The ceremony for the TVB Anniversary Awards 2020 (萬千星輝頒獎典禮2020) had just concluded a moment ago with 18 prizes presented out to honour the best of their series and programmes for the past year. Several nominated popular artists did not turn up and there is no special or heavyweight guest presenters at all; they are signs that this awards ceremony is losing its status as one of the most anticipated and star-studded ceremonies in Hong Kong entertainment industry. What we end up seeing are TVB actors/actresses presenting gifts to their peers, even for the best actor and actress categories.
Here are the list of winners for the TVB Anniversary Awards 2020 alongside my personal opinions:
Lifetime Achievement: Whole team of ‘Come Home Love’ series
Opinion: This award is presented to honour veteran actor/actress every year who have contributed immensely to Hong Kong entertainment industry for many decades. However, for this year, TVB decided to do something different (and also very weird) by awarding this to the whole cast and crew of ‘Come Home Love’. It’s more like a consolation prize to this series that is not able to win the best series award later on. It’s a very strange and poor act by TVB; they should really stick to the format and reserve it to recognize a particularly deserving veteran actor/actress each year. They just want to honour this long running series (that is still running now with over 1100 episodes to date) in a way by hook and by crook. Not a fan of this move.
Most Improved TV Female Artist: Angel Chiang (Al Cappuccino, Hong Kong Love Stories)
Opinion: The nominees in this category this year are quite weak and the other true competitor I see besides Angel Chiang is Moon Lau. Moon Lau is more deserving but she only has one series this year while Angel has two. Angel also impressed many with her character as a stern female triad senior in ‘Al Cappuccino’.
Most Improved TV Male Artist: Brian Chu (Airport Security, Al Cappuccino, Go!Go!Go! Operation C9)
Opinion: Besides than Owen Cheung, I saw Brian Chu the most in the TV series I watched in 2020. He kept on appearing everywhere with different characters. Although he portrayed mostly minor or supporting characters, but he did good in each of them. Well-built, good looking and can act (so far), so why not?
Best Supporting Actress: Winki Lai (Al Cappuccino)
Opinion: This is one of the categories that I most agreed on for the night. Winki Lai nailed the role as the eldest sister in ‘Al Cappuccino’. I would have prefer Susan Tse from ‘The Exorcist’s 2nd Meter’ or Vivien Yeo from ‘Brutally Young’ to win though because they both delivered much more memorable performances but they are both not even nominated. TVB is weird.
Best Supporting Actor: Jason Pai (Hong Kong Love Stories)
Opinion: I didn’t expect Jason Pai will win although I do hear good words on his role in ‘Hong Kong Love Stories (I didn’t watch this series). After seeing the nomination list, my pick would actually be Tsui Wing from his insane yet funny character in ‘Al Cappuccino’. I guess TVB don’t want ‘Al Cappuccino’ to win too many awards and dominate the whole night. Paul Chun should have been nominated too (and maybe even should win too) from his performance in ‘Legal Mavericks 2020’.
Most Favourite TV Theme Song: ‘Mortals Do Not Understand Love’ by Hubert Wu (The Exorcist’s 2nd Meter)
Opinion: Yes. That is what I predicted and what I hoped for too. This song stood out among the rest in 2020. The only win for ‘The Exorcist’s 2nd Meter’.
Malaysia’s Most Favourite TVB Leading Actress: Katy Kung (Death By Zero)
Opinion: I am in quite a shock hearing Katy’s name called as the winner. Her performance in ‘Death By Zero’ is just average and is not worthy of award. Unnecessary heavy make-up and absurd clothing choice didn’t do any help to that character too. She didn’t deliver enough depth to that role and yet she is crowned Malaysia’s best actress…No!
Malaysia’s Most Favourite TVB Leading Actor: Vincent Wong (Legal Mavericks 2020)
Opinion: I don’t have much objection to this because Vincent didn’t get to win this several years ago in ‘Legal Mavericks’ on Malaysia’s side. And he is as usual, solid in this role as the blind lawyer in this sequel.
Malaysia’s Most Favourite TVB series: Al Cappuccino
Opinion: While I do like the premise of this series, but I don’t find it deserving of major win like this because I felt it didn’t quite manage to pull it off with lackluster performance by some cast members and a plot that is not engaging. Why people do not appreciate better series like ‘Brutally Young’ or even ‘Line Walker 3’? I am particularly terrified that ‘Brutally Young’ is totally ignored and snubbed in this ceremony despite it being my best series in 2020.
Most Favourite On-Screen Partnership: Vincent Wong, Owen Cheung and Brian Chu (Al Cappuccino)
Opinion: I’m fine with this group winning as they are very compatible with each other in ‘Al Cappuccino’. Previously, people were already praising the chemistry between Vincent Wong and Owen Cheung in their previous collaborations. Now, with Brian Chu added in in this drama, things even get better.
Most Popular TV Female Character: Katy Kung (Hong Kong Love Stories)
Opinion: Don’t have much comment on this because I didn’t watch ‘Hong Kong Love Stories’. My personal pick would be Ali Lee from ‘Death By Zero’ or Sisley Choi from ‘Line Walker 3’. Looks like TVB is now seriously pushing Katy Kung to be next leading actress we are going to see a lot in following years. You can’t just push it too hard. I still cannot see her as leading actress material yet.
Most Popular TV Male Character: Owen Cheung (Al Cappuccino)
Opinion: I am expecting Vincent Wong to win from the same series, but it is Owen Cheung that crosses the finish line in this category surprisingly. Both are equally popular and had almost similar screen time in ‘Al Cappuccino’ but I felt Vincent should get it because he has not win this one before although he had won best actor in the past already. His character is also nicely executed and portrayed too. Another way by TVB to heavily promote Owen Cheung to leading actor status.
Best Leading Actress: Sisley Choi (Legal Mavericks 2020)
Opinion: I have to say that she really improved a lot in her acting over the years. From the same role few years ago, she had already won ‘Most Favourite TV Female Character’. Now her character matured and so does her performance as well. However, I don’t find her time has come yet for this coveted prize. I felt she needed another two years. Anyway, the competition for this category this year is very weak and I would rather see her winning than Mandy Wong (another hot favourite) because Mandy’s performance is mediocre only in ‘Line Walker 3’. Ali Lee should have won but due to political reason recently, she won’t be winning unfortunately. But in terms of performance last year, Ali should have won.
Best Leading Actor: Vincent Wong (Legal Mavericks 2020)
Opinion: I pitied Raymond Lam. Lost again. Out of the final 5, he is the only one who has not win best actor before and I do see that he gave solid performance in ‘Line Walker 3’. However, once he didn’t turn up at the ceremony, I knew his chance is very slim. Some people just don’t have luck for awards. Vincent Wong won again for second time from the same role (he last won this award based on this role too in the first series). Wow…both the main lead actor and actress for ‘Legal Mavericks 2020’ are crowned best actor and actress respectively. And Vincent Wong won the most awards for the night, at 3.
Most Popular Mini-Series: Hong Kong Love Stories
Opinion: TVB purposely created this new award at the very last minute to award to the only one series eligible under this mini-series category; Hong Kong Love Stories. TVB is getting very funny. After hearing very recent positive feedback on this series, TVB decided to present yet another consolation to another series that is not going to take the best series prize (after ‘Come Home Love’). What’s the point when you decide to award almost everyone and then ignore really good quality drama like ‘Brutally Young’.
Best Series: Al Cappuccino
Opinion: Again…where is ‘Brutally Young’? I really cannot understand the taste and judgement of Hong Kong audiences. ‘Al Cappuccino’ has quite a refreshing story but it does comes with several notable poorly done aspects as well. ‘Brutally Young’ easily comes out on top for me due to the impressive acting and suspenseful plot it has. ‘Al Cappuccino’ ended up becoming the biggest winner of the night with 5+2 wins.
No comment for the other two remaining categories; ‘Best TV Host’ and ‘5 Best Variety Programmes’. For this year’s winner list, I do agree to half of the list but not the other half. Sometimes, I am really surprised and dumbfounded by TVB decision in some of the categories as explained above. It happens almost every year (such as awarding consolation prizes obviously, presenting to least deserving winners, etc).
(Images in this post are from various online sources)