La Femme (TV series)

La Femme is a Singaporean modern family drama mainly emphasizing on the lives of three women of different traits. It was telecast on Singapore's free-to-air channel, MediaCorp TV Channel 8. It made its debut on 2 June 2008 and ends its broadcast on 4 July 2008. The serial consists of 25 episodes and is aired on every weekday night 2100 hours.

Cast

Main Cast

* Zoe Tay as Fang Bao Yu
* Ann Kok as Lin Xiu Hui
* Tay Ping Hui as Huang Quan He
* Tiffany Leung as Qian Min Min

Supporting Cast

* Desmond Sim as Zhong Wei Xiang
* San Yow as Zhang Jia Jie
* Shaun Chen as Liang Xing Xiong
* Paige Chua as Qian Ting Ting
* Nat Ho as Fang Bao Guo

Synopsis

Trivia

* This drama is Zoe Tay's first drama appearance after the birth of her second child.
* Ann Kok and Tay Ping Hui have numerous intimate scenes in this drama . Both Ann and Ping Hui told the media during interviews that throughout their career, this was the drama that most intimate scenes were done. To know more, look at the references section.
* Some audience felt that this drama was very similar to a popular Canadian TV series La Femme Nikita and HongKong TVB series La Femme Desperado. The drama's similarity in name and plot was also somewhat similar.
* Many also felt that Tay Ping Hui's role in this drama was too similar to the one in Mars vs Venus, thus not allowing him to have much breakthrough.

Kinship Part 2 (TV series)

Kinship II is a Singaporean drama which was televised on Singapore's free-to-air channel, MediaCorp TV Channel 8 every weekday at 7pm. It made its debut on 17 December 2007. The drama is the second of two parts.

This drama series consists of a cast which aims to appeal to both younger and older audience. As such, the producers have cited this drama as a highly anticipated drama, comparable to the likes of '''', ''Double Happiness'', and ''Portrait of Home''. This drama is the longest running drama being produced by MediaCorp in Year 2007.

Cast

Unanswered questions

*Where did An Ping go after abandoning "Da Ying Jia"? Will Ying Li Shi let the matter rest? How will Mei Qi cope when she mans the fort alone?
*Naifa wishes to revamp "Da Ying Jia". What conflicts will be in store for him and Wind? Who will be “Da Ying Jia’s” true successor?
*Jin Sha and Yin Sha will face problems in their marriages, families and impending court cases. How will they cope?
*Will Yu Sheng be freed of the murder charge against her? What will the outcome of the love triangle between Yu Sheng, Ying Jun and Wen Ya be?
*Ying Jun and Shui Ling fight to run "Da Ying Jia". Who will be the ultimate winner?
*Will Mei Xue be dead or alive? Will An Xin and Chang Ying escape after they've been left to drown?
*Will Shui Ling and Martin's evil plots be exposed?
*How will the brothers An Xin and An Ping work together to save "Da Ying Jia"?

Storyline

Yusheng is given the death sentence and Meiqi desperately seeks ways and means to exonerate her. As Anping's whereabouts is still unknown, Meiqi has no choice but to hand the foot reflexology business to Naifa but the latter is not only incapable of managing the business, he also gets into more trouble.

To obtain evidence that can help exonerate Yusheng, Anping has no choice but to give in to Lishi. Yusheng is eventually acquitted and marries Yingjun. Lishi buys over half the foot reflexology business as a direct challenge to Meiqi. Devastated and heartbroken, Meiqi decides to pull out from the love triangle.

A rich middle-aged businessman Li Zhongshang is impressed with Meiqi's kindness and magnanimity and decides to woo her. Even though Anping is with Lishi, he still cannot forget Meiqi; thus, the relationship among the four becomes even more complicated.

Yinsha faces tremendous difficulty in her career when she is charged with selling fake medicine, and this drives her to depression. Jinsha's marriage also enters into troubled waters when she finds out about Naifa's adulterous affair with Daisy.

Chang Yin is lucky to survive the murder attempt but he assumes a new identity as Zixin, a private investigator. Through various investigation tactics, he attempts to bring to Yusheng's knowledge Shuiling and Martin's despicable schemes, and at the same time, re-build their bond as father and daughter.

To seize control of Da Ying Jia, Shuiling forges the legal assets authorization documents. Although everyone is suspicious, there is nothing they can do about it. With the constant fear that Meixue may wake up one day to expose her evil deeds, and under repeated instigation by Martin, Shuiling and Martin end Meixue's life.

Anxin also survives the ordeal and returns as a Thai monk with the fervent hope to lead Shuiling to repentance. Shuiling however decides that there is no turning back and plans to embezzle large funds from Da Ying Jia with Martin. Yingjun decides to sue them when he comes to know of the embezzlement scheme and the forgery of the legal documents.

Martin plans to flee even as Shuiling goes berserk. Wenya's life is in danger when she accidentally learns what they have done…

Viewership Rating

Following the disappointing viewership and reviews for , Part 2 carried on to be a let down, recording one of the lowest viewership ratings for the year 2007.

Kinship Part 1 (TV series)

Kinship is a Singaporean drama which was televised on Singapore's free-to-air channel, MediaCorp TV Channel 8 every weekday at 7pm. The drama was the first of two parts, making its debut on 19 June 2007.

This drama series consists of a cast which aims to appeal to both younger and older audience. As such, the producers have cited this drama as a highly anticipated drama, comparable to the likes of , Double Happiness, and Portrait of Home. This drama is the one of the longest running dramas being produced by MediaCorp in 2007.

Cast and Characters

Synopsis

From its humble beginnings of operating from an HDB flat as a small family business 25 years ago, foot reflexology centre Da Ying Jia, jointly started by brothers Chen Anping and Chen Anxin , has now expanded into a large-scale business with many branches. It has developed even further into dealing in health equipment supplies.

Elder brother Anping makes the decision to stay in the original centre as a foot reflexologist while the ambitious Anxin expands the business and takes over the business operations of the branches.

Anxin is an impressive businessman and once the business took off, he moves into a big house, buys a luxurious car and lives an extravagant lifestyle. Anping on the other hand, continues to work at the foot reflexology centre like he has for the past 20 years, keeping his head bowed as he diligently massages the feet of his clients. Anping's wife Lin Meiqi and ‘daughters' are indignant about this.

Meiqi is a tough lady who has no children of her own but adopted three girls Zheng Jinsha , Zheng Yinsha and Zheng Yusheng . All three 'daughters' regard Meiqi and Anping as their real parents. Even though Jinsha and Yinsha are married, they live near to Anping's residence so that they can take care of one another.

Jinsha's husband Xu Naifa is a masseur at Da Ying Jia and has been working there since he was 20 years old. Regarding himself an old hand at the job, and adding to the fact that he is Anping's son-in-law, he thus has a sense of self-importance and goes about with the air of a partial boss. He loves to voice his opinions loudly and confidently, especially on important world affairs, and considers himself a man of substance and intelligence who is merely stuck in a dead-end career due to circumstances. Thus, he instigates his wife to speak well of him to her parents all the time. Naifa and Jinsha have a son and a daughter but due to poor parenting, the two children turn out extremely problematic.

Yinsha has an overtly strong character and work as the president of a direct sales company dealing in health products. Her husband Hong Zhaoyang used to be a swimming coach but as a result of Yinsha's obsession with her career and neglect of home matters, Zhaoyang naturally takes over all the chores in the family, including looking after their daughter who is enrolled in primary school.

The cheerful Yusheng is a prison warden and has a family background that not many know of. Her father was a drug dealer, and when he was caught, her mother and grandmother took the blame for the crime as his scapegoats. Her mother was sentenced to death, while her grandmother was sentenced to life imprisonment. Yusheng was born in the prison, thus her name, is of the same pronunciation as the phrase ‘prison-born'. When she was three years old, her aunt Meiqi adopted her.

Anxin's wife Lin Meixue is Meiqi's younger sister. In her younger days, when her then-boyfriend abandoned her, Meiqi played matchmaker to Meixue and Anxin, and that was how they got married. After the birth of their son Yingjun , they are unable to have any more children. Anxin, who loves kids, is deeply disappointed by this fact. Meixue feels extremely guilty as well, though for another reason. She guards a deep, dark secret for more than 20 years: Yingjun is not Anxin's flesh and blood, but her ex-boyfriend's. She has never dared to tell anyone about this, not even her sister Meiqi. Due to this guilt, Meixue never questions Anxin's womanising ways, which is a habit bred from his right-hand man Martin who fearlessly keeps introducing beautiful women to get into Anxin's good books.

Anxin hopes that his son Yingjun will take over the business in future. Therefore, Yingjun joins the company immediately after his graduation to start learning the ropes. He meets two young ladies, Zhao Shuiling and Zhang Wenya one after the other. He dates Shuiling but through Martin's arrangement, Shuiling also gets to know Anxin at the same time. Anxin falls in love with Shuiling, and not knowing that Shuiling is his son's girlfriend, he decides to divorce Meixue and marry her. The enmity between father and son thus begins to build...

Anping, Naifa, Duoduo and Wind are the ‘Four Heavenly Kings' at the foot reflexology centre. The other staff members include Simon, who thinks rather highly of himself just because he's older in age, and Xiao Kai who is blessed with a glib tongue. Duoduo, who is secretly in love with Yusheng, isn't much to look at but has a kind and good heart. Wind is Anping's last disciple and also Yingjun's ex-classmate. His massage skills are spectacular, gaining him much popularity among the auntie-clientele of the centre. Anping wishes for Wind to be his successor and take over Da Ying Jia, giving Naifa much grief. Wind is attracted to the carefree and straightforward Yusheng, who always ridicules herself for being totally unladylike.

Chang Ying opens a massage parlour in the vicinity of Da Ying Jia, and the area becomes flooded with female masseurs pulling in customers. An infuriated Yusheng storms up to Chang Ying but their ‘discussion' fell through. When his massage parlour inexplicably burst into flames, Chang Ying is adamant that Yusheng started the fire and abducts her. Yingjun witnesses the kidnap and in his gallant attempt to rescue her, ends up being taken as well. Chang Ying then takes nude photos of them as threats, and Yusheng is also sent to the hospital with serious injuries. Meiqi, aghast at Chang Ying's despicable ways, reveals to Chang Ying that Yusheng is in fact his own flesh and blood...

He cooperates with Anxin to reveal Shuiling's true colours, and when Martin finds out, he and Shuiling throws Anxin and Chang Ying into the sea, leaving them to drown...

A sinister character called Lishi appears, claiming that Anping once had a child with her. She causes trouble for his family, framing his three daughters: Jinsha for child abuse, Yinsha for fraud, and Yusheng for murder. She agrees to end the mayhem if Anping goes with her. Anping agrees, resigned to his fate.

With complex family relations, contrasting backgrounds of each staff member and customers from different lifestyles and social levels, Da Ying Jia maintains seemingly calm operations, while in fact, beneath the surface lies exciting undercurrents of rapid twists and turns as the story unfolds...

Viewership

Despite this drama series being an highly anticipated drama , the viewership of the drama was not good at all. This made it a huge disappointment for MediaCorp. Most audience thought the drama would have at least 800,000 people watching in the first week, but the actual viewership showed that it was only half the expectations, though the drama's ratings were always constantly higher than Channel U's Korean drama Be Strong Geum Soon that was aired at the same slot for the nine weeks that it aired .

Trivia

*This drama is the longest running drama being produced by MediaCorp in Year 2007. The drama was originally intended to have 80 episodes but extended its run due to over-runs in filming. However the Part 2 will be aired in December 2007

*Darren Lim won the Star Awards 2007 Best Supporting Actor award for his role as Naifa in Part 1.

Kinship (TV series)

Kinship is a Singaporean drama which was televised on Singapore's free-to-air channel, MediaCorp TV Channel 8 every weekday at 7pm. The drama is divided into two parts: and .

This drama series consists of a cast which aims to appeal to both younger and older audience. As such, the producers have cited this drama as a highly anticipated drama, comparable to the likes of , Double Happiness, and Portrait of Home. This drama is the one of the longest running dramas with 83 episodes, being produced by MediaCorp in Year 2007. Despite being a highly anticipated drama, it receives more criticism than the other locally produced Chinese drama and half of the expected viewership. It also holds the dubious honor of the first long running drama to fail to receive a Star Awards nomination for Best Drama and for each of the four acting categories.

Part 1 premiered on 19 June 2007 and ended on 17 August 2007. Part 2 premiered on 17th December 2007 and ended on 8 February 2008.

Cast and Characters

Plot

Da Ying Jia foot reflexology centre was founded by the brothers, and , 25 years ago. Now, both of them split-up and Anxin takes charge of the business operations of the new branches of Da Ying Jia while Anping stays in the original centre, becoming a foot reflexologist.

Anping married and both of them adopted three girls: , and . Two of them, Jinsha and Yinsha, are married to their husbands, and respectively, and they live near to Anping's residence, a in Singapore.

Both Jinsha and Naifa has two children's, a son and a daughter. However, due to poor parenting skills, the two children turn out extremely problematic. This also causes the relationship between Jinsha and her son to worsen.

Yinsha and Zhaoyang has a daughter. Even since Zhaoyang marries Yinsha, he quits his job and becomes a "maid". Zhaoyang then opens a small kueh stall and hires a woman named to assist his stall.

The cheerful and tomboyish Yusheng is a prison warden. She had a birth father named . His wife and his mother were charged with a drug related crime that Chang Ying committed and they were punished for something they did not do. Chang Ying's wife was sentenced to death as a result and his mother was sentenced to life imprisonment. When held in death row,, she gave birth to Yusheng and was adpoted by her aunt, Meiqi, when she was three.

Anxin is married to Meiqi's younger sister, . She gave birth to a son, and could not give birth to anymore children. However, Meixue has a deep and dark secret: Yingjun is actually her ex-boyfriend, 's son.

Anxin hopes that Yingjun will take over the business in future, and thus, after his graduation, he forces his son to join the company. Yingjun then meets two young women: and . Shuiling is his first grilfriend, but through Martin's arrangement, Shuiling also gets to know Anxin at the same time. When Anxin divorces Meixue in favour of Shuiling, Yingjun's girlfriend , Meixue requests 30% of Da Ying Jia's shares to be transferred to Yingjun.

, a member of Da Ying Jia, is secretly in love with Yusheng. , an inspiring hair stylist who later join Da Ying Jia, is also secretly in love with Yusheng. He is Anping's last disciple and his massage skills are spectacular, gaining him much popularity among the auntie-clientele of the centre. Anping wishes for Wind to be his successor and take over Da Ying Jia, giving Naifa much grief.

Chang Ying opens a massage parlour in the vincity of Da Ying Jia, but was closed down after caught fire. Thinking it was Yusheng who did it, he kidnaps Yusheng and later Yingjun, who tried to save Yusheng, and took nude photos of them as threats. Yusheng is also sent to the hospital with serious injuries. Meiqi, aghast at Chang Ying's despicable ways, reveals to Chang Ying that Yusheng is in fact his daughter.

Together with Anxin, both of them cooperates to reveal Shuiling's true colours, and when finds out, he and Shuiling stuns both of them and throws them into the sea, leaving them to drown.

then appears, claiming that Anping once had a child with her. Somehow, she knows about his family background and she causes trouble for his family, framing his three daughters: Jinsha for child abusing her son, Yinsha for selling fake health products, and Yusheng for murder. She agrees to end the mayhem if Anping goes with her. Anping however refused and Lishi drop the charges against Jinsha, forcing Anping into a lot of stress.

Anping finally decided to go with Lishi as he had no choice and Lishi tells Meiqi and Da Ying Jia's staff that Anping is leaving Meiqi for her, even saying that he was exchanging himself for Meiqi and the three children's happiness. She later waited at the airport for Anping but he did not show up. Anping had gone missing and the story continues in Part 2...

Yusheng is given the death sentence and Meiqi desperately seeks ways and means to exonerate her. As Anping's whereabouts is still unknown, Meiqi has no choice but to hand the foot reflexology business to Naifa but the latter is not only incapable of managing the business, he also gets into more trouble.

To obtain evidence that can help exonerate Yusheng, Anping has no choice but to give in to Lishi. Yusheng is eventually acquitted and marries Yingjun. Lishi buys over half the foot reflexology business as a direct challenge to Meiqi. Devastated and heartbroken, Meiqi decides to pull out from the love triangle.

A rich middle-aged businessman is impressed with Meiqi's kindness and magnanimity and decides to woo her. Even though Anping is with Lishi, he still cannot forget Meiqi; thus, the relationship among the four becomes even more complicated.

Yinsha faces tremendous difficulty in her career when she is charged with selling fake medicine, and this drives her to depression. Jinsha's marriage also enters into troubled waters when she finds out about Naifa's adulterous affair with .

Chang Ying is lucky to survive the murder attempt but he assumes a new identity as , a private investigator. Through various investigation tactics, he attempts to bring to Yusheng's knowledge Shuiling and Martin's despicable schemes, and at the same time, re-build their bond as father and daughter.

To seize control of Da Ying Jia, Shuiling forges the legal assets authorization documents. Although everyone is suspicious, there is nothing they can do about it. With the constant fear that Meixue may wake up one day to expose her evil deeds, and under repeated instigation by Martin, Shuiling and Martin end Meixue's life.

Anxin also survives the ordeal and returns as a Thai monk with the fervent hope to lead Shuiling to repentance. Shuiling however decides that there is no turning back and plans to embezzle large funds from Da Ying Jia with Martin. Yingjun decides to sue them when he comes to know of the embezzlement scheme and the forgery of the legal documents.

Martin plans to flee even as Shuiling goes berserk. Wenya's life is in danger when she accidentally learns what they have done…

Viewership

Despite this drama series being an highly anticipated drama, the viewership of was not good at all. This made it a huge disappointment for MediaCorp. Most audience thought the drama would have at least 800,000 people watching in the first week, but the actual viewership showed that it was only half the expectations, though the drama's ratings were always constantly higher than Channel U's Korean drama Be Strong Geum Soon that was aired at the same slot for the nine weeks that it aired . Following the disappointing viewership and reviews of Part 1, Part 2 carried on to be a let down, recording one of the lowest viewership ratings for the year 2007.

{|style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; width:60%; border: solid 1px"
|- style="background:black; color:white;"
!Week!!Air date!!Rating
|- style="background:dimgray; color:white;"
!colspan=3 align=center|
|- style="background:darkgray; color:black;"
!colspan=3|Average Number of audience

|-
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|Week 1
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|19 June 2007 to 22 June 2007
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|444, 000
|-
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|Week 2
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|25 June 2007 to 29 June 2007
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|440, 000
|-
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|Week 3
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|2 July 2007 to 6 July 2007
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|436, 000
|-
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|Week 4
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|9 July 2007 to 13 July 2007
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|465, 000
|-
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|Week 5
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|16 July 2007 to 20 July 2007
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|478, 000
|-
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|Week 6
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|23 July 2007 to 27 July 2007
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|494, 000
|-
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|Week 7
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|30 July 2007 to 3 August 2007
| align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|516, 000
|-
|align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|Week 8
|align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|6 August 2007 to 10 August 2007

|align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|497, 000
|-
|align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|Week 9
|align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|13 August 2007 to 17 August 2007
|align="center" bgcolor=whitesmoke|513, 000
|- style="background:silver; color:white;"
!colspan=3 align=center|
|- style="background:gainsboro; color:black;"
!colspan=3|Percentage of Population

|-
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|Week 1
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|17 December 2007 to 21 December 2007
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|''TBA''
|-
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|Week 2
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|24 December 2007 to 28 December 2007
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|approx. 12
|-
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|Week 3
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|31 December 2007 to 4 January 2008
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|13.5
|-
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|Week 4
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|7 January 2008 to 11 January 2008
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|13.2
|-
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|Week 5
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|14 January 2008 to 18 January 2008
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|14.0
|-
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|Week 6
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|21 January 2008 to 25 January 2008
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|13.2
|-
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|Week 7
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|28 January 2008 to 1 February 2008
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|14.0
|-
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|Week 8
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|4 February 2008 to 8 February 2008
|align="center" bgcolor=seashell|13.0
|}

Trivia

*This drama is the longest running drama being produced by MediaCorp in Year 2007.
*The drama was originally intended to have 80 episodes altogether, but extended its run due to over-runs in the filming of Part 1.
*Yusheng was born in the prison, thus her name, is of the same pronunciation as the phrase ‘prison-born'.
*Wang Yu Qing played two roles in Kinship Part 2.
*Kinship I received 3 nominations for Star Awards 2007 - Jesseca Liu for Best Actress, Darren Lim for Best Supporting Actor and Eelyn Kok for Best Supporting Actress though only Darren Lim won the award that he was nominated for.
*Kinship is the first long running drama to fail to receive a Star Awards nomination for Best Drama and for each of the four acting categories .

Just in Singapore

Just in Singapore is a Singaporean modern comedic drama, which is telecasted on Singapore's free-to-air channel, MediaCorp TV Channel 8. It made its debut on 25 February 2008 and ended its run on 04 April 2008. It was screened at 9pm every weekday night. The serial consists of 30 episodes. This drama serial is written by the highly acclaimed scriptwriter, Hong Rong Di , who has produced popular dramas such as and Like Father, Like Daughter.

Cast

Main Cast

*Chen Liping as Nancy
*Huang Wenyong as Lin Bang
*Fiona Xie as Lin Xiu Ming
*Kang Cheng Xi as Su Ding Yi
* Li Yin Zhu as Zi Dong Sao

Supporting Cast

* Jimmy Nah as San Wan ''''
* Apple Hong as Qian Qian
* Paige Chua as Lin Xiu Zhen
* Hong Hui Fang as Wang Jiao
* Adam Chen as Ma Zhi Gang
* Patricia Mok as Ma Li
* Nelson Chia as Luo Ba
* Liang Tian as Kopi Shu
* He Bing as Kopi Sao
* Ong Ai Ling as Shu Min
* Rayson Tan as Jian Hui
* Zhang Xin Quan as Peter
* Yan Bing Liang as Ah Pao
* Zhang Wei as Mr. Fang
* Hong Da Mu as Granny Ma
* Vivian Lai as Jin Yan

Synopsis

The story is set in a block of government-rental HDB flats and revolves around its occupants. Everyday, heartwarming scenes of tears and laughter take place in these humble settings. Characters include Lin Bang, an over-the-hill stage-singer, and his family; Robert and Mary, a married couple who are not disabled in any way but totally rely on relief funds from the government to get by; Ma Zhigang, a man without conscience who secretly caused his grandmother’s death so he can claim insurance funds; ‘Auntie Auto’ and ‘San Wan who are misers; ‘Uncle Kopi’ and ‘Auntie Kopi’ who are still living in their rental flat even though their children are doing very well...

Uncle Kopi and Auntie Kopi have a large ceramic tub at home. Left behind by Uncle Kopi’s father, it has held water for the baths of many generations in their family. When their youngest daughter wishes to entrust her parents with the care of her baby son, she is worried that the tub may be a hazard and thus asks her parents to dispose of it. The old couple is unwilling to give it up and decide to put it at their neighbour Grandmother Ma’s home for the time being.

Grandmother Ma’s grandson Ma Zhigang is a lazy young man who refuses to hold a proper job. He owes a huge debt and so decides to sell the tub. However, he runs into loansharks while on the way to sell the tub and therefore leaves the tub behind while on the run. He is saved by Qianqian , a Vietnamese bride purchased and brought to Singapore by San Wan . Zhigang, seeing how beautiful Qianqian is, cheats San Wan of a large sum of money and instigates Qianqian to elope with him.

The tub left behind by Zhigang is picked up by the Weijie, the eldest son of the lazy couple Robert and Mary . Thereafter, it ends up with Auntie Auto , and then Lin Bang’s family.

Lin Bang’s wife Nancy runs a shrine and they have two daughters. Their eldest daughter Xiuzhen , a university student, is pretty, intelligent, and carries a torch for Su Dingyi , a handsome and stylish young man from a wealthy family. To get closer to him, she hides the fact that she is from a poor family, so that she won’t feel ashamed of her parents.

Their younger daughter Xiuming is not as intelligent as her elder sister. After finishing her ‘N’ levels, she operates a stall at a night market. She has grown up among the lower social levels and feels that even though people of this class are not wealthy and have no social status to speak of, they can etch an honest living and give support to one another. Hence, she does not mind when people find out that she lives in a rented flat, has a father who sings at Chinese stage performances and a mother who gets up to dodgy things at the temple. Xiuming’s honest and open nature attracts Dingyi and he begins to woo her.

Uncle Kopi’s son , a professor, discovers that a Chinese ceramics auction by Sotheby’s includes a particular piece named ‘Nine Dragon Tub’. This is a precious treasure from the palace dating back to the year of Qing Kang and is valued at US$5,000,000. He suddenly remembers that there is a tub just like that in their home and it might just turn out to be that very same tub! Thus, he secretly tries to gain possession of it for himself. Unfortunately, the tub has been passed around and its whereabouts is unknown. Very quickly, news of the ‘Nine Dragon Tub’ spreads far and wide. Everyone is desperately trying to locate the tub…

The ‘treasure’ has in fact ended up with Lin Bang who is currently using it as a spa tub. He soaks himself in warm water in the tub every day to ease aches and pains. When Nancy finds out the true value of this tub, she decides to keep it a secret and sell the tub away quietly. This way, she will be able to get the family out of their rented flat and they will become wealthy folks. Will this plan of hers succeed?

Trivia

* One of the cast members of this drama, Jimmy Nah, also known as MC King, died during the period of filming for this drama serial. Thus, he only filmed 80% of the screentime from the requirement of his role. The remaining 20% of his role was filmed by a replacement.
* Most of the audience felt that Li Yin Zhu gave the best performance as her role ''Automatic Auntie'' out of the many cast members.

Viewership Rating and Reception

Since this series starting airing, it has generated largely positive reviews from critics. This drama serial is currently holding the record of ''Highest Viewership Drama'' for Year 2008.

House of Joy

House of Joy is a Singaporean Chinese Drama produced by Singapore's free-to-air channel, MediaCorp TV Channel 8. The show made its debut on 6 November 2006 and is telecast every weekday night at 9pm. The show has a total of 20 episodes.

On the first few days of the show's running, many Singaporeans talked about how they felt about this show to MediaCorp. What most people said was why the show was named House of Joy when there were so many crying scenes for Ivy Lee in the show. MediaCorp replied that the word Joy - Huan Le in Chinese is a combination of the name of the 2 lead characters - Yihuan and Letian.

The story encourages those who are debt-ridden due to overspending sing credit card to strive on to overcome their financial and social problems. The lead actor, Chen Hanwei as Huang Le Tian - a "commoner lawyer" who also volunteered in Credit Counselling won many hearts with his sincere kindness and cute sense of humour.

Synopsis

Zheng Yihuan is at the prime of her life at 33, she has a loving husband called Zhi Guo and enjoys a harmonious family life. To add to her blissfulness, she is expecting her first child, a long awaited piece of good news.

As the credit manager of a bank, Yihuan has seen how debts incurred from overspending have broken many families up. Hence she is cautious with spending and offers the same advice to her family. But tragedy struck when she discovered that her husband has turned to gambling and incurred large amounts of debts, and he even ran away after embezzling company funds. To add to her woes, her mother and two siblings also fell into debt.

With a new born child in tow and insurmountable debts, how will she cope? Always the pillar of strength of her family, can she now face up to reality and continue with life bravely?

Cast

Main Cast

* as Zheng Yi Huan
*Chen Hanwei as Huang Le Tian
*Cynthia Koh as Zheng Shuang Xi
*Edmund Chen as Zhi Guo

Supporting Cast

*Allan Wu
*May Phua
*Adam Chen
*Hong Huifang
*Jin Yinji
*Ling Lee
*Huang Shinan

Honour and Passion

Honour and Passion is a Singapore drama which was telecast on Singapore's free-to-air channel, MediaCorp TV Channel 8. It was hyped for being one of the few Mediacorp series that was sponsored by the . This drama serial consists of 20 episodes. It made its debut on 24 July 2007 and ended its run on 20 August 2007, which is then followed by Like Father, Like Daughter.

Cast

The Po Family

*Po Pengju - A Warrant Officer in the army, the father of four had to raise the children alone after his wife died years ago. He cares for his children, but maintains a strict regiment in his household, running his family like a military camp, even to his daughter. It did not take long before his own children start to resent his manipulative behaviour.

*Liu Ya-mei - The sister of Po Pengju's wife and also a chief clerk in the Army, who promised to help Pengju raise his four children before Pengju's wife passed away. She is effectively the mother figure in the family for years but Pengju does not regard her as a part of the family, merely as a friend. She loves Pengju secretly, and refused all other romantic advances. However, her love was not reciprocated until the very end of the series when Pengju decided to retire.

*Po Wenjing - The elder son in the family. He followed his father's footstep, and pursued a professional Army career. He is considered to be an outstanding soldier, but he is crippled on the romance front, being not able to profess his true love to a fellow Army officer, Ouyang Pei Pei. He attempted to woo her several times, each time ending either in comedic failure or disappointment. He eventually achieved success though by showing his prowess in defeating the world renown terrorist Wu Cheng Yi.

*Po Wen Wei - The only daughter in the family, she was raised as a boy ever since her mother died, and this has caused her to act more like a man than a woman. Her ex-boyfriend cheated on her and broke up with her for that very reason, and this was a source of conflict early on in the series. Her job at an advertising agency allowed her to work with her future love interest - One of them being Wu Cheng Yi, an Islamic terrorist, and another being Picasso, whom she fell in love with much later on.

*Po Wenzhong - The second son in the family, he works in a computer company after his NS stint. He acts as the mediator in the family during family arguments. His caring personality has attracted love interests, even unwanted ones like Amy. He was revealed to be a homosexual, who unwittingly aided Cheng Yi in his terrorist plans. However, after learning of Cheng Yi's true nature, he committed suicide.

*Po Wenguo - The youngest son in the family, he is about to serve his NS stint after graduating from school. He is drilled heavily by his father before he has to serve his NS stint, and this has created conflict between Wenguo and his father. However, during the passage of his time in his BMT , he discovers that the tough training before he got enlisted helps.

Other Characters

*Ouyang Pei Pei - An instructor at the Army Artillery School, she maintains a feisty surface, but is tender and funny inside. She has a crush on Po Wenzhong since Secondary School. Wenzhong's elder brother, Wenjing, has a secret crush on Pei Pei, but she does not appear to be interested initially. Her crush on Wenzhong almost cost her her life, when a gay man who wears makeup attacked her.

*Amy Lim - A mentally unstable divorced woman who crossed paths with Wenzhong during a business venture. She loves Wenzhong, but the love is not mutual due to his homosexuality. Thinking that Ouyang Pei Pei is the one who stole Wenzhong from her, she attacked Pei Pei, and was committed to a mental facility as a result.

*Picasso So Jianwei - A worker in Po Wenwei's ad agency, he was hired because of his close relations to Wenwei's boss. Picasso has a rather stingy and slack personality on the surface, and this has brought criticisms from his co-workers. However, it turns out that his stingy demeanors are a result of his fraternal brother's incapacity, in which Picasso promised to save money to help out his brother, so that he doesn't starve. He has crossed path with Wenwei several times before they worked in the same company, each time ending in conflict.

*Ben Phua - The fraternal brother of Picasso So. He got to know Picasso during their NS stints. They were assigned to the same sections, and immediately became best partners. During a shopping trip for his new son, Ben was thrown off a pedestrian bridge after he tried to subdue a thief , and was crippled as a result.

*Liang Xiao Nuo - Xiaonuo has done some bad deeds in the past to earn money. She walks with a limp. After getting together with Wenjing, she still kept secrets from him, namely her part-time work in a cafe. In the end, she got married with Wenjing, with blessings from Pengju, Wenzhong's father.

*Wu Cheng Yi - The antagonist of the series, he is the love interest of Wenzhong. He is revealed to be a homosexual terrorist in the show who tries to threaten Singapore to legalise homosexual marriages, to no avail. However, towards the end of the show he does show that he still has a conscience.

Synopsis

Introduction

Po Pengju , a Regimental Sergeant Major in the Singapore Army, lost his wife many years ago and is now given the burden of bringing up his children. Pengju has three sons and one daughter. His eldest son is Po Wenjing , who is an officer in the Special Operations Force and is the source of Pengju's pride and joy. Wenjing's love interest happened to be another officer that he stumbled upon in camp: Ouyang Pei Pei . Pei Pei is a mysterious officer with a past whom even her close friends were not so clear of yet. She wasn't aware of Wenjing's feelings yet. Although intelligent and talented at his work, Wenjing is extremely shy in front of Pei Pei, so much so that his tongue is tied when in front of her.

Po Wenzhong is a computer engineer. His sense of humor and charming nature makes him popular with women, often giving them the wrong idea. This resulted in Wenzhong having run-ins with psychotic women obssessed with him. This however, does not stop him from having his own ideals of love which his family has no idea of yet. As for Po Wenguo , the youngest son in the family, he awaits enlistment into National Service but resents it because of the pressure from his father, and often resorts to malingering to escape from camp trainings.

Pengju's daughter is Po Wenwei , an advertising executive. Pengju runs the family like a military camp, with regimental duties like area cleaning and breakfast preparation being the norm. This means Wenwei has little chance of living life as a woman, and thus she became more of a tomboy than a woman. In her working place she faces her archenemy Picasso So Jianwei , who often gave her trouble, but she also met a friend by the name of Wu Cheng Yi , who holds a dark secret...

Rise of the Commandos

One night, three intruders armed with loaded M16 rifles inflitrated the Commando camp where Wenjing is training at. They burst into camp during midnight, which was the least expected time for enemies to break into a Singapore military camp. The guards at the gate were terrified when they saw the intruders, knowing that the keys to their rifles and ammunition was with the Guard Commander, who has switched off his handphone and is sleeping in the mess. The intruders however understood the plight of the RPs and offered them S$200 each. In exchange for the money, they have to be knocked unconscious with rocks and batons. The guards gladly accepted the bribes and were knocked unconscious, thus allowing the intruders to enter the camp silently without notice.

The intruders did not know that Wenjing had been tailing them in the dark. One by one, the elite Commando subdued them before they knew it and woke the Guard Commander up as well, ordering him to inform the Duty Orderly Officer of the break-in. After investigations, it turned out that the intruders were trying to gain access to top-secret documents in the Camp Headquarters, but before the investigators could probe further the three strangers committed suicide by swallowing cyanide pills. To Wenjing, this foreshadows that a major disastrous event about to happen to Singapore.

Wenjing was promoted to Captain because of his heroic deeds. It was during his promotion ceremony were he saw the love interest of his life - Captain Ouyang Pei Pei. Wenjing has a major crush on Pei Pei, but yet he was too shy to approach her. Wu Cheng Yi, a contractor working in Wenjing's Commando camp and is also one of Wenjing's friends, offers to help bring him and Pei Pei closer, although the attempts often fail due to Wenjing's inability to express his thoughts well. At SAFRA, Pei Pei saw Wenjing's brother Po Wenzhong, recognising him to be one of her worst enemies during Primary School - They often fought in the past, and now the quarrels are starting all over again. When the two met again, they almost immediately started to taunt each other, with Pei Pei insulting Wenzhong by calling him gay. Little did she know how true that was.

Beginning of Troubles

Women stalkers began to appear in Wenzhong's life, often claiming to be his girlfriend. This is due to Wenzhong's charming personality, which often gave women the wrong idea - Except for Pei Pei. Xiao Nuo happened to be one of his most prominent stalkers whom Wenzhong tried to avoid constantly. Wenzhong actually harboured a shocking secret about himself that not even his family knew: He is a homosexual. Further trouble brews when Wen Wei's new superior Picasso Soh began giving her trouble, often causing both of them to quarrel and backstab each other during work. Wen Wei met Cheng Yi, who was also Picasso's good friend. She decided to hire Cheng Yi for a major project that was entrusted to her, after seeing how good Cheng Yi was in dismantling and setting up computers and air-conditioners. She invited him to dinner with her family, and Wenzhong began to take notice of Cheng Yi...

Much to his dismay, the lazy Wenguo found out that he was to be enlisted for National Service on his Birthday. Wenguo resorted to malingering when he went through his BMT , as he has no desire to train on to become an Officer or Specialist. His father was infuriated when Wenguo repeatedly took MC before his weekend bookouts. Wenguo eventually managed to get into a slack vocation after his BMT, becoming an RP , whose main role is to do guard duty to protect a particular camp or base. However, a bizarre twist of fate brought him into the Commando camp where his brother is in, and Wenjing was told by his father to keep watch on him whenever he is the Duty Officer.

Under Wenjing and Pengju's supervision, Wenguo still has to train hard for his IPPT . After some pushing by his brother Wenjing, Wenguo managed to get Gold for his IPPT, and he secretly used the $200 award that he received to buy some illegal 5.56mm M16 rounds at Beach Road. Wenguo also noticed that an apparently fake model of the SFG was put up for sale at a cost of S$30, and decided to buy it to put on his shelf for display. When he reaches home, he was shocked when he realized that was a real grenade that can kill people! He decided to keep mum about his lucky find.

Wenzhong befriended Cheng Yi and the latter was revealed to be a gay as well. The homosexual relationship between the two men began soon after the revelation, but Picasso began to have doubts about his friend Cheng Yi. Picasso has the special power of sixth-sense, and he sensed that Cheng Yi is hiding something from everybody. He decided to end Cheng Yi's contract, much to Wenwei's dismay when she realises that her project would fail without Cheng Yi. Her mind snapped and she used a knife to injure Picasso, resulting in him being sent to a hospital. Picasso reported her to the police and Wenwei was arrested, awaiting bail. However, the police made a mistake - They thought Wenwei was a man, and sent her to stay in a cell with men! The police realised their mistake only after Wenwei insisted that the Prison Warden check her NRIC.

The Power of Fear and Uncertainty

Wenjing and a few other Commandos were sent to fight a dozen ninjas who were sighted in the forest. After failing to defeat Wenjing with even their great numbers, the ninjas jumped back and declared that they belong to the Reformed Al-Qaeda of Homosexual Rights. Then one of them cast a magic spell, in which suddenly a naked Ouyang Pei Pei materializes before Wenjing! Although Wenjing knew it is an illusion, he instantly got paralyzed by the sight of a naked woman. The rest of the Commandos have no choice but to help Wenjing to get away from the ninjas using smoke grenades and thus escaped successfully. Wenjing began to wonder who on earth are the Reformed Al-Qaeda of Homosexual Rights...

Back in camp, Wenjing finally managed to woo Pei Pei successfully after countless tries with undying patience and persistence. The Camp Commander gave orders for Wu Cheng Yi to enter camp without clearance, because he wanted Cheng Yi and the other contractors to fix the Air-conditioners and set up new PCs in his Office as fast as possible. Wenjing who heard of that from Wenguo, became unhappy. Although he knew that Cheng Yi is his friend, he still believes in doing everything by the book - Because that is the true spirit of the SAF . However, because he is only a Captain, he cannot do anything to dissuade the Commander, who is a Colonel in rank. Back at home, Wenjing's father Pengju, passed down to him a magnificent suit of Samurai armour, telling him that it is a powerful secret weapon that can be used only at the most critical moment.

Unknown to everyone yet, Cheng Yi began using his camera phone to take photos around the camp. When his camera phone was found out by Wenguo and is told to surrender at the Guardroom, Cheng Yi decided that bringing in a camera phone isn't such a good idea. One night, he sent a small dog that entered the camp without arousing any suspicions. The dog is actually a cyborg with bionic eyes and is remote-controlled to take photos. Cheng Yi controlled the dog around and it came across some classified documents which it started to take photos of... Cheng Yi then hires , and asked him to calculate the chances of demoralising Wenjing the Commando by showing him some shocking truth about his girlfriend Pei Pei. Yan Fei said that since Wenjing is a devoted man to love, he would slip into depression if the truth was revealed. Thus Cheng Yi decided to take this gamble...

As for Wenguo who happened to be guarding the gate, he saw Cheng Yi trying to leave the camp with a box of wires and what smells like gunpowder. Wenguo ignores the warning bells that were ringing in his head and lets Cheng Yi leave the camp, but yet during the night he was unable to go to sleep, his mind kept going back to the scene of Cheng Yi and his box... Picasso's sixth sense became stronger, and he fears that something big is going to happen in Singapore soon. His fears were confirmed when news of the Singapore Parliament's destruction by a terrorist rocked the entire nation. Wenjing decided to investigate after Wenguo told them about Cheng Yi something which smells like gunpowder, much to the objection of Pei Pei, who said that it is too dangerous. However, Wenjing convinced her, saying that he must find out the truth no matter the cost - It is the true spirit of the SAF. Wenzhong was shocked by Wenjing's intentions, and he secretly informed his lover Cheng Yi. Knowing that people are on his trail, Cheng Yi immediately decided to carry out his plan to destroy the Esplanade.

The Terrorist Saga

It is revealed from the stolen classified documents that Pei Pei herself is a classified top secret object: Pei Pei is actually a man, cross-dressed as a woman and sent by the Singapore government to replace the death of the real Pei Pei who died during a shootout with a few lackeys of Osama Bin Laden who illegally entered Singapore. The government's logic was that women officers cannot command soldiers well, so a "male Pei Pei" was commissioned to lead the soldiers without causing media attention. This Pei Pei is actually the brother of the original Pei Pei in disguise. A gloating Cheng Yi passed the classified documents regarding Pei Pei's true identity to Wenjing. Wenjing was devastated when he found out who Pei Pei really is. Despite the harsh truth revealed, Wenjing decided not to mess with the classified information of the Singapore Armed Forces - It is the true spirit of the SAF. He broke up with Pei Pei abruptly yet quietly, and resolved not to let his personal feelings get in his way of work, a true professional attitude.

Cheng Yi soon kidnapped Picasso to prevent him from leaking out his secret - He is actually Qusay Bin Laden, a technological genius and one of the illegitimate sons of the infamous terrorist Osama Bin Laden. He was one of the terrorists that planned and caused the September 11 tragedy in 2001. Later on, he underwent surgery to change his face, and came to Singapore with the false identity of Wu Cheng Yi. Qusay Bin Laden is the founder of The Reformed Al-Qaeda of Homosexual Rights, which aims to create a new haven for gays and lesbians in Singapore, where they would dominate and rule. Cheng Yi did not want to kill his good friend Picasso, instead leaving him in the care of the police before setting off for the Esplanade to blow it up. Wenzhong commited suicide after learning of Cheng Yi's true identity, and his family mourned for him, knowing that at least in heaven Wenzhong would find true peace.

After so much tragedy had occurred, Po Pengju cannot help but reveal his own secret to his sons and daughters, as well as his wife's sister, Liu Ya-mei : The real Pengju died many years ago of a broken heart after his wife died giving birth to Wenguo. The current Pengju is actually Zordon, the founder of the original Power Rangers. Zordon decided to retire from fighting the alien invasions and the supernatural, and conveniently possessed the body of Pengju to live a normal human life. That was why he was so indifferent to Ya-mei, who frequently drop hints about her love for him. Zordon regreted that he failed to bring up Wenzhong into a hetereosexual man, and also apologised to the family for having deceived them for so long. Zordon told Po Wenjing that the samurai armour he gave him earlier is his life's work - It is the morphing device for the ultimate Power Ranger.

Finale

A race against time to seek out and capture Cheng Yi, or Qusay Bin Laden, thus began. The authorities and Wenjing failed to find the cunning terrorist, and he successfully blew up the Esplanade. He passed a video to the Media, stating that if the Singapore government refuses to break their alliance with the United States of America on the War on Terrorism and also fail to legalise homosexual marriages, the future consequences will be worse than the destruction of the Esplanade. Intelligence officials managed to find out the location of Cheng Yi and his fellow terrorists: The island of Tekong. Thus the Army sent the Special Operation Forces, led by Wenjing, to deal with the terrorists. Wenjing swore to avenge his brother Wenzhong and the insult dealt to his beloved nation Singapore. Cheng Yi, who is now disguising himself in a heavy cloak, announces his deadliest plan yet - Complete destruction of Tekong with Nuclear weapons, where thousands of Army recruits would be staying there!

In Tekong, the Special Operation Forces were ambused by Cheng Yi's ninja warriors. While they were tackling the agile Ninjas, Wenjing himself headed straight for the forest, which is where Cheng Yi would plant and activate the Nuclear Bomb to wipe out all living things in the island. Wenjing managed to catch up with Cheng Yi, but it seemed too late. Cheng Yi shed his cloak, revealing that he has undergone a bizarre surgery, turning himself into a metallic cyborg that can into an aerial vehicle of some sort! Wenjing was unable to defeat this new Cheng Yi in his current form, and he retreated into a cave leaving the cyborg outside taunting and challenging him. Wenjing resorted to the gift that his foster father Zordon has given him: He took out the magnificent set of Samurai armour from his pack. He don the armour and transformed into a Samurai Power Ranger.

A fierce battle raged between the two super-powered beings, and Wenjing the Power Ranger turned out to be the victor, albeit with a little help from Wenguo who threw the grenade he bought at Cheng Yi to distract him, revealing his vulnerability: The at his chest. Wenjing then used the M16 and live rounds that Wenguo smuggled out of camp to shoot Cheng Yi at the chest and kill him before he could press the control to destroy Tekong. These heroic deeds made Wenjing and Wenguo into the headlines of the Straits Times. Wenguo was however sentenced to 3 months in the Detention Barracks for smuggling firearms out of the camp without permission, and thereafter the Camp Commander personally passed him the award for bravery.

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