Overexposed Luis Manzano Finally Gets a Break

Luis Manzano had a three-year stretch of near non-stop hosting commitments which made him overexposed on TV for a long period. (Photo credit: ABS-CBN)

Thank goodness it’s over.

For much of the last three years, Luis Manzano became a part of every household thanks to a multitude of hosting commitments he accepted during that span. Whether it’s a game show or a talent show, it seems like viewers can’t get enough of this popular Kapamilya host.

Luis’ lengthy run began on October 26, 2014, when he joined Toni Gonzaga to host ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ season 2. The season ran for 36 episodes, concluding on March 1, 2015.

At the tail end of ‘The Voice of the Philippines” run, Luis accepted the job as host of the new season of ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’. Running from February 9, 2015 until March 4, 2016, the fifth season of ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’ aired a total of 278 episodes.

Next up for Luis was ‘The Voice Kids’ season 2, which ran from June 6 to August 30, 2015. A total of 26 episodes were aired during that season.

On November 14, 2015, Luis replaced Billy Crawford as host of ‘Celebrity Playtime’, and was present for the game show’s final 41 episodes. Then on January 23, 2016, Luis and Billy joined forces to host the fifth season of ‘Pilipinas Got Talent’, which ran for 35 episodes until May 22, 2016.

By that point, signs of overexposure become more evident for Luis. Unfortunately for the viewers, ABS-CBN is not yet finished with him.

April 9, 2016 saw Luis take over as host of the newly-acquired ‘Family Feud’ franchise, and he presided on all of its 111 episodes. A few months later, on July 18, 2016, Luis returned to host the second season of ‘Minute to Win It’, adding another 208 episodes to his resume.

And if that is not enough, another run as host of ‘The Voice Kids’ awaited Luis. From May 28 to August 28, 2016, Luis was the presenter on all 28 episodes of ‘The Voice Kids” third season.

Finally on April 16, 2017, Luis accepted another hosting stint within ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ franchise. This time, he became the host of ‘The Voice Teens’, which has now aired seven episodes and counting.

This does not include his additional responsibility as one of the hosts of ‘ASAP’. That said, for all intents and purposes, ‘ASAP’ will not be added in this count.

It was clear that ABS-CBN is paying the price for their overreliance on Luis Manzano. Overall, the host accumulated a total of 770 episodes within nine shows (as of May 7, 2017) in a span of 925 days, which speaks of how ABS-CBN became too dependent on this star hosting-wise.

While ratings for Luis’ nine shows were not a problem, it is ABS-CBN’s utilization that became a dilemma. Let’s face it, they have a deep plethora of talent who can be just as proficient in hosting, yet they stuck with Luis for some reason because, he’s the only guy they can depend on to deliver a good show.

Now that Luis is freed of the burden of hosting too many shows on a daily basis, the time is definitely now for ABS-CBN to develop more hosts. After all, there are plenty in the pipeline so why not breed at least one or two of them to relieve some pressure on the veterans.

For now, Luis Manzano can breathe easily. A period of less strenuous activity is all he needs at this point.

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The End of CelebriTV?

Tomorrow afternoon could be the last time ‘CelebriTV’ will ever air on GMA.

The official teaser released today (see below) gave no indication that it will be the final episode for the GMA talk show. But as GMA announced the premiere date and timeslot for ‘Laff, Camera, Action’ (May 28, every Saturday afternoon), it was clear that the network has no choice but to close the curtain on ‘CelebriTV’.

‘CelebriTV’ first premiered on September 19, 2015, with Joey de Leon, Lolit Solis and Ai-ai de las Alas as hosts. It replaced ‘Startalk’, who had been on the air for 20 years but whose ratings were on the decline due to changing preferences in showbiz news reporting.

Originally, ‘CelebriTV’ was tagged as the weekly ‘trend-tertainment news’ and ‘comedy talk show’. Soon after, however, game show elements were added, possibly in an attempt to curb the increasing ratings of ABS-CBN game shows ‘Celebrity Playtime’ and ‘Family Feud’.

It backfired, and ‘CelebriTV’, like the final few years of ‘Startalk’, stumbled in the ratings. Not even a brief timeslot switch with ‘Imbestigador’ helped matters.

Overall, ‘CelebriTV’ will have a total of 35 episodes and eight months to its resume. Considering its performance, it was not bad, but it was not impressive either.

The truth is, showbiz talk shows are no longer viable. ABS-CBN knew what was coming when they finally pulled the plug on ‘The Buzz’ last year, however, GMA insisted that they are still worth watching, which is why they decided to create ‘CelebriTV’ in an attempt to revive its declining appeal.

Unfortunately, it didn’t, and GMA painfully realized it. Now they have no choice but to say goodbye to the format that once infiltrated the airwaves for several decades.

So come this Saturday, sit back, watch and enjoy what could be the curtain call for ‘CelebriTV’. It’s going to be a fun farewell, even if it will not make an impact in the ratings.

ABS-CBN Game Shows a Celebrity Overkill

Since its premiere, ABS-CBN’s version of ‘Family Feud’ has been criticized for relying too much on celebrities, a trend that was previously established in the network’s other game shows. (Screenshot courtesy of ABS-CBN Entertainment Official YouTube)

What happened to the phrase ‘In the Service of the Filipino’?

For many years, ABS-CBN has been able to live up to its iconic slogan by delivering quality programs and services to all Filipinos, both in the Philippines and abroad. However, not all programs are fulfilling its vision.

ABS-CBN’s recent game shows, in particular, are defying the standards that the network set in the early 1990s. Just ask ‘Family Feud’.

Ever since the franchised game show made a well-publicized comeback in early April, ABS-CBN made numerous changes that did not sit well with the loyal viewers from the ABC 5 and GMA days. The most radical of these changes were that of the teams involved, where instead of family members, celebrities from a particular show or group would participate.

With all these revisions in the game’s format, one would rather consider ABS-CBN’s version of ‘Family Feud’ as more of a spinoff rather than a true franchise. Perhaps the name ‘Celebrity Family Feud’ could be more appropriate.

This is not the first time that ABS-CBN frequently used its celebrities in their game shows. Recently, ‘The Singing Bee’, ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’ and ‘Celebrity Playtime’ were known to utilize celebrities more often than not.

With that being said, the Kapamilya network’s regular use of celebrities in their game shows is an insult to what the network stood for. Yes they may be convincing Filipinos to buy a TVPlus digibox or be admired with their love teams such as KathNiel or LizQuen, but an opportunity for them to play games for cash prizes is not in their vocabulary.

While they do give chances to ordinary people in their talent shows (e.g. ‘It’s Showtime’, ‘Pilipinas Got Talent’), it’s not quite the same as giving a jackpot prize to a deserving game show winner. It’s a shame that despite all the revenue they have in their pocket, they don’t seem to share it unless a major calamity happens.

ABS-CBN may be called the Kapamilya network, but this act is not a family-friendly one. Too bad.

It remains to be seen if ABS-CBN will be able to give their loyal viewers a chance to play for cash prizes on ‘Family Feud’ and future game shows. Until then, the best course of action is for the viewers to tune out if it continues to favor celebrities.

Family Feud Moves to ABS-CBN

The Filipino franchise of ‘Family Feud’ is going Kapamilya.

Just recently, ABS-CBN announced that they will acquire the rights to produce and broadcast the hit game show ‘Family Feud’. The said game show is the latest in the Kapamilya network’s series of foreign franchise acquisitions dating back to 2005.

Soon after, it was revealed that Luis Manzano will host the said game show. Afterwards, he announced on the March 20 episode of ‘ASAP’ that the premiere date of ‘Family Feud’ will be on April 9, Saturday, and will air on weekends.

The Filipino franchise of ‘Family Feud’ joins a rare list of programs that were aired on three different networks. The original version, hosted by Ogie Alcasid, aired on ABC 5 (now TV5) from 2001-02, then the subsequent editions, hosted by Richard Gomez, Dingdong Dantes and Edu Manzano, aired on GMA from 2008-11.

In addition, ‘Family Feud’ is the third game show franchise to air on both ABC 5/TV5 and ABS-CBN. The others are ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and ‘The Price is Right’.

‘Family Feud’ on ABS-CBN will replace ‘Celebrity Playtime’, another game show hosted by Luis Manzano. Its timeslot is yet to be determined.

It will be interesting to see how ABS-CBN’s own take on ‘Family Feud’ will live up to the standards set by both ABC 5 and GMA. But considering the streak of success that ABS-CBN has enjoyed of late, getting some good viewership should not be a problem.

GMA Brings Lip-Sync Battle to the Philippines

One of America’s surprise viral hits is coming to the Philippines.

‘Lip-Sync Battle’, the popular American reality TV program, will have a Filipino franchise that will air on GMA starting this Saturday. Titled ‘Lip-Sync Battle Philippines’, the show will be hosted by Michael V and Iya Villania, and will pit GMA’s top celebrities against each other in hopes of impressing the audience with their lip-synching skills.

The upcoming show will mark the first time since ‘Don’t Lose the Money’ that GMA has a franchised program on their lineup. It will also be Iya’s first full-time program on Channel 7 since ‘Sunday All-Stars’ (not including her role as Chika Minute reporter on ’24 Oras’).

‘Lip-Sync Battle Philippines’ will have two rounds of competition: Strip Down and Full-Blown Concert. Celebrities can lip-sync any song of their choosing, and after two rounds, the crowd will determine the winner, who will receive a championship belt.

While GMA is usually reluctant to acquire foreign media franchises, they decided to take a risk on ‘Lip-Sync Battle’. Realizing how much of a hit the American version was, they now hope that the show’s success in America will carry over to the Philippines.

However, in the weeks leading up to its premiere, the timeslot of ‘Lip-Sync Battle Philippines’ became a big issue for the network. Initially, the show was slated to air after ‘Magpakailanman’, but in the end, GMA decided to place ‘Lip-Sync Battle Philippines’ after ‘Pepito Manaloto: Ang Tunay na Kwento’.

One possible reason for the last-minute change is that GMA wanted to see how can ‘Lip-Sync Battle Philippines’ match up with ‘Pilipinas Got Talent’. The latter show had been a high-rating show on ABS-CBN, and if the former can overcome PGT, it should boost GMA’s morale.

The problem with this change, however, is that Michael V is also a regular cast member on ‘Pepito Manaloto’, and giving him back-to-back shows is a bad case of overexposure. Just ask Billy Crawford, who had to give up hosting duties on ‘Celebrity Playtime’ (during its short-lived late-evening stint) in favor of the recently-concluded ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar’.

That said, GMA needs to figure out a way to fit ‘Lip-Sync Battle Philippines’ into their scheme of things. The concept may be engaging, but unless it has a good timeslot to thrive on, things may turn ugly quick.

‘Lip-Sync Battle Philippines’ premieres this Saturday on GMA.

In 150 Words: Imbestigador and CelebriTV Switch Timeslots

GMA is switching timeslots for ‘Imbestigador’ and ‘CelebriTV’ this coming Saturday.

Caught off-guard by ABS-CBN’s most recent timeslot change on their Saturday schedule, GMA decided to change the timeslots of ‘Imbestigador’ and ‘CelebriTV’. As a result, the former will now air at 4:00 p.m., while the latter will air at 5:00 p.m.

This means that ‘Imbestigador’ will once again face ‘SOCO: Scene of the Crime Operatives’, while ‘CelebriTV’ will be up against ‘Celebrity Playtime’ and ‘Mga Kwento ni Marc Logan’. As it stands, ‘Imbestigador”s newest timeslot is now the earliest in the program’s 15-year history, having started as a primetime show early in its tenure.

Much like GMA’s most recent revamp of its weekday schedule, this decision only enhances GMA’s recent reputation as a ‘you lead and I follow’ network. Whatever move ABS-CBN makes, GMA seems to have a response, and that is not good for a network that is trying to rebound this year.

UPDATE: The scheduling change for ‘Imbestigador’ and ‘CelebriTV’ will take effect on February 27.