Trends in Philippine TV

There is a trend going on these days in Philippine television drama (or teleserye) segment; and that is the creation of Pinoy versions of Mexican and Korean TV series. Marimar was first adopted by GMA with Marian Rivera as the main star. Well, according to some credible surveys, the program went high with substantial ratings. ABS-CBN followed with real Pinoy version of the Korean chic TV series, My Girl. I would have to say that the program is quite good in transforming the whole story with Pinoy Culture Flavor. Now, recently released is the Regine Velasquez’s version of Kim Sam Soon. My sister and I watched the pilot episode and man, Regine was really funny. There are just some glitch in making her a little too fat than the original persona of Kim Sam Soon. Also, it’s so obvious that the makers of the series are just adding up flowery pigments for the purpose of prolonging the program because it is so evident during the airing that advertisements are flowing on the airtime. We can all recall that Regine Velasquez also made a buzz when she planned to transfer in ABS-CBN.

Supposedly, she will play the role of Beatriz in the Philippine franchise of Betty la Fea to be produced and aired by ABS-CBN. Of course, GMA wouldn’t want to lose the flagship star of their network, so look at just how Regine is currently joggling so many programs ( SOP, The Song Bird Sings and Ako si Kim Sam Soon) for GMA. The Beatriz role will be played by Bea Alonzo. Now, this is my opinion; Bea Alonzo is an over rated, inconsistent actress, but I am hoping so high that she will play the role well.

Another trend in Philippine TV nowadays is the adaptation or franchising of American TV shows. In GMA, Pinoy Idol, Kakasa ka bas a Grade 5?, Celebrity Duets and the soon to be seen Survivor, are all Philippine franchise domains of Fremantle media. ABS-CBN first who set this trend is prolific in bringing Pinoy Big Brother, Pinoy Dream Academy, Deal or No Deal? Wheel of Fortune, The Singing Bee and the soon to be aired Fear Factor in South America here in the Pinoy earthly land. These shows are all original productions of Endemol. And did I just say original? Now, where is our originality in all of these? Do we continue to feed from the idea of people from foreign lands? We keep on saying that we are different. Maybe now is the right time to prove that. Maybe, we are just good with words but we are best as copycats.

I believe that Pinoy original shows are still worth watching (well, at least some); like ABS-CBN’s Game ka na ba? and Q TV’s Hired. These show are worth an hour or two of our electricity consumption.