Yan ang Morning Comes Up Short, Ends This Week

‘Yan ang Morning’ will air its finale this Friday. The show has endured low ratings since it premiered on May 2. (Logo courtesy of GMA Network)

Once again, GMA’s attempt at a long-term talk show slipped before their very eyes.

The latest victim is ‘Yan ang Morning!’, whose run will mercifully end this Friday, August 12. Though Marian Rivera has stated that her show is only good for one season, it was clear that ‘Yan ang Morning!”s low ratings and bad timeslot is the reason behind its eventual demise.

‘Yan ang Morning!’ first aired on May 2, 2016, and will have aired a total of 73 episodes by the end of this week. When it was first announced, many assumed that the talk show will be pitted against ‘Magandang Buhay’, another debuting talk show which replaced ‘Kris TV’ on ABS-CBN back on April 19.

But instead of following through that plan, GMA stayed true to old-fashioned talk show tradition by airing ‘Yan ang Morning!’ at 10:45 a.m. The plan backfired, and with ratings fluctuating within the 6% mark, GMA was forced to move the show to an earlier timeslot of 9:30 a.m., effective May 30.

Unfortunately for ‘Yan ang Morning!’, the change of timeslot did little to stem the tide. And to make matters worse, GMA management watched helplessly as its supposed rival ‘Magandang Buhay’ managed to earn better ratings, even though it was not enough to beat the entirety (or the majority) of the Astig Authority anime block.

Friday’s final episode of ‘Yan ang Morning!’ will be a very special occasion, as it coincides with Marian Rivera’s 32nd birthday. Her guests for the finale will be none other than her husband Dingdong Dantes and daughter Zia.

But as the talk show nears its conclusion, what will be the next plan for GMA as far as morning talk shows were concerned? Considering the lack of long-term success of such shows following the cancellation of ‘SIS’, GMA may no longer have the motivation to produce a morning talk show again, and thus, they could stick with their reservoir of Koreanovelas in the near future.

For now, though, ‘Yan ang Morning!’ must enjoy and cherish its final week on the air. It was not a bad show, but with its poor scheduling and short run, it was not a good show to enjoy either.

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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.

Yan ang Morning Off to a Slow Start

‘Yan ang Morning’ gave a good account of itself in its first week, but it was all downhill afterwards. (Logo courtesy of GMA Network)

It’s a ‘swing and a miss’ first two weeks for GMA’s ‘Yan ang Morning’.

Marian Rivera’s new talk show came out swinging on its first week. ‘Yan ang Morning”s pilot episode on May 2 garnered an 8.4% national rating (according to Kantar), and through Week 1, it averaged better than 7.5%.

Unfortunately, those numbers were not enough to beat ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’, who rolled with an average ratings of around 13-14%. In comparison to ABS-CBN’s ‘Magandang Buhay’, however, ‘Yan ang Morning’ had a slight edge, as the former continued to hover around the 6% mark while airing on an earlier timeslot.

The second week, however, was a different story. Though the May 10 episode earned a 9% rating, it was all downhill from there, as ‘Yan ang Morning’ mustered an average of only 6% the rest of the way.

Making things worse for ‘Yan ang Morning’ is the fact that its ratings are now slightly eclipsed by ‘Magandang Buhay’. If the two talk shows were to be pitted against each other now, ‘Magandang Buhay’ would have a modest, if not greater edge over ‘Yan ang Morning’.

That said, GMA may have its own reasons for not placing ‘Yan ang Morning’ opposite ‘Magandang Buhay’. They know that by doing so, it might alienate its loyal anime fanbase, and worse, put themselves in a precarious situation during early weekday mornings.

It was indeed a calculated risk for GMA to place ‘Yan ang Morning’ in a timeslot that has not been kind to their more recent talk shows. And so far, it has not paid off.

Still, it’s too early to tell as to how ‘Yan ang Morning’ will be able to end a long streak of misfortune that has haunted GMA talk shows post-‘SIS’. Marian Rivera is new to this situation, so viewers should be patient and give her time to polish her hosting skills.

No Talk Show Rivalry for GMA, Again

‘Yan ang Morning’ will not go up against ‘Magandang Buhay’ after all.

GMA made that clear when it announced its new morning lineup last Monday. And with the premiere of ‘Yan ang Morning’ this Monday, this is how their current lineup looks like:

• 7:30 a.m. – Astig Authority block
  • ‘Shaman King’
  • ‘Yo-Kai Watch’
  • ‘Bleach’
  • ‘Dragon Ball Z’
  • ‘Knock Out’
• 10:00 a.m. – ‘Mako Mermaids’
• 10:45 a.m. – ‘Yan ang Morning’

That’s right, 10:45 a.m. For some reason, GMA decided not to have ‘Yan ang Morning’ face ‘Magandang Buhay’ head-to-head (the latter currently airs at 7:30 a.m.), and instead air the former in a timeslot that was traditionally occupied by previous long-running talk shows (e.g. ‘Today with Kris Aquino’, ‘SIS’).

There are some good and bad news on this decision. The good news is that despite some good reviews and strong showing in social media, ‘Magandang Buhay’ has not been able to make an impact in the ratings (much like ‘Kris TV’ before it), losing to the entire Astig Authority block by a wide margin.

As far as GMA is concerned, their anime block is doing just fine, even if they continue to air reruns of several beloved animes. For them, there is no point in sacrificing Astig Authority’s timeslot in favor of another program since the block continues to have a strong following.

The bad news? After Astig Authority, ratings for GMA in the morning slip predictably, as ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ kickstart a momentum swing for ABS-CBN that would continue for the rest of the day.

That said, GMA’s ratings woes after Astig Authority will put significant pressure on ‘Yan ang Morning’. Considering that their previous talk show ‘Basta Every Day Happy’ did not fare well, ‘Yan ang Morning’ could have a hard time making an impact in its current timeslot.

Would GMA be better off if ‘Yan ang Morning’ go one-on-one with ‘Magandang Buhay’? We’ll never know, but then again, anything can happen, and if ‘Yan ang Morning’ is able to thrive in its current timeslot, that could help GMA’s morale.

Hopefully they win, otherwise another failure of a talk show is in the offing.

Hosted by Marian Rivera, with Boobay as her sidekick, ‘Yan ang Morning’ airs weekdays starting May 2 at 10:45 a.m. on GMA.

Is ‘Medyo Late Night’ Returning to TV5?

Signs of ‘The Medyo Late Night Show with Jojo A.”s return to TV5 were first revealed on the show’s Facebook account. (Photo credit: The Medyo Late Night Show with Jojo A. Official Facebook)

It’s been awhile since ‘The Medyo Late Night Show with Jojo A.’ went on air.

Jojo Alejar’s late-night show was last seen on GMA in December of last year, before taking its supposed periodical season hiatus. However, GMA decided not to renew its blocktime deal with JojoATV Productions, producers of the said show, without giving any reason behind it.

The departure of ‘Medyo Late Night’ from GMA leaves ‘The Tim Yap Show’ as the only remaining late-night weekday talk show of the network (the latter also airs on a seasonal basis). Meanwhile, the whereabouts of ‘Medyo Late Night”s new home were being revealed early this month.

On the Facebook page of ‘The Medyo Late Night Show with Jojo A.’, clues regarding the show’s possible return to TV5 were given in the cover photo. Hints of a red necktie and the word ‘Kapatid’ suggest that TV5 may once again play host to Jojo Alejar’s talk show.

The possibility of a return to TV5 was also fueled by the fact that Alejar continues to appear on the said network’s shows despite ‘Medyo Late Night”s brief stint with GMA. Alejar currently appears on the sitcom ‘Mac and Chiz’.

If it’s true that ‘Medyo Late Night’ will return to TV5 this year, the development should help the network’s programming a lot. The former Karunungan, Balita at Opinyon (KBO) block has been airing reruns for the past several months, and with irrelevance and repetition creeping over TV5’s late-night slot, it is time for a change of direction.

Replacing the defunct KBO block with ‘Medyo Late Night’ may be the tonic TV5 desperately needed in order to improve its shallow late-night lineup. And it should benefit them.

It remains to be seen if ‘Medyo Late Night’ will indeed rejoin TV5, but for a network so desperate to get rid of something irrelevant, this is the way to do it.