Be My Lady to Bring Kilig Back to Pre-Noontime

Lighter stories before noontime have become the norm for ABS-CBN in the last four years.

This Monday will be no exception, as the Kapamilya network premieres its newest series ‘Be My Lady’. Starring real-life couple Erich Gonzales and Daniel Matsunaga, ‘Be My Lady”s story will focus on the duo’s attempts to overcome their cultural differences in order to forge a life-long relationship.

In ‘Be My Lady’, Erich is Pinang, a simple and conservative Filipina. Her mother, played by Janice de Belen, worked in Singapore as an OFW in hopes of reclaiming the land that her husband (Al Tantay) once owned, but things went downhill for the family when she got deported due to an unfortunate incident.

Daniel, on the other hand, is Phil, an independent and liberal Brazilian-Japanese bachelor who lived with his mother (Priscilla Meirelles) in Singapore. Visiting the Philippines in order to attend the wedding of one of his best friends, he then found himself searching for his childhood friend, which also led him to an unlikely first meeting with Pinang.

The extended cast of ‘Be My Lady’ also includes Yayo Aguila, Almira Muhlach, Yves Flores, Karen Dematera, MJ Cayabyab, RK Bagatsing, Devon Seron, Karen Reyes, Mike Lloren, Ana Abad Santos, Perry Escano, Marife Necesito, and comedy trio No Direction. It is directed by Theodore Boborol and produced by Ruel Bayani.

‘Be My Lady’ will replace ‘Ningning’, whose finale takes place this Friday, January 15. While ‘Ningning’ has rated very well in its timeslot, it is clear that viewers badly missed the late-morning ‘kilig’ that once helped ‘Be Careful with My Heart’ become a hugely successful series.

That said, with all the hype surrounding ‘Be My Lady’, expect big things from the show as it gets underway. For Erich Gonzales and Daniel Matsunaga, this series should help bring out their best, both on-screen and off.

‘Be My Lady’ premieres this Monday at 11:30 a.m. on ABS-CBN.

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GMA’s Post-StarStruck Response is a Koreanovela, Plus No Miss World Telecast

A new Koreanovela will kick things off for GMA Telebabad.

Tonight will be the premiere of ‘The Producers’, a recently-aired Korean drama series starring Kim Soo-hyun, Cha Tae-hyun, Gong Hyo-jin and IU. The series is produced by the same group who created another hit Korean drama in ‘My Love from the Star’.

This brings the total number of current Asianovelas on GMA to three. Two of them (‘Someone Like You’, ‘Ice Adonis’) form part of the network’s Heart of Asia Mornings block.

Unfortunately for GMA, ‘The Producers’ will be up against ‘Pasion de Amor’, the ABS-CBN teleserye that continues to heat up the ratings with each intense scene. Combined with waning interest in the Koreanovela genre, and a programming mismatch ensues between the two shows.

That said, it will be a very tough challenge for GMA and ‘The Producers’ to rekindle the once-popular Koreanovela genre. Whether or not they will accomplish that remains to be seen.

‘The Producers’ airs weeknights at 5:50 p.m., before ’24 Oras’ on GMA Telebabad.

No Televised Broadcast of Miss World

The 2015 Miss World was held last Saturday, with Spain’s Mireia Lalaguna winning the crown. The Philippines’ Miss World representative, Hillarie Parungao, finished in the top ten.

Unfortunately, despite the presence of ‘MariMar’ star and 2013 winner Megan Young as one of the pageant’s hosts, this year’s Miss World was not televised at all in the Philippines. The reason: GMA’s concurrent live broadcast of ‘StarStruck: The Final Judgment’, won by Migo Adecer and Klea Pineda.

There was also no delayed broadcast of the said pageant the following day, as GMA realized it was not worth it given the country’s Miss World bet only made the top ten. News reports were also absent on GMA News programs within days of the event; the only Miss World-related report is of Parungao’s return to the country.

With GMA unable to air this year’s Miss World (even though they aired the Miss World Philippines pageant two months earlier), it may be a better idea for the organizers to find a new network for subsequent Miss World and Miss World Philippines pageants. GMA’s non-commitment to a Miss World broadcast is not a good sign for their relationship, and worse, a black eye for the embattled network.

That said, next year’s Miss World will provide a lot of questions to prospective coverors. Will there ever be another broadcast of Miss World in the Philippines? Only time will tell.

Postscript: Speaking of beauty pageants, congratulations to Pia Wurtzbach for winning the 2015 Miss Universe pageant, albeit with the help of a premature announcement of Miss Colombia’s victory by host Steve Harvey. The victory of the Philippines’ Wurtzbach should help spike the event’s ratings on ABS-CBN this week. 

As ‘TV Patrol’ turns 27

This week marks the 28th anniversary of TV Patrol. Here’s a history lesson about the longest-running Filipino-language newscast on television, as published during the week of the program’s 27th anniversary.

PinoyJourn: Stories behind the Stories

By Andrew Jonathan S. Bagaoisan

TV Patrol’s logos from 1987 to 2014

For most Filipinos, it is TV Patrol that has been their window to recent history for the longest time.

It has chronicled the ups and downs of the Fifth Republic, some of them coinciding with its own. Its headlines have shown scandals in the halls of power and brawls in obscure barangay corners. And its subjects have ranged from the ordinary to the influential.

The past 12 months were no exception to big news.

TV Patrol’s crews, reporters, and anchors took their cameras to the farthest and the worst, to the best and the most awe-striking. They were at the fringes of two border disputes and at the crossfire of a downtown skirmish. They uncovered schemes of greed and deceit and covered the outrage that followed.

They saw white smoke signal change in a centuries’ old institution, welcomed…

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In 100 Words: No Euroleague on BTV, Again

The Euroleague is arguably the second most widely recognized basketball league in the world, next to the NBA. But its coverage in the Philippines has been rather patchy, at best.

In the past, Basketball TV covered Euroleague matches from the eliminations all the way to the finals. But there have been two instances where BTV did not air any Euroleague games.

In the 2009-10 season, the now-defunct ESPN Star Sports group covered the Euroleague games. This season, the Euroleague was shut out of any sports-centric cable network in the country, presumably due to its lack of popularity among basketball aficionados in the country.

Nobody knows when will Euroleague basketball return to Philippine shores, but for a league so highly regarded, they surely deserve some respect, even from the PBA and Philippine basketball.

‘The Amazing Race’ U.S. Returns to the Philippines

Fort Santiago (incorrectly referred to in the show as ‘Fort San Diego’) was the final pit stop of ‘The Amazing Race”s 25th season. However, no eliminations occurred and the teams were asked to continue racing. (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Just two weeks ago, ‘The Amazing Race Philippines’ officially wrapped up its second season. A short time earlier, its American counterpart aired the first of two episodes shot in the Philippines during the spring.

This marked the first time since Season 5 (2004) that ‘The Amazing Race’ visited the Philippines. This time around, however, the teams were further immersed into Filipino culture, featuring tasks that involve building a tricycle, racing a pedicab, and tilling a rice field for a hidden clue with an ox (the latter was a ‘switchback’ task from Season 5).

At the end of last Friday’s (U.S. time) episode, four teams still remain. Unlike before where only three teams raced in the final leg, host Phil Keoghan decided that there would be no elimination, and instead, the remaining four teams would continue racing to Los Angeles, with one of them getting the boot midway through the season finale.

The four teams left are (by order of arrival):

1. Brooke & Robbie (#TheWrestlers)

2. Adam & Bethany (#SoulSurfers)

3. Misti & Jim (#TheDentists)

4. Amy & Maya (#SweetScientists)

Sadly, though, only cable subscribers were able to watch the Philippine leg of ‘The Amazing Race”s 25th season through AXN. In the past, Studio 23 (now ABS-CBN Sports+Action) aired ‘The Amazing Race’ from its maiden season, only to stop prior to its transition to the ‘IbaKabarkada’ era.

Still, the two episodes shot in the Philippines were definitely worth watching. From the teams’ reactions to the country’s standard of living to the exhausting Roadblock in the streets of Divisoria, the return of ‘The Amazing Race’ to Philippine shores was definitely a memorable one.

*The 25th season finale of ‘The Amazing Race’ will be aired Saturday, December 20, at 8:10 p.m., on AXN Philippines. Contact your local cable operator for details.

Thoughts on the NCAA All-Star Game

 

Without star foreigners such as San Beda’s Ola Adeogun, the NCAA All-Star Game is definitely not as exciting and as compelling to watch. (Photo credit: NCAA.org.ph)

On its 90th season, the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the Philippines makes its biggest surprise yet.

This Saturday, the NCAA will hold its first-ever All-Star Game, featuring the league’s key players in the seniors basketball tournament. The event, along with the Miss NCAA, Three-Point Shootout and Slam Dunk Contests, will be held at the FilOil Flying V Arena (or San Juan Arena according to Sports5 announcers) beginning at 2:30 p.m. on TV5 and AksyonTV.

Proceeds for the NCAA All-Star Game will go for the benefit of Hospicio de San Jose, the NCAA personnel assistance fund, and the NCAA players in the national team.

Controversy surrounded the NCAA All-Star Game in the days leading up to the event. Upon the release of the rosters for both the East and West teams, only the local players were included, leaving foreign players such as Ola Adeogun, Cedric Noube Happi and Dioncee Holts out of the game. Adeogun even went as far as tweeting that they should hold their own All-Star Game in the Manila Zoo.

Regarding the snub, NCAA Management Committee (ManCom) chairman Paul Supan explained that it was the coaches who were asked to recommend players, and that they should select three from each school to ensure a fair representation. In another interview, Supan and ManCom member Peter Cayco added that the exclusion of foreigners is intended to ensure a more balanced and competitive matchup.

There is a reason why it was called an ‘All-Star Game’: it was designed to attract the most productive, talented and attractive stars in the game, And with the exclusion of star foreigners like Adeogun and Noube Happi, as well as more productive players like Jonathan Grey, there is definitely nothing to excite about the NCAA All-Star Game.

There is also another concern surrounding the All-Star Game: the attendance. There is a reason why the NCAA decided to hold the event at the smaller FilOil Flying V Arena: to avoid a repeat of last March’s poorly-attended NCAA Cheerleading Competition at the Mall of Asia Arena.

But even with a smaller venue, filling it to capacity remains a daunting task to the league, considering the lack of star power. Like last March’s Cheerleading Competition, the lack of promotion by Sports5 is giving the NCAA a lot of trouble, and it will be doubtful if the All-Star Game will be filled to capacity at all.

And finally, as mentioned, only the seniors basketball players were included to participate in the All-Star Game. The NCAA is a collegiate league with a variety of other sports, but with only seniors basketball being represented in this event, what is the point of holding the All-Star Game when only this discipline was emphasized?

Worse, the All-Star Game had nothing to do with the general championship race, so it is expected that it will only be a fun track meet rather than an important date in the schedule.

That said, this NCAA All-Star Game, despite its devotion to a good cause, is just a mere a distraction to a long NCAA basketball season. And unfortunately, this is not worth watching.