Frankly, this blog is mainly a celebration of the external face of Pinoy showbiz as it becomes happily resurgent in many parts of the world, and whatever I chose to feature depends on what I found to be the "hot
du jour". I was never conscious of the studio sources. That it turned out they were mostly out of ABS-CBN or VIVA was pure coincidence. So I was surprised when I received comments I was favoring a certain TV station just because I didn't include
Aldub in the Big 3 young loveteams then (there are now 4- the Big 4). The strength of what is de-facto a virtual Philippine wave in many places of the world are its young loveteams like
Kathniel, Jadine & Lizquen. They so suddenly became resurgent that they unwittingly stepped over the shattered propaganda fiction of the floundering Korean wave. The result was the sabotage done on Pinoy resurgence documented in this blog (see
Tales of SABOTAGE at the sidebar).
But pitting Aldub against Kathniel was ridiculous. Pit Aldub against teams within their age group. While I understood Aldub was the only viable GMA loveteam, the resurgent Big 3 Pinoy young loveteams have different domestic & international markets. I still helped GMA by featuring the teleseryes it managed to sell abroad but I couldn't do anything with the fact that the Big 3 (who happened to all belong to ABS-CBN) were outclassing the GMA young loveteams just like they have been outclassing the propaganda-dependent but looks-deficient Korean wannabes in many parts of the world.
Now, the outclassed GMA and the Koreans have joined forces, only to be outclassed some more. It was really sad to see how low the depths GMA had allowed itself to sink lately. It was perennially humiliated in the ratings and seeking succor from a dud already rejected by more discerning parts of the world betrays the desperation. In this blog, I tried to celebrate here the teleseryes sold by GMA abroad but there it was, reduced to showing at its primetime a drama from the washed up Koreans instead. Expectedly, it failed, just as the teleserye it expected to save it,
Encantadia, failed.
Quo vadis, GMA?
In this blog, I've been documenting the sabotage done on Pinoy stars as they unexpectedly reaped success abroad, unintentionally sideswiping the low-star quality Korean stars in the process. But apparently, the insecure dark forces have co-opted desperate GMA for a last stand. They can spin it any which way but there they were... trounced again. Naturally.
If you've been following the ratings from each agency (granted they are credible), the ratings of GMA during primetime is normally oscillating within a certain constant range, no matter who the stars or what the teleseryes they were showing were. Be it
Once Again or the previous one or the present Korean, they mimic each other's ratings in the same time slot. That could be construed as the loyal GMA audience most likely due to
inertia of habit, GMA being the main channel before the revival of ABS-CBN in the Cory era. There was a slight bounce of
Encantadia from the norm (it reached 20% from the GMA normal ceiling of 15-16%) in its time slot but the time slot of the Korean was stagnant. The plan to re-ignite interest on the Koreans on the new jaded audience with its higher standards, having grown accustomed to the real, surgery-free beauty of the Pinoy stars, obviously failed.
I must admit one thing. One of those stuck to the GMA inertia is my mother who never changed her channel since the time of Cory. One night, I saw her watching her TV.
I asked, "
Ano pinapanuod niyo?"
She replied somewhat disgusted. "
Ewan ko, ang aaskad ng mga mukha..."
I understood so I changed the channel. She chuckled immediately. She loved true beauty. She gushed the young actor was very handsome. It was Enrique Gil.
Last night, she didn't return to her old channel. She was again watching
Dolce Amore.