Grace Chan Urges Viewers to Be Patient with “Blue Veins”
Since its airing, Blue Veins <殭> was criticized for its poor special effects and Kay Tse‘s (謝安琪) stiff acting. Kevin Cheng‘s (鄭嘉穎) appearance in the drama was also likened to martial arts actor, Yuen Wah (元華). Despite the slew of negative comments, Grace Chan (陳凱琳) maintained an optimistic outlook and defended the drama.
Grace said, “The discussions mean that everyone has been watching. Kevin and Joel Chan (陳山聰) also suffered for a long time [for the drama]. Don’t overlook their hard work because of the special effects.” Grace further added that since Kay has always performed as a singer, the audience should be patient and slowly get used to her acting style.
Recent reports also claimed that Grace and Kevin were experiencing a discord in their relationship. A devout Christian, Grace has allegedly forced Kevin to attend church with her, resulting in her being ousted from Kevin’s social circle. Although Kevin had indeed been attending church with her, Grace refuted these rumors and clarified that Kevin wants to learn more about her religious beliefs.
Louis Cheung Defends Wife
Although Kay’s husband, Louis Cheung (張繼聰), successfully transitioned from singing to acting, Kay’s shift was not as well received. Voicing his support for her, Louis urged viewers to not approach the drama with preconceptions and bias. “Don’t compare Hong Kong’s productions using Hollywood’s standards. The [availability of] resources are different.” He jokingly added, “Someone wrote online that the special effects were like Dragon Ball. To have a live action drama resemble Dragon Ball, what more can you want?”
Source: Stheadline.com
This article is written by Huynh for JayneStars.com.
Like Louis Cheung as an actor. He’s pretty natural. Kay is still new.. need more tip from her hubby.
Sorry! I was very patient but had to switch off during the Kevin Cheng Vrs Joel Chan first fight scene in episode 1.
@jimmyszeto same here…after that ridiculous fight scene in episode 1, I can’t bring myself to continue with episode 2. It is so fake!
Kay is very new…give her time. she is way better than grace Chan.
@janet72
I don’t think Kay will be too worried if she receives a bit of criticism for her acting. It’s just a project for her. She makes enough from singing so she can patiently improve her acting in years to come. It’s different with Grace. Acting is now her career and there’s more pressure to improve.
@jimmyszeto kay is a good singer…i love her voice.
she has time to work on her acting…with an actor hubby, it should be easier. grace can marry kevin and be a housewife.
@janet72
Yeh. She is successful has a singer so can pick and choose to prioritise just like the likes of Aaron Kwok.The same can’t be said about her husband who is less successful with his music so acting improvements are key to a successful career. He is doing extremely well though. Grace has two choices really. Act well to become accepted by viewers or gradually decrease her workload and retire. She is definitely young enough give it 10+ years and see how she progresses.
@jimmyszeto there’s option 3.. marry Kevin and be a full time wife/mom!
@happybi
Kevin might not fancy a regular weekly trip to the church though. It might be ok occasionally.
@happybi get married, move to canada and we won’t have to put up with her anymore.
@janet72 Yeah ! just get married and both of them can disappear from the HK entertainment industry since she said she wants to move back to Canada after marriage. No need to waste her time yapping on her relationship every time in front of the media.
@whitney66 i wonder if kevin is prepared to move to canada. it’s so pathetic that she has nothing to yak other than her relationship. since kevin’s career is not going anywhere, he can consider packing up.
I tried, I really tried! I lasted 6 episodes, and found that with the exception of maaaaybe 2 characters, I was getting very annoyed at fictional people on my screen.
So, I’m done.
Personally, I’m liking Blue Veins so far, I always can’t wait for the next episode to come out, probably cause it’s my kind of show. But I must admit they have over done it with the special effects, it’s so exaggerated and looks more like it should be in an animation more than a live action drama.
I no longer have patience with shoddy production. If patience is needed, fire the person doing the editing. Let’s not talk abt special effects; lets talk about the writing, the story, the characters, the acting.
I haven’t watched much but I am not intriqued by the story. Some characters are waste of time. The writing isn’t tight and if this is a love story, i feel no love. The acting is passable. Kay does so much better when she is ME mode, when she is not putting on cutesy voice and when I don’t see her 6 inch heels or whatever. Which means if TVB is serious in giving this woman a chance, cast her as an intelligent SERIOUS professional like a doctor or lawyer series without cutesy stuff. I think she can handle it.
As for the ME role, why make her an ME? So she can have screen time with dead people and her special powers? Well make her a detective in homicide divisio. Works the same. Except she can’t wear her six inch heels and my god, so much make up, tight dresses.
And yes, make up artiste big time fail in this series.
But as always judge the story by the story.
Haven’t seen much to say more. Still am into Legend Of Miyue which is snail paced BUT deserves my patience because I know the acting is excellent beyond reproach even if I am losing my patience.
Blue Veins is just an ordinary story wrapped in some fancy package sold at a higher price when you open the package, hey it is just cheap stuff.
I’d rather watch The City Hall again. At least the lead actor there looks great and I can drool. This Blue Vein maybe hates Kevin; really really makes him look ugly but none more than poor Joel Chan.
““Don’t compare Hong Kong’s productions using Hollywood’s standards. The [availability of] resources are different.””
Why not? Do you expect mediocrity as new standard for excellence?
@funnlim @jimmyszeto To be honest, I’m kind of tired of artists telling us audiences to “be patient” when watching a poorly made drama and “not to expect too much” out of it or “don’t compare” to a drama with high standards just because resources are different. So should we settle for mediocrity then and throw all standards out the window just because HK is a small market compared to other places so shouldn’t really matter? I think Anthony Wong put it best when he talked about TVB’s lopsided attitude toward their series. When he was filming Lord of Shanghai, he noticed that TVB treated the whole thing really seriously and put a lot of time and effort into “perfecting” all aspects of the series (script, cast, editing, etc.) as much as they could – he was told that it’s because they already knew that LOS was going to be an anniversary series so they have to take more care to ensure production standards are up to par (though to some extent, it was probably because of Anthony’s presence in the series too). Anthony then asked – it’s an anniversary series so you guys take it seriously, but the rest of the series are not, so you can just do whatever and not care? Shouldn’t all series be treated as though they are anniversary series and have the same attention put on them? Shouldn’t the standards be the same for all productions, regardless of anniversary series or not? Anthony said that it’s the wrong attitude for TVB to have and it will be very hard for them to improve if they continue like that. Definitely agree with him….though of course, I have little confidence that TVB will ever heed this kind of advice, since they seem to view all constructive criticism as negative criticism that can be largely ignored….
@llwy12
I think that’s the only way the artist can defend the series. They can’t agree with the public opinion so the only way is to beg viewers to watch on. The viewers aren’t stupid. They know a good series when they see one.Yeh. It is poor that more than half the series are unwatchable nowadays. Even 10+ years ago, although the series were not great, they were passable enough to watch on till completion. The shocking thing is TVB does come out with a well made gem of a series once every few years. War and beauty, moonlight resonance,no regrets,heavens burns. Recently ‘over run over’, not great but well made. If TVB put the same effort into the script, scenes and details into every series as the ones named above, then they will be performing much better. HKTV although some series wernt so popular but the teamwork and organisation ensured every series were filmed to a good consistent standard. I do understand that TVB is a bigger organisation and every series are created with a different team of scriptwriters and director. There should be someone qualified and made responsible to ensure all series are made to a consistent standard.
@funnlim
I think TVB should stick to what they are best at and that’s modern comedies. This type of series requires minimal special effects and editing. The only costs will be the actors and crew. Historical ancient series or wuxia type series should be also halted because they look silly compared to the big expensive China productions. In the 1980s it might be possible to use 30 extras to represent a 10000 army and poor CGI effects but we are very much past those times. There just isn’t enough money, talent or resources.However, TVB might be able to get away with making an ancient comedy now and again since historical contents won’t have to be as accurate or detailed.
@jimmyszeto I totally agree. Which is why I don’t watch their period pieces.
Most of TVB’s series are crap nowadays. And they still think they have a market overseas. They should improve their productions or forget about selling their dramas overseas and just stick to their home market. Other countries will rather buy korea dramas than to buy tvb’s dramas.
@kk12345 So true
@jimmyszeto If they intend to sell their comedies overseas, then just forget it. Comedies are usually a hit or a miss with viewers overseas, due to their different culture and backgrounds. Just like with Korea dramas, while their home market likes the comedies, there are still a lot of viewers overseas that can never understand what’s so funny about certain topics that can be considered sensitive.
@kk12345
I thought selling series overseas just means offering them on their foreign subscription channels which are watched by Chinese foreigners. I’ve not heard of a TVB series actually being sold overseas to be edited and broadcasted on foreign channels. Chinese series get bought occasionally and a few ATV series too but never TVB. Cantonese comedies and family related series are certainly not in demand overseas but I’m not sure if TVB’s strategy is to sell series elsewhere. I just think they should stick to their strengths to maintain ratings in Hong Kong.
@jimmyszeto Yes, some TVB series are edited before broadcasted, its quite common to remove explicit kissing scenes and extremely violent scenes etc, so they can be shown on an earlier timeslot to youngsters. I doubt TVB has much of a say if the foreign subscription channels or the main broadcasting stations want to edit before broadcasting their dramas.
“Cantonese comedies and family related series are certainly not in demand overseas.” They used to be in demand until Korea replaced them.
@jimmyszeto Just meant the rights to broadcast elsewhere as opposed to selling the drama as in the drama changing hands like in the case of ATV.
@kk12345
It doesent work like that though I think. Not sure how how it works in America but I assume it’s the same as in England. Suscribers pay a fee for a TVB box which is entirely separate from the foreign broadcasting channels. The people who subscribe are usually the mid aged-elderly who are still watch Cantonese family dramas.The younger generation (if not fully westernised personality) would watch their series illegally online which does not affect demand of family related series or Korean series. TVB subscription levels may have been affected due to more people streaming online and illegal TVB pads being sold that contains a lot more channels.I’m not sure if there are Korean subscription channels but I have not heard of anyone having one.
@jimmyszeto I see. So the subscribers pay for TVB’s box set so as to access the shows, that means they buy directly from the supplier. In that case, you are right.
@kk12345
Yeh. I don’t think there’s much interference from the foreign countries either as long as the main criteria are met. Its just similar to the Hong Kong channel with different adverts. We did also get the benefit of warehoused series being broadcasted overseas too. I remember the likes of Sergeant Tabloid being released here well before it did in Hong Kong.
@jimmyszeto There’s TVBe and Korean channel here. It’s extra $ and not part of the cable package but only have English sub. So for us “younger” generation, we can just watch if for free online… and it’s not worth it for our parents as they need it with Chinese sub. ^_^
@happybi
Yeh. I think the korean, Japanese series haven’t evolved in popularity overseas. It’s just in Hong Kong where the idol series have generated many female fans. Just by seeing in the entertainment news of fans flocking to the airport to meet idols. I think it must be the culture. I cant imagine many of us abroad flocking to the airports to meet a french/mexican/spanish etr idol if we couldnt speak a word of their language.
@jimmyszeto Maybe it’s an Asian culture but lots of Korean/Japanese idol get a lot of fans at the airport waiting for them or even at hotel. Not just in HK but all over Asia. When Running man was at the height of their popularity, it was crazy. Especially in China and Vietnam if I remember correctly. I live in the US but if I can meet one of my idol, I’ll be flocking to the airport too! kekek That’s if I find a babysitter! ^_^
I like Kay when she turns into vampire in ep.7. I too think she can handle more serious roles. Grace is cute so far because she’s mute. I haven’t have any problem with her so far in this series. They did some different things here. I notice there haven’t been many corny cheesy scenes we always see in TVB dramas, different way of telling story to create curiosity and clip hanger, instead of telling it all as if the audiences can’t think for themselves. The little thing like different background music instead of the same old ones from every TVB dramas also is nice. (Ig, the funny scenes, the sad scenes, or in ep. 7, when Kay turned into vampire and ran away…) The supporting actors and actresses are also new faces (kind of), and not too bad themselves. Overall I like the vibe of it.
I’m not saying it’s excellent though. I just like that it’s different, and not in a bad way. It’s still a TVB production so can’t expect too much or compare with other more notorious vampire series, movies. However compare to its own productions of today, I think it’s a step up. Feel like they did try to do something new. It’s still early so I’m giving it the benefit of doubt.
Why were the special effects so poor in the first place? Low-budget or refusal to hire new people?
Sorry Grace, I like you but my patience has run out…
It just that the story sux, No tension or urgency to chase this. The pacing is slow….
Have stopped watching after episode 3. Don’t have the urge to watch further. The CGI really suck and the story.. OMG !.
yep, was really looking forward to this.been so long since a vampire theme series.really disappointing. usually like kevin’s series but for some reason find him annoying in this one.
This is the series ‘Grace met her sweetheart’. She’s bound to find the series more memorable than we do!
I actually enjoy this series because it is a bit more refreshing compared to the typical modern sitcom type and the period dramas. They’ve incorporated new actors that are not always acting in the same typecasted roles. There’s always going to be complainers. At least TVB is somewhat responding to people’s request for something different. If you don’t like it, quit watching it.
@aidenchan
I don’t think TVB have been responding to requests at all. I think they have wanted to make a vampire series for years after observing ATVs spellbinding success with the ‘My Date with a Vampire’ franchise. They couldn’t make one whilst ATV was running smoothly because of the uproar it would receive from copying an inferior station. The path had paved open after ATV suffered financial problems and TVB purchased rights to some of ATV’s series inventory. TVB have put in effort in finding fresh actors to produce a breakthrough series but I don’t think the success has materialised.
@jimmyszeto that could be possible. It is also possible for folks to enjoy this series and shouldn’t be forced to stop watching it just because there are folks who don’t like it (they aren’t being forced to watch it.)
@jimmyszeto this series isn’t about vampire. It’s about Kay stalking Kevin all night.
I loved TVB old times vampire series. Starring Sammy Cheng and Andy. And another one is starring Daniel Chan. Those were the days. Pure Chinese jumping vampires. Lol. That will be the selling point for tvb. Rather than westernized the vamps…..
@dramadrama Yeah, I actually liked those two series and vampire expert 1 and 2 better than my date with a vampire. It was just more fun to see jumping vampires.
@dramadrama yay for campy old fashioned jumpy vampires! Daniel Chans is one of my fave tvb series of all time
I waited for this series to come out. Now I’m very disappointed. Horrible story line, boring acting from Kay. She’s so short, she gotta wear 10 inch heel just to look tall enough to stand next to Kevin. Plus this series is 33 episodes long!!! Kevin playing this character the same way as ghetto justice.
@skyking
TVB tried to make an epic breakthrough series but failed miserably. No surprise Kevin is acting similar to his other modern series. He has always been comfortable to watch but he only has one style and one approach to acting. Overall not very talented!