GMA’s The Clash Endures Poor Reviews and Bad Ratings After Two Weeks

Welp!

Four episodes in and ‘The Clash’ does not look too enticing to say the least. The GMA singing competition show is off to a poor start, both critically and commercially.

During the weekend of July 7, ‘The Clash”s ratings were at 19.4 and 19.6% on Saturday and Sunday respectively. On the other hand, ABS-CBN’s ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids’ season 2 ended with 32.2 and 34.1%.

But it is not just the underwhelming ratings that hurt ‘The Clash’. From the moment it aired viewers complained about the bad lighting, shaky camera angles, awful sound quality and fake audience reactions.

Much of the blame was pointed to director Louie Ignacio. Despite the fact that he is one of the most in-demand directors in television, people can’t help but think why this man had to be at the helm of ‘The Clash’ when in fact he had been the culprit for the downfall of ‘Party Pilipinas’ several years ago.

And while GMA claimed that ‘The Clash”s pilot episode topped Twitter’s trending topics, the overwhelmingly negative reception to the program muted this achievement. But things only got worse for ‘The Clash’.

GMA's newest talent competition 'The Clash' took the first spot on Twitter yesterday, July 7. https://t.co/U94oDvaaVS

— GMA Network (@gmanetwork) July 9, 2018

The second weekend of ‘The Clash’ last July 14-15 saw the program dip to 17.3% and 17.6% in the ratings. Meanwhile, ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids’ remained consistent, posting figures of 33.4 and 32.4%.

There were still some negative reactions from netizens but the impact was less considerable from the first weekend. As a result, ‘The Clash’ became a non-factor on Twitter whereas ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids’ got a boost thanks to Marco Masa’s winning portrayal of Enrique Gil.

The good news for ‘The Clash’ is that the competition still has a long way to go. Judging them as a flop after only four episodes may be a tad premature.

But how much longer can the viewers tolerate a mess of a talent show? Unless certain improvements are to be made in terms of presentation, public sentiment against ‘The Clash’ will only grow from hereon.

‘Kap’s Amazing Stories’ in a Crisis; ‘Ismol Family’ and ‘Marian’ Debuts

Senator Bong Revilla’s educational show ‘Kap’s Amazing Stories’ is now facing a crisis after the senator was accused of graft and plunder in relation to the PDAF scam.

After airing for several years, GMA’s educational program ‘Kap’s Amazing Stories’ is now facing a huge crisis. This is because the show’s host, Senator Bong Revilla, is currently being linked to the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

Just recently, Senator Revilla, along with fellow senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada, PDAF mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, and numerous other co-accused, were issued hold departure orders by the Sandiganbayan in relation to the scam. Senator Revilla, in a recent interview, has said that he will face the plunder and graft charges brought against him.

As Senator Revilla faces the prospect of arrest and jail time, the status of ‘Kap’s Amazing Stories’ has now become uncertain. Given that the show has been on the air for several years, and with numerous educational stories along the way, it will not be easy for the network to give up on ‘Kap’s Amazing Stories’.

But with Senator Revilla currently involved in a controversy of national interest, it is time for GMA to make a difficult decision. Either they replace ‘Kap’s Amazing Stories’ with a similar program for the sake of credibility, or keep the show, but with a new host, for the sake of loyalty. It is up to the braintrust of the Kapuso network to decide the show’s fate.

Meanwhile, ‘Ismol Family’ will make its debut on the said network this Sunday, replacing ‘Picture! Picture!’ on its timeslot. The new sitcom will star Ryan Agoncillo and Carla Abellana, with supporting roles from Carmi Martin, Mikael Daez, Mike ‘Pekto’ Nacua, Miguel Tanfelix, Kevin Santos, Bianca Umali, Marc Justine Alvarez, and Natalia Moon.

The series, directed by Dominic Zapata, will now be GMA’s third sitcom in its current lineup. The others are ‘Vampire ang Daddy Ko’ and ‘Pepito Manaloto’, both of which star preeminent comedians in Vic Sotto and Michael V.

And finally, ‘Marian’, the self-titled dance show hosted by Marian Rivera, premieres this Saturday after ‘Vampire ang Daddy Ko’. Marian’s first guests on the program will be Maricel Soriano and Vilma Santos, both of which had their own self-titled dance shows in the late 1980s.

Joining Marian on the show are Paolo Ballesteros, Christian Bautista, Mark Bautista, and Julie Anne San Jose. Louie Ignacio will direct the show.