“Beauty at War” Plunges to 19 Points in Ratings
TVB prime time series Beauty at War <金枝慾孽貳> and Bullet Brain <神探高倫布> have been plagued by low ratings and numerous viewer complaints since their debuts last month. Despite unconditional support from its cast and crew, Beauty at War‘s ratings slipped two points in its second week, averaging only 21 points or roughly 1.35 million viewers. Bullet Brain also saw a slight dip in ratings as it enters its final week, averaging 22 points. Desperate to retain audience during its golden time slot, TVB is ramping up promotional efforts, filming guidance clips to improve viewers’ experiences.
As a response to comments about Beauty at War‘s confusing plot, TVB summoned its main cast last week to film a series of short interviews. The clips complemented episodes that aired last week, providing brief summaries and explained the complex relationships between the numerous characters. In addition, the company will be holding major promotional events next week, hoping to generate buzz for the ailing drama, which plunged to 19 points during an all-time ratings low for the drama.
Bullet Brain suffered the same fate last week, losing to sitcom Come Home Love <愛·回家>, which earned an average of 25 points. Some viewers complained about the series’ highly-embellished fighting scenes, finding them out of place and unnecessary. Speaking to reporters,Wayne Lai (黎耀祥) emphasized that Bullet Brain is a fantasy drama and reflected on its failure. “Even movie kings suffer from poor box office from time to time. Actors who don’t have a guaranteed audience must be extra careful when filming new genres. Viewers have expectations and will question any unreasonable story line.”
Michael Miu (苗僑偉), whose series A Change of Heart <好心作怪> is slated to air after Beauty at War, expressed shock at Beauty‘s poor performance. “Is it because of [Advanced Level] exams or an error from the ratings agencies? Beauty at War may not be suitable for some viewers. My series is really funny and very easy to understand. I hope we will achieve high ratings.” When asked if he is confident that TVB Chairman Norman Leung (梁乃鹏) would treat him to a celebratory meal, Michael quipped, “If he doesn’t treat me, I will treat him! If A Change of Heart earns a lower rating than Beauty at War, I will treat Mr. Leung to a meal instead. I will also personally apologize because we [actors] are responsible for poor ratings.”
This article is written by Katrine for JayneStars.com.
Wow, Michael Miu is so confident in his drama series. I hope he is correct in predicting a higher viewership rating. Anyway, Hong Kong people do like some silly and funny drama series these days.
Mhm Michael Miu! ❤
Anyways, I think it would generate a higher rating. The dramas he stars usually do have a good rating!:D
agree michael series do usually pretty well
Second that thought too- Love Michael Miu! At his day and age, damn he’s one hell of a hot hunk lmao.
@Clementine: LOL I agree with you 🙂
love love michael miu. He is very hot !!!!!!!!!
yeah!! That’s what I wanna hear from a positive TVB actor
agree michael is a positive actor and a good actor i think michael said this role is a breakthrough for him cos his never taken a role like this before
“Anyway, Hong Kong people do like some silly and funny drama series these days.”
Maybe HK doesn’t broadcast many recent Korean, Japanese and China dramas?? Jewel in the Palace is already an old drama according to wiki (9-10 years ago)…
They do. They had some K-Drama in primetime on ATV on the weekends. I sometimes catch Japanese dramas at latenight as well.
A Change of Heart has to be pretty dire if it can’t do better than Bullet Brain and Beauty at War.
Perhaps most in the audience prefer comedy is tough because they have tough and stressful lives. Comedies help relieve the stress of daily living.
Wow, 19?!? That is new lows for TVB. But have they considered the people watching online. Personally, I’m liking Beauty at War even though it is confusing. Bullet Brain is a major flop though…
To help some people with BAW, here’s a summary of the play “The Peony Pavilion” that Moses/Eddie performs in the series. You can see why it causes everyone to fall for Moses because the play symbolizes true love that the concubines yearn for.
http://casualtvb.blogspot.com/2013/05/historical-context-peony-pavilion.html
Thanks for sharing!! That play was a major thing which made it confusing. But other than that, it wasn’t too too difficult to understand.
Hope the rating will higher for third week.
I stopped watching BB at eps1 and eps3 for BAW. Love to continue BAW for the Sheren, Ada and Christine but it was quite boring.
I wonder when the Viet version will come out. I really wanna see what all this fuss is about…
I think it’s such a pity that the high-level actors and actresses like Moses, Wayne and Ada have been given such low-rated and confusing dramas to star in.
Such a waste to good acting skills
I dont think A Change of Heart ratings be even that low to Bullet Briandead and Bloated at War level.
It is very interesting plot, maybe similar to Wax and Wane but better.
God, I really hope it is better then the other crap that TVB has been releasing this year.
But will the execution be good? I thought WAW was only good due to Roger and Kate while everyone else – even Sunny whom I adore, were pretty underwhelming or too hammy.
I don’t think ACoH will have that low ratings either. The premise seems fairly straight forward, so even if the execution fails (like BB and BAW), it will still be easy for people to follow.
Time will tell, TVB needs to STOP sucking Episode 1. Episode 1 should be the most important to watch for viewers to see interest and lately it fail SO BADLY.
I am hopeful.
Something about bullet brain:
I am beginning to think that Sire Ma is he daughter of Natalie.. In ep. 15, it was mentioned that if natalie’s daughter was alive, she would be same age as sire..
Is the producer hinting that natalie and sire are daughter-mother? But because of some darn reason, sire has forgotten?! Just something I have been wondering..
No. From the spoilers… The daughter’s age is 17. Sire Ma’s character is 24.
But this happened during the war.. and didnt they say that sire was adopted..?
But didn’t ep. 15 said that if Natalie’s daughter is alive, she would be the SAME AGE as SIRE.
Gosh. make up your mind tvb?
Natalie has confirmed herself that she will play both mother and daughter. So Sire as her daughter is out if he question unless the writer pulls out a twist.
definitely not. Sire Ma character is not Nat’s daughter. You can check the relation chart online. Nat’s character as 梅妹 has a daughter that is also Nat who plays the daughter 司徒男
” we [actors] are responsible for poor ratings.” Strong words there.
Wonder how wayne feels to that!
I am sure he feels terrible but he has his lamborghini to cushion his pain and frustration. Vroom vroom vroom!
honestly – i dont think Wayne cares. He keep talking about even BIG star has box office flop. He is equating himself as big star.
Strong words indeed, but not entirely true. Actors certainly make up a good share, but the script makes up an even bigger share.
i like michael miu a ton but have to disagree with him. Actors just partly responsible for poor ratings.
Let’s do a test. Rerun Jewel In The Palace in Korean dialogue and see where the ratings will go.
was that drama actually good? i’ve yet to see it
It is great, highly recommended.
I did not know that “Jewel In The Palace” is the same as “Dae Jang Geum”. Of course it was good. It had the highest viewership rating in Hong Kong. It was a fairly long Korean drama series telling the life story of a female herb doctor in Korea. It was my very first Korean palace-setting drama series and I was greatly impressed by it.
My favourite drama series of all time<3
I pretty much predicted that BAW would not measure up to WAB, but even I could not have predicted the utter failure of the show.
I’m loving BAW so far. Episode 11 spoke of Charmaine’s story. I’m really enjoying how the series is integrating WAB’s stories. First it was Maggie and now it’s Charmaine and her adopted sisters. Interesting!
A Change of Heart is a comedy? The sales clip looked really serious in tone. Still looking forward to it though.
It’s not a full on comedy but there are some comedy moments not like Inbound Troubles but more like Witness Insecurity serious but with some light hearted moments.
It’s not that hard to get more than 19 …
After the big build up to the prequel, we were expecting a lot. Maybe because lots of people are comparing to the first, it makes the second one seem suckish!
WAB had high viewership ratings and was critically acclaimed because of its intense plot build-up and the idea of four major actresses pitting against each other as adversaries was thrilling. BAW is more of a philosophical, contemplative drama which it is not as exciting but it still has depth. It definitely plays more for a niche audience though. But I agree, they are trying to stuff too many characters in the series.
I am still flabbergasted at the scheme that Gigi’s character pulled at the other 3 main characters.
Jaynestars: Thank you for the numerous updates on BAW – I appreciate the news that your website provides. 🙂
I am enjoying BAW a lot and am sorry to hear that the ratings have fallen considerably. It has a different nature from WAB but there are connective threads, some really interesting to identify and re-knot, so to speak. Ada and Sheren are brilliant, as always. I’m currently watching last night’s episode and am very much taken with Ada’s performance. I do hope this series gets more love as the story develops.
makeupmag,
Thanks for your feedback. We try to cover the hot topics in HK tabloids, and “Beauty at War” has been a hotly discussed series, although for the wrong reasons.
I hope the drama improves in ratings as well, as it is a sincere effort, although the material may not suit current viewers’ taste.
put michael miu and KENIX KWOK together as a couple in a tv serie and I WOULD NOT MISS WATCHING IT !!!!!! Love both of them, they are attracted and talented actors !!!!!
I don’t think that would ever happen because Kenix Kwok signed up with HKTV, i think. not too sure.
But that would be a good pairing!
Nope she didn’t sign with them but her husband Frankie did. She’s just focusing on her dad’s business right now
You think not correctly.
Kenix Kwok comes from a pretty well-off family. Probably she does not have to worry about money as she and Frankie Lam have big investments in upscale properties.
Do you guys know why Kenix Kwok is not acting anymore? I mean she still looks pretty and young and pretty young for her age besides the fact that she was very popular in the past cause she was a great actress. Guess too many young actors nowadays huh? Oh I think she is with another company, not with TVB anymore. Right?
She is taking care of her daughter for most of her time.
If her family is running low on cash, TVB welcomes her.
I can’t believe Beauty at War fell through the 20 mark, if this continues I wonder if we’ll start hearing about 15-16? I don’t understand where all the viewers have gone, surely with such a large drop other channels must be benefiting?
It’s such a shame because it’s not that bad and if you actually spend the time to watch it is a very clever series however the pace is too slow and heavy in dialogue without any action.
The viewers are probably have enough watching TVB and turn to other shows or activities, I dont blame them at all.
I’m not bothered by such ratings though as long as I enjoyed a series. I luv BAW! Only watched a preview of BB n eww!
TN1
Unfortunately TVB is bothered by BAW’s super low viewership ratings. They worry that they will lose their sponsors sooner or later.
I think the bad rumours did accelerate the poor viewership ratings. If there were tons of loud and bad noise during the beginning of the airing, people would stop watching the drama series.
The person to blame is Scriptwriter Chow Yuk Ming. He should have created a good, glamorous and more focus introduction instead of a long, very slow-paced and too widespread introduction (7 whole episodes).
Didn’t know abt d sponsorship thing Sandcherry, is TVB dat “poor” huh!
Watch 3 episodes at one go yesterday (3-6). The plot is getting repeatative with all the misunderstands and everyone thinking too much. But, the introduction of Dr.Yeung brought a breath of fresh air to the series. He’s the most interesting character for me now. I thought Dr.Yeung will leave for good after he resigned from his job as palace physician. Glad that they are bringing him back. So, he’s the blueprint for Bowie’s character in WAB.
I’m also liking Katy Kung’s character, Muk Dong Yee. I don’t like her overly bias view against her stepmother, but, she’s overall a righteous and honorable person.
Lastly, however much I like Christine Kuo, I have to admit, her acting is really bad here. 🙁
change of heart won’t get high ratings with that confusing storyline! the male leads suck too. niki chow is boring. only joey meng and mandy have breakthrough roles and great acting! will skip this!
Not surprised by this news- I gave up watching after Ep.3. The story wasn’t as captivating as the previous installment, so disappointed overall.
Quite frankly, after a long day at work, I don’t want to spend 1 hr/45 mins trying to analyze or put on my philosophical hat for a drama. The only exception to this is if the drama is supposed to be a mystery/ suspenseful… Audiences like to feel a connection with what they watch or read.
And I disagree with Miu’s comment as well, actors can only do so much to bring alive a story/ characters if the script/ plot is horrible. I can’t wait until these two shows are over.