Overexposed Luis Manzano Finally Gets a Break

Luis Manzano had a three-year stretch of near non-stop hosting commitments which made him overexposed on TV for a long period. (Photo credit: ABS-CBN)

Thank goodness it’s over.

For much of the last three years, Luis Manzano became a part of every household thanks to a multitude of hosting commitments he accepted during that span. Whether it’s a game show or a talent show, it seems like viewers can’t get enough of this popular Kapamilya host.

Luis’ lengthy run began on October 26, 2014, when he joined Toni Gonzaga to host ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ season 2. The season ran for 36 episodes, concluding on March 1, 2015.

At the tail end of ‘The Voice of the Philippines” run, Luis accepted the job as host of the new season of ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’. Running from February 9, 2015 until March 4, 2016, the fifth season of ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’ aired a total of 278 episodes.

Next up for Luis was ‘The Voice Kids’ season 2, which ran from June 6 to August 30, 2015. A total of 26 episodes were aired during that season.

On November 14, 2015, Luis replaced Billy Crawford as host of ‘Celebrity Playtime’, and was present for the game show’s final 41 episodes. Then on January 23, 2016, Luis and Billy joined forces to host the fifth season of ‘Pilipinas Got Talent’, which ran for 35 episodes until May 22, 2016.

By that point, signs of overexposure become more evident for Luis. Unfortunately for the viewers, ABS-CBN is not yet finished with him.

April 9, 2016 saw Luis take over as host of the newly-acquired ‘Family Feud’ franchise, and he presided on all of its 111 episodes. A few months later, on July 18, 2016, Luis returned to host the second season of ‘Minute to Win It’, adding another 208 episodes to his resume.

And if that is not enough, another run as host of ‘The Voice Kids’ awaited Luis. From May 28 to August 28, 2016, Luis was the presenter on all 28 episodes of ‘The Voice Kids” third season.

Finally on April 16, 2017, Luis accepted another hosting stint within ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ franchise. This time, he became the host of ‘The Voice Teens’, which has now aired seven episodes and counting.

This does not include his additional responsibility as one of the hosts of ‘ASAP’. That said, for all intents and purposes, ‘ASAP’ will not be added in this count.

It was clear that ABS-CBN is paying the price for their overreliance on Luis Manzano. Overall, the host accumulated a total of 770 episodes within nine shows (as of May 7, 2017) in a span of 925 days, which speaks of how ABS-CBN became too dependent on this star hosting-wise.

While ratings for Luis’ nine shows were not a problem, it is ABS-CBN’s utilization that became a dilemma. Let’s face it, they have a deep plethora of talent who can be just as proficient in hosting, yet they stuck with Luis for some reason because, he’s the only guy they can depend on to deliver a good show.

Now that Luis is freed of the burden of hosting too many shows on a daily basis, the time is definitely now for ABS-CBN to develop more hosts. After all, there are plenty in the pipeline so why not breed at least one or two of them to relieve some pressure on the veterans.

For now, Luis Manzano can breathe easily. A period of less strenuous activity is all he needs at this point.

ABS-CBN Pulls the Plug on Kapamilya Deal or No Deal

‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’ ends its latest run tomorrow afternoon. Whether or not the show will be cancelled or go on another hiatus remains to be seen. (Photo credit: ABS-CBN)

Is this the end for ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’?

Tomorrow, the said game show will air what appears to be its series finale, in order to give way to a new game show in ‘Game ng Bayan’. An uncertain future now awaits ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’, as ABS-CBN remains unsure if this will be another temporary hiatus or a permanent vacation.

‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’, a Filipino franchise of Endemol-owned ‘Deal or No Deal’, has been airing on and off for 10 years, and has a total of five seasons and 875 episodes under their belt. These totals overall helped ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’ become one of the country’s longest-running game shows.

Over the years, the show endured numerous format changes and two different hosts (Kris Aquino and Luis Manzano), but its popularity never wavered. The most recent edition of ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’ took them to various barangays in the country, and residents there had the opportunity to play for P1 million, and a chance to either ‘deal or no deal’ with the banker.

Unfortunately for ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’, GMA’s recent decision to extend ‘Wowowin’ by 30 minutes caught ABS-CBN by surprise. Ratings for the show suddenly plummeted against ‘Wowowin’, and it became clear that ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal”s lengthy run is nearing its end.

Which leads to the impending finale of ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’. If this is indeed the last dance, then what a run it has been, but if ABS-CBN has a surprise in store, then brace for it.

As for its replacement ‘Game ng Bayan’ (to be hosted by Robin Padilla and Alex Gonzaga), they will endure a huge weight on their shoulders. It will not be easy equaling the success of ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’, but if they can make it as interesting as possible, they could be just as successful.

So long, ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’. Thanks for all the memories.

Overview of PNoy’s Final SONA Coverage

Eyes will be on President Noynoy Aquino as he makes his final State of the Nation Address. (Photo credit: Philstar.com)

Welcome to SONA Monday.

Held every fourth Monday of July, the State of the Nation Address is an annual event where the President of the Philippines addresses the public of his accomplishments and plans for the nation. While the SONA is not a national holiday, it remains an important political event in the country, ranking just above the presidential inauguration and the national elections.

This year’s SONA will be the last for President Noynoy Aquino, and it will be interesting to see how he will respond to the recent string events that have plagued his administration. As always, it will be greeted by protests from those against his administration.

Television and radio coverage will once again be at the forefront of this annual event, so without further ado, here are the plans for some of the stations covering the SONA.

ABS-CBN

The SONA coverage on Channel 2 will proceed after ‘Flordeliza’. ‘Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita’, ‘Pinoy Big Brother: 737 Gold’ and ‘Mission Possible’ will be preempted, while ‘Kapamilya: Deal or No Deal’ may be preempted in case the SONA runs overtime.

ABS-CBN will use three different broadcast teams for their coverage. Channel 2 will be led by Ted Failon and Lynda Jumilla, ANC will be led by Tony Velasquez and Karmina Constantino, and DZMM TeleRadyo and Radyo Patrol 630 will be led by Anthony Taberna and Gerry Baja.

A live and uninterrupted feed of the coverage will also be streamed on abs-cbnnews.com. It is unknown if the SONA coverage will also be seen on ABS-CBN Sports+Action, since the NCAA will no longer be in conflict with the SONA.

TV5

The SONA coverage on TV5 will proceed after the Marvel animation block. ‘Hi-5 Philippines’ will be the only show preempted, as ‘Movie Max 5’ only airs as a filler program.

TV5 will utilize a parallel broadcast approach for the coverage. Erwin Tulfo and Cheryl Cosim will anchor TV5’s coverage of the SONA on four different platforms: TV5, AksyonTV, Radyo5 92.3 News FM, and News5Everywhere.

GMA

The SONA coverage on GMA will proceed after ‘The Half-Sisters’. ‘Buena Familia”s premiere will be moved tomorrow, while ‘Healing Hearts’, ‘Alisto’ and possibly ‘Birth of a Beauty’ will be preempted.

The press release of the network only indicated that Mel Tiangco and Mike Enriquez will anchor Channel 7’s coverage. Whether or not it will be a parallel coverage or a separate coverage on Channel 7, GMA News TV, GMA News Online and Super Radyo DZBB 594 remains to be seen.

All AM stations, save for specialty ones, will also pool their resources for the SONA coverage. Updates on the event will also be provided by a few FM stations.

Net 25 will also cover the SONA, but since it takes place on the same day as the Iglesia ni Cristo’s 101st founding anniversary, the primary focus of the station could be on the latter. UNTV will also handle their own coverage of the event.

Finally, the neophyte CNN Philippines (formerly Solar News Channel and 9TV) will join in on the SONA fun for the first time. Their coverage of the SONA will be anchored by Jing Magsaysay and Pia Hontiveros.

Regardless of the station, the entire nation will pay attention to the statements made by President Aquino. His last SONA will be very important, so keep an eye on what he says.

Deal or No Deal Returns, Plus Umaganda’s Slump Continues

‘Kapamilya, Deal or No Deal’ returns with a new format this Monday. (Photo credit: ABS-CBN)

‘Kapamilya, Deal or No Deal’ returns for a new season with a new twist.

The popular ABS-CBN game show will have its fifth season premiere on February 9, with Luis Manzano again taking over hosting duties. This time around, a different format will encompass KDND’s latest season.

Gone are the ’26K Girls’ that held the show’s briefcases in previous seasons. Instead, celebrity guests will be holding the briefcases containing an unknown amount of money, and will be dubbed as the ’20 Lucky Stars’.

In addition, the day’s studio player will be selected from the aforementioned 20 celebrities via a roulette. The said player has the choice of keeping or trading briefcases with the other 19 ‘Lucky Stars’.

As was the case in prior seasons, the objective of the game is for the player to open each briefcase in hopes of getting a better offer from the unnamed banker.

The new season of ‘Kapamilya, Deal or No Deal’ will replace ‘Bet on Your Baby’ beginning this Monday. The second season of the latter game show will have its final episode aired tomorrow afternoon.

Also down to its final episode tomorrow is ‘The Singing Bee’. The long-running game show was a consistent top-rater for the Kapamilya network for the majority of its run, dispatching rival GMA game show ‘Don’t Lose Your Money’ and talk show ‘Basta Every Day Happy’ in the process.

But its success paled in comparison to the rest of the shows on Umaganda, especially Team Animazing. And starting this Monday morning, expect Umaganda’s quality to get even worse with the return of ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’.

The temporary movie block will replace both ‘The Singing Bee’ and ‘Pedro Penduko’ on Umaganda. And if that was not enough, ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ will take on supposedly weaker competition in GMA’s ‘Corazon Indomable’ and ‘Women in the Sun’.

That said, the return of ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ should give ABS-CBN more problems than solutions. Unless they quickly find a replacement program or two in the soonest possible time, expect Umaganda to grow even staler while giving GMA some much-needed breathing room in the mornings.

This is definitely not a good way for ABS-CBN to cement its dominance as the No. 1 network in the country with all the moves they make these days.