Hakka shows for all
With the recent revival of Taiwanese movies, both film budgets and remunerations have increased, so that TV stations have needed to offer higher pay to attract talented cast, thus raising production costs. Huang Kuei-hui says that when she took over the program department, it cost roughly NT$800,000 to produce one episode of a series, but in less a decade, that cost has increased to NT$2 million. With the budget unchanged, only one series can be produced per year nowadays, when two or three were possible in the past.
As Huang notes, in the past shows on Hakka TV used to focus on stories about “Hakka people and Hakka affairs,” portraying the struggles of the Hakka people in Taiwan. For example, in the 2007 drama The Story of Hsu Pang-hsing, actor James Wen plays the eponymous Hakka doctor, said to be “the best surgeon in Taiwan”; Hsu was also the founder of Meiho Senior High School and an avid promoter of baseball in Taiwan.
However, over time, this emphasis on extolling the achievements of Hakka people tended to confuse people into assuming Hakka TV dramas were only meant for Hakka viewers. To break this stereotype, the station began to center its shows on specific issues to get non-Hakka viewers interested in Hakka serial dramas. In the 2010 campus youth drama The Kite Soaring, a group of high-school dropouts encounter a teacher who uses unconventional teaching methods. The series attempts to relate more to viewers and get them to dip their toes in the dramas offered on Hakka TV.
For those who have never been exposed to Hakka-language drama series, Huang Kuei-hui recommends starting with Long Day’s Journey into Light, which is set in a funeral home and explores issues of life and death. Everyone has experienced the passing of a loved one, and the actors in the show perfectly portray how we might react when saying goodbye to someone close to us. “A rather therapeutic work of art, the show resonates with viewers by getting them to draw from their own experiences, and find some solace in the process.” Huang states that shows on Hakka TV may not garner a lot of attention on the first airing, but the high-quality material and strong cast help the shows stay fresh and popular years after their releases. For example, according to a data analysis from online video platforms, Long Day’s Journey into Light has remained the most popular show from Hakka TV since its first airing in 2015 and there are constantly new viewers watching it.
Hakka TV hopes Light on a Cloudy Day can educate viewers about people with mental illnesses.