"Psychological Warfare" is said to broadcast in the second season.
2012 is the war of the Hong Kong television industry. i-CABLE also has the sole broadcasting rights for the 2012 London Olympics, so TVB has arranged for the grand production "Special Duties Unit" to first air on Sundays in June, and then air on Saturdays and Sundays in July. TVB's Vice Director of Programmes Ho Koon Chung said, "This [series] is 13 episodes. Each episode is 90 minutes long. It is Hong Kong's first television series about the SDU. The production cost of each episode is approximately $1,000,000, which is much more than other series".
Apart from "SDU", "War and Beauty II" and "Triumph in the Skies II" are also TVB's key series in 2012; however, they may not make it in time to broadcast this year. TVB will be releasing series to complement each season. The first season is 'Season of Love', which includes the series "Let It Be Love". The second season will have "The Boxing King" and "The Dazzling Dance of Chang'an". The third season (summer holidays) will be "Back to the Three Kingdoms". The forth season (the highly regarded anniversary series in recent years) already has a temporary arrangement; however, it cannot be revealed yet.
Personal Note: Funny how TVB comes up with a seasonal series schedule after airing "L'Escargot" during the festive period! 囧!
TVB already filmed a series about the SDU in 1989 called "Flying Squads", which starred Donnie Yen, and it only consisted of 15 episodes....
*Credits to mingpao
Before SDU started filming, they already said this series is unusual to other dramas in terms of format. It was already said it will be broadcast on Saturday. However, I don't know if that is a wise decision, since people usually do not stay at home to watch TV on saturdays and they may not know it since TVB hardly ever broadcast dramas on saturdays. It is kinda wasted (when looking at the high production costs) if the drama will have low ratings because it is broadcast on unusual timeslot.
ReplyDeleteAlso, interesting that each episode will have 90 minutes. Since every episode is a different story (case), it will give off a movie feeling.
So this is what I get from your translation:
Season 1 ("Season of Love"): Let it be Love, Queen of Diamonds and Hearts.
Season 2 (?): Psychological Warfare, The Boxing King, The Dazzling Dance of Chang'an
Season 3 (Summer holidays): Back to the Three Kingdoms
Season 4 (Anniversary series): TBA
I think ATF and Lucky Father will be broadcast soon too, maybe season 3, since the actors have recorded themesong already.
Guess The Great Eunuch and Prominent Family will probably be the anniversary series.
Every episode of "SDU" is supposed to be like a movie.
DeleteGuessing that "Lucky Father" will be releasing much earlier than season 3.
I'm already excited about this series just by watching the sales presentation clip. Not sure if it's a wise decision for TVB to air it on weekends though.... Do HK family usually go out at night on weekends? Like around 8pm-11pm? Hahhaha.... jk
ReplyDeleteIn the Ming Pao article, it mentioned that the viewership tends to be lower on Saturdays.
DeleteI think Eunuch and Prominent Family might be anniversary series too since WAB2 and Triumph 2 might not finish in time for the fourth season.
ReplyDeleteYes ATF and Lucky Father might be aired during season 3 too since it may attract younger audience.