When it comes to Long Running Drama Serials , Taiwanese Dramas really wins it hands down ! Nobody does it any ' better ' than they themselves ! Just try asking any elderly TV Viewers - the aunties , the uncles , or the housewives or even your neighbours that u see are watching those Taiwanese Drama Serials currently being shown on Mediacorp Channel 8 and u will know why . Or ask any of your friends or family members who do watch them for that matter .
Currently Taiwanese Drama Serials lovers can get to watch and enjoy Taiwanese Drama Serials on a daily basis . On Weekdays - Mondays to Fridays , Mediacorp Channel 8 is showing the hit Long Running Taiwanese Drama Serial - ' The Unforgettable Memory ' < 意难忘 > Every Mondays to Fridays at 4.30pm . While on Weekends , Channel 8 is showing another Taiwanese Long Running Taiwanese Drama Serial - 《爱》 LOVE at 7pm .
Now when I say Long Running Drama Serials , I really mean LONG ! Since Mediacorp Channel 8 began showing < 意难忘 > - The Unforgettable Memory in Year 2006 , regular viewers of the Serial had been faithfully staying by the Serial and following the progress of the story from then till now . The whole Series which comprises of a whopping 872 Episodes , is expected to only finishing airing at the end of this year . Though the Serial was being shown on a daily basis , but Mediacorp Channel 8 has since not been able to finish airing the entire Serial since it made it's Debut on the Channel three years ago .
At the present moment , 802 Episodes of < 意难忘 > - The Unforgettable Memory has already been shown as of last Friday , 17 July 2009 .
Now after having had the harrowing experience of having followed a Drama Serial for three years , the last thing the local TV Viewers want is to have a repeat of this ' frightening ' experience ! Some will even say ' tiring experience ' ....
But the ' nightmare ' looks set to have repeated itself once again after Mediacorp Channel 8 started broadcasting 《爱》 - LOVE since last year in July . And almost a year already , the Channel has only managed to show 123 Episodes out of the total 360 Episodes for the first Part . And it has been such a real hit with the local TV Viewers as the Serial stars many of the familiar faces from < 意难忘 > - The Unforgettable Memory .
But the Local TV Viewers would soon learn to discover the ' price ' that they had to pay and the audicious total number of Episodes this Taiwanese LONG Running Drama really have ! In order to finish watching the full entire Series of 《爱》 - LOVE , one will have to follow the Series faithfully on Mediacorp Channel 8 at the very least for 5 Years to finish watching the complete whole Series of 《爱》 - LOVE going by the current schedule of the Serial , which consists of a jaw dropping 700 Episodes in total !
Currently Mediacorp Channel 8 is showing 5 Episodes of 《爱》 - LOVE a week , over the 2 days of Weekends . 《爱》 - LOVE is being shown on Mediacorp Channel 8 from 7pm to 9pm ( 2 Episodes ) on Saturdays & 7pm to 10pm on Sundays ( 3 Episodes ) . But at times , due to Special Events such as Charity Shows or Star Awards , Sheng Siong Variety Shows ( On Saturdays ) or National Day Parade come August this year ( which falls on a Sunday ) , the show will be ' cut short ' or pre - tempted . This would again ' contribute ' in the slight ' delay ' or slowing down in the airing of the Serial due to these Special LIVE Events .
The huge response received from the TV Viewers so far from the Serial even prompted Mediacorp Channel 8 to consider acquiring the broadcasting rights for the Second Part of 《爱》 - LOVE which will be another 300 odd Episodes , which is understood to take up the Primetime slot of the Channel for at least another 2 Years , the maximum 3 Years to finish airing the full 700 Episodes of 《爱》 - LOVE .
However , if this deal does eventually ' materalised ' , this will be by far the longest running Drama Serial that our local TV Station has ever shown !
With the possibilty of having to follow 《爱》 - LOVE for a total period of 5 Years , some TV Viewers seemed to have all but prepared to forgo or have even ' given up ' and had lost interest ' in the Serial , as they knew that it would be quite impossible to follow the Serial faithfully without fail for a period of 5 Years !
As such , according to some reports in a particular Evening Chinese Newspaper earlier , some TV Viewers had even persauded the TV Station to can the Drama , after learning of the shocking ' truth ' ! Some are even resigned to not being able to finish watching the entire Series , as they felt that it is ' forever never ending ' and it will keep on dragging for many years !
Actually ' 长寿剧 ' or Long Running Drama Serials as it is known in English , first became a hit and was very popular with our Local TV Viewers , when the then SPH Channel U TV Station was showing the hit Hongkong TVB Family Drama - < 真情 > A Kindered Spirit , which is incidentially Hongkong TVB first & only Long Running Running Drama to date which stretches almost 3 Years for Channel U to finish airing the full Series which contains a total of 590 Episodes !
Since then , Long Running Drama Serials has been such a hit with many of our Local TV Viewers here that it even prompted Mediacorp TV to jump on the bandwagon and started producing it's first Long Running Drama Serial in Holland V - < 荷兰村 > which is 125 Episodes Long .
The Serial which stars some of the biggest stars in our Local Entertainment industry such as Chen Liping , Jeanette Aw , Xie Shouguang , Cynthia Koh , Huang Wenyong and Xiang Yun etc .. was so popular and well received by our local audiences that even the Serial receives lots of Star Awards Nominations in the 2003 Edition of the prestigious Awards Ceremony and became a big Winner on the night , bagging the most number of Awards !
At the Star Awards 2003 Ceremony , the show set a record for the most number of acting nominations awarded to a cast in a single year (with 9 Nominations) , 4 of which were in the Best Supporting Actor Category, which was also a record . It also made history by becoming the first show to win all 4 acting categories at the Star Awards (5 , if one includes the Young Talent Award . The previous record holders for the most number of acting wins by a cast were ' Stepping Out ' - < 出路 > and ' The Price of Peace ' - < 和平的代价 > , with 3 wins each. Holland V's achievements at Star Awards 2003 included :
- Best Actor - Xie Shaoguang (Yang Xiong)
- Best Actress - Chen Liping (Mo Wan Wan)
- Best Supporting Actor - Huang Yiliang (Tian Dahua)
- Best Supporting Actress - Patricia Mok (Mo Ling Ling)
- Best Drama - Holland V
- Young Talent Award - Wang Yu (Zoe)
- Highest Rated Drama - Holland V (Average of 21.4% viewers)
- Best Screenplay
Following the overwhelming huge success of it's first Long Running Drama Serial , Mediacorp Channel 8 then made it a point to produce one Long Running Drama Serial each year to entertain and satisfy the viewers' cravings for this latest and sudden ' in ' thing in town . And the total number of Episodes just got longer and longer in some instances . In Year 2004 , Mediacorp Channel 8 produced Double Happiness - < 喜临门 > which was to be shown in two separate Parts .
The first Part consists of 71 Episodes , and the other half of the Second Part of the Serial was shown at the end of the year . The whole Serial therefore was 142 Episodes in total ! Then in the following year , Channel 8 produced their third Long Running Drama - < 同心圆 > - ' Portrait of Home ' though the total number of Episodes ' shrinked ' ( as compared with the total number of Episodes of Previous Years' Long Running Drama Serials ) , but the Drama was very well received by the audiences ( especially for the Second Part which in fact did very much better than the first ) and subsequently saw it became the Second Highest Drama Serial in Viewership in the last 15 Years , only to lose to The Little Nyonya .
Despite the morale boosting success it had received for the Sequel , the Channel then took a break from producing Long Running Drama Serials in Year 2006 , only to resume in the following year , but with unsatisfactory results . Touted as ' THE Drama of The Year ' in it's Promo strategy for the first Part of it's total 83 Episodes Serial of < 手足 > - Kinship , it was deemed a flop and perhaps the most disappointing Long Running Drama Serial that the Channel has ever produced to date , due to a weak plot and Storyline .
The first Part consists of 43 Episodes , which initally was supposed to run for only 40 Episodes , but somehow the Serial ' overrun ' and ended at 43 Episodes in total for the first Part . The Second Part , which consists of 40 Episodes , did not fare as well either as crisitisms of the whole show as well as on the Artistes were not spared from the bashing either . The TV Viewers were clearly very disappointed with the Serial .
Then last year 's Long Running Drama Serial - < 心花朵朵开 > - Love Blossoms ran for a total of 113 Episodes ( with it's first Part consisting of 58 Episodes & the other 55 Episodes making up the Second Part of the Serial ) . This year's End Of Year Long Running Blockbuter Drama Serial is a whopping 180 Episodes of < 想握你的手 > - Your Hands In Mine which will officially hit our TV Screens this November at 7pm .
This highly anticipated Long Running Drama Serial is expected to last for a period of nine months , occupying the Primetime 7pm Timeslot all the way till July next year . Touted as the ' Holland V ' of 2009 , it boosts a stellar star studded mouth watering power packed Casts of Princess Joanne Peh , Chen Li Ping , Cai Pei Xuan ( the trio last starred together in the Last MEGA Blockbuster two Years ago in The Golden Path - 黄金路 ) , Shaun Chen , Chen Shucheng , Zhang Yaodong , Paige Chua , Joshua Ang , Husband & Wife Pan Ling Ling & Huang Shinan , Adam Chen , Cavin Soh & Yvonne Lim etc ...
This 180 Episodes Long Running Drama Serial is also the Second Local Blockbuster Drama to be filmed in HD after The ULTIMATUM < 双子星 > .
* Synopsis Of < 想握你的手 > - ' Your Hands In Mine ' :
Main Casts :
- Chen Liping as Zhang Yuxiang
- Huang Wenyong as Zeng Shanguo
- Yvonne Lim as Zeng Aizhen
- Belinda Lee as Zeng Aishan
- Cai Peixuan as Zeng Aimei
Zeng Shanguo is the boss of two HDB coffeeshops in Singapore. He is a stingy man and does not want to fulfill his wife, Zhang Yuxiang's wishes to upgrade their living space from a 5-bedroom HDB flat to landed property. Yuxiang's nickname is 'Christmas Tree' as she wears branded jewellry all the time, even when sleeping.
They have three daughters, Aizhen, Aishan and Aimei. Due to the constant doting from their mother, they lived a sheltered life and their attitudes towards life were somewhat different from 'normal' people.
Aizhen became an extremely demanding person who loved to scold and boss people about. Aishan became a person who was suspicious of everybody, even her own family, but Aimei became a sensible and honest woman, who unfortunately always fell prey to people who liked taking advantage of her.
* Talking Point :
How should we define a successful Long Running Drama Serial ? Is it the more number of Episodes , the better ? If not , why are TV Stations trying to produce Drama Serials with as many Episodes as possible ?
Does it really work this way ? Even our Long Running Drama Serial this year is 180 Episodes long - by far the ' longest ' of all Long Running Dramas Mediacorp Channel 8 has produced since 2003 .
* Share Your Views & Join In The Discussion with Us here ! *
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