In 100 Words: Sarap, ‘Di ba?

‘Sarap Diva’ has been transformed.

In the wake of Regine Velasquez’s move to ABS-CBN this past week, her former show immediately went to work and rebranded itself into ‘Sarap, ‘Di ba?’ effective last Saturday. Replacing Regine as the show’s host is the family trio of Carmina Villaroel and twin children Mavy and Cassy Legaspi.

For all intents and purposes, ‘Sarap, ‘Di ba?’ is considered a ‘new’ show that is different in tone from its successor. While the cooking portion of the show remains, Carmina, Mavy and Cassy now focus on topics regarding family and individual lifestyles.

So far, ‘Sarap, ‘Di ba?’ has been well-received by viewers. But it remains to be seen if it will be good enough to last as long as its predecessor did.

The Inevitable: Moving to ABS-CBN Might Rejuvenate Regine Velasquez’s Career

From Kapuso… to Kapamilya?

The future of Regine Velasquez’s career has been hanging in the balance over the past month. As Regine’s contract with GMA is set to expire, there were reports of her moving to ABS-CBN to join her husband Ogie Alcasid.

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Those rumors escalated further when Regine unexpectedly showed up at the ABS-CBN Ball Saturday night despite making an appearance on ‘The Clash’ for its final weekend (Saturday’s episode was pre-taped while Sunday’s episode was aired live). With all things considered, is Regine of no use to GMA and would be better off joining ABS-CBN?

First things first, let’s look back at recent history. Back in 2015, Regine was a host and performer on ‘Sunday All-Stars’, but low ratings and changing timeslots forced GMA to give up the show and allow APT Entertainment to take over the Sunday noontime slot with ‘Sunday PinaSaya’.

Regine did not join ‘Sunday PinaSaya’ because of a perceived ‘lack of familiarity’ and from that point on her career with GMA stalled. Her two acting projects in ‘Poor Señorita’ and ‘Mulawin vs. Ravena’ failed to beat Coco Martin”s long-running series ‘Ang Probinsyano’, while a primetime variety show in ‘Full House Tonight’ ran for only four months.

While Regine remained visible as an on-air talent via the cooking show ‘Sarap Diva’, it was clear that her days with GMA are being numbered. The fact is, Regine is no longer that relevant as a Kapuso star with all those recent projects that did not work out.

It only got worse when her one-time co-performers on ‘SOP’ (namely Ogie Alcasid, Jaya, Kyla, Jay-R and Janno Gibbs) found a new outlet in former rival ‘ASAP’. With GMA lacking any capable recording artists to keep up with ABS-CBN’s, Regine finds herself helpless to cope with the dearth in talent.

Which is why moving to ABS-CBN might help rejuvenate her career. Not only will she expected to make appearances with her former ‘SOP’ brethren on ‘ASAP’, she will also have an opportunity to become a judge in one of ABS-CBN’s upcoming talent shows (rumor has it that she might join ‘The Voice’ as a judge).

More importantly, Regine’s love for performing will be rekindled within Kapamilya walls, especially during ‘ASAP’. That alone may be a long shot given the abundance of performers on ABS-CBN, but given Regine’s track record that may be too good to pass up.

Still, it will be up to Regine Velasquez to decide the next phase of her career. Let’s just hope that she chooses something that will be best for her.

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.

Poor Señorita’s Awful Ending

‘Poor Señorita’ will officially close its book this Friday. The series was doomed from the start, getting blown out on a regular basis by ABS-CBN’s ‘Ang Probinsyano’. (Publicity photo courtesy of GMA Network)

Poor Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, literally.

It has been a difficult and painful four months for Asia’s Songbird. Once again, she tried to once again convince people that she is more than just an accomplished singer, and true enough, she did her best as an actress, but not in a way that would result into high ratings.

Which is exactly what happened to ‘Poor Señorita’. From the moment it premiered on March 28, it was clear that it would live up to its ‘poor’ reputation, both literally and figuratively.

The series’ national ratings overall were a wreck, as it got blown out on a regular basis by a cop-playing Coco Martin, sometimes by margins of over 30%. ‘Ang Probinsyano”s constantly high ratings proved to be a huge burden for Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, and ‘Poor Señorita’ soon became a target of ridicule by many tabloids.

To make matters worse, GMA decided not to actively promote ‘Poor Señorita’ from the beginning of April onwards, resulting in the lack of any episode teasers. The fact that GMA gave up quickly on ‘Poor Señorita’ was reflected on its atrocious performance.

That said, GMA should feel relieved now that ‘Poor Señorita”s uninspiring 79-episode run will come to an end this Friday. It was obvious from the start that they were unable to endure the sight of Regine Velasquez-Alcasid playing a riches-to-rags role in this series.

Perhaps GMA should have not thrown the word ‘actress’ in Regine Velasquez-Alcasid’s repertoire. After all, she is known better as a singer, not an actress.

So what’s next for Regine Velasquez-Alcasid? Following the conclusion of ‘Poor Señorita’, she will continue to host her Saturday morning cooking show ‘Sarap Diva’, but other than that, parental commitments with her son Nathan will be her priority for now.

As for ‘Poor Señorita’, it will be all over come this Friday. It was a hell of a ride, but sadly, it was a wrecked one to say the least.