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

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

NOT FAKE CLAMOR: THE PROMISE/PANGAKO SA YO on Joy Prime Ghana

Ok, we're back after a rather long hiatus. A quick look at what's happening in Africa and we have this. The Promise has been shown throughout Subsaharan Africa last year, but here we have the Ghanaians having second helpings from one of their prime networks.

Doing this blog made me learn many new things about international showbiz. One of them is that just because a series was shown didn't mean the market was asking for it. It was sobering to realize one can always "fake" the market.  It has always puzzled me why the Koreans have been showing for nearly 15 years in Peru when  they mostly hugged the bottom of the ratings charts, below the other telenovelas shown there which were mostly from Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Turkey & the Philippines. If "normal" shows were immediately axed for bad ratings, then there must be other extraneous reasons why one is impervious for the longest time to the normal course of things. As if we needed no ratings chart after all? (Well, the network wars are superfluous, after all?). Well, if these days "fake news" , "fake popularity", "fake etc." have become de rigueur, don't be surprised we can have fake everything...

What's good with The Promise is there's nothing fake why it's now showing again in Ghana. The series is popular in Africa.

No Gabi ng Lagim in Indonesia/KATHNIEL FILMS ON MNCTV: BARCELONA & CRAZY BEAUTIFUL YOU soon

Kathniel fever continues to rage in Indonesia. Two of their films will be shown soon while their 2013 teleserye Kaulah Takdirko/ Got 2 Believe is still being serialized on the same station. The title is translated as You are my Destiny. With Kathniel all over, there is no gabi ng lagim in Indonesia.

(Definition of Gabi ng Lagim: an eerie night when loveteams are ugly & disgusting)

Meanwhile, I'll be off on a vacation. Pre-Holy Week thing as appetizer to a bigger one on Holy Week itself (Ya, I know, a little weird, but what the heck, I do love my vacations).  It has been very hectic in this blog so we need to recharge (now, I use my blog as an excuse). Forgive me but I will close the comments in this one, I might not have time to participate (I'm really enjoying the interaction, I have intelligent readers & I enjoy mind sword plays with intelligent people).  But I want everybody to recharge too. We have more hot issues in the backburner waiting for our "intellectual" comments.

THE PROMISE/PANGAKO SA YO returns to African screens via Televista Nigeria

Already, there are outstanding local support infrastructure to Pinoy showbiz in many parts of the world. I use them as frontline sources in my research for this blog. Though I dig as deep to the broadcast stations themselves to get the facts & scan regularly the local blogoshere to detect the trends. I love doing it, I consider it as just a web offshoot of my love for travel, places & languages.

In Africa, you can not go wrong with Africa Fans of Philippine Teleserye. Curiously, it has better Pinoy showbiz coverage than most Pinoy showbiz blogs that I actually  learn from it what I know most about Pinoy stars (The blogger regularly comments in our blog too, btw). I got the picture below  from this site.

The Promise has been shown in almost the whole of Subsaharan Africa last year. Televista is a Nigerian broadcast station that regularly releases teleserye reruns.

HẸN ƯỚC TÌNH YÊU/PANGAKO SA YO finally shown on Vietnam TodayTV

Outside the Philippines, the top Pinoy young loveteam, Kathniel of Daniel Padilla & Kathryn Bernardo, is probably biggest in Vietnam. It's a big wonder then why their early 2016 hit Pangako Sa Yo arrived there later than in most countries. After travelling the world, from Central Asia to Africa to Latin America, it is finally being shown in the rest of Southeast Asia- after Myanmar,  it just recently  reached the top 5 in the ratings charts of Indonesia. Now finally, Vietnam. I can just imagine the excitement in the vast Kathniel fan infrastructure in our neighbor.

KATHNIEL MOVIE TEASER/ THEME SONG: Daniel Padilla sings CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU

KAULAH TAKDIRKO/GOT 2 BELIEVE on March 2 on MNCTV Indonesia

So MNCTV Indonesia is showing another Pinoy teleserye, the 2013 Kathniel teleserye Got 2 Believe, given a new Bahasa title for the Indonesia run. The first Kathniel teleserye in Indonesia, Pangako Sa Yo/Janjiku, reached the Number 5 position in the Indonesian TV Ratings chart, but the other teleseryes imported into Indonesia didn't fare as well, with 3 of the latest 4 ABS-CBN teleserye imports, all big Philipine hits in the Kantar chart, having been pulled out almost immediately.

 There's a little suspense here therefore- with the way MNCTV has been hacking Pinoy teleseryes after a few days, it's a bit curious how this one will fare out.

LAGU-LAGU CINTA DARI "PANGAKO SA 'YO/JANJIKU"; Las canciones de amor de "La Promesa"

With the successful showing of Pangako Sa 'Yo / Janjiku in Indonesia, there was an unprecedented interest among the new Indonesian fans on the songs used in the soundtrack of the teleserye.  To make it easier for them, we decided to provide them all in a single page.

 In the start of 2017, our 3 biggest readers are, beside the Pinoys,  the Indonesians & Peruvians which dislodged the Kenyans from their seemingly  almost permanent third place (I just hope this is a sign La Promesa is finally picking up in Peru, just like how Janjiku picked up  in the homestretch in Indonesia).


Angeline Quinto- Nag-iisa Lang (Hanya Sato Saja/ Solo uno)

Vina Morales - Pangako Sa Yo (Janji Pada Mu/ Te lo prometo)


Daniel Padilla - Pangako Sa 'Yo
  

Juris Fernandez - Panaginip (Mimpi/ Sueño)

Meanwhile in MYANMAR: PANGAKO SA'YO, ON THE WINGS OF LOVE & THE STORY OF US showing at SKYNET International Drama, DOBLE KARA & DOLCE AMORE next shortly

This blogger prides in his being a polyglot- I actually speak many languages (& love learning them) so it was easy for me (mostly, even without Google Translate) to monitor the achievements of the resurgent Pinoy stars in many parts of the world, especially that I was fluent in the languages where they were at their hottest- Russian in Central Asia, Malay/Bahasa in the southern portion of Southeast Asia, Spanish in Latin America, etc. But a strange script could hamper our style at times. I am actually fascinated with Myanmar, I've read about it many times- in English. But the more complicated curlicues (compared with Thai & Cambodian) proved to be a barrier in making us aware of the strong prescence of Pinoy showbiz in the area. The strong Facebook membership of Myanmar  groups have always been a puzzle- now we know why. They have been watching Pinoy teleseryes- and they were getting the latest.

Thanks to Jay Marque  for the tip.

HOT KATHNIEL IN INDONESIA: BARCELONA, A Love Untold, Got 2 Believe & CRAZY BEAUTIFUL YOU soon on MNCTV Indonesia

Well, as if we needed stronger proof to believe that Kathryn Bernardo & Daniel Padilla have touched the heart of Indonesians. After the success of Pangako Sa'Yo, MNCTV Indonesia just announced they were releasing 2 films, Barcelona, Love Untold & Crazy Beautiful You, & a teleserye, Got 2 Believe, soon.

PANGAKO SA'YO/ JANJIKU is showing on MNCTV Indonesia

Pangako Sa Yo/ The Promise/La Promesa has just got another title: Janjiku.

From Africa to Central Asia to South America, now it is finally shown in Southeast Asia. It is being shown at 20:30 WIB, just ahead of another Pinoy teleserye, On The Wings of Love. Nice to know they were well-accepted. They have become a staple of the Indonesian social media.

The Pinoy loveteams have just started to spread their wings in the region. LizQuen next?

KATHNIEL MOVIE PREMIERE IN VIETNAM: "Barcelona, A Love Untold"

Finally, the right moves are being made. The hot Pinoy stars are starting to touch base with their international fans.

The recent hit of the Kathniel loveteam composed of Kathryn Bernardo & Daniel Padilla, Barcelona, A Love Untold was recently shown in Vietnam & the Pinoy top stars graced the occasion. It's about time Pinoys embrace the happy fact that they actually already have a thriving international audience and they should cultivate it.

The folowing video was made by the Kathniel Vietnamese Fans Club which they posted in Youtube.

Never-ending Masochism of Pinoys: At Least ... KATHNIEL has a new teleserye LA LUNA SANGRE

Well, I have been on vacation & the news of the upcoming TV shows of ABS-CBN I got to know only now. Nobody among my friends bothered to email them to me, now I know why.

First the good news, Kathniel will have a new teleserye. I got the trailer below. Nice title btw.

The bad news, Abs-Cbn is trying to revive the careers in the Philippines of the washed-up Koreans the sponsors of whom have sabotaged its stars in many parts of the world as documented in this blog. The most recent was in Peru (read at Tales of SABOTAGE in the sidebar). It's obvious there are Western footprints behind the Koreans who want the latter to be the dominant pop cultural force in these parts as a resurgent China and East Asia become the focus of the world. But it's also obvious that after a decade, the Koreans were already a spent force here. Their kpop is not popular, their drama series don't rate. Their only claim was one hit film recently among a bunch of flops (The Thais had a hit here in Shutter & the Japanese had the The Ring & the rest of the genre so that doesn't mean a thing). The only saving grace is the alleged big online hits of Korean shows from the Philippines- but that is not even a proof the Filipinos were watching. We have more than a 100,000 Korean migrants & nearly 800,000 Korean tourists and all these would be watching online for shows from their homeland because that is how nationalistic they are.

So why would Abs-Cbn be promoting Korean shows now & be part of the propaganda machine propping up the myth of the Korean wave? Can the upsurge of GMA shows in the ratings be giving it cold feet (Encantadia & Alyas Robin Hood are lording over the ratings)? Its usual strategy to deny the other its strength like recruiting the big stars of the latter has now been reduced to competing with GMA in its usual fallback to snap alleged big hits in Korea which turned out to be flops here anyway? If the previous alleged big hits in Korea didn't rate here before, why promote other alleged big hits now?  Is it worth feeding the inferiority complex and masochism of Pinoys just to revive spent foreign competitors just because one is having cold feet due to stronger local competition?

Lol!

LA PROMESA Capitulo 3: Staking Virtually Virgin Territory

For more than a week now, the Peruvians were the biggest readers of the blog. They were searching for "La Promesa serie filipina" or "... novela filipina". When the teleserye was first shown at Panamericana TV in Peru on September 22, our Peruvian readers were only still searching for news about "Puentes de Amor", the first teleserye shown there. It seemed nobody there was aware that a new Pinoy teleserye "La Promesa" was already showing.

The Latin American distributor, 7A Media, posted the first 3 episodes on Youtube about a week ago, together with a few press releases, & that apparently made the people finally aware. We're featuring the third one to support promotions.

Also noticeable was the lack of video clips of the teleserye in the usual telenovela sites which featured Puentes de amor promptly before, a first for an Asian drama (Korean dramas are featured in Asian-only pirate sites which apparently are their own propaganda outlets- however, the Koreans still have dwelt in the bottom of the Peruvian TV ratings for a decade up to now despite the special propaganda sites, confirming the actual resistance of the market to them). The Spanish-speaking telenovela sites led to the upward ascent in the awareness scale of the first teleserye to be shown in Latin America which lifted its ratings later on, confirming the market is receptive to teleserye if properly cultivated. Pinoy teleseryes are still a novelty in Latin America, as proved by the initial low ratings of La Promesa. Protection of copyrights might not be wise when one is still virtually an unknown in an area. We still need to pump prime awareness in virgin territories, more now that we are already aware of a fierce regional competitor which tries to sabotage in so many ways.

"La Promesa" Capitulo 2: How To Silently Show A Teleserye

A sign that it was barely publicized, it is only now that the Peruvians have started arriving to the blog searching for "La Promesa serie filipina". For the last two days, the Peruvians have been the biggest readers of this blog. It started when the Latin American distributor released a few press releases   and posted a few episodes (at least 3) on Youtube five days ago. The dearth of publicity around the showing of the teleserye on September 22 from the usual outlets that release publicity materials from the Panamericana station of Peru was puzzling.

It should be remembered that when the first teaser of the teleserye was first shown just after the end of showing of  Pinoy teleserye "Puentes de amor" a few months ago, the alleged "avid fans" of the perennially low-rating South Korean dramas protested and for strange reason, bashed Pinoy teleseryes. The Peruvian authorities probably are still not aware of the usual modus operandi of the alleged South Korean "fans" in other countries where they also have low-ratings, like the Philippines, where they hold manufactured noise to pretend a  fandom to exert pressure. My professor friend suspected the usual Panamericana outlets were subsequently stymied in publicizing "La Promesa" online because they apparently avoided the noisy pseudo-trolls. The initial copious publicity became scarce, especially that the teleserye's showing  had to be delayed because of the slow dubbing into Spanish. When it was time to show, I myself only became aware of its showing not from the usual publicity outlets used by the station but from a passing comment in a Peruvian forum.

There is another "La Promesa" series from Colombia, so that if one googles the title of the series, the one from Colombia is often returned. One has to emphasize it was the "serie filipina".

"La Promesa" Capitulo 1: Pilot Episode in Spanish

For those who are curious how the pilot episode of Pangako Sa Yo/La Promesa looks in Spanish. It is shown at 6 PM local time in the Peruvian station Panamericana TV.

Aqui esta el primero capitulo de la telenovela filipina La Promesa que actualmente se estrena en Peru.

INTERNATIONAL KATHNIEL: Viet Subtitles of a Kathniel' Date Night video... Plus Iceland Memories

The country's top young loveteam, Kathniel, composed of Kathryn Bernardo & Daniel Padilla, was awarded the Face of the Year  for 2016 in Vietnam. Below is a Viet sub of one of their cute clips.


They recently did a magazine photoshoot in Iceland.

Meanwhile, five days ago, their latest film, BARCELONA A Love Untold" (filmed in... where else, Barcelona, Spain) reached PHP 200 million in the box-office in 12 days (not including international sales).

"BARCELONA A Love Untold": Trailer with Vietnamese Subtitles

The latest film of the Kathniel loveteam composed of Kathryn Bernardo & Daniel Padilla is a certified blockbuster hit, reportedly earning PHP 130 million in its first 5 days. It has already started its international run in many countries, though there are still no reports that the film will be shown in Vietnam. Last year, Kathniel won the Foreign Stars of the Year Award in Vietnam, and their Vietnamese fans are actually very active in the social media. In fact, proof of their eagerness, these Kathniel fans have already subtitled all on their own the trailer of the movie.