Love: GMA and ABS-CBN’s Common Theme for the 2017 Christmas Station ID

‘Just Love Ngayong Christmas’ or ‘Buong Pusong MaGMAhalan’.

ABS-CBN and GMA officially released their 2017 Christmas station IDs earlier this month. GMA unveiled theirs last November 6, while ABS-CBN premiered their version the following week.

This year’s central theme is ‘love’, and based on the titles of the two networks’ Christmas station IDs, one can think that they stole each other’s ideas. Looking at the two videos closely, there are some similarities between them, from the gathering of the artists and news personalities to the ordinary people being visited (or accompanied) by some of the stars.

But that is where the commonalities end. In ABS-CBN’s case, they incorporated the use of social media to convey their message, adding videos and photos shared by netizens of strangers who helped one another in times of distress and hopelessness.

ABS-CBN also spread some joy to the victims of the Marawi crisis through letters and donations sent by the network’s artists. That said, based on the context alone, it is clear that ABS-CBN has the more compelling approach to their Christmas station ID.

As of November 15, GMA’s Christmas station ID racked up nearly 450,000 views on YouTube. Meanwhile, ABS-CBN’s Christmas station ID earned over 690,000 views.

Considering that ABS-CBN’s version only made its debut two days ago, the overwhelmingly quick collection of views in such a short amount of time must have made Kapuso fans jealous. And who can blame them for producing a  Christmas station ID that failed to convey a meaningful message.

Last year, only ABS-CBN was able to produce a Christmas station ID as GMA opted for a series of animated shorts for their Christmas campaign. This year, GMA made a comeback by producing a Christmas station ID of their own, but after they were beaten to the punch anew by ABS-CBN, what chances will they have of making another one?

The following personalities listed here are the performers and writers behind the ABS-CBN and GMA Christmas station IDs.

Buong Pusong MaGMAhalan (a.k.a. MaGMAhalan ng Buong Puso)

Lyricists – BJ Camaya, Rexy Jolly Conopio, Jann Lopez

Composer – Len Calvo

Performers – Alden Richards, Mikee Quintos, Nar Cabico, Maricris Garcia, Aicelle Santos, Julie Anne San Jose

Just Love Ngayong Christmas

Lyricists – Lloyd Oliver Corpuz, Christian Faustino, Robert Labayen

Composer – Jimmy Antiporda

Performers – Sarah Geronimo, Gary Valenciano, Martin Nievera, Piolo Pascual, Toni Gonzaga, Ogie Alcasid, Erik Santos, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Billy Crawford, Yeng Constantino et al

Pinoy Boyband Superstar Premieres Tomorrow

ABS-CBN’s own search for an up-and-coming Filipino boyband gets underway tomorrow.

Boys aged 14 or older, with a knack for good looks, charm and excellent singing and dancing talent, will have the opportunity to become one of the five members of a soon-to-be named boyband. Their journey begins this weekend on ‘Pinoy Boyband Superstar’, the Filipino adaptation of ‘La Banda’.

The original ‘La Banda’ was created by Simon Cowell and former Menudo member Ricky Martin. In order to avoid claims that the show is actually creating a ‘band’ consisting of a vocalist and instrumentalists, ABS-CBN renamed the show as ‘Pinoy Boyband Superstar’ in order to make it clear that they are looking to form a boyband.

The premise of ‘Pinoy Boyband Superstar’ is simple. The boyband aspirants must impress the girls with their looks and talent in order to make it to the next round, after which they face the judges who will evaluate their singing prowess as well as their image.

If one of the aspirants failed to pass the first round, they may be given another chance, provided they show enough potential to convince judges. Eventually, some of the aspirants will be eliminated until there are five left standing.

‘Pinoy Boyband Superstar’ will be hosted by Billy Crawford. The show’s judges will be Yeng Constantino, Vice Ganda, Aga Muhlach, and Sandara Park.

Even before its premiere, comparisons between ‘Pinoy Boyband Superstar’ and rival GMA’s ‘To the Top’ were very evident from the beginning. Both had a similar premise of forming a boyband, not to mention the journey of selecting the members.

The difference, however, lies on the production. Though ‘Pinoy Boyband Superstar’ is more of a franchise than the originally created ‘To the Top’, ABS-CBN did not seek help from its news and current affairs department to produce the former, unlike GMA whose Public Affairs team was responsible for the latter.

And considering that ‘Pinoy Boyband Superstar’ will be aired at a more convenient timeslot (unlike ‘To the Top’ which aired on late nights), the former could become even more successful. Still, it will be up to the audience to see how it all happens.

The journey of the next great Pinoy boyband begins this weekend. Good luck.

‘Pinoy Boyband Superstar’ airs Saturdays after ‘Home Sweetie Home’, and Sundays after ‘Goin’ Bulilit’.

It’s Showtime Brings Back Tawag ng Tanghalan

‘It’s Showtime’ has promised to do things their way this year.

No longer having the desire to oppose the popular Kalyeserye of ‘Eat Bulaga’, ‘It’s Showtime’ decided to clean house to begin the year. One of the changes they implemented was the revival of the iconic ‘Tawag ng Tanghalan’ singing competition as its main segment.

The original ‘Tawag ng Tanghalan’ was initially a radio program of the original Bolinao Electronics Corporation (forerunner of ABS-CBN) before making a successful jump to television. During its run in the 1950s and 1960s, the show discovered some of the industry’s future icons, such as Nora Aunor, Pepe Pimentel and Bobot Mortiz.

In the new ‘Tawag ng Tanghalan’, four contestants face off in hopes of impressing the audience and the judges. The winner will receive P25,000 and may defend his/her crown against other contestants in subsequent episodes, while the runners-up will receive P5,000 as consolation.

In the event that a singer goes out of tune, a gong will be hit to signal the end of their performance. The gong will be operated by Jhong Hilario.

‘Tawag ng Tanghalan’ on ‘It’s Showtime’ kicked off last Saturday, with Michelle Arcain of Davao emerging as the first winner of the revived competition. Arcain returned during Monday’s episode, but lost to Israel Alano of Batangas.

The segment is hosted by Vice Ganda, Amy Perez and Mariel Rodriguez-Padilla. The latter two were recently introduced as new co-hosts of ‘It’s Showtime’, and are no stranger to hosting variety shows.

Judges on ‘Tawag ng Tanghalan’ will vary each week. This week’s episodes will feature Rey Valera, Rico J. Puno, Bobot Moritz, Nyoy Volante and Yeng Constantino as judges.

After a tough 2015 where ‘It’s Showtime’ plummeted to new lows following the emergence of AlDub, they now begin 2016 with a clean slate. The hope of entertaining the ‘madlang pipol’ the only way they can is something they need to address, and the revived ‘Tawag ng Tanghalan’ is a good way to start.

Hawak Kamay Replaces Dyesebel on ABS-CBN

Just as GMA is warming up with their value-oriented teleserye in ‘Nino’, ABS-CBN decides to counter with one of their own.

Enter ‘Hawak Kamay’, the Kapamilya network’s newest teleserye that is set to debut this Monday. The series, starring Piolo Pascual, Iza Calzado, Zaijan Jaranilla and Xyriel Manabat, Andrea Brillantes and Yesha Camille, will replace ‘Dyesebel’.

The Anne Curtis-starred series has been a ratings winner since it debuted on March 17. ‘Dyesebel’ defeated rivals ‘Kambal Sirena’ and ‘Nino’ during its five-month run.

In ‘Hawak Kamay’, Pascual plays a frustrated musician turned guardian named Gin. He was tasked to take care of three orphans named Emong (Jaranilla), Dara (Manabat) and Ningning (Camille), who lost their parents in a car crash.

Throughout the series, Gin would evolve from a reluctant to a responsible guardian who is determined to keep all of his orphans together, despite enduring serious trials. Along the way, Gin’s life would change with the help of Bianca (Calzado), a lawyer who helped arrange the adoption, and her sister Lorrie (Brillantes), who would develop a friendship with the three orphans.

‘Hawak Kamay’ is named after the popular song recorded by Yeng Constantino in the late 2000s. The song was remade by Piolo Pascual specifically for the series.

ABS-CBN is no stranger to producing successful value-oriented series. After all, they produced winners in ‘May Bukas Pa’, ‘100 Days to Heaven’, ‘Budoy’ and Honesto’, all of which earned high ratings and critical acclaim. The success of these teleseryes should add some pressure on ‘Hawak Kamay’, but considering the network has been winning the primetime race of late, it should not pose a problem to the new series.

‘Hawak Kamay’ premieres this July 21, after ‘TV Patrol’. The teaser to the upcoming series can be viewed below.

Notes: From the Tube would like to extend our condolences to the victims of Typhoon Glenda and Malaysian Airlines Flight MH 17. Our thoughts and prayers are for the families of the said victims.