It’s an exciting time to be in Asia
The 17th Asian Television Awards (ATA) – together with the Asia Television Forum; Screen Singapore; PromaxBDA Asia; and numerous content conferences and summits – proudly welcomes you to Singapore. Among the many events, our ATA gala dinner and awards ceremony on December 6 remains the definitive place to be to toast the best in Asian television.
With 1,327 entries representing 13 Asian nations, including nearly 50 new entrants, ATA 2012 ranks as one of the most widely participated television competition this region has seen in 17 years. Three new awards – 2D animation, 3D animation, and a sports presenter award – will bring the tally of trophies up-for-grabs to 38, not including the coveted final four that will crown the best terrestrial channel/ broadcaster and the cable & satellite channel/ broadcaster of the year.
It’s a scary time to be in this world
If you’d believe the predictions surrounding the Mayan calendar, this will also be the final month of modern civilisation as we know it, which makes our awards show (possibly) the last major television event of the year? Who’d stay up and catch The Walking Dead then? Yikes…
If the unthinkable were to happen, it’ll be futile reading on – we should all be watching Doomsday Preppers on TV.
If, by some cosmic mistake, or fortune – the unthinkable DOES NOT happen, I bet we’d soon be watching a documentary entitled The Apocalypse That Did Not Come.
Television, as a medium and art form, does have a knack for documenting catastrophe; and morbidly enough, in brilliant technicolour! With glorious CGI! Plus full HD!
However, this year’s ATA finalists will demonstrate that it’s not all gloom and doom, but light and hope that garners ATA nods as well. Here are three from the list of finalists:
The Big Fat Reality, nominated for Best Documentary Programme, is a scientific investigation into unhealthy food that oozes not just fats, but a refreshing humour in its treatment; a departure from the usual string of disasters and tragedy that dominate this category. Taiwan’s Amazing Creatures, up for Best Natural History, tells us that in Taiwan there is one pig to every three human inhabitants, and shows us an annual “pig party” in Taichung where pampered pet pigs compete on a runway/ talent show. Lastly, No. 37 Huafushan (Taiwan), contesting the Best Direction award, shows us that severe muscular dystrophy is no obstacle to playing the sport of floor boccia. Its lead character, 23-year-old Zhang Zi-Wei, wastes away while the only permanence is the perpetual smile he wears on his face. So no, documenting apocalypses is not the industry’s raison d’être.
The show behind the Show
In other news, there’s now plenty of drama behind the most coveted live sports event without having to reach for the TV remote.
Bidding for the next three seasons of the Barclays Premier League (English Premier League) had yielded upsets upon upsets across the region. Hong Kong’s now TV (PCCW) secured rights over rival Cable TV (i-Cable). Astro has renewed its deal for Malaysia (no surprise there) which had made rivals Telekom Malaysia and newbie Asian Broadcasting Network upset, upset, upset. Thailand’s four-way battle has resulted in a surprise win for CTH (Cable Thai Holding) which has rendered the incumbent TrueVisions upset, upset, upset. Also, Singapore’s Singtel has secured its BPL throne once again against the incumbent StarHub which has made StarHub subscribers – you guess it – upset, upset, upset. My opinion piece will explain how the last deal, a non-exclusive one, has become the cause of more grief than had it been exclusive.
For all the upsets, and the associated drama, television remains here to stay. Cliché, I know. Television creeps into our homes, hangs on our walls, pops up surreptitiously on our tablets, beeps from our mobile devices, begging to be clicked, heard, seen and savoured. Notwithstanding end of the world prophecies, the zombie apocalypse, and the war of vampires that have invaded big screens, I look forward to seeing more quality fare from network heads, commissioning editors, producers and creative talents from Asia that’ll have us laugh, cry, cheer, and yell all at once – provided the end of the world does not dawn upon us first!
