PINOY TV AT IT'S BEST

Lately I've been stuck at home watching mostly Filipino made shows. And I noticed that they've really been more creative. Gone were the days where a telenovela is about lovers who's against the world, nor about long lost children who's being maltreated by their stepmother or the devil. I miss those shows. I miss Cinderella stories.

Now, when you surf to the big 2 channels, you'll see Philippine franchises of foreign game shows, fantasy series which defies logic (negatively). You see the same stars practically doing the same thing only with a different name (and sometimes a different costume, like fish tail perhaps). I think it's better if I put down my general observations of Philippine tv in bullet points.

• Only in the Philippines do you get a talent/star search disguised as a reality tv show (Pinoy Big Brother!!!). I bet Survivor Philippines will be like that as well. I bet Survivor Philippines will have it's own love team too.
• You know you're watching a Pinoy show when towards the end of the series the leading lady gets kidnapped.
• One more thing, Filipino-made television show often if not always involve a missing son/daughter/grandchild/nephew/niece/godchild of a wealthy parent/grandparent/uncle/aunt or godparent.
• A plot point for any comedy show is about a character assuming something for the truth. I don't know if it makes any sense at all.
• Ahh, this one I find funny, so I was watching the ending of Palos the other night, and the villain was shot by an armalite several times, but still he got to say a minute worth of dialogue. Only in the PHilippines. Maybe the guy's wearing anting-anting or something.
• Maids are actually precious on Philippine television as they're mostly smarter than the lead characters, or they're the only ones who know the whole truth about the family they're serving.
• Only in Pinoy tv do you see a gameshow pulling out audience members to participate in a game only to ask them to lose (I'm talking about you Willie Revillame!!!). I hate that they do that. ONe day, I'll write a whole entry about how that irks me.
• One more thing about game shows, they offer to help out the needy, but most of the players in their shows are actors/actresses. And they still ask people to text them so that they'll be able to play as studio contestants. I mean WTF?!!! I've texted Game Ka Na Ba and Wheel of Fortune like a hundred times already, and not once have I ever been called nor texted to join.
• Oh yes, only here do you see contestants who claim to be poor, cry a lot on television, and when the host asks them what their talent is, they'll dance the macarena the liveliest that they can.
• Going back to telenovelas, only here in the Philippines do you see the villains to be more popular than the heroes/heroines. Oftentimes they're being chased by old ladies swinging their umbrellas.

I know there's more. A lot more about Philippine television. Even Bob Ong had a lengthy topic written about that on one of his books. DVD's of the latest series in the US can't come too soon. Sigh.