It’s been more than a year since a single new content was placed on the Kapamilya afternoon block.
In the not-so-distant past, ABS-CBN and its pay TV successor Kapamilya Channel aired original drama series or two, as well as a couple of other genres on its afternoon block Kapamilya Gold. In 2019 (the last full year of ABS-CBN on terrestrial TV), KGold had a slate composed of Kadenang Ginto, PHR: Los Bastardos, Sandugo, and imports from across Asia. But in 2020, things started falling apart.
Inauspicious at all corners, 2020 only saw the premieres of Love Thy Woman and Bagong Umaga. Before moving forward, the list could have become three, but COVID-19 programming changes led to the postponement of the original March 23, 2020 pilot airdate of Ang Sa Iyo Ay Akin on Kapamilya Gold, which later led to its promotion to the Primetime Bida block in August 2020.
Going back, Love Thy Woman has had a troubled history as it was affected by the temporary discontinuation of fresh programming on the network as the whole of Luzon was placed on lockdown due to COVID-19. LTW also fell victim to the ABS-CBN shutdown, but also became one of the first series to grace Kapamilya Channel when it launched in June 2020. Consequently, Love Thy also has the distinction of being the first Kapamilya series to begin its run on free-to-air television, but end on cable and online.
Meanwhile, Bagong Umaga’s launch coincided with that of A2Z on channel 11 in October 2020. Originally coined as Cara Y Cruz, it aired until April 2021 on the post-Showtime slot. Despite being put on a slot that was erstwhile competitive prior to the May 5 shutdown, BU still maintained a decent rating (considering the combined reach of Kapamilya Channel and A2Z, as well as viewership on Kapamilya Online Live). Perhaps, the icing on the cake for the program is its inclusion in the ABS-CBN Entertainment line-up on Netflix.
In spite of such performance, ABS-CBN seemingly gave up on Kapamilya Gold after BU when it elected to instead rebroadcast the 2016 LizQuen series Dolce Amore, effectively making the whole of Kapamilya Gold as a rerun block (similar to its sister Jeepney TV). In all honesty, the only series that deserved to be re-aired on KGold is Love Thy Woman, which it eventually had in November 2021, given its troubled history.
To make matters worse for KGold, rival GMA continued producing shows on their own Afternoon Prime block, but depending on the pandemic situation, there were between 1 to 3 original dramas on their block since 2021. Thus, viewership rating for the Kapamilya Gold block has dropped to below 1% since it stopped airing original or even just fresh programs.
Anyway, here’s what Kapamilya Gold looks like these days.
- 3:00pm – Init sa Magdamag (rerun)
- 3:45pm – Be My Lady (rerun)
- 4:30pm – Kapamilya Gold Hits (titled as Afternoon Zinema on A2Z)
How can Kapamilya Gold rebound from this?
Given the sorry state of KGold these past few months, a revamp or two is what the block truly needs at this point. With Afternoon Prime’s continued dominance, it would be fitting to slot in viable counter programming measures to at least balance things out at first.
Due to TV5’s broadcast of PBA games every Wednesday and Friday, simulcasting of weekday afternoon programs from ABS-CBN could be complicated at best. Thus, the rebuilding should focus first on Kapamilya Channel, A2Z, and Kapamilya Online Live. With that out of the way, let’s discuss the possible measures to make Kapamilya Gold ‘golden’ anew.
Firstly, the insistence of ABS-CBN in putting up an all-Filipino teleserye primetime block is a bold move, but it surely resulted to the eventual demise of original programming on the afternoon block. Thus, to help KGold, a sacrificial move on the part of primetime can be done. Considering GMA has elected to only put 2 local dramas on Telebabad beginning today, cutting down to 3 original might not actually hurt ABS from the get-go. Therefore, once the fourth slot drama that is Love In 40 Days finishes, a different type of show could be placed on that spot in order to make savings for original/fresh afternoon programming.
They might consider digging into their vast catalog of programs to see whether original or imported shows that are currently exclusive on iWantTFC (e.g. Thai dramas) and have not premiered yet on free TV could make the cut. Airing shows previously seen on Sunday nights on weekday primetime like Almost Paradise, F4 Thailand, and He’s Into Her can also be a wise decision as such move would finally give these shows their well-deserved exposure to a national audience via TV5.
Now, if ABS does really want to go with their new way of making an all-first run Filipino serye primetime line-up, then of all the abovementioned recommendations, the iWantTFC belt suggestion could also apply for KGold.
Aside from teleseryes, gameshows and other non-narrative formats can also be explored on KGold. Not only would they be much cheaper to produce, but they are easily the alternative to narrative programming already seen elsewhere. For example, Robi Domingo’s iteration of Game KNB? can be brought back and given a new season. If that can’t be the case just yet, then a rebroadcast of that and other beloved non-narra formats would suffice in the interim, as it would bring back interest of the format’s legions of fans and eventually help kickstart original programming anew on KGold.
Select original shows from sister ABS-CBN channels can also be added to Kapamilya Gold, such as current affairs shows from ANC and TeleRadyo, lifestyle and reality shows from Metro Channel, a youth-skewed line-up c/o Myx, and even other digital formats that would otherwise be attractive to an afternoon audience if only adapted to a full-blown program on KGold.
As a bonus, here’s how KGold could be optimized, given that it has 3 1/2 hours of airtime each weekday.
- 3:00pm – KGold Drama
- 3:30pm – iWantTFC scripted program
- 4:00pm – Imported program
- 4:30pm – Gameshow / non-narrative program
- 5:00pm – Kapamilya Gold Hits / Afternoon Zinema
There are plenty of ways to make Kapamilya Gold true to its name again. It is just in the hands of the people behind the scenes to play their cards well and revive the brand that has long been marred by nothingness, to say the least.
Let’s just hope that Kapamilya Gold will get the revamp it deserves sooner than later. Because at the end of the day, a competitive block will help bring more diversity in the programs being offered to viewers across the country. And as many suggest, competition will also force everyone else to deliver nothing but the best that they can.