Batibot

Batibot
Format	Educational
Created by	Philippine Children's Television Foundation, Inc.
Developed by	Radio Philippines Network
Starring	Various Contributors
Opening theme	Batibot theme by Louie Ocampo
Country of origin	Philippines
No. of episodes	6,650 episodes (plus 29 episodes from the revival)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Feny De Los Angeles-Bautista
Running time	1 hour
Broadcast
Original channel	Radio Philippines Network
Picture format	480i SDTV
Original run	May 14, 1984 – June 30, 2002; November 27, 2010–present

Batibot is a children's television program from the Philippines, based on Sesame Street. Premiering in 1984, with the name Sesame!, and eventually renamed Batibot several years later. Batibot in Filipino means "small, but strong and robust". As Sesame!, the program used both English and Filipino as the media of communication, but after evolving into Batibot, the show became a completely Filipino language children's educational show.

It was produced by the Sesame Workshop (Children's Television Workshop) and Philippine Children's Television Foundation, Inc. (PCTVF). CTW broke this relationship with PCTVF in 1989.

History

PCTVF was formed in 1984. It was organized by the same team that worked together on the Philippine Sesame Street Project (Sesame!) in 1983. The latter is a co-production with the U.S.'s Children's Television Workshop. Striking out on its own a year after, PCTVF's sole directive was to produce a television program for pre-school children that would supplement their education and at the same time make the children appreciative of their culture and heritage, resulting in the show called Batibot.

Batibot was formerly a thirty-minute show. It aired from Monday to Friday, from 9:30 to 10:00 a.m., and used the magazine-on-television format, employing variety, humor, original Filipino music and stories, animation, black theater, muppets, short live action films and features. Batibot was broadcast nationwide from Monday to Friday on the Philippine television networks Radio Philippines Network (RPN) from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. and on People's Television (PTV) (now National Broadcasting Network) from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. In 1991, the show switched to ABS-CBN but switched back to RPN in 1994 after the former decided to produce its own set of children TV programs through the ABS-CBN Foundation. In 1995, PCTVF signed a contract with GMA Network and Batibot was shown at its original morning time slot. In 1996, Batibot won its 8th Gawad CCP Award as one of the Ten Best Television programs in the Philippines, although it never enjoyed the luxury of government funding even in its earliest years of programming. It has been recognized as a significant contribution to national early childhood care and development efforts since it first became every Filipino child's playmate. It is based on an educational curriculum which addresses all aspects of early childhood growth and development, namely physical, moral, emotional, socio-cultural, and intellectual values, as well as the child's physical environment, whether natural or man-made. It is specifically designed for four to six year olds. In contrast, its thirty-minute radio version, Radyo Batibot, is specifically designed for seven to twelve year olds. The approaches and the content differ precisely because of the differences in the age-group's characteristics, needs and interests.

Batibot became the longest-running educational television program of PCTVF apart from other children-oriented projects. The major ones, other than Batibot, include Radyo Batibot that aired on the radio station DZAM (now DZAR) and Pinpin, a weekly, one-hour Chinese-Filipino program for four to six-year olds. Pinpin employs both Filipino and Chinese languages. The other projects are children's books publications, cassette-tape productions of Batibot songs, live shows that focus on environmental protection, studio visits and language-learning tapes and videos. Batibot actually has an address that children could recite on cue: "12 Saint John Street, Cubao, Quezon City. Ang zip code namin ay 1119." The latter translates to "Our zip code is 1119".

In 1996, Batibot's TV audience started to decline. Rapid development of cable TV in the Philippines led to the popularity of youth-oriented channels like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Disney Channel. Tough competition from ABS-CBN Foundation over its morning TV programs after airing foreign cartoons, and also the death of Pong Pagong and Kiko Matsing was also a factor. PCTVF was forced to cease airing of Batibot a year later through the recommendation of its host network, GMA. It made a brief comeback in 1998 on RPN but was forced to cease again for the same reason.

Batang Batibot & Koko Kwik Kwak

Batang Batibot & Koko Kwik Kwak
Format	Educational
Created by	Roy/Bashman Productions
Country of origin	Philippines
Production
Executive producer(s)	Fely De Los Angeles-Bautista
Running time	30 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	GMA Network
Picture format	480i SDTV
Original run	December 11, 1999 – 2002

The PCTVF revived Batibot under its new name, Batang Batibot (Batibot Kid) in 1999 in a block-time partnership with GMA Network & Roy/Bashman Productions. Months later, PCTVF launched Koko Kwik Kwak, another Batibot-themed educational program for kids. However, the shows consistently got poor ratings and so did not attract advertisers. By 2000, GMA finally decided to remove the two shows after a major reformatting scheme.

Original Cast Reunion

Back in 2007, GMA Network's TV program "Kapuso Mo: Jessica Soho" featured a memorable segment about the all-time favorite children's show, where some of its original cast members were reunited for the first time since the program was shelved after almost 20 years of providing educational and wholesome entertainment to kids of the 80's and 90's generation. [1]

Batibot Revival

Batibot (2010)
Format	Educational
Created by	Philippine Children's Television Foundation, Inc. Associated Broadcasting Company
Developed by	Associated Broadcasting Company
Directed by	Kokoy Jimenez
Starring	Various Contributors
Country of origin	Philippines
No. of episodes	59 (as of January 7, 2012)
Production
Running time	30 Minutes (Weekly Episode) 5 Minutes (Weekday Segment)
Broadcast
Original channel	Associated Broadcasting Company (TV5)
Picture format	480i SDTV, 1080i HDTV
Original run	November 27, 2010 – Present

However, on March 26, 2010, the said children show will be back on air on TV5 and will start on November 27, 2010 every Saturday from 8:30AM to 9:00AM and a 5-Minute short segment from Monday-Friday 8:55am after Handy Manny and 2:55pm after Phineas and Ferb. [2] The new hosts were introduced as Kuya Fidel and Ate Maya. Batibot has two new segments "Kwentong Batibot" with former casts, and "Balik-Batibot" which select segments from the 80's and 90's episodes of the children show. In May 7, 2011, Batibot will air its second season.

Characters

Muppet characters

• Koko Kwik-Kwak, or Koko* for short, is a four-year-old bird-child inspired by Pag-asa, the first Philippine eagle hatched under laboratory conditions. Koko symbolizes hope, the future and a cleaner and greener world. Koko also represents every Filipino child, the young population who shall inherit the earth and hopefully will do a better job in caring for the environment. Five feet and ten inches tall, he wears an ethnic-inspired beanie cap with a propeller made of green leaves. When Koko becomes excited, the propeller spins. He also wears an orange, long-sleeved turtleneck with a letter K in front of his shirt, as well as a moss green pair of puruntong shorts with dark, geometric figures or, sometimes, an apple green long pants, combined with lavender high-cut rubber shoes. Like any healthy, active four-year old, Koko is very confident and likes to play, sing, dance, listen to stories, explore the world and discover things, places and people. He is full of curiosity. And he likes green, leafy vegetables, fresh organic food, fruits and nuts.

• Manang Bola*, (Madam Bola) the forgetful fortuneteller. Although she still relies too much on her crystal ball, she still, however, ostensibly helps children and other guests in finding answers to questions by helping themselves on their own. Her "Bola" name, literally "ball" in Filipino, is a possible reference to the slang for "flattery" or "puffery." She calls her crystal ball "perlas na bilog," or round pearl. She divines the future by chanting "Bolang bilog, huwag patulog-tulog; sabihin ang sagot" and "ba-be-bi-bo-bu", teaching vowels in the process. Manang Bola is one of the original muppets of the show.

• Kapitan Basa*, a superhero that loves to read. He solves language-related problems caused by his arch-nemesis, Patlang-Palit.

• Sitsiritsit and Alibangbang*, two inquisitive space aliens who take delight in discovering things, places and people around them. Inspired from the nursery rhyme "Sitsiritsit, Alibangbang".

• Ningning and Gingging*, the sisters. Ningning is the eldest girl, the serious type, while Gingging is younger and the playful one between the two siblings.

• Irma Daldal, a stage-struck, faddish, shallow and cheap actress, although she believes she is the most talented person in show business. Her name is a word play on madaldal, which is the Filipino for "talkative."

• Tikyo Tiktilaok is Irma Daldal's usual male partner. He and Irma are part of the original muppet cast of the show.

• Direk, a movie-and-television director, who tries everything to make a star out of his main protégé, the actress Irma Daldal. Appearance and occupation inspired by Batibot's real-life director, Kokoy Jimenez.

• Sultan Parachibum, a datu or chieftain who, with the help of his grandchildren acting as his official advisers, always tries his best to solve the many problems in his sultanate known as Agamanyog.

Newscasts

• Noli de Kasyo, the journalistic reporter and interviewer who because of taking himself too seriously, always ends up doing all sorts of interviews about various objects, muppets and people. Inspired from a TV anchorman and former Vice President Noli de Castro.

This Sign (*)That are Puppets was aired on November 27, 2010 on TV5.

Former characters

• "Pong Pagong", a clumsy, pink full-body turtle wearing a baseball cap.
• Kiko Matsing, a brown monkey version of Sesame Street's Oscar.
• Kuya Derms, a host of "Negoshowbiz" (from the GMA-7's show, "Negosiyete"). Inspired from a TV-host German Moreno aka "Kuya Germs".
• Angelique Baso, a host of "Balitang Bituin". Inspired from a TV journalist Angelique Lazo.

Human characters

• Kuya Bodjie (Big Brother Bodjie), played by Bodjie Pascua, is Batibot's resident story-teller.
• Ate Sienna (Big Sister Sienna), played by Sienna Olaso, a college student.
• Kuya Mario (Big Brother Mario), played by Junix Inocian
• Ate Isay (Big Sister Isay), played by Isay Alvarez-Seña
• Kuya Ching (Big Brother Ching), played by the late Ching Arellano†, is Batibot's resident jeepney driver.
• Kuya Elmar (Big Elmar), played by Elmar Llaneras, is Batibot's Barangay Chairman and a matinee idol.

Former Sesame (Philippines) Human characters

• Aling Nena (Old Lady Nena), played by Anggie Ferro
• Ate Sylvia (Big Sister Sylvia), played by Susan Africa
• Luz , played by Dessa Quesada
• Mang Lino (Old Man Lino), played by Joe Gruta
• Ben , played by Tito Quesada

Music

The show's theme song is with music by Louie Ocampo, lyrics by Rene O. Villanueva, arrangement by Mel Villena, and ethnic instrumentation by Kontemporaryong Gamelang Pilipino (Kontra-Gapi). The closing theme, called "Closing Billboard", is an arrangement by Alamid.

Cassettes

• Kaibigan Ko Ang Buong Mundo
• Mga Awiting Batibot
• Kumanta at Magsaya sa Batibot
• Mga Kuwento sa Batibot
• Walang Magawang Tambay sa Kanto
• Walastik na Unggoy

Books

The Philippine Children's Television Foundation has actually has released many books not directly related to Batibot, listed in their article.

• Makatang-makata

mga tula ni Rene Villanueva at Roger Poblete, guhit ni Ruben de Jesus

• Sina Elephas at Estegodon Noong Unang Panahon

ni Rene O. Villanueva, guhit ni Mel A. Silvestre

• 1,2,3 Sama-sama Tayo

ni Rene O. Villanueva, dibuho ni Joji B. Pamintuan

• Okaka-okaka, Ang Batang Palaka

ni Rene O. Villanueva, guhit ni Joji Pamintuan

English translation included

• Ang Pamilya Ismid

nina Ramoncito Serrano at Rene O. Villanueva, guhit ni Sammy Esquillon

English translation included

• Si Inggolok at ang Planeta Pakaskas

nina Rene O. Villanueva at Lem Garcellano, guhit nina Bernard Bunag at Jojo Topacio

English translation included

• Ang Alamat ng Araw at Gabi

nina Lem Garcellano, Ronald Mina at Chuck Escasa, guhit ni Joji Pamintuan

• Sina Linggit Labay kay Barakuda

muling pagsasalaysay nina Tom F. Agulto at Rene O. Villanueva, guhit ni Boboi Calleja

• Katuwaan sa Batibot

Awards & Recognitions

PMPC Star Awards for TV

• Winner: 1987, 1989, 1992, 1997 & 2000

KBP Golden Dove Awards

• Winner: 1991, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2011

Gawad CCP Para Sa Telebisyon

• Winner

Catholic Mass Media Awards

• Winner

Related links

• Sesame Workshop and International Growth article
• Philippine Books for Children and Batibot Books

External links

• Batibot profile
• An Article focusing on Batibot by Feny de los Angeles-Bautista, Executive Director and Research and Curriculum Director of Philippine Children's Television Foundation, Inc.
• Batibot Muppets Homepage
• Philippine Children's Television Workshop, Inc.
• Batibot Song Lyrics Archive

See also

• List of shows previously aired by Radio Philippines Network
• List of shows previously aired by ABS-CBN
• List of shows previously aired by People's Television Network
• List of shows previously aired by GMA Network