TVB Replaces Ali Lee and Lai Lok Yi in “Who Wants a Baby 2”
Although actress Ali Lee (李佳芯) previously denied being frozen by TVB for voicing her political standpoint, TVB ultimately replaced her with Eliza Sam (岑麗香) in the yet to be filmed drama, Who Wants a Baby 2 <BB來了2>.
Plans for a sequel to Who Wants a Baby <BB來了> were confirmed after the original series achieved huge success and won Ali the TV Queen award. Due to scheduling conflicts, shooting was supposed to commence at the end of September. However, since Ali was banned by Mainland China for her political views, and removed as the face of Alipay and various makeup brands, TVB scrapped its initial plans to feature the original leads in the sequel. Thus, Lai Lok Yi (黎諾懿) won’t be returning either. Instead, Kenneth Ma (馬國明) and Eliza will play the protagonists this time around. It will be Eliza’s comeback drama since the birth of her son.
Kenneth is Happy to Fill Lok Yi’s Shoes
In response to the news, Ali said, “I have heard that there will be changes, but I have not heard what will happen. There were discussions of putting it on the back burner, as there were too many conflicts with our schedules. I can’t handle a 25-episode series after filming a 30-episode drama.”
Though the media reported Ali’s political controversy dragged down Lok Yi, she said, “No need to worry! He actually has a lot of variety shows and the company has a lot of dramas, so there will be work. Every actor has value and will be put to good use.”
On the other hand, Lok Yi expressed it was a pity, but he also understood that no one wanted it to happen. He said, “If one of us was missing for the sequel, then it wouldn’t be the same. So using a new cast is the right thing to do. There will be a new lineup and a new story.”
Lok Yi added, “In fact, I felt pressure about the sequel, so I’m fine with how everything turned out. I’ll leave it as a good memory.”
When Kenneth was interviewed, he shared that he did not receive official notice from the company. Currently busying filming Line Walker 3 <使徒行者3> until the end of the year, he said, “If the company arranged work for us, then we have to do it. Of course, I’m happy to film a drama.”
As for working with Eliza, Kenneth said he’s worked with her before. “She is an actress that can make her colleagues feel good,” he expressed.
Source: Oncc
This article is written by MelodyC for JayneStars.com.
boring..boring … lol I couldn’t finish the first one anyway after an epi or two… kenneth & eliza? No double thx… haha
Eliza Sam as lead Hahahahaha
TVB is *.
There’s no nicer way to put it.
Uhh no thanks, Lai Lok Yi was the perfect fit for this role, no lok yi, goodbye. Kenneth’s great but nope, Eliza is a double no for me.
This is so disappointing! I loved Ali and Lokyi’s characters in this drama and thought their chemistry was great. Lokyi especially I’ve liked for years, and it’s sad that he won’t get the chance to reprise this role. I just like the new parent struggles and though i don’t dislike the replacement actors, I always prefer the original leading cast.
Here’s Eliza. When’s Linda Chung coming back. Might as well bring back Anne Heung as well. Keep the TVB circus rolling…..
@jimmyszeto I actually didn’t think Anne Heung is that bad. To put her name along w/those two is extremely depressing. hahaha LOL…
@wm2017
I think Anne Heung is just as bad as Linda Chung. Anne is lucky that she started her TVB career in the ’90s, back when TVB was still capable of churning out some juicy scripts, so she got lucky and rose to fame due to the success of those films. Her acting ability was never the catalayst that propelled her to stardom.
TVB can put an all-star lineup of the greatest TVB actors of all-time in one TV series and they will still manage to crap the show because they can’t write a good script to save their lives these days.
@wm2017
Linda is better than Anne. They belong to the same group as well. Crap group!
@jimmyszeto oh please don’t bring linda chung back. eliza is still ok. what a pity ali and lok yi are replaced in the sequel. it’s strange isn’t it? it’s a sequel and yet the main characters are different.
@janet72
No choice. If Ali is banned then no point bringing in Lai Lok Yi to partner someone completely different because the audience will not accept this. It is probably too late to cancel the sequel now which is why they have brought a new pair. At least it now opens up them to partner again if future sequels…
@jimmyszeto Since Eliza and Phoebe are both making comebacks, I suspect that Grace Chan will be next…
In all honesty, I’d rather take Grace over Eliza. I don’t find the latter appealing in the slightest.
@oystergirl
Yeh Grace Chan is far better than Eliza. She is far younger so plenty of room for development and can speak Cantonese properly. I have seen shows where Eliza totally uses the incorrect chinese words but the interviewer pretends it’s all fine and does not correct her.
I wished they could have put Him Law or Vincent Wong in here with Eliza. Kenneth is good but I think he’s a little too old to be in this character?
@cutie777 Kenneth Ma doesn’t seem compatible w/anyone in particular anyway? haha LOL…Yes, Vincent W would have been ok. He’s got the looks/act.
@cutie777 Oh no, please dont waste Vincent’s time and energy to film with Eliza again..I still cant forget Heart And Greed 3…
@snoopy Yeah, as if once wasn’t traumatizing enough.
TVB truly is a waste of Vincent’s talent, considering how he typically overshadows his costars by heaps and bounds. Part of me wishes to see him venture into the movie scene but if he leaves, then TVB will really be screwed (although they appear to be a sinking ship anyway).
@cutie777 Kenneth is doing ok…he still looks young at 45.
I am a little confused. Why is both sides “banning” Ali for her political views? Normally other celebs only got “ban” from one side.
@hayden
It’s not both sides. HK is fully happy with Ali. Only mainlanders dislike her because of her comments and TVB has to freeze her until this is forgotten because they are targeting the mainland market…
@hayden Not sure which “both sides” you’re referring to. As far as I can tell, the only “side” banning Ali is Mainland China side.
The “pandering to Mainland” thing aside, to me, this is a classic example of TVB management showing their incompetence with the crappy way they run things over there. I find it interesting that Pakho Chau (who may not be signed to them in terms of management contract but did sign with their record label Voice Entertainment) also made a comment on his social media encouraging HK citizens to vote (and he did so even before Ali did) and Mainland also banned him (and he’s still banned as far as I can tell), yet not once did TVB/Voice Entertainment take any action against him (he was still participating in shows as well as getting various acting and singing gigs, including getting cast in new TVB series, etc). In comparisons, Ali got “frozen” by TVB almost immediately after she made her comment and even after she clarified her position, the actions against her got worse rather than better. Why the difference in treatment, TVB, when both artists supposedly committed the same “crime”?
For the record, I’m not an Ali fan (I feel she’s overrated – her acting is decent but not impressive, at least not to me). To be honest, with the BB series (which I actually partially watched), the only thing that made it watchable for me was the performance of the veterans – specifically Angelina Lo and Rebecca Chan, who were stellar (and of course barely recognized by TVB as usual)…in comparisons, Ali’s performance was OTT and Lai Lokyi’s performance was boring (their chemistry was ok but nothing to rave about). With that said though, I can see why fans of the series (and of Ali) would be pissed, as switching out Ali for Eliza Sam is insulting, pure and simple — I mean, at least Ali’s acting is consistently decent, plus she is reigning TV Queen, whereas Eliza can’t act to save her life and is pretty much at the bottom of the totem pole where acting/audience favor is concerned. And I’m sorry, but Eliza is actually way worse than Linda – yes, Linda’s acting sucks but at least her Cantonese is decent and I have no problems understanding her spoken dialogue in series….Eliza on the other hand, her acting more than sucks (it’s pretty much garbage) AND her Cantonese stinks to the point that I could never understand a single word she says in any of the series she’s been a part of – how someone like that could continually be cast as a lead is baffling to me…but then again, this is TVB we’re talking about so go figure!
@llwy12
LOL, I agree with the Eliza and Linda comparisons.
Ali and Lai had amazing chemistry. The show won’t be the same without them. Fuck it. I won’t be watching.
Ali and Lai had amazing chemistry. The new show won’t be the same without them. Forget it. I won’t be watching. Eliza’s acting is pure garbage.