GMA’s ‘Sirkus’ officially wrapped up its run Sunday night with its 13th and final episode (see climax scene below). The series, which first aired January 21, failed to make a noticeable impact in the ratings, constantly losing to ‘Goin’ Bulilit’ in its timeslot.
‘Sirkus’ marked a rare attempt by GMA to bring high-budget fantasy series to weekends. Unfortunately, its poor performance may force GMA to abandon this strategy and shift its focus back to weekend sitcoms.
To their credit, GMA at least tried to give ‘Goin’ Bulilit’ (and ‘Wansapanatym’ to a lesser extent) a run for their money. Too bad there are still many areas with which the network must improve upon to become more competitive.
As for the replacement, wait for further announcements.
GMA’s new weekly fantaserye ‘Sirkus’ premiered last January 21 and has had a mixed performance since. (Logo courtesy of GMA Network)
A fantaserye on a Sunday night?
This is exactly what GMA delivered when it premiered ‘Sirkus’ last January 21. But in contrast to the network’s other fantaseryes, ‘Sirkus’ is a production of the GMA Public Affairs group (notorious for bringing non-news programs to the network) and it only airs once a week.
The premise of ‘Sirkus’ is that of two fraternal twins Mia (Mikee Quintos) and Miko (Mikoy Morales) finding themselves in the company of a traveling circus in order to escape from the clutches of an evil villainess. Throughout their quest, the motive behind the villainess’ obsession to catch them will be revealed and their true identities will also be discovered.
Also part of the cast of ‘Sirkus’ are Andre Paras, Chariz Solomon, Sef Cadayona, Klea Pineda, Gardo Versoza, Ms. Cherie Gil, Divine Tetay, Gerald Acao, Zoren Legaspi and Angelu de Leon. The director is Zig Dulay.
When the series was first introduced to the public in late December, many thought that ‘Sirkus’ would replace ‘Daig Kayo ng Lola Ko’ as the opponent of the long-running fantasy anthology ‘Wansapanatym’. However, GMA had other plans in mind.
Not only did the network keep ‘Daig Kayo ng Lola Ko’, it also made significant changes to the late afternoon-early evening Sunday timeslots. As a result, ‘Sirkus’, which replaced the travel series ‘Road Trip’, was assigned to the 6:30 p.m. timeslot and ’24 Oras Weekend’ was bumped to an earlier time.
Through two episodes, ‘Sirkus’ has had mixed results in the ratings. Its debut episode barely defeated ‘Goin’ Bulilit’ by 0.4%, but the following week saw ‘Sirkus’ slump by 4% to its opponent.
Given the often volatile financial situation of GMA, it was a better idea for them to just produce a weekly fantaserye instead of one that airs on weeknights. But to be produced by GMA Public Affairs instead of GMA Entertainment is once again a desperate act altogether.
Whatever the case, one can only hope that ‘Sirkus’ will be the start of many elaborate once-a-week projects that GMA embarks. Such series is for the better of the network at this point because they need all the money in the world to focus on technological improvements that will make them more viable in the age of digitization.
It turns out ‘Hay, Bahay!’ did not exceed expectations.
Last Sunday, the final episode of ‘Hay, Bahay!’ was aired on GMA. But like all previous episodes, the sitcom made little noise among its viewers.
First aired on June 19, 2016, ‘Hay, Bahay!’ succeeded another Vic Sotto-starred sitcom in ‘Vampire ang Daddy Ko’. The latter’s stars Vic and son Oyo were joined by Oyo’s wife Kristine Hermosa, Ai-ai delas Alas, Jose Manalo and Wally Bayola.
Unlike ‘Vampire ang Daddy Ko’ which lasted for over three years, ‘Hay, Bahay!’ was only able to air for over a year as it had to contend with the long-running ABS-CBN gag show ‘Goin’ Bulilit’. Overall, the sitcom aired 61 episodes, joining a list of more recent Vic Sotto sitcoms that had a short run (e.g. ‘My Darling Aswang’, ‘The Jose and Wally Show Starring Vic Sotto’).
Meanwhile, a replacement for ‘Hay, Bahay!’ is set to premiere this Sunday night. The new show will be called ‘All-Star Videoke’, and it will be hosted by Solenn Heussaff and Betong Sumaya.
The game play of ‘All-Star Videoke’ is as follows:
“The game features six celebrity contestants or Videoke stars vying to outwit one another by filling in the missing words on a song in a videoke-type of presentation.
In the event that every player correctly answered the words in each song, a pair of celebrity ‘laglagers’ will choose one player who will be out of the competition.
The two remaining contenders will proceed in the semi-final round for a chance to play in the jackpot round. The winning contestant becomes the All-Star Videoke Champ! and may bring home a cash prize of up to 100,000 pesos.
A “Super Oke” prize is also up for the win if the winner decides to continuously play in the succeeding weeks.”
In short, ‘All-Star Videoke’ shares some similarities with another long-running videoke game show ‘All-Star K’. But whether or not the former will enjoy the same success as the latter remains to be seen.
In the age of foreign franchised programs, it is good to see networks such as GMA maintain a more local approach. Still, the success of a particular program will only depend on the response of the viewers, and for ‘All-Star Videoke’, it will not be an easy task.
‘All-Star Videoke’ airs Sundays after ’24 Oras Weekend’ on GMA.
That is exactly what ABS-CBN will do starting this weekend when they premiere its newest franchise program. Enter ‘Little Big Shots’, the Kapamilya network’s up-and-coming reality talent show.
The ‘Little Big Shots’ franchise was created by Ellen DeGeneres and Steve Harvey and has since been adapted in 20 countries. The program is essentially a kid’s version of the ‘Got Talent’ franchise in which kids of various talents converge to show their abilities in front of a national audience.
The Philippine version will be hosted by Billy Crawford, with comedian Eric Nicolas hosting the online show. For Billy, ‘Little Big Shots’ is a relatively new experience for him. According to him,
“It’s my first time to host a talent show where I am the only person from showbiz, because I usually work with people who are already big shots. But here, you’d be surprised by how the kids carry the show, and I’m here to let their personalities shine. All I can say is the kids featured on the show are very exceptional and they really deserve to be called little big shots”.
“I grew up performing, and I know how rewarding it is to entertain people. But in ‘Little Big Shots, you wouldn’t expect what the kids can do, their wit, and they are all very charming”.
Kids aged two to twelve will be front and center on ‘Little Big Shots’. Each of these kids has some innate skill and ability waiting to be unleashed, not to mention their big personalities that will endear with the national audience.
Fresh off a successful season of ‘The Voice Teens’, the big question surrounding ‘Little Big Shots’ is whether or not they can follow up its predecessor’s popularity. Then again, considering ABS-CBN’s rich history of adapting successful franchised programs, putting ‘Little Big Shots’ on the map should not be a problem.
Expect plenty of thrills from these kids as they put their talents to the test on ‘Little Big Shots’. After all, viewers of all ages can’t help but be excited with the kids’ hidden abilities and personalities.
‘Little Big Shots’ airs every Saturday after ‘Home Sweetie Home’ and Sunday after ‘Goin’ Bulilit’ on ABS-CBN.
Palm and Easter Sunday will have a respective finale and a premiere of two hit ABS-CBN talent shows.
On Palm Sunday weekend, ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids’ will officially close the curtain on its first season. The finale will see all eight celebrity kids duke it out one last time for a chance to become this season’s grand winner.
Premiering on January 7, 2017, ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids’ became the latest in a series of hit talent shows on the Kapamilya network. Much of its success has to do with the eight celebrity kids and their uncanny ability to replicate the mannerisms of the artists they imitate.
Whether they cheer for AC Bonifacio, Awra Briguela, Justin Alva, Alonzo Muhlach, Elha Nympha, Lyca Gairanod, Sam Shoaf or Xia Vigor, they were rewarded with memorable performances that are both astonishing and unreal. It is these visual images which made ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids’ a hit to all audiences.
Come this Sunday, only one of them will win it all. That said, good luck to the eight celebrity kids in their quest to become the grand winner.
Then on Easter Sunday, ‘The Voice Teens’ Philippines (only the second in the franchise after Colombia) premieres on ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar”s vacated slot. This latest season of ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ franchise will inherit the same team of judges that presided in Season 3 of ‘The Voice Kids’, save for one returning judge.
After not taking part in Season 3 of ‘The Voice Kids’ due to her busy performing schedule, Sarah Geronimo decided to return to the judges’ table for ‘The Voice Teens’. She will join holdovers Lea Salonga, Sharon Cuneta and Bamboo Mañalac.
As for the hosts of ‘The Voice Teens’, it will be Luis Manzano and Toni Gonzaga who will take the helm. Auditions for this new season took place earlier this year, and the first few episodes of ‘The Voice Teens’ will show some of the highlights leading up to the blind auditions.
‘The Voice Teens’ will air every Saturday after ‘Home Sweetie Home’ (the first Saturday episode will be seen on April 22), and every Sunday after ‘Goin’ Bulilit’ on ABS-CBN.
The biggest event on Philippine television history gets underway tomorrow morning. Here is Timow’s Turf’s look at the coverage of the 2016 Miss Universe which will take place in the Philippines.
This Timow’s Turf special report will be dedicated on the 65th Miss Universe where the Philippines will host the grand coronation this Monday, January 30. The views and opinions expressed in this second and concluding installment of two-part special do not reflect those of the Miss Universe Organization (MUO).
President Rodrigo Duterte posed with Department of Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo and the fourth batch of the 65th Miss Universe candidates Monday during the courtesy call in Malacanang. Maxine Medina, the Philippine contingent, is on the far right.
Just like the Papal Visit and the APEC Summit back in 2015, the first major event of 2017 involving high-profile foreign dignitaries must need a high profile…
From the Tube 