Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids Finale This Sunday, Plus The Voice Teens Next Week

Palm and Easter Sunday will have a respective finale and a premiere of two hit ABS-CBN talent shows.

On Palm Sunday weekend, ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids’ will officially close the curtain on its first season. The finale will see all eight celebrity kids duke it out one last time for a chance to become this season’s grand winner.

Premiering on January 7, 2017, ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids’ became the latest in a series of hit talent shows on the Kapamilya network. Much of its success has to do with the eight celebrity kids and their uncanny ability to replicate the mannerisms of the artists they imitate.

Whether they cheer for AC Bonifacio, Awra Briguela, Justin Alva, Alonzo Muhlach, Elha Nympha, Lyca Gairanod, Sam Shoaf or Xia Vigor, they were rewarded with memorable performances that are both astonishing and unreal. It is these visual images which made ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids’ a hit to all audiences.

Come this Sunday, only one of them will win it all. That said, good luck to the eight celebrity kids in their quest to become the grand winner.

Then on Easter Sunday, ‘The Voice Teens’ Philippines (only the second in the franchise after Colombia) premieres on ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar”s vacated slot. This latest season of ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ franchise will inherit the same team of judges that presided in Season 3 of ‘The Voice Kids’, save for one returning judge.

After not taking part in Season 3 of ‘The Voice Kids’ due to her busy performing schedule, Sarah Geronimo decided to return to the judges’ table for ‘The Voice Teens’. She will join holdovers Lea Salonga, Sharon Cuneta and Bamboo Mañalac.

As for the hosts of ‘The Voice Teens’, it will be Luis Manzano and Toni Gonzaga who will take the helm. Auditions for this new season took place earlier this year, and the first few episodes of ‘The Voice Teens’ will show some of the highlights leading up to the blind auditions.

‘The Voice Teens’ will air every Saturday after ‘Home Sweetie Home’ (the first Saturday episode will be seen on April 22), and every Sunday after ‘Goin’ Bulilit’ on ABS-CBN.

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Celebrity Kids to Take Over New Season of Your Face Sounds Familiar

The kids are coming to ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar’ this weekend.

Season 3 of the ABS-CBN reality talent show will have a new twist, as the child stars of the Kapamilya network take center stage in one of the cutest and most entertaining seasons yet. The eight kids who will be part of ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar: Kids’ are:

• AC Bonifacio – the ‘Dance Sweetheart’
• Alonzo Muhlach – the ‘Bibong Child Wonder’
• Awra Briguela – the ‘Breakout Child Star’
• Elha Nympha – the ‘Big Shot Belter’
• Justin Alva – the ‘Musikerong Charmer’
• Lyca Gairanod – the ‘Young Diva ng Masa’
• Sam Shoaf – the ‘Talented Cutie’
• Xia Vigor – the ‘Daytime Princess’

Each of these young stars will undergo serious vocal, acting and dance training, as well as a makeup transformation, in order to perform like the idol that they will imitate. Every episode will see a winner crowned via a point tally, and he/she will earn a specific cash prize, half of which goes to the charity of their choosing.

By the end of this season, the grand winner will join Melai Cantiveros and Denise Laurel in the winner’s circle. Overall, the format of ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar’ remains the same, save for the ages of the contestants.

The new season of ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar’ will also have a new face in the panel of judges. Enter Ogie Alcasid, the recently-acquired Kapamilya talent who has long been renowned for his musical prowess.

Ogie will join holdovers Sharon Cuneta and Gary Valenciano in the judges’ table. As for the presenter of ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar’, it will still be Billy Crawford.

The first two seasons of ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar’ proved to be runaway hits thanks to the unique approach that the show took. As the kids take center stage this weekend, one can only hope that the third season will be just as exciting and entertaining as the first two.

‘Your Face Sounds Familiar: Kids’ airs every Saturday after ‘Home Sweetie Home’, and every Sunday after ‘Goin’ Bulilit’.

ABS-CBN, GMA Christmas Station IDs Premiere Tonight

Once again, ABS-CBN and GMA have something in store for the holidays.

Tonight at around 8:00 p.m., the two broadcast giants will premiere their annual Christmas station IDs on a near-simultaneous basis. As it has been customary in past years, celebrities and news personalities will star in this short-form video.

The slogan for ABS-CBN’s 2016 Christmas station ID will be ‘Isang Pamilya Tayo Ngayong Pasko’. On the other hand, GMA’s slogan for their Christmas station ID will be ‘Maniwala sa Magic ng Pasko’.

ABS-CBN’s preparations have been in full swing since mid-October. The network released a five-minute recording video of their Christmas station ID on YouTube, which garnered over a million views on YouTube and became a constant trending topic on social media.

The video starred ‘The Voice Kids’ judges Lea Salonga, Sarah Geronimo, Bamboo, and Sharon Cuneta, and former finalists Joshua Oliveros, Lyca Gairanod, Elha Nympha, and Antonnette Tismo. All of them are expected to appear in the actual Christmas station ID later tonight.

Meanwhile, GMA decided to make their preparations for this year’s Christmas station ID as low-key as possible. Last year, Alden Richards sang their Christmas theme; this year it will be Julie Ann San Jose who will lead the way.

GMA will also use 3D-computerized animation for their station ID, a first in Philippine television. But it remains to be seen if GMA’s celebrities and news personalities will be present for the occasion.

The contrasting preparations of the two networks should give the viewers an idea as to who’s Christmas station ID will make the biggest noise. Obviously, with GMA’s low-key approach to their Christmas station ID, ABS-CBN should have an advantage.

Nevertheless, come 7:00 p.m. later tonight, both ABS-CBN and GMA should put out a show for everyone. After all, this is a season of giving.

ABS-CBN’s Christmas station ID will be shown simultaneously on ABS-CBN Channel 2 and its affiliate free TV, digital and cable channels. GMA’s Christmas station ID, on the other hand, will air on both Channel 7 and GMA News TV.

The Voice Kids Returns for a Third Season

‘The Voice Kids’ is back.

A new crop of young singers take the stage beginning this weekend to see who will be the next grand winner of the most popular singing competition in the country. The third season of ‘The Voice Kids’ will get underway with the blind auditions, but before that, there were some significant changes that took place.

This season’s set of coaches/judges will be different from prior seasons. Gone is Sarah Geronimo, and in her place will be the country’s ‘Megastar’ Sharon Cuneta, who will join holdovers Lea Salonga and Bamboo.

Geronimo, who had been a judge for all two seasons of both ‘The Voice Kids’ and ‘The Voice of the Philippines’, stated that she left the show in order to focus as a performer on ‘ASAP’. However, she hinted that she may return to ‘The Voice’ in the near future.

Also joining ‘The Voice Kids’ for this season will be Kim Chiu, who will be one of the show’s hosts alongside Luis Manzano and Robi Domingo. This will be Chiu’s first major hosting role.

As in prior seasons, ‘The Voice Kids’ is divided into several levels, starting with the blind auditions. From there, singers on each of the three teams will be gradually eliminated, culminating in the series of live performance and results shows that will determine this season’s winner.

The first two seasons of ‘The Voice Kids’ constantly ranked atop the most-watched programs in the country. Season 1, won by Lyca Gairanod, averaged nearly 35%, while Season 2, won by Elha Nympha, averaged nearly 42%.

Overall, the ‘The Voice Kids’ normed over 39%, which is better than the 25% average of its sister show ‘The Voice of the Philippines’. That alone, coupled with the success of some of the former’s finalists, became a key reason why ABS-CBN chose to produce a third season of ‘The Voice Kids’ first instead of the latter’s own third season.

If the second season’s high ratings were any indication, expect an equally excellent, if not improved turnout for the third season of ‘The Voice Kids’. The popularity of the show has been impressive so far, and now, it’s up to the viewers to take it to the next level.

Season 3 of ‘The Voice Kids’ Philippines airs Saturdays at 7:15 p.m. and Sundays at 7:00 p.m. on ABS-CBN.

The Voice PH Returns, Poses Huge Challenge to Bet ng Bayan

A new challenger awaits ‘Bet ng Bayan’ this Sunday.

The second season of ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ will air starting October 26 and every weekend thereafter on ABS-CBN. The popular reality singing show will replace ‘I Do’, whose finale is set tomorrow night.

The first season of ‘The Voice of the Philippines’, which ran from June 15 to September 29, 2013, was won by Team Lea’s Mitoy Yonting. A spinoff, ‘The Voice Kids’, ran from May 24 to July 27, 2014, and was won by Team Sarah’s Lyca Gairanod.

Returning as judges for season 2 will be Sarah Geronimo, apl.de.ap, Bamboo Manalac and Lea Salonga. Toni Gonzaga and Luis Manzano will reprise their roles as hosts, while Robi Domingo and Alex Gonzaga will join as its ‘V-reporters’.

Since it premiered in June of last year, ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ became one of ABS-CBN’s highest-rated programs. TVPH season 1 finished in the top five in both Kantar and AGB Nielsen, with ratings usually hovering over 20% or better.

The success of the show (and its spinoff ‘The Voice Kids’) was so tremendous that GMA’s attempts to tweak their programming on weekends always backfire. Not even the entry of ‘Marian’ helped GMA’s dire weekend situation.

Perhaps due to apparent jealousy over ABS-CBN’s reality show success, GMA finally decided to create their own talent show, which became ‘Bet ng Bayan’.

Nevertheless, GMA’s weekend problems continued even with their latest creation on board. ‘Bet ng Bayan’ was pitted against ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’, easily GMA’s biggest weekend threat, and as expected, the former struggled in the ratings.

Without a Saturday show to begin with (‘Bet ng Bayan’ has a 15-minute recap show on weeknights instead), it is clear that ‘Bet ng Bayan”s chances against ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ won’t be any better. Considering TVPH’s overwhelming ratings success in Season 1, it will be a very daunting task for GMA to overcome this juggernaut.

The season premiere of ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ should give GMA every reason to fear. Better act now, or else.

Another Lineup Change on GMA, Thanks to The Voice Kids

The season finale of ‘The Voice Kids’, won by Lyca Gairanod, blasted GMA’s rival programs during the weekend of July 28. (Photo credit: ABS-CBN News)

Blame ‘The Voice Kids’ for forcing GMA into another programming change this past weekend.

The final weekend of ABS-CBN’s ‘The Voice Kids’ Season 1 saw Lyca Gairanod win the cash prize of P1-million, a recording contract, a house and lot, and various other prizes. Rounding out the top four are Darren Espanto, Juan Karlos Labajo, and Darlene Vibares, all of whom finished behind Gairanod in percentage of votes.

‘The Voice Kids’ season finale, held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater at Resorts World Manila, was also a ratings winner. Saturday’s performance episode registered a series-high 37.7% national rating, while Sunday’s results episode ended with an equally impressive 37.7%. In Metro Manila, ‘The Voice Kids’ ended their first season with respectably high numbers of 31.8% on Saturday, and 29.2% on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the never-ending timeslot changes on GMA’s weekend lineup continued. In an attempt to counter the expected lengthy performance episode of ‘The Voice Kids’, GMA hastily added ‘GMA Blockbusters’ to its Saturday lineup, weeks after it was replaced by ‘Marian’. As a result, GMA now has five movie blocks on its weekend slate.

Unfortunately, the last-minute change did little to stem the tide. ‘Marian’ only managed ratings of 18.9% (national) and 15% (Metro Manila), while the ‘GMA Blockbusters’ feature film ‘Snakes on a Plane’ ended with a mediocre 22% (national) and 16.1% (Metro Manila).

Against the results episode of ‘The Voice Kids’, GMA’s sitcoms ‘Vampire ang Daddy Ko’ and ‘Ismol Family’ did not fare well either. ‘Vampire’ finished at 10.6% (national) and 11.6% (Metro Manila), while ‘Ismol Family’ mustered ratings of 11.2% (national) and 14.6% (Metro Manila).

Contrary to a recent article written on GMA’s website, this was simply not a fun weekend for the folks inside Timog Avenue. Now the question is, what’s next?

GMA’s soon-to-be-launched reality talent search show, ‘Bet ng Bayan’, is currently on the pre-production stage, with auditions ongoing in various parts of the country. There is a possibility that ‘Bet ng Bayan’ will air every weekend, with the target date for its pilot still unknown.

With ‘Bet ng Bayan’, GMA hopes that they can reverse the course with their latest talent program. Unfortunately, ‘Bet ng Bayan’ will be facing an uphill climb, considering the tremendous strength and consistency of ABS-CBN’s weekend lineup.

For GMA, the saga of weekend changes continues. Sooner or later, they’ll make another change or two. But the truth is, they are slumping, and not even the slightest of changes will help them.