The Unexpected and Quiet Cancellation of Sabado-Badoo

‘Sabado-Badoo’ last aired on July 25, with GMA quietly pulling out the show from its lineup. (Photo credit: GMA Network)

It was a cancellation that no one saw coming.

The GMA comedy program ‘Sabado-Badoo’ was last seen on July 25. The show, hosted by Sef Cadayona and Betong Sumaya, featured a wide variety of videos that were variously presented in a humorous manner; most of which contained scenes from classic GMA shows.

When it premiered last March 14, ‘Sabado-Badoo’ was supposed to be GMA’s answer to ABS-CBN’s ‘Mga Kwento ni Marc Logan’. But it failed to even make a dent in the national ratings, as viewers find Marc Logan’s presentation style to be even funnier and quirkier than Sef and Betong’s.

‘Sabado-Badoo”s most recent episode came on July 25. After that, however, no further episodes were aired, and instead, ‘Pepito Manaloto: Ang Tunay na Kwento’ was moved to an earlier timeslot.

GMA did not officially announce the cancellation; instead they quietly pulled out ‘Sabado-Badoo’ from its Sabado Star Power lineup. Meanwhile, Sef was given a lead role in ‘Juan Tamad’, which began airing on August 23 (this should also explain why Sef left ‘Vampire ang Daddy Ko’ in order to concentrate on this project).

‘Sabado-Badoo’ could have been a good show had GMA chose a more experienced presenter. Too bad they don’t have a match for humor-oriented journalist Marc Logan, who is a regular on TV Patrol’s closing segments and a host on DZMM’s ‘Sakto’ with Amy Perez.

It was an unfortunate ending to a promising show. Let’s just hope that GMA learns from this latest ordeal.

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A New Opponent for Marc Logan on GMA

ABS-CBN News’ resident humorist Marc Logan has a new rival coming up.

In response to Logan’s popular blooper show ‘Mga Kwento ni Marc Logan’, GMA announced a new show with a similar premise. Titled ‘Sabado-Badoo’, the upcoming comedy show will be hosted by Sef Cadayona and Betong Sumaya, and is scheduled to air beginning this Saturday.

‘Sabado-Badoo’ will showcase a wide variety of videos that are presented in a humorous manner. These will be shown in a variety of ways, from countdowns to mashups of other videos.

Unlike ‘Mga Kwento ni Marc Logan’, which occasionally presents straight-up blooper reels of ABS-CBN programs and Star Cinema films, ‘Sabado-Badoo’ is expected to feature more serious takes from classic GMA programs. It is up to Sef and Betong to make a humorous comment with regards to the scenes in question.

This is not the first time that GMA produced a blooper-oriented comedy program. The popular mid-2000s program ‘Bitoy’s Funniest Videos’, hosted by Michael V., featured a similar formula and scope as ‘Sabado-Badoo’.

Unlike ‘BFV’, however, a more daunting test awaits ‘Sabado-Badoo’. Since premiering in August of last year, ‘Mga Kwento ni Marc Logan’ consistently ranks among the top-rated programs in the country, and several of its blooper reels (e.g. ‘Crazy Beautiful You’) have trended on Twitter.

That said, Marc Logan’s wit and experience in the industry will be a major challenge to the young duo of Sef Cadayona and Betong Sumaya. Although the two have blossomed individually in programs such as the long-running gag show ‘Bubble Gang’, presenting a program of this magnitude is virtually new territory for them.

Still, GMA is confident that Sef and Betong will deliver their chops well on ‘Sabado-Badoo’. After all, a stint in hosting will boost their resumes in the industry.

‘Sabado-Badoo’ premieres this Saturday after ’24 Oras Weekend’ on GMA’s Sabado Star Power.

Marian, Magpakailanman Exchange Timeslots

GMA’s Sabado Star Power will have a minor makeover this Saturday.

In response to the entry of ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ to ABS-CBN’s strong Saturday night lineup, GMA decided to switch the timeslots of both ‘Marian’ and ‘Magpakailanman’. As a result, the latter will now be seen ahead of the former, in between ‘Pepito Manaloto: Ang Tunay na Kwento’ and ‘Celebrity Bluff’.

For GMA, it was just another attempt to curb the increasing popularity of ‘The Voice of the Philippines’. So far, ratings for the latter have been very strong, as they average 27% or better according to Kantar.

It can be recalled that GMA was forced to change its weekend lineup several times during the run of TVPH’s sister show ‘The Voice Kids’. As it turned out, those tweaks did not even result in a victory for the struggling network in Timog.

So what are the implications of GMA’s most recent scheduling change?

With the move to a later timeslot, ‘Marian’ will be pitted against ‘The Voice of the Philippines’, which is an obvious mismatch. Considering that the dance show never even lit up the stat sheet against TVPH’s sister show ‘The Voice Kids’ a few months earlier, it will even harder for Marian Rivera’s dancing skills to outwit the singers of Team Sarah, Team Lea, Team Bamboo and Team apl.

As for ‘Magpakailanman’, they will resume their rivalry against ‘Maalaala Mo Kaya’, albeit at an earlier timeslot. However, the tweak will do little good for the former, as the latter’s recent dominance in their head-to-head matchup will continue.

Overall, this latest change made by GMA will not change the fact that they are on the decline. While ABS-CBN will continue to put up superior projects with impressive results, the same cannot be said for its rival within Quezon City’s South Triangle, whose best days are clearly behind them.

Sabado Star Power may have a new look come this Saturday, but don’t expect better results from GMA’s Saturday night lineup.