ABS-CBN may be the country’s most-watched network last month, but weekday afternoons are a different story.
Over the last few weeks, GMA’s Afternoon Prime became the most-watched block from 2:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. While ‘Ika-6 na Utos’ remains the most-watched program during weekday afternoons, its follow-up dramas ‘Impostora’ and ‘Haplos’ were not far behind in dispatching the opposition.
The recent change of fortune in the weekday afternoon slots should cause plenty of concern within the ABS-CBN camp. Both ‘Pusong Ligaw’ and the soon-to-conclude ‘The Better Half’ were derisively labeled ‘kabitseryes’, and viewers became fed up with the direction ABS-CBN is taking.
Looking to address concerns that Kapamilya Gold is becoming increasingly stale, ABS-CBN decided to change things up with a new teleserye that is drastically different from the recent norm. Enter ‘The Promise of Forever’, starring Paulo Avelino and the network’s new addition Ritz Azul.
‘The Promise of Forever’ tells the story of Nicolas (Paulo), an immortal man who saves Sophia (Ritz) from a burning house and years later fall in love with each other. However, inside Nicolas lies a curse that prevents him from entering into a relationship while at the same time preventing him from feeling the pain of loss.
Moreover, Sophia’s lover Philip (Ejay Falcon) and Nicolas’ descendant Marlon (Tonton Gutierrez) were out to ruin their lives. With that in mind, it will be up to Nicolas to overcome the curse while preserving his relationship with Sophia.
‘The Promise of Forever’ will also star Cherry Pie Picache, Amy Austria, Benjie Paras, Susan Africa, Ynna Asistio, and Nico Antonio. It will be directed by Darnel Villaflor and Hannah Espia.
The lead-up to the premiere of ‘The Promise of Forever’ is a cautionary tale of biding one’s time. A trade trailer for the series was released in November of last year, but it took nearly ten months before ABS-CBN realized that the time is finally right.
However, with Kapamilya Gold mired in a slump, is ‘The Promise of Forever’ worth the long wait? One can only hope that this series will turn things around for the suddenly beleaguered block and in turn restore the faith of viewers that had betrayed the network of late.
‘The Promise of Forever’ airs weekday afternoons on ABS-CBN’s Kapamilya Gold. Timeslot to be determined.
From the Tube 
I’m happy that GMA is slowly gaining ground again, making the network wars more competitive. As Ika-6 na Utos is already reigning the afternoons, Impostora is getting there and is now extended til January 2018.
More than just GMA regaining its dominance in the afternoon, it is ABS’ inability to adapt and change that is killing them. At first it was just Ika-6 na Utos, but now even the next two series are getting the feel of winning. ABS really needs to make plenty of changes in their afternoon lineup, or else this recent losing streak will continue.
Instead of making KGold stronger they waived a white flag by placing a canned show there. I guess they want Primetime to be stronger than ever with The Good Son. AP and LLS pairing is a very strong pairing forcing GMA to do scheduling changes. IMO I think they need to bring back PBB on the 4th slot to take advantage of the millennial viewers of The Good Son. That would be a total annihilation of the competion in Primetime for ABS. They can try fixing KGold later with Julia Monte’s show or Jodi’s.
PBB is not easy to produce and conceptualize. Besides, ABS just acquired plenty of Koreanovelas so delaying them may hurt their viewership. One thing they can do is address the mismatch between Showtime and Ika-6 na Utos. Their insistence to air Showtime for three hours is hurting KGold to be honest, and it affects the ratings of the succeeding teleseryes.
Ipapalabas ito after ng Pusong Ligaw. At isa pa, may global simulcast pa ang pilot episode (via TFC). I think ito ang unang beses na ginawa ito sa isang afternoon teleserye.
In short, they’re up against Haplos. Still, I wonder how they fare now that KGold is on a decline. Not even a global simulcast may work in their favor.
Too bad. The Promise of Forever will go down short. It looks like this is the only short-term drama for ABS this year.
The series was delayed countless times before it finally aired. When it did however, its ratings were unimpressive and Haplos was able to beat TPOF numerous times. A long wait can be difficult for even the most knowledgeable of teleserye followers.
Honestly speaking, the story of TPOF is interesting. Had ABSCBN chose this show as a replacement of TGL instead of Pusong Ligaw, it would’ve been more successful at that time. Methinks Pusong Ligaw was hard-pressed. I may be wrong.