The two shows go head-to-head against each other on primetime, Monday, July 4.
The six-year-old Kapamilya show, amid the reports suggesting that FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano’s days on primetime is numbered. It will confront its 22nd rival Kapuso show. The Coco Martin-starrer debuted on ABS-CBN’s Primetime Bida on September 28, 2015.
The series claimed supremacy of its timeslot until ABS-CBN, got shut down NTC in May 2020. It was, however, able to return to free TV in October 2020, and it has since recaptured much of its former audience.
That said, the bigger manifestation of the show’s continuing popularity amid ABS-CBN shutdown and the pandemic is online streaming, with hundreds of thousands of viewers simultaneously drawn to the live-airing of the action drama on YouTube nightly.
Since 2015, FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano has outlasted nearly two dozen Kapuso shows, which GMA Network pitted against the Kapamilya drama on its post-primetime newscast slot. Among the biggest Kapuso series that the Kapamilya series went head-to-head with that included the 2016 incarnation of the telefantasya, Encantadia, the Dingdong Dantes-starrer, Alyas Robinhood (2017), The Thor-inspired Victor Magtanggol (2018), the Filipino adaptation of Descendants of the Sun (2020), the hit Kapuso series, First Yaya (2021), and the epic drama, Legal Wives (2021). In February this year, FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano was pitted against First yaya’s sequel, First Lady, which ended its run last Friday, June 30.
Interestingly, Lolong, is not the first Ruru Madrid-starred series that went against FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano. Madrid also starred in Sherlock Jr., Alyas Robinhood, and Encantadia, and all of which pitted against the phenomenal Kapamilya series.
Now gearing up for its 7th year on air, FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano may find difficulty in neutralizing the so-called -adventureserye’ in the rating game, although the Kapamilya series may not necessarily need to reign on free TV, as its success in the streaming world seems to be enough to ensure it further longevity on the air.
