Your Face Sounds Familiar (Philippine TV series)

Summary

Your Face Sounds Familiar is a singing and impersonation competition for celebrities and is based on the Spanish version of the same name. It debuted on March 14, 2015, on ABS-CBN, replacing The Voice of the Philippines. Luis Manzano currently serves as host since Season 3. It was originally hosted by Billy Crawford for the first two seasons, and for the second season, also co-hosted by Melai Cantiveros. Jed Madela, Gary Valenciano and Sharon Cuneta served as the show's judges for the first two seasons.[1][2][3][4][5] In Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids, Ogie Alcasid replaces Madela, while Valenciano and Cuneta reprised their roles as judges. The Kids season premiered on January 7, 2017.[6] The show's third season ended on May 30, 2021, and was replaced by Everybody, Sing!.

Your Face Sounds Familiar
Title card used in the 2021 season
GenreReality competition
Based onYour Face Sounds Familiar
Developed byEndemol Shine Group
Directed byJoane Laygo
Presented by
Judges
Opening theme"Your Face Sounds Familiar Theme"
Country of originPhilippines
Original languagesFilipino (primary)
English (secondary)
No. of seasons5
(3 regular; 2 kids)
No. of episodes115
Production
Executive producerPeter Edward Dizon
Production locations
Production companies
  • ABS-CBN Studios
  • Banijay Asia
Original release
NetworkABS-CBN
ReleaseMarch 14 (2015-03-14) –
December 13, 2015 (2015-12-13)
NetworkKapamilya Channel/A2Z
ReleaseFebruary 20 (2021-02-20) –
May 30, 2021 (2021-05-30)

Development edit

 
Logo used in 2015.

Season 1, 2 and 3 edit

The Philippine version was first announced by ABS-CBN on its trade show for advertisers in Rockwell Tent, Makati. In this show, 8 celebrities (four male, four female) compete in a sing and dance number while impersonating iconic singers. In each week, the eight celebrity contestants face the "Iconizer", which assigns the artists of whom they will impersonate. Each contestant presses the iconizer in the order from the last placer to the weekly winner. When the iconizer is pressed, it reveals which icon the performer must impersonate in the following week, along with a preview of the song they have to perform.[2]

The first season of the show took over the timeslot of the second season of The Voice of the Philippines, after its conclusion on March 1, 2015.[7]

Jed Madela, Gary Valenciano and Toni Gonzaga were initially reported to serve as judges for the first season. However Gonzaga was replaced by Sharon Cuneta following Cuneta's return to ABS-CBN on March 9, 2015.[4][8] Annie Quintos and Georcelle Dapat-Sy were later revealed to help the contestants in impersonating their icons with Quintos coaching the contestants for their vocals and the latter coaching the contestants for choreography.

On April 5, 2015, due to Holy Week, the Week 4 of the first season was a single-episode duet special, as Black Saturday pre-empted all special programming.

On two weekends, Gary Valenciano temporarily left the show to fulfill his commitment of performing in a series of concerts. He was substituted by Boy Abunda for the April 18–19, 2015 episodes. The same instance happened on May 16–17, 2015, and he was substituted by Vice Ganda.

On June 6, 2015, during the Grand Showdown of the first season, it was announced that the show will return for a second season in the same year, which premiered on September 12, 2015, taking over the timeslot vacated by the second season of The Voice Kids. In August 2015, Melai Cantiveros, the winner of the first season was announced to co-host the show, impersonating different icons for each week.[9] Sharon Cuneta, Gary Valenciano, Jed Madela, and Billy Crawford were announced to return to the show to reprise their former duties.[10]

In January 2020, ABS-CBN announced that the show will have a third season after Sharon Cuneta renewed her contract with the network. However, the plans for the third season was postponed following the implementation of the Enhanced community quarantine in Luzon in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, which prompted the network to suspend it's tapings, as well as the shutdown of ABS-CBN free-to-air stations in the said year.

Also, during the Enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, the first Kids season was re-aired on the primetime slot from March–May 2020 as part of the network's temporary programming changes, taking the timeslot of second season of The Voice Teens

However, the reruns were abruptly stopped after May 3, 2020, due to the closure of ABS-CBN's free-to-air assets following the cease and desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission on account of its franchise expiration.

In December 2020, during the trade launch for 2021 held during the ABS-CBN Christmas Special, it was revealed the show will have a 3rd season, with this season being the first regular season since 2015 after two straight Kids seasons. However, due to Crawford focusing on blocktime shows on TV5, Luis Manzano replaced him as host for Season 3. The third season premiered on February 20, 2021.

On April 4, 2021, due to Holy Week, the Week 7 of the third season was originally going to have duet episodes, as Black Saturday pre-empted all regular programming. but however, as an enhanced community quarantine was reimposed in the Greater Manila Area in response to the surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the variants of the said disease, the plans for a duet episode was scrapped, and a compilation of Week 1's performances was re-aired instead.

The season's tapings resumed on April 12, 2021, following the downgrade of the enhanced community quarantine, however, Jhong Hilario withdrawn from the competition for the safety of his newborn baby.

Format edit

For 12 or 13 weeks, all the celebrity contestants (four male, four female, in some cases groups composed of individuals of either gender) competes for a cash prize. The contestant with the highest points per week is crowned the weekly winner, and wins the said cash prize. The top four (or more in case of ties) contestants will advance to the finale and competes for the public's votes, where the artist with the most votes will be declared the winner.[11][12]

Each contestant impersonates a different singer each week, and performs an iconic song and dance routine well known by that particular icon. The "Iconizer" assigns icons to the contestants and can assign any icon living or dead regardless of its age, race or gender. The contestants must press the "Iconizer" at the end of every Sunday episode, in which after pressing the red button, they reveal the icon they have to impersonate in the following week, and a playback of the song assigned to them being played afterwards.

Following the end of the performances, the judges give 1-8 points to the contestants, afterwards, the contestants give 3 points to a contestant other than themself.

However, in Season 3, the format for the finale was changed wherein all remaining contestants advanced to the finale and the winner was determined via a combination of votes cast by the public and the points accumulated by the contestant.[13]

Prizes edit

The prize given to the weekly winner varied from season to season. In seasons 1 and 2, the weekly winner was given a trophy and a cash prize worth ₱100,000, half of which were donated to a charity chosen by the winner.[2][3] In Season 3 the weekly winner was still given a trophy, however the cash prize was 50,000 pesos with none being donated to charity, likely due to the pandemic-induced restrictions at the time of the season.

The Grand Prize is usually composed of a cash prize, a house and lot, and additional prizes, such as tickets to a particular destination. However, the cash prize varied from season to season. In seasons 1–2, the cash prize was worth ₱2,000,000 pesos, with half being donated to the winner's charity of choice. In Season 3 the cash prize was ₱4,000,000.

Spin-off edit

On August 15, 2016, Crawford announced that the show will return with a third season; which was later on revealed as a spin-off entitled Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids at the ABS-CBN Trade Launch.[14] On November 22, 2016, Ogie Alcasid, returned to ABS-CBN, and was revealed to be the newest addition to the show's judges, replacing Madela. The first season of the Kids edition premiered on January 7, 2017.[6] It replaced the timeslot of Kapamilya Weekend Specials filler block, which temporarily filled the vacated timeslot of Pinoy Boyband Superstar after the said show concluded in December 2016. Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids has currently run for two seasons and produced two winners, Awra Briguela for its first season and TNT Boys for its second season.

Judges, hosts and mentors edit

Judges and host of the most recent season of Your Face Sounds Familiar
 
Ogie Alcasid
 
Gary Valenciano
 
Luis Manzano
 
Sharon Cuneta

Hosts edit

Billy Crawford served as the host of Your Face Sounds Familiar during the first two seasons. The winner of the first season, Melai Cantiveros, co-hosted the show along Crawford in season 2.[15] However, since Crawford left ABS-CBN after the said network lost its franchise, Luis Manzano hosted the third season instead.

Judges edit

The panel of judges in this show is called "The Jury".[16] In each season there are usually three members of the jury.

In an event that a sitting jury member cannot fulfill their duties for a particular week, a temporary replacement will take their place in that particular week.

Current edit

Former edit

Guest judges edit

  • Boy Abunda (season 1, week 6; season 2, week 3)
  • Vice Ganda (season 1, week 10)
  • Rico J. Puno (season 2, week 10)
  • Karla Estrada (season 2, week 10)
  • Randy Santiago (season 2, week 11)
  • Annie Quintos (season 2, weeks 6 and 13)
  • Georcelle Dapat-Sy (season 2, weeks 6 and 13)
  • Jed Madela (season 3, week 7)

Mentors edit

In every week, two mentors (one for vocals and another for character and movement) helps the contestants in impersonating the icon that was assigned to them.

Current edit

Former edit

  • Annie Quintos (vocals, seasons 1–2)
  • Georcelle Dapat-Sy (character and movement, seasons 1–2)

Series overview edit

Season Premiere Finale Winner Other Finalists Host(s) Judges
Runner-up Third place Fourth Place Other
1 14 March 2015 7 June 2015 Melai Cantiveros Nyoy Volante Jay R Edgar Allan Guzman N/A Billy Crawford Jed Madela
Sharon Cuneta
Gary Valenciano
2 12 September 2015 13 December 2015 Denise Laurel Michael Pangilinan Sam Concepcion KZ Tandingan Kean Cipriano Billy Crawford
Melai Cantiveros
3 20 February 2021 30 May 2021 Klarisse de Guzman Lie Reposposa Vivoree Esclito iDolls Christian Bables Luis Manzano Sharon Cuneta
Gary Valenciano
Ogie Alcasid
CJ Navato
Geneva Cruz

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Your Face Sounds Familiar
  2. ^ a b c "'Your Face Sounds Familiar' coming to ABS-CBN". ABS-CBN News. 17 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Meet 8 celebs joining 'Your Face Sounds Familiar'". ABS-CBN News. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  4. ^ a b "For Sharon, there's no place like home". ABS-CBN News. 9 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Gary V leaving 'Your Face'; replacement named". ABS-CBN News. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  6. ^ a b MJ Felipe @mjfelipe - THIS JUST IN: Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids to air in January 2017 - Sharon Cuneta, Gary V and newest Kapamilya - OGIE ALCASID.
  7. ^ Reggee Bonoan (February 9, 2015). "'Your Face Sounds Familiar,' ipapalit sa 'The Voice of the Philippines'" (in Filipino). Balita. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  8. ^ Nathalie Tomada (March 10, 2015). "Sharon Kapamilya again". The Philippine Star. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  9. ^ "Melai to co-host season 2 of 'Your Face Sounds Familiar'". ABS-CBN News. August 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
  10. ^ "'Your Face Sounds Familiar' season 2 celebrity contestants revealed". Rappler. August 15, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  11. ^ "Celebrities impersonate Legendary Music Performers in "Your face Sounds Familiar"". Your Face Sounds Familiar. ABS-CBN Corporation. March 5, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  12. ^ "How 'Your Face Sounds Familiar' game show works". ABS-CBN News. March 11, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  13. ^ Luis, binalikan ang journey ng Celebrity Performers | Your Face Sounds Familiar 2021, retrieved 2021-06-12
  14. ^ "Meet the 8 cuties of 'Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids'". 7 January 2017.
  15. ^ "Melai to co-host season 2 of 'Your Face Sounds Familiar'". ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs. August 25, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  16. ^ "Your Face Sounds Familiar - Jury". ABS-CBN. Retrieved April 25, 2015.

External links edit