Rudely Interrupted: T5N Does a Heidi Anew for the NFL and U.S. NCAA

Remember the infamous ‘Heidi Game’ in American football?

Back on November 17, 1968, an American Football League (AFL) game between the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders was rudely cut on NBC during the fourth quarter in order to air the program ‘Heidi’ on time. The incident caused viewers to miss out on the game’s final minutes, which saw the Jets kick a field goal only to see Oakland win the game on two touchdowns.

This incident led to the NFL requiring its television partners to air the games in its entirety. Unfortunately, one Filipino television network appears to ignore this rule.

In 2014, TV5 gave NCAA fans no favors when it interrupted two of its live games in favor of news coverage. The first instance, Lyceum vs. Mapua, was cut short in favor of then-President Noynoy Aquino’s impromptu speech, while the second instance, EAC vs. Mapua, featured a bench-clearing brawl and was consequently cut in favor of ‘Aksyon Prime’.

As a result, the NCAA decided not to re-sign with TV5 and chose ABS-CBN Sports as its broadcast partner instead. But this is not the last time The 5 Network became embroiled in such controversy.

September’s NFL Kickoff Game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons was delayed by over an hour due to inclement weather. Consequently, T5N did another ‘Heidi’ and started ‘Aksyon sa Tanghali’ on time, although they still inserted the live feed of the NFL game during the Raffy Tulfo in Action segment.

T5N also did the same thing Wednesday afternoon when they aired a U.S. NCAA men’s basketball game between Duke and Kentucky. While they still complied in both of these cases, the fact that they pushed through with ‘Aksyon sa Tanghali’ didn’t sit well with some viewers.

Then again, neither the NFL nor the U.S. NCAA basketball were popular with Filipino sports fans. At this point, ESPN5 is questioning the viability of both sports, especially when the country’s pastimes now are local basketball, volleyball and to a lesser extent soccer.

Also, there is a concern regarding T5N’s insistence on a noontime newscast at the expense of live sports. For all intents and purposes, ‘Aksyon sa Tanghali’ is now more of a ‘Wanted sa Radyo’ spinoff, with less emphasis on news and more on citizen complaints.

If Chot Reyes were to be approached, he might as well convince Luchi Cruz-Valdes to cancel ‘Aksyon sa Tanghali’ and proceed with a taped-as-live TV revival of ‘Wanted’. Because who needs a noontime newscast anyway when the news gets thrown out the window.

Either way the never-ending problems within T5N are once again prevalent. Let’s face it, with such an incompetent personnel it’s no wonder they have a disorganized schedule.

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Thoughts on ABS-CBN and GMA’s Need for Simpler On-Screen Logos

Identifying a particular station through an on-screen graphic has been common practice around the world.

Many of the world’s famous television stations feature iconic logos that has stood the test of time. In the United States, there is the NBC ‘peacock’ and the CBS ‘eye’ logo, in Japan NHK has the ‘three eggs’ logo, and in the United Kingdom there is the BBC ‘three squares’ logo.

In the case of NBC’s ‘peacock’ and CBS’ ‘eye’, the logos are so easily identifiable that there is no need to add the name of the network within it. But the same cannot be said for the Philippines’ two top television stations; namely ABS-CBN and GMA.

ABS-CBN is forever identified by the three RGB (red, green and blue) circles and a black bar that masquerades as an antenna. The iconic logo, with a few minor changes, has been in place since 1967.

The network began to implement this logo as a digital on-screen graphic around the mid-1990s. With the exception of the 50th anniversary logo in 2003, ABS-CBN has kept this logo in place ever since.

Since 2011, however, ABS-CBN utilizes the full primary logo complete with the network’s name below the logo on its programs. It is hard to see from a distance, but when carefully magnified, the name of the network can be spotted.

Meanwhile, GMA’s ‘rainbow heart’ logo was first used in 2002, replacing the ‘Rainbow Satellite’ logo that had been in place since 1992. Last week, GMA unveiled its 2018 station ID, but the ‘rainbow heart’ logo, for whatever reason, was kept intact with only a few alterations.

Much like ABS-CBN, GMA started using its logo as an on-screen graphic during the mid-1990s. Yet despite their penchant for celebrating anniversaries every June, GMA has not used a special anniversary logo as an on-screen graphic; in fact, during its 50th anniversary in 2000, GMA kept the ‘Rainbow Satellite’ logo despite celebrating such an occasion.

So what if ABS-CBN and GMA only use the respective ‘three circles and a bar’ and the ‘rainbow heart’ instead of the full logo on its on-screen graphics? Will viewers be able to easily identify which network they are watching?

The answer is a definite yes. In many ways, ABS-CBN’s ‘three circles and a bar’ and GMA’s ‘rainbow heart’ are both famous and legendary, and can stand out on its own without the need of a network name.

Still, it will be up to the braintrust of both networks to see if a simpler on-screen graphic can be helpful to the audience and easier to the eyes. For now, though, the focus is on the preparation for the digital age, but once the conversion is complete, perhaps this topic should be revisited soon.

Full House Tonight: A Poor Man’s Version of Sunday PinaSaya

Seems like GMA is producing its own ‘Sunday PinaSaya’ for Saturday nights.

Hoping to make good use of their otherwise lethargic Saturday primetime lineup, GMA decided to go all out and unveil a new comedy-musical variety show. The show is called ‘Full House Tonight’, and its lead host is none other than Regine Velasquez-Alcasid.

Yes, Regine is still with Channel 7 (she also hosts ‘Sarap Diva’ on the same channel) even as her husband Ogie Alcasid moved over to archrival ABS-CBN in order to become a judge on ‘It’s Showtime’ and ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids’. Talk about a divorce of the professional kind.

Anyway, ‘Full House Tonight’ will feature a mix of sketches, improvisational comedy, parody and stand-up comedy with a hint of stage musical performances thrown in for good measure. Of course, there will be some special guests to spice up the show.

In essence, ‘Full House Tonight’ is ‘Sunday PinaSaya’ on a Saturday night, or perhaps more like a Filipino working man’s version of NBC’s ‘Saturday Night Live’. At worst it could be another ‘Comedy Central Market’ or ‘Comedy Bar’.

‘Full House Tonight’ will also feature Solenn Heussaff, Bianca Umali, Miguel Tanfelix and Joross Gamboa as Regine’s co-hosts. They will be joined by comedians Philip Lazaro, Kim Idol, Terry Gian, Sarah Brakensiek, Tammy Brown, and Nar Cabico.

A daunting task lies ahead for ‘Full House Tonight’ as they begin their run this Saturday. The show will premiere against ‘Pinoy Big Brother: Lucky 7’, and based on the latter’s strong ratings as it nears its conclusion, there is no doubt that ‘Full House Tonight’ will have its hands full in trying to win this battle.

It will be interesting to see how ‘Full House Tonight’ can reinvigorate GMA’s Sabado Star Power primetime. The show may have an interesting and novel format, but it will be up to the viewers to judge.

‘Full House Tonight’ airs every Saturday night after ‘Magpakailanman’ on GMA.

SNL Outdated on Jack TV

In the United States, ‘Saturday Night Live’ has become the ‘Banana Sundae’ of the American people.

After all, the NBC-produced comedy variety show aired 41 seasons since it first started in 1975. Today, ‘Saturday Night Live’ is on its 42nd season and its skits are as funny as ever.

In the Philippines, ‘Saturday Night Live’ is currently aired on Jack TV. But unlike a majority of Jack TV’s shows, ‘Saturday Night Live’ is one of a select few that do not air either via satellite, within hours, or within a week of original U.S. telecast.

In fact, while the show is on its 42nd season in the U.S., Jack TV is still airing the previous season’s set of episodes. Their reasoning is unclear, but due to the Philippines’ strict broadcast regulations, it is likely that Jack TV opted not to air the current season due to fears of profanity and the possible presence of offensive skits.

Sadly, that one-season delay meant that Jack TV will have to wait a year before they can air parodies of the just-concluded 2016 U.S. presidential election. It’s too bad, since the ‘Saturday Night Live’ skits involving eventual winner Donald Trump (portrayed by Alec Baldwin) and Hillary Clinton (portrayed by Kate McKinnon) were trending in various news outlets.

Quite frankly, viewers were missing out on the fun. And it’s not a good thing, considering the recent trend of various cable networks that air new episodes of popular imported shows.

To make matters worse, the presence of streaming sites made watching ‘Saturday Night Live’ online even easier. That said, with these predicaments, Jack TV is clearly at a disadvantage with the said show.

It remains to be seen if Jack TV can finally catch up to what has been an overly outdated and irrelevant broadcast of ‘Saturday Night Live’. Unless the Solar Entertainment-owned network changes its routine soon, the show could become a footnote to an otherwise impressive programming lineup.

Jack TV, FOX Philippines Battle for Heroes Reborn

A bidding war between Jack TV and FOX Philippines over ‘Heroes Reborn’ has left viewers of both networks perplexed, even though the former will air the series much earlier. (Photo credit: Solar Entertainment/Jack TV Official Facebook)

Two cable channels are now fighting for the right to air ‘Heroes Reborn’.

Jack TV and FOX Philippines have announced that they will both broadcast ‘Heroes Reborn’ via satellite starting tomorrow. The premiere broadcast of ‘Heroes Reborn’ on both channels will be as follows:

• Jack TV – 11:00 a.m.
• FOX Philippines – 11:35 a.m.

‘Heroes Reborn’ is a 13-episode miniseries that picks up from where the original series ‘Heroes’ left off. In the U.S., the mini-series will air on NBC, the same home network as the original.

The original ‘Heroes’ first saw the light of day in the Philippines when it was aired on RPN-9 via its Prime Shift and C/S 9 branding. The series ran from 2006 to 2010 and spanned four seasons.

Just recently, all episodes of the original ‘Heroes’ were re-aired on FOX Philippines, who also intend to air ‘Heroes Reborn’. However, Jack TV, a former sister station of RPN-9, also made their own case on the upcoming miniseries, and as a result, a bidding war began between the two networks.

The program rights battle between Solar Entertainment and FOX International Channels is no longer new. There have been instances of one program being aired on each of the company’s channels; for example, Jack TV and FOX Philippines have the rights to ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Family Guy’, among other programs, with the difference being that the former airs the current season and the latter the previous seasons.

That said, it’s hard to fathom the fact that two cable networks will premiere the same program at almost the same time. It is also confusing, because the viewers will find it hard to choose which channel to watch.

Perhaps the time has come for Solar’s Wilson Tieng and FOX International’s Jude Turcuato to settle this issue once and for all. The similarities between the two outfits should not go a little too far by airing the same program almost simultaneously, so they have to figure out a way to differentiate themselves according to content.

Let’s just hope that they work out a deal in the near future. After all, this is for the best interests of the viewer.