'Majika' to be pitted against 'Sa Piling Mo'?

Showbiz observers noted the sudden dip in the TV ratings of "Encantadia," the beloved telefantasya of the Kapuso network. This started when "Encantadia's" ratings plummeted to 24.2%. While this has caused an alarm for the Kapuso network, this was met with jubilation by the ABS-CBN staff. The Kapamilya network is also basking on the strong showing of the new teleserye "Sa Piling Mo" featuring the tandem of Judy Ann Santos and Piolo Pascual. This only goes to show that the Juday-Piolo tandem is a force to reckon with. For how long Juday and Piolo will be able to show their strength in the ratings is worth watching. But for now, it seems they have the upper hand over "Encantadia."

But since the new GMA telefantasya "Majika" is set to premiere on Monday, March 20, expect the landscape of the primetime programming of GMA to change anew. We have yet to see if GMA will decide to pit the tandem of Angel Locsin and Dennis Trillo in "Majika" against the formidable partnership of Juday and Piolo.

Judging from the teaser of "Majika" that was shown during the press launch held Monday, the show looks very impressive indeed. Director Eric Quizon (who handles "Majika" together with Mac Alejandre) concedes "Majika" is definitely harder to do than "Darna." While before he said that "Darna" seems to be the telefantasya to beat because of the challenge of doing it entails, "Majika" is doubly hard to mount.

Angel agrees with her director's comment. "This is more difficult to do," says Angel who had to take horseback riding lessons for five days (under Asian Games medalist Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski in preparing for her role as a sorceress in the new series. She even met an accident while riding a horse, nearly falling off while atop the galloping stallion. But it was worth all the hardships, says Angel, when she saw how beautifully "Majika" was made.

And if you think that Angel's costume in the series opener is sexy, wait till you see what the costume designer will come up next in the succeeding episodes. But the wardrobe staff wouldn't want to tell Angel what she's going to wear next in future episodes. She would like to know so at least she'd be ready for it.

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Polo Ravales is very pleased with the way his career has turned out. He has a number of exciting projects this year, beginning with "Majika" where he plays the brother of Dennis Trillo who will become his fierce rival for the love of Angel Locsin. This will ignite the conflict and Polo is very happy to have been given such an important part.

He will also be doing the movie "Manay Po" under Regal Entertainment where he will portray a gay role for the first time in the flick to be directed by Joel Lamangan (who handled him in a brief but important role in "Blue Moon"). He was likewise handpicked by direk Joel to top bill another gay movie (inspired by Brokeback Mountain), something that elated him very much.

"It's very flattering for me to be chosen by direk Joel for the said project," says Polo who is very much excited with the project. "I am already psyching myself up for the project. I know this is going to be a major film for me and I just hope that direk Joel would allow me to have an acting workshop with him first before we start working. I know there might some delicate scenes he might want me to do like kissing an actor. Ayoko lang mabigla."

He's also wishing that this gay drama movie would finally fulfill his desire to be recognized for his acting talents. With direk Joel at the helm, Polo is quite confident he'd get his wish and if his luck would hold, he might even win an acting award for his performance.

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ABS-CBN premiered a brand new gag show titled "Gudtaym" last week, aimed at giving the top-rated "Bubble Gang" of GMA 7 a run for its money. The show premiered last week and most of comments we read about the show were negative. We only caught glimpse of the show and sad to say, the show is nowhere the caliber that "Bubble Gang" is in. If ABS-CBN aims to topple "Bubble Gang" via "Gudtaym," it seems very unlikely they would be able to do it with the kind of episode they came up with for their pilot.

We asked Ogie Alcasid's opinion on "Bubble Gang" facing opposition and the singer says they welcome the competition.

"It's just fine. We've been on for 11 years and a lot of other shows have come and gone, yet we are still here. It's probably because we are doing something right that's why we've developed a loyal following. But we welcome the competition because it keeps us on our toes and prevents us from being complacent. After all, it's no picnic doing a gag show but we enjoy every minute of it," says Ogie.

Today, "Bubble Gang" spoofs marital problems. Sexy mainstays Ara Mina, Rufa Mae Quinto, Diana Zubiri, Francine Prieto, and Maureen Larrazabal will present their spoof of belly dancing craze. And there are the spoofs on Axe commercial, "Jewel in the Palace" and "Majika."

Incidentally, Ogie is busy promoting his brand new album under Viva Records titled "Lumilipad" which features him doing duets with Regine Velasquez, Jaya, Sarah Geronimo, Rachelle Ann Go, and Jinky Vidal of Freestyle.

The carrier single of the album is "Minamahal Kita," the theme song of the new GMA afternoon soap "Agawin Mo Man Ang Lahat." He also did a music video for this song which featured Gretchen Barretto in a special appearance.

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In the light of the recent Leyte mudslide, celebrities and showbiz personalities are getting together to raise funds to help the landslide survivors by spearheading "a Celebrity Bazaar For Leyte" to be held tomorrow, March 18 at the Market! Market! Trade Hall A (3rd Floor) at the Fort Bonifacio Global City from 1 pm to 10 pm.

Among the stars who confirmed participation in the event are Sharon Cuneta, Dawn Zulueta, Richard Gomez and Lucy Torres-Gomez, Pilita Corrales, Jackie Lou Blanco, Boy Abunda, Korina Sanchez, Kuh Ledesma, Gary Valenciano, Heart Evangelista, Donita Rose, Arnell Ignacio, Phoemela Barranda, Eddie Gutierrez and Annabelle Rama, Ruffa Gutierrez-Bektas, Richard and Raymond Gutierrez, Tessa Prieto-Valdez, Tim Yap and many others.

The event is a brainchild of Ruffa who, despite of of settling in Turkey with her husband, has never lose her love for her fellow Filipinos. The tragedy in Leyte affected her so much that she took it upon herself to come up with this fund drive to do her share in providing some comfort for the survivors of the tragedy.

"This event is hopefully the start of a wave of events involving showbiz personalities coming together for a worthy cause. The intention is to raise awareness and encourage more industry friends to be concerned and share their blessings," says Ruffa, who even plans to go to Leyte to personally bring the donations to the survivors.