From BIG 3 to UGLIEST IN THE WORLD 3, from Cute to Nakakatakyut?: Naku, Suddenly we have some of the ugliest teen idols in the world...fortunately, the Original cute team, JADINE, is still cute in their new film "Never Not Love You" LOL

Kinda hilarious but true. After a brief interlude with some cute ones, we suddenly have the ugliest new teen idols in the world. Nothing we can do about  endemic Pinoy bumbling. At a time when newfound fans from many areas of the world have started to invade  Pinoy showbiz blogosphere, some ignoramus just had to put out repulsive scarecrows as teen idols.

Thankfully, as many readers here have  pointed out, the Koreans are still ugly like always despite repeated plastic surgery, so we finally achieved parity, double-hilarity in Asia LOL.(Though, we appear to be the more stupid because we are the ones who voluntarily downgrade while they fake everything to mask the reality of their faces, albeit to no avail).

 The flash that the cute Big 3 Pinoy teen loveteams (Jadine of James Reid & Nadine Lustre; Kathniel of Kathryn Bernardo & Daniel Padilla; Lizquen of Liza Soberano & Enrique Gil) unexpectedly created  internationally in the past two years has definitely peaked & is on the wane. The next wave is too unappealing to bother with. There goes likewise a big part of my interest in  Pinoy showbiz. I was never too keen with the domestic one anyway.  I was mostly interested on whatever ripples it generated abroad. Probably it was because of my love for languages & travel. I could make use of my capacity to zero in on local discourses in many areas of the globe. It was fun while it lasted.

But the Big 3 are maturing & the mostly unappealing next batches of Pinoy teen loveteams unsurprisingly rebuffed everybody right away so the bandwagon created earlier was just as soon scuttled. Typical Pinoy backwater story, there was simply too much ignorance & mediocrity. A brief sashay into international limelight indeed which for a moment enchanted the  ephebophile eyes who loved to swarm into this blog.

When I say "limelight", I don't mean about the "fake fame" generated by media companies which rely on contrived propaganda to create status for their products. I was more interested in what one of our readers who knew his languages  (so he could invade troll-free discourses anywhere in the world) as "spontaneous", the initial crest of recognition which were first detected in international blogosphere  before the propaganda troll swarms even took notice  (in fact, the local ones mostly discovered it from this blog). Definitely, not the troll-based  fake fandom which the South Koreans, the Western showbiz capitalists  & their local copycats pretend to excel at, or we won't have bothered to blog about them (we already know all the gimmicks, don't we?).

Among the original Big 3, the first to falter  domestically was Jadine but ironically, it is  still the one with the biggest footprint internationally. It should be remembered that Jadine was the first to attract the attention of captive fans of Asiatic film pirate sites  (which turned out to be South Korean propaganda sites) which led to the discovery of the other Pinoy teen loveteams (Kathniel & Lizquen) by international fans. While the last two grew in stature domestically,  Jadine sort of stumbled along the way. But outside the country, Jadine is still the leading Pinoy young loveteam whose films, mv's & teleserye (OTWOL) shine the brightest.

To be sure, we never produced loveteams as popular as the Big 3. The other successful one, Kristine Hermosa & Jericho Rosales, never came close in their geographical footprint. Neither did the Marian Rivera-Dingdong Dantes tandem.

Jadine has a new film . Though I'm still not content with whatever procedure has been done to improve Nadine's face in the past idle year (for instance, the nose, people! a friend described it so: James has a perfect nose profile so when they pose nose to nose, the premature slope of the tip of Nadine's nose becomes magnified, she has this look of "as if smelling something stinky". Well, take that as constructive investment into the country's top international young loveteam).

I love this song. It was a revival of a Sugarfree song, & I don't think that's an issue though it is in some of the past comments in this blog ( the usual orig vs. revival noise). As long as a song is beautiful, especially one which didn't really become a gigantic hit the first time, giving it second life might finally give it the total recognition it deserves.


Jadine- Prom

After conquering South America, HANGGANG MAKITA KANG MULI struts in Africa...meanwhile, Pinoy Network Wars go to Thailand?: DESTINY ROSE & PANGAKO SA YO

After making history in 2017 as the highest-rating Asian telenovela to be shown in Peru, the GMA teleserye Hanggang Makita Kang Muli will try its magic this year in Africa. It's now on weekend primetime on KTN, Kenya's top-rating free-to-air TV channel.

Last year, GMA new international releases surprisingly overwhelmed ABS-CBN as the latter only managed to sell a single 2017-produced teleserye for the whole year (Magpahanggang-Wakas). Early 2018 proved that the GMA upsurge  hasn't waned, new GMA teleseryes keep popping in various locations while its rival can't seem to sell its new releases in the international market: Poor Señorita in TV3, Malaysia's largest free-to-air TV, Vietnam had My BFF, Second Chances  in Africa & Ecuador, Destiny Rose in Thailand, etc. It's now February & like last year, Abs-Cbn is still mostly relying on its 2016 & earlier hits to be rerun in various locales (As a consolation, the 2015 Kathniel  teleserye, Pangako Sa Yo has a chance to shine in Thailand).

It's clear the GMA writers are propelling GMA to greater heights in the international arena: innovative plots, not only internationally acceptable Pinoy good looks & sleek production values, are now flying the flag for teleserye abroad. Meanwhile, ABS-CBN is still in GMA mode, still aping the fantaserye genre started by the latter as GMA upped the ante with stories not usually tackled by teleserye (amazingly, a future GMA teleseye is titled The Cure. Getting cutting edge in medical thrillers? )

Meanwhile, it's safe to say the sudden international prominence of the Big 3 young loveteams of ABS-CBN (Kathniel, Lizquen & Jadine) was a fluke. A tsamba which nobody knew how to handle. Yeah, it was probably serendipity that 3 cute Pinoy LT's were created at the same period that they were noticed in various geographical areas in the world, reaping adulations not normally accorded to previous Pinoy or any Asian loveteams. Proving that physically, the beautiful among the Filipinos will be more readily acceptable in more disparate geographical areas of the world than the usual Asian stereotypes.

 But a short look at the history of loveteam making in the Philippines would confirm that cute loveteams coming too far in between was the norm in Philippine, particularly ABS-CBN, loveteam making. The truth is, despite the overabundance of cute youth in Philippine streets, ordinary-looking teen idols were de rigueur in the last 30 years. It doesn't surprise me that my batch never bothered with the so-called Pinoy teen loveteams then (so did the world, obviously), most of my friends  looked far better than the stars and worse, I hate to admit it but I didn't know anybody who wasted his time with Pinoy showbiz. A few bad apples could really spoil the whole basket. The looks of certain Pinoy stars could rebuff a big part of the Philippine population. I remembered the time while channel-surfing when I felt revolted watching a reality show because I found the host "cross-eyed", only to find out years later  when I was already writing this blog that she was actually a big star in that channel. If not for this blog (thereby realizing Pinoy showbiz was bigger than her eyes), I would have lost respect on Pinoy showbiz forever.

Propaganda assumes that mass media can trick the people into  believing or adulating what it dictates. Not a fat chance here in the Philippines. People mostly ignore it when it's tacky. Like we did.

The good thing is that the Big 3 has really proven that unlike the stereotype Asian look, the Pinoy melting-pot look is more acceptable in more geographical areas of the world. And looks matter. This is classically typified by the greater acceptance of the Pinoy teleseryes over the kdramas in all the international areas where they were shown together like in South America (Peru), Southeast Asia( Indonesia), Africa, Central Asia (Kazakhstan), etc.

Perhaps in 2050 when the Philippines is predicted by HSBC to be the 16th richest country in the world, some Filipino strategists would decide to elevate the stature of Filipinos (much like how the South Koreans are doing now in promoting themselves out of the shadows of their giant neighbors, the Chinese & the Japanese). It should occur to them, however, that we don't have to mix delusion into the effort just like how the South Koreans have done it. The Koreans are not only aping the Japanese Jpop for its Kpop or the Chinese for their  F4, but in a ludicrous effort to gain anchor into the Spanish-speaking world, their propagandists went hilariously overboard & had the weird temerity to hilariously tag themselves as "Latinos of Asia", a tag given to the Filipinos by the Latinos themselves. To extremely hilarious results, as expected. As we have documented in the blog,  they were perennially clinging for years at the very bottom of the Peruvian rating charts while their propaganda was hilariously proclaiming they were popular. Nobody was fooled. More like nauseated.

No need to go the South Korean comedy route, Pinoys now know we can count on our looks. Perhaps by 2050, we'll have learned how to handle internationally other Big 3's. After all, we have the supply.


Destiny Rose- OST (Thai) & Trailer

Pangako Sa Yo- OST (Thai) & Trailer

HAPPY 2018...Meanwhile, Teejay Marquez appears as one of the Indonesian F4 on Indonesia's Top-Rating TV Show: SIAPA TAKUT JATUH CINTA Reborn (STJC Reborn)

It's a new year. It's safe to say the mini-wave created by the first Big 3 Pinoy love teams to be recognized by young international fans has peaked in the middle of 2017 & has been downhill ever since. This is not to say that Kathniel, Lizquen & Jadine have been forgotten but the novelty has obviously faded. It was just unfortunate that the infrastructure & the vision to sustain the unexpected "miracle"were not there. While the Bollywood stars traipsed for "meet & greets" from Saigon to Jakarta as Bollywood telenovelas dominated the ratings in Indonesia & the rest of the big Southeast Asian markets,  "nangangapa" Pinoy-style wins as usual.  Everybody seemed to be dumbfounded by what happened-  how in the world were the Pinoy LT's  noticed!-  they didn't know how to react, or even to milk the situation, much less how to prolong the moment.

They trashed the home instead. Looking at the new teen loveteams on the wings, I don't know if they're trying to make a joke. Probably, it was safer to repulse everybody else so they won't face a situation where they are caught unable to react again. It's safer to repulse the fans (who cares about internationally-popular Pinoy LT's anyway?) than to be proved stupid.

 Certainly, I was repulsed. The lack of posts in the blog clearly shows my fading interest. During the holiday get-togethers, I checked the level of interest among the younger ones & everybody was clueless about local showbiz. Checking on the brood of the helps elicited more interests on DOTA & everything else except showbiz. Well, it's obvious scraping the barrel has become vogue.

But the blog will continue. If I'm not too keen on the local scene, we'll still document their adventures outside, at least we hope international taste would have filtered out  the repulsive ones by then...but we have some surprises, we're linguists after all so we can easily seek satisfaction elsewhere. Just wait.

Meanwhile, deserving Pinoy stars can seek their star somewhere else on their own. It appears Teejay Marquez has really hit big-time in Indonesia. At a time when the original F4 is being remade in China, Indonesia is doing its own version in SCTV's current hit Siapa Takut Jatuh Cinta Reborn.  Pinoy actor Teejay Marquez appears as one of the 4 main characters together with the top Indonesian young hearthrobs Aliando Syarief, Verrel Bramastha & Bryan Domani (though in a sudden development, Syarief, currently the top Indonesian young star, backed out because he felt his character was turning out to be not the main star).

This is currently the top-rating show in Indonesia, vaulting its station SCTV into the top station with the biggest audience share among the 15 Indonesian TV stations.

UNA NUEVA OPORTUNIDAD/SECOND CHANCES opens on December 18, 7:45 pm, on Oromar TV Ecuador

As always, the Comment section of our articles doesn't disappoint. I loathed to leave the preceding one, publishing a new  post usually cut the no-holds-barred discussion on the last post. The last one was particularly fun because it tackled a topic which always gave us lots of laughs around here: the hilarious drama of pretend Korea wave which we have found to be contrived in almost all the places outside the Mongoloid zone which we had the temerity to investigate in. Nothing surprising considering that it is now too obvious the dominant gimmick nowadays of fake news in almost everything. If the fakery is the norm in the supposedly sacrosanct serious journalism, what more do you expect in showbiz? Somehow, uncovering  the tricks admittedly diminished our enthusiasm for the game, but  at the same time,  still added more reason for those extra guffaws.

Particularly funny was the fact we are not a mere small blog after all. Once upon a time, the norm in Peru was they released online a complete Rating Chart list of their TV shows, from the top to the bottom. And we discovered that consistently for many years,  the kdramas dwelled at the bottom, lower than all the other telenovelas from Mexico, Turkey, Colombia, Philippines, etc. This at a time when their massive propaganda machines were declaring they were "popular", etc. We were surprised they were still shown for years with that kind of non-performance but we soon learned that fake news could also mean fake in everything. Then surprisingly, those Peruvian rating charts were no longer released completely, you only get the top 10 or the top 3 in each station or any combination but the bottom-dwellers were already hidden. Our exposure was bad for propaganda & corruption.

GMA has been clobbered in the local primetime lately but it continues to raise its flag in the international arena, particularly in South America. Its second teleserye to be shown in Ecuador will start on December 18 at 7:45 pm primetime Ecuador time. Second Chances (South American title: Una nueva oportunidad) might have been unceremoniously pulled out in Peru ( temporarily?) but it was nonetheless given a choice timeslot in Ecuador, a notch higher than that of the first GMA teleserye to be shown in that country, the hit Cautiva (Hanggang Makita Kang Muli) which was shown on an earlier timeslot, at 6:45 pm.

DIGOLITA= Digong & Pilita: "IKAW"

Praise the luck of Pinoys! We might just have a new loveteam who arrived just in time?

 This at a time when the first Pinoy young love teams who have managed to attract the millenial entertainment social media in many parts of the world (the Big 3: Kathniel, Lizquen & Jadine), are maturing & risk losing their niche appeal (& with no Pinoy young loveteams expected to fill up their shoes in the international arena because strangely, all the young loveteams waiting in the wings appeal to a market which even in the Philippines cater only to peripheral segments). But perhaps due to typical stubborn pigheadedness, consistency is not a strong Filipino suit so we might us well expect ourselves to disappear  in the near future in the eyes of the young international  audience accidentally cultivated by the Big 3. Back to the backwaters of cultural inferiority?

Digolita will neither fill the gap to be vacated by the Big 3 among the young, expect the loss of the international millenial social media dominated by this group. The Digolita LT has a far different market (& a far shorter life span?).  For a brief moment of the news cycle, they became an international sensation. Segments of the video below ( taken when the US President urged the Philippine President to join Ms. Pilita Corrales uninvited in a duet) were  published worldwide by almost all the major news websites.

CHIẾC MŨI ĐỎ/HONESTO @ VIETNAM TODAYTV

The last 2 minutes? 2017 is almost through and ABS-CBN might be feeling like a pressured basketball player doing all he can to engineer a winning fastbreak. We can see it has been busy setting up breakthrough plays: ABS-CBN, the country's top broadcasting company, has sold the most teleseryes worldwide even this year, but there was only one 2017-produced teleserye (Magpahanggang-Wakas) that has been shown so far throughout the world. There are news two 2017 series will finally be following it: A Love To Last & Wildflower. We just hope they will be shown before the 2017 final buzzer.

Meanwhile, a mini-GMA streak at Vietnam TodayTV (Ang Lihim ni Annasandra & Strawberry Lane) was finally broken by an ABS-CBN 2013 teleserye, Honesto, starring Paulo Avelino.

NOTE: This blog is not a World TV Guide. We know what is showing what in different areas of the globe where teleseryes are being shown (& there are always many being shown) but we only do an article on the one which caught our fancy- meaning, we can spin an interesting trivia about it. Like this one, because the mini-streak of GMA was broken. The blog has finally decided the local network rivalry (primarily GMA vs. ABS-CBN) projected into the international arena is good for teleserye, it revs up everybody's game... and that is good, considering that teleserye is one of the famous telenovela products in the world. Though be advised: Kantiyaw is fun but crab mentality (to the point of destroying each other) is not.

Pinoy Komediaserye in Latin America: GMA stumbles in Peru while Abs-Cbn returns to the region when almost everybody is asleep

As this blog scanned the world to take the pulse of the different telenovela markets in all the continents, we have confirmed Pinoy teleserye is one of the top telenovela products in the world. It has just recently penetrated the South American market (only in 2016) but  has already graced the small screens in 3 countries- Ecuador, Peru & Colombia. GMA has had a virtual monopoly of the region in most of 2017, led by the top-drawing performance of Cautiva (Hanggang Makita Kang Muli) in Peru & Ecuador). Meanwhile, ABS-CBN teleseryes, after pioneering in the region with the trailblazing Puentes de amor (Bridges of Love) & La Promesa (Pangako Sa Yo), unceremoniously disappeared from South American screens as GMA surged.

But in a sort of comedy of errors, GMA just stumbled in Peru with its two new teleseryes (No me olvides (Someone to Watch Over Me) & Una nueva oportunidad (Second Chance)) being pulled off the air. Almost concurrently,  ABS-CBN suddenly  resurfaced, this time in Colombia, in its top free-to-air TV station yet- with Dahil May Isang Ikaw (Corazones cruzados) starring Kristine Hermosa & Jericho Rosales, but in a post-midnight slot when almost everybody would be asleep.

Don't laugh. At least, ABS-CBN has broken the GMA monopoly of South America. Just another act in the booming  teleserye tale worldwide. Call it growing up pains in the region,  if you may. Let's wait for the succeeding acts. There's suspense there, a spice to the thrill mix.

I'LL NEVER SAY GOODBYE/MAGPAHANGGANG-WAKAS takes on Africa: ABS Uganda, KTN Kenya, MyTV Africa for the rest of Subsaharan Africa

Magpahanggang-Wakas is heaven-sent to ABS-CBN this year. Christmas is near (meaning, the year is almost through) but the supposed country's biggest TV network has only sold one 2017-produced teleserye this year. That doesn't mean however that it doesn't lord over the current teleserye domination of Africa. The continent is awash with the rerun of successful pre-2017 teleseryes from the station: hits like Dolce Amore, Doble Kara, The Promise, On The Wings of Love (this one will take over shortly  the slot of I'll Never Say Goodbye on My TV Africa), etc.

I am sure, the ABS-CBN bigwigs will be studying the success of GMA in selling more new teleseryes abroad this year. It turned out a high domestic rating is not a guarantee of international success. This teleserye is a case in point. Who would have thought that unlike the 2017 blockbusters, it would eventually be the  only one to be sold  abroad?

Meanwhile, teleserye celebrates its current reign in Africa...

Қоштасқым келмейді/MAGPAHANGGANG-WAKAS on 31Kanal Kazakhstan

Magpahanggang-Wakas might have been unceremoniously taken prematurely off the air in Indonesia but it has become the savior of ABS-CBN's puri in the light of the steady international resurgence of new GMA teleseryes from Africa to Asia to South America. This Arci Muñoz-Jericho Rosales starrer is the only 2017-produced ABS-CBN teleserye to be sold this year internationally. After its hasty disappearance from Indonesian small screens, it emerged thankfully in Africa (there is a deluge of other ABS-CBN teleseryes in Africa- in fact, Pinoy teleseryes are dominant there now-  but they are mostly reruns of older successful teleseryes like Pangako Sa Yo, Dolce Amore, Doble Kara, etc. GMA teleseryes being shown there, just like everywhere else,  are newer).

There must be a tidal wave of gasps of relief at ABS-CBN nowadays. The dominating GMA international profile must have kept them at edge through most of the year. I could imagine the gigantic whoops of joy. They were able to sell it to Kazakhstan too!

Lucky Kazakhs, they will still get to watch the formerly beautiful sexy face of Arci Muñoz. They might not recognize her the next time.

10 PM Kazakh time, Monday to Friday. 31Kanal. Dubbed in Kazakh, Subtitles in Russian.

CAUTIVA/HANGGANG MAKITA KANG MULI opens today on OROMAR TV Ecuador: Canal 26 GYE, 33 UIO, DIRECTV 190, CNT 3 & TVCABLE70

The streak of GMA continues in Latin America. One of its not really pretty starlets  mysteriously won as the representative of the country for the Reina Hispanoamericana Beauty Pageant in Bolivia, but the streak of GMA teleseryes in the said continent is not a mystery at all. It's old reliable storytelling, & surprisingly GMA writers have been adept in concocting plots lately. Cautiva is one of the 3 teleseryes currently showing in Latin America. All from GMA.

My friends joke our Reina Hispanoamericana representative has some semblance to the Bolivian President Evo Morales in some angles, so she might just create more mysteries there. We might become the laughing stock yet in our first appearance in the said pageant. It's good,  GMA teleseryes are providing the distraction. Beautiful things too, like teleseryes, come from the Philippines.

Cautiva stars Derrick Monasterio & Bea Binene. It airs at 6:45 PM Tuesday, Ecuador time (7:45 AM Manila time, Wednesday).

UNA NUEVA OPORTUNIDAD/SECOND CHANCES opens today Panamericana TV in Peru

In a virtual monopoly of Pinoy teleseryes being shown in South America, the GMA teleserye Second Chances joins another GMA teleserye, Someone To Watch Over Me, on the Peruvian small screen. All the Pinoy teleseryes playing in South America come from the GMA production studios: Cautiva, the most successful Asian telenovela to be shown in Peru, will open next week in Ecuador.

Una nueva oportunidad (the Spanish version title)stars Jennilyn Mercado.

CAUTIVA/HANGGANG MAKITA KANG MULI opens on September 11 at 6:45 PM OROMARTV Ecuador

There are two places in Latin America which I'm planning to visit but still haven't gotten around to fulfilling it. Quito in Ecuador & Valparaiso in Chile, mainly for their historical areas. But I've long started enjoying them through their cuisines. Ecuadorian & Chilean cuisine might not be familiar in Asia but I whip up my own versions, and that's often because there are no restos offering them here. I've long used avocado as a bread spread the Chilean way (palta) & instead of silogs, I often prepare bistec a lo pobre (a beef, fried egg, potato fries & onions ensemble, a dish Chile has in common with Peru), besides many of its humongous parriladas. But my favorites are the plaintain dishes of Ecuador. They come as dumplings, soup, empanadas, etc. I haven't tasted the originals but I so loved my versions (taken from the internet) that the few times I find time to cook, I cook them 50% of the time. 

Now, Cautiva will be shown in Ecuador. I can see they will be slurping Caldo de bolas de verde or Sango de verde while watching it because it will be shown at 6:45 PM, just in time for dinner. Starting September 11.

Cautiva stars Derrick Monasterio & Bea Binene.

HERMANAS/THE HALF-SISTERS: Believe it or not, for International Release...

I never really bothered to check this when it was still being shown in the Philippines. But I was so surprised, and delighted after watching the trailer, to learn now that it had a brillant plot: two girls born at the same time but from two ova fertilized by different sperms. Very original, just like the feral child in Cautiva/Hanggang Makita Kang Muli. I'm now really impressed by the storytellers of GMA.

Of course, not having watched it, I have no way of knowing how they developed the plot narrative. But it lasted for two years so it must have pushed the right buttons to lure idle homebound masses in its afternoon slot. It's now being marketed for international release. As can be seen from the trailer, the mother of the main protagonists, the still beautiful Jean Garcia, hogged most of the clips, as if the salesmen were hesitant to highlight the two main stars. I myself have reservations why the two actresses were  even discovered. GMA has mostly displayed a fine taste in  its stable of stars but the presence of not quite a few saling pusa really puzzles me. Why even bother? The two main protagonists could have passed in a comedy, but with such a spectacular plot, this teleserye could soar higher with more star-quality stars. We  see here the limitation of stars meant for a supposed clueless masa in the more discriminating international arena. There, good plots are wasted by looks that people won't be bothered with. Just look at the kdramas that actually tenaceously cling from the bottom of rating charts in most parts of the world despite the fake hossanas of the Korean propaganda which can never obfuscate their physical limitations.

VOLVERE POR TI/ONCE AGAIN: Will Somebody Buy It in Latin America?

Latin Media hit gold with Cautiva, the first Pinoy teleserye it sold in Latin America. Of the four teleseryes it tried to sell in the recent NATPE telenovela market in Miami Beach, USA (Hermanas/The Half Sisters, Volvere por ti/ Once Again, No me olvides/Someone To Watch Over Me and Cautiva/Hanggang Makita Kang Muli, the most in any of the country it was trying to market in said occasion), two have already been shown (No me olvides just opened in Peruvian 7 pm primetime while Cautiva went on to become the top-rating Asian telenovela earlier this year). Will the other two be finally sold?

Meanwhile, another Pinoy teleserye not included in the 4 but still marketed by Latin Media is set to open in Peru. It's Una nueva oportunidad (Second Chances) starring Jennilyn Mercado.

The Most Handsome Athlete in the 29th Southeast Asian Games is Pinoy Triathlon Gold Medalist Nikko Huelgas?

According to the Indonesian press, the most handsome athlete in the ongoing Asian Games is the Pinoy Triathlon Gold Medalist Nikko Huelgas.

 Now, we already know the Indonesians really have taste. From Pinoy dubmash amateurs which led to their discovery of Teejay Marquez who went on to do a movie & some sinetrons there, to the Kathniel loveteam (Daniel Padilla & Kathryn Bernardo) who reached the Number 5 slot in the Indonesian TV ratings chart with their international hit Pangako Sa Yo teleserye.

 And now, they sure have proved they have the eye for Pinoy sportsmen as well.

 The 26 year old Pinoy athlete won the Triathlon event in the 29th Asian Games being held in Kuala Lumpur. He also won the Gold Medal in the preceding Sea Games held in Singapore in 2015.

 The titles of the articles said it all:

 From Bolasport: Ganteng Maksimal inikah atlet paling tampan di Sea Games 2017 (Maximum Handsome, Here is the Most Handsome Athlete in the Sea Games 2017)

 From Rilis.Id: Gantengnya Nikko Huelgas Atlet Triatlon Filipina Bikin Wanita Meleleh (The Handsomeness of Pinoy Triathlon Athlete Nikko Huelgas makes women melt)

I found an old promotional video. He looks even better here than in the photos. 

A more recent one:

CAUTIVA/HANGGANG MAKITA KANG MULI next on OROMAR TV ECUADOR

The trailblazing of the highly-successful GMA telenovela Cautiva (Hanggang Makita Kang Muli) hasn't stopped. After becoming the most successful Asian telenovela in Peru, it is slated to be shown next in neighboring Ecuador. It will be broadcast by Oromar TV.

Cautiva stars the most popular (as it turned out) young loveteam of GMA, Derrick Monasterio & Bea Binene.

NO ME OLVIDES/ SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME opens Tuesday on Peru's Panamericana TV at 7 PM Lima time (8 AM Wednesday Manila time)

You can now watch the Spanish version of the GMA hit series Someone To Watch Over Me at 8 AM Manila time starting Wednesday (7 PM Tuesday Lima time) at the Panamericana TV website.

No me olvides (Forget Me Not in English) stars Lovi Poe & Tom Rodriguez. It is the second GMA teleserye to be shown in South America, & it has a challenging task ahead of it- that is, to surpass the record of the first GMA teleserye to be shown there, Cautiva, which went on to become the highest rating Asian telenovela ever to be shown in Peru.

No me olvides is the first of two GMA teleseryes which will open shortly on the same station. The other one is  Una nueva oportunidad (Second Chances), starring Jennilyn Mercado.

BIRDSHOT & SALVAGE: Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino Weekend Tales

I devoted the weekend in watching 2 films included in the ongoing Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino. I based my choice on the supposed quality of the films. Last Saturday, I watched the first, Mikhail Red's Birdshot, because I remembered reading not too long ago that it received a best Picture award somewhere (it turned out to be the Best Film of the Asian Future competition of the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival). On Sunday, the second, because of the supposed reputation of its director, Sherad Anthony Sanchez, whose films I still have to see. I love experimental films, I endured Raya Martin's Autohystoria (& that's a mean feat to anybody's book) but though I liked Birdshot, I lost patience with the second one midway & left the 6 people who shared the cold cinema with me.

  Birdshot's quiet laconic pace bored me for a while but the surprising texture of a rural Philippine film noir gripped me eventually. Salvage had no hook whatsoever to make me glued to my seat. Frankly, it turned me off so much I decided it was not really worth waiting for the supposed "surprising" climax. I was simply not interested anymore.

 After my experience with Salvage, I don't know if I will still risk watching any of the other entries. I might eventually but I'm still sweet-talking myself.


 Birdshot- directed by Mikhail Red
 

Salvage- directed by Sherad Anthony Sanchez

LA PROMESSE/PANGAKO SA YO sur STARTIMES NOVELA F Plus: OUI, KATHNIEL in French!

Africa, like Southeast Asia, was colonized by different Western powers, thus the people speak a hodge-podge of European languages. Not all parts speak English. In Western Africa, the French-speaking states, just like the English-speaking ones elsewhere in the continent, love the Pinoy teleseryes. The international hit Pangako Sa Yo has been dubbed into French for its run in French-speaking Africa.

Meanwhile on MyTV Africa: DOLCE AMORE on MyTV Africa; BE CAREFUL WITH MY HEART, THE PROMISE & BRIDGES OF LOVE on MyTV Series

MyTV Africa

While GMA has dominated in the number of new teleseryes being bought, ABS-CBN actually has more teleseryes being shown in Africa. Its big hits last year are recirculated many times in different channels in many countries in Africa, confirming their popularity. In 2 channels alone of MyTV Africa (which serve the whole Subsaharan area), they figure prominently in the programs.

MyTV Series