Melodramatic ‘cliffhangers’ assure avid viewership
Tom Rodriguez
Have you noticed? Many of our teleseryes work hard to keep viewers interested and engaged—but they reserve their most exciting plot and character developments for the Friday telecast of their shows, to get people so excited and intrigued that they will make sure to watch the drama series again starting on Monday!
Let’s call this the “Friday drama cliffhanger” effect, an all-important device by which TV producers make sure that their series enjoys escalating continuity of viewership.
This explains why every Friday or last show for the week is full of startling, puzzling and even shocking developments or intimations of more intense melodrama and conflict to come the following week!
Viewed by this yardstick, let’s do a quick, comparative survey of current teleseryes and their recent sizzlers or shockers: On “Ikaw Lamang,” thugs have been sent out to do Coco Martin’s character in by the series’ main villain, Ronaldo Valdez—but, most unexpectedly, it’s Ronaldo’s character who dies in a car crash!
—Uh, make that “apparently”—because he in fact survives the explosion, unknown to many, and can thus go on to operate in secret to continue to hound Coco’s family to extinction!
—And, true enough, in an updated development, we see Coco’s father, Tirso Cruz III, being felled by bullets in a violent exchange of fire—and it doesn’t look like he will survive the encounter.
That sounds really eventful, but other shows also have a lot of hot “cliffhangers” to assure loyal viewership:
On “My Destiny,” the “tantalizing” hook is the fact that the two sisters, Grace and Joy, are falling for the same guy, Tom Rodriguez (in his two different guises)—and Grace (Carla Abellana) may have to “sacrificially” give way, because her younger sister (Rhian Ramos) is desperately ill. Local viewers just love this “magparaya” twist, so they’ll be sure to keep watching to see how it all turns out!
On “Sana Bukas Pa Ang Kahapon,” the big twist is that Rose (who’s pretending to be the late Emmanuelle) has cleverly gotten herself on the board of directors of the rival company that she and Susan Roces’ character are trying to undermine.
In addition, the subterfuge has an even more potent personal angle because Rose’s husband (Paolo Avelino) has married the “evil” Maricar Reyes, mistakenly believing that Rose is dead (and that Emmanuelle is alive).
So, Paolo’s two wives have now been positioned to (covertly) fight it out for his heart, and for control of the company that is their financial bone of contention.
Most potent of all, however, is the underlying theme of vengeance, as Rose does everything she can to get back at Maricar and the series’ other resident villains, for making her entire family miserable!
That sounds really strong, but the most viewer-seductive twist of all is what’s currently unfolding on “Ang Dalawang Mrs. Real,” where the series’ own two wives (of the faithless Dingdong Dantes) have finally learned about each other’s most unwelcome existence—and are engaged in a bitter battle over his heart of hearts!
What makes the “duel” even more “deliciously shocking” for viewers is the fact that it’s taken on a decidedly physical coloration, with furious and livid Maricel lashing out and hurting anybody within reach of her vitriol—and deadly fists!
