ASEAN Summit Nothing – News5 No Longer Involved (Mostly) in ASEAN Summit

The possible final straw: News5’s lack of involvement in the 2017 ASEAN Summit was an indication that the organization is nearing its end, and the emphasis towards sports only made it worse. (Logo courtesy of ASEAN)

One seemingly moribund news organization is obviously non-committal when it comes to the ASEAN Summit.

Perhaps the biggest political event in the Philippines this year, the 2017 ASEAN Summit had it all. Whether it is the first visit of U.S. President Donald Trump to the country or the countless hours of talks between the ASEAN member states and top nations such as the U.S., China, Canada and Australia, the four-day event was for the most part memorable.

But not all of the Philippines’ top networks were around to cover those whirlwind four days. Just ask News5.

As expected, Luchi Cruz-Valdes and co. made little noise when it comes to coverage of the ASEAN Summit. And despite assigning some of their reporters (if there is any) to cover the said event, not to mention providing some live coverage on social media, the ASEAN Summit was buried in the pecking order in favor of sensational crime stories.

At least sister network Bloomberg Television Philippines did its share. As for the main network, nada.

Blame ESPN5 for all of this. After all, it was Chot Reyes who basically killed ‘Aksyon sa Umaga’, cut ‘Aksyon Tonite’ in half, and turned ‘Aksyon sa Tanghali’ into a ‘Hoy Gising’ wannabe.

They may still have ‘Aksyon Prime’ as their primary news program, but then again it has become a constant distraction to ESPN5’s sports coverage.

I have already written a eulogy that paid tribute to News5 and its ‘proud’ heritage. But as the ASEAN Summit neared, I thought to myself,

“Perhaps there is still a way to save News5 from the verge of collapse'”.

As it turned out, Chot Reyes was no longer committed to help News5 and instead made ESPN5 his ‘baby’. With sports now dominating TV5 and (for the most part) sister network AksyonTV, there is no room for said network to make the ASEAN Summit a must-see event the same way its rivals from Timog, Mother Ignacia, Shaw Boulevard and Visayas Avenue did.

It is safe to say that the time is now to pay our last respects to News5. Chot Reyes can dissolve this ‘pain in his butt’ anytime he wants, because as it stands, this division’s pain and suffering is unbearable and impossible to heal.

Hopefully the remnants of News5 will find a new home soon in the event that it will be dissolved. Good luck.

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I Can Do That: ABS-CBN’s Latest Foreign Franchised Show

Franchised shows and ABS-CBN continue to be inseparable.

This weekend will be no exception, as the Kapamilya network premieres its latest acquisition. Enter ‘I Can Do That’, ABS-CBN’s newest talent reality show where celebrities perform the riskiest and most imaginative of acts in order to entertain the audience.

‘I Can Do That’ originated in Israel under the watchful eyes of Armoza Formats. Twenty countries, including the United States, have put their own spin on the franchise.

The Philippine franchise of ‘I Can Do That’ will be hosted by Robi Domingo and Alex Gonzaga. The show will be headlined by eight actors known as the I CANdidates: Cristine Reyes, Arci Muñoz, Pokwang, Sue Ramirez, JC Santos, Gab Valenciano, Wacky Kiray and Daniel Matsunaga.

Via ABS-CBN PR, here is how ‘I Can Do That’ is played:

Every week, the I CANdidates will perform extraordinary acts in pairs. The fun begins when different groups of professional performers demonstrate a variety of acts that I CANdidates have never done before.

If the I CANdidates think they can do a certain act, they will make their way down the stairs towards the performers. The first to reach the fourth and last step will be locked in to perform the act and will get to choose the I CANdidate who he or she believes will help him or her give a winning performance.

Given only one week to practice, the I CANdidates should be able to perform their assigned act and entertain the audience.

The weekly winner will be determined based on the combined scores culled from the scores given individually by the iCANdidates and the extra points granted to the winner of the audience vote.

With ‘I Can Do That’ bordering towards improvisation and danger, expect lots of pain and exhaustion from the I CANdidates and the professional performers. This show is definitely not for the weak at heart.

Still, despite the death-defying acts, expect no shortage of entertainment and laughter among the eight I CANdidates. After all, ‘I Can Do That’ is about captivating the audience with every move they make.

‘I Can Do That’ airs Saturdays after ‘MMK’ and Sundays after ‘Rated K’ on ABS-CBN.

KimXi Tandem Returns in The Story of Us

The love team of Kim Chiu and Xian Lim are back on the small screen.

Nearly two years after their previous series ‘Ina, Kapatid, Anak’ (with a few box-office hit movies in between), the duo returns to television via the upcoming ABS-CBN drama ‘The Story of Us’. The series debuts tonight as a replacement to the just-concluded hit series ‘On the Wings of Love’.

Kim and Xian play the roles of Tin and Macoy respectively. They were childhood friends turned lovers growing up in El Nido, Palawan with hopes of a better life for themselves and their family.

Their relationship took a huge turn when Tin decided to meet her estranged mother in the United States. Living separately from one another, their relationship grew sour, until five years later, Macoy met Tin in New York in hopes of starting over as a couple.

Still, it will not be easy for them to resume their relationship after a long time apart. It is up to them to find a second chance in love and survive amid these changes in their individual lives.

‘The Story of Us’ will also star Aiko Melendez, Gardo Versoza, Susan Africa, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Bryan Santos, Mara Lopez, Alyanna Angeles (as the young Tin), and Zaijan Jaranilla (as the young Macoy). Richard Somes will be the director of the series.

Following the footsteps of the ever-successful ‘On the Wings of Love’ will not be easy for ‘The Story of Us’. But then again, based on the KimXi tandem’s previous teleserye success, they should do just fine on this newest series.

That said, expect ‘The Story of Us’ to make a quick impression early on. And that should also cause concern to its upcoming rival in GMA’s ‘Because of You’, who failed to make an impact against ‘On the Wings of Love’ for a majority of its run.

‘The Story of Us’ airs weeknights after ‘Dolce Amore’ on ABS-CBN’s Primetime Bida.

Blow by Blow Returns to Philippine TV

The show that discovered Manny Pacquiao is coming back.

‘Blow by Blow’, the once-popular grassroots boxing program, makes its return on TV5 under the title of ‘Manny Pacquiao Presents: Blow by Blow’. The revived ‘Blow by Blow’ will be spearheaded by Pacquiao himself, with the help of former governor Manny Piñol, promoter Lito Mondejar, and Sports5 head Chot Reyes.

The original ‘Blow by Blow’ aired on IBC-13 during the late 1990s, and was produced by the now-defunct Vintage Sports team. The new ‘Blow by Blow’ will retain much of the same aspects as the original, with fights that feature budding boxing talents from the flyweight to weatherweight divisions.

‘Blow by Blow’ will be a year-round tournament where they will crown the best fighter in each weight division, and the best fighter overall. The top six boxers would then have the opportunity to face some of the best foreign boxers in the United States.

In addition to the featured fights, there will be short segments that focus on the lives of the boxers, as well as training tips hosted by Pacquiao. Overall, the new ‘Blow by Blow’ will take on a part-documentary, part-boxing program approach in order to fit in with the demands of reality television.

For Manny Pacquiao, ‘Blow by Blow’ is his way of turning over to a new generation. With his boxing career coming to an end, the time is definitely now for him to pass the baton to young talents who deserve an opportunity to become stars themselves.

‘Manny Pacquiao Presents: Blow by Blow’ airs on TV5 starting this Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

Shop TV Now on GMA

GMA enters the world of TV shopping when it joined forces with Solar Entertainment’s Shop TV. (Logo courtesy of Shop TV, Solar Entertainment)

GMA Network is now joining the TV shopping bandwagon.

Last night marked GMA’s first foray into the TV shopping genre, when it joined forces with the Solar Entertainment-owned Shop TV. This brings the total number of free TV stations with at least one TV shopping program to ten, the list of which are as follows (parenthesis indicate the TV shopping programs the channel currently airs):

• ABS-CBN (O Shopping)
• PTV-4 (TV Shop, EZ Shop, Shop Japan)
• TV5 (Shop Japan)
• GMA (Shop TV)
• IBC-13 (TV Shop, EZ Shop)
• ETC/SBN-21 (Shop TV)
• Net 25 (EZ Shop)
• 2nd Avenue/RJTV-29 (Shop TV)
• BEAM-31 (O Shopping, Shop Japan, TV Shop)
• AksyonTV (Shop Japan)

Shop TV features products that are advertised on the Home Shopping Network in the United States. The network airs as a standalone cable channel on SkyCable, Cignal and various other outlets, while also acting as a program block on all of its Solar Entertainment sister channels, save for CT.

With the new collaboration, GMA now hopes to compete against its fellow Big Three networks and their TV shopping affiliates. The alliance should also attract a more sizable audience for Shop TV, who look to use GMA as a tool to further promote and advertise its products.

The Shop TV on GMA block currently airs every weekday from 12:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m.

ABS-CBN Goes All Out With Local NBA Commentary

The NBA on ABS-CBN Sports is now in Taglish on a full-time basis.

Since opening week, all NBA games on ABS-CBN and ABS-CBN Sports+Action are called straight from the network’s studios in Quezon City. The commentary of the games are being rotated among its four announcers: Ronnie Magsanoc, Benjie Paras, Boom Gonzales and TJ Manotoc.

It can be recalled that ABS-CBN began to air NBA regular season games with their commentators at the start of this year. Initially the local commentary is exclusive to Channel 2, but come the conference finals, it has been extended to its sister station on Channel 23.

During the previous season’s NBA Finals, however, ABS-CBN elected to keep their local crew at the studio instead of sending them to the United States, presumably to save costs. This seems more logical, as the finals games on the network are now broadcast on a delayed basis due to various programming concerns.

This season, ABS-CBN made the jump towards an all-local NBA coverage for all of its games. The debut of the full-time ‘localized’ NBA coverage took place on opening night last October 28, when Sports+Action aired the Cleveland Cavaliers-Chicago Bulls matchup with commentary from Ronnie Magsanoc and Benjie Paras.

This latest move by ABS-CBN Sports is intended towards attracting a more ‘masa’ audience. But for those disenchanted with this decision, don’t worry, because NBA games on Basketball TV, Fox Sports Asia and NBA Premium TV will still feature commentary from American announcers.

NBA games are currently aired on ABS-CBN Sports+Action every Friday, Sunday and Monday, and on ABS-CBN every Saturday. ABS-CBN Sports will also air a Christmas game and several late-season games if possible.

For more information on the upcoming NBA broadcasts in the Philippines, click on this link.