Pinoy TV Series Cliches

cli•ché (klē•shā’) n. A fixed or stereotyped expression which has lost its significance through frequent repetition

– The New International Webster’s Dictionary

There are times, or most of the time rather, while we are watching Pinoy TV series, we already know what is going to happen next. You know why? It’s because we’ve already seen the plot before. The television network of ABS-CBN, GMA and TV5 has nothing to do in their entire life but to produce teleseryes of the same story line. They are the perfect epitome of our word for today – cliché. But I can’t blame them because our dearest Kapamilya, Kapuso and Kapatid are there to support them. These cliché scenes keep them on coming back.

 

Adopted Children

In the Philippines, Only two percent of the children’s population are adopted. But in Philippine television, there are 99.9 percent! Maybe I’m exaggerating but there are really numerous instances wherein the midwife will mistakenly switch the rich couple’s baby and the poor couple’s baby who will eventually be the stars of the program or instances that a lost child due to an accident will be adopted by a poor family. And when these babies grew up and when everything seems so normal, DNA or an identical necklace will take part in the show revealing that they are adopted children. Woah! Surprising, right? Yes, I’m sarcastic.

The Revenge

Oh! There is a new teleserye in ABS-CBN Prime time Bida! And there is also one in GMA Telebabad! Hmm! Let me guess the plot of these new shows. The series will start with the female lead suffering from the hardships of life and a wealthy woman will not treat her well and will make her life miserable for a certain reason. Then the poor will work hard until she becomes rich. She will gain courage to fight back to the point that the two women will be mortal enemies. They will throw intense lines to each other and slap and pull each others’ hair afterwards. In the end, the poor woman will win because the rich woman will either die or have a mental disorder.

Rival Parents

Alright! What did we, children, learn from Pinoy TV series? We learned that parents are always the reason why our love life is ruined. We learned that parents are always the reason why we don’t end up together with our special someone. I’m sorry mom and dad. I know that you are innocent but that’s what we see in Pinoy teleseryes. They show that the leading lady’s parents and the leading man’s parents are feuds on the earlier stage of their lives either because of love or business making the relationship of the couple complicated. It’s always like that in TV so we thought that it is always like that in reality, too.

Amnesia

We all witnessed how Dao Ming Si got his amnesia due to a car accident and we are all heartbroken when Dao Ming Si forgot his love for Shan Cai. Meteor Garden has become a remarkable drama series because of this heartbreaking twist. But after Meteor Garden, amnesic syndrome suddenly popped out from almost every Pinoy TV series. The protagonist will encounter a fatal accident. He will not die, of course, because he is the protagonist, but expect him to have amnesia. It is painful to watch a couple separate just because one forgets the other due to amnesia but it is not painful anymore if they’ll just copy this conflict over and over again.

Abandoned Warehouse

Movie makers already admitted that this scene is a cliché not just in TV but also in cinemas. They just keep on reusing it. In a film by Star Cinema and Regal Films entitled Da Possessed, a member of the family was abducted. When the family was looking for her, the sister-in-law intuitively deduced “Nasa abandonadong bodega!” When asked how she knew, she replied, “Lahat ng kinikidnap, si Mara, si Marimar, si Claudine, si Kristine Hermosa, lahat sila dinadala sa isang abandonadong bodega!” See? They knew! They knew that this scene is overused on-screen even though in reality, kidnappers do not always bring their victim in an abandoned warehouse.

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