FTT Year 2017 in Review: The Hot or Not Stories That Define the Year in Media (Part I)

Another year is about to end. But before the calendar flips to 2018, here is a look back at the year that was in television and radio. This article looks back at some of the Hot or Not moments that define the Philippine media this year.

Here is Part I of the four-part series. These stories are arranged in no particular order.

HOT: La Luna Sangre

The tandem of Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla returned to ABS-CBN Primetime Bida in June to star in ‘La Luna Sangre’, which also starred Angel Locsin (initially in a special participatory role as Lia before returning full-time as Jacintha) and another comebacking star in Richard Gutierrez. The series became an immediate hit scoring well over 30% in the nationwide ratings.

The success of ‘La Luna Sangre’ also revitalized the third slot of Primetime Bida following the lukewarm reception of predecessors ‘Magpahanggang Wakas’, ‘A Love to Last’ and ‘My Dear Heart’. But while KathNiel did not lose their magic upon returning to the small screen, the same cannot be said for another popular love team.

NOT: AlDub and More

Good news: AlDub did not need to face KathNiel as ‘Destined to Be Yours’ ended weeks before ‘La Luna Sangre’ premiered. Bad news: 63 episodes is more than enough to justify the lack of success of ‘Destined to Be Yours’, the first primetime series to star Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza together.

Things only got worse for the duo from that point on. In late November, Maine revealed on social media that she and Alden are only friends in real life and that she ‘deserves all the hate in the world’ for being a ‘coward’ and a ‘selfish little brat’.

Perhaps the pressure and the expectations are starting to take its toll on Maine. Much like her harrowing portrayal of a depressed workaholic in the ‘Eat Bulaga’ made-for-TV film ‘Love Is…’, somebody should help her overcome these stresses.

HOT: Ika-6 na Utos and Afternoon Prime

‘Ika-6 na Utos’ premiered late last year to lukewarm reviews. But thanks to some campy moments that elicit plenty of laughter from its viewers, ‘Ika-6 na Utos’ became unexpectedly popular, so much so that GMA decided to add Saturday episodes starting in April to capitalize on its success.

The series also boosted the fortunes of Afternoon Prime which had been left for dead earlier in the year. By August, succeeding dramas ‘Impostora’ and ‘Haplos’ were winning over their ABS-CBN counterparts thanks in large part to ‘Ika-6 na Utos’.

NOT: The Entire Kapamilya Gold Post-Doble Kara

Led by back-to-back ‘kabitseryes’ in ‘Pusong Ligaw’ and ‘The Better Half’, Kapamilya Gold lost ground to Afternoon Prime that by the late third quarter of 2017, it was the latter that stood tall. Not even ‘The Greatest Love”s critically-acclaimed run saved the block from its sudden fall from grace.

The end of ‘Doble Kara”s year-long run in February foreshadowed a decline in Kapamilya Gold’s performance. Soon after, Afternoon Prime closed the gap and overtook Kapamilya Gold in the ratings for the rest of the year, much to the dismay of Kapamilya viewers everywhere.

HOT: Wildflower

Also in February, ‘Wildflower’ premiered on Primetime Bida’s pre-newscast slot. It didn’t take long for the series to make an impact as it constantly registered ratings of over 20 to 25%, putting it among the top five programs in the country.

The success of ‘Wildflower’ also spawned numerous memes on social media, some of which depict the various confrontations between Ivy/Lily (Maja Salvador) and Emilia (Aiko Melendez). With that kind of impact, ‘Wildflower’ truly turned viewers’ heads upside down whenever these two go at it.

NOT: Kapamilya Game Shows

The slogan ‘In the Service of the Filipino’ does not apply to ABS-CBN game shows. That said, ‘Minute to Win It’, ‘Family Feud’ and ‘Bet on Your Baby’ continued to alienate audiences by utilizing celebrities more often than ordinary people throughout their runs this year.

Luckily all three shows’ seasons came to an end this year: ‘Minute to Win It’ in February, ‘Family Feud’ in May and ‘Bet on Your Baby’ in September. Perhaps ABS-CBN should stop producing game shows and defer these to ‘It’s Showtime’ since they do not even have a clue how to utilize the power of the viewing public.

Part II of this four-part series is coming up tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Advertisement

ABS-CBN Shakes Up Weekend Lineup with Entry of I Can See Your Voice

Changes are indeed aplenty on ABS-CBN this weekend.

Last weekend marked the season 3 finale of ‘Bet on Your Baby’. The 36th and final episode was aired last Sunday and it featured a reunion of original ‘Mara Clara’ stars Judy Ann Santos and Gladys Reyes.

Although ‘Bet on Your Baby’ enjoyed impressive ratings throughout its run, the game show faltered in its final few episodes, prompting ABS-CBN to shelve it for the time being. Initially, ‘Bet on Your Baby’ was to be replaced by ‘I Can See Your Voice’, but ABS-CBN made a drastic move and placed the program on primetime starting this weekend.

Hosted by Luis Manzano alongside judges Angeline Quinto, Alex Gonzaga, Kean Cipriano, Wacky Kiray and Andrew E, ‘I Can See Your Voice’ is the first Kapamilya franchised program to originate from Korea. For more information on its game play, click this link.

‘I Can See Your Voice’ will air every Saturday after ‘Maalaala Mo Kaya’, and Sunday after ‘Rated K’. All told, ABS-CBN will bring back the game/talent/reality show format at the 9:30 p.m. slot, something that was not seen since ‘I Can Do That’ ended.

The premiere of ‘I Can See Your Voice’ casts some doubt on the fate of ‘Lethal Weapon’. The Tagalized American action series aired its 14th episode last Saturday, and according to some knowledgeable sources, the first season of ‘Lethal Weapon’ still had four more episodes to go.

However, no teaser for the next episode was aired, and for some unexplained reason, ABS-CBN effectively canceled ‘Lethal Weapon’ before its season really ended. This despite the fact that the program enjoyed good ratings during its short run.

As for the vacated slot of ‘Bet on Your Baby’, ABS-CBN decided to fill the Saturday slot with a rerun of the ‘Shake Rattle & Roll’ anthology series. Then on Sundays, ABS-CBN opted to extend ‘Kapamilya Weekend Blockbusters’ instead of adding another program to its slate.

It will be interesting to see how these changes will affect ABS-CBN’s weekend lineup. But for those who await to see ‘I Can See Your Voice’ on the small screen, good luck and have fun.

Third Season of Bet on Your Baby Premieres This Weekend

A new season of ‘Bet on Your Baby’ looms on the horizon.

The game show that produced 11 millionaire kids in its first two seasons now returns for a third. And ABS-CBN made it even more exciting with some new twists to the game.

Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo will remain the host of ‘Bet on Your Baby’, but will now have a virtual sidekick in Piggy Bangs. Both will play crucial roles in interacting with the cute and cuddly contestants.

Those said contestants will also be part of the exclusive Baby Club, which will give them complete access and privileges to the program. With that, here is how ‘Bet on Your Baby’ is played.

1. Accompanied by their parents, each baby starts off by facing each other one-on-one in mini challenges inside the Baby Dome. A parent then places their bet on how far their child can go in the challenge, with P 10,000 for the correct bet and P 5,000 for the incorrect bet.
2. A child and their parents then try to answer a question correctly in order to advance to the jackpot round. This round, also known as ‘Watcha Makulit’, is where eliminations will take place.
3. In the jackpot round, mommy, daddy and baby have three chances to find and smash a piggy bank that contains P 1 million. If done successfully, the kid will now join a select list of ‘Babynaryos’.

For the first few weeks of ‘Bet on Your Baby’, celebrity babies will have the opportunity to win P 1 million. Auditions for regular baby contestants will be announced at a later date.

Appropriately enough, the third season premiere of ‘Bet on Your Baby’ will take place on Mother’s Day weekend. That said, families will have plenty more reasons to watch this exciting and cuddly game show that has been a Kapamilya institution since 2013.

It will be interesting to see how this new season plays out. With that, good luck.

‘Bet on Your Baby’ airs every Saturday at 5:15 p.m. and Sunday at 5:00 p.m. on ABS-CBN.

Deal or No Deal Returns, Plus Umaganda’s Slump Continues

‘Kapamilya, Deal or No Deal’ returns with a new format this Monday. (Photo credit: ABS-CBN)

‘Kapamilya, Deal or No Deal’ returns for a new season with a new twist.

The popular ABS-CBN game show will have its fifth season premiere on February 9, with Luis Manzano again taking over hosting duties. This time around, a different format will encompass KDND’s latest season.

Gone are the ’26K Girls’ that held the show’s briefcases in previous seasons. Instead, celebrity guests will be holding the briefcases containing an unknown amount of money, and will be dubbed as the ’20 Lucky Stars’.

In addition, the day’s studio player will be selected from the aforementioned 20 celebrities via a roulette. The said player has the choice of keeping or trading briefcases with the other 19 ‘Lucky Stars’.

As was the case in prior seasons, the objective of the game is for the player to open each briefcase in hopes of getting a better offer from the unnamed banker.

The new season of ‘Kapamilya, Deal or No Deal’ will replace ‘Bet on Your Baby’ beginning this Monday. The second season of the latter game show will have its final episode aired tomorrow afternoon.

Also down to its final episode tomorrow is ‘The Singing Bee’. The long-running game show was a consistent top-rater for the Kapamilya network for the majority of its run, dispatching rival GMA game show ‘Don’t Lose Your Money’ and talk show ‘Basta Every Day Happy’ in the process.

But its success paled in comparison to the rest of the shows on Umaganda, especially Team Animazing. And starting this Monday morning, expect Umaganda’s quality to get even worse with the return of ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’.

The temporary movie block will replace both ‘The Singing Bee’ and ‘Pedro Penduko’ on Umaganda. And if that was not enough, ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ will take on supposedly weaker competition in GMA’s ‘Corazon Indomable’ and ‘Women in the Sun’.

That said, the return of ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ should give ABS-CBN more problems than solutions. Unless they quickly find a replacement program or two in the soonest possible time, expect Umaganda to grow even staler while giving GMA some much-needed breathing room in the mornings.

This is definitely not a good way for ABS-CBN to cement its dominance as the No. 1 network in the country with all the moves they make these days.

‘Bet on Your Baby’ Replaces ‘Pretty Man’ on ABS-CBN

The hit game show ‘Bet on Your Baby’ is back.

ABS-CBN officially announced that the second season of ‘Bet on Your Baby’ will air starting September 22 on the Kapamilya Gold block. The game show will replace the Koreanovela ‘Pretty Man’ on its timeslot.

‘Bet on Your Baby’ will again be hosted by Judy Ann Santos.

The season premiere of ‘Bet on Your Baby’ will mark the return of the game show to weekday afternoons, something that has not happened on Philippine television since TV5’s ‘Jeepney Jackpot: Pera o Para’ last year. It will also be ABS-CBN’s first such venture since ‘The Price is Right’ in 2011.

A total of eight millionaire child-parent pairs were produced in the first season of ‘Bet on Your Baby’. The game show first aired on Saturday nights from September 19, 2013 to May 17, 2014, earning high ratings on each episode.

Now ABS-CBN must hope that the show’s latest season and its five-a-week scheme will produce the same, if not better, results.

Looking ahead to Monday’s premiere, it was a huge gamble on the part of ABS-CBN to replace a short-lived Koreanovela in ‘Pretty Man’ with a game show like ‘Bet on Your Baby’. Their last weekday afternoon game show, ‘The Price is Right’, did not even click with viewers, and was forced to move to Saturdays due to low ratings.

Fortunately for ‘Bet on Your Baby’, they will be facing little pressure on their timeslot. The game show will go up against GMA’s re-run of ‘Full House’, which is not expected to be a factor in the ratings.

As for the end of ‘Pretty Man’, it was unfortunate to see another Kapamilya Asianovela go. The conclusion of ‘Pretty Man’ means that they are back to airing just one Asianovela, and that is the primetime series ‘Miss Ripley’.

In addition, Kapamilya Gold will only have one drama series in its arsenal, which is the telenovela ‘Ana Manuela’. The lack of dramas, especially local ones, in this block is a sign that ABS-CBN is now trying to save some money for next year’s projects, at the risk of losing viewers and ad shares.

And with that, good luck to ‘Bet on Your Baby’ on making things interesting every weekday afternoons.