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.

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‘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.