Match Airing! Another Reason to Send Our Love to Solar's ETC

If you're from countries outside the United States, the legal avenue of viewing your fave TV shows is to wait for your local channels to pick them up, and air them locally, which more often than not, results to a delay of one whole season or a couple of episodes. The other route for avid viewers is to rely on Megavideo or by downloading them via torrents. Often the reason is that people already watched the previous season, so they want to be as updated as the people in the U.S. The challenge then is to air episodes as close as possible to when the show goes live in the U.S, so these channels don't lose viewership.

A couple of years ago, Studio 23 brought us Fresh U.S. Episodes (FUSE), where the delay was only a week or an episode. The consensus was that it was an amazing step towards lessening the wait, but ultimately it was still delayed. And then last year, Solar Entertainment revolutionized S23's F.U.S.E. by way of airing Glee via satellite. In other words, the delay was mere hours! In fact for the downloaders, this would become the easier route, since it freed up storage space, wait time for the download for slow connections, and predictable viewing times!

This year, Solar Entertainment pushes the boundaries again via the shows airing on ETC. Apart from Glee, they've added E! News, the Daily Ten, TMZ, and The Vampire Diaries to this same day airing scheme. Aptly called, "Match Airing," I'm pretty sure this is a welcome relief for avid TV viewers and a definite step forward towards a "smaller TV world."

Good job ETC and Solar Entertainment! You definitely love your viewers!

EDIT 8/24: I forgot they're also airing Gossip Girl on the same day! :)
EDIT 8/26: And of course, I forgot to add America's Next Top Model, How I Met Your Mother, and Hellcats. (That last one surprised me a bit, since it's new and the buzz driving it is Ashley Tisdale cheerleading. The trailer did look good though!)

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!