Can't Buy Me Love (TV series)

Set during the Tang dynasty of China, Can't Buy Me Love tells the story of the Third Princess, Princess Chiu Yeung (Charmaine Sheh), of the Tang Emperor (Samuel Kwok), who is beautiful but very unreasonable, and, as such, no one wants to marry her.

The Kam family is the largest gold manufacturer in the grand capital Chang'an, but because they are deceived, the business runs into troubles. The second son of the Kam family Kam Tuo Luk (Moses Chan) has to marry the Third Princess to save the family business, because then they will have the right to manufacture gold pieces for the Tang Palace, the Third Princess only agreeing to the marriage because otherwise she would be married off to the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo, as schemed by the evil Concubine Wei (Kara Hui).

The Princess brings lots of servants to the Kam family after marrying Kam Tuo Luk, and constantly comes into conflict with the members of the Kam family (Lee Heung Kam, Susanna Kwan, Louis Yuen, Raymond Wong Ho-yin). The Princess brings Szeto Ngan Ping (Fala Chen), with her to the Kam family, who has been awarded "Best Servant" by the Concubine Dowager Chui (Susan Tse) and later became wife of Ding Yau Wai (Kenneth Ma).

The Princess originally decides to leave the house, but when she misunderstands that the Kam family speaks negatively of her, she stubbornly stays. Later, she and Kam Tuo Luk fall in love. When the Kam family is convicted of a capital offence, she divorces Kam Tuo Luk to secretly save the Kam family.

After the huge success of Beyond the Realm of Conscience, the filming of a similarly set costume drama comedy was announced. Can't Buy Me Love was featured in the TVB 2010 sales presentation clip, which was released shortly after the TVB Awards Presentation, and became a highly anticipated drama of 2010 in Hong Kong.

The drama became popularly compared to Beyond the Realm of Conscience due to its extremely similar lavish costumes and sets, cast members, and close time period (both set during the Tang dynasty of China). They were also compared to as Can't Buy Me Love also had links with the Tang imperial palace, though it had far more scenes out of the palace. It has also been widely and popularly named the indirect sequel (although it should really be a prequel, due to it being set during Taizong's reign) to the other drama, despite their entirely different genres (Can't Buy Me Love being a romance/comedy, while Beyond the Realm of Conscience being a historical palace epic). The two series share the same producer, Mui Siu Ching.

To capture the grandeur of the Tang dynasty, custom-made elaborate costumes and sets were created for the series, resembling those of Beyond the Realm of Conscience in a comical way. Elaborate costumes have been made for grand series produced by TVB in the past, especially costume dramas such as War and Beauty, The Charm Beneath and others. Costumes highly resembling those of the latter include those of the members of the Imperial Household Bureau and personal maids. Other costumes also greatly reminded the audience. A costume fitting was held on 17 December 2009 at 12:30 pm in Hong Kong, in front of the Shaolin Temple in TVB City's Ancient Street, Tseung Kwan O, with most of the cast members attending.

Especially grand was Charmaine Sheh's wedding ceremony headgear. A blessing ceremony was held for Can't Buy Me Love on 26 February 2010. The heavy headwear proved to be difficult for the cast; it resulted in injuries and discomforts for the members of the cast during filming. Television Broadcasts Limited created a lot of hype prior to the release of the series, having numerous news on the progress of the series' filming published on TVB Weekly magazine and letting out news on the filming progress.

The filming completed in April 2010. Three official trailers were released near the date of release, the first making a parody out of Beyond the Realm of Conscience. Malaysia's Astro on Demand channel also showed previews of the drama. Because of the drama's high ratings during the early episodes (the series reportedly managed to gain a peak of 36 points in its first few episodes; a celebration event was promised if the drama reached over 30 points in viewership ratings during its first week of broadcast), a celebration party was scheduled.

However, because of the hostage-taking incident in The Philippines, the celebration event was cancelled, due to the tragedy, the Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority received complaints for a comedy being aired at a tragic time.

The television series is a romantic comedy costume drama, featuring lavish costumes and sets intended to capture the luxury and grandeur of the Tang dynasty, and makes parodies out of other Hong Kong television shows, including dramas and varieties.

The drama is set to have 32 episodes, with a definitive beginning and ending to the story. Each episode is 45 minutes long. This drama format is hugely popular throughout East Asia and also in Southeast Asia. The bickering is a major part of the comedic aspect of the drama. Apart from this romantic plot, the series also focuses on a plot where the protagonists' lives are under threat from the villains, and therefore part of the plot has focus on scheming in the palace. Dramas involving scheming people in the palace (especially those within the imperial harem, such as imperial concubines) have long been in existence in TVB dramas, especially after the hit 2004 TVB series War and Beauty.

The series, apart from the main couple, Charmaine Sheh and Moses Chan, also has the romantic plots of two main supporting couples, Linda Chung and Raymond Wong Ho-yin, Fala Chen and Kenneth Ma.

• None of the princesses featured in the drama are historically recorded princesses, though their names are loosely based on popular characters given to imperial princesses. The princesses in the drama are named, in descending age or ranking, Princess Yonghe the Eldest (Sharon Chan), Princess Qingyun (Tracy Ip), Princess Zhaoyang (Charmaine Sheh), Princess Qinping (Yoyo Chen), Princess Qinhui (Charmaine Li) and Princess Dexin (Linda Chung), nome of whom are historically recorded imperial princesses.
• It is revealed that the fictional Princess Yonghe's (Sharon Chan) mother was Empress Zhangsun, who is revered as one of the most benevolent empresses of Chinese history. Empress Zhangsun made notable contributions to peasantry and labour, and even towards Chinese technology despite her elevated status as an Empress during her lifetime.
• The Emperor featured in the series is Emperor Taizong of Tang, the second Emperor of the Tang dynasty. Princess Zhaoyang (Charmaine Sheh) explicitly admires her father. Emperor Taizong, while still only a duke's son, assisted his father, then the Duke of Tang, to overthrow the brief Sui dynasty, thus establishing the Tang Dynasty and paving the road for one of China's golden ages.
• The series reveals (fictionally) a reason for Princess Wencheng's famed political marriage to Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire. Princess Wencheng was probably not an imperial princess but a niece or maid of Emperor Taizong's or the Imperial Household's, who was married to Songtsen Gampo, forging an alliance between the Tang Empire and the Tibetan Empire. Princess Wencheng would later help to develop technology and more civilised and idealistic standards of living in Tuoba, which was then regarded by the Chinese as an almost barbaric empire.
• The series mentions (and probably exaggerates) gender equality during the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty was in fact a period of a Chinese history in which women were fairly liberated, with records of outspoken courtesans and women of prominent families playing the Persian sport of polo with gentry men. The first instance of feminism in the Tang Dynasty was established very early on, when the daughter of the Tang's founding father Emperor Gaozu, Princess Pingyang, made large military contributions and in fact led military forces to help overthrow the Sui and establish the Tang.
• Emperor Taizong was the first husband of the young Wu Zetian, who would later become a favourite of Emperor Gaozong's, then his Empress consort, a regent power and eventually an Empress regnant in her own right, interrupting the Tang Dynasty's early stages with the Later Zhou. Wu Zetian would rule as the only historically recorded female imperial monarch of Chinese history, and she would even further contribute to gender equality in the Tang after Princess Pingyang. Her efforts would include the installing Shangguan Wan'er as a political and literary scholar.
• The series references trade with foreign empires. China at the time was by far the world's largest economy, and many foreign empires and states paid homage to China and traded with China. Trade with the West flourished for China under the Tang. China also imported aspects of foreign culture. Chang'an, the Tang capital, was a cosmopolitan area boasting a huge population. Christianity reached China for the first time around the time setting of the series. Buddhism was imported during the Northern and Southern Dynasties from India and its presence was solidified under the Tang. Chinese hanfu also made major alterations, adopting some of the court styles of the Persian Empire. Sports, philosophies and consumer goods were all imported, as well as exported.

Note: Some of the characters' names are in Cantonese romanisation.

• TVB.com Can't Buy Me Love – Official Website (in Chinese)
• K for TVB Can't Buy Me Love – English Synopsis
• List of Can't Buy Me Love episodes