More Than Words Concludes, Pari ‘Koy Commences This Monday

Fresh from his marriage to Marian Rivera, Dingdong Dantes makes his return to the small screen.

His new project, ‘Pari ‘Koy’, will star ‘Dong in a role of a priest with an unconventional preaching approach. The main plot of the story will focus on Dingdong’s character being sent to Barangay Pinagpala in order to put his unorthodox style to the test in a seemingly pessimistic and corrupt community.

Joining ‘Dong on ‘Pari ‘Koy’ are Sunshine Dizon, Gabby Eigenmann, Chanda Romero, Luz Valdez, Dexter Doria, Rap Fernandez, JC Tiuseco, Carlo Gonzales, Jillian Ward, Jeric Gonzales, Lindsay de Vera, Hiro Peralta, and David Remo.

In the initial teaser to the upcoming teleserye, Dingdong’s priest character was portrayed as a drummer, not knowing he was actually a priest with the vestments under his jacket. Later teasers showed the antagonists doing corrupt practices in Barangay Pinagpala, and more recently, ‘Bubble Gang’ cast members were shown giving their thoughts on ‘Pari ‘Koy’.

‘Pari ‘Koy’ premieres this Monday on GMA Telebabad, replacing this teleserye.

Yes, ‘More Than Words’ will air its final episode tomorrow. The love story of Hiro (Elmo Magalona) and Ikay/Katy (Janine Gutierrez) has seen its ups and downs throughout the series’ run, and as it enters its final two episodes, an emotional ending is in store for both of them.

Premiering on November 17, 2014, ‘More Than Words’ went up against ABS-CBN’s ‘Dream Dad’, coincidentally featuring Elmo’s sister Maxene Magalona, for a majority of its run. The series enjoyed mixed success according to AGB Nielsen, but struggled against its opponent as far as Kantar’s ratings were concerned.

As it turned out, the pairing of Zanjoe Marudo and Jana Agoncillo proved to be stronger and more compelling than the duo of Elmo and Janine.

Now ‘Dream Dad’ will await the challenge of ‘Pari ‘Koy’, GMA’s latest attempt in the value-oriented teleserye. It will be interesting to see how a series with a radical priest will go up against another featuring a single father and his adopted daughter in the ratings game.

Last Minute Change for ‘Once Upon a Kiss’; GMA’s Need for a ‘Second Chance’

GMA management is once again at the forefront of last-minute changes.

The latest of these moves took place Monday night, as ‘Once Upon a Kiss’ was placed after ‘More Than Words’ on GMA’s Telebabad block. Prior to the late switch, ‘Once Upon a Kiss’ was scheduled to premiere after ’24 Oras’.

Despite the last-minute change in schedule, the pilot episode of ‘Once Upon a Kiss’ still failed to impress viewers. The teleserye only managed a 15.2% rating against the 23.6 % of ABS-CBN’s ‘Forevermore’, according to Kantar.

That said, the series starring Bianca Umali and Miguel Tanfelix will have a lot more work to do if they want to get past the increasingly popular tandem of Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano. Considering the momentum that ‘Forevermore’ generated from day one, it will be a daunting task for the former to overcome.

Meanwhile, the long-overdue premiere of ‘Second Chances’ will take place this Monday. The series had been scheduled to air back in November, but GMA postponed its premiere in hopes of making a splash for the new year.

As seen in the teasers released by the network, the series tells the story of four different individuals whose lives will change by way of a traumatizing event. Portraying these life-changing characters are Jennylyn Mercado, Camille Prats, Raymart Santiago and Rafael Rosell.

‘Second Chances’ has been in production since early August, and was intended to replace ‘Ilustrado’ on Telebabad back in November. But due to some last minute programming changes, the series premiere was postponed until the early part of 2015.

Now that ‘Second Chances’ finally gets its due, it will be interesting to see how a story of inspiration and determination fare against one featuring infidelity and jealousy. Its pilot week will be against the hot-as-lava ‘Two Wives’, who has thoroughly dominated the former’s predecessor ‘Hiram na Alaala’ for the most part.

That said, GMA now hopes to have a second chance of their own. A traumatizing event like low ratings, declining revenue and front office mismanagement are definitely worth overcoming, but unless GMA finds a way to make a second chance, they will again find themselves on the losing end of ABS-CBN’s dominance.

‘Second Chances’ premieres this Monday after ‘Once Upon a Kiss’ on GMA Telebabad.

‘More Than Words’ Demoted with Premiere of ‘Once Upon a Kiss’

GMA Telebabad’s first salvo of the year comes with yet another timeslot change for one of their current teleseryes.

‘More Than Words’, starring Janine Gutierrez and Elmo Magalona, will have a new timeslot later tonight. This will give way to a new drama series starring another young love team in Miguel Tanfelix and Bianca Umali.

Titled ‘Once Upon a Kiss’, the series revolves around a young girl’s unexpected kiss from a coma-stricken boy. From then on, the two would try to forge their love for each other amid their families’ constant quarrels.

‘Once Upon a Kiss’ will replace ‘Strawberry Lane’ on Telebabad’s lineup, but it will not be placed on the latter’s most recent timeslot. Instead, it will be placed on ‘Strawberry Lane”s original timeslot, one that was later taken over by ‘More Than Words’ until last Friday’s episode.

For ‘More Than Words’, the timeslot change had something to do with its performance. In both Kantar and AGB Nielsen, ‘More Than Words’ was thoroughly outclassed by ABS-CBN’s ‘Dream Dad’, which ironically featured Elmo’s older sister Maxene Magalona.

A new timeslot for ‘More Than Words’ would have breathed new life and a sense of relief for the struggling series. However, the series’ newest opponent is no slouch either, as ‘Forevermore’, starring Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano, has been on a roll since premiering in October.

That said, ‘More Than Words’ will have a huge mountain to climb, considering the unexpected success of ‘Forevermore’ and the Liza-Quen love team.

As for ‘Once Upon a Kiss’, their first hurdle won’t be easy either. ‘Dream Dad’, led by Zanjoe Marudo and Jana Agoncillo, is also very successful in its own right, and it will be a daunting task to see how far Bianca Umali and Miguel Tanfelix will take their partnership to new heights.

‘Once Upon a Kiss’ premieres tonight after ’24 Oras’, followed by ‘More Than Words’ on GMA Telebabad.

No Sibling Rivalry in Premieres of Dream Dad and More Than Words

There will be no rivalry between the children of the late ‘Master Rapper’ Francis Magalona on Philippine television.

Fresh from re-signing with ABS-CBN, Maxene Magalona will co-star alongside Zanjoe Marudo and child actress Jana Agoncillo in ‘Dream Dad’. The series will also star Beauty Gonzales, Yen Santos, Ana Feleo, Katya Santos, Ketchup Eusebio, Ariel Ureta and Gloria Diaz.

‘Dream Dad’ will focus on an orphan who searches for a loving family, and a bachelor who tries to mend a broken heart by focusing on his family’s welfare. Ultimately, their lives would change after they cross paths with one another.

(Due to unforeseen circumstances, the full trailer of ‘Dream Dad’ on ABS-CBN Entertainment’s official YouTube was taken down as of November 14).

Over at GMA, younger brother Elmo Magalona will reunite with ‘Villa Quintana’ co-star Janine Gutierrez in ‘More Than Words’. Also starring in this series are Rey ‘PJ’ Abellana, Leni Santos, Jaclyn Jose, Gardo Versoza, Yayo Aguila, Enzo Pineda, Stephanie Sol, Mayton Eugenio, Mikoy Morales and Coleen Perez.

The story of ‘More Than Words’ will revolve around two individuals: a teenage boy whose memory was lost following an accident, and a daydreaming female student who created an imaginary ‘dream boy’ in one of her blogs. After finding the supposed boy of her dreams, they would grow fond of each other, while the boy begins a new life with his adoptive parents.

While ‘Dream Dad’ will premiere in its expected timeslot, the same cannot be said for ‘More Than Words’. It was supposed to premiere November 3, replacing both ‘Seasons of Love’ and ‘Elemento’, but GMA management wanted none of the possible sibling rivalry between the Magalonas, and as a result, they hastily re-aired ‘Coffee Prince’ on the timeslot that was supposed to be filled by ‘More Than Words’.

Then in a somewhat surprising decision, they moved the premiere date of ‘Second Chances’, which was supposed to replace ‘Ilustrado’, to the first quarter of 2015. And to top things off, both ‘Strawberry Lane’ and ‘Hiram na Alaala’ will now be moved to later timeslots, paving the way for ‘More Than Words’ to occupy the slot after ’24 Oras’.

Thus, ‘More Than Words’ will go up against the soon-to-conclude ‘Hawak Kamay’ while ‘Dream Dad’ will face the re-airing ‘Coffee Prince’ on their respective networks.

It will be interesting to see how both Magalonas fare in their respective new series, but even in different networks, they will always be family off-screen. Good luck.

A Sad Ending to Ilustrado, Plus Second Chances Moved to Early 2015

The highly-budgeted but low-rated GMA bayaniserye ‘Ilustrado’ will end this Friday . (Photo credit: GMA Network)

‘Ilustrado’ ends this Friday with little to show for.

GMA’s so-called ‘bayaniserye’, which was produced by the News and Public Affairs department, failed to impress in the ratings throughout its run. This despite the fact that it boasted a more hi-tech production and added a more educational approach to the story.

Figures from both Kantar and AGB Nielsen showed that ‘Ilustrado’ was way behind ABS-CBN’s ‘Two Wives’ in the ratings for much of its run. ‘Ilustrado’ also failed to make an impact on social media, as netizens focused more on the intimate and hostile scenes between the characters of Jason Abalos, Erich Gonzales and Kaye Abad rather than Alden Richards’ portrayal of Jose Rizal as a student in Europe.

‘Ilustrado’ premiered on October 20 amid high expectations. GMA gave the show’s producers a big budget, investing on the latest computer technologies to digitally recreate the look of late 19th century Europe.

But the big investment did not translate into ratings success, even though more advertisers pitched in to help recover the losses. That said, expect GMA to lose more money after the disastrous returns of ‘Ilustrado’.

With ‘Ilustrado’ about to leave the airwaves this Friday, a new series will come to the Kapuso network starting November 17.

Contrary to earlier reports, ‘Second Chances’ will not be the replacement for ‘Ilustrado’. The teleserye, starring Jennylyn Mercado, Rafael Rosell, Raymart Santiago and Camille Prats, will now air beginning the first quarter of 2015.

Instead, ‘More Than Words’, starring Elmo Magalona and Janine Gutierrez, will replace ‘Ilustrado’, but not at the latter’s old timeslot. The series is expected to move at an earlier time.

Like ‘Ilustrado’, ‘Second Chances’ is expected to be a big-budgeted series. For the second consecutive year, a series starring Jennylyn Mercado will lead a list of GMA’s first quarter offerings, with the first being ‘Rhodora X’.

The move of ‘Second Chances” to an early 2015 premiere should boost its chances somewhat, as the series’ producers will now use the time to improve the story, production and character development.

This does not mean, however, that ‘Second Chances’ will be a potential hit. As it has been proven time and time again, GMA’s overreliance on its veterans have cost them both ratings, young talent and ad loads, and this latest venture shows how poor GMA is at managing and developing talent.

As 2014 winds down, expect yet another down year for the Kapuso network, both in financial health and in viewership. And it only gets worse.

Another Last-Minute Change Further Ruins GMA Telebabad

‘More Than Words’, starring Elmo Magalona and Janine Gutierrez, was supposed to premiere November 3, but was moved instead to November 17. (Photo credit: GMA Network)

It is becoming an infectious habit for GMA Telebabad to screw its viewers.

Last Friday, the official Facebook account of the upcoming Kapuso teleserye ‘More Than Words’ announced that they would air starting Monday, November 3. However, in a last-second move, GMA decided that the series will air beginning November 17 instead.

And in a rather awkward change of direction, GMA chose to air a re-run of the Koreanovela ‘Coffee Prince’ yesterday, as a replacement to the fill-in programs ‘Seasons of Love’ and ‘Elemento’. As Timow’s Turf pointed out, the decision of GMA to re-air ‘Coffee Prince’ was in response to government station PTV-4’s airing of ‘Here Comes Mr. Oh’, which is really pointless given that PTV-4 is not a rich network giant that GMA is.

In essence, the latest programming change implemented by GMA’s entertainment division only made things even more complicated.

By re-airing ‘Coffee Prince’ on the early evening slot, GMA has essentially conceded defeat to ‘Pure Love’, one of ABS-CBN’s strong primetime performers. The Filipino remake of the Koreanovela ’49 Days’ has been a thorn on GMA’s side since its premiere, as it beat the likes of ‘My BFF’, ‘Seasons of Love’ and ‘Elemento’.

Because of that, expect nothing from ‘Coffee Prince’ on primetime since it is a re-run. Sorry GMA, but ‘Coffee Prince’ is no ‘Meteor Garden’.

With regards to ‘More Than Words’, the postponement of its premiere came at a not-so opportune time. The historical drama ‘Ilustrado’ is on its final two weeks, and it is expected to be replaced by the Jennylyn Mercado-starred series ‘Second Chances’.

Given the recent tendency for GMA to cram its teleseryes on primetime, it seems likely that GMA will use this strategy once again, just to include ‘More Than Words’ on Telebabad. This should spell disaster for the Kapuso network, as the potential eight-pack would push ‘Saksi’ to the more dreaded 11:15-11:30 slot, and worse, further the gap between Telebabad and ABS-CBN’s Primetime Bida.

Already wrecked by poor ratings and lack of bankable and relatable stars, this latest blunder only shows how dilapidated GMA Telebabad is now. And unfortunately, it only gets worse from here.