Has Time Ran Out on Wish Ko Lang?

‘Wish Ko Lang”s transformation from a public service program to a drama anthology has not worked well for GMA. Promotional posters such as this found on ‘Wish Ko Lang”s social media accounts made it clear that the show no longer serves a purpose. (Photo credit: GMA Network)

‘Wish Ko Lang”s magic is slowly disappearing.

Once known for granting wishes to ordinary citizens, it has now turned into a drama anthology that seems more appropriate to rival ABS-CBN’s ‘Maalaala Mo Kaya’. The purpose of ‘Wish Ko Lang’ has now turned into a joke, where the title of the show is no longer applicable to its new format.

It has been that way for nearly a year now, where host Vicky Morales has turned herself from the face of the show into a background character, overshadowed by the Kapuso actors that the show assigns. Even ‘Karelasyon’, a similarly themed drama anthology, is now outplaying ‘Wish Ko Lang’ in the ratings.

For a show that has been on the air for over a decade, this is definitely insulting to the loyal audiences who have watched ‘Wish Ko Lang’ all these years. It hurts, isn’t it?

When ‘Wish Ko Lang’ debuted 13 years ago, it served its purpose well, granting wishes to ordinary citizens who sent letters of hopes and aspirations. For years, the show was a ratings winner, beating similarly themed programs such as ‘Willingly Yours’, ‘Simpleng Hiling’ and ‘Nagmamahal, Kapamilya’ (the latter show was hosted by ‘Wish Ko Lang”s original host Bernadette Sembrano).

Then came ‘Failon Ngayon’, whose more informative and engaging brand of public service began to upstage ‘Wish Ko Lang’. The show experienced a decline soon after, moving into three different timeslots which never worked out for them.

In August 2014, ‘Wish Ko Lang’ moved to its current timeslot, and soon after, it reformatted from a public service program to a drama anthology in order to compete against the newly-revived ‘Ipaglaban Mo’. It became clear, however, that older fans disapproved of the show’s transformation, and as a result, ratings continued to suffer.

Now GMA has to make a decision. Since ‘Karelasyon’ and ‘Wish Ko Lang’ offer a similar format, they need to choose between the two of them, and based on ‘Karelasyon”s impressive ratings, it may be better for GMA to finally let go of ‘Wish Ko Lang’ and create a legit public service program without the unnecessary dramatizations.

If they choose not to let go, they have to pick between these two options. Either they bring the old format back and move to a new timeslot, or rebrand the program if they intend to keep the new format.

It’s up to GMA to decide. They can only hope that this decision on the fate of ‘Wish Ko Lang’ is for the best interest of the network and its viewers, and will help GMA in the long run.

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Thanks to Ipaglaban Mo, Startalk and Wish Ko Lang Switch Timeslots

The success of the legal drama ‘Ipaglaban Mo’ on ABS-CBN has forced GMA to tweak anew their Saturday lineup, with ‘Wish Ko Lang’ and ‘Startalk’ switching timeslots. (Photo credit: ABS-CBN)

GMA’s weekend programming instability continues.

Last Saturday, the Kapuso network decided to switch the timeslots of ‘Startalk’ and ‘Wish Ko Lang’. As a result, the former now airs at 3:45 p.m. while the latter follows suit.

There is a reason why GMA made another change on Saturday afternoons, and that is the ratings success of ‘Ipaglaban Mo’ on ABS-CBN. Since the legal drama returned to the small screen this past June, it has managed to dominate ‘Startalk’ in both the TNS Kantar and the AGB Nielsen ratings.

This marked ‘Startalk”s third timeslot change this year, compared to only two in their first 18 years. In January, ‘Startalk’ moved to Sunday afternoons in order to compete against ‘Buzz ng Bayan’, only to move back to Saturdays in May following the revival of ‘The Buzz’ and the reunion of Kris Aquino and Boy Abunda.

The latest change now sees ‘Startalk’ airing at a similar timeslot as its rival ‘The Buzz’, only at a different day and on a running time of 45 minutes to an hour. In addition, ‘Startalk’ will now face ‘Failon Ngayon’, another of ABS-CBN’s highly-rated programs.

For ‘Wish Ko Lang’, it marked their third timeslot change in their 12-year history. Typically a late-afternoon program on Saturdays, ‘Wish Ko Lang’ has once moved to early primetime, and now it airs in the mid-afternoon slot.

While ‘Wish Ko Lang’ was a dominant program early in its run, beating similar rivals on ABS-CBN such as ‘Willingly Yours’, ‘Simpleng Hiling’ and ‘Nagmamahal Kapamilya’, the introduction and subsequent success of ‘Failon Ngayon’ saw its viewership numbers gradually decline. Now GMA management can only hope that ‘Wish Ko Lang’ will fare much better against ‘Ipaglaban Mo’.

In all, it was another tweak to GMA’s rather feeble lineup of weekend programs. But it gets even more interesting come this weekend.