10 Famous Clichés in Philippine Television

1. Poor and Rich Love Story

First on the list is the very popular love constraint which is the economic status differences between the lead characters. It’s either the boy is rich and the girl is poor or the girl is rich and the guy is poor. But after all, of course, they will fight against all odds for a happy ending of the story.

2.  Baby Switching

Baby switching, intentional or not is another cliches that exist in Philippine television. Commonly, the reasons are: (a) the first baby is rich and the antagonist wanted to other baby to get the wealth (b) the first baby is dead and to conceal the his/her death, the other one will be replaced (c)nurses and all other person in charge are just too busy with their stuff that they don’t manage to oversee the babies.

3. Where are the Police?

Policemen in telenovelas seem to be late every time their service is needed or sometimes when they will be present on the scene when the commotion is already ended.

4. Missing Link

Commonly, the mother is searching for her long lost child and the child is also looking for her mother. But in fact, the two have already met but not aware that they are family.

5. Battle of Siblings

There’s always a “tournament” between siblings in the family. The reasons? (a) for their parent’s attention(b) for their heirlooms (c) because of one person who was their both love interest.

6. Amnesia: A Common Ailment

Any character who can either be the lead or any important person in the teleserye suffers from amnesia and he/she forgets anything. Then gradually they will remember portions of the past when they feel headaches or when their head hits somewhere.

7. Wedding Ending

Usually, when the bride walks happily down the aisle towards her groom is a sign that the story is about to end. It means to say that all the hardships and challenges that hindered their love story were eliminated.

8.  Serendipity

Lovers in romantic teleserye commonly have a past during their childhood and bid a promise for each other to be forever and ever. But they will be separated by certain circumstances and then meet again by fate after so many years with a cliché line, “Ikaw??”

9. Evil politician and mother-in-law

In most telenovelas, politician are perceived to be the antagonist in the story, A politician who acts like a good Samaritan in front of the public but do illegal actions behind their back. This notion is same with the mother-in-law characters, who also take a role as the foe of her daughter in law.

10. Airport rush

We have always seen a character rushing to the airport to stop someone’s departure. Usually, they’re stopped by the security guards but they insist to go inside the airport and then later, they will think that their loved one has already left but footsteps will come towards, and it is the one he/she’s looking for. Then they will hug and kiss and the people in the airport are cheering for them.