So Long, ‘Basta Every Day Happy’

‘Basta Every Day Happy’ officially bowed out yesterday morning. (Photo credit: GMA Network)

For the first time since December 30, 2011, Chef Boy Logro has no weekday program on the GMA Network.

‘Basta Every Day Happy’, the talk show hosted by Alessandra de Rossi, Gladys Reyes, Donita Rose and the aforementioned Chef Boy Logro, officially bowed out of the airwaves yesterday morning. As a result,  GMA replaced ‘Basta Every Day Happy’ with yet another rerun of ‘Slam Dunk’.

This left GMA without a local program in between ‘Unang Hirit’ and ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’. Considering their so-called ‘success’ with the ‘Astig Authority’ block, they may have made a wise decision, but rival ABS-CBN’s late morning programs like ‘The Singing Bee’ prove otherwise.

Debuting on May 12, 2014, ‘Basta Every Day Happy’ was GMA’s latest attempt at producing their own talk show (‘The Ryzza Mae Show’ doesn’t count since it is produced by blocktimer TAPE, Inc.).  However, it had consistently low ratings, leading to yet another short run for a post-‘SIS’ GMA talk show.

Worse, GMA placed ‘Basta Every Day Happy’ to an unfavorable timeslot (opposite Kapamilya shows like ‘The Singing Bee’), further accelerating its demise. Had it been placed opposite ABS-CBN’s equally low-rated morning show ‘Kris TV’, ‘Basta Every Day Happy’ would have fared much better.

Instead, GMA’s most recent morning talk show became an expected thumbs down, as previously predicted on From the Tube.

So what’s next for GMA after ‘Basta Every Day Happy’?

For now, they’ll live and die with the ‘Astig Authority’ block and their high propensity to re-air classic animes for ‘loyal’ audiences. But without the support of local programming, GMA will have a harder time competing against ABS-CBN’s programs, unless drastic things happen within the next few weeks.

As for Chef Boy Logro, he will still be a regular on the Kapuso network, as his other show, GMA News TV’s ‘Idol sa Kusina’, continues to air today. The future of his co-hosts, however, remain uncertain.

‘Basta Every Day Happy’ was a good show, had GMA made the right choices. But every misstep comes with a price, and in the end, it was GMA’s questionable decisions which cost another of their shows.

This is definitely not a good way to start 2015 for the embattled folks inside Timog Avenue, especially when it started with another programming casualty.

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Be Careful’s Rivals Revisited (Part I)

‘Be Careful with My Heart’ easily overwhelmed ‘Kusina Master’, hosted by Chef Boy Logro (above), during its first few months on the air. (Photo credit: GMA Network)

‘Be Careful with My Heart’, ABS-CBN’s long-running ‘kiligserye’ series, ends this Friday, November 28. As a tribute to its unexpected success and longevity, From the Tube will look back at ‘Be Careful”s rivals and their performance against the said late morning drama series.

On July 9, 2012, ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ debuted on ABS-CBN’s late-morning slot. The then-debuting series introduced viewers to the characters Maya and Ser Chief, portrayed by Jodi Sta. Maria and Richard Yap, respectively.

In its maiden episode, ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ registered ratings of 14.1 and 15.2%, according to AGB Nielsen and Kantar figures, respectively. The series defeated its first rival, the then-dominant GMA cooking series ‘Kusina Master’ of host Chef Boy Logro, who ended up with paltry ratings of 13.5 and 8.8%, respectively.

Soon after, ‘Be Careful’ began to overwhelm the once-confident ‘Kusina Master’, and by October 22, the latter show had been demoted to an earlier timeslot, in favor of ‘Cielo de Angelina’. At this point, ratings of 20% or better were a regular occurrence for ‘Be Careful’.

However, on November 12, ‘Kusina Master’ returned to its original 11:30 a.m. timeslot, thus facing ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ for the second time. But it bombed even further in the ratings, and on February 18, 2013, it was moved back to the 10:00 a.m. timeslot, this time for good.

Make no mistake, ‘Kusina Master’ had been a force to be reckoned with prior to the entry of ‘Be Careful with My Heart’. Chef Boy Logro’s unorthodox and fast-paced cooking style were a hit with audiences, and his ability to interact and entertain with the viewers helped him become a household name.

But once ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ entered, it was all downhill for ‘Kusina Master’, to the point that it was demoted again to an earlier timeslot, and then reformatted in the final year of its run. Still, the show was fortunate to have lasted over two years, thanks to its loyal viewers who kept the show alive.

‘Kusina Master’ was cancelled on May 9, 2014, and was replaced by ‘Basta Every Day Happy’.

Tomorrow on Part II, From the Tube will look back at ‘Be Careful with My Heart”s next rival, ‘Cielo de Angelina’.

GMA’s New Morning Talk Show is a Thumbs Down

GMA is once again producing a morning talk show in ‘Basta Every Day Happy’, as they try to restore order in their morning lineup.

The last time GMA had a morning talk show, real-life married couple Zoren Legaspi and Carmina Villaroel were the hosts of a now-forgotten program called ‘Love ni Mister, Love ni Misis’. And now the Kapuso network is once again trying to resuscitate their already tattered morning lineup by introducing a new morning talk show.

‘Basta Every Day Happy’ is GMA’s latest attempt at a morning talk show. The upcoming program will be hosted by Chef Boy Logro, Gladys Reyes, Donita Rose and Alessandra de Rossi, and will begin its broadcast this Monday at 11:00 a.m., right before another talk show in ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’.

Ever since ‘SIS’ left the airwaves, GMA has attempted and failed to create their own highly-rated talk and variety shows in the morning slot. Anyone who remembers ‘Diz Iz It’ , ‘Nay-1-1’ and the aforementioned ‘Love ni Mister, Love ni Misis’ will be scratching their heads in disbelief.

And their most recent attempt, ‘Kusina Master’, was also a non-factor. As it turned out, Chef Boy Logro’s weekday program was supplanted by ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’, then moved to an earlier timeslot, before cutting its airtime to 15 minutes. Worse, the program that was once produced inside a studio to a live audience was demoted to producing taped broadcasts in various kitchen setups.

Which is why the pressure is definitely high for the hosts of ‘Basta Every Day Happy’. The thing is, GMA management would have done the right thing by placing the program opposite ‘Kris TV’, in order to downplay such expectations. Instead, the management decided to put the program against ‘The Singing Bee’, and based on ‘TSB”s recent ratings, it looks like ‘Basta Every Day Happy’ is poised for a disastrous start.

It remains to be seen whether or not ‘Basta Every Day Happy’ will prove doubters wrong. But as far as recent history goes, it looks like GMA has produced yet another short-lived morning talk show.