The Euroleague is arguably the second most widely recognized basketball league in the world, next to the NBA. But its coverage in the Philippines has been rather patchy, at best.
In the past, Basketball TV covered Euroleague matches from the eliminations all the way to the finals. But there have been two instances where BTV did not air any Euroleague games.
In the 2009-10 season, the now-defunct ESPN Star Sports group covered the Euroleague games. This season, the Euroleague was shut out of any sports-centric cable network in the country, presumably due to its lack of popularity among basketball aficionados in the country.
Nobody knows when will Euroleague basketball return to Philippine shores, but for a league so highly regarded, they surely deserve some respect, even from the PBA and Philippine basketball.
A teleneovela and a long-overdue Koreanovela makes its way to GMA this Monday morning.
First on the menu is ‘Corazon Indomable’, otherwise known as ‘Wild at Heart’. The telenovela stars Ana Brenda Contreras and Daniel Arenas as lovers with contrasting roots.
‘Corazon Indomable’ first aired in 2013 throughout Mexico, and was a remake of the hit telenovela ‘Marimar’. The latter, first shown on RPN-9 and later re-aired and locally remade on GMA, took Philippine television by storm in the mid-1990s.
The entry of ‘Corazon Indomable’ will mark the latest attempt to rekindle the fading popularity of the telenovela. The genre has endured tremendous amount of abuse from the rightsholder in the last few years, as telenovelas like GMA’s ‘Lola’, ABS-CBN’s ‘Ana Manuela’, and IBC-13/ATC’s ‘The Two Sides of Ana’ and ‘La Teniente’ were either cancelled or shortened for various reasons.
It will be foolish for GMA to once again cut short another telenovela, considering the backlash that they endured upon cancelling ‘Lola’ due to low ratings. If they keep their heads calm, then ‘Corazon Indomable’ will be able to finish in full.
Immediately following ‘Corazon Indomable’ will be the Koreanovela ‘Women in the Sun’. It will star Kim Ji-soo, Lee Ha-na, Han Jae-suk, and Jung Gyu-woon.
‘Women in the Sun’ premieres in Philippine shores nearly seven years after it first aired in its native South Korea. In its original airing, the Koreanovela received an average rating of nearly 14% and won four KBS Drama Awards.
The long gap is uncharacteristic for any Koreanovela in the country, as GMA and ABS-CBN usually air their Koreanovelas within one or two years from its original Korean broadcast. Still, for any devoted follower of Asianovelas, ‘Women in the Sun’ should be worth the wait.
Now the question is, will they have a chance to make an impact against ‘The Singing Bee’? It is highly doubtful, since ‘The Singing Bee’ has had GMA’s number for the past few months, and not even the extended running time of the Astig Authority block can rattle its confidence.
That said, the onus is on GMA to make the two series as good as advertised. This is a make or break situation for them as far as their morning lineup is concerned, so good luck.
‘Corazon Indomable’ and ‘Women in the Sun’ airs starting February 2, right after Astig Authority and before ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’.
Note: The trailer for ‘Corazon Indomable’, which is now shown on GMA, is unavailable on YouTube as of this writing.
1995 was a memorable year in Philippine television. As part of a year-long special, From the Tube will look back at a year full of historical debuts, unforgettable moments, and celebrated feats in the history of television in the country.
The longest-running noontime variety show in the country found a new home twenty years ago.
On January 28, 1995, ‘Eat Bulaga’ premiered on GMA with a special live episode held at the now-Smart Araneta Coliseum. The change in network came after negotiations between producers TAPE, Inc. and ABS-CBN bogged down.
In the months leading to its departure, ABS-CBN proposed a deal that would transfer ‘Eat Bulaga”s rights to the Lopez-owned network. When it became clear that TAPE would not accept the deal, ABS-CBN dropped ‘Eat Bulaga’ and fellow TAPE-produced shows ‘Valiente’ and ‘Okay Ka Fairy Ko’ from its lineup.
ABS-CBN then responded by moving its erstwhile Sunday show ‘Sa Linggo nAPO Sila’ to weekdays under the name ”Sang Linggo nAPO Sila’. The newly-rebranded variety show made its debut on February 6, 1995, but lasted only three years.
It was with the Kapuso network where ‘Eat Bulaga’ found its greatest success. The show became the launching pad for the careers of the Sexbomb Dancers, comedians and current hosts Allan K, Jose Manalo and Wally Bayola, and the youngest talk show host today in Ryzza Mae Dizon.
‘Eat Bulaga”s GMA years also featured several memorable gimmicks. Among those that stood out were ‘Laban o Bawi’, a game segment that gives the audience a chance to win P1 million, and ‘Pinoy Henyo’, a guessing game between two individuals.
But perhaps the most crowning achievement of ‘Eat Bulaga”s tenure with GMA was its charity work. The show found new ways to interact with its audience via the on-location segment ‘Juan for All, All for Juan: Bayanihan Op D Pipol’, the ‘Plastic ni Juan’ project, and the ‘EB Scholar’ initiative.
Today, ‘Eat Bulaga’ maintains its stature as the top noontime show in the country, regardless of rival. The cast and crew may have changed over the years, but one thing’s for sure: Tito, Vic and Joey will always be there to give some laughter and entertainment to viewers.
Despite tremendous hype surrounding the return of Jolina Magdangal and Marvin Agustin to ABS-CBN, ‘Flordeliza’ failed to make an impact against its counterpart ‘The Half-Sisters’ on its first week. (Photo credit: ABS-CBN)
ABS-CBN’s new-look Kapamilya Gold is off to a slow start.
Ratings from the network’s trusted source Kantar Media showed that last Monday’s pilot episodes of ‘Flordeliza’ and ‘Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita’ registered a paltry 9.7 and 8.9% figures, respectively. On the other hand, GMA Afternoon Prime counterparts ‘The Half-Sisters’ and ‘Yagit’ earned better marks of 14.9% and 11.6%.
The two shows’ ratings also failed to improve following last Tuesday’s episodes. ‘Flordeliza’ earned an 8.2% mark against ‘The Half-Sisters” 15.5%, while ‘Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita’ managed a 7.9% rating opposite ‘Yagit”s 11.9%.
And following last Wednesday’s episodes, ‘Flordeliza’ and ‘Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita’ garnered ratings of 9% and 8.7%, respectively. Meanwhile, ‘The Half-Sisters’ and ‘Yagit’ fared much better with 14.8% and 12.3%.
The struggle has been all too real for Kapamilya Gold. Since ‘Moon of Desire’ ended its run in August, the afternoon block has been on the decline, both in terms of quality and in viewership.
From mid-August to mid-January, ABS-CBN did not produce any local teleseryes for the said block. The vacant slot in between ‘It’s Showtime’ and the News and Current Affairs programs was first filled in by the ill-fated telenovela ‘Ana Manuela’, followed by the movie block ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’.
The lack of local teleseryes clearly took its toll on Kapamilya Gold. As a result, Afternoon Prime retook control in the ratings, led by the top-rated ‘The Half-Sisters’, and never looked back.
It is clear that both ‘Flordeliza’ and ‘Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita’ have a lot more work to do in order to match, let alone surpass the ratings of their rivals. The hype surrounding the two shows is undeniable, but unless they back it up with an improved ratings performance, all that hype will go to waste.
That said, it is up to the executives at ABS-CBN to make some improvements for Kapamilya Gold. They are undoubtedly the No. 1 television network today, but it doesn’t mean they are invincible with this weakness.
Note: ‘Flordeliza’ and ‘Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita’ will be bumped to earlier timeslots in order to make way for the Koreanovela ‘Fated to Love You’, starting today.
‘Oggy and the Cockroaches’ switched networks again this year. The French silent animated comedy found a new home in Nickelodeon Asia after a two-year run on Cartoon Network Asia.
Once ‘Oggy’ premiered on Nickelodeon, however, there was one problem. The opening and closing credits were produced for the third season (2008-09), but the episodes were from the first season (1998-99).
This was not the case when Cartoon Network and even Disney Channel Asia aired ‘Oggy’ in the Philippines. The credits and episodes would always be consistent to one another when they air it.
That said, the error on ‘Oggy’ is definitely a major dilemma for Nickelodeon. What happens next once the other seasons of ‘Oggy and the Cockroaches’ were aired on Nickelodeon, especially the most recent one shot in HD television? That will only make things difficult for the orange network.
From the Tube 