HKTV Plans Second Season of “The Election”
Although only a few episodes HKTV’s The Election <選戰> has been broadcast, the drama garnered excellent reception. Airing one episode each week with with tense cliffhangers, The Election stars Angelica Lee (李心潔) and Liu Kai Chi (廖啟智) as political rivals eyeing Hong Kong’s Chief Executive position. With the positive buzz surrounding the series, HKTV plans to film the second season in February.
Risque Scenes
The Election sports a fairly aged cast, but Angelica Lee, Liu Kai Chi and the 32-year old Isabel Chan (陳逸寧) bring their acting expertise to the drama. Although a mother already, Isabel revealed her underwear-clad bottom, bare back, and legs in the first episode. Watching her own performance on screen, Isabel joked, “I’m really going to have to work out for the second season.”
When asked about her half-naked bedside scene in the premiere, Isabel added, “I filmed that scene on the first day of work, but everything was in place and I felt very safe.”
House of Cards Knockoff?
While The Election became an instant hit, some netizens bashed the series for copying American television series, House of Cards. Some noted similarities between Kai Chi’s character and Frank Underwood from House of Cards. Both men are smart, cunning, and manipulative in getting what they want. Another similarity is that both men’s wives cheated on them, as well as both characters habit of smoking by the windowsill.
Gregory Wong’s (王宗堯) playboy like character in The Election is also comparable with Peter Russo from House of Cards. Both men possess similar alcoholic habits and having sex with prostitutes.
This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.
hahahaha i guess regardless of television station, sequels are quite a popular option when they see a drama doing well =P hope their sequels won’t be as lame as tvb sequels
I don;t think it works like TVB sequels but rather like American sitcoms where the story continues in 2nd season.
Yup, Funn is right…it’s actually going to be like American sitcoms where the story continues into another season. Actually, the producer of the series, Wong Kwok Keung, gave an in depth interview prior to the premiere and said that the script to the second season of The Election is already completely written — they’re just holding off from filming it because they want to see audience’s reactions first. He also revealed a little bit about what the second season would be about if they were to move forward with it….
Second season? Sounds like some TV shows and not a series.
2nd season when I can’t find 1st season on TV! I can find the other series but not this on ASTRO. Anyone know the schedule on ASTRO?
It’s quite interesting, if you are into ‘dirty politics’. Probably, you can try streaming it online.
@Funn: You won’t find it on Astro, since they chose to air The Borderline instead (I’m not sure the reason but that’s what I heard from others who have Astro and were disappointed that Astro only chose to air one of the series instead of both). Not sure if they are actually going to air The Election in the future or not. You’re probably better off watching it on the Internet…
Looks like Astro is not going to show it, for reasons only known to them.
I saw another HKTV promo last night and it is a drama by Maggie Cheung Hor yee, something about Hakka women. Nothing on Election.
Maybe its political nature and subtle anti-China stance or too pro-democratic reformist message don’t go down well with censors.
Malaysia, sadly, is not a political free state.
Huh? Has the first season finished already? I’m only onto ep2!
No…they’ve only released up to episode 2 (episode 3 comes out on Saturday). There are 15 episodes total, so won’t be over for a few more months. However, the script for the second season was already written awhile back ago (according to the producer/director of the series) and they (the series’ production team) are waiting to see audiences’ reaction before moving forward with the second season. So far, the reception of the series has been quite positive, so they will most likely move forward now…
Now only episode 2??? ‘Borderline’ on Astro is already on episode 8, broadcast everyday mon to fri.
If only every week once, no kick, might as well don;t watch. cheh!
@slow: HKTV explained on their Facebook page why they are only airing 1 episode of Election per week. The series just wrapped filming in October and there is still alot of post-editing that needs to be done — the team is working as fast as they can but it takes time, so they can only release 1 episode a week. Knowing that’s the reason, I’m actually fine with waiting — I would rather they take their time to edit properly than rush through it.
Thanks for the explanation.
I actually like the weekly release of “Election” as it gives you time to think and analyse the hints. It is a really good quality series that I would rather take time to sit down and enjoy, rather than rush through. So far, no goofs picked up so thumbs up for the editing!
I’m watching Borderline and Election right now and I don’t think I can watch TVB ever again (at their current state).
Total agreement with you. And we haven’t even gotten to the comedies and the love stories.
@RJ; Yeah! i can’t wait for Incredible Mama (我阿媽係黑玫瑰)! looks hilarious
I am actually waiting for the musical, HK’s version of Glee. And HKTV version of Twilight looks interesting as well.
@Anon: I totally hear ya! Both series are excellent so far (the real life location filming absolutely enhances the viewing experience). And I love being able to watch each episode on demand whenever I want (instead of waiting for a set timeslot). Great job to HKTV so far!
hktv definitely has my vote for there current shows. it is more edge gripping and i like the whole movie feel it has too..TVB is more suitable for the mid-housewives compared to HKTV at the moment..waiting for the haters to comment now
Ricky Wong said he needs 1 million HK viewers to keep the entertainment coming. 600,000 minimum and he would need to add revenue from the Home Shopping Channel. Here’s hoping he gets those numbers. He may be announcing the first week numbers today.
Plus, those of you in America and Europe need to get your local distributors to subscribe to the content. Maybe he should do paid access in US and Europe.
Numbers are out on HKTV’s Facebook. 1.9 million people installed their apps. 870k signed up to watch on demand through their website. 595k have watched on demand and 1.4 mil have been watching the live streams this week. Average length of time for people watching on demand is 52 min (guessing people are watching election on demand) and average length of time for people watching live is 42 minutes (that’s how long borderline is). They didn’t announce the numbers for each show.
Hi, can u please post the link to watch HKTV here? TQ.
I vote yes to HKTV but i’m in america so I don’t think my vote matter?
They did an awesome job. HKTV rocks!
I actually read somewhere that Election might be 4 seasons long(!!!).
I wonder if they are going to go with the US way of producing shows now. That would be interesting if you get a whole slate of different shows every week instead of watching the same show everyday in the serial format ala TVB.
@based: That might be something they’ll do in the future, but probably not now. Ricky Wong has said that he has enough programs in his inventory to last a year — but that’s assuming they are keeping to their 6.5 hours a day format that they’re doing now. Maybe when they resume filming series again in February 2015 (that’s the timeline Ricky Wong committed to) and get more series added to their inventory, then they can expand it more.
The haters are finding it are to criticize. A friend of mine always question this past year how much better can HKTV shows be? Tonight he told me that he finally sat down to watched the shows and he was blown away. A new fan that didn’t know anything other than TVB style.
The HKTV haters mostly are trolls who don’t even watch the episodes. I’mmnot even surprised if they are water army generals hired to hate HKTV lol
A 2 thumbs down on that since it’s really bad.
Seasons 2? Season 1 ain’t that good, so what’s the point. BORING
Agree! I have given up after 10-15 min of this nonsense. Better to watch the Chinese old films than this
BORING plot, just let it go, please no more of this. It won’t last long
One man’s meat is another man’s poison….do u agree?
This website really needs to create a registered members-only forum to keep the trolls away.
If people can criticise TVB, why can’t they criticise other channels? I’ve only seen one episode myself and I see it as being mediocre. However, I applaud them for riding on the latest HK issue to get greater viewership and benefit from it financially.
@Ginger
It’s not a matter of criticism. It’s a matter of criticism WITHOUT substance.
Even though we are on different sides of the fence, I respect your criticism because you actually explain your reasons for your displeasure of HKTV.
Most HKTV haters on here spew a statement without offering reasons to why they make those claims (and on many occasions, the claims they make aren’t even facts). If you’re gonna make a point, back it up, but most of them don’t. It’s basically an online drive-by assault. I think this forum would be better if it required registration instead.
I don’t like TVB, but I can surely give you tons of reasons why. That’s how I do it every time I criticize them.
I don’t like HKTV, but I can surely give you tons of reasons why. That’s how I do it every time I criticize them. I don’t think everyone that criticise TVB have a ‘substance’
@Anon, I like TVB programs but I don’t watch all as we are quite selective. Some are garbage like wong cho lam’s ‘cousin’ drama series ….which is really insulting our intelligence & wasting our precious time ….the good ones worth watching were Line Walker, M Club, outbound love & Tiger cub 2. Highly entertaining & memorable. Others are so so only & some should never have been made.
There are many trolls in this site or perhaps a count of 3 or 4 only as some could have assumed many identities.
As for HKTV dramas…..I have watched both Election Ep 2 & Borderline Ep.07…i must say….wow!…..No wonder TVB is afraid of Ricky getting a tv station license & look like theirs fears were not unfounded & with basis.
Reluctantly I hv to say to cocky Ricky Wong….well done indeed….
Some TVB dramas are really worth watching…but the others are a waste of time…Line Walker, Tomorrow is another day, Storm in a cocoon. Don’t like Overachievers and WCL.
sorry…what I meant to say is Line Walker, Tomorrow is another day, Storm in a cocoon are good. In fact, I like Evergreen Mak in Storm in a cocoon.
Agree….SIAC was good. I can’t comment on ‘Tomorrow’ though as I gave it a miss.
LW is good until Foon Hei Gor died and Raymond starts overacting and bulging rolling his eyes. SIAC has a good storyline but Steven Ma and Tavia are stagnant and always act like that. Same smile, same expressions,, same body language as in their other roles. TIAD has an interesting premise but mediocre lead actors.
people only liked tvb cus their was nothing else to watch before, forced to watch the same crap that tvb makes for too long…now we have more choices, and better choices, its great for the viewers
But there are people who do not like more choices – kind of strange but it is true and proven 😛
Anyway, I do not think people in US will be able to watch HKTV shows soon.Hopefully, these shows will be available online with English sub soon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paradox_of_Choice
yes yes
Hi, does any1 know if they have English sub available??
I would’ve expected Icdrama to have uploaded eng sub, none that I can see so far :c it’s probably time to go to HK to learn Cantonese lol
560,000 average unique viewers per day. Reasonable for the first week.
Good stuff!
Btw I am not a fanboy of either side, I feel that HKTV is trying to be more innovative, and if possible I hope they could replace the boring Kdrama now.
So I wasn’t the only one who thought they plagiarized House of Cards…
i like it a lot so far, its following american tv, the style and effort is all there…which is good, if u want to improve u should follow the best
just finished watching the 3 episodes…very good, its hard to watch tvb stuff after watching this…the election just looks and feels so real, the acting and story and scenery is great
tvb needs to do this too, imagine combining tvbs actors and actresses with story and plot and the production value of hktv series, that be great for us viewers
Agreed!
Except I cannot envision TVB will follow HKTV’s path in production any time soon.
At the moment, TVB spends on average 300,000HKD on production cost for each episode. HKTV, on the other hand, spends 1,000,000HKD per episode. That’s more than three times more.
TVB spends 1million per episode too for Tiger Cubs but fail! Linda has bad acting, Joe not enough charisma, too much focus in cops and love lines! Him Law and the rest are boring and annoying! Mandy is wasted! 1 million per episode wasted!
The funny thing is that they could probably do it if they wanted to. They are a billion dollar enterprise (we’re talking about USD here), they could easily produce shows with better production values if they wanted to. It’s just disappointing to me that they won’t take any chances creatively. They made $733 million US in sales just last year. They can definitely afford to be be better.
It’s not a matter of affording, Disney certainly can afford anything, but it took a cooperation with Pixar to get to where Disney is today. It’s about passion and creativity. You just have it or you don’t, especially top management. Today TVB just doesn’t have it!
TVB actors are nowhere near fresh like Angelica Lee. TVB veterans like Roger and Wayne are also unconsistent and nowhere near LKC. The only promising TVB artiste is Ruco and Charmaine. TVB also don’t have scripts like this and TVB only films on studios.
When TVB is accused of plagiarism: “Oh my god! Thieves! Unoriginal!”
When HKTV is accused of plagiarism: *ignores* *brushes it off* “only following the best”
FYI: I rarely watch TVB dramas and am aware how ****** they are but just wanted to point out the hypocrisy here.
first of all, i have to say that i do not own TVB shares worth 1.4 million HKD. Having said that, HKTV series storyline are too complex and boring. You should all just continue watch TVB series and click on the ads on TVB site.
Watched two episodes of this and it was so excellent it made TVB look rubbish! This series is more popular than Borderline in HK and got praises from HKers.
While we keep watching fadans who can’t act like Linda and Kate on TVB and Wayne who appear for like 5 series a year, HKTV gives freshness of Angelica and God of Acting in LKC!
@Toby: Can’t agree more!! 🙂
I’ve only watched 1 or 2 of Angelica’s past performances so can’t really comment on her as an actress in movies, but I will say that I am quite impressed with her performance in The Election. That kind of quality acting is hard to come by on HK television nowadays. Same with Liu Kai Chi (love your title of “God of Acting” for him — absolutely fitting!!) — he’s a brilliant actor and always captivating on screen, no matter what kind of role he plays. Love him in both The Election and Borderline! Hope he films more series for HKTV, as I’ve absolutely missed seeing him on TV all these years.
I don’t know why … but the one episode a week wait is killing my interest. That said, I have patiently waited for Sherlock, 24, and sitcoms like HIMY, Big Bang Theory, Modern Family … on a weekly basis. Maybe I am just used to the 5xs a week episodes of hk dramas. I am enjoying Borderline a lot more which I can chase daily.
One of the best segments I have ever seen on HK television. Check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9HXHEWZhX8
@RJ: Great choice! That is my absolute favorite scene from The Election so far! The song that they chose was perfect as well (I saw in the credits that the song was composed/written/sung by Eva Chan — so it looks like she brought her talent from TVB to HKTV).
As I’ve said before, I’m not into political dramas at all, but The Election has turned out to be the exception for me. The script is well written, the acting is top notch (literally the entire cast has been doing a great job so far) and the scenery is beautiful. I’m finding myself anticipating the next episode from week to week. (By the way — I’m watching Borderline as well and definitely enjoying that series too — I would say that Borderline is a great series, but The Election is an exceptional series).