Eight Ways Teleseryes Make Their Viewers Really Stupid One Way Or Another

It's time to talk about how teleseryes are making people who watch them stupid. I got the idea from 8list on eight reasons why Pinoy teleseryes suck. Here's my eight reasons of how teleseryes are making their viewers really stupid.


Teaching the "Pwede Na Yan" mindset with their overly mediocre shows

The way teleseryes go is pretty much built on the Pwede Na Yan mindset. Bad special effects, bad acting, bad writing, poor pacing... basta may palabas tayo pwede na yan or in English "As long as we have something to show that will do." The fact that they do their shows at a daily basis in contrast to a weekly basis is something to think about. This means there's less time to check on quality and they could care less how bad the show is as long as WTF let's show it to the people everyone. Worse, there's a lot of overextension. I could still remember how a lot of teleseryes go on and on and there's no real plot.

Based on my personal experience Filipinos I know use Pwede Na Yan as their mantra also love teleseryes while Filipinos I know who pursue for the better hate teleseryes. It was pretty much like how one classmate of mine told my accounting professor she didn't do her required homework because she was too busy watching "Basta't Kasama Kita" or any of those teleseryes from either ABiaS-CBN or GMA-7. The professor replied that although she watches Korean dramas but she puts her work first. I guess teleseryes teach us to have the wrong priorities or am I just jumping into hasty conclusions here?


Promoting the victim card mentality through their protagonists 

What I like a lot about Chinese, Taiwanese, South Korean and Japanese drama is that men are taught to be men and women are taught to be women. There's nothing womanly about a woman who always plays the victim. It's crazy how some Filipino men think they're so manly but they enjoy playing the victim whenever it's convenient. They talk tough and will play dirty just to win. It's a really huge problem that teleseryes have is that they love to promote the victim card mentality one way or another.

So how is the victim card played straight in teleseryes? It's always the whole "rich is evil and poor is good" plot. Ironic isn't it that the networks that produce these sh*tty shows are controlled by the rich oligarchs while those watching these shows supposedly hate the rich? Many times, the poor protagonist is a lazy bum who's oppressed by rich employers. Some of them also be scenes showing of how much Filipinos are "oppressed" and they may tell you that foreigners are evil never mind that their shows are filmed with foreign-made equipment.


The overacting in these shows teach people it's okay to talk like that in real life

Also, one of the reasons why I hate Pinoy teleseryes is because they really love to do the whole "theater stage" conversation style. Everyone there seems to be shouting and enunciating every syllable which gets really annoying. I remembered one reason why I hate teleseryes is their love for the shouting and screaming just for the sake of it. Yes it's art but not all art is worth praising. I guess that's the kind of behavior that teleseryes want to normalize huh?

Speaking of normalizing such behavior I noticed how often some people I know who enjoy telebasuras love to talk the way telebasura viewers do. If it's already annoying enough on television then how much more if we take it to real life? I'm not a bit surprised when I meet Kristards who talk a lot like that. They love to do their overacting talk like the way teleserye characters do it. Worse, they love being so dramatic. I guess it's already becoming "acceptable" to Filipino society to talk like teleserye characters whenever they feel like they're oppressed huh?


Making the protagonists invincible in some teleseryes may make you fear nothing because you know nothing

Whenever it's time for Antonio Trillanes IV to pull off a stunt I ask myself whether or not he's also watching teleseryes with his wife and children during his spare time. In teleseryes there's the stupid trend of making the protagonist somewhat "invincible" so they're supposedly more "manly" than the protagonists of Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese and South Korean TV drama or Tokusatsu superheroes who can be sometimes seen getting hurt or even hospitalized. By showing how heroes can even get hurt also shows that you can also be hurt. Some shows even let the protagonists die just so they could show how life isn't all fun and games.

It's stupid to show "invincible" protagonists to "lift up" the Filipino spirit in contrast to heroes who really get hurt and get up from that hurt. The idea of the "invincible protagonist" may also be another reason why some Filipinos think that they're the greatest race in the world. Propaganda does wonders in promoting racist ideals and I think teleseryes are putting old school methods to the dust bin. Who needs arousing speeches from racist dictators of old when you have teleseryes to influence such stupidity? Not to mention some people are too daring for their own good like they would do dangerous stuff without being prepared. I guess these teleseryes have created a generation full of people who fear nothing because they know nothing. One has to be very stupid to either fear everything or fear nothing at all.


Teaching people to have no sense of shame while being so onion-skinned at the same time

Before Leni Robredo got her questionable position we already have the problem of people who have thick faces and thin skins at the same time. There's hardly any sense of shame like they would do stuff like gate-crashing or even daring to defy authority in one way or another. If there's no Robredo Facial Cream then we have teleseryes that are teaching its viewers to have thick faces which in turn gives them very thin skins at the same time.

What I observed is that it's already very normal to teach that it's okay to have a rebellious behavior in teleseryes. It's already a cliche shown in teleseryes how we have the rich daughter who follows her heart for the worse and tries to run off with her poor boyfriend who's not even husband material because he doesn't work and has a lot of vices. Both parties tend to have a very thick face. The rich girl defies her father's expectations to marry a proper man. The unworthy suitor has a thick face by saying "love is all that matters" never mind that the two may starve to death because of their stupidity. While parents shouldn't meddle too much but children shouldn't be encouraged to rebel either.


Putting stereotypes in rich people makes people think the more you have the richer you are

It's no secret that overspending is one of the most common problems that plague Filipino society. I guess this is encouraged by how rich people are often portrayed in teleseryes. They always have the expensive cars, huge houses, always wearing a tuxedo and they live glamorous lives. I think it's even a common scene in these teleseryes where you have someone say that so and so is already rich because they were able to drive an expensive car.

I don't deny that there are rich people who have expensive cars or have glamorous lives but that alone is not an indicator. Some rich people may not be that glamorous. The same person who drives a Mercedes Benz or a BMW can also be seen happily riding public transportation in t-shirt, short pants and tsinelas. The same rich landlord who goes to expensive parties of his choice may be collecting rent from tenants wearing t-shirt, short pants and tsinelas. On the other hand many people who brag a lot how "rich" they are may already be in deep trouble with the banks.


Eye candy over good plots is a common problem

Palyang Robin Hood from GMA-7 is full of eye candy. The Better Half has Shaina Magdayao as its leading lady. I don't deny that I find Shaina to be that attractive. I don't deny that the girls in Palyang Robin Hood are attractive. I don't dare deny that I find Rhian Ramos Howell attractive. But I guess these viewers think that beauty is enough to cover up for all the problems of their really horrible teleseryes. Heck, Shaina's done some provocative scenes and the first episode of The Better Half already shows her to be pretty daring and the scene got approved by MTRCB. Oh should I mention how often ABiaS-CBN and GMA-7 likes putting sexy scenes just to get ratings? I couldn't forget the whole Angel Locsin Colmenares vs. Marian Rivera-Dantes showdown last decade.

There's really one problem though. I could probably do a bit of comparison of eye candy between quality shows and super garbage shows. I could use Shaina and pit her against the Korean actress Suzy Bae. I don't deny that I find Suzy to be very attractive. But what's the difference between Suzy and Shaina? It's not about their looks but the substance of the shows they're in. Suzy plays really gutsy characters while Shaina keeps playing pitiful characters. Suzy is given really good scripts and Shaina keeps having bad scripts. While I do find Shaina more attractive than Suzy but I'd watch the latter's shows. No amount of eye candy can save a bad show though it's stupid how eye candy could get a good show appreciated for really stupid reasons. Just think of somebody who severely criticizes Shaina's projects while missing the point a million times over to why Suzy's shows are a must watch.


Not to mention a warped sense of nationalism may have been instilled

It became World War 3 between me and some people when Taiwanovelas came in. I remembered how I argued how pathetic teleseryes were in contrast to what Chinese drama, Taiwanese drama, South Korean drama and Japanese drama have to offer. It's funny how those who view their stupid shows in the name of "nationalism" are calling them as "baduy" or "uncool" never mind their shows are so sh*tty. What's funny is that there are just too many times that it's the the pot is calling the kettle black. They really end up accusing others of what they're guilty of. It's like how often it's easy to accuse someone of being a racist while you're the one who's the racist or you're also as racist as the other person.

If they want to use the nationalism argument then I would like to ask them on whether or not their favorite teleseryes were filmed without the use of imported equipment. Maybe they're badmouthing Japanese entertainment and hate it all because they're still crying about how Imperial Japan invaded the Philippines last World War 2 even if the empire has long been dead. Japanese electronic companies are responsible a lot of stuff we enjoy today. I thank Japanese electronic companies to why there's a lot of stuff I can enjoy with electronics from Sony and Toshiba. I don't think Samsung would have existed if it wasn't for the Japanese electronic revolution. It would be funny to scream nationalism all the while they're watching their favorite teleserye on a Sony TV and Japanese equipment was used to film them at the same time. Oh should I mention that a lot of these products are probably assembled in China at the same time?
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I guess that's why ABiaS-CBN and GMA-7 are desperate to stay relevant in one way or another. It's already getting clearer that Internet TV is now a threat to oligarchy. If and if the economy were opened then just imagine if Filipinos will have better things to watch. Maybe watching those TV drama better than teleseryes are making men out of Filipino men and women out of Filipino women. It's making people see just how much garbage they're swallowing.

What's the solution of these crappy TV networks to make sure their teleseryes still dominate the air? I think the strategy has been to usually show the Asianovelas at a late night schedule with crappy dubbing. They could show all the teleseryes and more teleseryes during the evening and you have to wait until late at night to watch the Asianovelas that do better. This in turn still gets people to watch teleseryes before they can watch quality shows. They may be just using foreign entertainment to keep them running if their teleseryes aren't doing well. But even if they don't show the better shows at late night but you can't deny how often a flood of teleseryes dilutes the effects of the better shows. Talk about these TV stations are feed 1% nutritious food and 99% junk food to their audience with what they do.

Again, just how many people can really afford to watch good shows that break them out of their stupidity? Only a few. Most people today are so poor that they're forced to bow down before the oligarch networks. Fortunately, there are some Filipinos are striving to get out of poverty and in turn they cold start educating people about how teleseryes are making their viewers really stupid. Hopefully this post is overfeeding those who keep promoting their teleseryes and offend them to the point where they're too butthurt to think properly.