“The Exorcist’s Meter” Finale Ratings Hit Below Expectations
It’s been a strong run for the TVB supernatural horror drama The Exorcist’s Meter <降魔的>, which netizens have bestowed upon it the title of the industry’s new “legendary drama”. The show’s modest production and well-written script had made unexpected waves on TVB’s primetime slot, putting Kenneth Ma (馬國明) as a strong contender for TV King.
With good word-of-mouth and stable ratings performance, critics expected the show to hit new highs when it aired its final episode on Sunday, November 26. However, the finale’s rating performance fell short of expectations, pulling in only an average of 24.3 points, reaching 1.57 million viewers.
TVB’s last drama to air a Sunday finale was the legal drama Legal Mavericks <踩過界>, which pulled in 26.9 points.
However, it must be noted that Legal Mavericks was a weekend drama, while The Exorcist’s Meter (TEM) originally aired five days a week. The sudden change in broadcast schedule may have affected TEM’s finale ratings performance.
TEM starred Kenneth Ma as a taxi driver, who accidentally unleashed a century-old curse, thus putting himself in the position of a demon battler. It also starred Mandy Wong (黃智雯), Hubert Wu (胡鴻鈞), and Moon Lau (劉佩玥).
Source: HK01.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
The synopsis is wrong. And lower rating is explained. Doesn’t takeaway the fact that it is best drama of 2017. Legal mavericks is just insanely dumb.
@funnlim yeah agree about LM. So many dumb moments especially in the case involving Yanice’s death. Eg how they found the second bullet in the open field which was like looking for a needle in the haystack, yet they conveniently found it, thanks to Hopeman’s superhero-like keen sense of hearing. Really lmao. Then when he was shot by Mr Dai he could actually hear the bullet and shifted his body so it wouldn’t fatally wound him. Just plain ridiculous! And the broadcast of Mr Dai burying him and Dino was just too hilarious.
TEM is like a car ride which started off with some road bumps (silly special effects which looked at least 10 years outdated) but once you hit the highway you can feel the breeze in your hair and coast along the road, making for an enjoyable ride. The first couple of episodes were fun to watch but got a little silly for the next couple or so episodes. But hang in there, ride it out and you’ll really enjoy this drama. If TVB had scheduled a 2 hr finale episode to end on Friday night, I’m quite sure it would have achieved better ratings than 24.3.
@passingby Good analogy lol
@passingby Good analogy! But I gotta add I thought the special effects as in Shek Kam Dong’s arrow and double sword thing very cool. I thought it was a huge missed opportunity that his diamond was not carved into a diamond sword or something. I man such a big diamond carved into 1 tiny bullet? Nope! Should have been an awesome glowing white sword that blings. The gun part in the last scene was silly.
@passingby
Good analogy…& i agreed that if TVB had scheduled a 2hr finale on Friday night, the ratings would be higher. As i noticed in other forums, some didn’t even know earlier that the final episode will be aired on Sunday evening, and thought it will air on Monday. Therefore, like @funnlim, me too would like to say that lower ratings doesn’t mean the series is not good.
Speaking of silly moments/dumb scenes, both TEM and LM have their own share of those scenes. But due to TEM being a horror cum comedy series, so i’m fine with those silly scenes in it which i treat as comedy elements of the series.
The exorcist meter has a lot of dumb and inexplicable moments too. But I overlook it due to suspense of disbelief. If you don’t believe me, isn’t it strange how ghosts can “sit down” when they can’t touch anything else? Or how about it’s so coincidental that Kenneth is somehow connected to the corrupt cop through Mandy who just so coincidentally knows Kenneth? A lot of moments in TEM are inconsistent/lazy examples. If you were to discuss silliness, both have their own share.
@coralie because sitting is not willfully touching. So that’s ok.
Monday know Kenneth because he is a taxi driver and she uses his service. That’s not dumb, that’s a plot device.
Its only problem is 5 Min last cliff hanger anti climatic fight.
The title is ok as well. If anyone ca n criticise this series, then the other series must be criticized too.
@funnlim “Its only problem is 5 Min last cliff hanger anti climatic fight.”… ikr! It’s akin to just as you exit the highway and are only minutes away from your destination, you get pulled over for speeding! What a bummer! I was like…….huh……..that’s it???
@coralie ” isn’t it strange how ghosts can “sit down” when they can’t touch anything else”………this doesn’t make the drama dumb becos it doesn’t take anything away from the plot. You’re just splitting hairs. TEM isn’t faultless but at least the plot holes aren’t as huge as LM.
@passingby @funnlim, yea ok, I might be splitting hairs. overall I do admit TEM is a more consistent drama than LM. at the very least, the parts leading up to the ending wasn’t a big catastrophe that LM was.
however, with that said, I still vote Vincent Wong as Best Actor! I tried to imagine Kenneth Ma doing any of those crazy break down scenes that Vincent Wong did in LM and I just couldn’t.
@coralie LM started off well but began to unravel especially the last few eps with a lot of ridiculous plot twists which really beggar belief. The other goat i have is how they made Hopeman too all-knowing and too super-hero like with his super keen sense of hearing (again beggaring belief). He’s too unreal. I also didn’t like how Toby Chan was cast as the transvestite. It would be better to cast a real actor (male) in the role which would make the case more convincing. As for who can play Hopeman besides Vincent, I think any of these actors can – Ruco Chan, Roger Kwok (the character can be written to be a little older to suit Roger), Kevin Cheng, Joel Chan and i dont see why Kenneth Ma cant.
@passingby have you ever seen Kenneth Ma break down over love scenes? Or any really devastating scenes where he shakes and collapses and his heart hurt so bad you think he’s having a heart attack? Even in TEM, he was crying with restraint and shouting, but not utterly, utterly devastated and completely broken like Vincent Wong was. Kenneth Ma doesn’t have the kind of skills to act to the degree Vincent Wong did. Kenneth is a hold-back kind of actor which has its positives, while Vincent is a no-holds barr one. It’s a different type of actor, which is why I say KM cannot do the same role that VW did.
Roger Kwok has done many breakdown scenes before. I really don’t know if Joel Chan can do that. KC definitely cannot do that. Ruco might be able to, if he had the energy & time to nurture the character.
@coralie
Can’t wait till Joel Chan gets a chance to star in a series on his own. It is inevitable! He has the acting range and certainly will surprise us acting as a good guy.
@coralie I kinda disagree. Kenneth may be a much lesser actor, but I appreciate the fact that he did not go nuclear in those sad scenes. Ma Kwai is a character that has been through many personal tragedies, those he remembered, those he had forgotten but subsconsiously do recognise and has had a hard life. I don’t see him breaking down completely because the theme of his character is he is innately a good person with a good heart and a strong resolution. Nothing could bring him down and it is that positivity that makes Ma Kwai such a unique character. But when he did cry, he did so quietly because those scenes didn’t belong to Ma Kwai but to the souls he had to drive to their destination. I love the scene where Moon was talking about her hopes and dreams and there was Kenneth, quietly crying huge huge tears but never taking away Moon’s moment, but sharing it. Sometimes we don’t need screaming or loud crying. He did scream sometimes. I do find Kenneth’s performance very elegant for a character that’s supposed to be not elegant.
I love Exorcist’s metre. For all its fault, this is TVB’s best drama in 2017 for me quite simply because it moved me and it did tell the story very well (except for the insane ending).
The same feeling I feel about Hubert’s performance. Stony faced yes, but the way he delivered his lines, his consistency makes me believe Hubert will be a great actor as he is a great singer with the right nurture.
@funnlim @passingby – I guess we’ll just agree to disagree. I find Vincent Wong’s all out acting superb and not OTT, especially given his character’s quite severe rollercoaster experiences. Kenneth has always been restrained with his crying scenes, and I have yet to see him do any of that all out, no-holds bar acting. I was touched by the parental arc in TEM, but that’s due to the storyline and not due to him per se, although he did contribute to the scene and performed to satisfaction. The way I feel about Kenneth is the way I feel about Jessica Hsuan (but before anyone gets offended, I think Kenneth is a better actor than Jessica). You never see her all-out act lol. You also probably never seen her cry real tears either. So I’m beyond that ‘elegance’ nowadays. I want real emotions, real feelings, real impact.
@coralie most importantly, I want raw (but not ugly) acting. Very few can and/or willing to do that because the fear of overacting is just as bad as underacting.
@coralie yeah different strokes for different folks. You like mama drama, i prefer subtlety. All ok as long as we like it.
i think VW can do both. KM cannot do both. that’s my argument, overall.
@coralie whatever floats your boat. No point arguing further.
@coralie ironically what you mentioned about Vincent’s crying scenes is exactly the reason why i thought he overacted in those crying scenes lol! It made me cringe to watch him, luckily he wasnt trashing his legs around or he would look like a spoilt kid throwing a temper tantrum. Crying as if your heart is going to break doesn’t mean clutching at your heart as if having a heart attack, shaking your body violently, thumping your hands on the floor and rolling on the ground as what Vincent did. Such a drama king! I quite enjoyed his acting in earlier eps but he spoilt it for me with his over-acting as the drama progressed. I really have to disagree that Ruco cant do crying scenes as well as Vincent. Did you watch ROE? If you did, can you recall the scene where Jessica died? You can see his crying scene there is heartbreaking without being OTT. In Destination Nowhere when kevin cheng came across the accident scene where his brother and sis-in-law died he was devastated but again no need to clutch heart and roll on the ground but you feel his heartbreak. As for Kenneth that heartbreaking ep with his parents brought tears to a lot of people’s eyes. Again no need for OTT theatrics.
i thoroughly enjoyed the drama. it was quite a surprise with the small cast and i didn’t really like the female leads very much. i was just putting it on the background to make some noise initially. but after a few episodes, i was hooked. the story was touching and although it’s supernatural, one could feel the characters.
legal maverick was promising given the amount of promotion but it was a huge disappointment…. the story was not cohesive give it is an investigative drama….
The title alone should earn this drama a spot on TVB’s all time worst English titled shows.
“Exorcist’s Meter”? What is their hourly rate? LOL!
@aiya rate follows the taxi rate.
@funnlim Allright, then the sequel should be titled Uber Exorcists, chasing out evil spirits in a blink of an eye.
didnt like both these series. So boring! The plot and cases in LM was so bad. And too much romance, cheesy scenes in TEM.