To remix some parts of Kamikazee’s ‘Narda’, “Sa likod ng mga tala, nasaan na nga ba si Darna?”
Last June 13, ABS-CBN changed their profile picture across Facebook and Twitter to tease the upcoming release of the reimagination of ‘Darna’ starring Jane de Leon in the the titular role. The said ‘DP change’ only fueled further rumors that the superhero-fantasy series will make its way to the Kapamilya primetime entertainment block as soon as next month.
But the catch is, there is no vacancy as of the moment. This as Ivana Alawi’s ‘A Family Affair’ replaces ‘The Broken Marriage Vow’ on June 27. Moreover, ‘2 Good 2 Be True’ is still a quarter of its intended run, while ‘Love In 40 Days’ had only begun 4 weeks ago.
This triggered rumors that ‘FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano’ will soon wrap up after airing for nearly seven years. The current storyline, wherein Cardo Dalisay has been saved by Ramona’s (Charo Santos) squad after a near-death encounter with Lito (Richard Gutierrez) and Black Ops to continue his fight for justice, while the real President in the series has been found by Dalisay-allied ‘Agilas’. Those events can soon lead the way to a showdown between Lily, Renato, and Art’s (Lorna Tolentino, John Arcilla, and Tirso Cruz III) ‘Palasyo’ camp and Dalisay. An ultimate fight that might then steer the epic story to its wrap up after almost seven years.
Apart from that, the rumor is also stemmed from a simple statement of Dreamscape head Deo Endrinal last April on the show’s future, where he said that ‘Probinsyano’ might end in “July 2022.” But he left it dependent on the storyline being presented on the show, on which he said then, there’s still “marami pa[ng kwento].” (or “a lot more story to tell.”)
But given the length of the series, an announcement for its end should match or surpass that of what was given to ‘Be Careful with My Heart’. BCWMH aired countdown teasers for its finale as far as its last 9 weeks on air. If that was to be at least equalled, FPJAP should have teased for an hypothetical July 29 finale last May 30.
Still, no one knows whether a finale countdown for Cardo Dalisay would only begin within its last four or three weeks. So, if that’s the case, then a Darna premiere in July to replace the longest-running teleserye is still probable at the moment.
That is just exactly what we’ll talk about for this edition of Schedule Suggestions: how could Darna fit into the primetime grid, should the finale of Ang Probinsyano not come in July — or for much generous leeway, anytime within the next two months?
For uniformity, in the following sample schedules, ‘Darna’ would be positioned in the second slot, right after ‘Ang Probinsyano’ — which gets to keep its current position in the real-world schedule.
Scenario 1: A longer, but earlier primetime block
If ever Darna launches within the time frame that all of ABS-CBN’s current and announced primetime offerings are still ongoing, then the management has no choice but to make the primetime longer (and perhaps, earlier) to accommodate the show to keep the pacing that they have now.
Here’s how could that just look like on Kapamilya Channel and A2Z. For measure, this sample sched includes afternoon programs.
- 12:00nn – It’s Showtime
- 3:00pm – Init sa Magdamag
- 3:30pm – Be My Lady
- 4:00pm – Codename Terrius
- 4:30pm – Kapamilya Gold Hits (Kapamilya Channel) / Afternoon Zinema (A2Z)
- 6:00pm – TV Patrol
- 7:30pm – FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano
- 8:10pm – Darna
- 8:50pm – 2 Good 2 Be True
- 9:30pm – A Family Affair
- 10:10pm – Love in 40 Days
- 10:40pm – The World Tonight (Kapamilya Channel) / Balitang A2Z (A2Z)
Above, you can see that with this type of scheduling would not be as dramatic in terms of time adjustments in the current line-up (compared to other possibilities that will be presented later). As for Darna, it would not only benefit in getting the timeslot that is currently occupied by FPJAP, but also gain traction by keeping both TV Patrol and the action drama as its lead-in shows.
Currently, FPJAP rakes in around 300K live concurrent viewers on Kapamilya Online Live and shows no signs of slowing down. If Darna comes to air right after FPJAP, no wonder it could easily get an upward of 100K viewers on KOL and could help keep the same momentum both on TV and online for the rest of the line-up.
Apart from all of that, this situation is reminiscent of the 2011-12 Primetime Bida, where ABS-CBN had 5 dramas after TV Patrol.
Meanwhile, TV5 is also not spared should these changes come into effect, given that they practice simulcasting A2Z’s feed every time that they can. But compared to KapCha and A2Z, TV5 would have to make some big changes to its current schedule.
- 3:00pm – Throwback Teleserye (Mon & Tue) / Cine Cinco (Thu) / PBA (Wed & Fri)
- 5:00pm – Frontline Pilipinas
- 5:30pm – PBA (Wed & Fri)
- 6:00pm – Sing Galing (Mon-Tue-Thu)
- 7:00pm – Dear God (Mon-Tue-Thu)
- 7:30pm – FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano
- 8:10pm – Darna
- 8:50pm – 2 Good 2 Be True
- 9:30pm – A Family Affair
- 10:10pm – Love in 40 Days
For the Kapatid network, they would have to at least move their programs 30 minutes from their current respective schedules to make the 5 Kapamilya drama-line-up possible.
With that one giant move, Frontline Pilipinas could become the earliest flagship news program across the major networks. Sing Galing would then become Reliance’s answer of the dominating gameshow Family Feud. (If ever the show still airs by then), Dear God would mark the return of Kapatid dramas to the 7:00pm slot after a few years of being on either 7:15 or 7:30.
Second games of PBA during Wednesday and Friday would also have to be moved to an earlier slot at 5:30pm to accommodate the 5-strong-Kapamilya drama line-up.
But, they can still keep their current slots — if…
Scenario 2: Longer, but later primetime
Before we go over to TV5’s possible grid, let’s go to the shared Kapamilya Channel and A2Z primetime schedule first.
- 6:30pm – TV Patrol
- 8:00pm – FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano
- 8:40pm – Darna
- 9:20pm – 2 Good 2 Be True
- 10:00pm – A Family Affair
- 10:40pm – Love in 40 Days
- 11:10pm – The World Tonight (Kapamilya Chanel) / Balitang A2Z (A2Z)
Here, the schedule would not just be dramatically changed, but will lead into the extension of the primetime block later in the evening. A Darna on the second slot would mean that the KathNiel-starred 2 Good 2 Be True would be moved to a later slot at 9:20, while A Family Affair would be pushed to the 10pm slot, while Love in 40 Days would be the lead-off at 10:40.
While it can become bad news for fans of the other shows that would have to be moved to a later slot, it can just be the solution that TV5 can hope for, given its sporting commitment every Wednesday and Friday.
- 5:30pm – Frontline Pilipinas
- 6:00pm – PBA (Wed & Fri)
- 6:30pm – Sing Galing (Mon-Tue-Thu)
- 7:30pm – Dear God (Mon-Tue-Thu)
- 8:00pm – FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano
- 8:40pm – Darna
- 9:20pm – 2 Good 2 Be True
- 10:00pm – A Family Affair
- 10:40pm – Love in 40 Days
- 11:10pm – Frontline Tonight
- 11:45pm – Reina de Corazones
- 12:15am – Religious programs
This extended primetime would enable the Kapatid network to keep the primetime gateway line-up in its current form. Although, that would also mean that there would just be slight adjustments to its late-night block. Adjustments that are rather still acceptable on normal days, given these shows air on pretty much the same time as above during some PBA game days.
Scenario 3: Moving one primetime show to pre-primetime
- 11:30am – It’s Showtime
- 2:30pm – Init sa Magdamag
- 3:15pm – Be My Lady
- 4:00pm – Codename Terrius
- 4:30pm – Kapamilya Gold Hits (Kapamilya Channel) / Afternoon Zinema (A2Z)
- 5:45pm – Love in 40 Days
- 6:30pm – TV Patrol
- 8:00pm – FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano
- 8:40pm – Darna
- 9:20pm – 2 Good 2 Be True
- 10:00pm – A Family Affair
- 10:40pm – The World Tonight (Kapamilya Channel) / Balitang A2Z (A2Z)
For this one, a major rigodon has to be made to keep the current four drama line-up after TV Patrol. Okay, a disclaimer first, the reason why Love in 40 Days was picked to be moved from its current 10pm slot to 5:45 is just on the mere basis that it is the last show on the block at the moment. Meaning, any other show could be considered to be moved from their current slot to keep the same quantity of shows on the after TVP side.
Anyway, if that becomes the case though, both 2G2BT and AFA would still be moved to later time. But for viewers of LI40D on TV5, there is only one possible way to keep the show airing on the station despite the shift — a delayed telecast.
- 5:30pm – Frontline Pilipinas
- 6:00pm – PBA (Wed & Fri)
- 6:30pm – Sing Galing (Mon-Tue-Thu)
- 7:30pm – Dear God (Mon-Tue-Thu)
- 8:00pm – FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano
- 8:40pm – Darna
- 9:20pm – 2 Good 2 Be True
- 10:00pm – A Family Affair
- 10:40pm – Love in 40 Days
- 11:10pm – Frontline Tonight
- 11:45pm – Reina de Corazones
- 12:15am – Religious programs
Given TV5’s special schedule on Wednesdays and Fridays, a Kapamilya show at 5:45pm could either not broadcast on the station entirely (as it was the case with PBB S10) or could opt to be aired at a later time. Thus, even if the logical second is to be chosen (considering that the show is already ongoing), that would only end up being the same grid as TV5’s scenario 2 could materialize.
Hence, this possibility has the least chance to happen of all the scenarios being presented in this article.
Scenario 4: Shortened length of Kapamilya primetime dramas
- 6:30pm – TV Patrol (Kapamilya Channel and A2Z) /TV5 Primetime shows
- 8:00pm – FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano
- 8:35pm – Darna
- 9:10pm – 2 Good 2 Be True
- 9:45pm – A Family Affair
- 10:20pm – Love in 40 Days
If all else fails, it is better to (somehow) keep status quo, where Kapamilya dramas air between 8:00 and (at max) 10:45pm on all platforms. To make that possible, shortening the runtimes of all dramas could be done. For that, they could be trimmed down to approximately 30-35 minutes each, down from their current 40 minutes. But, they could also opt to extend their block on all channels by up to 10 minutes to make the 35-all schedule possible.
With FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano not showing any signs of slowing down (based on its storyline) anytime soon, the management would have to resort to one of these scenarios to make Darna’s flight onto our TV screens possible despite Cardo’s continuous fight for his and his group’s life, and country continues to unfold.
Furthermore, a Cardo-Darna tandem on primetime should easily also pose a big threat to their rival programs, given the history and ratings both names have made on television (and quite possibly soon, online for Darna).
Therfore, ending the long-running action series to make room for the superheroserye would prove to be (at the very start, at least) challenging not just for the fantasy drama, but also to the rest of Primetime Bida. Something that could be evaded should FPJAP be allowed to run side-by-side with Darna (even at least during FPJAP’s final few weeks, if it is to be really ended this year).
Now, given the tough conditions to conquer just to replace and beat an aging, yet ever-popular FPJAP on its game, it is still plausible that we would see the seven-year-long action serye and the retelling of the famous Filipino superhero both on the air at the same time period soon.