Zorro in the Philippines

GMA7 still triumphantly holds the top spots in the TV ratings for both daytime shows and primetime shows for the week of October 8, 2007. 27 years later, the country's three favorite funny guys, brothers Mr. Vic and Tito Sotto and Mr. de Leon, are still on top with their hit show Eat Bulaga!, the longest running TV show in Philippine history. And Zorro comes slashing his way to the Philippines.

Top 10 programs in daytime and primetime TV for the week of October 8, 2007:

Daytime:
1. Whammy! Push Your Luck (GMA-7) - 23.5%
2. Eat Bulaga! (GMA-7) - 21.9%
3. Kung Mahawi Man ang Ulap (GMA-7) - 19.8%
4. Wowowee (ABS-CBN) - 19.3%
5. Daisy Siete (GMA-7) - 18.8%
6. Kapamilya Deal or No Deal (ABS-CBN) - 18.6%
7. Pasan Ko ang Daigdig (GMA-7) - 18.5%
8. Prinsesa ng Banyera (ABS-CBN) - 16.8%
9. Pilipinas Game KNB? (ABS-CBN) - 16.7%
10. Takeshi's Castle (GMA-7) - 16.3%

Primetime:
1. Marimar (GMA-7) - 36.6%
2. 24 Oras (GMA-7) - 36.2%
3. Zaido (GMA-7) - 34.9%
4. Lastikman (ABS-CBN) / Hwang Ji Ni (GMA-7) - 26.1%
5. Kokey (ABS-CBN) - 24.8%
6. TV Patrol World (ABS-CBN) - 24.3%
7. Jumong (GMA-7) - 24%
8. Pangarap na Bituin (ABS-CBN) - 22.7%
9. Ysabella (ABS-CBN) - 19.8%
10. Natutulog Ba ang Diyos (ABS-CBN) - 15.6%

Source: AGB Nielsen Philippines

Meanwhile, we're really glad that Zorro: La Espada y La Rosa is showing in the Philippines and that the Filipinos can have a chance to enjoy this great telenovela via ABS-CBN, which is more like watching (and living in) a cinematic movie every day spread out for an entire year. Zorro is a historic novela, because it is the most expensive telenovela in history as it is a co-production of Telemundo with RTI and Sony Pictures Television International, and it is also the first telenovela in history to be shot entirely in widescreen HDTV (like a movie or the mainstream shows in the United States), which made it fantastic for us to watch it here in Los Angeles on a widescreen plasma TV. I recorded the entire series DVD-quality via my TiVo, which took up multiple hard drives that I had to buy just to accomodate it along with all the other shows I record. I don't think it's being shown in HDTV in the Philippines because the transition to digital television has just begun there, but the production values of this telenovela are so high, it is indeed like watching a really good movie everyday. Filipinos also get the chance to watch their favorite Gata Salvaje again as Marlene Favela enchants their screens with her beauty everyday.

Marian Rivera Cosmpolitan October 2007

Marian Rivera, the 23-year-old star of GMA7's hit TV series Marimar graces the cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine for the month of October 2007.

Pick up your copy today at your local magazine stand or National Bookstores nationwide!

Marimar Fever returns to the Philippines

I'm very excited that GMA7 has bought the rights to the original Televisa telenovela Marimar starring Thalia and Eduardo Capetillo and created a Filipino version in Tagalog.

I did not like Marimar very much as a novela, I liked Maria la del Barrio better, but it's still an interesting venture, and I've watched the first 5 chapters, and it's done very well. I thought it would be very corny like Kampanerang Kuba was, with corny dance and song numbers, but they followed the script, and it's all acting, and that's good.

I've always liked Marian Rivera, I thought she was one of the better young actresses in the Philippines, and she does a good job, and she's beautiful. I don't think that they should compare Thalia with Marian Rivera though and do a "versus" thing, because anyway the Filipino version of Marimar is a remake of the Mexican version of Marimar, which was not actually the original version like most Filipinos believe. The Mexican version of Marimar starring Thalia was actually a remake in itself of the original Venezuelan telenovela from the 1970s.