by May Seah
The workplace is a battlefield, and even artistes have to prepare to go to war. In their case, the fight for supremacy is also known as the annual Star Awards.
The call to arms was sounded yesterday with the announcement of this year’s awards nominees.
In the ladies’ camp, Best Actress nominations went out to both Joanne Peh and Rui En for A Tale Of 2 Cities, Ann Kok for Bountiful Blessings, Fann Wong for On The Fringe and Zoe Tay for Devotion.
The other contenders for Best Drama are C.L.I.F., Kampong Ties, On The Fringe and Secrets For Sale.
Source: Today
Categorised in A Tale of 2 Cities 乐在双城, EN, On The Fringe 边缘父子, Star Awards 2012, TODAY.
by May Seah
Greetings and salutations, fellow stargazers! It’s that time of the year again, when visions of trophies dance in stars’ heads. Yes, Star Awards season approacheth! The nominations for 2012 were announced this morning, and our nominees are, for the most part, still trying to take it all in.
BEST ACTRESS NOMINEES
Ann Kok (Bountiful Blessings)
Fann Wong (On The Fringe)
Joanne Peh (A Tale Of 2 Cities)
Rui En (A Tale Of 2 Cities)
Zoe Tay (Devotion)
BEST DRAMA SERIAL NOMINEES
A Song To Remember
C.L.I.F.
Kampong Ties
On The Fringe
Secrets For Sale
Source: Today
Categorised in A Tale of 2 Cities 乐在双城, EN, On The Fringe 边缘父子, Star Awards 2012, TODAY.
WHAT do the 2011 General Election, charity shows and TV specials, and a drama about social issues have in common? Well, they were the most watched programmes on MediaCorp’s Channel 5 and Channel 8 last year.
According to figures given by Kantar Media, Channel 8 TV specials such as the Star Awards 2011, Lunar New Year’s Eve Special 2011 and Chingay 2011, along with charity shows such as The SPD Charity Show 2011, The Silver Tribute Charity Night and Comchest Truehearts 2011, came out tops, with an average reach of over One million viewers for each programme, with the Star Awards Show 2 leading the pack at 1,531,000.
Over on Channel 5, the coverage of the 2011 General Election took top spot. The Noose’s season 5 debut episode (307,000). The Noose was also the second most viewed programme on web portal XINMSN, coming just behind Channel 8′s On The Fringe.
Source: Today
Categorised in EN, On The Fringe 边缘父子, Ratings 节目收视率, Star Awards 2011, TODAY.
by May Seah
Set your radars for the year’s new TV shows
While we were watching television in 2011, there were many people working behind the scenes in the industry, cooking up new plots and premises for 2012.
What were they working on, besides returning seasons of our favourite shows (yay)? Well, things like a new breed of criminals, crime-fighters and barristers; a crooked bookie in the form of Tootsie; and a species of female in a numbered apartment so risque that its terminology had to be censored, among others.
In short, a smorgasbord of new offerings that are set to send you to your doctor complaining of remote-control wrist.
There are few things more satisfying than knowing there is a bunch of creative minds all working hard to capture and maintain our interest – except perhaps planning which shows to tune our antennae for this year.
Joys Of Life
Channel 8′s mid-year blockbuster commemorates 30 years of local drama productions. Starring Chew Chor Meng and Rui En, along with Taiwanese idols Alien Huang and Wang Xin Ru, Joys Of Life will continue where the period dramas Wok Of Life and Springs Of Life left off – in the ’60s and ’70s, the heyday of famous getai entertainers like Sakura Teng and Wang Sha and Ye Feng.
Joys of Life 花样人间 debuts June 2012 9pm on Channel 8.
Source: Today
Categorised in EN, Joys of Life 花样人间, TODAY.
by Christopher Toh
We’re predicting exciting times for local music in 2012 – here’s who to keep an eye (or ear) on
If 2011 was anything to go by, the local music scene is slowly but surely sparking along. So what will 2012 bring? Well, we’ve picked a few artistes you might want to check out. Some have been around the block, some are fairly new, but all have the potential to be leading lights in the local music scene.
Jonathan Leong
He’s a Singapore Idol alum currently starring in Voyage De La Vie, as well as a Political Science graduate and ex-national fencer. And late last year, Jonathan Leong released his first album, Mysterious Hero. “(The album) is my work, so it does have a lot of me in it, but I’m not saying that this is me and that’s all. Everyone evolves as you go through experiences and you change – hopefully for the better.” It’s taken a while for Leong to get to this point and the album does show a different side of Leong. For starters, it’s in Mandarin, and writing songs in Mandarin was a process that Leong described as “an uphill climb”. (For the record, half of the songs were co-written with actress Rui En.) And he can’t wait to do more. “I guess (my songs are) one aspect of who I am,” he said, “and I hope to have a career long enough to explore all the other aspects and bring it to the public.” Check out more at www.jonleong.com.
Source: Today
Categorised in EN, Music, TODAY.
by May Seah
The year Singapore women stepped up and stood out on TV
On Caldecott Hill, women have always reigned supreme. They are generally more famous and more popular than their male counterparts – that’s just the way it is here in local TV-land.
But, even more so than usual, 2011 was a year for the girls, who weren’t content to rest on their delicate, feminine laurels. Instead, they charged out and grabbed the headlines, making career breakthroughs and/or stepping boldly out of their comfort zones to accomplish bigger and better things.
Here are five women who owned 2011.
Rui En
When Rui En’s talent was finally recognised at this year’s Star Awards with a Best Actress trophy, she said that there had been more lows than highs in her career, so we guess that being the official Best Actress is, for her, a step out of her comfort zone. Besides that, the frequently un-smiley one took on a spectrum of roles that could not be more diverse: She was a princessy bimbo in A Tale Of Two Cities, a put-upon daughter-in-law in The In-Laws, a blind chick in On The Fringe and a martial artist in Code Of Honour. If she keeps working this hard, maybe Rui En really will take over the world.
Code of Honour 正义武馆 debuts 5 December 2011 7pm on Channel 8.
Source: Today
Categorised in A Tale of 2 Cities 乐在双城, Code of Honour 正义武馆, EN, On The Fringe 边缘父子, Star Awards 2011, The In-Laws 麻婆斗妇, TODAY.
by May Seah
The year local TV played the multi-national game with gusto
No alert viewer would have failed to realise the cross-culturalisation that went on in the world of local television, not just with local and overseas co-productions taking place but also when it came to global representation within shows.
Take, for example, the MediaCorp TV Channel 5 sitcom “Payday”, which brought together actors from different countries including China, India and the Philippines to play their respective nationalities. While the show may not have been a runaway hit, that in itself was an interesting move that reflected the current social climate.
Of course, another show that tried to address the hot topic of foreign immigration stirred up a lot more controversy. Who could forget the flak that Channel 8′s “Love Thy Neighbour” drew for emphasising conflict between Singaporeans and foreigners? Yet, in spite of that – or perhaps because of that – the drama attracted more than a million viewers.
And we were recently treated to the Japan-Singapore co-production “Mooncake” on Channel U. Each collaboration is a valuable opportunity for the local TV industry to share, learn and develop.
“The show has a Japanese feel and Singaporean filming techniques, all mixed up and influencing one another,” said “Mooncake” star Qi Yuwu, adding he occasionally witnessed the Singapore and Japanese crews exchanging tips on set.
“It’s good for both parties. And it’s visionary. I hope that this lays a good foundation for more opportunities that other artistes can participate in.”
That, however, is easy for Qi to say – he didn’t have to uproot himself to spend several months in a rural backwater community like the stars of “Code Of Honour” and “Kampong Ties” did.
Both period dramas were filmed entirely in Malaysia. (Taking the collaborative trend into the new year, more made-in-Malaysia projects are on the way, including “The Quarters”, which is currently in production and will air in April.)
While he was excited to be part of the show, “Code Of Honour” star Andie Chen lamented that working abroad is no walk in the park. “I don’t know how our Taiwanese and Hong Kong and Malaysian artistes do it – it’s a tough job,” he said.
“You just want to get home and be comfortable, (but) you open the door and it’s an empty room. I miss my parents; I miss my dogs; I miss my support system.”
Now, that’s a hardcore foreign exchange programme.
“Code of Honour” stars Rui En (left) and Zheng Geping (right).
Code of Honour 正义武馆 debuts 5 December 2011 7pm on Channel 8.
Source: Today, Channelnewsasia
Categorised in channelnewsasia.com, Code of Honour 正义武馆, EN, TODAY.
By May Seah
All our celebs want for Christmas is family time and fabulous nosh
GRINCHES and pre-enlightenment Scrooges aside, everybody loves Christmas.
And although celebrities could hypothetically afford to celebrate every day like it was Christmas, they are also suckers for the festive atmosphere that permeates this time of year. (Because, you know, underneath it all, they really are rather normal folk, just like you and I. Some of them even have to go to work on Christmas day.)
But what will those who managed to wrangle the day off be doing? Will they be decking the halls with boughs of holly? Making lists and checking them twice? Riding in a one-horse open sleigh down Orchard Road to see the Christmas light-up? We’ll let them share their Christmas plans with you in their own words.
Elvin Ng
My Christmas plan is to confess my love for Rui En. Because we’re filming on that day! We were supposed to do the confession-of-love scene the other day, but I slipped and hurt myself and couldn’t go to work. So the scene has been moved to Christmas day. In Unriddle, my character has a love-hate relationship with Rui En’s. I look like I have something against her, but at the same time, it’s driven by concern for her. It’ll be a very subtle kind of love confession – I never say “I love you”, but it’s in the eyes.
Unriddle 2 最火搭档 II debuts 5 March 2012 9pm on Channel 8.
Source: Today
Categorised in EN, TODAY, Unriddle 2 最火搭档 2.
CODE OF HONOUR (PG)
Channel 8, 7pm (Debut)
Starring Rui En, Elvin Ng, Andie Chen, Zheng Ge Ping, Chris Tong, Paige Chua and other stars, Code of Honour is one of the rare martial arts dramas produced by MediaCorp in recent years. Set in ’60s Singapore, what is the price to pay in the fight to the top?
Code of Honour 正义武馆 debuts 5 December 2011 7pm on Channel 8.
Source: TODAY
Categorised in Code of Honour 正义武馆, TODAY.
