GMA-7′s Futbolilits debuted on the 4th of July, a day after the Azkals’ historic 4-0 win against Sri Lanka in the World Cup qualifiers. I took it to be an auspicious start for a new teleserye that’s going to be about football, and so made plans to tune in. While I may not be the most rabid football fan out there, the premise of the series was interesting enough. It also had the potential to be radically different from all the other series out there, without being too out-of-this-world. After all, how many international football players started out as poor, shoe-less kids playing in the favelas of Brazil?
After watching the first episode, however, my assumptions were so wrong. Here are three reasons why I’m hesitant to watch more, and to follow the series from beginning to end:
1. It’s another fantaserye. To clarify, I don’t see anything wrong with fantaseryes – and fantasy/horror in general. But I believe that to make this a stronger series, it has to lose its fantastical elements, such as those magic shoes. As it stands, the fantasy element is a cop-out, an easy way out to make the series interesting. Not all teleseryes can have that fantastical element – Amaya may be able to get away with it because of the epic label and the entire setting, but Futbolilits is set in the present and it’s supposed to be about football.
With the inclusion of this device, the show even imparts the messagetoits viewers:skill
Similar raging also from me. I just don’t understand why channels of our country create shows (and hire low class and repetitive script/story writers) that ruins the image of the capability of us Filipinos to create a great and comparable series.
That show, Futbolilits, is a very big example. Looking on how they prepare the show (WHAT! Do they?), they only create it because of the timely uprising of the Azkals and want to gain viewers from them. I find it so pathetic that our big channels spontaneously create shows like this just to fill the time slot but worse, losing the quality of once was beautiful, SERIES.
As that show continues, we will see that it’s just another typical teleserye that only used football as a cover.
I am not really a hater type but the irritating script writers always get me on my nerves.
Good thing I have found a site like this. Kudos to you girls and keep those honest reviews.
I won’t put the blame all on the scriptwriters. I personally know some who’ve worked/are working for the three major stations – trust me, they’re trained in scriptwriting – and it’s usually the upper management of the networks who decide how the stories go. Even Ricky Lee, who spoke at a lecture sponsored by my college org a couple of years back, was forced to rewrite the entire first week of “Tayong Dalawa” simply because Channel 2′s management didn’t like it. That was after all the episodes for the entire week were already filmed and were technically ready for release.
There’s also how the scripts are written – for series, scripts are usually done by teams. There’s usually a lead writer and several brainstormers; there’s no one person writing an episode. That can explain why the scriptwriting can be uneven for some series. You then end up with series that are like instant noodles: edible after cooking for 3 minutes, but not that great-tasting and not that healthy. Compared that to real food, which needs a cooking time of an hour, but tastes better and is healthier.
And I wouldn’t mind if the show was just riding on the fame of the Azkals – if it were written correctly so that non-football fans would learn more about the game. There are several football-themed series/cartoons overseas, and while the ones I’ve watched aren’t really that memorable (Dream Team on Sky UK/Star Sports Asia; Supa Strikas cartoons on the Disney Channel), at least football remained at the core in the first few episodes. Then again, Dream Team’s ending was crap, anyway – they had exploding stadiums, tons of sex, and other things that would be common in Philippine telenovelas.
Yes, I also realized it’s not the scriptwriters fault. A funny story from a film director who was invited to MITP event as one of the panelists shared something how upper management or even producers alter stories because they didn’t like it. Imagine you are forced to insert a rape scene because the upper management wants it. When the scriptwriter insisted the story is done and there is no way he can put that rape scene, the reply to him was he needs to really insert it because the production team is already shooting it! The conclusion of the film director that shared that stupid practice in our entertainment industry was that everyone should be subordinate to the writers and not the other way around. I’m also glad this website is launched to improve our teleseryes and the entertainment industry as a whole.