Critical Response
TVB had been promoting this series heavily, thus creating a huge hype for the series even before it began its run. An early premiere along the lines of Hollywood movie premieres was held on April 24, 2006 at the International Finance Centre Palace. Many refer to this series as the "War and Beauty II" due to its striking similarity of the cast (with the exception of Maggie Cheung and Sheren Tang, the latter allegedly due to contract disputes), most of the cast remained the same with the addition of Ada Choi and Maggie Shiu. Both productions also share the same producer Johnathon Chik. However, it is not a sequel or prequel and the storyline is completely different from the original War and Beauty.
Ratings report showed that the premiere episode broke the ratings record in recent years with an average of 36 points, which roughly translates to 2.31 million audiences. The second episode also maintained the same ratings. TVB, at the time, was confident the ratings of the series will continue to rise. However, the ratings began to fall flat following the next several weeks. Some believe that the premise of the show, which had two rival families constant bickering with each other, and the desert setting (which constantly produces a monochrome yellow color that was dramatically enhanced in Post-Production on TV), made the show somewhat tiresome. However, the ratings for all episodes were above 30 points, remarkable in Hong Kong standards.
Read more about this topic: The Dance Of Passion
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