[Hong Kong TVB Drama 2012] Master of Play 心戰

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Details:
Title: 心戰 / Sum Jin
English title: Master of Play
Producer: Jonathan Chik Kei Yi
Genre: Magic, Mystery, Suspense
Episodes: 30
Production Company: TVB
Broadcast period: May 21 (Replacing Gloves Off 拳王) 
Cast:
Adam Cheng (鄭少秋)
Moses Chan (陳豪)
Maggie Shiu (邵美琪)
Kenny Wong ( 黃德斌)
Aimee Chan (陳茵媺)
Rebecca Chan (陳秀珠)
Lily Ho (何傲兒)
Helen Ma
Rachel Kan (簡慕華)
Stephen Hoh 
Synopsis:
Stage play actor KAN SIU NAM (Adam Cheng) went through a huge personality change after his daughter went missing for several years and ends up divorcing his wife MOK LAI HING (Rebecca Chan). Since then, SIU NAM concentrated entirely on his theater acting job. Due to his role as a murderer in one of the plays, he was drawn into a strange serial killer case and accidentally meets his colleague LEE CHOR KIU's (Maggie Siu) boyfriend JEUNG SAI YIN (Moses Chan) and his sister JEUNG SAI TING (Aimee Chan). During their interactions, SIU NAM noticed YIN was very similar to the serial killer suspect and had an abnormal feeling towards TING. The relationship of the four individuals seem controversial. When SIU NAM wanted to clarify the truth to the serial killer case, he realizes he's getting further and further away from the truth. His sense of conceivability gets even more shuddering and disappointing... 
Trailer: http://youtu.be/-AJPuhaA9aE

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Source: Mingpao, CSM

Translated by: aZnangel @ http://asianuniverse.net/forums/

TVB Rating Reports (21/05/2012 - 27/05/2012){103 complaints}

Dramas

House of Harmony and Vengeance - 耀舞長安 (EPS 16-20) - 29 PTS

Master of Play - 心戰 (EPS 01-05) - 27 PTS (Peaking @ 30 PTS)

Come Home Love - 愛．回家 (EPS 06-10) - 24 PTS

Variety Shows

Battle Of The Senses - 五覺大戰 (EP 12) - 28 PTS

Master So Food - 食得峰騷 (EP 06) - 24 PTS

Number Matters - 700萬人的數字 (WEEKDAYS) - 21 PTS

(CSM Media Research: 1 point represents 64,070 viewers)

Master of Play Complaints

- Broadcasting Authority (BA) received a total of 92 complaints during the premiere week. Combined with TVB, the first week's complaints totaled 103. Episode 01, 25 complaints; Episode 02, 30 complaints.

- TVB received 11 complaints on the disturbing bloody, violent and terrifying scenes.

- TVB received 3 compliments that the series reflects human nature; a thoughtful production with great effort put into it; a creative and innovative idea.

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'Master of Play' loses 20K viewers and ratings dropped in the second week
Monday June 4, 2012 Hong Kong
Source: Mingpao
Translated by: aZnangel @ http://asianuniverse.net/forums/

TVB series Master of Play produced by the creators of When Heaven Burns Jonathan Chik and Chow Yuk Ming had already stirred up controversies even before its broadcast. There were nearly 100 complaints on the premiere week and that did not help the ratings at all. On the second week, the ratings dropped to 24 points, losing about 20,000 of the housewife audience. (The premiere week averaged at 27 points)

Initially both Master of Play (MOP) and When Heaven Burns (WHB) were suspected to have implications to the Tianamen Incident of 1989 (June 4th Incident), but TVB denied. Yesterday morning, writer Chow Yuk Ming expressed on Weibo that the ending scene, 'balance through space', was an implication of his feelings on the June 4th Incident. However, a part of his Weibo entry got 'river-crabbed' (censored) by Weibo administrators.

When MOP first started broadcasting, there were already several murder, suicide and terrifying bloody scenes, which was disturbing to audience. On the first week, the Broadcasting Authority received a total of 92 complaints, and TVB received 11 complaints. Although not much happened during the second week, the BA still received 13 complaints, and the ratings rapidly dropped 3 points compared to last week. Many family audience criticized that the complicated storyline is hard to understand. However, there are also a large group of supporters as well, expressing the depth of the storyline is worth pondering over and that Adam Cheng's performance is outstanding.

Yesterday on Weibo, Chow Yuk Ming revealed the meaning to WHB's final scene. What the final scene conveyed is the message of "What If", bringing out his feelings towards the June 4th Incident. Chow wrote: "The meaning to WHB's finale scene is 'What If'... If that night, the authorities chose to forgive and opened up, then perhaps today there would be less national per capita income, but I believe we'll be mentally richer; Perhaps there is a lack of aircraft carriers, but I believe there would be higher international status; Perhaps we would eat less, but I believe we would be eating more peacefully; Perhaps children lack advanced technologies to play with, but inevitably have longer life... all this, is the 'what ifs' I have on that night."

Chow had another part in his Weibo entry, but it got 'river-crabbed': "The gossips in history is often a frail matter, simply too easy to bury, modify and forget. Please everyone remember this, must grasp the future, we need more understanding of the past. Tonight Mainland Weibo friends, I truly hope you all can see this paragraph of mines." A Netizen told Chow to wait until MOP finish broadcasting before commenting, otherwise the series may get banned again. He denounced the Netizen's ignorance. 

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Source: Mingpao
Translated by: aZnangel @ http://asianuniverse.net/forums/

TVB Rating Reports (04/06/2012 - 10/06/2012)

Dramas
House of Harmony and Vengeance - 耀舞長安 (EPS 26-30 END) - 29 PTS (Peaking at 35 PTS)

Master of Play - 心戰 (EPS 11-15) - 23 PTS 

Special
UEFA Euro 2012 Live - 歐洲國家盃2012全城起動 (FRIDAY) - 16 PTS 

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Source: Apple Daily
Translated by: aZnangel @ http://asianuniverse.net/forums/

TVB Rating Reports (11/06/2012 - 17/06/2012)

Dramas:
No Good Either Way - 衝呀！瘦薪兵團 (EPS 01-05) - 28 PTS

Master of Play - 心戰 (EPS 16-20) - 24 PTS

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Source: Mingpao
Translated by: aZnangel @ http://asianuniverse.net/forums/

TVB Ratings Report (25/06/2012 - 01/07/2012)

Dramas
No Good Either Way - 衝呀！瘦薪兵團 (EPS 11-15) - 28 PTS

Tiger Cubs - 飛虎 (EP 02 SUNDAY) - 28 PTS

Master of Play - 心戰 (EPS 26-30 END) - 25 PTS (Peaking at 30 PTS)

Come Home Love - 愛．回家 (COMING SOON...)

Complaints
- 'Master of Play' received a total of 122 complaints during its entire run, 9 of them were complaints on the finale week.
- 'Tiger Cubs' dropped 1 point, and received 2 complaints for the smoking scenes and that the broadcast was too late at night.

Note
- Witness Insecurity (護花危情) premiere (Monday 7/2) received 30 points, peaking at 31 points. 

[Guest Bby-GIE]

This had the worst ending ever.

My parents absolutely hated watching this cause they didn't know what was going on.
For me, it wasn't that bad. I felt pretty awesome when I guessed correctly what was happening.  XD