“Beauty at War” Averages 23 Points in Premiere Week
Heavily promoted palace drama Beauty at War <金枝慾孽貳> made its debut last week to low ratings and viewer complaints. The series earned an average of 23 points during its first week, the same as poorly-received series Bullet Brain <神探高倫布>. The low viewership came as a surprise blow to Beauty at War‘s cast and crew, but they are confident that the series will attract more viewers as the plot progresses.
Beauty at War generated many complaints since its premiere last Monday due to its confusing plot and slow pace. TVB received a total of 36 formal complaints for the drama, citing boredom and inappropriate content. The opening episode received criticism for introducing a large number of characters successively and further baffled the audience with a time jump of 100 years into the past. The later episodes carried on with an extremely slow pace and uninteresting scenes, causing viewership to dwindle.
TVB’s Deputy Director of External Affairs, Tsang Sing Ming (曾醒明), remarked that it is rare for two major productions to suffer from low ratings. “It is certainly a rare sight in recent years. Beauty at War had to explain its setting and characters during its first week. The plot will unfold this week and I am confident that the ratings will improve.”
Ada Choi (蔡少芬), who is currently on maternity leave, also believes that ratings will increase over the next few weeks. “A 23-point rating is of course not the ideal, but it really depends on timing and luck. Sheren Tang (鄧萃雯) and I did not appear until the end of the week. There will be more exciting scenes coming up, so I am confident that the ratings will rise. I’m at home watching it everyday!”
Christine Ng (伍詠薇), who plays Consort Dowager Shun, also shows support for her series and hopes for a higher rating. “Ratings is up to the audience. It’s [the series’s] first week, you have to give it some time. I am optimistic and hope that the ratings will improve later!”.
Kenny Wong (黃德斌) defended the palace drama as well and urged viewers to give it a second chance. “Beauty at War is a new story and needs to be ‘stewed’! It will be a bit slow to start. It is normal to feel confused at the beginning, just watch it again on myTV!”
Source: Oriental Daily
This article is written by Katrine for JayneStars.com.
I was quite shocked to see BAW only get 23 points in its premiere. Even BB premiered with a higher rating. If BB’s ratings are due to Wayne, I guess TVB should count their blessings. BAW with Moses, Sheren, Ada, Christine, and a well rounded supporting cast can only get 23 points. If Wayne wasn’t in BB, it’d probably only get 19.
I do think BAW is capable of getting a better rating. From what I’ve seen, the plot is starting to pick up. Just have to wait until all the characters meet in the Forbidden City. If ratings don’t pick up by then, it will likely never do so.
It looks like TVB will continue to get these low ratings for quite a while. The next series, Slow Boat Home, doesn’t look like a viewer snatcher. Hopefully Michael Mui and Bosco’s A Change of Heart can get TVB back on track in June. That’s the only show I’ve been looking forward to so far this year.
bullet brains suck. beauty at war only in first week so give it a chance.
no. ratings might only increase when tvb start airing roger’s lawyer series in late june. hk loves profession based series.
can’t wait for the real blockbusters to air and save the ratings starting july until the anniversary:
triumph in the skies 2
brother’s keeper
Defection or ruse of engagement
wayne/moses lawyer series
on call 36 hours 2
No reserve
always and ever
adding sniper 2013 to the july-anniversary timeslots
I hope it starts doing better! I think it’s been pretty good so far
Watever! I’m enjoying BAW lots! Mystified plots makes it getting more n more interesting.
Blame on Bullet Brian pulling down the ratings. It is toxic.
yes, i do blame bullet brain. it is toxic……..BB made is unbearable to switch on TV at that time frame
Well, I tend to like Bullet Brain. It’s was better than season of Love
Good for you, it has nothing to do with Season of Love.
Season of Love is very, very bad. Poor script and plot
yep! Season of Love does suck.
Larry,
The BB become toxic because of your harsh comments which cause viewers get away from all TVB series including BAW.
Come on Vann, face the facts. Bullet Brain was a let down because of lack of interest and poor storyline. It is losing audience every episode and every week when it is air. It has affected Beauty at War viewership when it air before Bullet Brain.
USE common scene, that you don’t have.
Beauty At war is Beauty at War, Bullet Brain is Bullet Brain. You can’t say that Bullet brain affected BAW. It is because of BAW’s boring plot that affected the rating
Jenny, the ratings affected in the Hong Kong television market. Bullet Brian air first, followed by Beauty at War. 7 to 11pm is primetime.
Go to a marketing class, will you.
People know that those are 2 different series and know the time when each drama is aired. You can’t say that the first drama received poor rating, the drama right after that will get affected. How about vice versa? when the first drama receives high ratings, that means the drama after it will receive high ratings as well? Again, BAW’s story plot is BORING.
Lots of Hong Kong people are watching from 7PM to 11PM. Watch all night. That is prime time. Viewership reflects that… regardless if they only watch 1 program. Majority of people who are watching TVB Jade watch it 7pm to 11 pm. Prime viewership and it is one of the cause that Bullet Brain affected Beauty of War premiere week.
Again, take a Marketing class.
Larry,
If BAW doesn’t pick up the following week, then it’s definitely due to the own show’s poor storyline/disinterest from the audience and unrelated to BB. But I agree that during the first week, its ratings could be affected by BB’s low ratings.
Fair analysis, advo.
BB is a horrible lead in. I think we can all agree on that. But I don’t think you can blame BB for BAW’s low rating. They have the same rating. That means people who were watching BB continued to watch BAW. No additional viewers tuned in just for BAW. History shows the third time slot usually has the higher rating so I would argue lead ins don’t really matter with TVB.
On a side note, Scoop has started to promote BAW at the end of its show.
You know, where are the audience that are not watching TVB… ATV?
Larry,
Maybe watching mainland dramas through sites like PPS.tv?
I have friends in Hong Kong, they are switching to watch Mainland and Korean dramas since TVB is catering to UFO viewers.
Larry3,
With artists such as Kevin Cheng and Myolie Wu turning up in mainland dramas, the dramas already feel more familiar to audiences who have closely followed HK productions. It’s really not surprising since streaming sites make it so easy for viewers to have plenty of choice.
23 points for this time of year is really terrible, especially since TVB was resting its bets on BAW and BB.
@ Jayne, you may need to include the lowest point rating numbers in your articles.
Bullet Brain… 20 points
Beauty at War… 21 points.
Absolute, shocking! This is really bad.
There are lots of other resources from the internet and paid television stations consisting of Korean dramas, Japanese dramas, Mainland dramas, US TV Series and others.
Furthermore Korean and Mainland variety shows are getting more interesting. Running Man for instance, is a very enjoyable show available freely on the internet.
PPS also provides movies. I recently have my share of HK and mainland movies from there.
omg running man is the best!!!
People aren’t watching TVB but they are not watching other channels either. I remember seeing Missing You get 24 or 25 points but it still got 96% of the audience share. People are probably watching things online than switching to other channels.
Bullet Brain, BAW, and other series’ that had a heavyweight cast behind it but got poor ratings: well now we know.
We know that it’s the script that’s most important — not the hype, not the advertisements, not the cast. Let’s give the younger people a chance to head the dramas. Relegate the vets to cameos and supporting roles. Maybe the new blood can inspire the writers to approach their writing from a new angle. And in doing so, maybe we can put some pressure and motivation into these younger actors to harden them up.
Well, TVB needs to read your comment, because they are RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS
Not only TVB, but HK is running out of ideas
@Larry 3 + minute
HK has always been behind on the production of dramas. If you watch Taiwanese, Korean or Japanese dramas, you’ll know just how far HK dramas lags behind the rest of E. Asia in everything.
I mean, you can’t just coast. The demographics are always changing. Stuff that worked you know, 10 years ago won’t work now because your 18-35 demographic becomes the 35+ demo, and are constantly being replaced by teens becoming adults whose interests aren’t the same as their parents’.
@dd – Taiwanese dramas are so naggy and longwinded. Korean dramas are not that fantastic either as most of the time the better dramas are adapted from books and most dramas have the revenge, amnesia and missing family member themes. Japanese dramas are boring, but japanese anime is good. When japan adapts anime into drama, they don’t follow the script of the anime and comes up with their own script instead and that is seriously ridiculous especially when the anime script is a lot better.
HK’s old dramas is still popular in India and Vietnam. Their old dramas are still popular elsewhere.
It’s a risk of giving the younger ones and new bloods a chance, since they can’t act and inexperienced. Look at Sire Ma for example, she’s one of the younger ones, and see how she acts in Bullet Brain. Very disappointing.
What we’re seeing here is a lesser amount of specialized writing for the younger cast, and more focus on the older ones.
If we put these younger actors into the thick of things, we can see how well they handle the pressure and responsibility.
We have to make some sacrifices in order to make things succeed. We’re already on an all-time ratings low and stale/repetitive, uninspired writing. Things can only go up from here.
and I hope it is not the trend. TVB, re-examine it ASAP.
Agree 100%; there all are young and famous actors/actress in “Season of love” but it still getting very low rating even lower than BB.
Not in a sequel of “War & Beauty” definitely. If Sheren Tang, Ada Choi and Christine Ng, all very good artistes, cannot generate good viewership ratings, I think it will be a bigger disaster if we have those new artistes acting “Beauty at War”. Currently there are at least some people who would watch this drama series because of good acting.
@ Vann, Season of Love was air in Chinese New Year that gotten the low ratings.
It is obvious that new bloods and younger cast cannot handle those responsibilities. The first thing they need to know is how to act, if they don’t, nobody can save them. Also, they need to have experience, so that means supporting roles, that how they will succeed. It’s like finding a job when you’re fresh out from university. You can’t just be in a senior position when you’re out from school, you will have to start from junior, then slowly become a senior
@vann
“Seasons of Love” was a very good idea. It was a pretty fresh idea which allowed them to showcase the younger talent.
But wow, that was awkward. There were so many things wrong with this I don’t even know where to start. Well, I’ll turn your attention to someone who you may not have considered: Kandy Wong (Toby’s little sister in the drama).
She’s already 25 and she’s stuck doing teenager roles. You guys, comeon. Let’s get a real teenager to do teenager roles. Taiwan’s Amber Kuo already played the lead romantic interest when she was 24. I get it, Kandy Wong’s selling point is the loli-prepubescent and cute thing she has going on but really, it’s time. You can act your age and still be adorable as hell just like Amber Kuo. Or Ivy Chen. Or even Michelle Chen.
I feel that in Bullet Brain, it’s the character that fails Sire Ma. She acted pretty well in other series and I didn’t see many complaints about her acting being bad in other series. She only gets lots of criticism in BB.
I cannot stand her character Kam Yi Wa (Eva), but, I’m ok with her acting.
@Kidd
Sire ma is one reason the dragged down the series of her poor acting and stiff expression, and they way she speaks
I don’t think any young artistes (those new top fadans) can head up the sequel. Their acting is rather limited and they will not be able to handle flying paper scripts with classical Chinese dialogues. Even Gigi Lai and Charmaine Sheh had problems in memorizing their dialogues in the prequel. Do you think those new fadans, such as Linda Chung, Fala Chen, Myolie Wu, Tavia Yeung or Kate Tsui, can handle this kind of script? The whole cast only had a few hours of preparation time to memorize the dialogues, digest them, say them out with proper tones and expressions, and act with the right inner emotions? Up to Episode # 6, it seems that only Sheren Tang and Rachel Kan, among all the actresses, can do a good job.
Oh no, don’t misunderstand – these period dramas need older people to lead in order for it to retain some historical accuracy.
But casting Christine Kuo was questionable.
Did we run out of artistes who still kept their natural black hair?
dd
Thanks for your good understanding.
I think Katy Kung did a great job with handling the long script.
Katy Kung is very good in her dialogues, one of the best among new actresses. She is surely better than Tracy Ip and Leung Ka Ki. Katy’s acting is okay, but I think she looks a bit young in her character. Nancy Wu or Elaine Yiu might be a better cast for the rank of her role.
Katy is smart and beauty… TVB up her status to be first line actress.
Katy is definitely not pretty to me, but she acts quite well in her character in “Beauty at War”. I never liked her acting that much. She screamed quite a lot in other characters.
I think the poor rating is mainly due to the slow-paced and rather confusing storyline (esp. Ep. # 1). As Sheren Tang is the only lead character left from the prequel and her popularity as Yu Fei, she should have much more screen time in the beginning of the drama series to attract audience. Unfortunately, there is very little screen time of Sheren (up to Ep. # 6). I think Scriptwriter Chow Yuk Ming has to take the blame if the drama series turns out to be a failure.
I think both series BB and BAW are good; perhaps they get low rating because now is summer; it is so hot that viewers prefer going to the beach rather to stay at home watching TV.
What season are you in. Hong Kong is still in spring time.
Well, I think Bullet Brain & Beauty At War are great series to watch
sherwayn, yes they are great series…. a 20 point rating.
Larry,
Like td18 said, it’s much better then the uninteresting Season of love. Much better
@sherwayn. I get your point. We dont need to repeat it again.
vann: perhaps they get low rating because now is summer; it is so hot that viewers prefer going to the beach rather to stay at home watching TV.
haha!
Wonder how BB’s ratings compared to Season of Love (since u kept harping on its low ratings) had it aired during the xmas-NY season; or CNY season; or ching ming-Easter timeslot? Now, that would be a fair comparison, don’t you think?
Well, It’s because Season of Love sucks.
Look, Season of Love does suck at some parts. It has peak at 27 points multiple times and was air in Chinese New Year. It did well despite airing at the bad timeslot.
High rating does not mean that the series is good. Look at When heaven burns, which totally sucked, and it received the best series award. Season of love sucks at every part
@ Ted: When Heaven Burns IMO, it suck. BUT it did well towards the end of the series as the story picks up.
Season of Love, yes it suck, I know and I watch. But you have to realize it was AIRED in the BAD timeslot. Chinese New Year. Goong Hei Fat Choi!
Season of Love high ratings may be due to HK youngsters nowadays wanting to watch love dramas. Triangular love, I love you and you don’t love me theme.
There are a lot of dramas that cater to that audience – Taiwanese, Japanese and especially Korean dramas.
I agree with you 100%. I think Bullet brain & BAW are great series.
I think another reason of scoring low viewership ratings is: Hongkongers have lost their confidence in TVB drama series. There has not been any good one in 2013, with the exception of (maybe) “Inbound Troubles”.
Ruco’s -Reality Check, GPS is a good one!
And u all should give a try to Come Home Love 😉
Everyone shines in that drama! Those are 2nd/3rd line actor/actress, some even kelefes but they really shines!
And that’s when I found out Griselda is Tavia’s sister!
I love the part she plays Har Jie with Richard!
I love Come Home Love!! Richard and Har Jie are so cute! I’ve been chasing that series since episode 1. I heard the sitcom is actually quite popular in Hong Kong. Not sure if it’s true but its definitely a must watch.
@Corsette
I love Amanda and Jung Piu too 🙁
Amanda and ChaCha also so cute!!
Too bad now lolllll Jung Piu role was cut 🙁 🙁
I really hope they bring him back!
He is a very good actor too!
Larry, summer is coming.
Yes Vann, summer is coming. But not today.
It might as well be summer. The humidity is so high that I feel like I’m walking into a wall of mist everytime I do something.
Both series suck. Too many episodes for those series. Come Home Love is the best out of them two. It’s funny and they storyline is getting better and better.
That’s good Jon Chik left cuz all his series suck.
It is NOT true that all Chik Kee Yee’s drama series sucked. His drama series were quite “unusual” for regular audience……….. some people liked it while some people didn’t. I don’t agree that all his drama series sucked. I liked many of them.
I see u comment on everyone’s post. How nice. Hahaha
Jon Chik suckk. Good for you that u like him.
My favourite one has to be cold blood warm heart – gallen, jessica, louis and julian.
Yeahhh!! Come Home Love 😉
Too many casting & the focuses. Kinda bad for a start……..
Is it bad that I find myself watching a rerun of Safe Guards and ignoring Beauty At War and Columbo? In fact Safe Guards still feel fresh for me. Painful to watch Elaine but am glad she improved like A LOT.
It’s ok, I’m watching War and Beauty!
I think there are a few factors that are causing the low ratings. For one, Bullet Brain is pulling down the ratings with their ratings. The younger cast that was added does not have any star power. I know people would complain if one of the five fadans would have been added, but that would have helped make the female cast more grand. Also, Chik has gotten more famous this past few years, but mainly for making series that are slow and confusing. Perhaps, people were already turned off preemptively.
AC, IAWTP.
Well, casting people like Christine Kuo for an ANCIENT series is one of the reasons viewers are turn-off, for eg., me! I cringed when she tried to act as a convincing palace maid in the first episode. I’m like, seriously?? That kind of accent and acting, how can I lose myself in that series and like it?! Just like Aimee Chan in that Eunuch series too -_-”’
a bad script is a bad script and giving actors bad roles even if it was tony leung, andy lau nick cheung etc ratings can still be low if the scrpit is bad
Why is Sheren ‘s maid doing all the talking? It supposed to be Sheren talking not her maid. This is all mess up.
I have watched 2 episodes and 1/3 of episode 3. I’m still liking the series. I enjoyed it more that WAB.
Alice Chan acted very well in her short appearance in episode 2, not only during the opera scene, but, also when she’s talking to Eddie Kwan’s character. She speaks with a gentleness and grace that befits her role as a dancer and a woman in ancient period.
On the other hand, I have a problem with Ada’s speech. Her facial is all good. But, the way she pronounces her words is like she also has a non-cantonese accent. I think she tries to speak with grace that befits a woman in the palace, but, she does not succeed in my eyes. Even minor actresses that played other palace maids speak better than her.
I agree about Alice Chan, but disagree about Ada though. She is a “mor mor” and is a married women, and therefore I think it is right that she comes across differently to the younger and less experienced palace maids.
Watching now channel…their hv lot of
Nice korean n mainland serial …….give up tvb long
Time back …