On Overrated TV Shows

So I watched the finale episode of Walang Hanggan earlier.

 

I am bit disappointed, although it was expected because the story was based on the movie, Hihintayin Kita sa Langit. That’s why when Katerina died, it wasn’t s surprise when Daniel followed shortly after.

 

I wasn’t disappointed with the story and the ending, really. I was more disappointed with the dialog and some of the actors’ acting. The dialog leaves so much to be desired for. The narration at the end part was unnecessary. Some conversations were unnecessary. Unfortunately, that’s how TV works. The network and producers have fans to satisfy, so even if a lot of things could have been polished, there was no action done because, that’s what the fans prefer. If it was a movie, there’d be a lot of polishing and perfecting. If that approach happened in a movie, critics would probably fill the world-wide web bashing the production.

 

All in all, I think it’s just another typical and predictable Filipino teleserye finale where someone always dies, someone always goes to prison, the villain always dies at the end, and someone who used to be so evil changes ways. There has already been a lot of that on Philippine TV. The problem with Philippine TV is that they give everything away. The put too much stress on the love between Katerina and Daniel, instead of letting the people see that for themselves. They make sure Daniel’s every sentence has “Katerina” on it. They make sure he talks about her and how much he loves her every time he opens his mouth. Please! It’s just annoying and stubborn sometimes. They portray Katerina as this damsel who always needs to be rescued and taken care of. Really, what’s to love in a girl like that? Isn’t it so much believable to love someone who knows exactly where they fit in this world? Someone who knows what they want, get what they want, work and fight for what they want?

 

As much as I love Coco Martin, I have never been happier now that Walang Hanggan is finally over. I personally think the show is overrated and that there are so many other shows better than this. Actually, if this show had different actors, if this show did not have Dawn Zulueta, Richard Gomez, Coco Martin, JoEm Bascon, Noni Buencamino, and the others, this show would be a total train wreck. At long last, I no longer have to see the exaggeration and inconsistent characters that the writers have created. I no longer have to see their extended dialog that was corny and cheesy.

 

I can only hope that the next show the network has scheduled will be much better in characterization, plot, and acting than the one that just ended.

On TV and Quality Shows

Walang Hanggan is a Philippine TV Series shown on a primetime slot and rakes in a good percentage of national viewership. The show’s actors are some of the industry’s biggest names. I used to love this show. But not anymore.

Recently, I have to admit, there has been so many things on the show that were too unreal and stupid to happen in real life. They took a good love story and made it into an exaggerated soap opera where everything bad seems to be happening to the protagonists while the antagonists appear to always hold the upper hand.

In the course of the next blogs, I’ll be posting my opinions on the show. Forgive me if the next few posts will bore you. I really just have to react on this because this show has extremely disappointed me.

My first reaction has to be the inconsistency on the character of Manage Genia (Susan Roces). For those who aren’t familiar, Manage Genia is an old lady who took care of Daniel (Coco Martin) when he was kidnapped by Donya Margaret (Helen Gamboa) and left outside the gates of an orphanage. Manage Genia is known to be conscientious and always does what is right, even if it becomes the downfall of a beloved family member. She was the one who told everybody that Daniel is the son of Emily (Dawn Zulueta) and Marco (Richard Gomez) who was taken from them the day he was born. This caused a rift between the mother-son relationship of Marco and Donya Margaret.

When Manang Genia learned that Margaret helped Miguel in getting a loan and corrupting corporate money from Emily, she reprimanded her sister. She also did not support what Daniel what doing for Katerina (Julia Montes) because Katerina was already married to Nathan (Paolo Avelino) and she kept telling Daniel to move on and let the married couple be. No matter how important a family member is to her, if that person has done something wrong, Manang Genia always asks the person to do the right thing and she herself always tries to do the right thing everytime.

However, when she was kidnapped by Nathan, so he can blackmail Daniel to surrender, Manang Genia did not press charges. She saw that Daniel was badly beaten up by Nathan and his goons and was even turned over to the police even if Daniel really did not do anything to Nathan at all. When Manang Genia and Nathan had a confrontation, she said that she can press charges, but she chose not to. Nathan said she could not because she cannot do such a thing to out a relative behind bars.

Now, tell me, what happened to the ever righteous Manang Genia, who was always on the right side and always acted on conscience? Did she, all of a sudden, become an empty shell of a person who did not practice what she preached and was more concerned with family loyalty than in doing the right thing?

You see how inconsistent this character has become? That’s one reason why this show sucks big time.