Kadenang Ginto: Golden Opportunity or Golden Letdown?

Welcome to the ‘better late than never’ era of Kapamilya Gold.

Gone are the days when the block starts at 3:20 p.m. as soon as ‘It’s Showtime’ ended. These days, Vice Ganda and his big mouth are the main attraction for over half the afternoon while Kapamilya Gold could only helplessly watch as they were pushed back by 30 minutes.

While the ratings of Kapamilya Gold remain excellent despite the late start time, an upcoming series or two could derail whatever momentum this block had attained. Over the next two weeks, Kapamilya Gold will have two new programs in store, and one of them is already feeling the pressure.

This early, ‘Kadenang Ginto’ is hard-pressed to fill the void left by ‘Asintado’. The series, which will be led by Albert Martinez, Dimples Romana, Adrian Alandy and Beauty Gonzalez, lacked the star power of ‘Asintado’, and while the four are already accomplished actors they are still supporting player material in the eyes of viewers.

‘Kadenang Ginto tells the story of Romina (Beauty), Carlos (Adrian), Robert (Albert) and Daniela (Dimples). Both Romina and Carlos are initially engaged to one another, but after Romina is raped by an unknown man, Carlos breaks up with her and worse, the rape incident results in Romina bearing a child.

Romina then finds refuge and true love in Robert, the owner of the company she works for; Romina’s child Cassandra (Francine Diaz) is then adopted legally by Robert. However, Robert’s daughter Daniela disapproves of their relationship and accuses Romina of being a gold digger.

Eventually Daniela leaves her family behind, falls in love with Carlos and bears a child named Margaret (Andrea Brillantes). This leads to a blood feud between her and Romina for the right to inherit Robert’s wealth.

Also part of ‘Kadenang Ginto’ are Eula Valdez, Ronnie Lazaro, Luke Conde, Nikko Natividad, Adrian Lindayag, Kat Galang, and Savannah Rosales. The series will be directed by Jerry Lopez Sineneng.

Come this Monday ‘Kadenang Ginto’ should have its hands full in keeping viewers to their seats. It will be interesting to see how this new series plays out, so good luck.

‘Kadenang Ginto’ airs weekdays after ‘It’s Showtime’ on ABS-CBN’s Kapamilya Gold.

The Promise of Forever Enters Its Final Week

Long-awaited, short-lived.

Turns out ‘The Promise of Forever’ wore out its welcome as soon as it began. The ABS-CBN drama series had been in the production pipeline for months prior to its premiere, but once it got underway, the series underachieved and only managed a measly 55 episodes once it wraps up this Friday.

First aired on September 11, ‘The Promise of Forever’ marked the Kapamilya debut of former TV5 discovery Ritz Azul, who was paired alongside Paulo Avelino. This series was supposed to be a breath of fresh air for viewers who were fed up with the network’s overreliance on ‘kabitseryes’.

Instead, ‘The Promise of Forever’ failed to make the grade. More often than not, it was rival GMA afternoon drama ‘Haplos’ that came out on top, and the former’s seemingly high expectations went up in smoke.

Not since ‘Walang Iwanan’ has an ABS-CBN afternoon series run for such a short period of time. Despite the fact that it took months for ABS-CBN to convince that ‘The Promise of Forever’ is ready to air, they only managed to produce 55 episodes during that span, an underwhelming total by Kapamilya standards.

The struggles of ‘The Promise of Forever’ gave even further indication that Kapamilya Gold is on a decline. It was clear that viewers are frustrated over the direction of Kapamilya Gold, and the performance of said block in recent months is something that ABS-CBN must urgently address.

It also didn’t help that Ritz Azul appear overwhelmed by the limelight. The series’ long wait, not to mention her first acting experience in a full-on drama series in years, made Ritz look rusty and unprepared at times.

Overall, while ‘The Promise of Forever’ was not bad, its performance leaves a lot to be desired. That said, with such a long wait and low episode turnout, ABS-CBN should realize that ‘cautious optimism’ does not work on Philippine television these days, especially when it comes to short-lived dramas such as ‘The Promise of Forever’.

This week will be the last chance for ‘The Promise of Forever’ to impress. As ABS-CBN ponders its next move, one must wonder what might have been had the network air ‘The Promise of Forever’ much earlier and not suffer the low ratings that it did today.