The Top 8 TV shows of 2001

Let’s get right down to brass tacks.

The Top 8 TV shows of 2001 are (let’s do away with the drum roll):

1. Pangako Sa’Yo (ABS-CBN)

2. Sa Dulo ng Walang Hanggan (ABS-CBN)

3. Saan Ka Man Naroroon (ABS-CBN)

4. TV Patrol (ABS-CBN)

5. Dragon Ball Z (GMA 7)

6. Camila (ABS-CBN)

7. Magandang Gabi Bayan (ABS-CBN)

8. Sa Puso Ko, Iingatan Ka (ABS-CBN)

Before you ask me where I got a copy of this "very, very confidential" list (it simply landed on my lap, honest!), I must hasten to tell you that this survey covering Mega Manila, Dagupan, Cebu and Davao between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2001, was conducted by the prestigious and highly-reliable AC Nielsen Philippines, Inc. which is at the forefront of audience and advertising expenditure measurement, offering the most extensive TV audience and advertising expenditure services and the widest range of radio and print measurement services.

ACNielsen Philippines offers TV ratings services in Mega Manila, Dagupan City, Metro Cebu and Davao City with a people-meter panel covering over 1,500 reporting homes. Complementing its TV service, ACNielsen Philippines is pioneering the Radio Diary Service to measure radio audience consumption in Metro Manila. For advertising expenditure, the company monitors 18 TV stations in Metro Manila, seven in Dagupan City, seven in Metro Cebu and seven in Davao City, as well as 159 radio stations in 33 areas and 19 newspapers and 54 magazines nationwide.

There you are.

This ACNielsen survey proves beyond reasonable doubt that we Filipinos are crazy about soaps.

Okay, keep on watching (those soaps)!

More news on RP films doing well in Int’l fests

Here now is the full report by Toronto-based Funfare international correspondent Ferdinand Lapuz on how Filipino films are faring in international film festivals:

Here’s more good news for the film industry!

After the victories of Jeffrey Jeturian’s Tuhog (Gold Winner) at Worldfest Houston and Gil M. Portes’ Gatas (Special Jury Prize) in Newport, I would like to inform you that Lav Diaz’s Batang West Side was selected as Best Film of the 15th Singapore International Film Festival, the first Filipino to win Best Film in this major Asian film event. Hubad sa Ilalim ng Buwan was direk Lav’s other film that competed in Singapore back in 2000.

Batang West Side won over the Chinese film Seafood (directed by Zhu Wen) for the scope of its theme which tackles the loss of identity of a race (and inevitably, its soul) when it is uprooted from its mother culture and is forced to adopt an alien one just to survive.

The jury members were Evans Chan (Hong Kong), James Lee Ishmael (Malaysia), Abdul Nizam (Singapore), Li Yu (China) and Jeffrey Jeturian (Philippines), all accomplished directors in their respective countries.

The award for Best Film carries with it a cash prize of Sing$15,000, approximately US$8,000. The other winners are SFC (Singapore Film Commission) Young Cinema Award (Sing$10,000) Eliana, Eliana (Indonesia, directed by Riri Riza); Special Jury Prize (Sing$5,000) Seafood (China, directed by Zhu Wen); Best Director (trophy) Semih Kaplanoglu for the film Away From Home (Turkey); Best Actress Dian Sastro-Wardoyo – for the film Whispering Sands (Indonesia) and Best Actor Jia Hong-sheng for the film Quitting (China).

Interestingly, Joel Torre (Batang West Side) tied initially with Jia for Best Actor but the jury was advised to refrain from choosing double winners.

Gary Valenciano, the guest performer at the awards ceremony, presented the Singapore International Film Festival Silver Screen Best Film Award to Lav Diaz for Batang West Side at the Swissotel Stamford Hotel. It surely made the occasion practically a Filipino night. Tuhog and Mike de Leon’s Bayaning 3rd World were the other two Filipino films shown in Singapore.

I watched Batang West Side in August of last year and its depiction of the lives of Filipino migrants in the US is very truthful. It is not the typical success story about Filipinos in America. Thanks to producer Tony Veloria for sending me a copy.

After Singapore, Batang West Side is going to the very prestigious Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Prague. Tuhog, on the other hand, was in competition in Sao Paolo, Brazil, last November; was screened in Munich and Copenhagen last March; and will be at the Asian American Film Festival in New York this July. Chito Roño’s La Vida Rosa will be shown in Udine, Italy.

I wonder which Filipino films will banner our industry in the 2002 season in the international film festival circuit?

Congratulations to direk Lav, Tony, Joel, Yul Servo, Gloria Diaz, Priscilla Almeda, supervising producer Joey Gosiengfiao and all those involved with Batang West Side. Mabuhay ang Industriya ng Pelikulang Pilipino!

Rita Avila, the good and the bad

Speaking of soaps, one of the most durable stars of that genre is Rita Avila who hasn’t only been switching channels, shuttling between "rivals" ABS-CBN and GMA 7, but also proving her thespic worth by doing both "bad" and "good" characters with convincing realism and credibility.

Let’s give "chameleon" actress Rita Avila a big hand.

In GMA 7’s ongoing soap, Ikaw Lang ang Mamahalin, she plays the vengeful and obsessive Corrine Martinez and in the forthcoming GMA 7 soap, Kahit Kailan, she’ll play Dolores Sanpiandante, a good character the exact opposite of the one in Ikaw Lang. (Kahit Kailan also stars Gina Pareño, Carmi Martin, Allan Paule, Roxanne Barcelo, Biboy Ramirez and James Blanco, with Ruel S. Bayani as director.)

Keep up the good – and "bad" – work, Rita!