Portrait of Home
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Portrait of Home (同心圆) is a Chinese drama serial which was filmed for and broadcast on Singapore's MediaCorp Channel 8.
The show has 100 episodes with two parts, the first with 60 episodes and the second with 40 episodes. It stars veteran Hong Kong actress Li Siqi who acted in Kindred Spirit, Richard Low, Adrian Pang in his first attempt in a Chinese speaking series, Pierre Png, Xiang Yun, Cynthia Koh, Felicia Chin, Apple Hong, San Yow, Terence Cao, Cavin Soh, Zhang Yaodong, Zhang Wenxiang, Chen Shucheng, Priscelia Chan, Jesseca Liu and Wang Yuqing.
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[edit] Plot
The show is about a family who runs a fish ball factory, with six sons. Li Tian (Li Siqi) has been married twice, with three sons from the first marriage and another three from the second marriage, who is Lin Shitou (Richard Low). Her first husband supposedly "died", but he ran away with his loved one and make a fake kidnap attempt. In order not to upset Li Tian too much, Shitou lied to Li Tian that Zhou Dong (Chen Shucheng) is dead. Three years later, Li Tian and Shitou got married and had three sons together. Li Tian builds an apartment block for the family. The building has 7 units, one for herself and her husband, and six others for each of her sons when they get married. If they do not move in at the time of marriage, the apartment will be forfeited.
Daqiu, the stepson of Shitou caused his own stepfather's death. Daqiu himself obtained power as the new CEO of the family-run fishball factory. Although seemingly heartless and without a conscience, Daqiu eventually have many nightmares about Shitou returning to haunt him, which hints that he may have developed schizopriena. Several misadventures carried on, resulting in Daqiu losing his post to Xinmin, a feminist and cousin to Daiqu who hates him to the core for intending to seduce her, and thus planned a successful coup of Daqiu's position.
Shortly after Xinmin's coup, she showed her own incompetence to the family by selling the company to somebody else. It wasn't easy, but due to a miraculous twist of fate, the company was eventually saved by a family friend. A fake Zhou Dong turned up and at the same time turned the family upside down as well. This resulted in the deaths of Zhou Dong's obnoxious mistress, who caused her own well-deserved death by fighting with the fake Zhou Dong, and also indirectly making Xinmin kick Daqiu's groin until he became impotent. Furious, Daqiu tried to kill his half-brother, Dayang for annoying him along with everyone who listened to his down-syndrome speech. Unfortunately, Daqiu had a change of heart, saving Dayang along with the factory.
In the end, Dayang surprisingly became the new CEO of the fishball company Tong Xin Yuan, while Daqiu, unable to withstand this humiliation, drive across the bridge where he accidentally killed his own stepfather, and accidentally fall off into the river himself, implying that he died in the same manner as his stepfather.
[edit] Audience Reaction
Throughout the time the show ran, it was met with significant negative response by many of those who watched family dramas. Many cite that the show was a mere rehash of older and better shows like Hong Kong TVB's Kindred Spirit, that the plot was boring and predictable, and that the characters were much more annoying than charismatic. As a fact, no other family drama produced by Mediacorp so far has received so much negative response.[citation needed] When season 2 aired, it was met with the same response. Despite this, a few actors/actresses in the show received awards in recognition of their work.
[edit] Awards
In Star Awards 2005, Portrait of Home received 6 nominations and 2 awards. Cavin Soh won the Best Supporting Actor award and Yvonne Lim won the Best Supporting Actress award (she was also nominated for the Best Actress award).
Adrian Pang was nominated for Best Actor, but lost to Chen Hanwei. Cynthia Koh was nominated for Beat Actress, but lost to Huang Biren. Jesseca Liu was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, but lost to Yvonne Lim. The show was also nominated for Best Drama Serial, but lost to A New Life.
