3 Impressions of Bridges of Love

Starring Jericho Rosales, Maja Salvador and Paulo Avelino, Bridges of Love aired its pilot episode last night. And here are our three impressions of the latest soap opera.

1. Jericho Rosales is given another venue to act but this time with depth.
It's not some love team role that he had in his early years but it's a piece where he can prove to the viewers that he deserves to remain on TV unlike other actors who live by the name of being an actor alone. Thankfully, the role is a protagonist lead unlike his character in The Legal Wife.

2. Storytelling had a good flow. It wasn't hard to follow. The flashbacks were done in style. Thanks to the headwriter BJ Amahan who also did well in the storyline. His name can not be fogotten since he was part of the Magkaribal team that made the tandem Derek-Gretchen hot.

3. We have yet to see if this material fits Maja Salvador.

Some observations:
*Cinematography was great.
*The scenes with the little brothers were well-shot.
*SPG all throughout so seems like this is a for-adult soap opera.

Is MTRCB's SPG rating really working? The Aftermath of Walang Hanggan's Rape Scene

With the latest buzz in Philippine television on the rape scene in Walang Hanggan topping the ratings, we question.

Walang Hanggan garnered a national TV rating of 38.7% by Kantar Media last August 1 for their episode that featured the rape scene between Nathan (Paulo Avelino) and Katerina (Julia Montes). The scene showed Paulo Avelino's character topless, sweating and devouring the still clothed body of Julia's character. It was not as explicit as the other rape scenes but the inuendos definitely led to the viewers' lucid imagination.

Here's the catch. Just before the said part of the show, the Kapamilya network warned the viewers with MTRCB's rating SPG (Strong Parental Guidance or Striktong Patnubay at Gabay). Despite the warning, the show still garnered a whopping 38.7%. That means that millions were able to watch it. To prove the point, the show even went trending on that night over Twitter world.

Reviewing the tweets, most of them came from students who were watching the said show. Students who are still living with their parents. Students who are supposed to be guarded by their parents.

Nothing is wrong with MTRCB's rating. Nothing is wrong with a show garnering such a high turnout of viewers for the said scene. But there are a few realities we can deduce (theoretically at least) from the results.

1. People liked Paulo Avelino's character going topless. SEX content.


2. Tweets were more of "Sana ako nalang ni-rape ni Nathan" than "kawawa si Katerina."


3. MTRCB ratings are just ratings, they don't have teeth.

For the third reality, we give the challenge back to the parents. As Winnie Monsood once said in her show at GMA News TV, it is still the responsibility of parents to watch over their kids and MTRCB is just a partner.

Tell us what you think. Tweet us @outsidershowbiz and hashtag #WalangHangganSPG