A month into its run, ‘My Husband’s Lover’ has gained a lot of attention for its gay-centered storyline.
Just a month into its run, ‘My Husband’s Lover’ on GMA 7 has been earning a lot of attention for its storyline centering on a love affair between two men, played by Dennis Trillo and Tom Rodriguez, and the subsequent jealousy of the latter’s wife, played by Carla Abellana. The publicity that ‘My Husband’s Lover’ received throughout its current run made its way into newspapers, social media, and even on television and radio. However, in terms of ratings, the said drama series’ fortunes have been mixed.
In a recent AGB Nielsen report for the week of July 1-7, ‘My Husband’s Lover’ averaged 7% higher than the final week of ABS-CBN‘s ‘Apoy sa Dagat‘, whereas on Kantar’s report for the same week, it was ‘Apoy sa Dagat’ who averaged 10% higher than ‘My Husband’s Lover’. Obviously, Kantar’s figures favor ABS-CBN’s, while Nielsen’s tend to lean on GMA 7’s programs, a figure that has stayed mostly the same since the Kapamilya network’s defection to Kantar.
Notwithstanding the mixed ratings reports, I think GMA 7 found a way to regain the attention of their audience after introducing ‘My Husband’s Lover’. For the past few years, GMA’s primetime fortunes have sunken a bit, in part due to the presence of the Kapamilya network’s highly rated programs such as ‘Walang Hanggan‘ and ‘Ina, Kapatid, Anak‘. During this period the network introduced some of the most poorly written and stale teleseryes after revolutionizing themselves with the fantaserye genre during the latter part of the 2000s. Some attribute to the overemphasis on its veteran talent, others due to lack of creativity.
Eventually GMA decided to tackle homosexuality in their next project, which eventually became ‘My Husband’s Lover’. In the light of recent news involving celebrities coming out of the closet (e.g. Charice), the launch of the program proved to be perfect timing. From then on people continued to talk about it and the program even gained the attention of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, who told the networks to remain sensitive in the airing of their programs.
The year so far has been good for the LGBT community. And with the airing of ‘My Husband’s Lover’, the issue of homosexuality has found its place on television storylines. It was a brave and calculated risk that people should be proud of.
From the Tube 