ABS-CBN, GMA, TV5 Unveil New Programs for the Summer

The ABS-CBN sexy drama series ‘Moon of Desire’ is just one of several programs to debut in time for the summer vacation.

Summer is right around the corner, and to kick off the hot-weather months, the ‘Big 3’ networks unveil some new programs to begin summer vacation.

Beginning today, ABS-CBN’s ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ block will be taken over by the re-run of ‘Meteor Garden’.  First aired in 2003, the Asianovela helped launch the career of F4 and popularize the genre in the Philippines. The highly-anticipated re-run of ‘Meteor Garden’ will be seen after another upcoming teleserye on the Kapamilya network.

‘Moon of Desire’, a new series starring Ellen Adarna, JC de Vera, Dominic Roque, Miguel Raval, and Meg Imperial, will replace the recently-concluded ‘Galema: Anak ni Zuma’. The series picks up from where ‘Galema’ left off, using the same formula of casting a lead female protagonist (Imperial) in an unusual predicament. This time around, Imperial’s character suffers from hypertrichosis, a condition where her entire body is covered with thick hair. ‘Moon of Desire’ premieres today after ‘It’s Showtime’.

Just as ABS-CBN replaces its movie block with ‘Meteor Garden’, GMA has decided to go the other way around. A week ago, ‘GMA Sinebabad’ replaced the Koreanovela ‘Tale of Arang’, and its first week saw a pair of Korean films (‘My Tutor Friend’, ‘A Moment to Remember’) air in two and three-part segments, respectively. After the conclusion of ‘Paraiso Ko’y Ikaw’,  ‘GMA Sinebabad’ will be expanded to a 90-minute format, featuring classic Filipino movies every weekday. ‘GMA Sinebabad’ airs before ’24 Oras’.

And finally on TV5, ‘Let’s Ask Pilipinas’ will be replaced by a ‘tawaserye’ called ‘Beki Boxer’. In this series, Alwyn Uytingco portrays the lead role of a gay boxer who tries to reclaim his family’s honor after his father was humiliated in the ring. Also starring Vin Abrenica, Danita Paner, Christian Vasquez, Onyok Velasco, John Regala, Joross Gamboa and Claire Hartell, ‘Beki Boxer’ airs tonight after ‘Aksyon’.

In the meantime, enjoy a beautiful summer vacation.

 

Billboard Hot 100 – April 5, 2014

Here are the Top 10 songs from the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of April 5, 2014.

1. Pharrell Williams – Happy. No. 1 last week.

2. John Legend – All of Me. No. 3 last week.

3. Katy Perry feat. Juicy J – Dark Horse. No. 2 last week.

4. Jason Derulo feat. 2 Chainz – Talk Dirty. No. 4 last week.

5. Idina Menzel – Let It Go. No. 14 last week.

6. Bastille – Pompeii. No. 5 last week.

7. Lorde – Team. No. 6 last week.

8. OneRepublic – Counting Stars. No. 7 last week.

9. Aloe Blacc – The Man. No. 10 last week.

10. Beyonce feat. Jay Z – Drunk In Love. No. 8 last week.

All videos of the Top 10 songs can be viewed above. Our thanks to Billboard for this week’s Hot 100 Top 10.

Meteor Garden Is Still Alive, Ten Years After

‘Meteor Garden’ returns to Philippine television next week as part of ABS-CBN’s tenth anniversary celebration of the Asianovela.

More than ten years ago,  ‘Meteor Garden’ became the launching pad that would later become the Asianovela genre, and even after the series ended, its popularity among teenage Filipinos remains strong. Which is why ABS-CBN and Jeepney TV will bring back the original Taiwanese drama starring F4 and actress Barbie Hsu to the small screen starting next week, as part of its 10th anniversary of bringing the Asianovela to Philippine television.

The groundbreaking Asianovela was first introduced in May 2003, and within a month, it became one of the most-watched programs on the Kapamilya network. ‘Meteor Garden’ was so popular that it helped influence teenagers to copy the hairstyles and the wardrobe donned by Jerry Yan, Vic Chou, Vanness Wu and Ken Chu, as well as Barbie Hsu. F4 albums were also distributed to great success, and at the peak of F4-mania, the group even visited the Philippines at one point.

The success of ‘Meteor Garden’ forced GMA to answer with their own series in ‘My MVP Valentine’, starring another boyband in 5566. Unfortunately, it failed to measure up to the popularity of ‘Meteor Garden’, and as a result, GMA was forced to go to South Korea to acquire other Asianovela titles. It did, however, re-air ‘Meteor Garden’ in 2007, as part of its short-lived ‘mangaserye’ hour. Despite that, ‘Meteor Garden’ continues to be an iconic brand to the Kapamilya network.

In the weeks leading up to its return, ‘Meteor Garden’ and F4 became one of the top trending topics in the social media website Twitter. This only proves that even after a decade, fanaticism for the Taiwanese series remains on a high. And as the series re-airs next week, expect ‘Meteor Garden’ to once again become one of the top-rated programs of the year, and in the process attract a new generation of fans.

WWE Out of ABS-CBN Sports?

The Daniel Bryan vs. the Authority angle will not be seen on free TV’s ABS-CBN Sports + Action for now.

Looks like the ‘Road to WrestleMania’ ended way too soon for ABS-CBN Sports.

In an unexpected development, WWE programming was pulled out of the ABS-CBN Sports + Action channel at the beginning of March, and were replaced by either the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UEFA Champions League, Pinoy Pride and Top Rank Boxing, or the NBA. The pullout of WWE programs by ABS-CBN Sports comes in three years after Solar Entertainment’s Jack TV decided to cease airing all WWE programs.

As expected, some wrestling fans were angered by ABS-CBN’s decision to cancel its broadcast of the WWE. However, the reaction only paled in comparison to Solar’s pullout three years earlier, where an overwhelming majority of wrestling fans balked at the one-hour international format of Raw, the absence of SmackDown and Main Event (both currently airing on FOX Philippines), and the delayed broadcast of WWE pay-per-views on the Kapamilya’s UHF channel.

The absence of WWE programming on ABS-CBN Sports may have stemmed from the fact that the Vince McMahon-owned company recently established the WWE Network after the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. As many wrestling fans know, the new network is expected to carry every WWE pay-per-view beginning with WrestleMania 30 in New Orleans. Because of that, ABS-CBN Sports may find it difficult to even broadcast the upcoming WrestleMania 30 in both SkyCable and Sports + Action, considering the already complicated situation.

Should ABS-CBN Sports officially close the door on the WWE, Fox needs to step up. While the channel already has SmackDown and Main Event along with other supplementary programs like Vintage, Afterburn and Bottomline, what Fox needs at this point are both Raw and the pay-per-views in order to satisfy the demands of loyal wrestling viewers. If that happens, perhaps a return to a two or three-hour format for Raw and free live pay-per-views is in order, provided that Fox airs WWE programs on the same week as the U.S.

The loss of WWE should not be a big deal for Kapamilya viewers. After all, there is the Ultimate Fighting Championship, another form of combat sports which is just as entertaining, but without the scripted excess that is featured in professional wrestling. However, it remains to be seen whether or not free TV will once again accept the WWE.

The Trouble With Last Saturday’s TV Programming

Last Saturday on television was memorable for both the right and wrong reasons. There was a PBA doubleheader, a double-overtime NBA thriller, a boxing event, and a dance contest featuring elementary school students. It also witnessed a pair of programming changes, and a slew of programs that ran way behind schedule.

On this article, the focus of attention will be on the programming problems that plagued the ‘Big 3’ networks last Saturday. Here is how I looked at the programming that took place last March 22, and how they need to be rectified.

ABS-CBN

The Oklahoma City-Toronto NBA game lasted until the second overtime, and as a result ‘It’s Showtime’ began later than usual, at around 12:45-1:00 p.m. The highlight of the variety show was the grand finals of the ‘Stars on 45’ talent contest, where Haydee Manosca emerged the winner. ‘It’s Showtime’ lasted until 4:00 p.m., affecting other programs’ start times for the remainder of ABS-CBN’s operating day.

Perhaps the Kapamilya network’s Saturday schedule would have served better if ‘It’s Showtime’ airs from 12:30-3:30, making it a three-hour program similar to the Saturday edition of its competitor ‘Eat Bulaga’. In addition, the airing of ‘Saturday Specials: Shake, Rattle and Roll’ is unnecessary, and should be removed in favor of making ‘SOCO: Scene of the Crime Operatives’ and ‘Failon Ngayon’ into a pair of hour-long programs.

GMA

‘Eat Bulaga’ took place at Resorts World Manila, where the grand finals of ‘Junior Pinoy Henyo”s cheerdancing competition was held. However, it was the broadcast of another movie on the ‘GMA Blockbusters’ block following ‘Laban ng Lahi’, and the transfer of ‘Reporters’ Notebook’ which affected its programming for the remainder of the day. Poor German Moreno and his ‘Walang Tulugan’ variety show.

To keep Kuya Germs and his loyal viewers happy and awake, ‘GMA Blockbusters’ should be restricted to just one movie or event rather than the unnecessary two. That way, the succeeding programs can be aired at a more comfortable timeslot.

TV5

Gone are the AksyonTV simulcasts of the PBA, and as a result, TV5 was compelled to air every PBA game for the rest of the season. The first Saturday doubleheader aired on the network was not without any complications, however. ‘Aksyon Weekend’ was slotted in between the doubleheader, much to the dismay of the league owners, while the programs that followed the PBA aired later than usual, with the live broadcast of ‘SpinNation’ taking place at a rather unfavorable time of 11:20 p.m.

The only Saturday program that was affected by the change was ‘Juan Direction, which now air on Sunday nights. It would have been better, however, if ‘Kaya’ was included in the move, since that particular program became expendable with the increase of PBA airtime. In addition, ‘Aksyon Weekend’ should be aired after the PBA games are finished.

March 22, 2014 should be remembered as one of the most infamous dates in Philippine television. The programming last Saturday proved to be excruciating and frustrating for the viewers, mostly due to some programs that aired way beyond their usual start times. Unless the executives make some more favorable changes in their respective networks’ programming, things will only get worse from here.

Billboard Hot 100 – March 29, 2014

Here are the Top 10 songs from the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of March 29, 2014.

1. Pharrell Williams – Happy. No. 1 last week.

2. Katy Perry feat. Juicy J – Dark Horse. No. 2 last week.

3. John Legend – All of Me. No. 3 last week.

4. Jason Derulo feat. 2 Chainz – Talk Dirty. No. 4 last week.

5. Bastille – Pompeii. No. 5 last week.

6. Lorde – Team. No. 6 last week.

7. OneRepublic – Counting Stars. No. 8 last week.

8. Beyonce feat. Jay Z – Drunk In Love. No. 7 last week.

9. Soko – We Might Be Dead By Tomorrow. New entry.

10. Aloe Blacc – The Man. No. 12 last week.

All videos of the Top 10 songs can be viewed above. Our thanks to Billboard for this week’s Hot 100 Top 10.