StarStruck Finally Returns, But Problems Persist

The long-awaited return of ‘StarStruck’ is underway.

After a five-year absence, the original and most iconic reality talent search show on Philippine television is back with a new season and a new hope. A total of 35 hopefuls will have the chance of a lifetime to become a GMA star and an Ultimate Survivor.

But there are some problems that should concern the returning ‘StarStruck’.

GMA announced that ‘StarStruck’ would air weekdays at 5:50 p.m. starting today. The problem is that the timeslot is way too early for a reality show of this caliber, and based on recent trends, Filipino reality talent shows usually air in mid-to-late evenings to take advantage of bigger audiences.

In the first five seasons of ‘StarStruck’, GMA placed the show after the local teleseryes and before Koreanovelas on the network’s Telebabad block. At the time, it helped ‘StarStruck’ earn high ratings for the network, right in the midst of the Koreanovela and fantaserye fever.

Those seasons of ‘StarStruck’ also had a weekend edition (which also rated well), something that the new season won’t have (unless GMA changes its mind). But until then, the new ‘StarStruck’ will have to endure a different and more radical approach than in past seasons.

‘StarStruck’ will also have to worry about ‘Pasion de Amor’. The ABS-CBN drama series continues to stay hot in its timeslot, winning over its GMA counterparts on a consistent basis.

That said, GMA will have its hands full once ‘StarStruck’ comes in. ‘Pasion de Amor’ is a tough nut to crack for the Kapuso network, especially considering the single-digit failures of previous opponents ‘My Mother’s Secret’ and ‘Reply 1997’, thus GMA has to pull all the stops if ‘StarStruck’ wants to return to form.

It’s just too bad that they didn’t place the show against the continuously declining ‘Pinoy Big Brother: 737’ (thank you ‘Legendary Women’ and ‘Bubble Gang’ for closing that timeslot). Had they placed ‘StarStruck’ against PBB (or earlier at best), the show would have fared better.

But as it stands, ‘StarStruck’ is in for a rude awakening. Without any options, GMA has no choice but to place the returning ‘StarStruck’ into a timeslot they’re not used to, which is a daunting challenge to this point.

Is ‘StarStruck’ worth the wait, or an immediate afterthought? We’ll see.

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My Mother’s Secret Reprieved for Another Week

‘My Mother’s Secret’ will now end on August 7 with an additional four episodes ordered. (Logo courtesy of GMA Network)

‘My Mother’s Secret’ has lived to fight another week.

The series was supposed to end Friday, July 31. But with the State of the Nation Address extending beyond its allotted time of two hours, last Monday’s episode of ‘My Mother’s Secret’ was preempted and aired the next day.

Not wanting to end the series on the following Monday, GMA acted on the matter and added another week (or four more episodes) to ‘My Mother’s Secret’. Thus, the series finale will now air next Friday, August 7, and the six-pack Koreanovela plan of the Kapuso network will have to wait.

As noted in a prior article, ‘My Mother’s Secret’ had been a ratings failure for the network, fluctuating within the 10% mark in both AGB Nielsen’s NUTAM and Kantar Media. The series couldn’t beat ABS-CBN’s ‘Pasion de Amor’, whose sexy and lustful theme propelled it to success.

Despite the extension, ‘My Mother’s Secret’ will still fall short of the typical 80 episodes a teleserye takes these days. The series will end with 54 episodes produced, which is not respectable enough by teleserye standards.

With ‘My Mother’s Secret”s extension, its successor ‘Reply 1997’ will now air starting next Monday, August 10. It was supposed to begin this Monday, August 3, and was aimed at an August 4 premiere date if not for ‘My Mother’s Secret”s reluctant extension.

For the viewers of ‘My Mother’s Secret’, this is their last chance to see what fate awaits the actress-turned-reluctant mother (played by Gwen Zamora) and her daughter (played by Kim Rodriguez). The final week of the series should be an interesting one, albeit only for the few and the loyal.

The now-official finale week of ‘My Mother’s Secret’ airs this Monday to Friday at 5:50 p.m., right before ’24 Oras’.

Koreanovela Overload Continues on GMA

Add a sixth Koreanovela to GMA’s weekday lineup.

In what seems like a new record in Philippine television history, GMA will air six Koreanovelas every weekday beginning this Tuesday, August 4. The latest addition is ‘Reply 1997’, a Koreanovela that reminisces on the good times of teenage life.

The story focuses on six high school buddies who reunite for a dinner after 15 years apart, two of whom would announce their marriage. Throughout the story, flashbacks of their teenage lives will resurface throughout the conversation, switching back and forth between their 18-year-old selves in 1997, and their present selves 15 years later.

‘Reply 1997’ stars Jung Eun-ji, Seo In-guk, Hoya, Shin So-yul, Eun Ji-won, and Lee Si-eon. The series was one of the most popular dramas in Korean television.

The entry of ‘Reply 1997’ continues a downward trend for GMA in terms of programming quality and creativity. As mentioned earlier, GMA will air six Koreanovelas starting this Tuesday, the list of which are as follows:

1. The Master’s Sun (re-run; airing at 9:40 a.m., replacing Secret Garden)
2. Two Mothers (airing at 10:10 a.m.)
3. The King’s Doctor (airing at 10:50 a.m.)
4. Birth of a Beauty (airing at 5:15 p.m.)
5. Reply 1997 (airing at 5:50 p.m. starting this Tuesday)
6. Pinocchio (airing at 9:55 p.m. on Mondays-Thursdays)

With six Koreanovelas at their disposal, it is clear that GMA’s creative nadir is now at its worst point. The inability to produce formidable local programming and their overreliance on importing other countries’ programs are taking its toll on the creative staff.

Worse, ‘Reply 1997’ will face a tough opponent in ABS-CBN’s ‘Pasion de Amor’. The local adaptation of the original Colombian telenovela has been on a ratings tear, and it left its soon-to-be-departing opponent ‘My Mother’s Secret’ in the dust.

The breaking point is now near for GMA. Six Koreanovelas on a weekday won’t help their cause.

Note: ‘My Mother’s Secret’ was scheduled to end tomorrow, July 31. But due to a preemption that was caused by the State of the Nation Address last Monday, the series is now scheduled to finish on Monday, August 3. ‘Reply 1997”s premiere will be moved to Tuesday, August 4.

My Mother’s Secret Meets Its Painful Demise

The plug has finally been pulled from ‘My Mother’s Secret’.

GMA has announced that the early evening teleserye will be down to its final two weeks. This means that the series finale of ‘My Mother’s Secret’ will air on Friday, July 31.

‘My Mother’s Secret’ starred Gwen Zamora, Christian Bautista, Lotlot de Leon, Meryll Soriano and Kim Rodriguez. It was directed by Neal del Rosario.

The series premiered on May 25 with little fanfare. It was unexpected and hastily created to begin with, since GMA did not seriously hype ‘My Mother’s Secret’ in the weeks prior to its premiere.

As expected, the series was no match for the opponent in the ratings. ‘My Mother’s Secret’ lost badly to ‘Inday Bote’ in its opening week, but the series slumped even further once ‘Pasion de Amor’ entered the fray.

‘Pasion de Amor’, the local adaptation of ‘Pasion de Gavilantes’, became a surprise hit for ABS-CBN despite its sexually-charged theme and unlikely placement in the early evening slot. The Kapamilya series’ average rating of over 20% (based on Kantar Media) became a cause of concern to ‘My Mother’s Secret’.

It also didn’t help that ‘My Mother’s Secret’ can only muster single-digit ratings in most episodes. When it became clear that the series would be more of a hindrance to the primetime lineup, GMA decided to act accordingly.

Thus, after only 50 episodes (short of the typical 80 episodes of a modern teleserye), ‘My Mother’s Secret’ will officially take a bow after its final episode on July 31. The series did not deserve a second chance after all, with poor ratings the motive behind its demise.

The cancellation of ‘My Mother’s Secret’ is only the beginning for GMA Telebabad, though. Over the next few weeks, ‘Pari ‘Koy’, ‘Let the Love Begin’ and ‘The Rich Man’s Daughter’ will also be replaced, marking a month-long turnover for the embattled primetime block.

More on that in a future article.

Quick Turnaround for My Mother’s Secret with Pasion de Amor Premiere

A quick turnaround ensues for ‘My Mother’s Secret’.

After premiering against ‘Inday Bote’ this week, the series will enter its second week with a new opponent on the horizon. Taking over ‘Inday Bote”s slot this Monday on ABS-CBN will be ‘Pasion de Amor’, the localized remake of the original telenovela ‘Pasion de Gavilantes’.

The focus of the series will be on a trio of brothers from one family who fell in love with a trio of sisters from another in order to avenge the death of the former’s sister. The sister’s death was the result of her love affair with the latter family’s patriarch, whose wife murdered them as retribution.

Jake Cuenca (as Juan Samonte), Ejay Falcon (as Oscar Samonte) and Joseph Marco (as Franco Samonte) will play the role of the three brothers. Ellen Adarna (as Sari Elizondo), Coleen Garcia (as Jamie Elizondo) and Arci Muñoz (as Norma Elizondo) will play the role of the three sisters.

Supporting roles will be provided by Teresa Loyzaga, Aubrey Miles, Michelle Madrigal, Ahron Villena, Ingrid Dela Paz, Daria Ramirez, Alex Castro, AJ Dee, Ron Morales, Zeppi Borromeo, Ashley Rivera, Benj Bolivar, Nathaniel Britt, Mauro Lumba and June Macasaet. Ronaldo Valdez will appear in a special participation.

The original ‘Pasion de Amor’ (titled ‘Pasion de Gavilantes’ in Latin America) first aired on ABS-CBN in the late 2000s as an afternoon drama, and it starred Mexican telenovela star Mario Cimarro. When the original teaser was first shown, the network intended to air the series on Kapamilya Gold, with the premiere date set in May of this year.

But with ‘Flordeliza’, ‘Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita’ and the Koreanovela ‘Let’s Get Married’ still on the air, the Kapamilya network decided to move the series to the Primetime Bida block instead. As a result, the remake will feature less of the suggestive sultriness that was prevalent in the original series, in order to appeal to younger audiences at the 5:50 p.m. slot.

‘Pasion de Amor”s entrance next week should cause some concern for ‘My Mother’s Secret’, whose first week was off to an inauspicious start. If the first five episodes are any indication, then the latter series is in for a rude awakening.

‘Pasion de Amor’ airs starting this Monday before ‘TV Patrol’ on ABS-CBN’s Primetime Bida.

My Mother’s Secret to Face Two Kapamilya Teleseryes in First Two Weeks

For the first time since ‘My BFF’, a local teleserye will kick off GMA Telebabad.

On Monday, May 25, ‘My Mother’s Secret’ will take over the slot that will be vacated by ‘My Love from the Star’ later tonight. This will mark the end of an eight-month lull for a lengthy local teleserye at the said slot, after GMA experimented with a pair of mini-series and a trio of Koreanovelas.

Directed by Neal del Rosario, ‘My Mother’s Secret’ will tell the story of an actress who is secretly pregnant, after which she sold her child in order to continue her showbiz career. A controversial scandal forced her to leave the industry and begin a family with her one-time boyfriend, but a liver problem threatened her husband’s life, and she was forced to find the child she once sold in order to help her husband.

Gwen Zamora, Christian Bautista and Kim Rodriguez will breathe life into the three primary characters of ‘My Mother’s Secret’. Kiko Estrada, Lotlot de Leon, Diva Montelaba, Shamaine Buencamino, Enzo Pineda, Joanna Marie Tan and Tricia Cabais will play supporting roles, while Meryll Soriano and Mark Herras will also appear in a special participation.

As mentioned earlier, ‘My Mother’s Secret’ will be the first local teleserye to kick off Telebabad since ‘My BFF’, which ran from June to October 2014 (‘Seasons of Love’ and ‘Elemento’ were only aired as a mini-series, and not as full-fledged teleseryes). Coincidentally, both series replaced ‘My Love from the Star’ on the same timeslot.

The first two weeks of ‘My Mother’s Secret’ will air against the finale week of ‘Inday Bote’ and the premiere week of ‘Pasion de Amor’. That said, the series will have its work cut out for them as they go up against two ABS-CBN teleseryes in as many weeks.

Once again, GMA goes to a local drama to begin Telebabad. But will it make a difference? Find out next week.

‘My Mother’s Secret’ premieres this Monday before ’24 Oras’ on GMA Telebabad.