When changes are not good

The simple pleasure of watching television in the past was, well, simple. In the ’60s, an office worker would come home on a Thursday, for instance, just in time for ABS-CBN Channel 3’s Oras ng Ligaya at 6 p.m., have dinner while watching Bonanza at 7 or perhaps The Nida-Nestor Show at 8. If the viewer wanted to have a recap of the day’s events, he would tune in to Channel 5 for The Big News at 9 with Jose Mari Velez. If not, he could stay on Channel 3 and watch Your Evening With Pilita before calling it a day.

In the ’70s – right after Martial Law – most local viewers also had a more or less regular viewing pattern. News at 7 p.m. (it was mandatory then for all networks to air news programs at 7 in the evening) and Pulong-pulong sa Kaunlaran with Gerry Gerenimo at 7:30 (it was simulcast in all stations) on Wednesday nights. At 8 p.m., depending on the day, you could choose from among the primetime shows then: Sa Di Mo Pami (with Luis Gonzalez, Nida Blanca and Caridad Sanchez), What’s New, JQ? or recent Tagalog movies on XYZ Theater in the then newly-opened BBC-2.

After EDSA I, after things had more or less settled in the then newly-reopened ABS-CBN, local viewers tuned in to TV Patrol from 6 to 7 p.m. – with Angelique Lazo’s Star News segment coming in twice (at 6:20 and 6:40). On Tuesday nights, for instance, there was Maricel Drama Special at 7, Palibhasa Lalake at 8:30, The World Tonight at 10 p.m. and Pep Talk at 10:30.

Cable came by the mid-’90s. In the regular networks, however, most programs still followed a regular schedule at daytime and during primetime.

But today – particularly on ABS-CBN – you don’t even know what time your favorite soap opera is coming in anymore. Even with TV Patrol, you’re not sure if it’s one hour, 45 minutes or just half an hour.

For the longest time, I’ve been wanting to monitor Kris Aquino’s Game K N B? to check on the consistency of its quality, but somehow I always fail to catch it. Sometimes, I’d tune in to Channel 2 and see it already in full swing. Never mind the soap operas because I wouldn’t want to be a slave to any of these shows. (Yes, it will start running your schedule – if not your life – the minute you get hooked to it.) But I know people (soap opera lovers mostly) who are getting annoyed with Channel 2 because of the way the network has been shuffling schedules lately.

Now, I’m not only saying this because I’m from Channel 7. (I also owe ABS-CBN a debt of gratitude and I still have a lot of friends there.) GMA-7, from its end, is also guilty of altering the schedules of its primetime shows from time to time – that’s for sure. But this is only to accommodate some of its new shows – like Ready, Text, Go and this grand soap opera, Ang Iibigin ay Ikaw, which started last Monday. (The switching of schedules between Front Page and Saksi doesn’t really overhaul that drastically its primetime schedule.)

But let’s admit it – on Channel 2, the schedules of its primetime programs lately seem like they are constantly being shuffled every week by an overzealous card dealer at the Casino Filipino.

If I’m not mistaken, Game Ka Na Ba? – in the evening – came in at 7 p.m. Then, it was moved to something like 9 p.m. For a while, I think it came in at 6:30. Now, I honestly do not know anymore. Maybe Game K N B? can add a new portion wherein viewers will be asked to guess its current time slot. Suggested title of the new segment? Anong Time Ka Na Ba?

Actually, I am not criticizing the quality of the ABS-CBN shows – let’s make that clear. But I cannot for the life of me understand why its program schedules have to be shuffled this often. Of course, this is part of the network’s programming strategy. But then, its being finicky with its program schedules is also confusing the viewers.

Changes are good – but only up to a certain degree.

When I was a kid, I remember hearing my Dad use this English saying: "Rolling stones gather no moss." He used this to describe a distant relative who kept changing jobs and, as a result, became professionally unstable even late in life.

Maybe we can also use this to describe Channel 2’s now annoying – and already unreasonable – habit of changing program schedules every so often. Yes, the reshuffling of timeslots may eventually cause ABS-CBN to lose its grip on its viewers.

But don’t think that Channel 7 will be very happy to see ABS-CBN fade away from the scene completely. GMA-7, you see, needs Channel 2 – and vice versa – in this competitive field called television.

To make things exciting on the local small screen and to keep all the stations on their toes, it is necessary for Channels 2 and 7 to pound on each other – with the other networks providing alternative programming. (There’s actually not much to expect from Channels 4, 9 and 13 at this point because these stations are basically still government controlled.)

But if ABS-CBN doesn’t stop changing its program schedules, even its most ardent viewers may just change its attitude toward this station and change loyalties for good. And if – heaven forbid – this network bows out of the race, the landscape of local television may forever be changed.