Source: 3weekly
Credit: Matchbox



"The Gem of Life" ratings dropping, TVB intend to Cut down 5 episodes

TVB series "The Gem of Life" was regarded as last year's Grand production series. When it first started airing it peaked at 36 points. Unfortunately the contents of the series has been criticized for being too long and boring therefore the ratings have been dropping, even reaching 22 points. The series is nearly reaching its finale but the TVB executives still noticed no signs of the ratings being raised. Therefore they held an emergency meeting and suggested that the series which originally had 82 episodes would cut 5 episodes, totalling to 77 episodes. They hope that this will help the storyline be more exciting and the series will be finished 1 week earlier.

The magazine reporter asked TVB executive Stephen Chan about the claims. He said "Let’s just say that the advertising clients have always been very supportive." Also Virginia Lok said "Of course you need to ask Catherine Tsang about this". It looks like the series "The Gem of Life" has a high chance that it will be terminating early?

Earlier "Moonlight Resonance" reached 50 points and broke TVB rating records. Unfortunately "The Gem of Life" failed to do the same. Having no competitors and suddenly having such bad ratings, no wonder the TVB executives intend to cut down 5 episodes.

Storyline too Boring

It is said that TVB originally had a lot of confidence for the series "The Gem of Life" produced by Jonathan Chik as it has many Siu Sangs, Fa Dans such as Moses Chan, Bowie Lam, Ada Choi and Gigi Lai etc. It also has cast members from "Moonlight Resonance" such as Louise Lee, Elliot Yue, Chan Hung Lit and Lau Dan etc. The filming locations are also based around different countries including France, Tibet, Qing Tao and more others. Not only are there beautiful people and beautiful places. There is also a high class calculating storyline. Therefore it should be able to get high ratings. Unfortunately the series had been aired during the time of the financial crisis. The luxury life storyline has made viewers lose interest. In addition "Moonlight Resonance" had a climax for each episode. "The Gem of Life" has been dragged too long and may not be able to get a climax for each episode. Making viewers not have the urge to continue.

Sponsors reject the idea

The sponsors also voiced out their opinions on the matter and rejected the idea. One source stated "TVB executives do not want to upset their clients. Secondly when they signed the advertising contracts it was stated how many episodes would be aired. The clients will not care about the ratings, they just know how long the series will be aired for. That is how long their brand product will be advertised for. If 5 episodes are cut, that means their commercial will be shown 1 week less. The sponsor will of course reject the decision. But also if the series rating continue to drop and get lower than 20 points. TVB can alter their advertising slots to another time and that would mean still terminating "The Gem of Life”.

The TVB executives have denied the claims. Even one of the main leads Bowie Lam laughed and denied by saying "Rubbish." Let's hope that they can escape from having to cut down the episodes.

In The past TVB have had to Terminate programmes with low ratings.



輪 流 轉 1980
Originally 80 episodes, it started airing in April 1980 but the ratings have not been great. The ratings were also caught up by the ATV series "Fatherland" (大 地 恩 情) In the end TVB decided to terminate it and replace it with Wong Jing's "千王之王" (The Shell Game) instead.

Princess Pearl 3 III 還珠格格 3

The series "Returning Princess Pearl" had previously helped ATV get high ratings. But "Princess Pearl 3" that aired in TVB did not get the same results. It was aired in 2003 and received low ratings of 10 points. In the end it was altered to 6pm. It was replaced by Damian Lau's series "Find The Light".

Netizens have been discussing about the series. There was more criticizing than praises, however netizens voted the series being "Boring" and "Too Long".