Watching movies at home can be just as relaxing as it is in the movie theaters. Here in the Philippines, local TV channels do broadcast movies. A lot of them are quite old but they usually pick really good ones. But then, there are a lot of things to consider in watching movies in Philippine TV. It’s definitely a different experience.
First and foremost, since it is on local TV, there will be commercials from time to time. If it’s a really good movie, there might be a few extra minutes of advertisements. Well, that’s understandable since they make profits from product endorsements. But to be honest, there are cases when they become really annoying.
Sometimes, the advertisements become too frequent that they show them every 5-10 minutes of the movie. That really breaks the momentum of the movie especially when you’re near or in the climax.
There are also cases wherein they cut the scenes badly to give way to advertisements. Advertisements can sometimes kick in while an actor/actress is in the middle of his/her line. As soon as the movie comes back, they sometimes skip to the next line so the dialogue was already lost. They do, however, cut effectively like providing suspense on what will happen next. For example, a car flies and the cuts to commercial. You’d most likely wonder what will happen next (unless you’ve already watched the movie).
One really bad thing about advertisements while watching movies on Philippine local TV is when they cut parts of the movie to make it fit within their usual 2 hour air time. If a movie lasts for 2 hours and the movie air time is 2 hours, they have to cut around 20 minutes of the movie just to be able to show commercials. If you have watched the movie in the theater, you will immediately notice some deleted scenes that may be very important to the plot of the story.
Today, even movies get dubbed in Filipino. I remember watching Shrek in Filipino on a local channel and I really wasn’t used to it so I changed channels. It does benefit those who don’t fully understand English yet. Since Philippine local TV is regulated, inappropriate scenes such as sexually explicit scenes, extreme violence or anything not good for children are cut. And of course, a parental guidance notice is always shown at the bottom of the screen.
Well, there are a lot of other benefits from watching movies on TV. You are in the comfort of your own home (or in someone else’s). You can shout, react, cry, talk, run, jump, throw popcorn at the TV and no one will complain (except if you’re with someone else so be discreet). You can turn up the volume and you can watch in any way you want. You can sit, stand, crouch, etc. The movies usually look good if you have a good television set. And most important of all, it’s free.
