TVB may have made the wrong move by filling its 8:30 evening time slot with Mainland production Journey To The West <西遊記>. While TVB executives had high hopes that the fantasy drama will lure in viewers, the public unfortunately found the series lacking and had even made demands to take it off the air. Originally released in China in 2011, Journey to the West reportedly had a production budget of $100 million RMB and a special effects team that had previously contributed to Hollywood hit Lord of the Rings. TVB made the surprising decision to air the drama during prime time, believing that its classic story line and its cast of fresh faces will add variety to its program lineup. The show premiered on April 28 and averaged 25 ratings points. The figure slipped significantly on its second day, coming in at just 21 points. Although TVB claimed that the series was positively received, in truth, there has been strong backlash online from angry netizens. Hong Kong’s Communications Authority also received 91 complaints regarding the drama. Many voiced their disapproval over the rough special effects and incompetent make-up techniques, while others complained about the violence and questionable themes. Most of all, the public feels that the series is inappropriate for the prime-time slot and has requested its swift removal. Despite the uproar, TVB executive Tsang Sing Ming (曾醒明) stands firmly behind the company’s decision and stated that there are no plans to cancel the series. He feels that viewers may need time to get used to the show and its techniques, and urges them to keep watching. Journey to the West‘s poor viewership may have also affected interest in TVB’s own drama Never Dance Alone <女人俱樂部>, which occupies the subsequent time slot at 9:30 p.m. Although producer Eric Tsang (曾志偉) was confident that the Mainland fantasy epic would carry over viewers, Never Dance Alone also saw a two-point drop in ratings during its second week, averaging only 23 points. Creds: Ming Pao
i'm disappointed this is being aired. seriously... it has been shown and aired in mandarin. sigh... guess they have nothing to show but use this to fill the slot cause they ran out of crap in their pipeline ....
It also was in canto too. So it's tvb for showing old shows even though it's on their main channel. Plus HKers want their stars not mainland.
Try to watch the first episode 1, and I cant barely finish 1/4 of it and stop watching it. The CG stuff of those characters are laughable, I cant stand any of those stuff. I would rather prefer none of the CG stuff in original version waaay back in the 1980s.
This show has already been aried on tvb !!! now they just brought it back with HD , like omg same thing! cant believe what they are thinking !
Watch it for 10mins then off the TV. AOD is airing the latest drama but this is not the latest drama and beside that AOD is for HK drama and this is not a HK drama. I heard they already airing this drama last few days at TV8. WTH!!!
I wonder when will they stop hyping the Mainland's CG from so-called Lord of the Rings production team. It sucks ball, period. Just because they get some out-sourced rendering/touch-up jobs from hollywood, doesn't mean they can produce CGs anywhere near the quality of LotR, and it's evident.
airing crap like this is really disappointing... how many times are they going to remake journey to the west and condor heroes... same story with diff characters and scene... wheres the creativity... wheres the entertainment... bunch of zombies... they have hit it really to the bottom of the bucket. they should just be direct and say due to the reduction of production crews by hktv. we have nothing new or good to air but put out something that has shown already. of all the chinese dramas... why journey to the west... i guess the tvb journey or road to entertainment is falling behind... time for another entertainment road besides tvb... totally disappointing and hitting all time low this time... now i have nothing to watch or look forward to watching...
