Budoy is a teleserye in ABS-CBN starring Gerald Anderson in the title role. It is about a teenager with special needs and the trials he and his family are facing.

The story, according to reviews I’ve read, is really good. Heartwarming. It’s touched so many lives and people are really looking forward to it every night. And then all of a sudden, there’s a barrage of Facebook and Twitter updates that said Budoy, after a surgery, is now normal! How can that even happen when the teleserye is not supernatural!

It’s funny how some writers can butcher a really good story. Sayang yung ganda ng Budoy!

What the hell TV5 big boss Manny V. Pangilinan was thinking???

There is a breaking news on the net today that Sharon Cuneta managed to bag a 1B-peso deal with TV5! The deal supposedly includes a talk show ala-Oprah. Whatever that deal includes I don’t think Sharon is still worth that much money. Consider the ratings of her recent TV shows in ABS-CBN. Can we all say flop queen?!? Even the interesting Pinoy edition of The Biggest Loser didn’t rate that much because people were talking about how she hosted the show and she was the one who didn’t even lose weight!

And for TV5 to give her that much for a contract with them? I don’t think Sharon is even worth 50M pesos anymore! Her popularity has waned over the past couple of years. She even is no longer the endorsement queen as Kris Aquino is apparently more credible than her. And John Lloyd Cruz for that matter.

Whether the scoop by Ricky Lo is true or false, the fact remains that Sharon Cuneta is no longer the megastar that she was. Her star is no longer as shiny as it used to and let’s face it, she’s LAOS na!

ABS-CBN has this tendency to do an overkill when it comes to covering an event. Like the recently concluded 2011 Miss Universe pageant. I understand that they bought exclusive rights to air the show and, most likely, they spent a lot for it. They sent Dyan Castillejo to follow the country’s representative Shamcey Supsup so they really have a lot of footage ready to be shown in their news programs.

But it just reeks of overkill when all you see in one show after another and even in their commercial spots is the face of Shamcey Supsup. The pageant already ended. The lady placed 3rd. I do think it’s about time they let her rest a bit so people won’t get tired of seeing her everywhere!

It’s not working. ABS-CBN should admit it that Willie Revillame was the only one who was able to succeed in the noontime slot. Wowowee was the only show that was able to put up a fight against the institution in noontime shows that is Eat Bulaga.

They need to think of something else. A new formula for a noontime show. Stop with copying Eat Bulaga and their old Wowowee show. Stop putting Mariel Rodriguez in their noontime shows because she isn’t interesting anymore! Toni Gonzaga I can understand that she’s a good host. But Randy Santiago and John Estrada just don’t seem too funny without Willie.

I think the giant network better get ideas from the viewing public. Hold a contest for fresh ideas! And then use the winning concept and try that out.

Have you seen the teaser of the upcoming fantaserye NOAH from ABS-CBN starring Piolo Pascual and Zaijan Jaranilla aka Santino? It is obviously copied from James Cameron’s Avatar! What a shame!

I don’t know why teleserye writers keep on copying stories from popular movies. Avatar to NOAH. When you see the teaser, the first thing you’d think of is Avatar! Except the Zaijan’s people is color pink while in Avatar it’s blue. There are also soldiers where Piolo belongs. Sigh.

I just wish these writers will come up with a teleserye not copied from a Hollywood movie or an adaptation of a popular komiks or Tagalog romance novel!

Agua Bendita is the newest teleserye to touch the hearts of many Filipinos. It is being shown on ABS-CBN directly after TV Patrol World. In the beginning, teasers of this teleserye were shown during the Primetime Bida timeslot. It shows Andi Eigenmann, daughter of Mark Gil and Jacklyn Jose, emerging from the pool looking so much like Angel Locsin.

ABS-CBN must admit that the teaser showing Andi did not generate that much interest for the show. Agua Bendita is a classic komiks story from Rod Santiago and to be quite honest, I watched the pilot episode because I was a fan of that komiks when I was a teen. An aunt used to buy Liwayway magazine every week and I would read the Agua Bendita komiks. That’s mainly the reason why I watched at first, to see how they will translate the komiks into a teleserye.

But then I saw the little girl playing the dual role of Agua, the good little girl who looks like water, and Bendita, the bad twin. She’s Xyriel Anne Manabay. You can say that Xyriel made a huge impact on everybody including me. It got me hooked to the teleserye in no time at all!

The little girl undoubtedly captured the hearts of the many viewers of the teleserye. When she’s Agua, the little girl can really make you cry and sympathize with her. When she’s Bendita, you feel this urge to make her stand in the corner and face the wall all day long! She is that good!

Critics are actually raving about the little kid playing the dual role. It is said that Andi and her mom Jacklyn are already pissed with ABS-CBN because the deal was the little kid will only stay onscreen for two weeks and then Andi will come in. But it’s been two months already, if I am not mistaken, and the little kid is still playing the dual role. Xyriel captured the hearts of the viewers of the teleserye that there’s actually a clamor for Agua and Bendita to stay as kids.

I guess after Santino, the viewers are looking for another good little kid that they can watch every night. A kid who can be a role model for the little kids who are still awake and watching tv with their parents. A kid who can show us that we can all be good despite the setbacks we encounter in life.

Watch Agua Bendita. It’s really good! I hope that when they start showing Andi Eigenmann, the story will be as good as right now.

The coverage for the Cory Aquino funeral soared ratings-wise. I think almost all Filipinos watched it. It was a poignant farewell to the woman who represented democracy in our country.

Hundreds of thousands of people went out of their houses, braving the pouring rain, to witness and join the funeral procession of the former president Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino, fondly called Tita Cory by many. It was a historical event unfolding before our very eyes. It was reminiscent of the funeral march of the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Cory’s husband.

We didn’t go out of the house that day. Rain was really pouring down. We opted to watch the tv coverage instead. Still, we were witness to a historical event like no other.