The Last Week of Since I Found You

Glad that’s over.

In many ways, ‘Since I Found You”s final week is a merciful end to a series that has never found its footing from day one. And while this romantic comedy series outplayed its competition, it failed to impress viewers left and right.

#SinceIFoundYou the FINALE week❤️ pic.twitter.com/F0q3cBrP7p

— Dreamscape (@DreamscapePH) August 4, 2018

‘Since I Found You’ first set foot on April 16, 2018 replacing the tearjerking family drama ‘The Good Son’. The series marked the first television project for the ‘Kita Kita’ tandem of Empoy Marquez and Alessandra de Rossi, and they were joined by Piolo Pascual, Arci Muñoz and JC de Vera.

While ‘Since I Found You’ came out firing by averaging in the 20s its first two weeks, it failed to sustain its magical start the rest of the way. Since then, ‘Since I Found You’ hovered between 16 and 19%, and ABS-CBN management wondered if a romantic comedy on primetime is indeed a curse.

But despite its unimpressive ratings, ‘Since I Found You”s opponent failed to take advantage of its lukewarm audience reception. Neither ‘The One That Got Away’ nor ‘Inday Will Always Love You’ provided the necessary impact that should have given ‘Since I Found You’ a scare, even though the latter came within 1% in one of its episodes.

Notwithstanding the lack of recognition by the audience, ‘Since I Found You’ was still good enough to produce 85 episodes, which is close to the norm of a typical teleserye. Still, it was clear that viewers yawned over a primetime romantic comedy that felt out of place.

With all due respect to Dreamscape, the producer of ‘Since I Found You’, this is one of the weakest efforts that this entertainment division has ever made. For all its success and appeal (see ‘Asintado’, ‘Ang Probinsyano’), not all of their creations are destined to give audiences something worth watching.

In the end, ‘Since I Found You’ is a waste of time for ABS-CBN. Romantic comedies have no place on Primetime Bida and this series is one of a few mistakes that ABS-CBN ever made.

One can only hope that ‘Since I Found You’ will end with a lasting impression. But for a series that is boring from the start, expect a silent treatment from the audience.

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Since I Found You to Air on Primetime Bida Tonight

It seems like romantic comedies on Primetime Bida are a bad fit.

Over the last two years, the fourth slot of Primetime Bida was dominated by romcoms, yet despite winning in the ratings, viewers were left unsatisfied and bored over the direction ABS-CBN took. One commenter even went so far as labeling these evening romantic comedies as ‘antok-seryes’.

Last year, ABS-CBN went the more serious route and aired ‘The Good Son’ on the fourth slot. Somehow it worked; the series averaged around 20% and viewers were once again invested into its heart-wrenching and heavy storyline, a far cry from the romance and good vibes of its predecessors.

However, ABS-CBN decided to replace ‘The Good Son’ with yet another romantic comedy. Only this time, it will feature an unlikely love team.

Remember the movie ‘Kita Kita’ starring Empoy and Alessandra de Rossi? After the surprising success of the film, ABS-CBN will look to capitalize on the popularity of AlEmpoy by giving them a more prominent role in the upcoming series ‘Since I Found You’.

Also starring Piolo Pascual, JC de Vera and Arci Muñoz, ‘Since I Found You’ features the story of five individuals whose lives soon change in a heartbeat. The lead characters are as follows:

• Nathan (Piolo), an accomplished businessman and boss of a construction company, is charismatic and good-looking yet employees are scared of his strict leadership.
• Dani (Arci), the company practicumer, soon falls in love with Nathan.
• Ginno (JC), Nathan’s assistant, becomes Dani’s own boss, but later on shows some affection for her.
• Janice (Alessandra), Nathan’s secretary, also expresses her feelings towards Nathan.
• James (Empoy), the company driver and comic relief, has a crush on Janice even as she constantly rejects him.

The cast of ‘Since I Found You’ will also include Carmi Martin, John Lapus, Vivoree Esclito, Isabel Oli, Cholo Barretto, and Michael de Mesa. It will be directed by Antoinette Jadaone.

If the performance of more recent primetime romantic comedies is of any indication, then ‘Since I Found You’ is in for a real challenge. Anything more than 20% in the ratings is vindication for the genre, but anything less than that is deemed a failure even if it still wins.

The ball is now on ABS-CBN’s court to prove its doubters wrong. Good luck.

‘Since I Found You’ airs weeknights after ‘Bagani’ on ABS-CBN Primetime Bida.

Ogie Added to Home Sweetie Home, Now Up Against Bitoy Every Saturday

From co-stars to opponents.

Ogie Alcasid and Michael V were the faces of ‘Bubble Gang’ for a majority of the show’s run. Many of ‘Bubble Gang”s most memorable skits were focused on the two men, whether it is Yaya and Angelina, Cheche Bureche, Pickup Lines or the Sexballs boy group.

However, Ogie moved on from ‘Bubble Gang’ and GMA in 2013, and after a three-year spell with the then-TV5, he joined ABS-CBN last year. Yet despite gaining prominence as an occasional performer on ‘ASAP’, as well as composer and judge on several ABS-CBN talent shows, the itch to rekindle those comedic chops soon got the best of him.

Earlier this week, ABS-CBN announced that Ogie Alcasid would be added to the cast of the sitcom ‘Home Sweetie Home’. Ogie’s role in the sitcom will be similar to what Jodi Sta. Maria (‘Sana Dalawa ang Puso’) and Erich Gonzales (‘The Blood Sisters’) do: that of playing at least two different characters.

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Ogie Alcasid also joins the cast of “Home Sweetie Home.” He will play the roles of Ireneo and Irenea.

A post shared by ABS-CBN PR (@abscbnpr) on Mar 13, 2018 at 2:24am PDT

In ‘Home Sweetie Home’, Ogie plays fraternal twins Ireneo (or Neo) and Irenea. Neo is the childhood friend of Julie (Toni Gonzaga) who soon invests on the Walang Kapares pastry shop and restaurant, while Irenea becomes JP’s (Piolo Pascual) love interest.

With the addition of Ogie Alcasid to ‘Home Sweetie Home’, a very interesting subplot develops. ‘Home Sweetie Home”s archrival ‘Pepito Manaloto’ stars Michael V, and his former ‘Bubble Gang’ co-stars in Ogie and Rufa Mae Quinto now find themselves on the opposite side of the fence.

But don’t expect this rivalry to be a fierce one. In fact, off the camera, Ogie, Bitoy and Rufa Mae remain friendly to each other despite their different network allegiances.

Already one of ABS-CBN’s top-rated programs on Saturday nights, ‘Home Sweetie Home’ could only get better with the entry of one of the Philippines’ most versatile talents. Still, it will be interesting to see how Ogie’s addition will spice up this popular sitcom.

Love: GMA and ABS-CBN’s Common Theme for the 2017 Christmas Station ID

‘Just Love Ngayong Christmas’ or ‘Buong Pusong MaGMAhalan’.

ABS-CBN and GMA officially released their 2017 Christmas station IDs earlier this month. GMA unveiled theirs last November 6, while ABS-CBN premiered their version the following week.

This year’s central theme is ‘love’, and based on the titles of the two networks’ Christmas station IDs, one can think that they stole each other’s ideas. Looking at the two videos closely, there are some similarities between them, from the gathering of the artists and news personalities to the ordinary people being visited (or accompanied) by some of the stars.

But that is where the commonalities end. In ABS-CBN’s case, they incorporated the use of social media to convey their message, adding videos and photos shared by netizens of strangers who helped one another in times of distress and hopelessness.

ABS-CBN also spread some joy to the victims of the Marawi crisis through letters and donations sent by the network’s artists. That said, based on the context alone, it is clear that ABS-CBN has the more compelling approach to their Christmas station ID.

As of November 15, GMA’s Christmas station ID racked up nearly 450,000 views on YouTube. Meanwhile, ABS-CBN’s Christmas station ID earned over 690,000 views.

Considering that ABS-CBN’s version only made its debut two days ago, the overwhelmingly quick collection of views in such a short amount of time must have made Kapuso fans jealous. And who can blame them for producing a  Christmas station ID that failed to convey a meaningful message.

Last year, only ABS-CBN was able to produce a Christmas station ID as GMA opted for a series of animated shorts for their Christmas campaign. This year, GMA made a comeback by producing a Christmas station ID of their own, but after they were beaten to the punch anew by ABS-CBN, what chances will they have of making another one?

The following personalities listed here are the performers and writers behind the ABS-CBN and GMA Christmas station IDs.

Buong Pusong MaGMAhalan (a.k.a. MaGMAhalan ng Buong Puso)

Lyricists – BJ Camaya, Rexy Jolly Conopio, Jann Lopez

Composer – Len Calvo

Performers – Alden Richards, Mikee Quintos, Nar Cabico, Maricris Garcia, Aicelle Santos, Julie Anne San Jose

Just Love Ngayong Christmas

Lyricists – Lloyd Oliver Corpuz, Christian Faustino, Robert Labayen

Composer – Jimmy Antiporda

Performers – Sarah Geronimo, Gary Valenciano, Martin Nievera, Piolo Pascual, Toni Gonzaga, Ogie Alcasid, Erik Santos, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Billy Crawford, Yeng Constantino et al

Hawak Kamay Replaces Dyesebel on ABS-CBN

Just as GMA is warming up with their value-oriented teleserye in ‘Nino’, ABS-CBN decides to counter with one of their own.

Enter ‘Hawak Kamay’, the Kapamilya network’s newest teleserye that is set to debut this Monday. The series, starring Piolo Pascual, Iza Calzado, Zaijan Jaranilla and Xyriel Manabat, Andrea Brillantes and Yesha Camille, will replace ‘Dyesebel’.

The Anne Curtis-starred series has been a ratings winner since it debuted on March 17. ‘Dyesebel’ defeated rivals ‘Kambal Sirena’ and ‘Nino’ during its five-month run.

In ‘Hawak Kamay’, Pascual plays a frustrated musician turned guardian named Gin. He was tasked to take care of three orphans named Emong (Jaranilla), Dara (Manabat) and Ningning (Camille), who lost their parents in a car crash.

Throughout the series, Gin would evolve from a reluctant to a responsible guardian who is determined to keep all of his orphans together, despite enduring serious trials. Along the way, Gin’s life would change with the help of Bianca (Calzado), a lawyer who helped arrange the adoption, and her sister Lorrie (Brillantes), who would develop a friendship with the three orphans.

‘Hawak Kamay’ is named after the popular song recorded by Yeng Constantino in the late 2000s. The song was remade by Piolo Pascual specifically for the series.

ABS-CBN is no stranger to producing successful value-oriented series. After all, they produced winners in ‘May Bukas Pa’, ‘100 Days to Heaven’, ‘Budoy’ and Honesto’, all of which earned high ratings and critical acclaim. The success of these teleseryes should add some pressure on ‘Hawak Kamay’, but considering the network has been winning the primetime race of late, it should not pose a problem to the new series.

‘Hawak Kamay’ premieres this July 21, after ‘TV Patrol’. The teaser to the upcoming series can be viewed below.

Notes: From the Tube would like to extend our condolences to the victims of Typhoon Glenda and Malaysian Airlines Flight MH 17. Our thoughts and prayers are for the families of the said victims.

Final Week for Mirabella; Lovers in Paris Airs in the Morning

The final episode of ‘Mirabella’ will air this Friday, July 4.

ABS-CBN’s ‘Mirabella’ enters its final week.

Just as GMA is beginning to warm up with the debut of ‘My BFF’ later today, ABS-CBN has decided to pull the plug on Julia Barretto’s debut teleserye. The final episode of ‘Mirabella’ is scheduled this Friday, July 4.

‘Mirabella’, a series that featured Barretto in two contrasting roles, debuted on March 24. The daughter of Marjorie Barretto played Mira, a woman with a strange wood-like skin, and as the series progressed, she morphed into her beautiful alter ego in Bella.

Both characters would later attract the attention of Jeremy, played by Enrique Gil, who soon became the subject of her affection.

In its four months on air, ‘Mirabella’ was unable to maintain the high level of success attained by its predecessor ‘Annaliza’. Nevertheless, the series averaged better than 20% in the TNS Kantar ratings, which is not bad even though it is the lowest-rated teleserye on the ‘Primetime Bida’ block.

However, in the GMA-dominated AGB Nielsen ratings, ‘Mirabella’ only averaged less than 15%, while rival series ‘My Love from the Star’ was a hit, averaging over 20% per episode.

Even though ‘Mirabella’ was a decent hit by ABS-CBN standards, its uncharacteristically low 20% rating only justifies that the series will be a mere short-term fix. Still, it was a good debut for Julia Barretto, and it will only give her greater amounts of exposure.

‘Mirabella’ will be replaced by ‘Pure Love’ this July 7.

Lovers in Paris Rerun Today

Meanwhile, ‘Lovers in Paris’ will be placed in the mid-morning slot. The re-run of the successful Koreanovela replaces ‘Kapamilya Kiddie Blockbusters’ starting today on the ‘Umaganda’ block.

Because ‘The Heirs’ will continue to air this week, the rivalry between ‘Lovers in Paris’ and ‘Jewel in the Palace’ will not happen anytime soon, if not altogether. Instead, ‘Lovers in Paris’ will be up against ‘Return of the Wife’, the third sequel to GMA’s highly successful ‘Temptation of Wife’, which has been airing since late May.

‘Lovers in Paris’ starred Park Shin-Yang and Kim Jung-Eun as Carlo and Vivian, respectively. The series was a hit when it first aired in 2005, and its success eventually led to an equally successful Filipino adaptation starring KC Concepcion and Piolo Pascual in 2009.