Road Trip: Another Short-Term Solution in GMA’s Late Sunday Afternoon Timeslot?

Instability has defined GMA’s late Sunday afternoon slot.

Since ‘Juan Tamad’ ended its 29-episode run in March 2016, five different programs were placed at the 4:45 p.m. slot on Sundays. They are:

• Alamat – six episodes from May 15 to June 19, 2016.
• Conan, My Beautician – 13 episodes from June 26 to September 18, 2016.
• Usapang Real Love – 14 episodes from September 25 to December 18, 2016.
• People vs. the Stars – 14 episodes from January 15 to April 16, 2017.
• Follow Your Heart – 13 episodes from April 23 to July 16, 2017.

Talk about running in the short term. With the exception of ‘Alamat’ which was only slated for six episodes, every program that GMA placed in the timeslot was given only 13 to 14 episodes to broadcast.

The fact that late Sunday afternoons are usually the least-watched period on Philippine television may have played a factor on why GMA continues to experiment with short-term programs in this timeslot. And come this Sunday, that experiment is expected to continue when they premiere a travel show called ‘Road Trip’.

Produced by no less than GMA News and Public Affairs, ‘Road Trip’ is a one-hour show that will feature celebrities and their friends and family going on a field trip to some of the country’s most breathtaking destinations. The program’s premiere episode will see Carmina Villaroel, Zoren Legaspi, and twins Mavy and Cassy go to Batanes.

Future episodes of ‘Road Trip’ will also feature the likes of Rochelle Pangilinan, Max Collins, Andrea Torres, Kris Bernal, Arny Ross, Jinri Park and Meg Imperial. So while news of celebrities going on vacation are a regular sight in tabloids and entertainment websites, GMA is now using it as a tool to create a reality series in ‘Road Trip’.

Now here is a very crucial question. Can ‘Road Trip’ survive past the 13th or the 14th episode?

On a normal basis, Filipino travel shows tend to last for only a few episodes. Case in point: ABS-CBN’s ‘G Diaries’ and TV5’s ‘Lakbai’, which lasted 13 and eight episodes respectively.

That said, it will not be a surprise to see ‘Road Trip’ conclude after only 13 or 14 episodes. But if this program manages to survive past those numbers, then it will be a huge morale boost for GMA.

‘Road Trip’ airs starting this Sunday at 4:45 p.m. on GMA.

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Conan, My Beautician Premieres Sunday

Meet Mark Herras in drag.

Beginning this Sunday, Mark will topbill GMA’s newest comedy series ‘Conan, My Beautician’. This series will feature Mark in a role that he has never played before: that of a gay man.

In ‘Conan, My Beautician’, Mark will play Conan, a straight man who is the most talented yet desperate beautician at Salon Paz. But in order to accept the job, he has to pretend that he is gay; after all, he needs the money for the sake of his sick mother and family, who were banished from their hometown by Chika La Chaka (Cacai Bautista).

Along the way, he met and fell in love with Ava (Megan Young), whom he worked along in a make-up gig. But as the story goes on, his fellow beauticians seem to notice that Conan may not be gay at all.

‘Conan, My Beautician’ will also star Jerald Napoles, Betong Sumaya, Boobsie, Tetay, Lotlot de Leon, Jay Manalo, Balang, Chlaui Malayao, Vangie Labalan and Antonette Garcia. It will be co-directed by Adolf Alix and Rember Gelera.

Continuing the recent trend of Sunday afternoon comedy series that was first seen on ‘Juan Tamad’, a lot is expected on ‘Conan, My Beautician’. Still, winning its timeslot will be a daunting task, considering that ABS-CBN’s ‘Family Feud’ remains the most-watched show nationally every late Sunday afternoon.

Nevertheless, expect the series to pull all the stops. Playing a man dressed in drag is a great challenge for Mark Herras, and if the viewers find it awesome and funny, that should help spike ‘Conan, My Beautician”s performance.

‘Conan, My Beautician’ airs every Sunday at 5:00 p.m. on GMA.

Celebrity Playtime Times Two, Plus PGT Season 5 Premieres

Luis Manzano will be seen every day on ABS-CBN starting this weekend. In addition to ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’ and ‘Celebrity Playtime, he will also host ‘Pilipinas Got Talent’. (Photo credit: ABS-CBN)

The weekend experience on ABS-CBN just got better.

This weekend will mark the return of ‘Pilipinas Got Talent’ to the small screen. Now on its fifth season, the biggest and grandest reality talent show in the country got a big boost with the addition of Vice Ganda into the team of judges, which also consists of Freddie Garcia, Angel Locsin and Robin Padilla.

The ‘Golden Buzzer’, introduced in the Asian, British and American ‘Got Talent’ franchises, will also make its debut on ‘Pilipinas Got Talent’. The ‘Golden Buzzer’ will determine the performer who deserved to go to the next level and avoid elimination in the process.

Let’s just hope that with the ‘Golden Buzzer’, ‘Pilipinas Got Talent’ will not be a one-sided ‘singers’ show’ as they did in past editions. Trying to balance things out will be a big challenge for this season.

Season 5 of ‘Pilipinas Got Talent’ will be hosted by Billy Crawford and Luis Manzano, and will air every Saturday after ‘Maalaala Mo Kaya’, and Sunday after ‘Rated K’.

Speaking of Luis Manzano, his other weekend show will now be seen twice. Starting this weekend, ‘Celebrity Playtime’ will not only air every Saturday, but also on Sundays as well.

This means that every day on ABS-CBN will have Luis Manzano on the small screen. In addition to ‘Pilipinas Got Talent’ and ‘Celebrity Playtime’, Luis also hosts ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’, which airs weekdays.

Sunday episodes of ‘Celebrity Playtime’ will take over the timeslot vacated by ‘Luv U’, which ended last Sunday. Thus, ‘Celebrity Playtime’ will now face two different GMA programs: ‘CelebriTV’ on Saturdays, and ‘Juan Tamad’ on Sundays.

One of ABS-CBN’s top-rated shows, ‘Celebrity Playtime’ now hopes to carry over its success on Saturdays into Sundays. As they usually say, ‘the more, the better’.

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.