TVB: A Taste of Bachelorhood (1987)

TVB Cantonese series: A Taste of Bachelorhood (1986-1987)
No. of episodes: 20
Cast:
Lawrence Ng Kai Wah - Heung Tan
Teresa Mo Shun Kwan - Natasha Seung Ah Moon
Yammie Lam Kit Ying - Khoo Tung Tung
Kwok ? ? - Kee Seng Chan
Kiki Sheung Tin Ngor - Heung Cheng
Francis Ng Chan Yu - Kai
Lau Mei Kuen - Heung Tung
Ha Peng - Mrs Heung
Leung Kit Wah - Annie

I remembered watching this series on video tape since young; and I could not remember the number of times I have run through this entire drama of 20 episodes.
My first TVB drama? I am not sure; but you can say that pretty much as well.
I spent my first few nights at the beginning of each school holidays watching this drama...yeah, I've lost count of the number of times I've watched it but the point is, I love this series.

It is realistic and so close to everyday lives and yet, I love the family melodrama which provided the twists and turns.
I felt so comfortable that I felt like I was practically in the drama!~

All the hoo-ha about a bachelor's story.


This series is about Heong Tan (Lawrence Ng Kai Wah) who was the only son and the middle son of 5 siblings.
A pretty common scenario?
Well, Tan was an elevator engineer and the interesting part is this guy is still a bachelor despite his good character and personality. He does not even have any vices and yet, he has never been in a relationship.
His mother especially starts to worry about him when his 4th sister; the 2nd youngest in the family gets married.
According to Chinese traditions, when a younger sibling marries before the elder sibling (particularly if the elder is a brother), the younger sibling needs to buy him a pair of trousers and this pair of trousers is to be hung at the main door for the newly weds to walk under when they walk through the house.
Heung Cheng (Kiki Sheung Tin Ngor) was the 4th sister who was getting married and she plots with her mother (Ha Peng) to introduce her circle of girl friends to her brother and set them up on dates.

Tan was not up for the idea, but being the nice guy he is, he obliged when his sister and mother set him up with this girl, Annie (Leung Kit Wah) whom he went on a date out of spite after his new secretary whom he crossed path with landed him into another sticky incident. (she accidentally caused his hand to stick on top of a drawer and he had to carry the drawer to his sister's wedding..haha:)

Anyway, the thing with Annie didn't work out and Tan told his family to get off his back on the relationship as he wanted things to take its course naturally.
Then out of the blue, Tan bumps into Khoo Tung Tung (Yammie Lam Kit Ying) at the harbor side walk, he finds himself looking forward to meeting her that he even went to the extent of waiting for her each day at this exact same location, but to no avail.


When he was about to give up, he found out that the girl he had been dreaming of was the foster sister of his best friend, Kee Seng Chan.



It was not long before Tan started going out with Tung Tung and it was a blissful relationship; at least in the beginning for Tan.

Unbeknown to him, his secretary whom he used to have a bad impression of due to her appearance and the earlier mentioned incident (they used to have conflict in the beginning but after some time, the duo became really friendly with each other) started to develop a crush on him.

At the same time, Tan and Natasha Seung Ah Moon (Teresa Mo Shun Kwan) were getting really close to each other especially after her brother helped her on makeover. She started to look really sweet and feminine.


Tung Tung was getting unreasonable and her sudden tempers are starting to get on Tan's nerves.




In fact, she even accuses Tan and Moon of their secret affairs and this was the final straw for Tan who finally suggested for break up when he also realized he had fallen in love with the understanding and gentle Moon.




Tung Tung was of course, furious but after some time, she came to her senses and realized that love cannot be forced.

She then turns her attention to her foster brother, Chan who was a philandering playboy but turned good when they embarked on a relationship.

It was all a good ending, and Tan and Moon got married and they moved into the new house which Tan inherited from his granduncle.
On their wedding night, the roof broke when the kid jumped out of joy on the building top:)

It was a really light-hearted and warm comedy type of drama.
Tan's story was the main plot of the entire series but at the same time, his life was intertwined with the other people in his life and the whole story also revolved around their lives.

Tan's parents - constantly showing their parental love for their only son.
Ha Peng as his mother was playing the motherly role where she fusses and worries about her son's relationship and also the lives of her daughters.
The father who worked as a nail specialist in a unisex hair salon was really understanding and supportive of all the children decision.

In fact, he rarely meddled in their lives and the only time he really got made was when his daughters fought over who should inherit the house and also when the 2nd daughter Nam lost all the money for the house renovation in a gamble.


Eldest sister, Heung Cho was a taxi driver and she married her husband who was a security guard in residential flats.

They had a 7-year old son, Suen Chai and they were staying in a rented low-cost flat.
Cho, being the eldest and also a frugal wife, was always looked up as the role model by all her siblings and feared by her own son in her strict upbringing ways. She was also a really careful spender and kept all the family's expenditure in close supervision.
She got really mad when her husband, after promotion, spent a fortune treating his colleagues to dinner.

Second sister, Heung Nam, works in a bank and married husband Cheung Pak Chuen who was a car salesman.

Nam was more of a materialistic woman who constantly wants to live the lives of the rich and famous. She even went as far as to gamble big with the rich women and landed herself in huge debts which even put her family and her marriage at stake when the debtors came to her house.
She had lost all the money the family entrusted her to pay to the contractors for the house's renovation and that angered the whole family who had been working hard to earn the money. In fact, her husband wanted to divorce her when he lost his job after the debtors caused trouble for him at his workplace.
Anyway, there was a happy ending for them too when they got back together after they realized that they loved each other very much.

4th sister, Heung Cheng ran a lingerie stall with husband Kai (Francis Ng Chan Yu).

Initially she despised the idea of selling lingerie and also to stay with her mother-in-law in a low-cost flat. Then she moved in with Nam and after that, they bought their own place where they were cheated of the measurements. The house turned out to be super small and cracks started to appear in their marriage when they started to bicker over small issues.
Kai also didn't want to have children in the first 5 years and had Cheng on the pill; however, Cheng intentionally missed a few rounds and got herself pregnant which angered him.

Unknown to him, Cheng did it due to the benign tumor found in her womb and since Kai was the only son in his family, she decided to go ahead and bear the child despite being misunderstood all the time.
In the end, Kai realized the sacrifice Cheng made and appreciated her more,; in fact, it was good news that Cheng's tumor was benign and removed thereafter.

Youngest sister, Heung Tung was working in a tour agency in the beginning where she lost her job when her company just closed overnight.

Then she found a new job in a bridal agency and then got involved in a relationship with a guy who was supposed to get married but canceled when he and his supposed to be wife got into a misunderstanding at the bridal shop.

A twist of events led to Tung and this guy, Cheng Seng (Romeo in English) getting together.

At the same time, Tung was the object of affection of her neighbor; who was a physio therapist at a hospital and helping his father out at the local bakery.

When Tung was robbed at her flat, Cheng Seng thought she was raped and they broke up and Tung ended up with the baker's son who was a great man (much better choice).

He was such a romantic who celebrates monthly-versary with her...awwwwww....so sweeet!!~

Tung was the underrated daughter in the family and somehow her mother always do not seem to have much preference for her. In fact, she almost always need to reuse all her siblings' stuffs.

Seung Ah Moon, on the other hand also had a her own story.
Her first boyfriend was Sam Sa Cha (Kwok Fung) who worked in a factory and the two led a very mundane and routine relationship.
Each morning will be sandwiches while waiting at the bus stop to get to work and then lunch boxes at the Central area.

They will watch movies on certain days and have dinners at Cha's place. Everything was as scheduled and Cha soon got bored. He chose to go to the Philippines to expand his career and they broke up. Moon was devastated and when she finally picks her life up again, she starts to develop feelings for her boss, Tan whom she initially crossed paths with. The story was that Moon misunderstood Tan as a guy who was a playboy as she saved him from being robbed in a brothel. Actually Tan was only there to send his old school friend home but the poor guy ended up being misunderstood.
Moon soon found him to be her new boss and she was prepared for a hard time ahead as his secretary. However, through a series of events, they ended up as good friends although Moon was slightly jealous when she found that Tan was dating Tung Tung. She was so comical when Tung Tung came to the office and she started to look at her from head to toe and kept on rolling the toilet paper roll:D
After she decided to give up on Tan, her younger brother who had graduated from US came back to look for a job.
The family were in for a shock when they found out that he didn't get his supposedly IT degree but he switched to hairstyling degree. She was badly hit as she had been saving and looking like a haggled witch because of her only brother.

Soon, her brother helped her on a makeover and she won the heart of Tan with her charms.
When things were going great in her life, Cha came back from the Philippines and tried to win her back again. He even brought back her philandering father who left them since young for a woman in the Philippines.

The family eventually reconciled and Moon married Tan, the love of her life.




My favorite scenes from the series, or some memorable quotes:
Ah Pin (Moon's best friend): All guys are pin tai geh (insane)

Moon and Cha were going out on a date and she went in to change. When she came out
Cha: Eh, I thought you wanted to change?
Moon: I did...the earlier blouse was without a bow tie here...this one has.

Moon: I must YAN, YAN, YAN, YAN YAN!!! (persevere)

Cheng found out she has tumor and told her eldest sister, Cho about it.
At the coffee house,
Cho: Ladies always have to face all the bad things....worry about whether the husband is good or not, worry about the children is good or not, worry about fertility...always have to worry here and there (sobs)
Cheng: Please, my dear sis, I am the one with the tumor, not you!

Nam and her husband are constantly suspicious of each other's personal savings
Nam: Now, let's be really really honest yea...how much do you have?
Husband tells the amount and then Nam tells. When the amount is insufficient,
Nam: Now, this time, seriously, really serious....how much do you really really have?


It was a really interesting series and I can never get bored of watching this over and over again.

In fact, I am now looking for the full set DVD, do let me know if you know where they're selling it:)