Sneak Preview of CTI’s Daring Dramas
While Ricky Wong’s (王維基) City Telecom (CTI) is still fighting an uphill battle for a broadcast license, his staff has been working tirelessly to produce and film various series with daring and extreme material which is sure to outdo TVB’s usual family-friendly themes. From homosexuality, plastic surgery to extreme blood and gore, CTI is risking it all by exploring controversial topics.
In another attempt to rally the government in issuing their license, Ricky shared a glimpse of upcoming series to which audiences can expect to either love or hate, but will most definitely be surprised and shocked.
Jeannie Cheng (鄭靜雯) from CTI’s Public Relations department explained that they have filmed two versions of certain dramas containing explicit subject material. She said, “We want to be sensitive of the fact that families watch these series so the version shown on TV will be different from the version available online.” She also added, “We’re very confident that we will be able to obtain the broadcasting license and continue to produce more series in the coming year.”
The following is a list of some CTI dramas and a synopsis of their disturbing/controversial scenes:
Fantasy Love Song 201314 <童話戀曲201314>
Genre: Musical
Cast: William So (蘇永康) and Bernice Liu (廖碧兒)
Scene: Bernice plays a patient with a mental disorder and licks an unconscious William.
Marvel Century <驚異世紀>
Genre: Horror
Cast: Dominic Lam (林嘉華), Leila Tong (唐寧), and Noel Leung (梁小冰 )
Scenes:
– A blanket is flipped open to reveal just a human head.
– A female character is seen eating raw human intestines.
– A human head is inside a washing machine.
Second Life <第二人生>
Genre: Time Travel, Friendship
Cast: Wilfred Lau (劉浩龍) and Bondy Chiu (趙學而 )
Scene: Wilfred and another male character kissing passionately
Three Sides of Shape Doctors <三面形醫>
Genre: Medical /Plastic Surgery
Cast: Frankie Lam (林文龍) and John Chiang (姜大偉 )
Scene: Two female characters kiss passionately
CTI Drama Sales Presentation (Part 1)
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CTI Drama Sales Presentation (Part 2)
[vsw id=”z7NzlCHjSUI” source=”youtube” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”no”]
This article is written by Natalie for JayneStars.com.
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I can anticipate the complaints coming from housewives. Housewives will probably want to stick to TVB’s family plots. Probably the younger generation will be CTI’s fans.
i’m in my 20’s and already not interested in ANY of the above content…
i do get interesting in it! New theme and love Frankie haha. He is still as hot as always
i agree! i wasn’t interested in any of the trailers, especially the one with the person eating the intestines. The ideas were good, but it didn’t seem like they did a good job in developing the plotlines.
27 n got bored half way through the promo, seriously, are they trying to make a hk twilight lol? The dude look so gay with the make up >_> and w.o the make up, he is just so so. Noel looks good, but that series seems boring, all these new themes have been done before, maybe not in hk, but it didn’t seem like the plot line was interesting, and each drama has a half done feel to it, either all the guy are good, well known or its the girls… Not a balance girl n boy, except the vamp one, but then the girl look ok, but ordinary, the boy look ordinary to gay with make up -.- I think I pass on all these drama >_>
The vampire promo reminded me of Twilight, too. I get the impression that quite a number of these CTI series are drawing inspiration from popular US series.
I agree. Most of these sound way too gimmicky, and not much substance. I honestly believe they should retain the ‘HK flavour’ just focus on better execution. I like the fact that HK dramas aren’t US dramas, unlike what CTI seems intent on doing.
their clips looks much better than tvb’s one. The editing are really pro.
Their clips have great movie like quality. The shots look pretty and well filmed. Their daring themes make me think of Chik Kei Yi’s daring production combined with prettier quality. I know some people who love to watch pretty looking dramas without caring who acts in it.
Most of the series look well-filmed and catchy. I personally look forward to watching The Second Life and Marvel Century the most!
Their series looks like a movie quality. Good cast of ppl. But too drama, sad, scary, unrealistic for me. Gotta love TVB.
Some series are certainly appealing but I don’t see CTI capturing many audiences with this approach. From the trailer, I have no idea what Marvel Century is even about. I always thought CTI was trying to defeat TVB but after seeing these trailers, it doesn’t look possible. The audience was turned off by When Heaven Burns and that was led by Moses, Bowie, and Charmaine. CTI will likely get a nice following for its more daring productions but it will likely never eclipse TVB in ratings.
I agree, especially considering the taste of Hong Kong viewers.
There’s also going to be a lot of people who watch for the stars. For example, would people watch a medical series with Frankie/John Chiang or one with Kenneth/Tavia/Lawrence? TVB just has more current stars.
Actually, a lot of Korean drama did not receive good rating in Korea but was widely popular overseas. But then again, TVB is taking the lead right now.
I think that the CTI dramas can do well in the overseas markets. WHB was the most liked series in the Starhub-TVB Awards (Singapore market), as opposed to being the lowest rated drama in HK.
The reason for that is usually because of the star-studded cast though. When you look at the ones who got poor ratings domestically but sold well, it usually had a great good looking cast, or popular idols in it.
The clips quality is very good. Even if it doesn’t appeals to the general HK audience, it sure appeals to me. There is more than the HK audience.
It difficult to compare Marvel Century with When Heaven Burns as the storyline is not clear yet. In addition I have the impression that Marvel Century is kindof a ghost story.
It seems they have executed the visuals much better than When Heaven Burns. But we will see when the serie airs.
I can’t tell what Marvel Century is about either. Hopefully there will be more trailers coming out because whilst I find many of these premises intriguing, I have hardly any clue what the plot is going to be about from these clips. The Marvel Century clip is basically a series of gory images.
I wanna watch that idol-training series!! Looks great, the editing is marvelous.
c’mon folks, it’s time for a new era!
i agree! it’s time for a new era in Hong Kong television!
Heh, I think it would be interesting if TVB decides to air On Call 2 when CTI airs Three Sides of Shape Doctors.
That’s if CTI even gets to air next year. I’m more curious if CTI will air in direct competition with TVB during primetime hours or say air a series just before and after the primetime spot to get more audience. ATV has done that in the last to no avail.
To be honest…TVB is facing strong competition. I agree that the plots and filming are much better than TVB but the actors don’t fit the bill in the looks department however once The channel starts airing their dramas..tvb actors will be heading to this station, higher pay and better quality in production.
I agree with you on this. The station can also let set up a contest or some sort to or a training facility to pump out new idols. Many Korean drama are daring in a way that they let new people lead. What is important, i think is how is the station going to transform these people into idol.
Wow look at Bernice!
I seriously can not wait to watch this!
TVB you have serious competition!
Support Bernice Liu with all my might!!!!!!!! I wish Bernice can paired up with frankie :”>
I personally really enjoy Ancient dramas, and from the looks of it, CTI doesn’t seem to have produced any. The theme of the majority of their productions are fantasy/extraterrestrial. Not to say it won’t be a big hit, because ATV made it pretty big with “My Date with a Vampire.”
And as some have stated, the TVB audiences (housewives and families) probably won’t be too thrilled with the whole “modern fantasy ideas” (a good example would be “Fly With Me”). Regardless, I think everyone is excited to see new what CTI will bring, but they definitely do need to vary up their production’s genre/era settings!
I loves all drama, just as long it’s good. Cannot wait for BBJX 2, the ancient drama in China is going to be so good this 2014 🙂
I love My Date with a Vampire, Joey really perform well.
In my opinion, Fly with Me did not get the thrill was because it was comedy…not like action-ish which MDWAV did.
Any suggestion for new ancient drama or previous?
I actually find all the trailers interesting and watchable besides the few scary ones. The vampire look definitely reminds me of Taiwanese dramas. The way the dramas are filmed seem very movie-like and high quality, different from what I’m used to with TVB. I hope they can get there license just so more dramas are available for people to follow and maybe TVB will get their act together knowing they have competition.
I’m pleasantly surprised to see all the old faces of former TVB actors/actresses. I really miss them.
And Frankie Lam’s plastic surgeon drama looks especially interesting.
What vampire drama from Taiwan?? I never seen Taiwan’s did a vampire before…Korea??
Frankie’s back ^^ He looks so older.
from ATV
CTI’s equipment must be more modern and up to date than TVB. TVB should consider invest in better quality productions to attract audience, stars and investors.
Yes, CTI’s equipment is more modern and up to date. Ricky Wong said in interview that he brought in many up to date equipment and filming technology into the production so that their production will be as sleek as the production of countries such as Korea.
What is the name of the third series in the second video above (with Felix Wong) – I really want to see this one 🙂
And I agree with the production quality. that’s what you get when you are able to hire all new blood eager to perform rather than be saddled with the current.
I will translate that into “psychic detective” 😀
Yeah, I want to see that one as well reminds me of X-men. No wonder TVB can’t film such series as their CGI is still in 90’s.
HK version of Nip Tuck with Frankie as Christian seems interesting too.
According to Ricky their filming equipments are even more sophisticated than equipments used to film movies in HK!
How can cheap TVB compete? Soon more artists will jump the sinking ship and swim to the promised land. Btw who cares abt sei-lais anyway sure they have money but won’t spend it i.e not a target for companies perspective.
That sounds good that CTI was willing to invest in sophisticated equipments. That explains why their clips are prettily filmed and almost comparable to American standard.
Bernice on a good day is a mediocre actress. So frankly shock tactics shock, but for a TV series, it is about 20 to 30 episodes of consistency which I am sorry to say, Bernice doesn’t have.
I personally feel like HKTV/CTI would be more successfully with oversea fans. Their trailers/story line can compete with American television. They’re really taking TV in HK to the next step. I don’t understand why see-lais freak out so much when they see something “controversial” on TV. Their era/years they’ve grown up in were pretty controversial itself. Would’ve expected them to be more open-minded.
I also see that the quality of their trailers can compete with American TV quality. Their storyline are also more daring and realistic than TVB who stuck to old fashion TV ways.
CTI should also consider archangel or fallen angel dramas also 🙂 Vampire/Wolf is really interesting and good, but change of supernatural might draw in more viewer/fan.
I personally get tired of TVB drama at the moment, the scripts are the same, nothing new and I almost can guess what happen next in most of the scenes. Something new would be interesting.
some of their dramas are maybe good but i miss some hot first-line actors/actress.
to be honest they have recruit many old top actors/actress and second-lines,and put them to first-line but none of them are charismatic except felix wong.so i think they are not strong enough to compete with tvb in long terms.
Ricky Wong savior of HK television:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MgbSfvUsMo
Yay, I’m excited to see some of theses actors again! Been a while since i’ve seen them..
I wonder if the news about Bernice parting with CTI was true..if it is, would this be her last drama? ahah
wow, is this TVB clip? lol…half of them are ex-tvb actor.
must be a tvb clip with ex-tvb actors but seriously you just answer your own question. don’t be silly now.
Additional preview of non-dramas at official Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/HKTVNetwork?feature=watch
Woah, looks quite 重口味.
I must say the trailers look sharp, the camerawork looks impressive and the effects look way more up-to-date than TVB. CTI has certainly invested in the hardware aspect.
As for the genres, looks like a lot of dark and/or paranormal themes, except for the musical drama which looks more fluffy and aspirational, and the Hakka Women drama and the Ha Yu drama which seem more like traditional family soap operas. Some of these seem to be inspired by US dramas, like the musical drama seems Glee-inspired and the plastic surgery one by Nip/Tuck.
I can see some of the edgier series appealing to a younger audience, but on the whole they seem to lack a broad-based popular appeal. I have to wonder if it’s a deliberate strategy by CTI — maybe they know that TVB has the see lai audience locked in, so they’re trying to appeal to different demographics instead.
Personally I’m quite interested in the Frankie Lam drama about plastic surgery. Don’t think TVB has done plastic surgery theme before for its medical dramas.
I agree too. The trailers impressed me because it looks pretty and has great camerawork. CTI has taken the right step with their up to date sophisticated hardware. They already won TVB who still use the same camerawork from the 90s and make it a drag to watch TVB series.
I’m glad Leila is with CTI now. This company puts real value into their execution and artistes won’t feel burdened with low tech cameras and no rest.
all the above casts seem all no longer popular in TVB hahaa
I wish Bernice was still with TVB, and Leila too
the way tvb mistreat bernice liu got me mad T,T
What CTI can do is recruit artist from mainland. Many of them are very popular already in both China and Hong Kong. Maybe they can also have a Korean actor/actress to start in one of their drama. What the station need now is to draw attention from viewers.
Nice try but that conflicts the whole idea of being HKtv.
Why is it ok for Hong Kong actors to star in mainland productions but not the other way around?
They have to rename the channel to People’s Communist China TV
Competition is good, it usually brings out the best in both brands. TVB needs to be challenged and CTI may do that.
Bernice and Bondi! I haven’t seen the two of them in ages! So many familiar faces make it a lot easier to ‘digest’. One problem is the explicitness of the series. That will definitely affect the ratings but in terms of production, this is a whole new level compared to TVB.
I don’t think CTI had good cast in their drama series so far. They were all not very popular artistes or they were not well matched. In their current drama series, they either had a good actor and a not-too-good actress, or a good actress and a not-too-good actor.
Well, due to their limited number of good artistes, I guess they can’t do anything.
I saw Jason Chan Pak Yu in the preview of ‘Fantasy Love Song 201314’. I’m so going to watch this series now. It being a musical is also a plus.
I’m a see-lai and I’m totally thrilled to see them! The trailers look interesting, the quality and editing are great! I think CTI recruited a talented team
I don’t see CTI being a success in HK. I believe housewives will be turned off by it. They like the feel good story or little bit of family drama. As for the younger audience, not to be superficial..but these actors and actresses they have are not that best looking or quite old..not sure if that will attract them.. U have to be realistic and know younger audience love to chase stars and support their actors and actress..i don’t see anyone in there that they will support except for bernice..
You underestimate the mentality of both housewives and young audience. Not all young audience chase after good looks only and not all housewives watch only feel good family drama. Some do have different taste.
Plus, you neglect the mid-range audience. What about the working class 25-55 audience? What about the men?
but the most housewives are “feel good” and thats enough.the younger audience watch on-line or download it.the working class 25-55 and men have more entertainment to choose nowadays than only watching tv at home.
It could be they choose other entertainment because there is no series suitable for their taste.
Seems like CTI will also cover the internet market since Jeannie Cheng they will have 2 versions, on for TV broadcast, one for online.
I’m going to say the 25-50 would want to look at beautiful ppls after a hard day at work, and not some so so looking >_> and I’m sorry, but the men like hot girls, too >_> sexy not girly girly. So yea, I agree with lili about we r quite superficial lol. As for Bernice, I like her, she’s pretty, but she can’t act well enough to make me watch her series, and I don’t like William either to bother -.- let’s just face it, these days with mainland reproduce any drama/theme popular, same goes with sing/Taiwan, you could just wait till you get the drama with the actor n actresses you like with the plot line you like lol.
Anyway, CTI new drama plot line seems boring, guess I see quite a bit of American one already, and these seems to be like the American popular one, but lacking the plot line?
I have not watch the 2nd video. From the 2st video, I’m interested in
– Fantasy Love Song 201314
– The vampire series with Danson Tang
– The newspaper series with Catherine Chau and Neol Leung.
– The HK Nip/Tuck series.
I’m happy for Catherine. In TVB, she seldom get to act such righteous role, as the main good guy in a series. She’s second lead to Noel in this series.
Will these have English subs
I have a perfect expectation on tv series developments in HK and these Cti’s productions perfectly match my exotic taste and extraordinarily thrilling favor.
Cti! Just ignore all these lameduck housewives & Go ahead with your out-of-the-box globally graded production quality.
good cast but terrible plots. I think TVB plots are dumb already but these are trying to push the envelope.
I personally long for the series from the 80’s and early 90’s. These days tvb stinks and from what I gather CTI is trying too hard to be diferent that it can back fire.
On the contrary I think great execution and plots but mundane cast.
I know right. The storyline is kinda out of it. I hope TVB will do better next year. I still love TVB. Not for younger children to watch.
Do you know When Heaven Burns is loved by teenagers and professionals in HK? Most of CTI series took different approach just like Chik did with WHB and MOP but with 100 times better execution than TVB old equipments.
I won’t say 100 times better. Both MOP and WHB has great camerawork especially WHB which has some beautiful and inspiring scenes (the dolphins scene pops into my head now).
WHB and MOP have the better execution and shots than typical TVB series, but what CTI showed in the trailer is heaps better than WHB and MOP, let alone those other TVB looking executions dramas. CTI investment in technology to be on par with South Korea certainly showing good results.
Can you elaborate on why the plots are terrible? From the trailer, the series looks interesting.
It’s good to be different so that viewers have different choices. Why need CTI if it’s going to be a TVB clone?
I agree. The trailer execution and plots are hundred times better than what TVB showed us in their sales presentation.
Graphically thrilling and appealing to me but I cant stand the plot .Some seems like will making me fall asleep. Many artists look great in acting but not attractive enough to excite me to watch.
I can see why TVB are so worried that CTI would get their broadcasting license. I’ve been a TVB fan my whole life but I have to admit I am more impressed with CTI’s sales presentation than with TVB’s recent one. That is probably due to CTI spending way more money than TVB. Audiences who are open to Hollywood movies/dramas would be okay with CTI’s concept as well.
I’d like to see Leila Tong again though.
The trailers looks interesting to me and my parents! Every night when we were watching the current TVB-monopoly dramas, me and my dad always can predict what is going to happen next and it’s always 100% accurate! Even my mom who is a TVB loyal fan starts to have complains about the current dramas.
It’s about time for a change and competition. Housewives will get old … younger generation thinking housewives will take over, so TVB can’t be producing the same type of crappy dramas anymore. New ideas need to be injected to suit the different level of audiences.
CTI might not have the current so called “1st grade artists” on their drama list, but bear in mind that these so called actors are not that great either and because TVB is the monopoly station in HK, therefore they can push them out to the market to where they are stading right now! Wayne Lai, Michael Tse, Kenneth Ma, Travia Yeung never start off as main leads anyway. The current new faces in TVB are nothing to shout about either.
It’s nothing wrong casting ex-TVB artists or not so famous artists in dramas, to me, as long as the storyline is captivating I’ll watch it.
I for one don’t wish to see Wayne Lai, Michael Tse, Kenneth Ma and Tavia Yeung faces repeatedly. You know the usual TVB faces. Thank God Ray already doing less TVB series so that he can get rid of the TVB face brand. Although I don’t particularly like CTI cast except Leila, at least CTI will ensure that we won’t see the same faces collaborating with each other again and again.
Real sceneries/backgrounds ftw… Im looking forward to these shows!;)
Looking forward to the series with Felix, Yuen Wah and Leila.
I am honestly disappointed….at first I was excited because competition is definitely better but seeing the previews, they are just trying to be another TVB. I was hoping for creativity in storylines, not challenging public views (eg. Homosexuality, cannibalism..etc) …..I just wanted a refreshing story like k-dramas (my girlfriend is a gumiho, Arang & magistrate)…of course these aren’t perfect shows but I hope you understand what I mean…challenging current views is basically what TVB is doing…..but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since many of their directors and behind the scenes workers are from tvb so their thinking and storytelling is also the same……disappointing 🙁
Watch faith! I love it! Lol
I’m sorry but what is tvb challenging? Which brother should get the dad’s inheritance? Who should make the first move to kill the dad after they manipulate his will?
Please give me a break.
I SO AGREE.
Right now, the only thing the clips are telling us are that they put alot of money into the production. But the themes are too much, try TOO HARD to be different. If they want to be successful, bring it back to the basics and have a simple story but with a good script, acting, directing. That’s all it really takes.
But no. I hope the writers for CTI have realized tvb’s mistake of trying too hard to aim for a new audience and not go for that same goal. Honestly, I doubt there will be much profits if CTI is going to use shock value to gain audience. Use GOOD WRITING, not other superficial things.
We don’t know for sure if the plots are good or bad until we have actually seen it. But what impresses me is how different the styles are when we all know it’s the same group of background people working on this. I guess this suggests something about the working culture in TVB and CTI.
I really like how they used filming locations! And they definitely made use of their filming budget with the elaborate sets.
I am a bit worried about the plot and storywriting though, because some of these dramas don’t hold my interest at all, and some just look downright stupid.
yeah i like how the settings are different than tvb settings
i actually don’t like how there’s many ‘horror/scary’ series with pretty gruesome scenes…haha maybe i’m just a wimp, but watching the sales presentation omg, i have never closed my eyes/muted so much in an asian series before LOL
The last one looks great with Felix, Ha Yu and Bao Hei Ching!
I have no interest in the supernatural/vampire one, the cosmetic surgery one, the music one or the media one.
However, I am interested to see the plot of the kungfu one. The one with the two sisters is also touching but I fear it would be predictable. I do hope CTI gets its license soon.
I too prefer TVB due to habit but I think CTI would be a good competition.
WAtching those trailers, it’s like watching TVB actors in Hollywood movie trailers LOL. There is ALOOOT of TVB actors (whether they were once leads, cameos, kelefes from tvb..). And the trailer is pretty high quality. Im actually quite surprised. TVB has serious competition man…but in the end, I know I will always go back to watching TVB or continue to watch tvb. Watched it from the day that I was born, so no matter how much competition other stations would be towards tvb, I’d still stick with tvb imo.
Looking forward to CTI’s productions. Quite tired of the same old re-cycled TVB plots, fadans and siusangs. CTI artists may not be eye candy or popular, but at least they can act. Even if CTI doesn’t get its broadcasting licence, I look forward to watching them in my home country when they release them overseas.
Watch the second video. I’ve to say the trailers in the second video are not as interesting as those in the first except for ‘Second Life’.
I was surprised to see Lui Hei in the Kungfu series as one of the kungfu exponent. I didn’t know he knows kungfu for real.
If I wanted to watch something like American drama, I would watch American drama. I’ll give it a shot, but will probably stick with TVB.
I do notice a distinct lack of ancient drama, which I do enjoy from time to time.
The filming style looks amazing. No matter what, I applaud Ricky Wong for trying something out of the box and raising the bar on the filming style. Not all the plotlines appeal to me but I admire the quality in which they’re filmed.
I’m excited to watch the kung fu and plastic surgery dramas. I wish they’d do some fluffy rom-coms and mystery/suspense thrillers. I’d also like for them to take a look at some of the more popular korean and japanese dramas and extract the components from those that make them so addictive.
I am rooting for CTI and wish them the best of luck in obtaining a broadcasting license.