A Look Back at TAPE’s Pre-Noontime Programs

With the cancellation of ‘The Lolas’ Beautiful Show’ earlier this February, TAPE decided to cease production of pre-noontime shows after nearly five years. (Photo credit: TAPE Inc. and GMA Network)

Jodi Sta. Maria and Richard Yap.

It all started with this love team, and it all ended with this love team. The duo forever changed the pre-noontime landscape.

Yet one production outfit tried to make things a little more interesting. That outfit happens to be Television and Production Exponents Inc., better known by the acronym TAPE Inc.

The producers of ‘Eat Bulaga’ decided to take a crack at the Jodi-Richard love team by premiering a pre-noontime talk show hosted by a then-seven-year-old Ryzza Mae Dizon. In April 2013, GMA and TAPE launched ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’, and for nearly two years, it engaged with ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ in a tough battle for ratings supremacy.

Yet ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ continued to roll, and so did its successors ‘Give Love on Christmas’, ‘Oh My G!’ and ‘Ningning’. When TAPE realized that ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’ has outlived its usefulness, they decided to replace the talk show with a light drama in ‘Princess in the Palace’, starring Ryzza alongside Eula Valdes and Aiza Seguerra.

But the move to a drama format did not change its fortunes, and neither did a sitcom in ‘Calle Siete’. Meanwhile, another ABS-CBN series in ‘Be My Lady’ extended the network’s reign in the timeslot.

In October 2016, GMA and TAPE canceled ‘Calle Siete’ and in its place came a coming-of-age light drama in ‘TROPS’, starring the That’s My Bae quintet of Kenneth Medrano, Kim Last, Jon Timmons, Tommy Penaflor, Miggy Tolentino, and Joel Palencia. The said series also ended Ryzza Mae Dizon’s three-year run in the pre-noontime slot amid her physical changes and the emergence of AlDub.

Unfortunately, ‘TROPS’ also failed to make a difference in the ratings. Over at ABS-CBN, their dominance continued with ‘Langit Lupa’ and ‘Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin’.

In a last-ditch effort to make an impact in the pre-noontime slot, TAPE and GMA returned to the talk show format in September 2017 with ‘The Lolas’ Beautiful Show’, hosted by the lolas of Kalyeserye (portrayed by Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola and Paolo Ballesteros). It couldn’t have come at a worst possible time, as AlDub was no longer a difference-maker by the time this show premiered.

Sadly, the return of Jodi and Richard (plus Robin Padilla) in ‘Sana Dalawa ang Puso’ put an end to TAPE’s pre-noontime aspirations. As a result, TAPE cancelled ‘The Lolas’ Beautiful Show’ after 95 episodes on February 2, 2018, and ceased production of pre-noontime shows.

Give TAPE and GMA a lot of credit for trying to give ABS-CBN a run for its money. But at the end of the day, the latter’s superiority in the pre-noontime slot became too much to overcome, especially with the unlikely duo of Jodi Sta. Maria and Richard Yap giving plenty of ‘kilig’ to its viewers.

Now that TAPE ends its production of pre-noontime shows, time will only tell when GMA decides to strike on its own. But for now, the competition is over and GMA will have to live and die with Tagalized movies as a way to wave the white flag.

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In 100 Words: Hahamakin ang Lahat to End This Friday

‘Doble Kara”s final opponent will bid farewell this Friday.

GMA announced that ‘Hahamakin ang Lahat’ will air its final episode on February 17. The announcement came just days after ABS-CBN’s ‘Doble Kara’ concluded its 382-episode run.

‘Hahamakin ang Lahat’ premiered on October 31, 2016 and will have a total of 80 episodes once it ends. Unfortunately for the show, it had a hard time breaking past the ever-popular ‘Doble Kara’, despite featuring a stellar cast that features Joyce Ching, Kristoffer Martin, Eula Valdes, Snooky Serna, Thea Tolentino and Ariel Rivera.

‘Hahamakin ang Lahat’ will be replaced by ‘Legally Blind’, which will star Janine Gutierrez, Mikael Daez and Lauren Young.

A Fifth Opponent for Doble Kara

 

Add ‘Sinungaling Mong Puso’ to the list of victims that ABS-CBN’s ‘Doble Kara’ left in its wake.

For the past 74 episodes (running from July 18 to October 27), ‘Sinungaling Mong Puso’ tried its best to rattle the confidence of the no. 1 afternoon drama in the country. Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain, as ‘Doble Kara’ continued its dominance in the national ratings.

To make matters worse, ‘Sinungaling Mong Puso’ failed to receive adequate promotion from GMA’s entertainment group. This has become a constant pattern for the network’s Afternoon Prime block, even as its Telebabad counterparts began to redeem themselves.

It was a humiliating fact that cast a spell on the series’ two lead stars in Rhian Ramos and Rafael Rosell. Although the two tried their best to present their more mature and sensual roles for ‘Sinungaling Mong Puso’, it was not enough, as GMA simply gave up promoting the show for whatever reason.

‘Sinungaling Mong Puso”s finale will take place later today. On a related note, GMA announced its replacement.

Starting this Monday at 3:20 p.m., it will be the reunited tandem of Joyce Ching and Kristoffer Martin who will try to best Julia Montes. Their newest series, ‘Hahamakin ang Lahat’, will be a more mature project for the duo.

‘Hahamakin ang Lahat’, according to GMA Network, will ‘revolve around the repeating fates of a mother and her child who both had to bear the agony of not being able to be with the man they truly love because of the struggles and conflicts they encounter in winning the approval of their family’. The series will center around a Chinese Filipina named Rachel (Joyce) and her love interest Junjun (Kristoffer).

The supporting cast will include Eula Valdes, Ariel Rivera, Snooky Serna, Thea Tolentino, Chinggay Alonso, Marc Abaya, Jett Pangan, Marina Benipayo, Renz Valerio, Mona Louise Rey and Bruno Gabriel. It will be directed by Don Michael Perez.

Going up against a still-strong ‘Doble Kara’ will be a tough challenge for ‘Hahamakin ang Lahat’, considering the former’s high ratings. GMA’s inability to sell its afternoon dramas will also be a major focus, and if they want ‘Hahamakin ang Lahat’ to be successful, they must give ample promotion time to the series in order to pump some life into it.

A new challenger awaits ‘Doble Kara’. Now ‘Hahamakin ang Lahat’ must go all out to give the former all they can handle, otherwise another victim comes ‘Doble Kara”s way.

 

Ryzza Mae Dizon’s Three-Year Pre-Noontime Run Ends Tomorrow

The end of an era: Ryzza Mae Dizon’s three-year run at the pre-noontime slot will conclude tomorrow with the finale of ‘Calle Siete’. (Photo credit: Calle Siete official Facebook)

It’s the end of an era for Ryzza Mae Dizon.

After over three years and three shows that served as the appetizer for ‘Eat Bulaga’, Ryzza Mae Dizon’s run as the face of TAPE and GMA’s pre-noontime slot will come to an end tomorrow morning. That day will mark the final episode of Ryzza’s most recent program ‘Calle Siete’, which had been on the air since June of this year.

Ryzza’s run at the slot began on April 8, 2013, when ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’ debuted on television. The talk show ran for over two years and spanned a total of 721 episodes, before airing its finale on September 18, 2015.

On September 21, 2015, Ryzza took on a more dramatic role when ‘Princess in the Palace’ premiered. The series, which featured Ryzza playing the role of an adopted daughter to the president of the Philippines (played by Eula Valdes), ran for 187 episodes and ended its run on June 10, 2016.

Then on June 13, 2016, ‘Calle Siete’ premiered. The show, which is mostly comedic in nature, will have a total of 74 episodes once it concludes tomorrow.

Overall, Ryzza Mae Dizon’s three shows ran for a cumulative total of 982 episodes spanning over three years. Not bad for a kid.

But at the age of 11, it is clear that Ryzza Mae Dizon is no longer the charismatic young kid of years past. At this point, her appearances on ‘Eat Bulaga’ became increasingly sporadic, and she had been surpassed in popularity by the love team of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza, the show’s BAES, and another budding child star in Baste.

Of course, like many child stars, the need to take a backseat is definitely a necessity for Ryzza given her continuous physical and mental maturity. Still, even as Ryzza continues to grow as a person, her continued presence on ‘Eat Bulaga’ after this week should help her maintain a larger-than-life presence on the small screen.

Come next week, ‘Eat Bulaga”s BAES (consisting of Kenneth Medrano, Kim Last, Jon Timmons, Tommy Penaflor, Miggy Tolentino, and Joel Palencia) and fellow newcomer Taki will star in a new show called ‘TROPS’. And while Ryzza will no longer be present on this upcoming show, one can only hope that ‘TROPS’ will be just as successful as any of Ryzza’s three previous shows.

For those who look forward to a post-Ryzza Mae Dizon era every weekday at 11:30 a.m., good luck.

Be My Lady Extended, Princess in the Palace Concludes

The gap between ‘Be My Lady’ and ‘Princess in the Palace’ continues to widen.

As the rainy season began, it is clear that the odds were not in favor of ‘Princess in the Palace’. While Ryzza Mae Dizon has shown to be a capable actress, it was not enough to catapault her past the love team of Erich Gonzales and Daniel Matsunaga, whose chemistry on ‘Be My Lady’ mirrors that of their real-life relationship.

And ratings for the two shows speak for themselves. On Thursday, June 2, ‘Be My Lady’ (18% rating per episode) won the day with a 20% rating, the second time it ever hit the mark, while ‘Princess in the Palace’ (8.5% rating per episode) only earned 8.7%.

The constantly outstanding ratings of ‘Be My Lady’ led to another extension just recently. The ABS-CBN pre-noontime series will now run until October, which means that it will have a ten-month run, the longest for a pre-noontime show since ‘Be Careful with My Heart’.

On the other hand, TAPE and GMA announced that the week of June 6 will be the last for ‘Princess in the Palace’. Running since September 21, 2015 (a total of 188 episodes by June 10), it was Ryzza Mae Dizon’s first venture as a character actress, and it also starred Eula Valdes, Aiza Seguerra, Boots Anson Roa and Christian Vasquez, among others.

Though ‘Princess in the Palace”s run was just as impressive, the series was unable to overcome the constant success of ABS-CBN’s pre-noontime shows. Both ‘Ningning’ and the aforementioned ‘Be My Lady’ posted ratings that were at best 10 points higher than ‘Princess in the Palace’.

Nevertheless, Ryzza Mae Dizon should be proud of herself. Regardless of the show’s underwhelming ratings, she proved to the world that she can cry and laugh with the best of them, and working with industry veterans is worth the experience.

Despite the fact that ‘Princess in the Palace’ is about to conclude, don’t expect to see the last of Ryzza Mae Dizon every pre-noontime. A new comedy-drama series starring her is currently in the works, and it will premiere on the former’s timeslot next Monday, June 13.

Still, it’s hard to overcome a timeslot that is dominated by ABS-CBN in the last half-decade. That said, best of luck to TAPE and GMA on that new series starring Ryzza Mae Dizon next week.

The Half-Sisters Extended Anew

‘The Half-Sisters’ has been extended until January 2016, after GMA initially reported that the series would end this October. (Photo credit: GMA Network/The Half-Sisters Official Facebook)

The longest-running afternoon drama today just doesn’t seem to end.

Director Mark Reyes has confirmed that ‘The Half-Sisters’ will be extended until January 2016. Counting the prior 17 months, the series will now have a total of 20 months on its current tenure.

In addition, Reyes confirmed that a new story arc is in the works. He teased that this arc will be edgier and more controversial, but did not disclose any further details because it needs the approval of a variety of sectors, from network management to the cast.

Considering that lead stars Barbie Forteza and Thea Tolentino are maturing as actresses, this may be the best course of action for the series. But then again, it’s up to the two young stars to convince themselves that they are ready for the next step.

Since debuting in June 2014, ‘The Half-Sisters’ has been one the Philippines’ top-rated programs. Its lengthy run has been very impressive, so much so that veteran actors Gloria Romero, Eula Valdes, Cherie Gil and Eddie Garcia have made special appearances at one point, all with the intent of adding more flavor to the story.

But while ‘The Half-Sisters’ remained a hit with viewers, they seem to show signs of decline in recent months. The entry of ABS-CBN’s ‘Doble Kara’, in particular, has given ‘The Half-Sisters’ its toughest rival yet, since the former starred Julia Montes, a very successful primetime drama performer.

As a result, GMA made an announcement earlier this month that ‘The Half-Sisters’ would be down to its last four weeks, in hopes of ending the series on a high note. This report was later retracted, however, and no further mention of its impending conclusion was made in later episode previews.

Its presumed replacement, ‘Dangwa’, was then moved to a late-morning timeslot. And when director Mark Reyes made the confirmation, ‘The Half-Sisters” run will officially go on for an even longer period.

Now that ‘The Half-Sisters’ will continue until the new year, expect even further twists and turns in a series that has featured many of them. But how much longer will the viewers stick around? Only time will tell.