Xie Shao Guang, who exited the limelight in 2005, was back to conduct a two-day workshop for young Mediacorp artists that included Elvin Ng, Ya Hui and Romeo Tan a few days ago.

His return (albeit as a mentor) is being celebrated by netizens.

Some, however, think he needs a good script.

Declining standards of Channel 8 dramas

In the good ol' days, Channel 8 dramas were attractive enough to attract foreign super stars to act or perform the theme songs. Heck, they even had the money to fly the crew to exotic countries for shoots.

Gone are the glorious days...

The lack of quality content from Channel 8 is nothing new but the final straw for many came when Channel 8 screened a Korean drama at 9pm -- a prime time slot for local production -- recently.

The Xie Shao Guang effect

During the workshop, the 56-year-old guided the pretenders on the way to approach acting with authenticity as he weaved in his observations of human behaviour and life explorations during his decade-long hiatus. He told Toggle:

"In the 10 years since then, I’ve understood even more clearly that acting skills can be drawn from your real-life experiences, and is a form of art that depicts life."

Channel 8 news even reported that one of the participants Sheila Sim, who has difficulty doing crying scenes, even managed to cry after just gazing into Xie's eyes. She said:

"He didn't say anything, I didn't think of anything. In one minute, I felt plenty of emotions such as sadness, a tinge of anger. And then I teared. It felt like he could see through me, the process was magical."

That said, his return does not mean a screen comeback. Not until the time is right:

"I’ve realised a great number of things after fulfilling 10 years of volunteer service. In the past, my colleagues wanted to collaborate with me, but making my return to stand in front of all the cameras is something that we’ll have to wait for since the time is not yet right"

Many, especially Medicorp, definitely hope that the right time arrives soon so that everyone can watch Xie in action.

And not a Korean drama.

Related stories:

H/T: Toggle; Channel 8 news

Top photo from Toggle, comments from Toggle, Hardware Zone and The Celebrity Agency Facebook page

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