Short End of the Stick (TV series)


Short End of the Stick is a List of [TVB dramas in 2016|2016] Hong Kong period comedy television drama produced by TVB. The drama is TVB's 2016 Lunar New Year drama, starring Wayne Lai, Nancy Wu and Edwin Siu as the main leads. It premiered on February 9, 2016, airing every Monday to Friday on Hong Kong's Jade and HD Jade channels during its 8:30-9:30 pm timeslot, concluding March 27, 2016 with a total of 35 episodes.
Short End of the Stick is an indirect sequel to TVB's 2012 drama The Confidant. Short End of the Stick also stars most of the same cast from The Confidant. Both dramas centers around the lives, struggles and betrayals of eunuchs, but unlike The Confidant which was a melodrama, Short End of the Stick is a light hearted comedy. The Confidant main protagonist Li Lianying, played by Wayne Lai is mentioned as part of the plot in Short End of the Stick.
The drama is a comedic depiction of the lives of eunuchs after the fall of the Qing dynasty and their eviction from the Forbidden City by the last Emperor of China, Puyi.
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Synopsis

Eunuchs Lee Suk-gung, Dan Tin and Chan Siu-fung lived a peaceful life serving the Emperor and the royal family in the Forbidden City. Suk-gung worked in the kitchen as a cook and master carver, Tin worked in the Physician quarters and Siu-fung was a beautician who made the ladies in waiting presentable. After the fall of the Qing dynasty and eviction of all eunuchs and servants in the Forbidden City by the last Emperor of China Puyi, for constant theft of valuables, the three Eunuchs band together to survive outside the Forbidden City as civilians in Beijing. Life as civilians is harsh for the three as they face constant prejudice from revolutionists for being associated with China's imperial past while making a meager living working as kitchen help at an alleyway food stall and rent a small room living together in a dingy neighborhood.
At a rally held by Yip Ching-yee, a cruel revolutionist bent on eradicating anyone associated with the Qing dynasty, the three witness a former high-ranking eunuch they were acquainted with during their time in the Forbidden City, being humiliated and abused by Ching-yee and his group of revolutionists. They are told by Ching-yee to join in on humiliating the captured eunuchs. Not wanting to because they are afraid, they meet and befriends Chiu Jun-sing who tells them he is also "one of their own" and that better them doing the abusing of the eunuchs being persecuted than by Ching-yee's group. Chiu Jun-sing is actually a pretend eunuch living off his relative, the former high-ranking eunuch being humiliated by Ching-yee because the high-ranking eunuch has many priceless valuables taken from the Forbidden City in his possession. Jun-sing helps the eunuch illegally sell these valuables, which is a national crime.
Their troubles begin when Siu-fung is seduced by a prostitute who tricks him into selling himself as a slave to the Americas. Suk-gung and Tin save Siu-fung in time before he signs his life over but before doing so Siu-fung had divulge to the prostitute that he is a eunuch. While walking by they see Jun-sing being prosecuted by Ching-yee for being a eunuch but Jun-sing does not want to blow his cover as a pretender since he has priceless valuable in his possession. Suk-gung, Tin and Siu-fung pretends to be vengeful cheated husbands out for revenge against Jun-sing to save him from Ching-yee but they're outed as eunuchs by the prostitute who earlier tried to trick Siu-fung.
Now wanted criminals by authorities for having a national artifact in their possession and Ching-yee for being eunuchs, the four escape to Shenzhen. During their escape, Siu-fung was hit by a bullet. Once they arrive in Tianjin they take Siu-fung to a hospital where the staff refused to treat Siu-fung unless they have money. In order to save Siu-Fung, the three decide to mug someone. After looking at possible victims they decide on a cruel looking woman beater who happens to be a female dressed like a man. During the struggle to rob her, she suffers an asthma attack. Worried that she could die from her asthma attack, they take her to the same hospital that they took Siu-fung. They soon find out that she is Kam Dai-nam from the powerful and rich Kam family. Hearing that her niece was bullied, Dai-nam's aunt Kam Heung comes to the hospital with her servants to seek revenge.
Kam Heung lets them go and pays for Siu-fung's medical expenses when she realizes that the trio only robbed for money to save their friend's life. However Siu-fung's medical expenses was not a charity and the three are sent to work as servants for the Kam family until their debt is paid off. Suk-gung and Tin are satisfied with this arrangement since life as a Kam servant is similar to the life they had in the Forbidden City.
Kam Heung is head of the Kam family and manages the family rice merchant business because she is the only child alive born to the main wife of her father. Her older brother and Dai-nam's father Kam Cheong, has no status in the family since he was born to a concubine and his offspring are all daughters. Besides managing the family business, Kam Heung has to deal with a bickering household where her late older brother's wife gets her way and belittles everyone in the family because she gave birth to the Kams current heir, and she also has to deal with a trouble making business rival who steals from them and constantly makes fun of the Kams for having insufficient male heirs.
Suk-gung and Tin's professionalism, intelligence, obedience, patient and complementing words soon prove to be the perfect servants to the Kams. Dai-nam also take a liking to Siu-fung and showers him with luxury when he brings her good luck in gambling. But the trios secret as eunuchs could affect their standings with the Kams when they find out the Kams have an hatred for eunuchs because the family was cursed by legendary powerful imperial eunuch Lei Lin-ying, because the Kams ancestors had offended Lei. Afraid they will be facing prejudice, Suk-gung and Tin decides to revert to their dirty eunuch tactics, along with the help of Jun-sing they steal valuables from the Kams to fund for their passage escape.
When strange things starts happening on the Kam family grounds, everyone in the village start to believe the Kam curse. The eunuchs who have seen this kind of situation in the Forbidden City between the Emperor's consorts know that someone is up to no good and secretly warns Kam Heung, In order to prove the curse is just a saying, Kam Heung encourages all the single females over thirty to get married. Her plan however backfires when the Kams enemy Tsui Tai-Fu, pushes her to get married herself. Suk-gung, Tin and Jun-sing sees this as an opportunity to ripoff more of the Kam fortune by hiring a stranger to enter into a fake marriage with Kam Heung. Meanwhile, Suk-gung, Tin and Jun-sing's roommates find their stolen stash and reports it to Kam Heung, however ironically Suk-gung and Tin had donated all the money they pawned from stolen goods to the local western doctor who needed it for his son's medical expenses. This makes the eunuchs reputation in the Kam family even better since they think the eunuchs stole to help save a life and Suk-gung soon becomes Kam Heung's personal advisor.
On the day of Kam Heung's husband competition everything goes wrong. Tsui Tai-Fu sends his nephew to beat the man Jun-sing hired to win the competition, and the man hired is found out as a wanted criminal. Embarrassed by the whole situation, Kam Heung runs away with Suk-gung following her. When the two are found by the rest of the Kam family, the two are in a compromised position due to accidentally consuming a performance enhancer and mistaken by onlookers to have acted in an indecent manner. Not wanting to expose himself as a eunuch, Suk-gung agrees to Kam Heung's idea of going into a fake marriage with her in order to avoid the village punishment of being drowned alive.

Cast

Eunuchs

Kam family

Kam family servants

  • Natalie Tong as Wong Lin
  • Sin Ho-ying as Mo Fat-tat
  • Chan Min-leung as Uncle Nau
  • Shally Tsang as Mrs. Nau
  • Mina Kwok as Miss Nau
  • Anthony Ho as Ding
  • Aurora Li as Kam Ho-yan
  • Kate Tsang as Kam Ho-ngoi
  • Leslie Ka Chun as Tim
  • Moses Cheng as Fat
  • Matthew Chu as Choi
  • Bob Cheung as Cheung
  • Ng Kwong-lee as Gwai
  • Jackie Cheung as Hing
  • Alvis Lo as Wong
  • Kitty Lau as Auntie On
  • Lydia Law as '''Yau'''

Tsui family and servants

  • Li Shing-cheong as Tsui Tai-Fu
  • Janice Shum as Tsui Tai-Fu's wife
  • Fanny Lee as Tsui Tai-Fu's wife
  • Fanny Ip as Tsui Tai-Fu's wife
  • Oscar Li as Lung
  • Alan Tam Kwan Lun as Fu
  • Raymond Lo as Bao
  • Alex Yung as '''Yau Tiu-man'''

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  • An underground society that wants to restore the Qing dynasty.
  • Parkman Wong as Dung Gut
  • Derek Wong as Fu Suet
  • Wang Wai Tak as Ma
  • Leo Tsang as Physician Tong
  • Andy Wong as Nai
  • Keith Mok as Fung
  • Dolby Kwan as Faw
  • Siu Koi Yan as Hoi
  • Deborah Poon as Tin
  • Tristan Cheung as '''Niu'''

Extended cast

  • Hugo Wong as Bak Long
  • Chan Wing-chun as Eunuch Chui
  • Kayley Chung as Consort Shu
  • Gloria Tang as Mong Liu
  • Man Yeung as Sa Dam
  • Ngai Wai-man as Physician Wong
  • Ricky Chan Chun-wah as Bit Dou
  • Doris Chow as Hung
  • Jack Hui as Ko Gwan
  • Wong Wai-tong as Gold teeth Kui
  • Stephen Ho as Captain Sek
  • Glen Lee as Doctor Koo
  • Koo Koon-chung as Seung Sing
  • Steve Lee as Wu Ma
  • Jess Sum as Hau Sin
  • Raymond Tsang as Liu Biu
  • Ivana Wong as '''Man Gee'''

Development

  • The drama was originally titled The Five Eunuchs, which was to feature the main cast of The Confidant. A sales presentation released in 2013 differs from the current drama plot as it shows the five eunuchs stealing a mysterious treasure after the death of Empress Dowager Cixi. The fifty-nine second clip starred Wayne Lai, Raymond Wong, Edwin Siu, Power Chan, Raymond Cho, Maggie Shiu, Nancy Wu, and Kenny Wong.
  • Ada Choi was originally cast as the female lead, but due to the start of production delayed, she had to decline participation. Nancy Wu, a co-star, filled in her role and Rosina Lam was then cast in Wu's original role.
  • Also due to scheduling conflicts, Raymond Wong Ho-yin could not reunite with his The Confidant and Overachievers co-stars as he was scheduled to film Captain of Destiny, but was unable to film either dramas when he was diagnosed with a rare Behçet's disease.
  • The costume fitting ceremony was held on February 9, 2015 at 12:30 pm Tseung Kwan O TVB City Studio One.
  • The blessing ceremony was held on March 11, 2015 at 4:00 pm Tseung Kwan O TVB City Studio Twelve.
  • Filming took place from February till July 2015 on location in Hong Kong and Kaiping, China. Kaping, China scenes where filmed in July at Zili village. Major filming locations were the Kaiping Diaolou towers in Kaiping County, Guangdong province, China which served as the exterior of the Kam family manor and Dixi Road in Chikan, Kaiping.
  • John Chiang suffered chest pain during filming. He was rushed to the hospital by co-star and his real-life son-in-law Raymond Cho. Producer Marco Law rearranged the filming schedule in order to accommodate Chiang's recovery.
  • A promo image of Short End of the Stick was featured in TVB's 2016 calendar for the month of April.

Historical inaccuracies

  • Episode 1 - Consort Wenxiu also known as Consort Shu, born in 1909 was only thirteen years old when she became Emperor Puyi's consort in 1922. Her real age of the year 1923 should be fourteen, but in the drama she is depicted as a grown young woman being attended to by Chan Siu-fung.
  • Episode 4 - Lee Suk-gung and Dan Tin mentions that Li Lianying was beheaded and buried without his body. The drama is depicted during the early 1920s which this fact was not known yet. During the Red Guard revolutionary from 1966 until 1976, Li's grave was found with only his skull in it when it was vandalized by the Red Guards.