Introducing TVB’s “Slow Boat Home”
If you are beginning to feel heavy after suffering through disastrous episodes of Bullet Brain <神探高倫布> and the tragic plot of Beauty at War <金枝慾孽貳>, perhaps Leung Choi Yuen’s (梁材遠) latest television drama for TVB, Slow Boat Home <情越海岸線>, can freshen your mind a bit.
Starring Raymond Wong (黃浩然), Ruco Chan (陳展鵬), Aimee Chan (陳茵媺), Selena Li (李詩韻), Elaine Yiu (姚子羚), Matt Yeung (楊明), Cilla Kung (樂瞳), Elliot Ngok (岳華), Ram Chiang (蔣志光), and Susan Tse (謝雪心), the romantic series is set to premiere on May 13, 2013, succeeding the time slot of Bullet Brain. Approximately half of its 25 produced episodes was shot in Cheung Chau, also known as the Dumbbell Island.
Cheung Chau is a famous tourist spot of Hong Kong – among its most visited sites include Cheung Po Tsai’s cave, the Pak Tai Temple, and the Cheung Chau rock carvings. As one of Hong Kong’s oldest inhabited islands, Cheung Chau is an old home to indigenous groups and has a culture that is easily distinguishable from the rest of Hong Kong. The Cheung Chau Bun Festival, one of the world’s largest annual events to honor Taoist deities, is strictly unique to the island.
Synopsis
The Cheung Chau-born Cheung Po Sang (Raymond Wong), nicknamed Cheung Po Tsai, is a man who hopes to know everything but fails at learning everything. The happy-go-lucky and impressionable Cheung attempts to manage his father’s (Elliot Ngok) seafood restaurant business, but his ineptitude as a restaurateur eventually causes the entire business to close down. Cheung falls to despair, but with the support of his best friend Kate Cheng (Aimee Chan), Cheung finds his happiness again.
Kate is a New York television director who goes to Cheung Chau to film a documentary. She encourages Cheung to chase his dreams and stays by his side through thick and thin, even willing to be Cheung’s personal “ chauffeur” when Cheung is confined to a wheelchair after suffering leg injuries.
In a separate but related story arc, Heidi Kwok (Selena Li), an ambitious woman with clear goals, gives up her career in Hong Kong to return to her birth place of Cheung Chau. On the surface, she is helping her mother (Susan Tse) handle the family’s vacation resort business. Behind the veil, Heidi is plotting to develop a large hotel and villa project with her business partner.
Heidi is in love with her childhood sweetheart Ching Lai Wing (Ruco Chan), but in order to achieve her money-hungry goals, she strikes ambiguous relationships with rich businessmen and at one point, even tries to seduce Cheung, much to Kate’s dislike. Lai Wing is heartbroken, but he is also unable to let go of Heidi.
Source: ihktv.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Who here thinks that Raymond Wong looms absolutely ridiculous in that wig? I know I am.
Looks*
absolutely agree with you on that. Raymond looks much more handsome w/o that trash. Anyway, I am glad that Ruco’s paired with Selena!
I also agree with you, melted:P
Don’t know why, but I like the English name.
Dang, I have to wait til May 13. It should be good. I’m sick of watching ancient series and boring series. Comedy series is a must. Bring Louis Lai and Nancy Sit back.
agree slow boat home looks light hearted and cute and fresh! surely it won’t be boring and mindless such as the horrible bullet brain and not too deep and heavy as beauty. the scenery is also beautiful with the beaches and fresh countryside! bullet brain gives me a corny studio feeling.
looking forward for ruco, selena and raymond wong! ruco will be showing off his beautiful voice here! just tired of seeing aimee. her again?
love how the article said bullet brain is disastrous! indeed it is when the male lead is deemed better as a supporting actor, the female lead criticized for bad acting and the script was ridiculed. only natalie got praises.
agree that the lightness and cuteness of this series might take things off from the heavy flops of bullet brain.
Just by looking at the poster and casts, this series will suck
Well it wont be as bad Bullet Briandead.
Larry
definitely worse
Well, be prepared.
Not planning to watch it
Bullet in the balls
You guys (Tammy and larry 3) are so quick to judge. Yes, although it is not starring star studded cast, it does not mean it will suck.
And how can you compare Bullet Brain to this when they are produced by different producers and different scriptwriters.
OMG. What the heck are you saying?!….my my my my.
This series has not been shown or premiered. you guys are already saying that it will suck or be even worse. If that is not being quick to judge, i do not know what that is.
I agree coco. this series is not even released yet so we shouldn’t jump the gun too early.
Agree, this series is going to suck cause the cast are not leading actors. I’m assuming the plot is going to be so predictable. Tvb fails again!!!
I was interested until I saw Aimee
lol
Hmmm Selena playing the villain this time
So many repetitive casts as Outbound Love -_-”
Glad we have this series coming up to replace Bullet Brain!!
i wish they would just cancel Bullet Brain. I want to watch this series instead.
YES!!! More Ruco Chan!!! 😀
Almost mistaken this for Outbound Love, which has similar casts (Aimee, Elaine, Matt etc).
RLF Lover,
Many Ruco dramas to be aired this year. I hope the ratings for his new dramas do well, as this may affect TVB producers’ confidence in casting him for future big-budget productions.
I believe Ruse of Engagement and Big Brother are due to air this year as well… and I agree with you, Jayne. I really do hope Ruco’s dramas do well. Reality Check had average ratings even though it was a really good drama and I’m hoping the lack of ratings won’t jeopardize Ruco’s future projects. Also hoping that he gets a Best Actor nomination this year!
Ruco’s Reality Check’s ratings were not bad-it has avg 30pts in 2 episodes,ending week at 29pts avg which are not found after Ch n y. It rates were low at the 1st half-24pts avg with his brand new partner Priscilla. Beauty as a big production & big cast only got 23 pts avg. TBB should understand.
Reality Check got a good word of mouth and Ruco’s performance got praised as well. As for the ratings, the last two weeks’ got better. If TVB lost hope on him because of the average ratings then they should be even more disappointed by Seasons of Love. They used almost all their current leading siu sangs and fa dans and the series neither got a good word of mouth nor good ratings, which also tell that no matter how “grand” the cast is if the script is bad then the ratings will be low too. By the way, Seasons of Love is currently on the bottom of the list when it comes to ratings at the moment. But Beauty At War and Bullet Brain will be soon taking over its place, I believe.
Looking forward to the Ruco/Selena pairing…not looking forward to seeing Aimee again though. It seems like she’s in everything.
Looks like it will be another low rated drama for TVB. What happened to the days where I couldn’t wait for the next episode?
You never know if the series will be bad until you watch it! 🙂
It will be low ratings since this is just an average drama back in early 2000s young and hip.
I would be shock if they can beat Bullet Brainblah ratings.
Then you got, Amiee can not act Chan, what more you could loose!
Quick to judge much, Larry 3?
You need to stop comparing drama series to older ones because they are produced by different producers and scriptwriters.
And also, how can you say it will be an average drama when you haven’t even watched the first episode?
No wonder Teresa aka Lily said that you were quick to judge, inconsiderate..
CoCo, are You Lily? Please dont be a-hole again.
@larry,
there’s completely no need for you to call any user an a-hole. that’s completely inappropriate on a forum where anyone should be able to post their opinions about particular series and actors without being judged by others. of course that’s utopia and won’t happen in reality, but your use of language on a public forum really showcases your lack of online etiquette, and not just on this article.
a-hole in the whole.
I really agree with you, Nessa.
@Bubblez: thankyou 🙂 I’m glad I have support here.
@Larry: don’t turn on me. I’m just pointing out that you probably shouldn’t behave like this online where everyone can see. If you want though, I’ll give you a-hole. I don’t think I need to name names for you to know who comes to mind when I think of that.
Hidey-hole then.
@Larry
Wow, you really never stop, don’t you? You pointed out that you thought there was a troll on this site in the form of Coco/Teri/Teresa/whoever else, but from your behaviour, I’m more inclined to think it’s you. I politely told you to be more considerate towards others on this forum and towards the artists and shows that are the subject of the articles here, however instead of rethinking your behaviour and trying to redeem yourself, you continued to harass others. There’s absolutely no place here for personal attacks, thank you very much. Nothing can make me stoop to your level, resorting to calling people a-holes and hidey-holes and whatnot when you can’t think of a way to justify your comments.
Whole Whole Whole, Whole in the hole, Yo
@Larry: there is no need to attack me nor nessa:/
I don’t know if it will be good or bad but judging from the cast and plot, I doubt ratings will be high.
You maybe correct, Unfortunately TVB needs to do something to save itself.
Go suck a d*ck Larry. Hahahaha.
I love you to do that and sell it to XXX business.
the plot seems interesting but I kinda dont care about the 2 actresses but oh well. The plot is more important anyway.
This series looks interesting (:
Finally a series with Susan Tse, Elliot Ngok!! I haven’t seen them act for awhile.
>The Cheung Chau-born Cheung Po Sang (Raymond Wong), nicknamed Cheung Po Tsai, is a man who hopes to know everything but fails at learning everything. The happy-go-lucky and impressionable Cheung attempts to manage his father’s (Elliot Ngok) seafood restaurant business, but his ineptitude as a restaurateur eventually causes the entire business to close down.
This is eerily similar to his character in “Day of Days”, the happy-go-lucky country bumpkin who wants to spread Wing Chun and expand his family’s coolie business.
I’m beginning to sound like a broken record here but, Raymond Wong, 40, playing characters 15 years younger. There’s a pattern here.
Is age that important?
Well yeah, Raymond Wong’s pretty much typecast into characters that are much younger than him. That helps no-one. Not the audience, not Raymond Wong, and not actual 20-25 year old up-and-comers who can gain some good experience from this.
You have some really good points there, dd.
however, this is a fictional drama.
I don’t know, are you OK with Tavia playing a 15 year old in a school uniform?
Well you know what, throw in some knee high socks and a school miniskirt and I’d be totally down
Yeah I guess you’re right, dd.
er..what’s up with the wig?. Wayne Lai wig is horrible in BB and now Raymond also in wig?. The wig look so cheap!, If they decided to go for wig should invest on Good one so it looks more natural. Raymond wong look like in halloween costume.
That hair!!! D: I’m looking forward to seeing this drama 🙂 Yet another Raymond and Ruco collaboration! Although I do with that it was Raymond and Selena who were paired up, and Ruco and Aimee. Seems like Ruco and Selena will have the slow paced and slightly boring relationship like Selena and Kevin in Gloves Come Off; and Raymond and Aimee will have the cheerful, easy-go-lucky relationship like Raymond and Natalie did in Gloves Come Off as well
Can’t wait for this series. The cast looks great except for Aimee. Looking forward to Ruco and Selena’s pairing. Hope this series does well in ratings.
The poster doesn’t look attractive at all haha.. I was planning on skipping Slow Boat Home.. But I saw the promotional clip and it looks pretty decent!
I’m looking forward to this 🙂
Ruco & Raymond are ok but weak female cast, TVB underrated actress-Selena Li and heavily promoted-Aimee Chan, what a combination…
This should be a nice and interesting light-hearted series. It somehow reminds me of either a Korean or Taiwan drama type plot, but im sure they probably wont go overboard with the romantic dialogue thats more openly expressed in K-drama and T-drama!
It will be refreshing to see selina and Ruco paired up.
I have no interest in Aimee wotsover, she has this annoying whining accent. She’s so unappealing.
If anyone takes over TVB King from Wayne, I want it to be Ruco. Have loved him since seeing him in Every Move You Make! Hope this will be his year!
Strangely, Ruco has his dedicated fans, much like Raymond Wong but somehow the splash is not much so to speak. I wonder why?
May I blame TVB? They (and the media) were promoting Wayne, Raymond (Lam), and Kenneth so much last year that it seems those three were the only options for TVB King. Not to mention Ruco and Raymond (Wong) weren’t main leads in any anniversary dramas last year. TVB’s bias limits fan choices too.
Any other insights on this?
I believe what Ruco and Raymond Wong needs is a female co-star that can clicks with them, promotion-wise to shine. E.g. Wayne & Sheren, Kevin & Myolie, Ken & Tavia. Audience needs to see or felt their chemistry.
Ruco was at an all-time high with TOT but was over-shadowed by Kevin in GJ.
Ruco was not overshadowed by Kevin after TOT, instead they were almost as hot by that time. It was tbb’s plot to promote senior artistes than newcomers. They hardsold Kevin by time of anniversary 2011, but in some votings at tbb’s net, Ruco even overshone Kevin. Tbb’s suppressing Ruco to let the seniors go first.
I personally liked Ruco’s role in TOT than Kevin Cheng’s role in GJ. (:
But I saw TOT before GJ, so that may had an effect on me!
But both actors have their own strengths and weaknesses.
Looking forward to Ruco & Selena’s collaboration, fresh & matching. TBB should pair Ruco with younger & prettier actresses, not those his elder sisters. Me too, hope Ruco will be best actor this year. His acting in RC was great.
I can’t wait for this series to start. I have no interest in pre-modern and ancient dramas, because I can’t understand the complicated dialogue used in them, and I need a good modern drama! 🙂