Life's a roller coaster, all thanks to "Hormones"

THE SOMETIMES troubled but invariably popular debut season of TV series “Hormones” has ended and a second season is planned, with director Songyos “Yong” Sugmakanan switching roles to become producer. Unfortunately, though, Saturday’s season finale was less than impressive.
The episode seemed to leave many of the characters’ personal dilemmas unresolved, and complaints were rife on the social media. Fans just expected a whole lot more. Instead, some said half-jokingly, all they got was a tour of Khao Yai National Park, where the Big Mountain Music Festival provided the backdrop for the show’s hormonally challenged young heroes.
Yuthana “Ted” Boonorm, who runs the festival, had pretty much promised fans much more in a tweet hyping the episode. “Every problem can be solved at BMMF,” he wrote, before plugging the next event. “See you guys on December 7 and 8.”
The big concert was fine in itself as a backdrop, but it didn’t help any of the kids on the show solve their problems, fans griped. “It didn’t give an answer for anything!” @topazine tweeted.
Director Yong caught the buzz and tweeted back assurances that he’d held over nothing for the next season. The episode came out exactly as he planned it, he said. Yong said the viewer feedback had taught him a lesson for which he was “grateful”. But, he added, “I want to do work that I won’t regret.”
Never mind. The fans are happy enough just to hear the series is continuing, as Yong announced at a special screening of the final episode at Major Cineplex Ratchayothin. He’d earlier said he didn’t want to do another season, but then changed his mind when the show was so well received. “Now that we’ve had good feedback in terms of ratings and sponsorship, we can do a ‘premium’ programme,” he told the fans. We’re not sure what that means – silk and satin costumes? Fancier houses? How about 3D?
There’s no denying that “Hormones” came a long way from modest beginnings, though. The series debuted with a single sponsor but ended up with at least 10 vying for commercial time. The episodes archived on YouTube have all had more than a million views. A half-million T-shirts have been sold. And the cinema was packed for the special screening of the finale, which had the cast as well as Yong in the audience.
Now Yong is entrusting the quality of Season 2 and his director’s chair to Kirangkrai “Ping” Vachirathammaporn, one of the scriptwriters. “He’s the one who’s really into the story, and he’ll direct the second season,” Yong said. All nine of the main characters will be back for another year, so there’s already a groundswell of enthusiasm for it.
And the excitement is proving contagious, with the show catching on in Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. Filipino fan @alyssacaas tweeted to Yong, “When is Hormones Season 2? I just want to tell you that Hormones is getting quite popular here in PH!”