My Super D Premiere Leads to Late-Afternoon Shakeup

It’s going to be an afternoon of change for ABS-CBN next week.

On Monday, April 18, the superhero drama series ‘My Super D’ will officially premiere on the Primetime Bida block. That was the good news.

The bad news, there are no free slots for ‘My Super D’ on the current Primetime Bida lineup. Its intended replacement, ‘FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano’, has not announced a final episode date due to its impressively high ratings, and ABS-CBN has no intention of replacing it at this point.

So where does ‘My Super D’ end up? Luckily, ABS-CBN freed up one slot for the upcoming series when it announced that ‘Game ng Bayan’ will air its final episode tomorrow afternoon.

The sudden cancellation of ‘Game ng Bayan’ came barely a month after it premiered to replace ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’. Clearly, ABS-CBN knew what was coming, as ‘Game ng Bayan’ not only struggled in the ratings, but also became a logistical nightmare for the network.

With ‘Game ng Bayan”s cancellation now official, its old timeslot will now be filled by ‘We Will Survive’, the drama series starring Melai Cantiveros and Pokwang. It will still face GMA’s ‘Wowowin’, but not all areas will receive ‘We Will Survive’, which is a problem for ABS-CBN’s Regional Network Group.

Whether or not ABS-CBN will keep ‘We Will Survive’ on the Primetime Bida slot or move it to Kapamilya Gold remains to be seen. However, they need to find a way to make the broadcasts of ‘We Will Survive’ as simultaneous as possible, so as not to sacrifice its decently good ratings.

Going back to ‘My Super D’, this superhero drama series follows the footsteps of fellow ABS-CBN original creations such as ‘Super Inggo’, ‘My Little Juan’ and ‘Juan Dela Cruz’. With each of these series becoming successful hits for the network, the pressure is now on ‘My Super D’ to deliver similar results.

In ‘My Super D’, Dominic Ochoa will play the titular superhero role as Super D. He will be supported by Marco Masa and Bianca Manalo, who will play the role of son and wife respectively.

Joining them in the series are Atoy Co, Ryan Rems, Myrtle Sarrosa, Jef Gaitan, Louie Domingo, Marina Benipayo, Bong Regala, Jason Francisco, Marvin Agustin, Noni Buencamino and Ronaldo Valdez. It will be directed by Frasco Mortiz and Lino Cayetano.

With these changes now official, the question is, can ‘My Super D’ fly higher than ‘Wowowin’? And can ‘Wowowin’ be able to stave off this new threat?

We’ll find out.

‘My Super D’ premieres this Monday, and airs weeknights before ‘TV Patrol’.

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AlDub Popularity A Big Concern for It’s Showtime

There is no stopping ‘Eat Bulaga”s increasingly popular AlDub tandem.

The accidental duo of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza a.k.a. Yaya Dub has been on a roll in the last month. Ratings for ‘Eat Bulaga’ continued to rise, while netizens took to social media in increasing numbers to show support and concern for the love team.

Speaking of netizens, this was how ‘It’s Showtime’, like most ABS-CBN programs, enjoyed success in the last few years. But the tables now seem to turn against them once AlDub took to the airwaves.

An example of this was during the grand finals of the Funny One segment (won by Ryan Rems Sarita). Held on the same day as ‘Eat Bulaga”s ill-fated wedding between Yaya Dub and Frankie A. Arinoli (played by Jose Manalo), the Funny One finals did earn a spot among Twitter’s trending topics.

There was only one problem: AlDub was one step better on Twitter, both nationally and globally. Even though ‘It’s Showtime’ beat ‘Eat Bulaga’ on Kantar’s ratings last August 8, it was a 2-1 win for the latter, who managed to win AGB Nielsen’s ratings on that day.

This following week, ‘It’s Showtime’ promoted Ryan Rems to a regular host. But not even a promotion and a subsequent segment between Ryan, Vice Ganda and the five other Funny One finalists was good enough for ‘It’s Showtime’, as ratings and social media impact continue to widely favor ‘Eat Bulaga’ and its ‘Kalyeserye’.

As a result, according to various tabloids, the producers of ‘It’s Showtime’ are now forced to convene on a daily basis in an attempt to figure out a way to beat AlDub. They hope that these productive meetings could help ‘It’s Showtime’ regain their winning ways.

Then again, ABS-CBN is no stranger to losing to ‘Eat Bulaga’ whenever the latter responded with a more popular segment. Remember how Laban o Bawi helped ‘Eat Bulaga’ beat ‘Magandang Tanghali, Bayan’ for good?

The Kapamilya network can only hope that ‘It’s Showtime’ won’t become the second coming of MTB. The AlDub phenomenon can be beaten, and now it’s up to ‘It’s Showtime’ to respond with a stronger segment.