“The Defected” to Air on Netflix
TVB’s currently aired drama The Defected <鐵探> features a stellar cast including Hong Kong Film Award’s Best Actress, Kara Wai (惠英紅), and Best Supporting Actor, Philip Keung (姜皓文), as well as Benjamin Yuen (袁偉豪), Ben Wong (黃智賢), Angelina Lo (盧宛茵), Sisley Choi (蔡思貝) and Benz Hui (許紹雄). This action-packed thriller series has already begun its broadcasting in Mainland China and Hong Kong. It was announced today that The Defected will also be airing on Netflix, making this drama TVB’s first Netflix collaboration.
The Defected focuses on the politics and tensions behind the police force, leaving viewers with constant suspense. The powerful acting from its main cast, along with its quality production has attracted wide viewership, and TVB is very satisfied with its ratings so far.
Producer So Man Chung (蘇萬聰) confirmed that broadcasting rights for The Defected have been acquired by Netflix, although it is still uncertain when the drama will air on the platform. He said, “I am very happy. I heard that there will be 16 language options for captions for this drama, which means that it will be accessible worldwide. This will be a great opportunity to expose and introduce others to Hong Kong productions.”
Viewers hopefully won’t have to wait long for The Defected’s release on Netflix, where viewers can watch the series in its entirety ad free.
Source: HK01
This article is written by Hailey for JayneStars.com.
Im quite surprised that this is the first TVB drama chosen to be released on Netflix. Im not sure it will have any western appeal.
@megamiaow
i was thinking of the same thing. i wonder why people who don’t know any of these stars would want to watch it. sometimes i see these asian dramas on netflix and think to myself, who really watches it other than asians or people who know the stars in those shows.
with the broadcast sold to netflix, i don’t know if they’d really make any money. most who would want to watch the show would have seen it already on another platform.
@megamiaow Out of all the dramas TVB have produced in the last decade, this is probably one of the best ones for Netflix. Crime thrillers are universally popular.
@megamiaow
@m0m0
Netflix is operated in over 190 countries, a big chunk of that are Asian countries. Not all of the content picked up are geared towards Westerners.
Even if this drama is geared towards a western audience, I think crime thrillers have a higher success rate among westerners than ancient costume dramas that they can’t relate to.
@anon Probably right about the costume series nor being as relatable. Ive never been into cop series. Theres a few Korean ones on Netflix Ive not bothered with.
In terms of Crime drama. I prefer those with mysteries or detective style. Is the Defected like that or more like Line Walker and Internal Affairs?
@megamiaow
It’s more like Line Walker.
@anon Ah ok. Thats a shame. Not my type of drama.
Interesting. I wonder if a costume drama would be more appealing. Americans may consider that more of fantasy/escapism like Game of Thrones.
@potatochip OCTB was the first HK drama to broadcast on Netflix last year and it did relatively well, especially with that series having no big studio backing and made with smaller budget, plus there were no A-listers in that series. So The Defected being sold to Netflix is technically not that big of a deal given the circumstances.
There are actually plenty of Asian series on Netflix, it’s just most are not from HK. There is a Mainland China costume drama that Netflix had bought the rights to but I don’t think it did too well because audiences couldn’t really understand it. There were also a few Korean series they bought though I don’t follow Korean entertainment so didn’t pay attention to how those series did.
I think for Asian series, crime thrillers stand a better chance because easier for international audiences to understand and relate to.
@llwy12 well said! tote agreed with you
@llwy12 Whats OCTB?
@llwy12
well, i honestly hope this drama does well so that it opens up another revenue stream for tvb and incentive to make better higher quality productions like they’ve been putting out in the past decade. i am truly disappointed that tvb keeps broadcasting chinese drama and keep their own productions in warehouse. can’t think other than there are forces beyond just the monetary factor that’s making them do that….
Kind of surprised TVB went this route given they already offer the TVB Anywhere box overseas.
@babyfaced
TVB will never past up on an opportunity to make money.
Never-ending promotion and news about this drama.Feels like overkill and becoming a turnoff.
Just watched it and disappointed to see the impossible script tvb writers are known to write. A guy can randomly shoot into the woods and headshot someone… Oh really…I can’t even do that in a video game.
I’m on Episode 13. This is probably the best TVB drama in recent years.
Which doesn’t mean that it’s good in the grand scheme, but by TVB standards, it’s probably the best.
@anon completely agree . At least there’s decent casting, all real locations, and the editting is a lot better.
…This is a rubbish series thus far for me. It’s a recycled of their Line Walker, which is a ripoff of Laughing Gor bs, Internal Affairs, and all that crap. Same old, same old. Their saving grace is Kara and Phillip acting, BUT their performances are hindered and dumbed down by the script and dialog. They literally did NOT show Bingo hardship as UC (except his Mom’s bits), then all of sudden he screamed at Madam Yan for making him “a human but not human, a demon but not a demon.” And someone as cunning, drive, very seasoned cop as Madam Yan, she could’ve figured out there’s a “black cop” without any hints from Matt (who’s unfortunately totally typecast now) or Bingo. Happy’s interrogation skills sucked, yet the other dude just willingly give up information; how inconvincingly convenient.
Would also be effective IF THEY USED SOMEONE OTHER THAN TONY HUNG as the rising, promising, favorite child/cop. His death meant nothing. He didn’t have that onscreen, omg no, I don’t want this cameo to die. He just doesn’t have nor can he command that kind of reaction. TVB should’ve pull a friendship card to get star power for this one role alone.
Besides the acting of top 3 casts, everyone else is a snoozefest.
The editing sucks. Time jumps, flashbacks within a flashback are not creative. It’s poor and lazy work.
Bottom line, give it a pass if you don’t have a mom who loves Kara and insists to watch solely because of her. Lol.
@jjwong I agree about time jumps and too many characters and too little development for the main ones but line walker was a shadow of this series where every mole is a UC. And i mean everyone.
As for tony, come one he is only in a few scenes. Give that man a break.
I think Oscar is doing fine but I am still in early episodes.
@funnlim Even if not everyone is a mole in this series, it’s still very similar and plays off the whole UC and black cop, and the guessing game.
Tony’s char, though only a few scenes, is an important character; at least for the first handful of episodes. Every cop respected him. Kara put him on a pedestal. He WAS the man. It would’ve been more effective if they chose another actor, one who viewers can remotely believe he was or could be all that. He in this is as unbelievable and cannot be fantom like when he was a captain in that pirate series.
No comment on Oscar acting yet. Like you, I’m only a few eps in. My comment was on how his char and script are badly written.
What the heck?! So TVB actor Dickson Wong was right! I laughed it off and assumed he was bluffing when he mentioned it on his streaming sessions at 17. I doubt TVB Anywhere is doing all that well considering their annual fees are not cheap for a streaming service.
Good choice. I think this is more westerner cup of tea.