Twin of Brothers" received three complaints

Twin of Brothers" received three complaints
July 20, 2004

TVB's new series "Twin of Brothers" premiered on Monday and immediately afterwards, the Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority received three complaints about Ron Ng and Raymond Lam displaying their bottoms on the screen, saying it was unsuitable for children.

Due to the television broadcasting restrictions, TVB has always been very careful when it comes to handling nudity on the small screen, but the airing of Ron and Raymond's scene that lasted just a few seconds during family viewing time has caused quite an uproar.

The scene tells of Raymond and Ron bathing in a river, when they are spotted by Christine Ng who is chasing after them. The two men suddenly stand up stark naked to try and scare her away. It is this scene of their unclad bottoms that has caused the complaints to the authority on the grounds that it is a bad influence on children.

When TVB's external affairs assistant director Tsang Sing Ming was contacted about this incident, he said: "I have discussed this with the producer and this show was necessary to show the mischievous character of the lead roles and it was a half-second wide shot with no sexual connotations. They were actually wearing flesh coloured T-backs for filming, but it would have been hard to spot as it was such a quick scene. (Are you afraid of being a bad influence to children?) No, in fact it teaches children that they need to be more professional when they grow up and start working."

Ron Ng responded to the news, saying that he and Raymond were wearing underpants to film the show and maybe if you just watched that scene, you would find it a little crude, but if you watched it in the context of the show, you would realise that the story told of the brotherly love between the leads and was not of any rude or disgusting nature.

Producer Chong Wai Kin insists that there is nothing perverted about the scene and it is simply to reflect the playful nature of the two men and he emphasises that the most important thing is that there is no malice or negative undertone in the scene. This is why the scene even passed the rigorous internal censorship of TVB. Although this incident has helped to promote the show even more to a certain extent, Chong insists there is no intention to use this as a promotional tactic because there are many merits to the show such as the location filming in Wuxi that sets it apart from other martial arts series.

However, the Chairman of the Parents Union Ms Chan indicated that although the 9pm watershed is past family viewing time, there are still many children watching television at this time and she hopes that the TV stations will bear this in mind and avoid any unsavoury scenes that could have an effect on children.

Credits: http://tvbspacenews.blogspot.com/

Signed off by Irrationally_adept

Twin of Brothers" Promotional Event

Twin of Brothers" Promotional Event
July 15, 2004

TVB's new series "Twin of Brothers" will begin airing on Monday and a promotional event was held yesterday in busy Tsimshatsui with a parade of dragons and cast members including Raymond Lam, Ron Ng, Tavia Yeung, Christine Ng, Chan San Chung and Nancy Wu wearing their ancient costumes, but suffering from the intense 32 degree heat and constantly wiping the sweat from their faces. The 'double dragons' Raymond and Ron were responsible for 'dotting the eyes' and then leading the dragon parade with their dragon pearls. The cast then followed the parade down the streets and handed out promotional paper fans to the mass of fans that had gathered, who scrambled to have pictures taken with their idols and caused a little chaos at one point.

Originally filming out in Beijing, Raymond had returned especially for the event and had to head back out again in the evening. He will be back again in August to host the Olympic games coverage before continuing filming that is expected to last until October. As for being described as the Hong Kong actor constantly stationed in the mainland, he says that it can't be helped, but he has asked the company to allow him to film more modern series in the coming year.

When asked if it was hard work filming ancient series in the height of summer, he says it is okay and he remembers the time when he first went to China to film. With him and Ron showing their behinds in the first episode, are they hoping to pull in the ratings? Raymond laughs: "I hope so, I don't want my humility to go to waste!" He adds: "This show is not only filmed entirely on location, there are a lot of CGI special effects and it is a quality production. This show will be the test to see if we can film such a quality production again in the future."

When asked about how things are going in Beijing, Raymond says that the weather is very hot and changeable, sometimes with storms brewing up within five minutes, so they have to take cover in the vehicles. However he is not worried about this affecting progress because his and Bosco's scenes will be filmed separately. This is different from "Twin" where he was often together with Ron and they had to fight in almost every scenes, getting exhausted from all the wirework, so this has to be the hardest he has ever worked. Ron was filming for "Police Cadet Brave Hearts" until the early morning and then he had to prepare for the event, so little wonder that he seemed very tired. Also he has never tried an ancient costume parade before, so he feels a little odd, but he is not afraid of scaring the foreigners because he had just attracted someone to take a photo of him. It was originally planned for the cast to walk a distance down the street, but due to the chaos that arose, they were force to turn back. Ron did not feel that it was very chaotic, but this may have been because of the security teams keeping the crowds back. During the parade, there were a group of overseas Chinese girls wearing low cut tops who called out that he was very handsome, but he did not hear them. In the show, he has kiss scenes with Nancy Wu and Leila Tong, so Ron was asked who was the better kisser and he replied: "Oh, I don't know. (Are you afraid of causing more rumours?) No, we have finished filming now." When asked if he was afraid of people touching him up, he laughs: "Even if they did I wouldn't know because my costume is so thick!"

Tavia laughs that the parade was fantastic and she explains that it was just some people pushing against those at the front and there was not really any confusion. She was also not worried about people taking advantage, but was more worried about fans getting injured, luckily they managed to keep order. With high hopes for the show's ratings, has she arranged with the other cast members how they will celebrate? Raymond had suggested that if the ratings hit 40 points, the girls should wear bikinis, whilst the guys stood and watched, so to this Tavia responded: "How about if the show hits 30 points, the guys wear triangular swimming trunks and the girls stand by and watch?" She was not disappointed about not being able to complete the original route, saying: "It is a good thing because it is so hot today, my costume is already soaked through. (Was it really hard work before?) It was very hot, but there were too many people and it was very crowded and suffocating. Was there anyone taking advantage? No, there was too many security guards around. I am pleased to see so many people here to support us today as this has injected confidence into the shows ratings." Christine Ng also paid to return to Hong Kong from Beijing where she is currently filming, just to take part in the event.

Credits: http://tvbspacenews.blogspot.com/

Signed off by Irrationally_adept

Twin of Brothers" to air in HK on 7/19/04

Twin of Brothers" to air in HK on 7/19/04
July 10, 2004

TVB's new series "Twin of Brothers" will begin airing in Hong Kong on the 19th and cast members from the show including Ron Ng, Tavia Yeung, Nancy Wu, Lee Chi Hung, Tang Ho Kwong, Chan San Chung, Choi Kit Man and Yuen Tak Cheung were present yesterday at a promotion at a hotel swimming pool entitled: "Water Martial Arts Challenge". Tavia Yeung came prepared for the event, bringing floats and armbands, but as she played games in the water, she was still frightened into screaming. TVB knew that she couldn't swim, so they had specially arranged for Tang Ho Kwong and Chan San Chung to protect her, but when she was pushed into the water by Ron Ng, she lost all notion of who her friends were as she frantically pushed Chan's head into the water and then threw herself into Tang's arms.

Afterwards, Tavia was asked if she was very scared and she smiled: "It couldn't be helped, all for promotion!" Talking of her repaying Chan for his help with revenge, she admitted that she didn't know what she was doing and only when she saw his rather distressed look that she realised. She had wanted to apologise, but he rushed away to get changed before she had a chance. Tavia also said: "I am very thankful to Chan San Chung and Tang Ho Kwong. (Why can't you swim?) I went to Ocean Park Water park when I was young and my swimming costume got caught in one of the slides, so since then I am very scared of water and daren't go swimming again. That's why I don't have one swimsuit at home and I am the only person in the family who cannot swim."

Also, there was an 'ice-breaking' ceremony in yesterday's event and when Ron pulled the sword from the ice, one of the lights from the block of ice fell out and exploded as it dropped on Tavia's foot, luckily she was unharmed. When asked if she has expectations for the ratings of "Twin", she says that of course she hopes for good results, because this is a forty episode series that was filmed entirely on location and there are some unusual pairings among the cast so this should be very refreshing.

At the event, Ron was seen to push both Tavia and Nancy into the water, but then he did not offer them any help in getting up. Was he afraid of causing rumours? He explains that he did not know that Tavia could not swim, but later when she grabbed hold of his hand, he realised she was in trouble and helped to pull her up. As for his rumours with Nancy, is he afraid these will start up again? "No, I have read the magazines. (The magazines say that Nancy once dated and lived with Deep Ng.)" When askef whether he believes what the magazines suggest, Ron says he does not know because he is just a reader. As he has worked with Nancy on a number of series, does he think that she lives up to her nickname of "Champion Cutie"? He says: "She has not tried to be cute with me, so I don't know. (She has not flirted with you, but you can feel it can't you?) I don't think she has been playing up, she is just like any ordinary girl. (Are you avoiding her?) How can I avoid her? Earlier we worked together on 'Destinies of the Western Chamber' and she played my sister so we saw each other all the time, but before filming, I usually sit to one side on my own."

Also, in the early part of "Twin of Brothers", Ron and Raymond Lam have an almost naked scene where they show their bottoms to frighten Christine Ng, but are mocked by her instead. Ron says: "I thought this scene would not make it to airing, because it might be frightening to children! (Are you worried people might compare your bum with Raymond's?) I have seen it, we are both very similar, very round and smooth - top quality bottoms!" Talking of expectations for ratings, Ron hopes that they will reach an average of 35 points, when they will go out for a big meal together with Raymond.

Since the news broke of Deep Ng's arrest on drugs offences, there have been a number of news stories surrounding him and the latest report suggests that Nancy Wu is his former girlfriend and that they had lived together at one point. Nancy was asked about this yesterday and she admits that she had already met him in 1999 when they took part in the New Talent Singing contest and often go out together with a group of friends, but he has never dated her.

She adds: "We have been good friends all along, but we have never lived together. I have only been to visit other friends when I found out where he lives. When his news broke, I did send him a text message. (How is he feeling now?) I don't know because we don't often see each other, just go for a meal once in a while. (Do you know if he has a dancer girlfriend?) I don't know because we usually just discuss music related matters."

Since her apperance on the showbiz scene, Nancy has attracted a number of rumours, first linking her to Joe Ma and then to Ron Ng, she laughs: "I don't know why it is that when girls say a few more words to men they are immediately linked romantically to them. (Why don't you find a boyfriend, then you can dispel the rumours?) This is not a good method because they will still write about you if you have a boyfriend. (Someone has dubbed you as 'Champion Cutie', do you dislike this title?) Of course, usually I speak bluntly and directly and I am not 'cutesy' at all, so my friends are rather confused at this nickname." She also adds that she just wants to do her work well and allow her results to cover the negative press.

Credits: http://tvbspacenews.blogspot.com/

Signed off by Irrationally_adept