In and Out: TV5 Announces, Then Pulls Out NFL

Unless things change, the NFL will not be seen on Philippine television in the foreseeable future after Sports Illustrated Asia backed out and TV5 pulled out any scheduled games from its lineup. (Photo courtesy of the National Football League)

America’s most popular sport appears to be on its way out of the Philippines.

Sports Illustrated Asia, formerly the All-Sports Network (ASN), dropped the NFL from its lineup of programs at the start of the 2017 season. The channel best known for airing the National Hockey League, U.S. NCAA college football and college basketball had been broadcasting NFL games for nearly a decade now.

Almost simultaneously, TV5 announced that they will carry NFL games this season. But as soon as they placed the schedule of NFL games on its website, they decided to pull them out at the last minute in favor of ‘Movie Max 5’.

This means that for the first time in decades, the NFL will not be seen on Philippine television this season (unless one network will air the Super Bowl this February). It’s a shame considering that the league has had a long and distinguished love affair with Filipino sports fans and American expats, even though it falls behind basketball, volleyball and soccer in terms of local popularity.

Going back to TV5, the last-minute pullout of NFL games is the latest in a series of blunders committed by the network this month. Last week, TV5 ceased airing Cartoon Network and Boomerang shows in favor of TV shopping and movies, then in another last-minute move, they postponed anew the premiere of Brillante Mendoza’s ‘Amo’.

These moves are typical of Chot Reyes’ incompetence as a network executive. Once lauded for promoting the network’s ‘Choose Courage’ mantra, Chot’s questionable decisions has now turned the slogan into a joke.

The NFL, despite its lack of popularity in the Philippines, would have filled TV5’s suddenly moribund schedule. Had it aired as scheduled, people would have praised Chot Reyes for this fearless and courageous move.

Instead, Chot retreated like a coward and instructed his staff to pull them out in favor of endless Tagalized movies and TV shopping blocks. Which leads to where TV5 is now, a network lacking any sense of direction.

Considering the expensive broadcast rights of the NFL, perhaps TV5 was right in not pursuing the league. But without a ‘Plan B’, all signs point to Chot Reyes becoming a pariah in the world of Philippine television.

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TV5 Pulls Out Cartoon Network Shows, Refurbish Lineup Anew with NFL, Cockfighting, Japan Japan and Amo

What is Chot Reyes thinking?

Choosing courage is easier with you inspiring us to become stronger. 👊 Maligayang kaarawan, @coachot ! 🎉 #ChooseCourage #PUSO pic.twitter.com/zJhnbhyyY3

— TV5 (@TV5manila) August 1, 2017

When viewers tuned in to TV5 on the first week of September, one noticeable aspect of their programming is missing. It turns out that the Tagalized cartoons from Cartoon Network and Boomerang have been pulled out of the network, possibly due to the expiration of a contract between the two parties.

As a result, the network is once again living and dying with Tagalized movies and TV shopping blocks in the morning and afternoon. However, this latest development is not the only surprise that greeted viewers.

Tomorrow morning, TV5 will bring the NFL anew to the small screen. Except that the game is not the Super Bowl but an opening night contest between the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs.

It can be recalled that it was ABS-CBN’s S+A that aired Super Bowl LI last February when TV5 could not accommodate said game. Now that TV5 has opened a gigantic hole in the morning, it is highly likely that they will carry some NFL football live all season.

Continuing the ‘Choose Courage’ theme that Chot Reyes implemented this year, TV5 also acquired a pair of refugees from the beleaguered IBC-13. Anyone who is a fan of sending roosters to the cockpit may remember ‘Tukaan’ and ‘Bakbakan’ right?

Both shows were long-time staples of IBC-13’s seemingly moribund lineup. But with the network poised to take its long-overdue process of privatization, they had no choice but to give up the two programs, and luckily TV5 was there to save them from extinction.

Another new show in TV5’s lineup is ‘Japan Japan’, a travel and lifestyle reality show starring Yachang and the Kawaii Pinays. Produced by the same company that brought ‘Amachan’ to the network, ‘Japan Japan’ takes a look at the various scenic destinations in Japan from the perspective of Filipino travelers and Yachang himself.

Finally, TV5 will bring the long-awaited Brillante Mendoza mini-series ‘Amo’ to the small screen. This 12-episode take on the country’s drug-related killings was originally slated to begin August 20, but the network’s coverage of Gilas in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games pushed back its premiere to this Sunday night.

Cast of AMO with .@brillante_ma #AMOonTV5 pic.twitter.com/sEMx5FGTKF

— TV5 (@TV5manila) July 25, 2017

Chot Reyes’ ‘Choose Courage’ vision is indeed alive and well, sort of. However, it’s still baffling to see more of the same old ‘Shop Japan’, ‘EZ Shop’ and Tagalized movies on the same roof, and unless TV5 can find a way to minimize said programs, they will not be perceived as being ‘courageous’ as their CEO emphasizes.

So Long, Sunday All-Stars and KISPinoy

‘Sunday All-Stars’ bade farewell last Sunday afternoon after two years on the air. (Photo credit: GMA Network/Sunday All-Stars Official Facebook)

Two programs bade goodbye over the weekend in contrasting fashion.

The expected farewell of ‘Sunday All-Stars’ took place last Sunday afternoon. The two-year-old GMA variety show was cancelled after two years on the air, and will be replaced by ‘Sunday PinaSaya’.

Debuting on June 16, 2013, ‘Sunday All-Stars’ originally aired as a reality competition variety show featuring a team of celebrity performers going against three other groups. The winner is judged based on its conceptualization, execution and entertainment value.

However, low ratings and the departures of several performers forced the show to drop the competition format in favor of a straight-up performance show. In addition, ‘Sunday All-Stars’ underwent a series of timeslot changes, eventually settling into the 2:00 p.m. slot in its final months.

With the cancellation of ‘Sunday All-Stars’, GMA is now left without a self-produced noontime variety show. The incoming replacement ‘Sunday PinaSaya’ will be produced by APT Entertainment, a subsidiary of ‘Eat Bulaga”s production outfit TAPE, Inc.

Meanwhile, an unexpected development took place on TV5 last Saturday night. ‘KISPinoy’, a talent show that seeks to crown a new Filipino KPop sensation, was pulled out of TV5’s schedule without warning, and ‘Movie Max 5’ was aired instead.

In a statement given by the producers through ‘KISPinoy”s official Facebook, the reason behind the pullout was due to financial problems that affected blocktimer and producer YU&IQ International. They then stated that the updates regarding the journey of the remaining hopefuls will still be posted on their social media accounts.

Debuting last July 11, ‘KISPinoy’ was hosted by Richard Gutierrez and Jinri Park, and notable judges included Gelli de Belen and Rico Blanco. The talent show aired for only three episodes in total.

What will happen next to TV5’s suddenly vacant 9:00 p.m. slot on Saturdays will still be determined. So wait for further updates on this unfortunate situation.

AniMega Has a New Timeslot, Plus Other Updates on TV5’s Weekday Schedule

TV5’s AniMega block was moved from weekday mornings to weekday afternoons beginning last Monday. (Logo courtesy of TV5)

Another tweak took place on TV5’s weekday lineup.

As reported by Anime Pilipinas, the AniMega block was moved from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, effective last Monday. The new AniMega lineup consists of:

• Transformers: Animated
• Rockman.EXE Beast
• Street Fighter
• Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple

In doing so, TV5 avoided competing with the animes of ABS-CBN and GMA and instead focused on alternative programming in a slot dominated by noontime shows and teleseryes.

But while TV5 gave anime fans a favor, they did not announce a replacement for the vacated slot of AniMega. Instead, ‘Movie Max 5’ filled in following the TV5 Kids block, which is by far the earliest timeslot for movies on TV5 since the takeover by Manny V. Pangilinan.

There were also questions as to what happened to ‘Healing Galing’ and ‘Solved na Solved’, the two shows that briefly shared the 10:30 a.m. slot for two weeks. At the moment, it remains to be seen whether or not the two shows were cancelled or up for renewal, so wait for further updates.

With ‘Healing Galing’ and ‘Solved na Solved’ currently out of the picture, and with ‘Movie Max 5’ now part of the morning lineup, ‘Happy Wife, Happy Life’ was moved to a new time of 10:15 a.m. The lifestyle show recently added Mariel Rodriguez-Padilla as its new co-host, replacing original hosts Jeck Maierhofer and RR Enriquez.

Other than the aforementioned changes in TV5’s weekday lineup, the rest of the list remain untouched.

Regardless, the transfer of AniMega to weekday afternoons is a huge boost for TV5. Their continued push for alternative programming became a factor to this decision, and it should benefit the block’s fierce and loyal anime fanbase in the long term.

It remains to be seen if TV5’s anime fans are buying into this matter, but from the looks of it, this is perhaps one of the best decisions TV5 has made to date.

So Long, ‘Face the People’ and ‘Let’s Ask Pilipinas’

TV5’s ‘Face the People’, along with ‘Let’s Ask Pilipinas’, bid adieu on November 21, 2014. (Photo credit: TV5)

The last remnants of the original ‘Everyday All the Way’ block are gone.

On Friday, November 21, 2014, ‘Face the People’ and ‘Let’s Ask Pilipinas’ aired for the final time on TV5. Three days later, ‘Movie Max 5’ took over the slot vacated by both programs.

And in a related development, both ‘Aksyon sa Tanghali’ and ‘T3: Enforced’ were once again cut to 30 minutes. This was in anticipation of the latter program’s year-end reports that are slated to air during Christmas and New Year’s week.

‘Face the People’ and ‘Let’s Ask Pilipinas’ returned with a second season on July 7, albeit on the late morning slot rather than the afternoon and early evening slots, respectively. The move to new timeslots paved the way for TV5 to air two PBA games on weekdays beginning in mid-October.

As a result, ‘Face the People’ and ‘Let’s Ask Pilipinas’ served as an appetizer to TV5’s noontime newscast ‘Aksyon sa Tanghali’, which debuted the following week.

The two shows also carried new hosts; ‘Face the People’ mainstays Gelli de Belen and Tintin Bersola-Babao were joined by Edu Manzano, while Ogie Alcasid replaced Aga Muhlach on ‘Let’s Ask Pilipinas’.

In all, 100 episodes were aired on both ‘Face the People’ and ‘Let’s Ask Pilipinas’ during their second seasons, which was not a bad run.

‘Face the People’ marked the swan song of Edu Manzano on the Kapatid network. On September 14, it was announced that Manzano will rejoin ABS-CBN following the completion of his obligations with TV5.

Meanwhile, Gelli de Belen and Ogie Alcasid will have new projects come next year, as TV5 recently announced its upcoming slate of programs for 2015. As for Tintin Bersola-Babao, it is unclear if she will stick with TV5 or move to another network.

With the cancellation of both ‘Face the People’ and ‘Let’s Ask Pilipinas’, TV5 now has an opening for any of their upcoming programs. For now, though, the same ol’ boring Tagalized movies on ‘Movie Max 5’ will take over the slot, albeit temporarily.