The year in rewind
> It has been an interesting 2015 with Asian versions of hit television shows debuting
WATCHING TV has got a lot more interesting with service providers such as Astro offering On Demand services.
There are also new players in the TV content market but it remains to be seen if they will be a force to be reckoned with.
Astro has been bringing in programming that premieres at the same time as the US and the UK, which is great for fans of The Walking Dead (Fox) and Game of Thrones (HBO).
That had allowed Game of Thrones fans here to scream in anguish: “John Snow is dead!!!” at the same time as fans in the US at the shocking season 5 finale.
Now, months later, the same fans get to see him come back to life at the same time on the promotional trailer for season 6.
Making their Asian debut this year are hit makeover series How Do I Look? and amateur cooking contest Masterchef.
The US edition of How Do I Look? was a huge hit among fans of the Diva channel as they watched host Jeannie Mai help out fashion victims.
How Do I Look Asia? hosted by Sazzy Falak, however, was a destitute cousin. Sazzy was fun but the show became less about the women who needed makeovers and more about product placement. They all left with great hairstyles though.
As for the eagerly-anticipated MasterChef Asia, we never got to see any screening or audition process. We had to take the judges’ word that the final 15 were the best homecooks in Asia. But watching most of them in action, you know that is not true.
Again, a heavily-sponsored show but thankfully, most of it was kept to the ad breaks. Too bad nobody cared that Malaysia’s Marcus Low was robbed of the title.
From Hollywood, we had another attempt at a limited series run after the huge success of 24: Live Another Day last year.
This time around, it was with Heroes Reborn, a 13-episode “event mini-series”.
While 24 (with Keifer Sutherland) ended on a high note, making the limited series return something of a television event, Heroes ended badly despite a very promising first season that made stars of actors Zachary Quinto, Hayden Panettiere, Masi Oka, Milo Ventimiglia and Sendhil Ramamurthy.
Heroes Reborn has a mostly new cast, except for some original characters such as Noah Bennett (played by Jack Coleman).
Too bad the villain is nowhere near as memorable as Quinto’s Skylar in the original series.
On the upside, Quantico, a series about FBI recruits starring Bollywood superstar and former Miss World Priyanka Chopra as an agent framed for a bombing, turned out to be pretty engrossing with its many twists and flashbacks.
The show also feature Tate Ellington, Johanna Braddy and Yasmine Al Massri who play characters with interesting backstories. The series just aired its mid-season finale and will be back next year.
Other series still going strong are The Walking Dead (Season 6), Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (season 3), NCIS (season 13), Sleepy Hollow (season 3), Empire (Season 2) and American Horror Story: Hotel.
Shows like Bones and Scandal are showing signs of losing their momentum. At least we don’t have to contend with Revenge any more.
We also bid goodbye to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which ended its run after 15 seasons with a not-so-great two-hour finale Immortality, that brought back most of its original cast members.
America’s Next Top Model also bid us adieu after Cycle 22 that saw hearing-impaired contestant Nyle DiMarco win.