It's time to take a trip back memory lane now with ABiaS-CBN, isn't it? What are your fond memories of the dysfunctional TV station that's now off the air but not yet out the Internet and Cable TV? ABiaS-CBN was pretty much contributing to the culture of dysfunction since the 1990s? ABiaS-CBN was an immensely popular station. It was said to be "In the Service of the Filipino". I could remember how there was that GMA-7 vs. ABiaS-CBN debate. In my case, I started to shy away from it in college. Though ABiaS-CBN was also a network that aired some of my favorite cartoon shows like Conan the Adventurer, X-Men: The Animated Series, Batman: The Animated Series, and others which I won't list all of them. Then I remembered how Sky Cable was the craze because of ABiaS-CBN's popularity. There was also the now-extinct i-Channel which presented a lot of shows I enjoyed better than that of Cartoon Network Philippines. Then the late 90s started kicking in with the teleserye craze - series that seemed to never end at all!
I could talk about what I experienced from high school until I finished college. One of my high school teachers angrily said, "Why don't you let the staff at ABiaS-CBN help you if you fail?" It's because a lot of students were too busy watching the daily teleserye airing than studying their lessons. I remembered how often the air was filled with people talking about Mula Sa Puso and Esperanza during the 1990s. In college, I had a groupmate who refused to show up during evening meetings and do her part during the graduating year. Her excuse? I remembered phoning her with the limited load my parents allowed me to have per month. We were looking all over for her. By the time she answered - all she did was put her cellphone near the television to "inform" us that Deal or No Deal starring Kris Aquino had just started. There was also the craze of this and that teleserye. That same classmate of mine obsessed with Kris was also obsessed with teleseryes. For her, missing those teleseryes was missing a huge part of her life. She acted as if the celebrities of ABiaS-CBN knew her. She was supposed to graduate ahead of me but she didn't. She probably wasted too much of her time watching all her nonsense teleseryes than finishing on time. For her, watching the latest episode Deal or No Deal or whatever teleserye was going on like it'd never end meant more to her than passing her subjects. Do you ever wonder why the Philippines hardly progresses because there are more simple-minded Filipinos than those who aren't?
One of the biggest milestones of ABiaS-CBN's culture of dysfunction was Kris' shows herself. Kris herself was on the spotlight since the 90s. There was the Kris Aquino Show - way before she lost her relevance. Whether it was high school or college - I remembered how I was treated like some subjective idiot because I didn't watch any shows. I didn't make it a secret that I hated Kris with a passion one way or another. I remembered a bad girl I once courted rejected me also because of her love for Kris. Kris' spotlights here and there? Please, Kris is a weapon of mass distraction from the real-life issues that we've got to face. I even dared any show hosted by Kris to be an opium of the Filipino masses. Is it me or did many Filipinos really love her that much before? That same lady classmate of mine in college even purposely skipped certain days of the practicum when she felt Kris' marriage with her ex-husband James Yap could end in the late 2000s. Her worst fears happened in the 2010s when Kris and James finally had their divorce. A lot of her spotlights also included her various fights which really got so irritating to listen to. I didn't even bother to get the details of Kris' fight with Rufa Guiterrez. If I wrote a novel about it - I think it'd be a blockbuster failure! I think her overexposure became her undoing. I think blind Duterte fanatics need to thank Noynoy Aquino for inadvertently ruining Kris herself.
Another would the dysfunctional culture of teleseryes. Is it me or are teleseryes really that shallow? I remembered how there was their daily airing. Who can't forget that Mula Sa Puso that is the 1990s version had 500+ episodes? Who can't forget all those stupid teleseryes and how they might beat the anaconda's length with how long they are? They were aired daily. I even had a weird theory that TV stations purposely aired them daily so students will stop studying, they keep failing, and the masses will get used to a culture of mediocrity. People are very easy to control when they're poor. There's also ABiaS-CBN's rather endless poorly-used plot materials. Who can remember how teleseryes focused on adultery tend to over-focus on the adultery rather than the reconciliation? How often do you think family privacy is compromised because somebody's extramarital affair leaked out because of one's big mouth? I guess that's why teleseryes, where adultery is the plot, tend to extend that much. The longer the series means the more room for gossip, right? You might as well consider the whole rich vs. poor plot is also popular. How often is woke social justice that popular? Some people just love the rich vs. poor plot because they think they're entitled to what the rich have. Ironic really how ABiaS-CBN is a network run by rich people, right? In short, teleseryes were so focused with simpleminded stupidity that makes their viewers think they're so manly when they aren't.
However, this wasn't going to last long as their decades-long rule was crumbling in the face of modernization and evolution. Consider the digital age was already at hand some years ago and innovating to fit it is a big must. Personally, I do feel that perhaps the move against the ZTE Broadband deal during Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's time was perhaps a move to keep ABiaS-CBN in power. Economic protectionism itself is enforced because it keeps the oligarchs in power. They felt like they were entitled to the digital age. ABS-CBN even sued KissAsian and the free to broadcast site lost. The site is still on but I think there was a much bigger motive behind it. Was it because more people aren't watching their teleseryes that were aired there? I can't say but it seems to be the case. Later on, the digital age brought us Internet TV. Consider how there's Netflix and i-Flix. Even if ABiaS-CBN would have some of their programs on those channels but did any of their shows make it to the top ten? Erik Matti ended up whining about how our local entertainment is dying. Back in 2013, there was the fortunately failed proposal to remove Filipinos' rights from bringing media from abroad. They couldn't stop it as teleseryes just couldn't compete because they refused to evolve. Them wanting to pass such a ridiculous bill last 2013 proved how much the Philippines lives with a loser mindset, right?
Right now, I even wonder about the priority of ABiaS-CBN celebrities in this COVID-19 crisis. Since when did the free-to-air government franchise revocation mean that ABiaS-CBN is closed down. 11,000 employees or even 11 million employees? Manila Times reported that ABiaS-CBN supposedly only has around 4,000+ employees! Are the stars really caring about the employees under them or just their careers? Coconuts Martin apparently still has much money. Also, even without a franchise, ABiaS-CBN can still run movies and web series. They can still use Netflix or i-Flix for their teleseryes. The whole problem of ABiaS-CBN's dysfunction eventually resulted into a massive failure of mind for both the network and its supporters. It's because ABiaS-CBN in itself was already a massive failure of its own mind, to begin with, right?
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