Seems like viewers still favor musical numbers over comedic skits in a Sunday variety show.
It has been a struggle lately for GMA’s ‘Sunday PinaSaya’ as they enter their first anniversary this week. The APT-produced variety show was off to a strong start when it first aired, but like ‘Eat Bulaga”s AlDub phenomenon (Alden Richards happens to be a cast member of ‘Sunday PinaSaya’), its momentum soon faded as the calendar turned to 2016.
On the contrary, ABS-CBN’s ‘ASAP’, now on its 21st year, returned to the top of the game thanks to its improved production values and new segments. The show also got a boost when it added former Kapuso performers Kyla, Jay-R and most recently Jona Viray.
Ratings for the two shows clearly indicate how things quickly change on the Sunday noontime scene. ‘Sunday PinaSaya’ was able to dominate early on because viewers were curious about this new comedy-centric variety show, but as the months wore on, it was obvious that they still prefer the music and dance numbers of ‘ASAP’.
It was also evident that the AlDub phenomenon dictated the early success of ‘Sunday PinaSaya’, especially since Alden Richards was a cast member and Maine Mendoza made a few appearances. Unfortunately, even AlDub is bound to lose sometime, and when bandwagon fans grew bored of the love team, the ratings of ‘Sunday PinaSaya’ soon plummeted.
The improvements on ‘ASAP’ should cause a lot of concern to the people behind ‘Sunday PinaSaya’. The show overall was not bad, but they need to understand that they should not rest on their laurels and make some tweaks every once in a while.
That said, the priority of ‘Sunday PinaSaya’ at this point is to possibly add new cast members and create new skits that will further engage its viewers. If done properly, they could regain the momentum that they lost at the beginning of the year.
As ‘Sunday PinaSaya’ celebrates its first anniversary, one thing is certain: they want to go back on top. But it remains to be seen whether or not they will be able to make some improvements in hopes of regaining their lost viewership.
From the Tube 
Ralph, do you believe that the AlDub phenomenon is slightly waned? As I read the comments in the social media, many of the Kapuso viewers are wanted to return the musical concert as SOP before, that is why many kapuso artists (particularly singers) transferred to ABS-CBN such as Jaya, Jolina, Jay-r, Jona and Kyla and even Kris Lawrence was return to his home station.
It’s obvious that it waned, because people got bored and the story is increasingly predictable. But as far as returning to the musical variety show format of the past, GMA wants no part of it, because it’s obvious they can’t compete with ASAP. Thus, they let APT take over and create an SNL-like show which is SPS. Still, it was a price to pay since some of the Kapuso singers from SOP jumped to ASAP thanks to SPS.