,
58 tweets,
7 min read
Read on Twitter
There was some interest in the thread of excerpts from my old notes on Singapore television, which I posted last night.
A wish for an English translation was made. So that wish shall be granted. It may take a while though...
In 1979, then-PM Lee Kuan Yew launched the Speak Mandarin Campaign.
Henceforth, unauthorized broadcasting of dialect content on television was prohibited across the board.
This led to a sharp rise in the cost of importing TV drama content, due to the need to get the shows dubbed in Mandarin.
At the same time, rapid economic growth in the 1970s and a higher standard of living meant public appetite for TV content increased.
Two major developments took place in the Hong Kong television scene.
One was the collapse of Commercial Television in 1978. The other was the ownership transfer of Rediffusion Television in 1981 & 1982.
These two incidents allowed Singapore Broadcasting Corporation to attract many TV production talents from Hong Kong.
Of these, the quartet of Leong Lap Yan, Kong Lung (Jiang Long), Man Shu Sum and Au Yuk-sing had the most significant contributions.
In March 1983, SBC aired its first locally-made multi-episode Chinese TV drama production.
This was 《新兵小传》 (Army Series), which was based on the life of Singapore's National Servicemen.
The series was six episodes long, a number that may seem trivial to present-day TV watchers, but was considered a big deal at the time.
The first two batches of Star Search contestants went on to fare well in the industry.
As a result, Star Search became the primary way new artistes would be acquired. Actor training classes also quietly ceased in the 1990s.
Which was the cause and which was the effect? It is hard to tell, but it was certainly true that times had noticeably changed.
Top executives from Hong Kong's TVB attended the second Star Awards ceremony in 1995.
The TVB guests expressed approval of Singapore's decision to have such an awards ceremony.
Two years later, TVB's annual celebration show, which had been running since 1968, featured an awards ceremony segment for the first time.
The Singapore television scene had a history of learning and modelling itself after what was done in Hong Kong.
Thus, for it to do something that would later be emulated by its Hong Kong counterparts was indeed an uncommon sight.
Channel U, a new channel under SPH MediaWorks, had many courageous innovations in TV drama production.
Channel U took a clearly different path from the established MediaCorp style with its programming.
Examples include partially forum-based TV show OK No Problem, and heavyweight-anchored drama series 《胜券在握》 (Cash Is King).
Other shows like 《独家头条》 (Making Headlines), 《天伦》 (Together Whenever) and 《易心人》 (Changing Lane) also stood out.
The reasons for this were the creativity in terms of content ideas and the sensitive treatment given to plot development.
MediaCorp's attitude soon after the re-merger with MediaWorks seemed much like before.
In terms of TV drama production and development, MediaCorp showed few signs of continuing the creative spirit shown by MediaWorks.
It wasn't until MediaCorp's Channel U aired 《一切完美》 (Perfect Cut) in 2008 that fans saw something that resembled a MediaWorks work.
Perfect Cut was not an in-house MediaCorp production, but one made by external production company WaWa Pictures.
Historically, Singaporean TV dramas have on occasion seen the participation of foreign artistes.
Examples include Malaysian singer Auguste Kwan Teck Hooi, Hong Kong's Michelle Yim, Taiwan's Jin Chao-chun and China's Cao Jun.
As early as the 1980s, Singaporeans had been exposed to Japanese TV drama shows.
Probably the most iconic examples were sports-themed show 《排球女将》 (Moero ATTACK) and long-running show 《阿信》 (Oshin).
These shows could be imported to Singapore because they had already been dubbed into Mandarin overseas, often in Taiwan.
As for Korean dramas, they broke into the Singapore market at the turn of the millennium.
The most symbolic Korean drama show was Autumn In My Heart, the first of four dramas in the Endless Love collection.
The earliest Korean dramas brought into Singapore tended to have high production aesthetics and emotionally powerful story development.
Because of this, Korean dramas quickly captured the hearts of viewers, especially female viewers.
The popularity of Japanese and Korean dramas did not lead to a clear rise in local TV drama standards.
In this writer's humble view, the reasons can be discerned from two aspects: script development and show production.
The Japanese TV industry pays great attention to the work done by screenwriters.
Successful screenwriters such as Shinji Nojima, Eriko Kitagawa and Yasushi Fukuda are able to enjoy high status and command respect.
Korea may not similarly grant screenwriters like Oh Soo-yun and Kim Yeong-hyeon such acclaim, but the quality of their work is truly high.
(Additional note: Oh wrote Autumn In My Heart and co-wrote All About Eve, while Kim wrote Jewel In The Palace and Queen Seondeok.)
Similarly, in terms of production, Japanese and Korean directors and creatives stand out.
They show a combination of great courage, sensitivity to detail and a serious, dedicated attitude to their craft, winning public acclaim.
On the whole, Singaporean TV watchers and critics tend to watch drama shows for the actors.
The roles of screenwriters and behind-the-scenes production crew are not given enough emphasis. There is much room for improvement here.
The Chinese Drama Unit was created in 1982, while English series Masters of the Sea aired in 1994.
The twelve years in between can be said to be a virtual blank for the world of Singaporean English TV dramas.
The reasons for this are not in the scope of this paper, but one thing is clear about enthusiasm for locally-produced English TV dramas.
Whether in the days of mid-1990s TCS or after TCS became MediaCorp, interest in English dramas always lagged behind Chinese dramas.
Local TV stations do produce Malay or Tamil TV dramas from time to time.
There may not be much in terms of quantity, but these Malay and Tamil shows do provide entertainment for our non-Chinese folks.
Malay TV dramas deserve special mention, as Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia are fairly similar languages.
As such, Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean TV fans find themselves in a position to follow what's being made in all three countries.
So, yes, that's what I tweeted last night. These are not all the notes had, though, just a sampling.
