In 150 Words: Mukha 200

One of the Philippines’ longest-running documentary programs has hit a new milestone.

ABS-CBN News Channel’s ‘Mukha’ entered the 200-episode mark earlier this month with a look back at some of its most memorable stories. These flashbacks involved people taking night shifts, kids with special needs and abilities, or men and women whose daily struggles typify today’s society.

‘Mukha’ first aired in April 2014 on ANC and has since become a fixture on the channel’s programming. It has also aired on ABS-CBN Channel 2 at one point and later made its way to DZMM TeleRadyo (albeit exclusive only to television).

In 2016, ‘Mukha’ earned its first big accolade when it won a silver dolphin at the Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards for the episode ‘Sisid’. The following year, ‘Mukha’ earned another award for best short film, this time at the Save the Children Media Awards’, for the episode ‘Sustansya’.

Although ‘Mukha’ still has a long way to go before joining documentary immortality with the likes of ‘The Probe Team’ and ‘I-Witness’, the program has shown plenty of promise to join such fraternity. Expect more interesting stories to come as ‘Mukha’ nears its fourth year on air.

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G.R.I.N.D.: A New Breed of Teen-Oriented Series

‘G.R.I.N.D.’ stars Bruno Gabriel, Ayra Mariano, Jazz Ocampo and Benedict Campos look to make a name for themselves in GMA’s latest weekly teen series. (Photo credit: GMA Network)

There have been plenty of youth-oriented series on Philippine television.

Some of the more iconic ones include GMA’s ‘TGIS’ and ABS-CBN’s ‘Gimik’. Later on, there was ‘Tabing Ilog’ and ‘Click’, and more recently, ‘Luv U’ and ‘Teen Gen’.

These youth-oriented series were showcased during weekend afternoons to great success. But as social media and changing viewership tastes prevailed, these programs were deemphasized and soon fell off the map.

Then came last Saturday night. In an effort to bring the youth back to the small screen, GMA decided to launch a new youth-oriented program called ‘G.R.I.N.D.’ (Get Ready It’s a New Day), starring up-and-coming Kapuso stars Benedict Campos, Jazz Ocampo, Ayra Mariano and Bruno Gabriel.

‘G.R.I.N.D.’ features a story of four young millennials and their struggles to find their place in society. Carlo (Bruno) is a thriving manager in an advertising company, Solanj (Jazz) is an owner of a cafe and Carlo’s best friend, Lui (Ayra) is a breadwinner who juggles different jobs to support her family, and RK (Benedict) is a gay man who also shifts through various jobs.

In essence, ‘G.R.I.N.D.’ is GMA’s reintroduction into the weekly youth-oriented series that has long been forgotten in this day and age. But unlike those previous teen-oriented series of decades past, GMA elected to air the program during late Saturday nights in hopes of attracting teens and young adults who usually stay up late during weekends.

As unfathomable as it seems, GMA has no other choice. Their Saturday afternoon lineup is already loaded though complicated, while their Sunday afternoon slots are not conductive to programs like ‘G.R.I.N.D.’ due to lack of viewership and interest.

Now that ‘G.R.I.N.D.’ is underway, will it actually make an impact in a not-so popular late-night slot? Also, will GMA’s low-key approach to promote this program be either boon or bane? Only time will tell.

A production of Wizpher Mac Productions, ‘G.R.I.N.D.’ airs every Saturday after ‘I-Witness’ on GMA.