“Flying Tiger” Receives 2.1 Billion Views; Plans to Film Second Season
Shaw Brother’s Flying Tiger <飛虎之潛行極戰> aired to positive reception since its April broadcast. The web drama received 2.1 billion views to-date after broadcasting 23 episodes, and plans are already in the works to film a second season. Michael Miu (苗僑偉), Ron Ng (吳卓羲), Oscar Leung (梁烈唯), Jeana Ho (何佩瑜) and Samantha Ko (高海寧) were at a press conference to promote the drama, which will be aired on TVB starting May 14.
Michael was thrilled about the excellent results of Flying Tiger. “We’re very proud that Hong Kong dramas are still being watched in Mainland China. This proves that a serious and sincere production will be well liked by viewers.” Flying Tiger was filmed last summer amid soaring temperatures, but he felt that the cast’s efforts were worth it due to the positive reception. Clearing his calendar for the second half of the year, Michael looks forward to filming the second season of Flying Tiger.
Signing a multi-year contract with Emperor Motion Pictures, Jeana Ho looks forward to new breakthroughs in the film and television industries. Standing next to Jeana during press interviews, Samantha said, “I really like Jeana’s role because there are a lot of [emotional] scenes and she has a chance to work with Tony Leung (梁朝偉).”
Portraying a villain in the drama, Oscar Leung spoke about the unforgettable scenes in Flying Tiger. When he first saw the script, he was shocked by his character’s brutality, “A scene spoke of my character cutting off a child’s finger and putting a bomb on his stomach. Since I’m already a father [in real life], I felt this was a very gruesome scene.” Asked if Oscar’s character will die and whether he will return for the second season, he said, “I’ll let viewers watch for themselves. Maybe I can come back as a new character.”
As for Ron Ng, many viewers felt that he has portrayed many types of police roles in dramas. Ron laughed, “I haven’t portrayed every single type of police role yet, such as a traffic officer and marine police. Netizens didn’t check thoroughly. It’s a good idea to have an actor represent the police because they have many different departments and work very hard. It’s a good thing I can represent the police because it’s a positive role.”
Source: On.cc; HK01
This article is written by Jayne for JayneStars.com.
Hmmm….is the 2.1 billion Mainland China only? That’s what it sounds like from the article as well as news reports. I wonder how they come up with these “view counts.” China’s entire population is only about 1.4 billion people…..if the view count is truly 2.1 billion, then they are either double-dipping with the numbers or there is a wrong calculation somewhere….even if they add HK viewers into the mix, still doesn’t make sense because population of HK is only 7 million. I’m curious how this “view count” is being calculated….TVB needs to make the calculation public, but of course they won’t because it would be proof that they are inflating the numbers…
@llwy12 I think the 2.1 billion views mean total views for the 23 episodes so far, so each episode got approximately 91 million views. This doesn’t mean unique viewers…they are just measuring the total views, similar to YouTube. So if a viewer watches half an episode and goes back online to watch again later, it may count as 2 views for that episode.
“Flying Tiger” is also popular with the overseas Chinese population. But of course, Shaw Brothers produced “Flying Tiger” with Mainland audiences in mind, due to the huge population.
I think HK web dramas will be the next big wave as they have higher budgets than TVB dramas. TVB is airing more ouside productions now, with HK web dramas, Mainland Chinese, and Korean dramas. Which means its own TVB studio productions may be just to fill up the air slots.
@jayne LOL…I see…though it’s no wonder that TVB would want to have their stuff air on Internet platform instead of regular television….2.1 billion views sounds way more impressive than say, 30 points average ratings….plus I’m assuming very few people will actually try to break down the calculation to see if it makes sense (yes, I’m weird that way)….most audiences will probably just take the number given and run with it without questioning
@llwy12 And i think Youku is doing the calculation, not TVB themselves.
I checked again though and OCTB also reached 2 billion views, so props to OCTB again lmao
@flakpanzer40 Haha…yup….though technically it’s more of an achievement for OCTB considering at the time, they didn’t have any major studios supporting them, plus that series was made specifically for HK audiences, not Mainland, so the fact that it was able to still pull off such huge view counts from an audience it wasn’t even targeting speaks volumes. 🙂
This drama started going downhill after episode 7 or so when the story lost focus on Hugo Ng, instead focused on Ron which had the worst plot compared with the rest. Many twists and turns don’t even make sense (typical TVB). I’ve caught up to Ep. 28 so far, Hugo’s character pretty much vanished by now. Hugo and Christine’s story have the best backstories, they should focus more on those characters rather than Ron’s pathetic flings and his quick temper (typical TVB)
It’s your better than average TVB drama series for sure. Christine Ng’s acting is good. Hugo’s is solid as usual. Everybody else is just playing to their usual typecasted roles.
I think the compliments are less deserving than it should. Afterall, it’s 2018, this is the quality that audience should expect from EVERY TVB series. This is by no mean a great drama, but it is watchable for most.
Most of the TVB series churning out these days are worse than a high school play. It’s pretty freakin sad. I have no clue why anyone is watching them still. No words can describe how garbage it is.
@anon I thought I was the only who thought so. In the beginning I was very happily chasing episode by episode. After Ron Ng’s dad went to jail it really became much more boring. I skipped thru 20’s and not chasing anymore. I think they just can’t find good scriptwriters or something that’s why they are doing these cop series, it’s like they really can’t come up w/anything else these days. Garbage is cruel but it’s truly what it is on some of these series these days.
@anon “Most of the TVB series churning out these days are worse than a high school play. It’s pretty freakin sad.”
TVB doesn’t really seem to inject a lot of resources to produce high quality series. Its strategy in recent months seems to be just buy productions produced outside. It is a less risky move to buy critically acclaimed Mainland series or air other Hong Kong web series produced by Shaw Brothers. I suspect its strategy for 2018 will remain the same. TVB will continue to produce some series to meet local HK viewers’ preferences, but it is not about to put a lot of cash behind its series. It seems happy to just cast amateur actors and produce B-grade or subpar dramas to fill its time slots.
@anon “High school play” is actually a compliment. Anthony Wong put it best when he said that compared to outside, TVB’s series are essentially “kindergarten productions.” So true!
Oscar’s character as a cruel character is fresh and convincing. Christine is classy. NICE.
as for Ron, he is super convincing as a rash police officer just like in earlier roles. Michael Miu and Eddie Cheung are great!!!
Someone help Ron complete his police resume lol.
I agree his role is very meh but i dont blame Ron. And the story started going dwnhill after Hugo went to jail. And further the plot stopped making sense when Bosco went ” undercover”. Ron’s romance side plot is so awkward and almost unnecessary for plot dev.
Wish they will focus more on Sam Ko, she has an interesting character!
@bubbles23
Ron was playing this type of the role for the last 10+ years and it won’t be s surprise if he continues for the next 10 years. He’s not even any good at it. His English needs to improve. It’s Poker …. not ‘pocker’
@jimmyszeto I haven’t warmed up to Ron ever! His acting felt meh, and boring! Bosco on the other hand, is quite interesting to watch! Main problem with this series? There is no actress I know or like??? And the first episode felt weak, I’ve seen a lot of TVB cop series, and I tend to like a lot of them, this one felt meh and lots of hole! I miss the old tiger cubs lol
I just feel it is an OK series, but brings nothing new to the plot. The veterans are there but get so underused. I just wish Ron gets given another role. He does suit angry and impulsive roles but it is getting boring after 10+ years, and it is not doing anything to help display his acting skills. And the songs are boring as well.
But at least it is doing better than the Wesley series which is very bad. despite its casting. Even “Daddy Cool” is getting slow. Pat Ha’s character is disappointing as a “villain”.
I think I am going to stay away from TVB series for a while until “Brothers” comes out.
@elizabeth I still prefer Daddy Cool, but mostly because of the acting from the male cast – Carlos, Wayne, John gor, and Joel are all excellent in their roles and have been keeping the series going for me. The female side is weak (with the exception of Elvina Kong and Mary Hon, both of whom have been great) and the story itself is meh but overall the series is still decently watchable. With Pat Ha, I agree her performance has been disappointing, but I’m willing to cut her some slack considering she hasn’t acted in anything in like 3 decades – I expect her acting skills to be rusty.
OMG, that Wesley series is beyond horrible…even with the A-listers in the series (like Simon Yam for example), can’t save such a crappy production. Honestly, Wong Jing needs to retire and stop polluting our screens with his sub-par, unwatchable productions. Glad to see Wong Jing is getting a lot of much deserved hate right now, though unfortunately he doesn’t give a crap if HK audiences complain because HK is worthless to him now….hope more Mainlanders bash the series so WJ can see that even his favorite audience doesn’t support him.
@llwy12
Joel is so good at playing villains but he really needs to be rebranded as a male lead. It’s a waste to underuse him with the lack of talent about. Feel Wayne has lost the ‘fire’ and motivation that turned him from the best support actor into the best male lead actor. He is accepting any role and churning out passable performances. Can understand though because he has worked his butt off for the last few decades. Not enough screentime for Carlos, John and Elvina in recent episodes. Pat’s character is annoying and is not worth hogging the scenes.
@jimmyszeto Agreed. Pat’s character is indeed annoying and so is Rosina’s (though with her it’s mostly the acting that’s annoying me)….I kind of wish Elvina were the lead in this because her character is the only one on the female side that’s well-portrayed. Yea, Wayne has indeed lost a bit of that fire, which is why I think him leaving TVB and venturing out is a good thing, since there really isn’t much more he can do if he stays – almost all of his roles nowadays are the type that he can pretty much do in his sleep. Also, in the past couple interviews that he’s done, it’s pretty obvious that he is tired and ready to scale back so that he can enjoy life more. With the series heading into finale week and more emphasis on the 1940s storyline, hopefully that means we see more of Carlos and Joel and less of Pat and Rosina….no doubt Wayne will feature heavily in the last couple episodes as well…too bad John gor has less and less screen time though….
@llwy12 OMG that Wesley series …. It was so crappy same as that Bet Hur or whatever. Wasted 2 hours of my life hahah lol…..WTH is that really???
@wm2017 who produce this Wesley series? TVB?
@littlefish No, not TVB. It’s a web series co-produced by Wong Jing’s company Mega-Vision and Mainland streaming platform iQiyi. TVB bought the broadcast rights to it though, which is why the series is currently airing on TVB and myTV super.
@llwy12 thanks! Sadly I don’t tend to check who produce the series! Luckily I tend to be quite picky lawl!
@wm2017 Exactly! Next time, note to self – if it’s produced by Wong Jing, don’t even bother watching because you know it’s going to be nothing but a waste of time, LOL…even if there are A-listers in the cast, you know that in Wong Jing’s hands, he’s going to manage to ruin it.
With that said though, if you’re truly interested in watching Wong Jing’s productions, just watch the TVB series he produced back in the 1970s/early 1980s and/or the movies he did in the 1980s/early 1990s, since pretty much everything else he has produced in the 30+ years since then have been a rehash of those series and movies in one form or another….
Flying tiger just seems like another senseless production to meet the lucrative web series market. Another undercover cop story where it is very blantant to everyone that he is undercover. The evil side of the cast Oscar and Hugo Wong are really weak. The veterans aren’t used enough. At this stage of his career, I expect Bosco to me taking up better quality roles. Worried he might fall into the Ron bracket soon…
@jimmyszeto Yup…and you know it’s bad when the media keeps talking about the guys in the series taking their shirts off or showing their supposedly hot bodies in some scene, as though that’s what the series is about and there is nothing else about the plot worth talking about (most of the articles I’ve read about the series so far from mainstream media outlets seem to either be about the “excellent ratings” aka view counts or recounting some scene where one of the guys went topless)….glad I didn’t waste my time watching this series.
@jimmyszeto
speaking of underusing veterans and senseless production, i am watching the wesley series. could have been a much better production had they actually put in effort to make it not such a b rated and category III drama. nowadays it seems like as long as there are big household names and a cliche plot would make good viewship in china. are viewers in china really not able to accept new things and seeing things from another perspective?
@m0m0 Well, the Wesley series is kind of a bad example because it’s produced by Wong Jing and he is known for doing all that stuff you mentioned (basically recycle old stories, cram in boatloads of big name veterans, and add in Category III element – usually related to sex but could be violence too) and then some. To me, it’s not necessarily that majority of Mainland audiences want that kind of stuff (though some of them probably do), but rather it’s the censorship rules over there limiting audiences’ options, then directors like Wong Jing turn that into an excuse to be lazy by rehashing the same stuff over and over again. The ironic part is that even Mainland audiences are bashing the Wesley series, saying it’s horribly produced, the plot makes no sense, the acting sucks, and – most importantly – the adaptation is a huge departure from what was in the books (sure, some liberty taken is fine and even expected, but when it’s done so poorly as it was in this series, plus everything about the series sucks except the veterans, makes things like that harder to swallow).
Can’t get over how they tried to pass Bosco and Ron off as in their late 20s. Hugo Ng is convincing as a villain and Christine looks GREAT in this. Hair and makeup are on point!!
**SPOILER ALERT: But, she definitely does not look like she could have birthed Bosco. They look more like siblings that mother-son.**
Oscar’s performance is overrated and I still think that his best performance by far has been in L’Escargot and Line Walker. Also not usually a fan of Jeana Ho but did like her character here. Grace and Mandy are just flower vases. Venus Wong is promising but underused in this.
Ron Ng hasn’t improved. Bosco is just Bosco – this role is not challenging for him. Would be interesting if their roles were switched.
Michael Miu also plays the same type of role here but is still my #1 older generation 男神. Would also be refreshing to see him and Hugo switch roles.
@kaykay
I think Michael Miu has patented these ‘undercover handler’ roles. We will be shocked if we see him play any other type of character. He must be bored. Ron. He must be most unimproved actor ever. Nothing has changed since his debut in ‘Triumph in the Skies’. One dimensional, no energy, dull.
@kaykay Couldn’t agree more with your points.
To add onto the stuff about the female cast, what a disappointment that everyone was just brushed over as a “love interest”. What a waste of talents like Mandy Wong. She wasn’t even given a proper “ending”… she just disappeared off the drama randomly after Eddie Cheung’s shooting. Heck, they didn’t even show their wedding.
Jeana was definitely interesting and I liked her role. I also liked Venus, but they made her role rather repetitive.
Grace and Ron was the most confusing couple EVER. Ron showed absolutely no signs of interest in Grace to begin with, so I wasn’t sure why Grace’s character was so butthurt by Ron. He continued to show no interest, and called her out to reject her, and after she says a few things, he suddenly asks her to marry him?? And she says YES?? Do people really just get into marriages with people they barely know, and have not even officially dated yet?