GMA-7's Pinoy Idol Set to Premiere on April 5, 2008

Pinoy Idol is the second franchise of Idol series in the Philippines. It is set to replace Associated Broadcasting Company's (ABC) Philippine Idol, which was the first and the original franchise, after it was not been awarded by FremantleMedia to ABC for its supposed-to-be second season. GMA Network promoted Pinoy Idol as "the first Idol competition in the Philippines" during its New Year's Eve 2007 Presentation, and therefore will not recognize Philippine Idol and its winner Mau Marcelo. It will be hosted by Raymond Gutierrez, with Ogie Alcasid (singer, songwriter, and record producer), Jolina Magdangal (singer and actress), and Wyngard Tracy (retired talent manager) as judges. The winner will receive P1 million, brand new car, a recording contract with Sony BMG Music Philippines, a television contract with GMA Network among other prizes. It is set to premiere on April 5, 2008


ABC was supposed to have the second season for Philippine Idol, as announced in a report in ABC's late night news show Sentro. This was also announced by Marcelo during the concert of the first season's final 12 at the Araneta Coliseum in late March 2007. However, rumors began to spread that Philippine Idol would not be having its second season in 2007 as planned, while major station GMA Network was planning to acquire the Idol franchise.Sources claimed that ABC incurred heavy losses in the previous season, primarily because of the low number of advertisement placements despite being a widely-followed show. ABC asserted that it was still under negotiation with FremantleMedia about the second season and had earmarked Asian Idol as its "big launch", although there was a possibility that GMA was negotiating about Idol as well since the network already had local franchises of Celebrity Duets and Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?--both FremantleMedia franchises.

After several negotiations, FremantleMedia officially decided to move and to have the second season aired on GMA Network, slated for a 2008 premiere. FremantleMedia's representative Geraldine Bravo said that it is "very fortunate" to find a new partner, while GMA Network's Senior Vice President for Entertainment Wilma Galvante added that both parties have agreed that the network "has the experience, the resources, and the people to mount talent-search programs".

ABC was reportedly sore about the deal, saying through its senior vice president for Corporate Affairs Terra Daffon that ABC was willing to buy only Idol with no other packages attached, but FremantleMedia has apparently found a better deal with GMA, "a giant" compared to their network which they described as a "Jack trying to climb the beanstalk". ABC was also saddended by rumors that GMA would relaunch the show instead of recognizing the first season and therefore not acknowledging Mau Marcelo as the first Philippine Idol. Daffon commented that GMA's move to acquire FremantleMedia programs was a complete turnaround from its previous vow not to "buy" any foreign franchise, and that it seemed set in battling rival ABS-CBN anew as the latter now has four franchises from Endemol. Galvante, meanwhile, countered that she will not back down from what she said that GMA will not "copy" foreign franchises completely, without making adjustments to entertain local viewers, which was different from her own statement over a year before that the GMA network didn't need to "buy" a foreign franchise to put up their own talent searches.

Auditions

Auditions for Pinoy Idol was held in the following cities: Cagayan de Oro, Batangas City, Iloilo City, Cebu City, Davao City, Pasay, Dagupan, and Angeles. Auditions in Naga City were canceled for unknown reasons. Out of thousands of aspirants, 179 passed through the next round of eliminations.

Production

Louie Ignacio, who directs GMA's variety program SOP Rules and was part of the network's own singing competition Pinoy Pop Superstar, is slated to direct the first season of Pinoy Idol. Ryan Agoncillo, who hosted Philippine Idol, will not reprise his hosting stint due to his contract with rival network ABS-CBN. Likewise, Philippine Idol judge Ryan Cayabyab will not return to his jury duties not only because of his previous connections with ABS-CBN, but also because he accepted the offer to appear in Pinoy Dream Academy's second season as its new "headmaster".

Eventually, Pilita Corrales and Francis Magalona, both judges from Philippine Idol with connections to GMA 7, were not selected to reprise their jury duties in Pinoy Idol as those roles were given to Alcasid, Magdangal, and Tracy. Hosting chores were given to Raymond Gutierrez. Veteran TV host Paolo Bediones and singer-actress Regine Velasquez were considered for the role as Pinoy Idol host, but were rejected due to being overaged under Idol franchise standards.Additionally, FremantleMedia personnel did not want a singer like Velasquez to host the show so as not to take attention away from the eventual finalists. Meanwhile, GMA does not recognize Philippine Idol winner Marcelo as the first-season winner although her runners-up Jan Nieto and Gian Magdangal are both part of GMA's roster. As their preparation for Pinoy Idol, GMA Network shelved all of their other talent search programs such as Celebrity Duets: Philippine Edition, Pinoy Pop Superstar, and StarStruck.Meanwhile, FremantleMedia has given GMA Network the right to broadcast Pinoy Idol on its U.S. cable channel GMA Pinoy TV.


Controversy

Early into the development of Pinoy Idol, there is a growing petition in online forums requesting for Ignacio's exclusion as its program director primarily because of his frequent use of butterflies (whether live butterflies or having people wear butterfly wings) on every project he has directed. He commented that he would still stick to his "lucky trademark" and even taunted petitioners to direct the show and put beetles or mosquitoes on the set if that is what they want.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinoy_Idol