Hero (2016 TV series): Difference between revisions

Hero (Chinese: 大英雄) is a Singaporean blockbuster drama produced and telecast on Mediacorp Channel 8, starring Shaun Chen, Chen Hanwei & HIM International Music artist, Jesseca Liu.It is shown on weekdays at 9pm.

Through the lives of Zhou Fada (Shaun Chen), Ye Xiaoying (Chen Hanwei) and Zhang Weixiong (Jesseca Liu), three ordinary characters who grew up in Dakota Crescent, a series of interesting, exciting and personal stories will unfold…

Zhou Fada, also known as Big Brother, is a man with a strong sense of justice, loyalty and compassion. He always takes into his hands the problems of his neighbors, wanting to help them in times of need. But because of his overzealous and reckless character, his good intentions often turn out to cause more trouble than help.

Ye Xiaoying is Fada’s uncle, who always dreams of achieving phenomenal success in life, but he never did live up to his dreams as he is essentially just a slacker. He is very good at keeping out of trouble, by tactically avoiding tricky situations. His motto in life is: A man’s greatest power is not his fists, but his tongue. He believes that being good with words can help one sail through career and relationships smoothly, but the fact is, his career and love affairs are almost always on the rocks.

Zhang Weixiong is a manly name, but the owner of the name is actually a cute girl. When her mother was pregnant with her, the ultrasound scan showed that it was a baby boy, so her father went to the fortune teller and got her this dashing manly name. Who would have expected that it was a baby girl! But they went along with the name “Wei Xiong” after all. Weixiong is just like her name; she has great ambitions and a gusty character, and people in the neighborhood see her as the future elite. Unfortunately, that is just her pretense. She is actually very timid and cowardly, but she believes that in order to survive in this dog-eat-dog world, you will have to “never say die”. So even though she is crumbling from fear inside, she would always put up a strong front, and her strong-headedness always gets her into trouble. If not for the help of Big Brother Fada, with this personality, she might have much consequences to suffer.

This three characters, together known as “The Great Hero”, are the three musketeers of the neighborhood, and from them, we will get to know many other members of Dakota Crescent, and also their inspiring, interesting and heart-warming stories.

Dakota Crescent is one of Singapore’s earliest HDB estates, built in 1958 by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), which preceded the HDB. In July 2014, it was decided that the housing estate would be redeveloped under the HDB's SERS scheme and all residents would have to relocate by 2016.^[1] This prompted a campaign by activists for its conservation,^[2] works of art to be created about it^[3][4] and also a spike in the amount of coverage given to Dakota Crescent by the media.^[5] Within weeks of the announcement by the HDB, Dakota Crescent drew considerable attention from many Singaporeans, amid which this drama series was produced.

This drama series was produced also as a means of kick-starting the commemoration of 35 years of Singapore-produced Chinese-language television in Singapore. As part of this, Mediacorp's famous Chinese-speaking comedy icons, such as Paris and Milan character Auntie Lucy (played by Dennis Chew) and Liang Po Po (played by Jack Neo) of Comedy Nite, will be making cameo appearances in this drama.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]}

Imaging sessions were done in end-April and early-May 2016, while the first scene was shot on 23 May.^[14][15] On 30 July 2016, in the nineteenth season of The Sheng Siong Show, it was also announced that Power Station will be performing the drama's ending theme. They were in Singapore to promote their "Next Station" world tour which will be held on 27 August.

A post screening session was conducted at Dakota Crescent's Care and Friends Centre. The cast of Hero - Shaun Chen, Jesseca Liu, Chen Hanwei, Bonnie Loo, Paige Chua, Ian Fang, Sheila Sim, Youyi, He Yingying, Aileen Tan, Brandon Wong and Jin Yinji were present. The first episode of the show was also broadcast there.

• The series consists of 30 episodes, and aired from 29 November 2016 to 9 January 2017.

• This will be Peter Yu's comeback drama series. He last acted in the Singapore-Hong Kong co-production Food For Life.
• He Yingying's channel 8 mandrin debut drama
• Shaun Chen, Jesseca Liu, Chen Hanwei and Youyi previously starred in Blessings (2014). Then, Shaun Chen was Chen Hanwei's younger "brother" and in love with Jesseca Liu, while Chen Hanwei was Youyi's admirer. For this drama, there is a reshuffle; Shaun Chen will still pair up with Jesseca Liu, while Chen Hanwei pairs up with Paige Chua, and Andie Chen pairs up with Youyi. Hence, this will be Shaun Chen and Jesseca Liu's second pair up after Blessings. Both Dramas Were Executive-Produced by Jasmine Woo.
• This will be Chen Hanwei, Paige Chua, Youyi, Jin Yinji and Wang Yuqing's second drama collaboration, after The Gentlemen.
• Chew Chor Meng, Pan Lingling, Dennis Chew, Ya Hui, Carrie Wong, Hong Ling, Chen Tianwen, Zhu Houren, Chen Hanwei, Sheila Sim, Sora Ma, Desmond Ng, Zhang Yaodong, Jeremy Chan, Brandon Wong and He Yingying were also involved in the concurrently-running 118 II, which also debuted on 29 November 2016, albeit as the primary characters in the series.
• Bonnie Loo sang 爱无所畏 and 落脚处 from Life - Fear Not, 未知数 from Tiger Mum, 守护你 from A Child's Hope, and 城里的月光 from Tofu Street in the show.
• Each time a cast member who is making a cameo appearance first appears, his/her real name will be displayed onscreen.
• Zhu Xiufeng is seen watching The Little Nyonya in episode 22.
• This is Shaun Chen, Paige Chua, Jin Yinji, Pan Lingling and Zhang Yaodong's second collaboration since Your Hand In Mine. In the series, Shaun Chen and Paige Chua played siblings while Jin Yinji played their grandmother.
• This is Jesseca Liu and Jeremy Chan's first collaboration since their relationship had gone public.
• This first episode did not feature a commentary for News Tonight, the 16th series where News Tonight commentaries are not announced, 2nd where episodes had News Tonight commentaries were not announced for certain episodes and the first where only 1 episode did not feature News Tonight Commentaries. .
• Executive-produced by Jasmine Woo, it is written by multi-Star Awards-winning scriptwriter Ang Eng Tee. It is set in Dakota Crescent, a public housing estate in Singapore, which has received widespread attention in the present day following a 2014 announcement for its demolition under the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS).
• The series was broadcast on the same day as 7.30pm drama 118 II.

Hero (2016 TV series) has the most nominations in Star Awards 2017. You Can Be An Angel 2, Fire Up, The Dream Job & C.L.I.F. 4 are nominated for Best Drama Serial . It only won 2 out of 9 awards.

The Star Awards are presented by Mediacorp.

• List of MediaCorp Channel 8 Chinese drama series (2014)
• List of Hero episodes