Pinoy "Full House"

Just recently, ABS-CBN launched their Pinoy adaptation of the hit Koreanovela "My Girl", starring Gerald Anderson and Kim Chiu. But of course don't expect the Kapuso Network GMA7 to just sit around, they have started shooting their own adaptation of another hit Korean series "My Name Is Kim San Soon" starring the Asia's Song Bird Ms.Regine velasquez to play the starring role opposite Mark Anthony Fernandez as "Cyrus" her love interest. And just today I heard some buzz that GMA7 will be also doing the Pinoy Version of "Full House".

Who would forget these hit Koreanovela starring the lovely Song Hye Kyo sa Jessie Han and Korea's Prince of Pop Jeong Ji-Hun A.K.A "Rain" as Justin Lee. It's the story of Jessie Han who lives in the "Full House" built by her father, after being double crossed by her two friends and had her house sold to a famous actor Justin Lee, the two signed a contract and got married but later found themselves in love with one another and as they say, "the rest is history".

Full House indeed set a trend on Philippine TV, and made popular of a funny song called the "3 Bear Song". And it was the Koreanovela that surpassed the ratings of "Meteor Garden".

For now there are still no clues given on who will play Jessie Han and Justin Lee, but in my honest opinion Heart Evangelista is suitable for the role, because she is pretty,can do both comedy and drama and even "kikay" roles. GMA7 can also consider Marian Rivera, I can imagine her doing the "3Bear Song". While for Justin Lee's role I think Richard Gutierrez is suitable, and could be a follow up for the Richard-Heart loveteam after "Codename: Asero". Dindong Dantes could also do the role and could be a follow up for Dindong-Marian after "Dyesebel".

Richard-KC Movie on GMA Films

After Richard Gutierrez signed a contract to Star Cinema for a movie with KC Conception, just this past week it was KC Conception's turn to sign a contract to GMA films for a Valentine Movie with Richard Gutierrez.

This was the deal that was made by both camps, Richard and KC will both team up for a film for both GMA Films and Star Cinema. Before this deal was close there were rumors that Star Cinema and GMA Films will do a joint venture to produce the Richard-KC film, and another rumor was Piolo Pasqual will do a movie with Marian Rivera for GMA Films as an exchange deal, but now everything was made clear.

This is a very rare deal for both camps, because as we all know Star Cinema is a film affiliate for ABS-CBN and GMA Films for GMA Network, but both camps decided to settle their differences and lend their big talents to each other for this deal. It seemed impossible because of the Network War but it happened, thanks to KC and Richard who were rumored to more that just friends.

Both KC and Richard are exited for this project, their movie with Star Cinema will start shooting by this coming days and their movie with GMA Films with a tentative title "When I Met You" will be shown on Valentines Day next year.

It is truly an exchange deals for both film outfits, because the Richard-KC movie on Star Cinema will be directed by Joyce Bernal, the director of Marimar and now Dyesebel while their movie with GMA Films will be directed by Jose Javier Reyes who is recognized as a resident director for top grossing Star Cinema Films like KASAL KASALI KASALO and it's sequel SAKAL SAKALI SAKLOLO.

David Cook Is The New American Idol

The recently held American Idol Finale at the Nokia Theater was truly the most jam packed event of the year, and of course David Cook walked away with the victory winning by 12 Million votes over his contender David Archuleta. There was no doubt about David Cooks win, although in the performance night before the finals Simon Cowell called it a "knock out win" for David Archuleta, but in the finale David Cook managed to come back big.

Present in the Finals Night was all the finalists American Idol Season 7. The boys performed with Brian Adams, the top 12 performed with Jorge Michael, with Paula Abdul shed tears in her eyes while Jorge Michael was singing. Syesha Mercado performed with Seal, David Archuleta with One Republic singing "Apologize" and David Cook performed with ZZ Top.

Last years winner Jordin Sparks was there too, and 2005 AI winner Carrie Underwood performed too. But the biggest shocker was Filipino Immigrant Reynaldo Lapus, even though he did not passed the auditions was given the privilege to perform in that night singing hi now famous composition "Best Friends Forever", and he was joined by the California Marching Band., and judges Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson joined Reynaldo Lapus in the stage seemed to be teasing Simon.

As the winner was announced at the end of that night, David Cook shed a few tears in his eyes and was joined by his family. And sang the winning song "The Time of My Life".

All I can say is it was truly an amazing Finals Night, and a wonderful season of American Idol, I can't wait for the next season.

For Those who missed the American Idol Finale, Log on to: http://americanidol.com

Lindsay Does it Again!

Lindsay Lohan have been involved in a lot of controversies, after being charged for Drunk Driving, put in the rehab, now Lohan is charged for stoling a Mink coat amounting to $11,000 from a Columbia University student.

According to complainant, she left that coat in a night club were she was hanging out and Lindsay who was also in that same night club brought home the coat, and after a few days saw Lindsay Lohan in OK! Magazine wearing that coat.

The complainant said that the coat was a gift from her Grandmother and has a lot of sentimental value to her, so eventhough the coat was returned to her, she is asking for a $10,000 as a rental fee for the coat that was missing for three weeks. And according to the college student, the coat smells cigarette and has a slight damage in the linings.

Pinoy Maskman on ABS-CBN

I've read from a newspaper that ABS-CBN have acquired the Television Rights to do the Pinoy Adaptation of Hikari Sentai Maskman. For those who not know, Maskman is a popular Japanese live action series aired in Japan during 1987-1988., and made it's way on Philippine Television I think that was 1991 or 1992.

"Hikari Sentai" translated in Tagalog as "Light Force Maskman" the first Sentai to have a Five piece combining Robot, they call it "Mask Robot", they have another Robot called "Galaxy Robot" which transform into a Giant Trailer. It was also the first Sentai to have a sixth member who appeared in just one episode, his name was X1Mask, wearing a Green Costume. The series was about a Squadron formed by Director Sugata, a Scientist who discovered the "Aura Power" which is the main source of strength for the five members of Maskman namely Red Mask, Black Mask, Blue Mask, Yellow Mask and Pink Mask. The group was formed to protect the Earth from the Tube Empire lead by the evil Emperor Zheba. Unexpectedly "Takeru", in the Tagalog dub was named "Michael Joe" fell in love with a girl named "Mio"("Rio" in the Tagalog dub)
who was a member of the Tube Empire, later was kidnapped by the Empire and was frozen inside a block of ice.

However, Maskman was not concluded during it's airing on National TV in the Philippines, the last few episode that was shown was the Saga where Blue Mask turned into an enemy after discovering that he was a part of the Empire and got possessed by the evil powers. Maskman was shown once again on Hero Channel, a cable network owned by ABS-CBN and I think it was concluded their.

Maskman was a very popular TV series during my childhood, I remember that me along with my friends use to role play the characters of Maskman. In the ending video of Maskman, there is a scene where they are forming a glowing piece of rubber band into different shapes, that was also imitated by children.We even imitate their transform sequence. It's opening and theme songs were translated in Tagalog, we also use to sing that and up to now I can still recall the complete lyrics. I was a big fan of Maskman, so now I'll wait for ABS-CBN's adaptation and see how well they can do, I just hope they don't ruin Maskman like what GMA did with Shaider. And I do hope they can create a nice costume, visual effects and the Robots.

Syesha is out; David Cook and David Archuleta Meets in the Finale

Last week on American Idol the final three went head to head singing three songs from the judges choice, the producer's choice and one song of their personal choice.
Obviously that was a David Cook night earning all the praises from the judges specially Simon Cowell who said "David Cook wins the night" after Cook sang "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" a song chosen by the producers. The other two songs he sang was "Dare You to Move" a song of his choice, and "The First Time Ever I Saw your Face", chosen by Simon. For David Archuleta, he sang "And So It Goes",chosen by Paula, "Longer", the producer's pick, and the most shocking performance from David Archuleta in his entire run on AI, he picked the song "With You" by Cris Brown. David Archuleta was known for doing ballads but with that song he looked like a Boy Band member doing some dancing, judges said "It was not Like You(David Archuleta)". Simon even referred to his performance as a "chiwawa trying to become a tiger". For Syesha Mercado she sang "If I Ain't Got you", Randy Jackson's choice, "Fever" for Syesha's pick, and "Hit Me Up" from the producer's pick.

And in the Elimination night where 56 votes were in, Syesha got the lowest votes and she is out of the contest leaving the two Davids to meet in the finale night. However Syesha had a smile in her face as she leaves the contest and she sang her final song like she was not eliminated.

Next week is the Finale, I think it will be a two or three hour special. And in that night the American Idol for 2008 shall be crowned.

Piolo and Sam Withdraws Libel Suit against Lolit

Yesterday at the Manila Regional Trial Court actors Piolo Pascual and Sam Milby have withdrawn their Libel Suit against Entertainment columnist Lolit Solis and former Pilipino Star Ngayon Entertainment Editor Ms. Veronica Samio.

If you recall, Piolo and Sam filed a Libel Case against Lolit because of an article in Lolit's column at the PSN where she said that she saw Piolo and Sam in a restaurant whispering at each other. That column caused a maliscious conception for the two actors.

Lolit Solis have already withdrawn her allegations for Piolo and Sam, and as for the two actors they signed their affidavit of desistance meaning Lolit will no longer be be charged for what she have written.

I thought this issue will not gonna end up in a reconciliation, because just last week Piolo ans Sam went to the Department of Justice to verify whether Lolit Solis have a connection with DOJ that maid Lolit mad that caused her to speak at her TV show Startalk and she uttered the word "G*G*" three times. But it turned out well for the two parties, meaning this issue is over and will no longer be seen on news on TV or Tabloids.

Betty La "Bea"

ABS-CBN finally revealed their choice actress to play the lead role for the pinoy adaptation of Betty La Fea, and it's Bea Alonzo. Many people became curious on who will be the lucky one to play the said role and it became a controversial one when Regine Velasquez planned to tranfer to ABS and showed interest in doing the role. There were even write ups that Valerie Concepcion was considered by ABS-CBN choice for the role. Until finally ABS announced their choice and it was Bea Alonzo. According to the creative team of ABS, the choice was made based on the surveys they conducted on who will fit the role.

It could be the biggest break for Bea Alonzo and also a challenging one. Because if you remember Betty La Fea was a Telenovela from South America about an intelligent but ugly girl named Betty who worked in a Fashion company named "Eco Moda" as a secretary and later falls for her boss "Armando", but their affair was condemned by many people around them. But a twist happened in the story, Betty became beautiful and as they say, the rest is history. It is Challenging for Bea because it means she will have to prosthetics to turn her lovely face into an ugly one, and she will finally do a different role compare to what she usually does, because Betty La Fea's character is a comic one unlike the usual Bea Alonzo who was known for doing heavy drama series.

The original Betty La Fea series was aired on GMA-7 but ABS-CBN now owns the rights for the show since they also own it's US adaptation "Ugly Betty" on ABS-CBN's sister company Studio 23.

Bye Bye Jason

Last week Jason Castro left American Idol, which leaves the finalists down to the final three. The idol finalists sang two songs from the Rock n' Roll genre.
As usual David Cook and David Archuleta made the best performance of the night.

Jason Castro sang Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" and Bob Dylan's "Mr tambourine Man". In his first song, the Judges said that "it was a tough song to tackle" and in his second song Paula Abdul said that it did not blow them away and added that Jason always blows her away, and you know what that means.

Jason was joined by Syesha Mercado in the bottom two, but it was Jason who got the lowest number of votes enough to kick him out of the contest.

So now it's just down to three Idols David Cook, David Archuleta and Syesha Mercado, who will be voted off next? And will it be David Cook and David Archuleta who will clash for in the finals night?

Jason's exit Interview

Idol's performance:

David Cook
David Archuleta
Jason Castro
Syesha Mercado

For more info and Idol Performance log on to: http://americanidol.com

P26 Million sue vs. Dr.Manny Calayan

One of the Philippines top surgeon and beauty expert Dr. Manny Calayan is facing criminal charges after a fil-am guy named Louem Martinez, 34 sue him due to deformed penis caused by Calayan's Penile Enlargement Surgery.

According to Dr. Calayan he explained all the risks involved in the operation and even advised Louem to not have sexual intercourse after the operation to avoid infections and Louem agreed to him and signed a waver to give his full consent, but the accuser didnt follow his instructions.

But Louem denied Dr. Calayan's explanations and said that the surgeon never advised him anything and that Dr. Calayan even boasted how many similar procedures he have done and that he is an expert in operations like that. Louem even added that he wasn't even able to read thoroughly the waver that he signed because Dr. Calayan's secretary was in a hurried. After the surgery, Louem experienced pain and deformation of his private part, and the malpractice in surgery could even caused tumor.

If found guilty Dr. Calayan will gonna have to pay Louem a whopping P26 million for the damage caused by his medical malpractice and the surgeon could even loose his licence and worst, he could even end up in jail.

The Richard-KC movie

Finally the much awaited team up Richard Gutierrez and KC Concepcion will come true after Richard Gutierrez sign a contract to Star Cinema last Friday. But unlike early ex peculations the said film is not a joint venture between GMA Films and Star Cinema. GMA Films lend Richard to Star Cinema of course with some exchange deals. Maybe Star Cinema will also lend one of their exclusive contract star to GMA Films for another movie.

Recently there were rumors that Marian Rivera and Piolo Pascual might do a movie together, maybe that's their deal, Richard will do a movie for Star Cinema and piolo with GMA films. Nice deal.

This is a good sign for both Networks, maybe their starting to work together to finally end the Network War. Before the rivalry between GMA and ABS started there were no exclusive contract policy, stars from different networks can work freely for any network they want because of that there were no jobless stars, unlike now, many actors and actresses are on a hiatus waiting for offers from TV Networks and producers. That's why you cannot blame those stars who switches loyalty from their respective networks.

Maybe we could finally see both Kapuso and Kapamilya working for one project. We have to watch out for further developments.

Farewell Brooke White

Last week American Idol said goodbye to Brooke White, it has been a long run for Brooke until last week. Along with her in the bottom two was Syesha Mercado. The final five last week two songs from Music Legend Neil Diamond. One of the song that Brooke had performed last week was "I'm a Believer", the audience and Paula Abdul was on their feet while she was singing but Simon called her performance "A Nightmare".

Still the David Archuleta and David Cook rise to the occasion Jason Castro however managed to be safe for that elimination.

Brooke White cried a lot after being eliminated and she couldn't even sing her final song. The result was not surprising, Brooke was not really so impressive in the contest, she only managed to stay their for so long because she was one of the crowd favorite, but this is the time where viewers really need to choose the best of them all. Now it's down to the final four and the finals is just around the corner, on my fearless forecast, I think Syesha Mercado will be eliminated next week.

Top five Result
Brooke White's Final Interview

Performances:

Brooke White
Syesha Mercado
Jason CastroDavid Archuleta
David Cook

For more information log on to: http://americanidol.com

Kuya Germs is Bitter on Billy Crawford

The Master Showman German Moreno and Billy Crawford seem to be building a gap between each other since Billy Crawford decided to come back in the Philippines as a Kapamilya. Yes Billy Crawford is now a Kapamilya after he accepted the hosting job for ABS-CBN's reality talent search Pinoy Dream Academy.

Although it seems that Billy's decision to transfer to ABS-CBN is no big deal at all since he is an international star and considered as a pride to all the Filipinos. The fans have the right to see him may it be Kapuso or Kapamilya, and both networks deserves to acquire his service.

But the thing is Kuya Germs considers Billy as his own son. Over the years Billy started his career as a young performer in Kuya Germs' That's Entertainment. And just last year Billy came back in the Philippines as a Kapuso and had a sold out concert at the Araneta Coliseum. And during that time The Master Showman gave his all out support to Billy.

I've been a follower of Kuya Germs' column in "Pilipino Star Ngayon", and almost everyday he writes many positive articles about Billy, that Billy is currently recording an album in U.S. and that he is busy that's why he cannot come back in the Philippines and that maybe sometime in December Billy might visit here again only to find out that Billy will make his return as a Kapamilya. And what's hard for Kuya Germs is that Billy did not even notified him about his transfer.

I can see through Kuya Germs' article how hard is this situation for him, but still he is giving Billy the benefit of the doubt and maybe Billy can say a good reason for his decision.