Heart of Asia, Astig Authority Reduced As Part of GMA’s New Programming Lineup

‘Wowowin”s new timeslot and extended running is part of another revamp of GMA’s lineup. (Logo courtesy of Wil Productions Inc., GMA Network)

Yesterday marked yet another change in GMA’s programming.

Once again, the Kapuso network brought back ‘Kapuso Movie Festival’ (airing weekdays at 9:00 a.m.) in hopes of competing with ABS-CBN’s ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’. To accommodate the said movie block, the duration of the Astig Authority and Heart of Asia Mornings blocks were reduced to 90 and 60 minutes respectively.

The impressive ratings of ‘Wowowin’, though still not enough to beat ‘Pasion de Amor’ nationally, also led to a timeslot change. As a result, ‘Wowowin”s start time was pushed to 5:00 p.m., and its running time was extended for another 30 minutes; this enabled the show to compete against ‘Kapamilya Deal or No Deal’ as well.

Consequentially, the extension of ‘Wowowin’ likewise led to a timeslot change for the programs that once occupied the 5:00 p.m. slot. In what has become a ‘you lead and I follow’ scenario, GMA moved its News and Public Affairs block back to late nights, two months after ABS-CBN’s own News and Current Affairs block returned to the said timeslot.

Unlike ABS-CBN’s current affairs block, however, GMA’s so-called ‘Pampamulat sa Gabi’ block only airs from Mondays to Thursdays (thank you ‘Bubble Gang’), and will comprise of these programs. They are ‘Front Row’ (Mondays), ‘Alisto’ (Tuesdays), ‘Tunay na Buhay’ (Wednesdays), and ‘Reporters’ Notebook’ (Thursdays).

Speaking of Mondays to Thursdays, the Heart of Asia Mornings block (‘You’re the Best’, ‘Carmina’) was also reduced to make way for a pair of refugees from the 5:00 p.m. slot. Both ‘Dream Home’ (formerly ‘Power House’) and ‘Love Hotline’ were moved to Friday mornings, and will take over the timeslot of the former block on that day.

By all indications, this is another desperate attempt by GMA to keep up with rival ABS-CBN. Considering that the latter network continues to dominate virtually every timeslot in the ratings, GMA’s answers don’t seem to matter at this point.

Now they need to be patient with this new approach. Otherwise another revamp is in store for the Kapuso network.

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GMA Tries Something New with Dear Uge

A comedy version of ‘Magpakailanman’ and ‘Maalaala Mo Kaya’ is about to unfold.

On Sunday, GMA will launch ‘Dear Uge’, said to be the first-ever comedy anthology series on Philippine television. The program will be hosted by Eugene Domingo, with Divine Grace Aucina as her sidekick.

In ‘Dear Uge’, Eugene will play the role of Urbana Genoveva Esperanza (or Uge), a sari-sari store owner and host and narrator of her own web show, also titled ‘Dear Uge’. Her character is an obvious parody of both Mel Tiangco and Charo Santos-Concio, hosts of ‘Magpakailanman’ and ‘Maalaala Mo Kaya’ respectively.

Aside from hosting the program, Eugene will also make cameo appearances in each episode. The stories featured on ‘Dear Uge’ will be different every week, but the premise of making people laugh will always be a major emphasis.

‘Dear Uge’ will take over the timeslot of ‘Wowowin’ (with ‘GMA Blockbusters’ taking over on an interim basis), who recently found a new home on weeknights. Considering how unpredictable the early Sunday afternoon slots are of late, ‘Dear Uge’ should expect a tough challenge early on.

Still, curiosity over the program’s new approach should help its viewership. That said, ‘Dear Uge’ is a must-watch for those who want something different and funny for a change.

‘Dear Uge’ airs every Sunday after ‘Sunday PinaSaya’ on GMA.

Breaking News: Speaking of ‘Wowowin’, GMA has announced that due to insistent public demand, the show will now air at 5:00 p.m., thus adding 30 minutes to its airtime. The News and Public Affairs block (‘Alisto’, ‘Tunay na Buhay’, ‘Power House’, ‘Reporters’ Notebook’ and ‘Love Hotline’) will likely be moved after ‘Saksi’.

GMA Afternoon Prime Revamps Schedule

The newly-premiered GMA series ‘Destiny Rose’ is one of three teleseryes whose running times were extended as part of Afternoon Prime’s revamped schedule. (Logo courtesy of GMA Network/Destiny Rose Official Facebook)

GMA’s Afternoon Prime block is now down to four programs.

In an attempt to curb the declining ratings of the block, GMA decided to shrink the amount of programs that Afternoon Prime normally airs. The victim of this revamp is the Koreanovelas; following the conclusion of ‘Birth of a Beauty’, GMA decided not to air a Koreanovela in the afternoon, leaving Afternoon Prime with just four programs.

The four programs are:

• The Half-Sisters
• Buena Familia
• Destiny Rose (new show)
• News and Public Affairs block (Alisto, Tunay na Buhay, Power House, Reporters’ Notebook, Love Hotline)

This means that GMA will now extend the running times of the three teleseryes by 5-10 minutes. So expect ‘The Half-Sisters’, ‘Buena Familia’ and newcomer ‘Destiny Rose’ to air for nearly an hour each, which is uncharacteristic for a teleserye.

As for the News and Public Affairs block, the new schedule puts them out of position. Instead of going head-to-head with their ABS-CBN counterparts, they will now go up against ‘Kapamilya: Deal or No Deal’, which is a definite mismatch based on the latter’s recent string of ratings success.

Overall, this is not a good scheduling idea for GMA in the long run. Since the three teleseryes run for nearly an hour, there will be issues of more frequent commercial breaks and unexpected cliffhangers, something that would make these teleseryes tough and mentally draining to watch even for the more die-hard viewers.

Not even the viewership of ‘Eat Bulaga’ will help either. Despite the show’s recent success with the AlDub phenomenon, the momentum built up during ‘Eat Bulaga’ gradually falls after the show ends, due to various factors.

That said, the reduction of the number of programs in the afternoon is of no use for GMA. Dragging these programs for an extended period may mean disaster for this once-formidable programming block.

Now it’s up to ABS-CBN’s Kapamilya Gold to take advantage. GMA’s loss is now ABS-CBN’s gain.