any acting categories. And still another 25 episodes to go? Zzzzzzzzzzz.
@canadian I think it’s for My Ages Apart too.
Personally I hope Legal Mavericks or Exorcist Meter trumps HOG3 as best drama and other major awards categories. If HOG3 manages to snag a chunk of the awards like prior years then I am avoiding TVB again.
this drama is just so boring, i only ever watch the scenes that have eliza sam and vincent wong. i never watched heart and greed until this one and i really don’t see what’s so great about it. it’s also extremely annoying that it’s 40 episodes and tvb delayed the award ceremony for this stupid drama.
Isn’t this a prime time series targeted at housewives and older people? Who likes bickering series? Why then is there 3 sex scenes ? I am no prude but I am very bored watching the bra pulling scene times 3 times and some shower scene for the 2 most unlikable person in this series because their characters are disgusting. Then I had to endure half hour of disneyland and 2 most pretentious people with one very pretentious acting but at least those 2 people are good people who are not having some sordid affair that I can see million miles away how Fire Sis will blow her top knowing her daughter is a mistress and etc etc etc. Id rather watch the men bicker and Susanna kwan bicker if I can stop watching that bra pulling again. I dare TVB to show the wife kill herself with the child because that’s what HK women do in real life and that’s what TVB will never show. So how much more of the sex scenes which are not even romantic or passionate, but exceedingly wrong. Then I remembered the first time they did it, it was on the marital bed.
WAIT! I hope this will be Fatal attraction and Yi Oi killing some bunny. Now THAT I will say is a good show.