The TMZ Clones: Tweetbiz and Dokumentado

Filipino networks have this penchant for copying shows from other countries. We've had clones of Dawson's Creek (ABS-CBN's Tabing Ilog), Dancing With The Stars (ABS-CBN's U Can Dance and TV5's Shall We Dance), and who could forget the many variations of the American Idol done by both ABS-CBN and GMA. From those competitions and occasional dramas, the networks have moved to include the entertainment reporting style of Americans.

If you watch some of the gossip shows, one would notice the similarities with Entertainment Tonight or the Daily Ten. But I think what has caught the Filipino's taste is the satirical gossip reporting of TMZ. To be fair, the original show is a riot, and the concept of making it seem like a conference of the gossip columnists on whether a story is worth a mention on TMZ's website transports us to a behind-the-scenes look on where the gossip is coming from. And of course, I have to mention the sound effects and side comments they always have when they throw the story up into discussion. It always cracks me up when they report on Justin Bieber, they always have this high-pitched voice doing the Bieber voice. Genius!

So what did the two shows copy and scrap? Read after the break!


So successful was the TMZ style that GMA's cable channel, QTV and TV5 copied their style of reporting. The two shows, however, differ in how they adapted it to fit the Filipino flavor. Let me breakdown the TMZ Clones:

	Tweetbiz	Dokumentado
Tag line	The Bizniz of Chizmiz	None
The Topics	Entertainment & Gossip	Politics
The Harvey Levin	Tim Yap & Mr. Fu	Luchi Cruz-Valdez
The Max & Company	Maxene Magalona	Jove Francisco
	Justine Ferrer	TV5 Reporters
	Suzuki Sadatsugu
	Tabloid Reporter
Reason for Being	Make the "Swak o Ligwak" List	A different take on news reporting
The Other Things	Desks! Commentary	Desks Too! Commentary
		The TMZ Sound
		The TMZ Graphic

Oh, let's not forget that they try to create that behind-the-scene feel of TMZ! Both are poor copies of the original. I don't really get how the TMZ format helps Tweetbiz. For one thing, what's the point of the Swak o Ligwak list? They write the news stories on their white board because? Dokumentado, on the other hand, seems like the 3rd World version of TMZ. LOL. They do the voice overs and even copied how TMZ spaced their news. But they've gotten the groove of getting footage of the politicians at their unguarded instances. Plus 1 to you Dokumentado.

To be fair to both shows, the whole spirit of TMZ is hard to copy. They have the ditzy female reporter, the surfer dude, and the lawyer rounding up the circus. They have paparazzi videos, a culture of breaking the news first, and their irreverence is very American.