Why Eat Bulaga is a Tough Show to Beat?

Willie Revillame may be rejoicing these days because after Wowowee was axed, ABS-CBN continues to juggle and haggle on its afternoon programming. For me as a viewer, I don’t think that this has something to do with Willie’s absence. He has gone overboard when he was at the top that most viewers wouldn’t want to see him at the same timeslot or on any Kapamilya shows ever again. There may those die hard fans and people whom he was able to help in the past, but who will ever forget the painful marks that so many hopeful lives were killed in the tragedy that happened on the first anniversary of Willie’s defunct show. Wowowee will always be remembered for that tragedy no matter how they try to cover it up.

Robin Padilla emerged as a star and brought the ratings of Wowowee to its peak when he was tapped as guest host. This may be because nobody expected him to be good or many people were interested to find out how he would fit in to this kind of show where he had to do things that he has never done on TV before. It was an added treat that as he continues to do his hosting stint, his off screen romance with co-host Mariel Rodriguez starts to develop on screen.

Wowowee should have ended after Robin bid farewell to his hosting stint that lasted for two weeks. Now the public knows that ABS-CBN tried to woo Willie to come back, and this is a major turn off to their loyal viewers because this is a strong sign that they don’t really care what most of their consumers think and feel. It is a good thing that fate had it that Willie and the network did not come into any kind of agreement, which paved the way for the instant creation of Pilipinas, Win na Win and for Willie to do the rounds of interviews to lambast the station that made him who he is today.

So what is wrong with PWNW that despite the team-up of Robin Padilla and Kris Aquino as main hosts, the show was not able to deliver as expected? First off, this is not Kris Aquino’s forte. She can stand on her own and do the whole show even without Robin and the other co-hosts. By placing her amidst talents who are not as good as her and as not as spontaneous as her, her co-hosts, including Robin, were left with nothing more to say but raise their hands to act the PWNW hand signal to cue in for commercials.

Eat Bulaga is tough to beat. The show has remained at the top even though they don’t have big stars as co-hosts, aside from the trio of Tito, Vic and Joey. Most TV viewers look at this show as family. I have grown up watching this show. The only thing that will make me stop watching Eat Bulaga is the retirement of its three main hosts because it would no longer be the same. There may be times that I’d try watching other shows, like what I’ve done when Robin Padilla was a guest host at Wowowee or during the opening of PWNW. But if I’m not satisfied with the other choices, I’d rather stick it out with Eat Bulaga.

Creating a show that would match Eat Bulaga is something that must be done, researched and evaluated for months or years, and not for some weeks after the negotiations with the original host of Wowowee has failed.

Kris Aquino is undergoing some marital blues, and this is not the perfect time to see her doing a very happy show for the family. The Robin-Mariel love angle is no longer interesting. So what if they are lovers now? They are no longer teenagers who can make gazillion of fans scream whenever one is holding the hands of the other, not even when Robin professes his love for Mariel on national TV. We have seen Robin act this way before. He should be given a new partner, so that people will tune in to find out if he’s going to fall anew or if he has indeed found his true love with Mariel.

Kris and Robin should have been given different shows. Everything that may remind people about Wowowee, from the stage, to games, look of the dancers and ways how the show is executed, should have been all scrapped. PWNW looked like a rehashed Wowowee without anything new but the two main hosts.

Now that Edu Manzano is set to do a comeback at the timeslot where he started to get endeared to many local viewers’ hearts at the other channel, ABS-CBN is scrambling its lineup as if this is an easy game of mix and match. They have promoted Showtime to fill in the noontime block, but I don’t think that this is a wise move because in reality, this is a weak show that gained great ratings in the past because GMA 7 cannot create a good show that would match such. They were able to tap into the goldmine when they placed movies to be pitted against Showtime. If Showtime couldn’t win the ratings game against the most crappy of GMA films or the oldest Michael V movie, how else can it fare when pitted against the longest running noontime show on TV?

As for now, I will continue watching Eat Bulaga whenever I have time, but peek into Showtime every once in a while because they got Ryan Bang as guest-judge. ABS-CBN needs all the luck in the world to be able to come up with a show that can really topple or just make the rival show a little nervous.

Gretchen and Claudine Barretto – Drama Queens

With so many brouhahas that have happened before the airing of the 8:30PM timeslot of last night’s local TV, I took the chance of finally being able to sleep way earlier than my usual bedtime. Even if you are not that fond of celebrities or local shows, especially dramas, you may have heard about Claudine Barretto’s agony and pains after finding out that her new show on GMA is going to be pitted against her sister’s MMK episode. Gretchen Barretto, on the other hand, immediately stole the spotlight by resorting to a walkout from her media interview. Both happenings were featured on primetime news, as if these were very important issues and as if these two are still very popular.

Well, they may be popular, but not for good reasons. People only care to listen about them if they are involved in nasty and unpopular situations that they are both so good in meddling with. What’s the whole drama all about? Claudine’s argument is that she pities her parents because they must feel very sad that their daughters are being pitted against each other. For Gretchen, she argues that any parent would be proud that their daughters are dominating a certain timeslot on local TV. For this argument, with or without the walkout, Gretchen clearly gave out the more intelligent response.

As per the teasers that I have watched, I don’t like both. Gretchen’s MMK appears to be too old and very complex. It may appeal to the much older viewers. Claudine’s drama, on the other hand, doesn’t have anything new to offer, except that it’s Claudine on the other channel.

GMA 7 seems to be sticking on a formula drama. If they want to make viewers cry, they will use the story of amnesia or Alzheimer’s, like what was utilized on Claudine’s story. Yeah, it may be heart tugging to see someone you love slowly forgetting about you and even about themselves, but after watching it for the first time and you have already cried, the next time you see the same storyline, you will definitely change channels.

My mother watched both. She said, para walang away (feeling naman nya sya yung nanay ng mga Barretto =). The MMK story started with what seems to be a simple plot. Gretchen’s husband died and so she fell in love with a priest. My mother switched channels to watch Claudine’s. The story basically stuck with what was seen on the teaser. It was not only simple, it was boring. When she tuned in again to MMK, she was surprised when the priest character began abusing Gretchen’s kids because she doesn’t have enough time for him. This is when the real conflict would begin and at this point, the remote control was completely forgotten. My mother said that she even cried while watching MMK. I asked her what she felt while watching Claudine. She said that the story may have been good, but the story telling is bad.

This is a very usual reaction to dramas that are done by GMA 7. Even at the time when they have gotten all good creative people from ABS CBN to create Susan Roces’ drama series during the Christmas season, the end result was not as good as compared with the same genres that are shown on ABS. This may be the reason why GMA sticks with re-hashed and recycled concepts and fantasy series. They still cannot create the kind of drama that can hook the viewers and make them cry.

Oh well, GMA 7 claims that they are still number one, but this must not make them feel secured. There are times when ABS CBN is leading the ratings in Mega and Metro Manila that were supposed to be avid to GMA shows. Or even if this is true, GMA should strive harder to make their stories and storytelling more compelling. They are lucky because it seems like ABS CBN will still be their only stiff competitor for a long time. TV-5 re-launched at the time when they still did not have any good materials for their shows. There are rumors that even Maricel Soriano cannot stand to shoot the crappy scripts being given to her. Maricel needs this to prove that she still is a star, and it won’t help if she’ll be given materials like the ones that Claudine is doing on GMA.

Enough has been said, but going back to the Claudine and Gretchen dominance on Saturday night’s drama block, Gretchen is the clear winner when it comes to the script, acting and overall production. I’m not sure about the ratings though. I am interested to find out who won on this aspect. If ever it would be Claudine, many couch people have surely wasted their time and missed out on their chance to get a good cry or a good night sleep like what I had.

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P.S.

It seems like the ratings have sided with Gretchen as well =)

TNS, March 10: National MMK 31.4/Claudine 14.7;
Mega MMK 23.6/Claudine 17.3;
Metro MMK 26.4/Claudine 14.7

Annabelle Rama's Threats to GMA 7 that Most Kapamilyas are Dreading to Happen

I am not sure about what tactics GMA 7 has been implementing to develop and make their stars famous because obviously, most of their stars remain to be forgettable. This is aside from one, Richard Gutierrez, period. The fact is that GMA's lady exec, Wilma Galvante, is gaining juicier gossips that have been paving the way for people to remember her, but in a negative way. If only those gossips had been attributed to their nameless stars, they would get their chance to be put on a spotlight once and for all and be known to all those who watch TV, and not by a few who live in Mega Manila and happen to have the AGB meter installed on their antennas.

The Dingdong-Marian team-up is just hype. People love the shows that they've been featured on. But people would have same reaction no matter who were the actors playing the roles that these two had played. This can be proven by their flop movie. People won't bother to pay their hard earned money to see these two lousy acting on the big screen. And this is now a stronger claim due to the poor reception and low ratings that their current soap has been getting.

Before GMA 7 could work out what projects should they give these two in the future, they must first force Dingdong and Marian to undergo serious acting workshops. They are not getting any younger. And people have seen enough of their flesh, they are raring to see some serious acting from them (and well, from all GMA talents who were not previously managed by ABS CBN).

I really didn't care about the tirades being exchanged by Anabelle Rama and Wilma Galvante. That is until I heard in the news today that Rama is planning to pull out all her talents from GMA and move them all to ABS. Oh no, is this another Becky Aguila in the making? Until now, I can't force myself to watch Angel Locsin and Valerie Concepcion on TV. And with Rama's plans, and if ever ABS would agree with that, that will definitely be a disaster for most Kapamilya stars, especially those who are still waiting for projects. Most Kapamilya viewers wouldn't like it either. I don't know who this JC is and I don't have plans to know him either. Let him stay with GMA and soon enough, people will forget about him just like the other artists over at the Kapuso fence.

One important realization that came out during the peak of this Anabelle-Galvante word war is that Galvante said that Heart Evangelista was not the reason why Luna Mystica is getting good ratings (in Mega Manila). Galvante said that people love their fantasy series and they would watch it no matter who are included on the cast. In other words, people don't really care about their stars. Here is an excerpt from Ms. Rama's interview on PEP :::

"Parang nakakasakit na sinabi ni Wilma sa nanay ni Heart na kaya nag-number one
ang Luna Mystika dahil inaabangan ng masa ang fantaserye ng GMA. Sabi ng nanay,
'Ibig sabihin, yung pagod ni Heart na pagpapalit ng mukha dahil sa prosthetic,
na-hospital pa, hindi man lang nila na-appreciate? Wala man lang credits?' So,
matutuwa ka ba? Kaya ako nagwawala dahil sa mga alaga ko. Hindi ako nagwawala
dahil naiinis ako."

I don't really care about the people involved in this issue. I just want to express my concerns for ABS CBN who may later get the services of the stars that Ms. Rama is handling. That would be a very unwise move and for sure, most Kapamilyas are dreading for such event to transpire.

WHY DO ABS-CBN'S RATINGS KEEP ON PLUNGING DOWN?

I've long wanted to do this. I even wanted to e-mail this to ABS-CBN's bigwigs. Kapal no? =) But the fact is, I am a customer and I want to get what I want. And ABS-CBN is not giving it to me. But do not get me wrong, I happened to switch channels last Sunday because ABS was showing a boxing match of I-don't-really-care who. And God, SOP sucks! They've got no stars. And even the established singers like Ogie and Janno cannot get their notes right. I promise never to watch SOP ever again! And as much as I love to hate ABS-CBN, I cannot transform as a Kapuso either. They are lucky to have good show formats, except for SOP! But star-wise and quality-wise, they still cannot compete with ABS-CBN.

So without further ado, allow me to rant and rant and rant...

Kapamilya ako, but I'm no longer watching most of their shows. I don't know what's gotten on their bigwigs' heads but they are no longer fighting to win. Why do its ratings keep on plunging down when they literally have all the big stars? Here are my thoughts about it.

1. They keep on acquiring 'unwanted' stars. Not because Angel Locsin became the queen of GMA soaps means that the Kapamilya viewers will accept her with open arms. I'd rather see Roxanne Guinoo or Kristine Hermosa on Lobo than the ex-Kapuso star. And the same sentiment also goes to 'kairita' Valerie Concepcion and Cristine Reyes.

Valerie should have been loyal to GMA. The network didn't let her down when she became an unwed teenage mom. As for Cristine, she doesn't have the charisma to be a big star. If ABS wants a sexy star, pick someone from your frozen delight beauties and I'm sure that they'll perform even better than this one.

And oh, is Ara Mina still on ABS? She was on her way down. Gravity seems to keep on pulling her down because of her not-so-nice-to-look-at extremely big boobies. She should have stick with GMA. At least there, they provide work for those who are loyal to them, even though they no longer have the spotlight on them. Just look at the old That's Entertainment stars resurfacing on GMA shows. And other stars like Antonio Aquitania and Wendell Ramos are still active despite the fact that they are maturing and are not as hot as before.

I pity the child star, I think her name used to be Charming when she was on GMA. She was already getting enough exposure. If her manager really cares for her, she should have let the child stay with GMA. She's barely visible now at ABS.

Other stars who should repent and seek GMA's mercy are Long Mejia and Dennis Padilla. They had everything going well for them until they were tempted to jump fences and forgot about gratitude. They were funny. But ABS doesn't have shows to accommodate their talents. I didn't include Dagul here because he still has Going Bulilit. But he could have more had he opted to stay a Kapuso. And Brod Pete could thrive wherever he chooses to. He will shine as a comedian or as a writer whether he's with GMA, ABS, even TV5 or RPN 9 or NBN 4, simply because he is genuinely funny.

And I will not forget to mention Jake Cuenca. This 'yabang' looking guy even became 'Palos' when the then frozen star Jericho Rosales could have done better justice to the role.

The only welcome addition to this roster is Billy Crawford. He shined better when he transferred to ABS. He needed the exposure because he needs to be seen as much as possible by the viewers abroad. And this guy is indeed talented, makes me want to open the TV again whenever he's on.

2. Speaking of freezer, ABS does not care about their talents. If they are no longer bringing in the cash as they used to, the network will freeze their careers until the damage becomes irreparable. And what does this say about them? It is fair enough that they are not the one using the Kapuso tagline because they've got no heart. They don't deserve being called Kapamilya either. What suits them best is Kanegosyo. I pity the stars who have dreamt of becoming big only to be stuck on the rut.

Other worthwhile stars opted to find other gigs at other networks. Kapamilya should have given Charlene Gonzales a better show. People love her. ABS is nuts to let her go so easy.

Sandara Park was brought to stardom by ABS. But the network also brought her to star-doom. This girl was unique in many ways that she could have been given roles where she would excel. But nope, they let her star lose its glow until she decided to go back to her home country. Hopefully, she will become big there that ABS will realize what a gem they had easily let go. Just look at how they are trying to rush deals for the soon to be Hollywood-bound Charice? She was being groomed then by ABS to be frozen. But thanks to YouTube, this young girl's life was changed forever.

Where is Geoff Eigenman? This actor has a lot of potential other than hosting ASAP segments. He is not just given the right roles. No thanks to the surge of the ex-PBB hunky English-speaking stars. They are getting all the attention. John Avila became the dubbed Kapitan Boom. I wonder how they will remedy Will Devaugn's twisted tongue on the next Judy Ann soap. You already have Sam Milby. This guy is really talented so I have no objections with the attention that he is being given. But enough of his likes already. Masakit sa tenga. Sam just became an exception because he sings really well. And who will ever forget the lines, "I never… said… that I-lahv-you."

3. The horrors of Wowowee. This show should have been suspended from the time it caused a lot of deaths. Willie should have been made liable for all those lives. Whatever they say, it is a fact that the pre-taped shows of Wowowee before the incident happened showed Willie encouraging people to keep on coming to the venue. No one even cared to flash updates or caution that it will be safer for other people to stay at home because of the crowd buildup. ABS wanted good TV. And the hoards of people who flocked the venue may be it. They were not prepared that they would become the news itself. And as a sign of respect to all the deaths that was caused by the network's inefficiency, Wowowee should have been cancelled.

4. The horrors of Mariel Rodriguez. She exposed her real self on her PBB stint. She was far too different from what she's projecting on TV. She thinks that the masa and she referred to the Wowowee crowd as mabaho. She thinks that showbiz is baduy. And she curses so much, I don't think she's suitable to be watched by children. But she's still not being dumped by the network on the freezer. If only this is the 'Apprentice,' I'd tell Mariel, 'You're fired.' She will never recover from her blunders. No one will ever forget her real self. And as part of the masa crowd, if she doesn't like us, we don't like her either.

5. The news and current affairs. How do you expect us to keep up with the ever changing hosts and formats of the shows on this department? You started the early morning news/talk show format on Philippine TV. But you don't show any mercy for the likes of Tin-Tin Bersola among so many others being axed on the show without any replacement for the lost job. With these kinds of shows on TV, I think that viewers have to develop certain level of leaning and association with the programs that they choose to watch. It is better to trust old friends in this regard. You'll have better confidence in learning from the shows that have been around for a long time.

And this is what GMA is good at. They don't just cancel a show in this department just because it didn't get the desired rating for a month or so. Look at where "Imbestigador," "I-Witness," "Wish Ko Lang," just to name a few, are now. These shows are still being watched because like the real sense of "Kapamilya," hindi tayo basta iniwan na lang ng mga shows na to. I cannot cite same samples for ABS-CBN. Yeah, TV Patrol has been around for the longest time. But they were not sensitive to its original hosts. The show was transferred to Korina Sanchez, right? Then it was given to the then new-transferee from the other network. I cannot really understand if ABS even knows the meaning of compassion.

The same feeling goes for Magandang Gabi Bayan. It was a good show. It was better than the one with Kuya Kim now where he's really trying hard to be Steve Irwin. Had MGB been retained, it will still dominate the 6PM Saturday timeslot. Yeah, its ratings may fluctuate from time to time. Pero babalik-balikan pa rin yun ng mga tunay na kapamilya. But the damage has been done and it's getting too hard to repair.

(I'll have a part two on this. I still have much more to rant about. And the second part will focus on the drama block.)

to be continued...

GMA 7 AND ABS CBN, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

As time goes by, free TV in the Philippines has gone more toward giving the audience quality programming. But sadly there are only two stations that stand out and are actually being watched by most Filipinos, GMA 7 and ABS CBN.

The Filipinos are not divided by political parties. No one would ask you in the Philippines whether you are a Republican or Democratic. In this nation, the war is geared towards these two giant networks and the people must choose whether they are Kapuso if they root for GMA 7 or Kapamilya if they are all out for ABS CBN.

You can see this fact on Web forums, on street talks or even in the offices and sometimes, families are even divided as to what TV station they prefer. Oh, well, maybe that is one of the reasons why many households here have more than one TV set at their homes.

This is not a laughing matter, though. The ardent fans are becoming more and more personal with the way they hit at whatever stations they most like. They would even research with the ugliest details behind the people running the stations, uncover buried hatchets and even create intrigues just to spark more controversies.

If you think that the two stations would do something to pacify the fans or at least straighten out lies and lay out the facts, well, that's far from what's really happened and is still happening.

GMA 7, because they lack superstars at their fence, was said to propagate dirty write-ups, scandalous intrigues that are mostly not true and the last issue that they were said to be doing was sabotaging the ratings game, paying people to watch their shows, the people that they were able to locate as part of the AGB rating's system data gathering.

While ABS CBN, being the larger network that owns the largest electric company and various cable channels in the country, was rumored to be sabotaging GMA 7's reception in certain cable channels and cutting down on the electricity when a new and exciting program of the other network is about to be aired.

So which is the lesser evil?

As a televiewer, I still watch free TV whenever I want to. But these past few days, the networks' feud over the "tainted" ratings results fill both the stations' gaps, both saying that it is for our own sake that they want to show the truth blah-blah-blah.

As someone who wants to watch their shows, I, for one, don't really care about the so-called "truth." I don't care about the stations per se, but rather, their programs and talents. I hate it when they do dirty tactics just to advance ahead the competition. Quality programming is all I care about them both and if they have issues to be resolved, I don't think that the public should be flooded about it because this would only cause the Kapusos and Kapamilyas to argue and argue more, benefiting the two stations.

Something should be done about this. Someone should act on it. And for GMA 7 and ABS CBN, be responsible enough to stop the ads pertaining to the "search for truth." Both of you should just actually learn from the spidey guy that with great power comes great responsibility.

Come on, giant networks, enough is enough!