My Super D Premiere Leads to Late-Afternoon Shakeup

It’s going to be an afternoon of change for ABS-CBN next week.

On Monday, April 18, the superhero drama series ‘My Super D’ will officially premiere on the Primetime Bida block. That was the good news.

The bad news, there are no free slots for ‘My Super D’ on the current Primetime Bida lineup. Its intended replacement, ‘FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano’, has not announced a final episode date due to its impressively high ratings, and ABS-CBN has no intention of replacing it at this point.

So where does ‘My Super D’ end up? Luckily, ABS-CBN freed up one slot for the upcoming series when it announced that ‘Game ng Bayan’ will air its final episode tomorrow afternoon.

The sudden cancellation of ‘Game ng Bayan’ came barely a month after it premiered to replace ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’. Clearly, ABS-CBN knew what was coming, as ‘Game ng Bayan’ not only struggled in the ratings, but also became a logistical nightmare for the network.

With ‘Game ng Bayan”s cancellation now official, its old timeslot will now be filled by ‘We Will Survive’, the drama series starring Melai Cantiveros and Pokwang. It will still face GMA’s ‘Wowowin’, but not all areas will receive ‘We Will Survive’, which is a problem for ABS-CBN’s Regional Network Group.

Whether or not ABS-CBN will keep ‘We Will Survive’ on the Primetime Bida slot or move it to Kapamilya Gold remains to be seen. However, they need to find a way to make the broadcasts of ‘We Will Survive’ as simultaneous as possible, so as not to sacrifice its decently good ratings.

Going back to ‘My Super D’, this superhero drama series follows the footsteps of fellow ABS-CBN original creations such as ‘Super Inggo’, ‘My Little Juan’ and ‘Juan Dela Cruz’. With each of these series becoming successful hits for the network, the pressure is now on ‘My Super D’ to deliver similar results.

In ‘My Super D’, Dominic Ochoa will play the titular superhero role as Super D. He will be supported by Marco Masa and Bianca Manalo, who will play the role of son and wife respectively.

Joining them in the series are Atoy Co, Ryan Rems, Myrtle Sarrosa, Jef Gaitan, Louie Domingo, Marina Benipayo, Bong Regala, Jason Francisco, Marvin Agustin, Noni Buencamino and Ronaldo Valdez. It will be directed by Frasco Mortiz and Lino Cayetano.

With these changes now official, the question is, can ‘My Super D’ fly higher than ‘Wowowin’? And can ‘Wowowin’ be able to stave off this new threat?

We’ll find out.

‘My Super D’ premieres this Monday, and airs weeknights before ‘TV Patrol’.

Advertisement

‘Banana Nite’ Absent from ABS-CBN Last Night

The popular ‘Ihaw Na’ skit featuring Jayson Gainza in a parody of Boy Abunda did not air as ‘Banana Nite’ was ‘replaced’ by ‘O Shopping’.

It was around 11:15 p.m., and ABS-CBN was about to wrap up their late night newscast ‘Bandila’. I was expecting to see ‘Banana Nite’ go on-air. But instead something else happened on the Kapamilya network.

Last night the spinoff to the popular gag show ‘Banana Split’ did not air as expected, and was replaced by the ‘O Shopping’ infomercials. ABS-CBN did not specify the reason as to why ‘Banana Nite’ was replaced by ‘O Shopping’ in its timeslot.

The reported absence of ‘Banana Nite’ coincided with rival GMA welcoming the late night talk show ‘The Medyo Late Night Show with Jojo A.’ to its fold. Jojo Alejar’s show runs back-to-back with ‘The Tim Yap Show’ every late night, though because of GMA’s public affairs programs, they were not able to air opposite the timeslot that ‘Banana Nite’ typically occupies. In addition, its absence also came at a not-so opportune time; female cast members Sunshine Garcia, Aiko Climaco and Jef Gaitan were featured in FHM Philippines’ January 2014 issue.

Apparently, despite rave reviews on the skit ‘Ihaw Na’ starring Jayson Gainza in a parody of ‘Bandila’ anchor Boy Abunda, ‘Banana Nite’ has not been faring well in the ratings, although it has nothing to do with its timeslot. Let’s face it, ABS-CBN did a great job moving their current affairs programs (now ‘Pinoy True Stories’) to the late afternoon slot. And while GMA’s public affairs programs have been beating ‘Banana Nite’ in its timeslot, when compared to ‘Pinoy True Stories’, the numbers favor the latter.

‘Banana Nite’ was a wonderful experiment for ABS-CBN with regards to late night entertainment. Unfortunately, its unscheduled absence remains a mystery.