New Brews at IBC 13, The Kaibigan Network

(Released on March 19, 2007)

RPN has a dashing new look these days and competition must be taking notice. Despite being saddled with equipment that have seen better days, RPN bigwigs are determined to wrestle back its lost glory, even part of it. They seem to be succeeding, if some new program offerings are to be the basis.

Almost overnight, the station bred and brought to Filipino homes such TV landmarks as John en Marsha, Newswatch, Your Evening with Pilita and Superstar, international phenomenal like Marimar, metamorphosed into a serious threat to the network giants. RPN is now the Kasama Mo network and the new monicker was introduced with an engaging jingle. The Solar group is behind much of the new format we hear.

RPN will not be sold because it privatized, after all. No political leader worth his salt would even dare give up a TV network close to or during elections. When all this political hullabaloo whittles down, we predict stories of privatization will refloat, causing anxieties within the station to resurface but lasting only until the next time election season comes around.

RPN’s new programs are worth anticipating and hopefully developing loyalty for.

We indulged with a daily dose of the national pastime, entertainment gossip, courtesy of Pat P Daza-Planas’ Showbiz Ka!. There is Sabi ni Nanay with Dennis Padilla which we have yet to monitor and a new sitcom, Dalawang Tisoy starring Freddie Webb and Eddie Gutierrez. If the pilot telecast is a sample of its forthcoming season, we may have stumbled into another study in comic mediocrity. The first episode made us rather unsettled because the script was predictably shallow, the humor a tad stale and the overall performance of its stars a bit bland. As the show revs up, we hope it will find its bearings.

We are particularly keen on Solar’s Pinokyo at ang Blue Fairy. It not only breathes life into the adventures of Pinokio which we are all familiar with but somehow reinforces the suspicion that even Indonesia may have overtaken us in the children’s TV genre.

When local networks were panic-buying from Mexico, Colombia, Taiwan and Korea, we least expected that one day we would be importing TV programs from Indonesia. Pinokio is an Indonesian live animation TV series about the wooden doll that comes alive and moves around like a real human.

It is an obvious take off from the Carlo Collodi classic because this Asian Pinokio also gets adopted by his amiable sculptor who regards him like a son. It is the doll’s Blue Fairy friend who looks after him through his hilarious misadventures. It is the inclusion of the orphan Dindah, a take off from Cinderella, where the Oriental Pinokio story hopes to cut clean from Collodi’s Tuscan original. Pinokio nurtures a genuine friendship with the girl, teaching her in the process to develop self- confidence while on the other hand, learning to cope with true human emotions.

The Kasama network and Solar have struck a golden partnership by providing viewers, chiefly kids just home from school or the playground, a refreshing alternative to early primetime, minus the kitsch and sugar of telenovelas or the gore and sensationalism of newscasts. Catch the animated series, dubbed in Filipino, weeknights at 6 p.m. after Newswatch Aksyon Balita.