Making It Fun in the Philippines

Surprise or not? I wrote an article discussing how Taskforce Firewall hasn't learned its lesson . Right now, to no surprise, I found out that Taskforce Firewall has introduced the EXTENDED ADULTERY PLOT. Yes, it turns out that Isa's husband Martin (Luis Hontiveros) has been having a secret affair with Leila (Cheska Fausto). In fact, it was in EPISODE 26 and it's now an ONGOING PLOT that Martin has been cheating behind Leila's back. Taskforce Firewall is SUPPOSED to be about cracking down CYBERCRIME. Instead, we have Isa who's husband is cheating on her as the current ongoing plot. It was already BAD ENOUGH that there's too many fillers during Isa's introduction. Now, we must face the adultery part of the series with unnecessary fillers. It's like reading through an infidelity report that describes the hours that happened during the day, or during the week, creating an absurdly long case that a lawyer might vomit reading it. A typical TV drama has time sk...

Personally, I don't watch TV anymore, compared to using the TV set to view YouTube videos or digital subscriptions. It's crazy, but ABS-CBN and GMA-7 still follow the TELESERYE AHEM TELEBASURA FORMULA. It's quite inexcusable because if you look at GMA-7's foreign programming schedule -- they certainly HAD a lot ot learn from. For example: The 2000s had GMA-7 air IRIS  and Love Story in Harvard (which actually HAD legal drama in it) for a start. GMA-7 competing with ABS-CBN meant it would air other K-Drama crime shows, like Innocent Defendant (a very grim frame-up drama), Yong Pal, Suspicious Partner, and One Ordinary Day later on in its K-Drama lineup.  In short, GMA-7 had a lot of TEMPLATES to follow from. GMA-7 could've actually started restructuring stuff. Taskforce Firewall's premise is interesting because the problem is COMMON in the Philippines. The pedophilic cybersex den where foreigners predate on preteen girls is a REALITY. However, we end up spending ...

This was something I wish I had noticed. Instead, it slipped by me as I've been more into Korean stuff. Right now, I thought about viral actress Zhang Yingfei . I don't watch microdramas myself. Yingfei was starring in a microdrama called The Genius Heiress . Yes, the show's gone viral in the Philippines despite tensions with Emperor Xi Jinping. It's noteworty to even joke that Yingfei might be Alice Guo despite the blatant differences. Yingfei just turned 22 this year on June 13, 2026.  It's hard not to throw the comparisons between Yingfei and the now-convicted fraudster Alice Guo aka Guo Huaping.  GMA Entertainment The 22-year-old actress definitely has a slim build vs. Alice. Alice was rather chubby. Also, one may notice her face is actually narrower than Alice's. It just happens that she has some resemblances to Alice despite their age gap. Alice Guo was born on August 31, 1990. That means she's actually 14 years younger than Alice! But somehow, I don...

There's always the call of crybabies like, "WAH! PROTECT PELEPENO PRAYD FROM KOMPETISYON!" I'd say F*** THAT because we're seeing some collaborations between Filipino entertainers. In fact, Filipino entertainment has already created some collaborations like Andy Lau and Sharon Cuneta (In Your Eyes), as well as Jacky Cheung (whose wife got involved in a maid firing scandal) with Regine Velasquez-Alcasid. Regine also sang with Remus Choy of the Grasshoppers.  Now, we're meeting Jolin Tsai (also called JOLIN) with a collaboration with SB19 . Here's some excerpt from ABiaS-CBN: Beyond the concept, JOLIN also highlighted the warmth she felt while working with the P-Pop Kings, expressing appreciation especially for Ken.   “Thank you, boys, for always bringing so much energy in person – it truly infects me. Special thanks to Ken, who during production never hesitated to send❤️ to me, giving warm support and feedback. (| hope those expressions behind the screen re...

It's probable Liza Soberano has outgrown her ABiaS-CBN brat days . I normally don't update on her. However, her turn where she actually explores South Korea shows that systems DO shape behavior . A recent incident of apologies to her, about her comment on love teams made me think "She must be growing up." I'd like to throw back to an incident in 2023. Liza also mentioned that the love team culture is toxic as people expect them to be a couple on and off the camera .  In an interview with South Korean singers Ashley Choi and BTOB's Peniel for their "Get Real" podcast, Liza briefly mentioned the controversy that came after her rebranding. Peniel asked if she was OK with talking about it, which led to the discussion about love teams. "We're supposed to be a real couple on and off cam, and we only work with each other for our whole career," Liza said about love teams in the Philippines. She compared it to Hollywood stars like Brad Pitt and...

Is it me or ABiaS-CBN stars may have not truly LEARNED their lesson? After all, it was ABiaS-CBN displayed that MASSIVE FAILURE OF THE MIND even before the Legacy Virus pandemic . Yup, we've got Anne Curtis-Smith -- one of ABiaS-CBN's biggest stars making the outrage on Twitter. There are many things worth agreeing but also some areas where Anne is SADLY MISTAKEN. I wonder if she's aware that her beloved network was also among the loudest,and PROBABLY THE LOUDEST critic when it came to the late Fidel V. Ramos' call for constitutional reform . Now, it's easy to talk well about the late Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) . However, it gets irritating when people say, "Look, hindi nagbibisa yung parliamentary system sa Pilipinas! It's because Marcos was corrupt! It only worked in Singapore because Lee Kuan Yew wasn't corrupt! " If one must believe that the Empire of Marcos was truly "parliamentary" then they failed to read Ninoy Aquino INTO CONTEXT . Ninoy...

It can be easy to condemn South Korean entertainment due to some crazy stuff that happened. It's not like as if the Filipino entertainment atmosphere is SO PURE EITHER! I watched this video of Liza Soberano in South Korea. Some say she resembles half-white, half-Korean actress Nancy McDonnie. I see the resemblance BUT I think she looks closer to Japanese actress Meisa Kuroki -- an actress I said, "Risa Hontivirus ikaw ba yan?"  It's easy to blame the actress over poor performance in teleseryes. However, there are times when OA is basically SCRIPTED OA. I had issues with the way Liza talked during her interview for Trese . Was Liza encouraged to talk in such a way? I found it irritating to the point I actually SKIPPED IT. However, I watched Liza's VLog Liza in Korea and found a much different Liza. It's like, "Risa esta Liza ikaw ba yan?"  It's nice to know that Liza's gone beyond those Legacy Virus Days . It was easy to bash ABiaS-CBN actors ...

PEP It's really that irritating whenever Filipinos have that toxic Penoy Prayd mindset. It's time they ask, "Does Penoy Prayd produce jobs and put food on the table?" The news is that Anne Curtis will get her wax figure  in Madame Tussauds Wax Museum Hong Kong this year. I choose to remain neutral on the issue. However, it can be a constant source of irritation whenever Filipinos scream "PENOY PRAYD!" to Filipinos who are famous abroad. It's because along with the Penoy Prayd is often accompanied by their love for the Failipino First Policy.  It's probably because of that paranoia created that foreign investors are foreign invaders . It may also be rooted in the idealism of creating the Penoy Prayd Empire . They probably think that OFWs are helping them conquer the world . Did Edz Ello conquer Singapore? Did any wayward OFW conquer Singapore? Since when did any countries having OFWs become the new Filipino state? I wonder if Filipinos even think tha...

I don't even know why I bothered watching that ABOMINATION called Voltes V Legacy -- which some joke is called Buntis Faib Legacy. I was surprised to hear that Japan would dub it. However, this detail from Orends Range made me LMAO to huge levels: The official Japanese Voltes V Legacy website announced that the series will finally make its Japanese TV premiere on TOKYO MX this November, but there's a catch. The series, which originally ran for 90 episodes in the Philippines, will have a special Japanese TV cut called "Ultra Electromagnetic Respect TV Version" in which the show's 90 episodes gets boldly re-edited into 20 episodes. Yes, you read it right. Buntis Faib Legacy isn't going to get all of its 90 episodes aired. Instead, Toei would be editing them to become JUST 20 episodes! The show has been slowed down to super painful levels . Watching the love triangle (or square, because Eva lusts after Steve) makes me raise Chojin Sentai Jetman's love polygon...

First, I'd like to say congratulations to Kim Chiu even if I don't like ABiaS-CBN. I still think both the late Noynoy Aquino and former president Rodrigo R. Duterte did the RIGHT THING about the ABiaS-CBN franchise. It's time for that network to STOP GETTING BABIED! It's typical for Filipinos to scream PENOY PRAYD (though Kim Chiu is a Chinese Filipino and some Filipinos are still racist) whenever a Filipino makes it big ABROAD. However, it's also very typical for Filipinos to cry foul whenever talks about allowing foreign investors to own 100% of their SHARES or to treat them like INVADERS. I wouldn't be surprised if some morons think the Philippines is now "invading" South Korea! I wrote about Shaina Garcia Magdayao joining the Busan Festival . Is there anything wrong with that? ABiaS-CBN has every right to join it. However, the problem still exists in ABiaS-CBN's MASSIVE FAILURE OF THE MIND . They should be thankful that Duterte didn't comp...

I normally don't write about teleseryes. Batang Quiapo has become another overextended mess like Ang Probinsyano . Currently, Batang Quiapo has 380+ episodes and it will reach 400 episodes. It might even reach 1,000+ episodes like Coconuts Martin's "hit show" Ang Probinsyano . Kim Domingo's addition to Batang Quiapo as Madonna made me think, "Okay, we're just getting random eye candy, aren't we?" Kim was part of GMA-7. Is she becoming a freelancer or is she going to be part of Kapamilya? I couldn't care less. I don't deny that I find Kim pretty. However, her addition to Batang Quiapo seems like random eye candy to me. It's because of  Batang Quiapo's  pacing. What can you expect when a show has a WEEKNIGHT SCHEDULE and it goes on and on? I can't expect people to have a well-defined plot if they're forced to keep writing without quality control!  Kim's addition reminds me of Shaina Magdayao's addition to Ang Probins...

  It's been more than a year since Buntis Faib Legacy and Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger aired. I decided to write this random post but blogging is just my hobby. I would like to write this wacky post to berate Buntis Faib Legacy even more. I wrote some wacky King-Ohger episode reviews. Quite interestingly, King-Ohger is also the name of the main mecha (or Megazord for Western fans) like Voltes V is the name of the titular robot. Just a note -- there will be some spoilers for those who haven't seen King-Ohger . Meanwhile, I'll put in plenty of spoilers for Buntis Faib Legacy so you don't need to watch that HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE SHOW. King-Ohger was almost like blending in elements of the Heisei era to Reiwa era Kamen Rider into Super Sentai . The bug theme was taken from Kamen Rider -- most Kamen Riders have a bug theme going on while only a few don't. Even the reboot Kamen Rider Kuuga is bug-themed. I could remember GMA-7 airing (and badly dubbing)  Kamen Rider Faiz and Kam...

Last year, I wrote about Shaina Garcia Magdayao going to the Busan International Film Festival. What I missed yesterday was that Shaina herself got chosen to be part of the New York Asia Film Festival at New York .  Filipina actress Shaina Magdayao represented the Philippines at the New York Asia Film Festival (NYAFF) as part of the Uncaged Competition with esteemed jury members. Joining her are Tony Bui (Vietnamese-US director, "Three Seasons"), Shao-yi Chen (Taiwan Screenworks Asia producer, Screenworks Asia), Felix Tsang (Hong Kong’s Golden Scene sales & acquisitions manager), Nonkul Chanon Santinatornkul (Thai star of box office hit "Bad Genius"), and Aliza Ma (Head of Programming, the Criterion Channel). NYAFF also announced that the recipient of this year’s Screen International Star Asia Award will be Nicholas Tse, a Hong Kong actor, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and TV chef. It's very easy to scream Penoy Prayd whenever a Filipino makes it big abro...

The Vizconde Massacre hit on June 30, 1991. I always thought that Hubert Jeffry Webb was guilty. However, after being told that more than 10 years were wasted, I decided to Google and discovered that law and order aren't as simple as they look. Instead, it's a very complex process. After researching and finding the documentary Give Up Tomorrow which focuses on how Paco Larranaga and six others were WRONGFULLY ACCUSED - I researched Hubert's plight. I watched Lawless Lawyer on Netflix during the pandemic and wrote a crazy review .  I never noticed that actress Lee Hye Young (who acted as Jun Pyo's mother in the FAILED Boys Over Flowers ) looks like Atty. Amelita G. Tolentino -- the very same woman who did the Vizconde Massacre trial. I wonder if Hye Young was chosen because she looks like that incorrigible woman. Even more, the people in the fictional location of Kisaeng lived with trial by publicity and a twisted sense of justice, and people discover the HARD WAY that ...

  A few days ago, a news I missed was that Janella Salvador called out the dismissive attitude of Filipinos towards Filipino films . Here's her statement that may make one wary:  "There’s nothing wrong naman with having a preference. Kumbaga, you can watch the films you want, there’s no problem with that. Pero, I think just saying that you have no time for Philippine cinema is too much.  I'd look at this and it seems that Janella herself is actually calling for FILIPINO FIRST POLICY. Better call it FAILIPINO FIRST POLICY. I'm not going to mince words here like she didn't mince words. Sure, she did say that there's nothing wrong with having a preference. However, the part where she says that it's too much to say that one doesn't have time for Philippine cinema. This is where things can be very alarming. I'm reminded of the article by Get Real Support called " Filipinos are not obliged to support local media ". I even wrote an article where ...

One time, Senator Unggoy Estrada nearly got into hot water for his dumb proposal (which he later recanted) namely banning K-Dramas . What teleseryes need is COMPETITION with other TV dramas - not more protectionism. Whether we want to admit it or not - local Philippine TV networks are KEPT ALIVE through badly dubbed imported TV dramas. A recent update is that Vagabond Seaosn 2 will film in the Philippines . I'm either surprised (or not). Suzy Bae has a couple of shows that made it big in the Philippines such as Uncontrollably Fond on GMA-7 and Dream High on ABiaS-CBN. Lee Seung Gi is remembered not just for a couple of K-Dramas such as Shining Inheritance and My Girlfriend is a Gumiho . Seung Gi is also remembered for being Gong Cha's endorser for some time. Many Filipinos probably still remember those shows. A possible cause of the delays was the Legacy Virus pandemic. I could imagine that Koreans were treated like the mutants in the X-Men: The Animated Series "Time Fugit...

During the pandemic, I wrote a blog entry about whether or not Filipino leftist lawmakers will pass a law obliging Filipinos to support lousy local media . Sure, pandemic life was boring but it didn't stop me from writing silly stuff. It was also because of the ABiaS-CBN issue which leftist lawmakers were defending. At that time, Sarah Jane Elgago was still more active as a representative for Kayabangan Partylist. Take note that leftist lawmakers were defending ABiaS-CBN the hardest!  A recent report from North Korea a few days ago made me LMAO and cringe. It's a report where North Korean teens were sentenced to 12 years hard labor by Emperor Kim Jong Un . Their offense? The video was in 2022 but the leak came out a few days ago: BBC reports that the video appeared to be filmed in 2022. The two teenagers can be seen being restrained with handcuffs in front of a large crowd of students at an open-air stadium. K-drama is short for ‘Korean drama’ which pertains to television serie...

  The Asia Artist Awards 2023 was held in the Philippines. I didn't want to write anything until I realized My Demon is currently Top 2 in Netflix Philippines. Sure, Yu Yu Hakusho is nostalgic among Filipinos. However, K-Dramas have been pretty strong in the Asian market thanks to strong market fundamentals. I just hope that Japan will stop being too exclusive and let more of its shows out. Last time, I remembered writing about Lucifer thinking that ABiaS-CBN entertainment is a match for foreign shows . Right now, there are some Pinoy Netflix originals going on and they can be good. However, I'm going to think about it if he's talking about ABiaS-CBN shows with the DEFAULT teleserye formula - he's got to be deluded! I end up thinking that he's having some kind of delusion from within.  I think Lucifer watches K-Drama thinking that he's seeing ABiaS-CBN celebrities instead of the actual celebrities. Right now, I imagine that Lucifer is watching My Demon thinking...