Last Sunday Night on Philippine TV, and Upcoming Teleseryes

It was an eventful Sunday night on Philippine TV. ABS-CBN’s ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ finally crowned a winner, as Mitoy Yonting won the final showdown over Klarisse de Guzman. The final showdown of ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ proved to be a ratings and social media hit. Over at TV5, ‘The Mega and the Songwriter’ also trended on Twitter, in large part to the performance of the Singing Elevator Girl Cheridel Alejandrino. And both GMA networks experienced an abrupt on-air interruption after a fire broke out at the basement of its headquarters in Quezon City, which was later put under control without any reported injuries.

Meanwhile, contrary to my prediction in a previous article, the new ABS-CBN teleserye ‘Galema: Anak ni Zuma’ will actually have its series debut on the Kapamilya Gold afternoon slot, replacing ‘Dugong Buhay’. The series will make its debut today, and will star Andi Eigenmann in her afternoon soap debut.

Over at primetime, the Kapamilya network’s highly rated teleserye ‘Muling Buksan ang Puso’ will finish its run this week, with its series finale scheduled for Friday, October 4. The remake of ‘Maria Mercedes’ will replace the former beginning October 7, and will mark the return of Jessy Mendiola to the primetime slot. ‘Maria Mercedes’ will be the fourth local adaptation of a Thalia-starred series, after GMA’s ‘MariMar‘, ‘Rosalinda’, and ABS-CBN’s ‘Maria la del Barrio‘.

Switching over to the Kapuso side, GMA will likewise debut a new afternoon series entitled ‘Magkano Ba ang Pag-Ibig’, which will mark the acting return of Heart Evangelista. The new series will replace the Bianca King-starred ‘Maghihintay Pa Rin’ beginning today, September 30.

And finally the Kapuso network also announced that the highly rated and controversial teleserye ‘My Husband’s Lover’ will conclude on October 11, as seen on the network teasers. The teasers also announce a new replacement for MHL, entitled ‘Genesis’, and will officially mark the return of Dingdong Dantes to primetime. However, Dantes will not be paired with his usual off-screen partner Marian Rivera; instead he will be paired by another returning Kapuso star in Rhian Ramos. Barring any hitches, the series debut of ‘Genesis’ will be on October 14.

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Kapamilya Blockbusters, FPJ Return to ABS-CBN; Other Notes

Last Monday, ABS-CBN revamped its ‘Kapamilya Gold’ afternoon lineup by reintroducing the movie block ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’. The said program has been aired in both the morning and afternoon slots primarily to fill in programming slots on a temporary basis. ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ replaced the recently concluded ‘Juan de la Cruz‘ spinoff ‘My Little Juan’ in its timeslot, and airs after ‘Showtime’ and before ‘Dugong Buhay’.

The first film aired on the weekday return of ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ is ‘The Adventures of Pureza: Queen of the Riles‘, starring Melai Cantiveros. The program will focus more on Star Cinema‘s recent film releases, with occasional foreign films added for good measure. While ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ will only be used as a temporary fill-in while an upcoming afternoon teleserye is being planned, it will give viewers an opportunity to watch films they’ve never seen before in cinemas.

Before ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ moved back to its weekday slot, it aired during Sunday mornings, with its timeslot only preempted by ‘Pinoy Pride’ boxing matches and NBA games. However, with the expected return of ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ to the weekday slot, ABS-CBN announced that ‘FPJ: Da King on ABS-CBN’ will make its return. As the name suggests, it features classic films from Fernando Poe, Jr.‘s library of archives, which the Kapamilya network has exclusive rights. In addition, ‘FPJ: Da King’ will also air on Studio 23, Cinema One and Jeepney TV.

The ‘FPJ: Da King’ block will also be a fill-in program, after which it will again be replaced by NBA games and Pinoy Pride matches on ABS-CBN soon. However, don’t expect the FPJ films to be axed soon, as there will be a possibility of moving the program to another timeslot once the NBA season begins.

On another note, the hit teleserye ‘Muling Buksan ang Puso’, starring Julia Montes and Enrique Gil, will officially conclude in three weeks. The teleserye has enjoyed consistently high viewership numbers despite pitting against equally strong GMA teleseryes ‘Mundo Mo’y Akin’ and ‘My Husband’s Lover’. The series finale is expected to air on October 4. Meanwhile, ABS-CBN started to air teasers for the upcoming teleserye ‘Galema: Anak ni Zuma’, starring Andi Eigenmann, which is expected to replace ‘Muling Buksan ang Puso’ in its timeslot.

HD on Philippine Television

The widescreen HD version of the MTRCB Parental Guidance advisory. Note the letterboxes on the top and bottom of the screenshot.

High-definition television in the Philippines is a virtually novel concept. This new medium in television broadcast gives viewers a wider and clearer resolution that what standard-definition provides. A high-definition broadcast necessitates the use of flat-screen television sets, which are more spacious and less bulkier than a standard television set.

HDTV was given a test run in the United States and Europe in the 1990s, but it was not until the late 2000s when virtually all television broadcasts in the Atlantic started to air in HD. In the Philippines, ABS-CBN subsidiary SkyCable launched its HD service to its customers in 2009. That same year, the mother network began broadcasting UAAP‘s 72nd season in HD, marking the first high-definition television broadcast in the Philippines. In the years that followed, ABS-CBN began to shoot its teleseryes with HD cameras, beginning with 2011’s ‘Budoy‘.

This year, ABS-CBN’s popular kiligserye ‘Be Careful with My Heart‘ is just one of several Kapamilya drama series being shot with HD cameras. In addition, they are also shooting ‘Juan Dela Cruz‘, ‘Muling Buksan ang Puso’, ‘Dugong Buhay’, and ‘My Little Juan’ in HD. In June, TV5 began to shoot its teleseryes in HD, starting with ‘Misibis Bay’ followed by ‘Undercover’. However, at the moment GMA has yet to divulge any plan of broadcasting their teleseryes with the use of high definition cameras.

This is a welcome development in the history of Philippine television, however it may take several years before the Philippines makes its full transition to high definition television. This year was the first step, however.