Michelle Chong is banned from playing the Noose characters
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Reported by The Real Singapore:
"It appears that the characters Barbarella, Lulu and Leticia Bongnino from Channel 5's "The Noose" are no longer going to be around. Michelle Chong has been 'banned' from using the characters any further following a decision by MediaCorp's Senior Management.
The Noose is a local parody news show that covers many Singapore issues in a light hearted and often satirical way. It is one of the few shows that airs on our TV channels that dares to poke fun at political figures and events." -
knnbxccb
MC rocks!
then her jewel@buangkok how
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sad
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politics everywhere in sg.. the only difference, peace or war..
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Michelle Chong does not want to return to television, shifts focus to directing
From:, posted on 8 March
By Mervin Tay
Have we seen the last of Barbarella?
With local actress-turned-director Michelle Chong embarking on her second movie – 3 Peas In A Pod – and not being part of the coming season of Channel 5’s parody news sketch show The Noose, does this mean farewell to television’s most famous Sarong Party Girl?
Chong, 35, made a name for herself and The Noose by playing a series of popular characters such as air-headed newscaster Adrianna Wow, Sarong Party Girl Barbarella, Filipino domestic helper Leticia Bongnino and Chinese KTV hostess Lulu.
However, these characters will not appear in the sixth season of The Noose, which begins on April 2, at 8.30pm, on Channel 5.When The New Paper met Chong at a press conference on Monday to mark the start of filming for 3 Peas In A Pod, and asked if she would return to television, she jokingly said: “No, I hope not!”
She said she would not be part of The Noose’s new season, or any other television show, in the short term.
“I won’t be doing television for a while,” she said.According to previous reports, Chong’s MediaCorp contract ended last January and was not renewed.
Ms Kim Wong-Nathan, Channel 5’s vice-president of Network Programming and Promotions, confirmed that Chong’s characters on the show will not appear in the new season.“We will not be getting anyone else to play Michelle's characters like Leticia, Lulu or Barbarella and as such, these characters will not be featured in the upcoming season,” said Ms Wong-Nathan.
Channel 5 will focus on developing new characters to complement the cast.
“But we would definitely want to work with Michelle again if her schedule permits,” she added.
Chong’s move away from television is part of her plan never to be in front of the camera again.
She made a successful transition to the big screen in 2011, as her directorial debut, Already Famous, took in $1.4 million locally, and was Singapore's official entry for Best Foreign Language Oscar this season.
She played the lead role in Already Famous, but in line with her desire to fade out of the limelight, she will have only a cameo appearance in 3 Peas In A Pod.
“It’s a very funny role and a non-speaking one too,” said Chong.
Ultimately, she hopes to be the unseen force behind her works.
“The ideal situation for me would be that I don’t even have to put on make-up, appear on stage or do interviews,” she said.
“Doing creative work is a lonely thing, but it’s also very enjoyable. For my movies, I hope the focus will be on the actors.”Focus
The focus this time will be on her three leads, namely former Korean boyband U-KISS member Alexander Lee Eusebio, 24, Taiwanese boyband Fahrenheit member Calvin Chen, 32, and local fresh face Jae Liew, 22, who was chosen from more than 800 hopefuls at an audition held in January.
They play university students who embark on a life-changing road trip before graduating and returning to their respective countries.
The movie begins filming in Australia today and is scheduled for theatrical release in late November this year. Chong wrote the script.
But the movie industry’s gain seems to be the television industry’s loss, at least according to viewers TNP spoke to, who lamented Chong’s absence from The Noose.
“Michelle Chong is one of the highlights of the show, so it’s a loss (not having her on the show),” said 27-year-old cabin crew Mohamed Nasri Mohamed Naguib.
Maxie Aw Yeong, 24, a civil servant, said the new characters in the new season of The Noose “probably won't be as iconic as Lulu, Leticia or Barbarella”.
Said 45-year-old housewife Sally Chin: “Barbarella was really iconic and everyone knows her.
“I don’t think anyone can play Barbarella as well as Michelle Chong can.”
– Additional reporting by Noor Ashikin Abdul Rahman
RIP ‘Noose’ stars Barbarella, Leticia and Lulu
By Jeffrey Oon | Singapore Showbiz – Fri, Jun 14, 2013 6:03 PM SGTSeems like this is the end of the road for SPG Barbarella, Filipino maid Leticia Bongnino and Chinese KTV hostess, Lulu.The much-loved characters of breakout Channel 5 comedy hit "The Noose", all played by Singapore host/actress/director, Michelle Chong, have all met an untimely death after MediaCorp banned her from playing the characters.
Chong (@immichellechong) tweeted on Friday afternoon, "So what's this I hear about Mediacorp's Higher Management banning me from playing Barbarella from now on?"
The 36-year-old quickly followed that up with "They not gonna sell character license to anyone to use my characters anymore so no more Barbs, Leticia, Lulu etc anywhere." She added in Mandarin, "there's no need to be afraid if you have the ability".
As MediaCorp "own" and have the rights to those characters, it seems like Chong -- or anyone else for that matter -- will no longer be allowed to portray those characters in public anymore.
Commenting on their decision, Chong told Yahoo! Singapore, "I just feel disappointed because this doesn't seem like a decision that will benefit them either. It just seems slightly narrow-minded".
However, she made it clear she bears no ill will towards them.
"I'm not sure who makes these decisions but I have no animosity towards MediaCorp. In fact, I still work closely with certain departments in MediaCorp and I am truly grateful for the platform and creative freedom they have given me, and I am sure there will be opportunities in future where we will work together, content-wise."
After her departure from "The Noose", Chong continued to portray the much-loved characters in a series of property ads such the one below. No more it seems.
Michelle Chong won't be able to portray Barbarella in property ads like these anymore. (Yahoo! photo)Which is a shame because Chong and her characters were a big part of why the Emmy-nominated"The Noose" was the best thing to come out of Channel 5 in recent years.
Chong, a former Asian Television Awards Best Comedy winner, has since branched out into directing with her first feature film, Already Famous, in 2011. She also has her own film production company and last year, started her own artiste management agency.
She is currently working on her latest movie, 3 Peas in a Pod, a coming-of-age movie about three university friends on a road trip, which will be out in November.
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no wonder, dun have much interest on the latest noose.. one " noose" missing..
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Originally posted by TehJarVu:
knnbxccb
MC rocks!
then her jewel@buangkok how
today I just saw her in jewel@buangkok as Lulu... I think on channel 8 in the afternoon.
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So iconic, and now no more...
Wat abt Leticia's BF Terry??? No more Leticia for Terry
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my fav is leticia, the celebrity maid
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She is such a talent.
What happen ?
She offended someone upstairs?
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it wasn't anything political
MC no longer under MC
and the noose characters copyrights belong to MC
they have the right not to let external parties use them
it's all business
but yes u can say MC is bery small gas
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TV character also can copyright de ah???
indeed is small gas...
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other ppl (in MC) can impersonate, only MC herself cannot.
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my fav is lulu speaker si engerlish
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Nom nom nom .
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Originally posted by Smarttech.888:
She is such a talent.
What happen ?
She offended someone upstairs?
maybe her characters offended the FTs. in sg, offending FT is a crime. hahaha
Local actress-turned-director Michelle Chong. FILE PHOTO: SPH
Local actress Michelle Chong dressed in character as Barbarella, a self-professed Sarong Party Girl (SPG) featured in the Channel 5 satirical variety show The Noose. --FILE PHOTO: MEDIACORP