Sleepy Primetime Lineup from ABS-CBN

For someone who used to watch a lot of local shows from ABS-CBN, I find myself spending more time now watching GMA-7's morning block - the Ryzza Mae Show and Eat Bulaga.

My 4-year old niece used to enjoy Hawak Kamay because of Juan Karlos’ presence in the show. Lately, though, he had little to no exposure at all, so even the kid was no longer interested in peeking at the boring show.

What is happening with ABS-CBN? After they have made a lot of known stars, only Piolo Pascual is the only legit popular actor in their primetime block now. He is popular, but the story of his drama series does not fit his stature, and he was given a leading lady (Iza) who is better off doing support or even antagonist roles.

I have seen the teasers of their short Christmas seryes. They said that they are bringing those to us, the viewers, as their gifts or way of giving back during this time of the year. I am okay with the Eddie Garcia story or even the Paulo and KC tandem, but my golly, pairing Maja Salvador and Gerald Anderson for a show meant to be enjoyed by the whole family during the Christmas season? What were they thinking? Sorry, I don’t hate them as they are (I have moved on haha!), but they are not the faces that I want to see during the holidays. I would rather watch old or tagalized movies than to be tortured, seeing them playing protagonists and goody-goody when their images in my mind as a chauvinist and playgirl, are still vivid and clear.

I am hoping for better shows with true-blue popular actors for the shows that are lined up for ABS-CBN next year. I have heard about Xian Lim being paired with Maja, such as disappointment for a fan who waited so long to see Xian on TV. Oh well, I don’t think that the network really cares so much about the sentiments of those who watch them. Their current lineup of primetime shows and the main leads are proof that they would do whatever they please and give projects to whoever they like.

I am just ranting, but I know that the network that its viewers brought to the top, wouldn’t care less about most people’s sentiments. Come on, GMA 7, it is your time to shine. This is the best time to push stars who look promising and deliver better stories, now that ABS-CBN seems to be slacking by giving us bland actors, rehashed stories, and the Maja-Gerald tandem (que horror!).

The Legal Wife is Way Better than Dyesebel and Ikaw Lamang

When summer was about to begin and the kids' classes were to end, my nieces were quite excited with the bombardment of teasers of ABS-CBN's yet to be launched fanta-serye, Dyesebel. My nieces, aged 9 and 4, were hoping that the lead star would either be Kim Chiu or Kathryn Bernardo.

The first disappointment of the show came from the announcement of who would play not only Dyesebel, but so much more, Fredo. In this household, where everybody loves Kim, it also follows that we abhor Gerald. It does not matter whether or not Kim had already made amends with him. He would always be the jerk who broke Kim's heart and the moron who caused the breakup of the once ideal friendship between Kim and her ex-best friend who is now Gerald's current lover.

I don't have anything against Anne. She is not perfect. She is a socialite who lets her real self out once drunk. Given that nature, she could have been assigned to more mature roles and not the ones that are intended for younger audiences because for me as a guardian, she is no longer an ideal figure to be looked up to. She is a good actress though. She can still excel in roles that are more spiteful and bitchy. And yep, age does matter for this kind of role.

I have caught some episodes of the series and oh boy, it is cringing to watch Anne, acting like someone so naive and so kind. Dyesebel is someone who is only beginning to realize what love is. Anne cannot convince her audience that she's innocent and pure as how the character, Dyesebel, ought to be. Why? For one, the issues that are hounding her greatly affect people's perception about her. And she looks so mature to be given dialogues asking about how it is to be in love or how it is to be kissed. No matter how good of an actress she is, she cannot fake her age. It is similar to actor Jericho Rosales given the role of a high school student in the movie ABNKKBSNPLAKO, now that he is in his 30s. It is awkward to watch.

Watching Sam Milby struggling with his dialogues is already a pain in the tail, haaaay. He cannot fake that he finds it quite difficult to deliver his lines in Filipino. And then there's Gerald, who does not only sound slang, but also has a thick Visayan accent, which he has still not gotten over with. He sounds like his character from his past soap opera, Budoy.

The series looks low-budgeted as well, with cheap effects and the story is really bad. It seems like it does not know where to take the story of this well-loved mermaid, which has been told a lot of times in the past. I am a fan of Charlene Gonzales' film adaptation of Dyesebel. It was fun to watch because of the great chemistry that Charlene had with her leading man in the film, Matthew Mendoza.

Chemistry.

This is the problem with Ikaw Lamang, Coco Martin's current primetime teleserye. Coco is undoubtedly the current eye candy of whoever is responsible in giving projects to ABS-CBN stars. It appears that somebody is now closely following his lead, JC de Vera. It used to be Paulo Avelino and yep, let us not forget Jake Cuenca as well as Gerald. This is the first problem with this serye - favoritism.

Okay, Coco and the rest of the network favorite "boys" may have a huge following on free TV. They may have the talents and charisma to their bosses. But with the network greatly favoring them, there are a lot more talents who may even have bigger fanbases than these boys' fans combined, who are not getting the right exposure despite the people's clamor.

This has been going on with the network for quite some time now and I don't think that this is going to change, just because many people are already stating their dismay. This practice is going to continue, not unless another network will come up with better offerings than what we are seeing on ABS-CBN, which will pose as a serious threat.

Let us look into the second problem with this series, which is chemistry. You need not watch it to conclude that Kim Chiu looks better when paired with Jake, who is the antagonist in the series, than with Coco. The contrasts between Kim and Coco are so pronounced that it will make you feel uneasy watching them pronouncing love, hugging and kissing one another.

Aside from the lack of chemistry between Coco and Kim, the story is something that its producers have already used over and over again - lost child, separated siblings, love against all odds.

Another problem with Ikaw Lamang (and most of the dramas that are produced by Dreamscape) is that it gives out the impression that women only live in search for true love, for the man who will finally give meaning to their lives. Ain't that the premise of the currently airing Mirabella (also produced by the same team)? A girl whose skin resembles a timber, but instead of searching for how it all came about, she wanted to find the one perfect man who will finally accept and love her for who she is. So sad...


I was able to watch an episode of Ikaw Lamang where all the character of Kim Chiu did was to defy everybody and voice out her serious intent of doing everything to be given the freedom to be with the character of Coco. And Coco's character is not even that lovable. He does not have what it takes to be loved by someone who has it all. This period drama is not giving anything about the period it is supposed to be in. They can set the same crappy material in the modern era and they can still pull it off. It will be even easier since the characters need not inject deep Filipino words every now and then just for the drama to be qualified as a period piece. Ang pangit =(

Primetime Bida's Saving Grace

What started as a dragging and another overused story, has redeemed itself and is now the only local drama on ABS-CBN's primetime block that is worth to watch. I am not watching this because I don't like Maja, but I am aware of people's reactions towards the progress of the story and the great acting of the actors, especially its main female lead, Angel Locsin, because the show has become the talk of the town.

The way that the story of The Legal Wife is being handled, not including its dragging beginning, the group that created it must be commended for a job well done. This is the same group that handled the Kathryn-Daniel serye, Got to Believe. I don't approve of the latter's storyline's extremely close resemblance to Meteor Garden, but I liked the fact that even though they injected family problems, the teamup of Kathniel remained to be in the spotlight of the show in its entirety. This would not have been the case if the group that is handling Dyesebel and Ikaw Lamang created G2B. It would have lots of subplots and sulpot characters who will be given more exposure at the expense of the leads no matter how popular they are.

Why am I ranting? It is summer. The kids are free to watch TV. I used to enjoy local dramas and they watched with us too. Now all that they want to do is to watch DVDs of Frozen, Bride for Rent and Bakit Hindi Ka Crush ng Crush Mo over and over and over and over again and again and again.