GMA’s Mid-Morning Problems Continue with Kapuso Movie Festival

GMA is bringing back ‘Kapuso Movie Festival’ as they continue to figure out the problems that plague them every weekday morning. (Logo courtesy of GMA Network)

Poor ratings have characterized GMA’s mid-morning lineup.

After an impressive showing for the network’s Astig Authority block (some of which are often reaired), the drop-off in ratings becomes noticeable once they move into a different set of programs. This has been a perennial problem for the network since Lilybeth Rasonable took over, and they have tried everything just to shake the mid-morning slate up.

There was the ‘Kapuso Movie Festival’ block, which was their obvious answer to ABS-CBN’s ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’. Then came Heart of Asia Mornings, a block that contains new light-hearted Koreanovelas.

They even attempted to air talk shows (e.g. ‘Basta Every Day Happy’, ‘Yan ang Morning) and local dramas (e.g. ‘With a Smile’). Unfortunately, all of these attempts failed miserably.

Now they are going back to airing movies via the ‘Kapuso Movie Festival’ block. Not to mention a rerun of an old QTV program called ‘H20: Just Add Water’, which will be obviously dubbed in Filipino unlike its original airing on Channel 11.

Let’s face it, there is no way GMA can beat ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ with their own movie block. Their portfolio of new movies to air is running low, and to make matters worse, GMA Films has only a few titles to choose from, which is basically 1/8th to 1/16th of what rival Star Cinema has produced lately.

If GMA were smart enough to admit that they can no longer beat ABS-CBN after 9:00 a.m., perhaps the time has come to welcome a TV shopping block of their own choosing. Whether or not it is Shop Japan, EZ Shop or even Shop TV, it doesn’t matter, as long as they fill in GMA’s programming hours every morning.

They could also welcome blocktimers who can produce their own programs. While they already have established blocktimers in TAPE, Inc. (‘Calle Siete’, ‘Eat Bulaga’) and APT Entertainment (‘Sunday PinaSaya’), they might as well need another for non-entertainment purposes, such as lifestyle shows or documentaries.

Still, it is up to GMA management to decide the fate of the mid-morning slot. They need to think twice about giving up this venture.

Otherwise, they will be stuck with this hashtag: #KMFMForever, which translates to Kapuso Movie Festival Mornings Forever.

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Yan ang Morning Demoted Due to Low Ratings

It’s been a rough first month for ‘Yan ang Morning’.

Through four weeks and 19 episodes, the GMA talk show’s national ratings average was a paltry 6%. Making matters worse for Marian Rivera and company is that ‘Yan ang Morning’ is outperformed at times by ‘Magandang Buhay’, another recently unveiled morning talk show produced by rival ABS-CBN.

The poor ratings of ‘Yan ang Morning’ forced GMA to make an adjustment starting today. From its original timeslot of 10:45 a.m., ‘Yan ang Morning’ will be demoted to an earlier timeslot of 9:30 a.m.

In turn, GMA’s Asianovelas (collectively known as Heart of Asia Mornings) will be moved much later. Starting at 10:30 a.m., this will be the lineup for Heart of Asia Mornings.

• 10:30 a.m. – Mako Mermaids
• 11:00 a.m. – High School Love On

The two series will air their final episodes tomorrow morning. Then on Wednesday, June 1, a pair of Koreanovelas will premiere on Heart of Asia Mornings, with ‘Secret Hotel’ taking over ‘Mako Mermaids” timeslot followed by ‘I Heart U Doc’ in ‘High School Love On”s place.

Despite the timeslot change, ‘Yan ang Morning’ will still be up against ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’, not to mention the upcoming 2016 NBA Finals that will be aired on a delayed basis on ABS-CBN. That said, it’s still going to be a tough challenge for ‘Yan ang Morning’ to keep up since they’re facing the same programs they’re up against before.

Perhaps GMA should consider this proposal. In order for ‘Yan ang Morning’ to perform well, they need to sacrifice the final 30 minutes of ‘Unang Hirit’, then move the former to 7:00 a.m., so as to have a chance at winning.

Not only does ‘Yan ang Morning’ air much earlier, it also gives them a head-start over ‘Magandang Buhay’, and in the process, enables GMA to keep their high-rating animes in the same timeslot. Seems easy enough given GMA’s penchant for cost-cutting in recent months.

It remains to be seen if the new timeslot will pay off for ‘Yan ang Morning’. For now, though, give them a chance to thrive.

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.

Heart of Asia, Astig Authority Reduced As Part of GMA’s New Programming Lineup

‘Wowowin”s new timeslot and extended running is part of another revamp of GMA’s lineup. (Logo courtesy of Wil Productions Inc., GMA Network)

Yesterday marked yet another change in GMA’s programming.

Once again, the Kapuso network brought back ‘Kapuso Movie Festival’ (airing weekdays at 9:00 a.m.) in hopes of competing with ABS-CBN’s ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’. To accommodate the said movie block, the duration of the Astig Authority and Heart of Asia Mornings blocks were reduced to 90 and 60 minutes respectively.

The impressive ratings of ‘Wowowin’, though still not enough to beat ‘Pasion de Amor’ nationally, also led to a timeslot change. As a result, ‘Wowowin”s start time was pushed to 5:00 p.m., and its running time was extended for another 30 minutes; this enabled the show to compete against ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’ as well.

Consequentially, the extension of ‘Wowowin’ likewise led to a timeslot change for the programs that once occupied the 5:00 p.m. slot. In what has become a ‘you lead and I follow’ scenario, GMA moved its News and Public Affairs block back to late nights, two months after ABS-CBN’s own News and Current Affairs block returned to the said timeslot.

Unlike ABS-CBN’s current affairs block, however, GMA’s so-called ‘Pampamulat sa Gabi’ block only airs from Mondays to Thursdays (thank you ‘Bubble Gang’), and will comprise of these programs. They are ‘Front Row’ (Mondays), ‘Alisto’ (Tuesdays), ‘Tunay na Buhay’ (Wednesdays), and ‘Reporters’ Notebook’ (Thursdays).

Speaking of Mondays to Thursdays, the Heart of Asia Mornings block (‘You’re the Best’, ‘Carmina’) was also reduced to make way for a pair of refugees from the 5:00 p.m. slot. Both ‘Dream Home’ (formerly ‘Power House’) and ‘Love Hotline’ were moved to Friday mornings, and will take over the timeslot of the former block on that day.

By all indications, this is another desperate attempt by GMA to keep up with rival ABS-CBN. Considering that the latter network continues to dominate virtually every timeslot in the ratings, GMA’s answers don’t seem to matter at this point.

Now they need to be patient with this new approach. Otherwise another revamp is in store for the Kapuso network.

Dangwa Concludes; Heart of Asia Mornings Extended

The drama series ‘Dangwa’ is currently on its final week.

Airing since October 26, 2015, the story of ‘Dangwa’ has been focused on Rosa (Janine Gutierrez), the flower vendor who gave roses to men who hope to find their true love. At the same time, her own love story took hold, thanks to two men, Baste (Mark Herras) and Lorenzo (Aljur Abrenica), who try to gain her attention.

While ‘Dangwa’ has featured guest appearances from Kapuso artists each week, the finale solely focused on the conclusion of the love triangle between Rosa, Baste and Lorenzo. That said, viewers will have to tune in to see what fate awaits the threesome.

‘Dangwa’ had been well-hyped to begin with, thanks to a series of viral videos that revealed Janine Gutierrez as the so-called ‘Dangwa Girl’. However, ratings for the series proved to be unimpressive, as ‘Dangwa’ can only muster national ratings of 7-8% , whereas ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ average 2% percent higher.

With the not-so successful returns from its morning drama, GMA has decided to once again extend its Heart of Asia Mornings starting this Monday. The newest Koreanovela, ‘Carmina’, will be added to the block.

‘Carmina’ stars Kim So-yeon, Jung Kyung-ho and Yoon Hyun-min. The story of the Koreanovela will involve Carmina (Kim) as a secretary of a big company, Derek (Jung) as her fiance, and James (Yoon) as her boss.

Fate soon intervened in Derek’s life when he died, and his heart was removed and placed into James’ chest during his heart transplant. The once-strict James soon had a change of heart, and eventually fell in love with Carmina.

‘Carmina’ will take over the 11:00 a.m. timeslot of ‘Dangwa’. This means that the Heart of Asia Mornings block will once again have three Koreanovelas: ‘Someone Like You’, ‘Ice Adonis’, and ‘Carmina’.

As GMA reverts back to Koreanovela mode just before noontime, the question is, will they ever be able to produce another local morning drama? Considering their lack of success, it is unlikely that the network will make another one, and Koreanovelas will be here to stay.

Tomorrow is ‘Dangwa”s last, and after that, ‘Carmina’ takes over. Good luck.