This was the first sitcom of TVB that I managed to finish and I must admit that it was one interesting journey. It took me several months, of course, because I had to spread them out.
Like(s):
- Raymond Cho and Johnson Lee as Ah Dee and Ah Mieh. I really liked watching them together as friends. They were a really odd duo since one was super loud and mean at times versus the other being the nice and quiet guy. However, I really enjoyed their scenes– together or separate. I finally got to see Ray shine in here and how he just managed to be a smart aleck about everything. Although Ah Dee was really loud and kept taking advantage of Ah Mieh, he really appreciated Ah Mieh’s friendship. Their friendship was fun to watch throughout. I actually wanted to watch this for them and they didn’t disappoint with their performance. Great team.
- Raymond Cho and Shermon Tang as siblings. It was really funny to watch them at times, always bickering and stealing food from each other. But we could see that they really cared about each other, especially all the times that he bought food for her and all the times she tried to help him.
- Raymond Cho and Sharon Chan as Ah Dee and Ah Fah. They were so funny and cute together. All their stories cracked me up to no ends. (What was funnier was when they were using Ah Mieh as the shield so they could secretly date without others suspecting them. Poor Ah Mieh.) I was glad that Ah Dee finally learned to take care of others and somehow forgot about the brand stuff at the end (since he was too occupied). It was nice to see how they got back together at the end. Really nice in general to see Ah Dee cooking for everyone at the end.
- Kingdom Yuen as Ko Lai. It was funny how she became one of my favorite characters later on. Her obsession with keeping everything clean was funny in a way. Maybe because she was so hard working that I didn’t mind seeing a different character. Although she did get random like the rest, she did not lose her touch. The story to introduce her character was a bit too funny with the whole misunderstanding and the eerie atmosphere.
- Gill Mohindepaul Singh as Lo Hung Lei. This was my first time watching him and I found him really funny in here. I think he was one of those rare actors/actresses who could exaggerate without going overboard. (After all, this was a comedy, right?) Still a lot of funny scenes with him, especially after Hung Lei and Ko Lai became best friends.
- Ram Tseung as So Gun. I really disliked him at first since he was so full of tricks and it was not even funny either. However, I liked him more later when I understood how he could be lonely all these times and just wanted to find some friends. It was a bit surprising that he ended up with Chu Lei Nga (Joyce Koi) but still funny to see it turning out that way. No complaints about his acting, of course.
- Johnson Lee and Nancy Wu as Ah Mieh and Sugar. I really liked them in here but it was a bit disappointing to not know if they ended up later or not. But I guess they probably did. (Wishful thinking.)
- Gill Mohindepaul Singh and Johnson Lee as a duo. It was really funny how everyone in the family thought that they would be taken advantage of when they joined this club. It ended up that they drove everyone there crazy so they were blacklisted.
- Shermon Tang and Lai Lok Yi as Ma Duk On and Ko Yau Ching. I didn’t expect him to come back since everyone kept appearing and disappearing randomly after their story ended. But glad he came back since they did make a cute pairing.
- Iris Wong as Chu Chi Ding. I think I was the only crazy one to like her but I did see it her way later on. She seemed mean but it was because she was independent and only relied on herself. It was so funny that she switched target later because of what the fortune-teller told her. It would’ve been funny if she was with Ah Mieh at the end though–I wouldn’t mind later on since she seemed mean on the outside but at least she was better than that fake author.
Dislike(s):
- Assumptions. I guess it was trying to make fun of some people, but it got super annoying that no one ever shut up and gave others a chance to explain but just assumed away and jumped in all the time, causing even more misunderstandings. I could remember all the times that everyone didn’t even let Ah Mieh talk but it was until the end that they found out for themselves.
- Christina Ng as Cheung Yu Moon. It was not as noticeable at first but later she tried too hard to steal the limelight that it got super annoying. She was not made out for comedy. Even if she was being cast in an older role in here but that didn’t help either. It was just too disturbing to watch her being a ‘know-it-all’. I did not even get that she did not know to do the most basic things, like changing the bed sheets. (I know they were trying to portray that she was just really scared of her husband’s situation but using that as an example was being exaggerated. Come on now! How old was she? Even if she didn’t do it, wouldn’t she know just by watching? All of us have that instinct. Unbelievable.)
- Annie Chung as Ko Wai Ting. Her character was too ironic since she was so rude to her uncles and aunts but she acted all virtuous and sympathetic toward grandpa, which didn’t make sense at all. The script was trying too hard to make her sound filial but it was full of holes. I won’t say anything about her acting since this was the first time watching her, but her character was what irked me sometimes.
Anyway, this was a sitcom after all so it was about willing to waste time and watch it or not. I mean if you want to relax a bit from stress to laugh about all the randomness, it would be good for taking the stress off. But if you want to watch something more meaningful, you shouldn’t dive in.
Posted (on Xanga): August 12, 2009
Re-posted: Monday, March 29th, 2010
Hi there! This was actually one of my favorite sitcoms from the ‘after 2000s’ era….in fact, it was the first sitcom I picked up again after not watching any sitcoms since the early 90s (cuz I just couldn’t bring myself to watch some of the other ones, which shows how ‘cringeworthy’ many of the other post 2000 sitcoms were….). Anyway, I’ll probably be posting in several parts, since it has been about 2 years since I watched this sitcom (one of the few from the era that I’ve actually watched twice) and so I probably don’t remember as much as I should…
First off, just a quick question….is there a part of the review missing? Or did you just decide to do a short one this time around? Reason I ask is because your reviews are usually quite detailed, so was just wondering (guess it also depends on the series as well)….also, you usually go into more detail on each of the main characters, but in this one, a few obvious ones were missing (i.e. Lawrence, King Sir, Angelina, etc.)….or perhaps you didn’t include them because they didn’t fit into either like or dislike categories? In any case, still a great review – short and sweet! Hahaha!
As usual, I agree with most of what you wrote, as I also decided to watch this sitcom primarily because of Ray Cho and Johnson Lee (prior to his FLS days, thank goodness!). Actually, to be honest, this series was the very first time that I had even heard of Johnson (didn’t have a clue who he was previously) and after watching his performance in here, I definitely started noticing him. I actually thought that his Ah Mieh character was kind of cute and even though they (the scriptwriters/producer) tried to make him one of those ‘stereotypical’ computer nerd characters, they didn’t go overboard with it. And just like you, I also loved his friendship with Ray’s Ah Dee – it was fun to see how they interact given that they were such opposites in terms of personalities. What I liked about their relationship too was that it came across as very genuine and realistic – even though they knew that the other person had flaws, they were still accepting of one another and stood by each other. Ray and Johnson were definitely a ‘dream team’ duo in this series!
Interestingly enough, I also liked Ray and Sharon as a couple in here as well – so much so in fact that I was rooting for them throughout the entire time they were together and was a bit disappointed when they broke up (though luckily they got back together in the end…lol). Ah Dee and Ah Fa were so sweet and cute together – such an unlikely pairing, yet so perfectly matched! I feel that the scriptwriters did a great job in developing the Ah Dee and Ah Fa storyline, as they didn’t go the ‘cheesy’ route, yet the relationship was able to touch us (the audiences) on an emotional level. Of course, the chemistry that Ray and Sharon had in this series also helped as well.
Ray’s Ah Dee was actually my favorite character in here, which is a bit ironic considering I’m usually not too keen on characters with his type of personality (loud-mouthed, selfish, bossy, trying to take advantage of people, etc.) – but his character was different in that despite what he showed on the outside, he really had a good heart on the inside. My impression of Ah Dee in this series is that he’s really just a big kid at heart who can’t help acting immaturely at times because, well, he’s the youngest son and so naturally will be a bit spoiled. Performance-wise, Ray definitely went above and beyond expectation! I loved how he was so funny in this series without purposefully trying to be (the way he portrayed Ah Dee’s obsession with brand names and the ‘girlie’ things such as facials and beauty products was absolutely hilarious – and done very tactfully too!). Obviously, I really started liking Ray because of this series (and the more I understand about him in real life, the more I like him as a person…LOL).
Gil and Kingdom were also quite hilarious as a couple in this series. Kingdom I knew would be good because she has always been a talented actress and no matter what role she takes on, she always acts the part perfectly. I was actually a bit surprised with Gil’s performance though because I didn’t think that I would find it too funny…was this his first series? If it was, then kudos to him for doing such a great job on his first attempt!
This was actually one of the few genuinely funny sitcoms from the after 2000s period that didn’t rely on over-the-top, exaggerated type tactics to get laughs from the audiences – in fact, it kind of reminded me of those old classic sitcoms from the 80s and 90s that I love so much (which was probably why I enjoyed this one as well)….it’s also the ONLY sitcom in the after 2000s era that I actually finished in its entirety.
@llwy12 – OMG, I didn’t realize you were back-reading, LOL!
First off, YES, I did forget to include some of the characters but it was mostly because I had memory failure after like 100 and something episodes, LOL! Though I did love King Sir and Angelina as the parents in here. Lawrence was sort of in the middle for me so I guess that was why I didn’t know where to put him. Then it was because it was sort of like one of my rushed reviews so that was partially it, LOL!
The funniest thing was I stated that it was my first sitcom YET I had forgotten about the sitcoms I watched around the late ’80s and early ’90s, SO yeah…
Regarding Ray, I think I was biased at first because I love Ray regardless! LOL! YET I was glad the plot had some developments showing how caring Ah Dee could be at times. SO that was a bonus for me, having some variety in his character. Then there was Ah Mieh’s variations too. I can’t stop going on and on about their characters BUT I’ll spare you from it…this time…LOL!
I was glad it was pre-FLS for you too since I knew you had a beef or two with that show. Though I don’t watch that or plan to anytime soon. It would end up ruining Johnson for me, LOL!
Gil? I don’t remember if it was his first series but I didn’t think so since he had some previous ones. Perhaps not major like this one. But I guess he had a knack for comedy OR something, LOL!
Totally agreed about Ah Dee and Ah Fah’s relationship/chemistry. I was glad they didn’t make it too cheesy. They were cute, definitely. BUT not cheesy.
@DTLCT: LOL…actually, I wasn’t purposefully back-reading….this post happened to come up on my “reading list” in my Blogger Dashboard (still don’t know how) and since I actually watched the series, figured I’d comment. In fact, I only noticed just now that your review is an old post from 2010 that was recently re-published…haha…guess I wasn’t paying attention…
Anyway, thanks for the insight about the review. Hey, at least you took the time to even write a review….I’m definitely grateful for that! 🙂
@llwy12 – LOL! Yeah, it was an old review that I merged over from my Xanga days. Hey, who knows? Maybe one day I decided to collect and watch it agan AND possibly do a different review? NOT a re-hash of this but more like different posts about certain characters (more details though). But no promise since we all know I have WAY too many obsessions on hands.
Glad you enjoyed somewhat of my randomness anyway.