Be Careful’s Rivals Revisited (Part III)

Since debuting in April 2013, ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’ gave ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ an even tougher challenge. (Photo credit: Eat Bulaga official Twitter)

‘Be Careful with My Heart’, ABS-CBN’s long-running ‘kiligserye’ series, ends this Friday, November 28. As a tribute to its unexpected success and longevity, From the Tube will look back at ‘Be Careful”s rivals and their performance against the said late morning drama series.

After vanquishing rivals ‘Kusina Master’ and ‘Cielo de Angelina’, it seems like no one can stop the reign of ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ in the late-morning slot.

And for much of February and March 2013, it appeared that GMA has already given up facing ‘Be Careful’, as old movies via the ‘Kapuso Movie Festival’ took over the timeslot opposite the aforementioned ‘kilig-serye’.

But on April 1, an episode of ‘Eat Bulaga’ gave GMA some glimmer of hope.

On that episode, host Vic Sotto gave child star Ryzza Mae Dizon a memorable and extremely special gift. That reward came in the form of a microphone and a new show called ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’.

A week later, then seven-year-old Ryzza and her eponymous talk show would make its much-awaited debut on the Kapuso network, opposite none other than ‘Be Careful with My Heart’.

As expected, the pilot episode of ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’ had a shaky start, posting ratings of 11.7 and 17.5% according to Kantar and AGB Nielsen, respectively. On the other hand, ‘Be Careful’ posted numbers of 24.4 and 23.4%.

Despite the slow start, it was clear that ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’ was holding its own against ‘Be Careful with My Heart’. Even though ratings of 10% or better remain a regular occurrence, the show was able to last longer than either ‘Kusina Master’ or ‘Cielo de Angelina’, simply because GMA and producer TAPE, Inc. kept its faith on Ryzza and her growing talents.

With ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’ providing a tougher-than-expected challenge, ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ tried to find new ways to increase their ratings. In November 2013, the wedding of Maya (Jodi Sta. Maria) and Ser Chief (Richard Yap) gave ‘Be Careful’ an impressive 27.2% rating, but the show’s ratings soon declined below 20% as audiences grew tired of its slow and dragging storyline.

While ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’ was unable to beat ‘Be Careful with My Heart’, it did give the latter fits. The fact that viewers grew uninterested on the latter may have provided a bit of a spark on the former, as evidenced by the shrinking gap in the ratings of both programs.

Having said that, it was a big achievement for ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’ to last over a year. The talk show may have not been victorious, but at least it gave audiences a new reason to watch.

As for ‘Be Careful with My Heart’, the two-year ride ends this Friday. With that, From the Tube wishes the show the best of luck.

‘Give Love on Christmas’, a three-week Christmas special, premieres on December 1 on the soon-to-be vacated timeslot of ‘Be Careful with My Heart’.

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Be Careful’s Rivals Revisited (Part II)

In October 2012, GMA responded to ‘Be Careful with My Heart”s success with ‘Cielo de Angelina’, but it failed to even make a dent in the ratings. (Title card courtesy of GMA Network)

‘Be Careful with My Heart’, ABS-CBN’s long-running ‘kiligserye’ series, ends this Friday, November 28. As a tribute to its unexpected success and longevity, From the Tube will look back at ‘Be Careful”s rivals and their performance against the said late morning drama series.

In just its third month on the air, ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ emerged as the most-watched morning program in the Philippines, with consistent ratings of over 20%. The surprising success of the series left rival GMA, in particular ‘Be Careful”s then-opponent ‘Kusina Master’, stunned.

As a result, GMA decided to counter with a morning drama of their own. Their response came in the form of a drama series starring emerging teen stars Bea Binene and Jake Vargas.

That series became known as ‘Cielo de Angelina’, and it made its debut on October 22, 2012.

On its pilot episode, ‘Cielo de Angelina’ registered a decent 10.2 and 11.8%, according to Kantar and AGB Nielsen, respectively. On the other hand, ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ earned monster ratings of 23.1 and 22.9%.

From the beginning, it was clear that ‘Cielo de Angelina’ would be no match for ‘Be Careful with My Heart. Soon after, single-digit ratings became a regular occurrence for the former, and by November 12, GMA has had enough.

After registering paltry ratings of 8 and 8.8% on the November 9 episode, GMA decided to demote ‘Cielo de Angelina’ to an earlier timeslot in favor of ‘Kusina Master’. However, the change of schedule failed to turn the tide for the struggling show, thanks in large part to the entry of ‘Masterchef Pinoy Edition’.

With ‘Cielo de Angelina”s struggles taking its toll on GMA’s morale, the Kapuso network decided to pull the plug, and on January 4, 2013, the series was finally cancelled.

In fairness to the Kapuso network, ‘Cielo de Angelina’ was not a bad attempt, in a way that it further exposes Bea Binene and Jake Vargas to a more serious type of acting. But it was a series that GMA should have never done in the morning slot, not against a more light-hearted ‘Be Careful with My Heart’.

Meanwhile, ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ continued to dominate its timeslot, leading to another demotion on the part of ‘Kusina Master’. After that, from February 18 to April 5, the series would find itself without an opponent, as GMA aired old movies via its ‘Kapuso Movie Festival’ block.

It didn’t take long for GMA to find another rival for ‘Be Careful with My Heart’. This time around, they enlisted the help of TAPE, Inc. boss Malou Choa-Fagar in creating their latest late-morning program, one that is unlike any other in television history.

Tomorrow on Part III, From the Tube will look back at ‘Be Careful with My Heart”s final, and by far its most formidable rival, ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’.

Be Careful’s Rivals Revisited (Part I)

‘Be Careful with My Heart’ easily overwhelmed ‘Kusina Master’, hosted by Chef Boy Logro (above), during its first few months on the air. (Photo credit: GMA Network)

‘Be Careful with My Heart’, ABS-CBN’s long-running ‘kiligserye’ series, ends this Friday, November 28. As a tribute to its unexpected success and longevity, From the Tube will look back at ‘Be Careful”s rivals and their performance against the said late morning drama series.

On July 9, 2012, ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ debuted on ABS-CBN’s late-morning slot. The then-debuting series introduced viewers to the characters Maya and Ser Chief, portrayed by Jodi Sta. Maria and Richard Yap, respectively.

In its maiden episode, ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ registered ratings of 14.1 and 15.2%, according to AGB Nielsen and Kantar figures, respectively. The series defeated its first rival, the then-dominant GMA cooking series ‘Kusina Master’ of host Chef Boy Logro, who ended up with paltry ratings of 13.5 and 8.8%, respectively.

Soon after, ‘Be Careful’ began to overwhelm the once-confident ‘Kusina Master’, and by October 22, the latter show had been demoted to an earlier timeslot, in favor of ‘Cielo de Angelina’. At this point, ratings of 20% or better were a regular occurrence for ‘Be Careful’.

However, on November 12, ‘Kusina Master’ returned to its original 11:30 a.m. timeslot, thus facing ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ for the second time. But it bombed even further in the ratings, and on February 18, 2013, it was moved back to the 10:00 a.m. timeslot, this time for good.

Make no mistake, ‘Kusina Master’ had been a force to be reckoned with prior to the entry of ‘Be Careful with My Heart’. Chef Boy Logro’s unorthodox and fast-paced cooking style were a hit with audiences, and his ability to interact and entertain with the viewers helped him become a household name.

But once ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ entered, it was all downhill for ‘Kusina Master’, to the point that it was demoted again to an earlier timeslot, and then reformatted in the final year of its run. Still, the show was fortunate to have lasted over two years, thanks to its loyal viewers who kept the show alive.

‘Kusina Master’ was cancelled on May 9, 2014, and was replaced by ‘Basta Every Day Happy’.

Tomorrow on Part II, From the Tube will look back at ‘Be Careful with My Heart”s next rival, ‘Cielo de Angelina’.

GMA’s New Morning Talk Show is a Thumbs Down

GMA is once again producing a morning talk show in ‘Basta Every Day Happy’, as they try to restore order in their morning lineup.

The last time GMA had a morning talk show, real-life married couple Zoren Legaspi and Carmina Villaroel were the hosts of a now-forgotten program called ‘Love ni Mister, Love ni Misis’. And now the Kapuso network is once again trying to resuscitate their already tattered morning lineup by introducing a new morning talk show.

‘Basta Every Day Happy’ is GMA’s latest attempt at a morning talk show. The upcoming program will be hosted by Chef Boy Logro, Gladys Reyes, Donita Rose and Alessandra de Rossi, and will begin its broadcast this Monday at 11:00 a.m., right before another talk show in ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’.

Ever since ‘SIS’ left the airwaves, GMA has attempted and failed to create their own highly-rated talk and variety shows in the morning slot. Anyone who remembers ‘Diz Iz It’ , ‘Nay-1-1’ and the aforementioned ‘Love ni Mister, Love ni Misis’ will be scratching their heads in disbelief.

And their most recent attempt, ‘Kusina Master’, was also a non-factor. As it turned out, Chef Boy Logro’s weekday program was supplanted by ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’, then moved to an earlier timeslot, before cutting its airtime to 15 minutes. Worse, the program that was once produced inside a studio to a live audience was demoted to producing taped broadcasts in various kitchen setups.

Which is why the pressure is definitely high for the hosts of ‘Basta Every Day Happy’. The thing is, GMA management would have done the right thing by placing the program opposite ‘Kris TV’, in order to downplay such expectations. Instead, the management decided to put the program against ‘The Singing Bee’, and based on ‘TSB”s recent ratings, it looks like ‘Basta Every Day Happy’ is poised for a disastrous start.

It remains to be seen whether or not ‘Basta Every Day Happy’ will prove doubters wrong. But as far as recent history goes, it looks like GMA has produced yet another short-lived morning talk show.

More Programming Changes within GMA

This past week, GMA shook up its programming schedule in both weekday and weekend slots, in hopes of reversing the downward trend in terms of ratings. However, these changes do not seem to help the Kapuso network at all.

In the weekday morning slot GMA extended its anime block to nearly three hours. However, all they did was to re-air ‘Flame of Recca‘ and ‘Shaman King‘, which like ‘YuYu Hakusho‘ (Ghost Fighter) held a sentimental value to the network. Then ‘Kusina Master’, formerly a 30-minute ‘live’ program converted to a 15-minuter, airs shortly afterward. After Chef Boy Logro’s program, things seem to get interesting.

GMA’s extension of its anime block cost them two programs: the Mexican telenovela ‘Lola’ (original title Bella Calamidades), and the parent-child reality show ‘Anak Ko Yan’. The latter aired its series finale, with Jen-Jen Chubb crowned as the grand champion. The former, which replaced ‘With a Smile’ nearly two months ago, abruptly ended its run due to low ratings, even though more episodes were in the offing. In ‘Lola”s case, its abrupt cancellation has something to do with the viewers’ lack of interest towards Latin American drama series, which has fallen out of favor since the Asianovela invasion of the mid-2000s.

Meanwhile, the biography series ‘Tunay na Buhay‘ moved from the Saturday night slot to the weekday morning slot, to make way for another movie block called ‘Sabado Horror Night’. With the eight-part historical drama series ‘Katipunan’ currently airing, GMA had no room for ‘Tunay na Buhay’, thus moving it to the weekday morning slot. However, the ‘Sabado Horror Night’ block is deemed unnecessary, since GMA now has three movie blocks on Sundays and that ‘Katipunan’ runs for only a short period of time.

‘Sabado Horror Night’ also forced the variety show ‘Walang Tulugan with the Master Showman‘ out of its typical 12:00 a.m. timeslot. By all accounts, 12:00 a.m. is usually the best timeslot for German Moreno‘s program viewership-wise. But by forcing ‘Walang Tulugan’ out of its comfort zone, viewership losses are expected and many would be asleep by the time the show airs at 1:00 a.m.

Also this Saturday, the new game show ‘Picture! Picture!’, hosted by Ryan Agoncillo, will air after 24 Oras Weekend. In my previous blog, I wrote about GMA’s decision to pit ‘Picture! Picture!’ opposite wife Judy Ann Santos‘ game show ‘Bet on Your Baby’, and the reason why GMA wanted Ryan’s show to compete against Juday’s show is because of the poor ratings sustained by the children’s fantasy show ‘One Day Isang Araw’. Thus they answered with their own game show, which unlike ABS-CBN’s, is an original creation of the network.

And finally, GMA decided to cancel the docudrama series ‘Bingit’. The program, which is about stories of individuals surviving near-death experiences, aired its final episode last November 16, after which GMA decided to cease production of ‘Bingit’ out of respect to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).

GMA’s programming changes were intended on improving its quality and viewership. However, with the kind of mediocre production they’re creating, it’s no secret why they were falling behind ABS-CBN in the ratings.