Starting the day on the right note
The early morning hours used to be non-performing assets of the TV networks until some executive realized that there are people who are awake at that time -- mothers preparing their kids for school, employees getting ready for work and other individuals who follow the early to bed, early to rise regimen—and turn on their TV at 5 a.m.
Pretty soon, advertisers got convinced that there were enough consumers at that time of day to justify the airing of their commercials.
That's why shows like ABS-CBN's "Umagang Kay Ganda" and GMA's "Unang Hirit" are respectable money earners for the two networks.
On Wednesday last week, for instance, I monitored "UKG," which airs weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., and counted close to one-hour of commercials. Assuming a conservative figure of P150,000 for a 30-seconder, that comes up to P1.8 million a day or about P30 million a month contrasted with the presumably low production cost.
I was still groggy at 5 a.m. when I started watching the show but the program hosts -- Pinky Webb, Venus Raj, Phoemela Baranda, Iya Villania, Winnie Cordero, Anthony Taberna, Alex Santos and Andre Felix -- looked fresh and animated. Considering that they probably woke up at 3 a.m. to get to the studio, I was impressed.
It may have been my TV set or it was probably her make-up but Pinky looked pale in her close-up shots. That's a shame because she's a competent newscaster and makes sense when she airs her opinion on important issues. Venus, on the other hand, looked gorgeous and did a major, major fine job reporting the entertainment stories.
The news segments did not live up to the title of the show because the morning was anything but "kay ganda."
Chedeng was on its way to wreak havoc on the Philippines so the show aired regular updates on the weather disturbance. There were reports from the affected areas although the videos were mostly of the preparations being made by the different provinces. While TV Patrol usually had Kim Atienza using a huge TV monitor with impressive looking graphics, UKG had simple graphics to indicate the path of Chedeng.
Because disasters like earthquakes and typhoons do not choose a particular time of day to strike, a morning show serves as an important venue to keep the public informed. When classes do resume in June, the shows also serve as a medium for announcing cancellation of classes and other important messages. The typhoon was the only urgent development that morning. The early hours of the day are a slow period for breaking news. That's why most of the stories were a rehash of those that were aired the previous evening. They were even aired several times during the show. The only other fresh reports concerned vehicular accidents.
The lighter segments concerned container vans turned into dormitories. Winnie aired a report live from Marikina. Her bubbly personality shone throughout her report. She knew what questions to ask though I would have wanted to find out the cost of staying in the dorm. There was also a live feature on school-inspired outfits for dogs and a taped segment on shopping for jackets and raincoats in Divisoria by Phoem.
To promote the movie, "Kung Fu Panda 2" the show offered a prize to anyone who could bring the largest Panda doll to the studio. I expected a really big doll but the winning Panda measured less than a foot. I suppose no one produces large versions of this animal. A mascot of Po, the main character in the movie voiced by Jack Black, was in the studio. It was an accurate replica of the animated figure from the movie. I was disappointed with its dance. The steps were too simple or maybe the mascot was not built for complicated movements.
In the "Punto Por Punto" segment Anthony focused on Senator Miriam Santiago's proposal to let rich inmates convicted of non-violent offenses to pay for better accommodations. The senator was on the phone discussing her proposal while studio guests were party list representative Neri Colmenares, who was imprisoned during the martial law years and an ex-convict, who spent 16 years behind bars.
Both guests were against the proposal because it would discriminate against the poorer inmates. In the end Anthony himself disagreed with Santiago's idea.
"UKG" runs for three and a half hours and needs more segments to make it more viewable. Unless a news item is urgent, like tracking the path of a typhoon, there's no need to air it several times. Between 5 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., I would like to watch more entertaining features, not necessarily about show business, so that I start the day on a bright note.
