Full House Tonight: A Poor Man’s Version of Sunday PinaSaya

Seems like GMA is producing its own ‘Sunday PinaSaya’ for Saturday nights.

Hoping to make good use of their otherwise lethargic Saturday primetime lineup, GMA decided to go all out and unveil a new comedy-musical variety show. The show is called ‘Full House Tonight’, and its lead host is none other than Regine Velasquez-Alcasid.

Yes, Regine is still with Channel 7 (she also hosts ‘Sarap Diva’ on the same channel) even as her husband Ogie Alcasid moved over to archrival ABS-CBN in order to become a judge on ‘It’s Showtime’ and ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids’. Talk about a divorce of the professional kind.

Anyway, ‘Full House Tonight’ will feature a mix of sketches, improvisational comedy, parody and stand-up comedy with a hint of stage musical performances thrown in for good measure. Of course, there will be some special guests to spice up the show.

In essence, ‘Full House Tonight’ is ‘Sunday PinaSaya’ on a Saturday night, or perhaps more like a Filipino working man’s version of NBC’s ‘Saturday Night Live’. At worst it could be another ‘Comedy Central Market’ or ‘Comedy Bar’.

‘Full House Tonight’ will also feature Solenn Heussaff, Bianca Umali, Miguel Tanfelix and Joross Gamboa as Regine’s co-hosts. They will be joined by comedians Philip Lazaro, Kim Idol, Terry Gian, Sarah Brakensiek, Tammy Brown, and Nar Cabico.

A daunting task lies ahead for ‘Full House Tonight’ as they begin their run this Saturday. The show will premiere against ‘Pinoy Big Brother: Lucky 7’, and based on the latter’s strong ratings as it nears its conclusion, there is no doubt that ‘Full House Tonight’ will have its hands full in trying to win this battle.

It will be interesting to see how ‘Full House Tonight’ can reinvigorate GMA’s Sabado Star Power primetime. The show may have an interesting and novel format, but it will be up to the viewers to judge.

‘Full House Tonight’ airs every Saturday night after ‘Magpakailanman’ on GMA.

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Case Solved Adds to GMA’s Saturday Afternoon Madness

It is safe to say that GMA’s Saturday afternoon lineup is an absolute mess.

Since ‘Startalk’ left the airwaves nearly two years ago, three successor shows have tried to fill the void that the former left. Unfortunately, neither ‘CelebriTV’, ‘Laff Camera Action’ nor ‘#Like’ were able to make an impact.

To make matters worse, the block now features three shows that appear indistinguishable from one another. ‘Karelasyon’, ‘Wish Ko Lang’ and ‘Imbestigador’ may be different shows in name, but their formats are way too similar to each other, especially now that the latter two employ greater amounts of dramatization than before.

Now add a fourth show with a similar premise. Starting this Saturday, GMA will introduce the docu-drama series ‘Case Solved’, to be hosted by Dingdong Dantes.

Here is an excerpt from the GMA Network Public Relations Department:

Case Solved features sensational and controversial real-life cases ranging from nonaggressive to violent circumstance derived from Philippines’ Supreme Court Reports Annotated (SCRA) handled by the country’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine National Police (PNP), International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), judicial agencies like the Department of Justice (DOJ), Supreme Court and Bureau of Corrections. More than presenting how the crime is committed, it further explains how the crime is solved.

Hosted by none other than Kapuso Primetime King Dingdong Dantes, this program presents solved cases that will empower and educate the viewers in predicting the probability of a crime before it occurs.

Let’s face it, does GMA need another ‘Imbestigador’ at this point? Because based on the description, ‘Case Solved’ is just another crime-solving program that GMA concocted, even though they already have one in ‘Imbestigador’.

That said, the addition of ‘Case Solved’ does not solve anything as far as their Saturday afternoon lineup goes. The lack of diversity in the block is something that might concern viewers, especially now that ABS-CBN is pulling away in the ratings with ‘Ipaglaban Mo’, ‘SOCO’, ‘Mga Kwento ni Marc Logan’ and ‘Family Feud’.

A moral victory or disaster awaits ‘Case Solved’. GMA can only hope that the show can defy the odds and at least make their block more interesting than ever.

‘Case Solved’ airs starting this Saturday after ‘Eat Bulaga’ on GMA.

GMA’s Unstable Sabado Star Power Continues

Saturdays have been a source of frustration for GMA.

Once again, the Kapuso network decided to make a change in their Sabado Star Power afternoon lineup. Gone was ‘Laff, Camera, Action’, and in came ‘#Like’, the newest reality talent show hosted by Tom Rodriguez and internet sensation Balang.

‘#Like’ is a talent show featuring online sensations battling against each other in a barangay setting. To the surprise of no one, it is just another concept produced by the GMA Public Affairs team, whose penchant for producing non-news shows becomes more infectious and more criticized than ever.

The premiere of ‘#Like’ took place last September 3, but instead of replacing ‘Laff, Camera, Action’ on its 4:30 timeslot, GMA decided to air the said show after ‘Eat Bulaga’. As a result, this is the how the schedule looks like:

• 2:30 p.m. – #Like
• 3:00 p.m. – Karelasyon
• 4:00 p.m. – Wish Ko Lang
• 5:00 p.m. – Imbestigador

However, the change did little to improve the ratings. All four of GMA’s post-‘Eat Bulaga’ afternoon programs were on the losing end, with ‘Wish Ko Lang’ the least impressive at 9.4%.

Let’s face it, would’ve been better for ‘#Like’ to go up against ‘Mga Kwento ni Marc Logan’ instead of the last half-hour of ‘It’s Showtime’? Probably, given that Marc Logan’s show also features internet sensations and GMA would’ve loved to see that matchup.

Still, GMA had no regrets in making the change once again. However, they would have been better off if ‘Wish Ko Lang’ and ‘Imbestigador’ were to be cancelled, since they are no longer the same programs as they once were.

Meanwhile, another new program premiered last Saturday on the said network. The new show, ‘Superstar Duets’, replaced ‘Lip-Sync Battle Philippines’, whose run finally ended after seven months.

Based on the format alone, ‘Superstar Duets’ appears to be the second coming of ‘Celebrity Duets’, except that the celebrities in the show were paired alongside impersonators of foreign singers. The show is currently hosted by Jennylyn Mercado, with Allan K, Aicelle Santos and Christian Bautista serving as judges.

The premiere of ‘Superstar Duets’ didn’t quite impress many, as it earned a 13.2% rating. On the other hand, ‘Pinoy Big Brother Lucky Season 7’ fared much better with a 16.4% rating.

This is going to be a tough battle as far as ‘Superstar Duets’ were concerned. Though it has the potential to run just as long as ‘Lip-Sync Battle Philippines’ did, the possibility of winning remains tricky at best.

The Unexpected and Quiet Cancellation of Sabado-Badoo

‘Sabado-Badoo’ last aired on July 25, with GMA quietly pulling out the show from its lineup. (Photo credit: GMA Network)

It was a cancellation that no one saw coming.

The GMA comedy program ‘Sabado-Badoo’ was last seen on July 25. The show, hosted by Sef Cadayona and Betong Sumaya, featured a wide variety of videos that were variously presented in a humorous manner; most of which contained scenes from classic GMA shows.

When it premiered last March 14, ‘Sabado-Badoo’ was supposed to be GMA’s answer to ABS-CBN’s ‘Mga Kwento ni Marc Logan’. But it failed to even make a dent in the national ratings, as viewers find Marc Logan’s presentation style to be even funnier and quirkier than Sef and Betong’s.

‘Sabado-Badoo”s most recent episode came on July 25. After that, however, no further episodes were aired, and instead, ‘Pepito Manaloto: Ang Tunay na Kwento’ was moved to an earlier timeslot.

GMA did not officially announce the cancellation; instead they quietly pulled out ‘Sabado-Badoo’ from its Sabado Star Power lineup. Meanwhile, Sef was given a lead role in ‘Juan Tamad’, which began airing on August 23 (this should also explain why Sef left ‘Vampire ang Daddy Ko’ in order to concentrate on this project).

‘Sabado-Badoo’ could have been a good show had GMA chose a more experienced presenter. Too bad they don’t have a match for humor-oriented journalist Marc Logan, who is a regular on TV Patrol’s closing segments and a host on DZMM’s ‘Sakto’ with Amy Perez.

It was an unfortunate ending to a promising show. Let’s just hope that GMA learns from this latest ordeal.

A New Opponent for Marc Logan on GMA

ABS-CBN News’ resident humorist Marc Logan has a new rival coming up.

In response to Logan’s popular blooper show ‘Mga Kwento ni Marc Logan’, GMA announced a new show with a similar premise. Titled ‘Sabado-Badoo’, the upcoming comedy show will be hosted by Sef Cadayona and Betong Sumaya, and is scheduled to air beginning this Saturday.

‘Sabado-Badoo’ will showcase a wide variety of videos that are presented in a humorous manner. These will be shown in a variety of ways, from countdowns to mashups of other videos.

Unlike ‘Mga Kwento ni Marc Logan’, which occasionally presents straight-up blooper reels of ABS-CBN programs and Star Cinema films, ‘Sabado-Badoo’ is expected to feature more serious takes from classic GMA programs. It is up to Sef and Betong to make a humorous comment with regards to the scenes in question.

This is not the first time that GMA produced a blooper-oriented comedy program. The popular mid-2000s program ‘Bitoy’s Funniest Videos’, hosted by Michael V., featured a similar formula and scope as ‘Sabado-Badoo’.

Unlike ‘BFV’, however, a more daunting test awaits ‘Sabado-Badoo’. Since premiering in August of last year, ‘Mga Kwento ni Marc Logan’ consistently ranks among the top-rated programs in the country, and several of its blooper reels (e.g. ‘Crazy Beautiful You’) have trended on Twitter.

That said, Marc Logan’s wit and experience in the industry will be a major challenge to the young duo of Sef Cadayona and Betong Sumaya. Although the two have blossomed individually in programs such as the long-running gag show ‘Bubble Gang’, presenting a program of this magnitude is virtually new territory for them.

Still, GMA is confident that Sef and Betong will deliver their chops well on ‘Sabado-Badoo’. After all, a stint in hosting will boost their resumes in the industry.

‘Sabado-Badoo’ premieres this Saturday after ’24 Oras Weekend’ on GMA’s Sabado Star Power.

Marian, Magpakailanman Exchange Timeslots

GMA’s Sabado Star Power will have a minor makeover this Saturday.

In response to the entry of ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ to ABS-CBN’s strong Saturday night lineup, GMA decided to switch the timeslots of both ‘Marian’ and ‘Magpakailanman’. As a result, the latter will now be seen ahead of the former, in between ‘Pepito Manaloto: Ang Tunay na Kwento’ and ‘Celebrity Bluff’.

For GMA, it was just another attempt to curb the increasing popularity of ‘The Voice of the Philippines’. So far, ratings for the latter have been very strong, as they average 27% or better according to Kantar.

It can be recalled that GMA was forced to change its weekend lineup several times during the run of TVPH’s sister show ‘The Voice Kids’. As it turned out, those tweaks did not even result in a victory for the struggling network in Timog.

So what are the implications of GMA’s most recent scheduling change?

With the move to a later timeslot, ‘Marian’ will be pitted against ‘The Voice of the Philippines’, which is an obvious mismatch. Considering that the dance show never even lit up the stat sheet against TVPH’s sister show ‘The Voice Kids’ a few months earlier, it will even harder for Marian Rivera’s dancing skills to outwit the singers of Team Sarah, Team Lea, Team Bamboo and Team apl.

As for ‘Magpakailanman’, they will resume their rivalry against ‘Maalaala Mo Kaya’, albeit at an earlier timeslot. However, the tweak will do little good for the former, as the latter’s recent dominance in their head-to-head matchup will continue.

Overall, this latest change made by GMA will not change the fact that they are on the decline. While ABS-CBN will continue to put up superior projects with impressive results, the same cannot be said for its rival within Quezon City’s South Triangle, whose best days are clearly behind them.

Sabado Star Power may have a new look come this Saturday, but don’t expect better results from GMA’s Saturday night lineup.