Earlier in 2006, Jessica Hsuan and veternan actor Ken Tsang Kong filmed an all English drama in Singapore, "Parental Guidance." The drama is currently being shown on Mediacorp, Channel 5 in Singapore; it's a chance to catch Jessica with a refreshing all new cast! If English is your strongest language, watching this drama would be a breeze to understand!
PARENTAL GUIDANCE
PLOT SYNOPSIS
Two self-obsessed individuals, James and Ling, find themselves appointed as guardians to three children when their father and mother who are James’s brother and Ling’s cousin respectively, pass away.
In ordinary circumstances, James and Ling would not even have been friends, much less co-parents. But these aren’t ordinary circumstances.
So James and Ling reluctantly take on the responsibility of raising three children together. They suffer setbacks in their lives: James finds his dating time severely compromised, while Ling is dumped at the altar by her not-so-perfect fiance who can’t come to grips with her 'instant family'.
They know nothing of what it means to be a parent. They’re so accustomed to living alone, they know nothing of how to care for anyone else. How will James and Ling deal with the children? Plus, how will they take their love-hate relationship to new heights when sparks start to fly?
ABOUT THE CHARACTERS
Adrian Pang is James Seto, a 30-something lawyer and playboy. A connoisseur of good beer and hot women, the thought of ‘settling down’ with wife and kids never entered his mind. There’s certainly no room for children in his cluttered, messy bachelor’s digs, nor in his cluttered, messy girlfriend-juggling life.
For the first time in his life, James decides to do something unselfish for the sake of his brother. Well, that’s after he tried and failed to pass the children to his father, Patrick, the botox-injecting, wig-wearing 60-something year old who has a penchant for younger ladies.
Can this footloose and fancy-free slob who seems a little too fond of the bottle, actually be a co-parent to three children? Can there possibly be a committed, caring, responsible adult lurking under that playboy demeanor?
Tough questions for which even James himself doesn’t have the answers.
Jessica Hsuan is Ling, a 30-something ambitious, high-powered partner in a very prominent law firm, who finds herself having to fulfill her promise to her cousin to help bring up her three children.
Ling had a difficult childhood that coloured her perspective of marriage and she swore she’d never be shackled to anyone who didn’t have the same background and compatible interests. That’s why Ling is now engaged to a man who possesses impeccable genes and whose interests are completely compatible with hers. Ling is a firm believer that a marriage is a partnership with two compatible individuals who have the same values, as opposed to being a love match.
Accustomed to living by herself, for herself, Ling surrounds herself with beautiful expensive things. A single woman with no duties and responsibilities, Ling never had to save money or worry about the future. Indeed, all her earnings were spent solely on herself. Now she has a family to provide for.
But perhaps, when she finally stops assessing the merits of this deal from a purely financial point of view, she might actually realize that for her, it’s definitely a win-win situation.
