Bernice Liu to Host Program at Richard Li’s Now TV

After breaking up with Moses Chan (陈豪), Bernice Liu (廖碧兒) was also rumored to have been dumped by Richard Li’s (李泽楷) cousin Alastair Lam (林忠豪). Ending her contract with TVB and reeling in the disappointment of love, Bernice thus chose to head north and film an ancient drama as a big supporting actress.

Although Bernice had signed on with the same management company as Charmaine Sheh (佘诗曼) after leaving TVB and focused on filming dramas in China, Bernice was still lacking in her degree of fame in mainland China. Earlier on, when she was filming historical drama Mystery In The Palace <深宫谍影> in mainland China, her former co-star and ex-colleague, TV King Kevin Cheng (郑嘉颖) was in the same series as her. However, Bernice was only an insignificant character in contrast, turning from a fadan to a supporting character.

Luckily for Bernice, “Little Superman” Richard Li’s broadcasting company and now television enterprises, Now TV, was starting to operate and the most important task was to poach former TVB acting and hosting personnel. Apart from negotiating terms with Joey Leung (梁荣忠), Vinci Wong (王贤志) and other TVB deposed generals, former TVB high-ranking executive turned Now TV’s Senior Vice President Ho Lai Chuen (何丽全) even paid a hefty sum to invite Bernice over to their television station and prepared a new program for her to host this September.

It was known that after crossing over to Now TV, Ho Lai Chuen didn’t think twice about forking out plenty of money to recruit an army of artists for their new channel. Ho Lai Chuen even repeatedly contacted the actors, actresses and hosts who were abandoned by TVB, in an effort to increase their channel’s combat power against TVB.

Earlier, there were rumors that Now TV was offering a lucrative pay of $60,000 HKD per episode to Amigo Chui to lure him over. It was also known that Bernice, who had earlier fell out with TVB, was also one of the poaching candidate, tempting her with an attractive offer of $30,000 HKD per episode.

A high-ranking staff in Now TV revealed, “Our wish is to find a program host who has the relevant experience in this industry. Thus, the first choice that brings to mind was obviously the TVB artists. However, those who are still contractually obligated to TVB are very hard to poach over successfully. Hence we targeted those former TVB artists whose contracts have already ended with the company. For example, Bernice Liu and Anna Yau (丘凯敏) were some of the potential candidates that we have considered.”

Earlier on, Bernice attended a charity event. The reporter asked whether she had switched sides due to the massive filming fee offered. In reply to this, Bernice smiled and replied, “I can do anything actually! I should be hosting a program in English.” (Reporter: How much was the filming fee?) “I’m not sure actually; my manager accepted the job for me. I’m currently concentrating on filming dramas. Actually, I had a happy time trying my hand at filming dramas in mainland previously.”

Yesterday night, Bernice wore a cheongsam-inspired dress with a huge dive back to a Shu Uemura makeup event. When she was asked about switching to another management company, Now TV, after getting “dropped” by TVB, Bernice said that she didn’t feel that way but admitted that she had signed up with a new management company to seek new and different developments for her career.

Asked about rumors that she was dismissed as a TVB deposed general, upon hearing the words “deposed general,” Bernice professed that she didn’t understand the meaning behind them. The reporter then explained to her that it meant someone who was being abandoned. Bernice then responded in a can’t-be-bothered manner, “I don’t feel so. Currently I have signed on with a new management company. I will be announcing my future development direction in a while. It was my personal choice to choose the way I work and to try different things in different management companies. These includes movies and drama serials. In fact, I’m currently filming a show which was accepted by my new management and have more work to do now.” Asked whether she was afraid of offending TVB, Bernice replied, “I am professional towards each and every one of my jobs. I have been diligently working hard for many years now!”

Ava Yu (羽翹) who was at the same event as Bernice, expressed that she was recently busy filming the movie, Bauhinia Woman <紫荊俠>, which also starred Chrissie Chau (周秀娜) as the main lead. Asked for her opinions on rumors that Chrissie’s boyfriend had previously chatted with Theresa Fu (傅穎), Ava responded, “What? Isn’t Theresa together with Him Law (羅仲謙)?”

Is Now TV the Next Thing to Look Out For?

Ho Lai Chuen loves poaching former generals of TVB, which include:

Vinci Wong

Vinci Wong who had spent fourteen years of his hosting life in TVB, will be hosting Now TV’s new program, <102观星总部>, with Janis Chan (陈贝儿) and Joey Leung this September. Vinci remarked, “There’s a lot of freedom here. Back in TVB, we didn’t have much room for development. The past program in TVB only lasted thirty minutes long which was far too short to even interview the celebrity guests. Many TVB people have crossed over to here. It’s such a good feeling!”

Anna Yau

Anna Yau who had accumulated eight years of hosting and emcee experience at TVB, will be introducing beauty and fashion tips in her new show,<女皇驾到>. After crossing over to Now TV, Anna responded, “It’s all thanks to TVB for helping me with a sound foundation. There’s bigger freedom over here now so I can input my own ideas and I don’t have to follow the script anymore.”

Michael Tao

Other than hosting personnel, Ho Lai Chuen also invited acting personnel to join their team. Apart from Bernice Liu, it was known that Michael Tao  (陶大宇) was amongst those targeted. Back in his heydays at TVB, Michael Tao was addressed as a “Housewife Killer.” However, he had previously fell out with TVB over contractual problems. In 2009, Michael left TVB and went up north to advance his career. If successfully poached, the “Housewife Killer” will probably relive on the television sets in Hong Kong.

Amigo Chui

Due to his acts of drunk driving, beating of his girlfriend and driving while his license was still suspended, Amigo’s image nosedived. After getting fired by TVB, Amigo switched occupation to become a filming assistant. His current earnings as a filming assistant was at a miserable sum of $13,000 HKD thus Ho Lai Chuen probably had a high chance of succeeding with his current offer of $60,000 HKD.

Source: Sina and Orientaldaily

This article was translated by Ah K, a Contributing Writer at JayneStars.com.