The New Iskul Bukol on IBC-13

February 10, 2018

Joyce Abestano (school uniform)) It’s trio out, solo in for the top-rating and award-winning curriculum-based sitcom Iskul Bukol starting tonight on IBC-13. (Photo courtesy of IBC-13 and Secarats Talent Management Services)

A new era awaits IBC-13’s top-rating and award-winning curriculum-based sitcom Iskul Bukol into a solo-starrer.

Gone is the long-stanging triumvirate roles of the Runaway Princess Keith Cruz and the Comedienne Princess Raisa Dayrit as the trio of the sitcom. Instead, the Comedy Princess Joyce Abestano retained the role and became the only lead star, the lead protagonist and the solo-starrer role as the current era of the curiculum-based sitcom.

Tonton Gutierrez, Maxene Magalona and Patrick Destura continued as the main cast, and Basti Gonzales became the main cast. Raniaah Padilla, Melanie Marquez, Chin Chin Gutierrez, Eric Quizon, Dante Ponce and Jef Gaitan will be the new additions to the sitcom, while Mr. Fu, Mely Tagasa, Andres Muhlach, Angelica Marañon, Tess Antonio, Victor Basa and Robby Mananquil became the main casts of the sitcom.

This means that Friday Madness will adopt the old format of Saturday Slam, which Magic dropped earlier this year in favor of its regular playlist. More importantly, the station will only have one day dedicated to throwback music instead of two.

Earlier this week, following the month-long 1st anniversary of the curriculum-based sitcom, IBC-13 and Secarats that Andrea Brillantes would be added to the cast of the sitcom.

In Iskul Bukol, Andrea plays the role of Andrea Garcia. Andrea is a new transfer classmate at Diliman High School who always copies homeworks from Joyce (Abestano) and Patrick (Patrick Destura). She is also an accomplice to Joyce's comedic pranks and Basti's girlfriend (Basti Gonzales).

With the addition of Andrea Brillantes to Iskul Bukol, a very interesting subplot develops. Former Annaliza lead star Andrea and her co-stars Mianne Fajardo and Sajj Geronimo now find themselves on the opposite side of the fence.

The newly-reformatted Friday Madness was one of only several changes instituted by Magic 89.9 as preparation for its upcoming 30th anniversary. Two weeks earlier, their weekday programming was also reformatted; save for ‘Good Times with Mo’ and ‘Boys’ Night Out’, the rest of Magic’s programs were either rebranded or changed DJ schedules.

The change of format for Friday Madness was a result of Magic’s ever-changing demographic. While some older listeners may still be loyal to Magic, the station is also attracting a large amount of younger followers, most of whom grew up in the social media age.

In addition, the continued emergence of Retro 105.9 DCG-FM as the go-to station for 70s and 80s music buffs made it clear that Friday Madness needed a makeover. It also hurts that competitor stations are also dedicating one day for 90s music (e.g. Monster RX 93.1’s Riot Wednesday, Mellow 947’s Decade, 99.5 Play FM’s Playback).

That said, with the station’s listeners getting younger, there’s no point in feeding them songs that are unfamiliar to their ears. For Magic, change was inevitable, and today was it.

It remains to be seen whether or not the new Friday Madness will adopt the regular Monday to Thursday schedules of its DJs (save for ‘Good Times with Mo’ and ‘Boys’ Night Out’). But in any event, people should enjoy the music of not too long ago, now playing on Friday Madness.