TV shows of yesteryears

In the mid-’60s, Oras ng Ligaya was the most popular variety show in the late afternoon to early evening slot. However, it was not without competition. In 1966, Channel 9 produced Nineteeners, a variety program that featured bands (then known as combos), a lot of dancing and an advice portion with then young bride and mother Boots Anson Roa as counselor.

The main host of Nineteeners was Jose Mari Chan (who was then fresh out of school) and the executive producer was Ariel Ureta.

Over at Channel 11, there was Alright, Okay which starred Pugo, Romano Castellvi and Nancy Roman (she was later replaced by Gloria Sevilla). Castellvi took care of the singing and the dancing, while Pugo led the cast in the comedy skit. The skits this show presented were actually all forgettable and even senseless. One time, it presented the story of Cinderella – with Gloria Sevilla as the lead fairy tale character and Romano Castellvi as her Prince Charming. Assigned to play the role of the Fairy Godmother was Pugo – in drag.

Alright, Okay was clearly no match to Oras ng Ligaya in terms of popularity – or even in production values. It lasted only a year on TV.

In 1971, ABS-CBN put up another TV station: Channel 4. It was also housed in the Lopez-owned Bohol Ave. studios – like its sister network, Channel 2. One of Channel 4’s pioneer programs was Premyo sa Kuwatro, a game show hosted by Mitch Valdes (then still answering to the name Maya) and Eddie Mercado. In the beginning and at the end of the show, Valdes sang (live) the show’s theme song which went like this: Ito ang Premyo sa Kuwatro. Aliw at tuwa sa bawa’t tao. May Premyo sa nanalo ... regalo sa natalo. Ito ang Premyo sa Kuwatro.

Around this time, Oras ng Ligaya on Channel 2 was already losing its hold on the audience. ABS-CBN replaced it with another variety show called On With the Show. This program starred Lita Gutierrez, Baby O’Brien, Manolo Favis and Maritess Revilla. Tony Santos, Sr. directed the show, but made on-cam appearances from time to time. Lita Gutierrez did a lot of dancing in this variety series – and so did Lito Calzado who made a name for himself as a top choreographer through this show.

Perhaps as a marketing strategy, ABS-CBN produced another variety program on Channel 4 that competed directly against On With the Show. ABS-CBN pulled Baby O’Brien out of On With the Show and made her host the new variety series that was called D’ Wow Generation. Mitch Valdes, who lost the game show Premyo sa Kuwatro, was tapped to take the slot vacated by O’Brien in On With the Show.

When Martial Law came around in September 1972, all the te-levision stations were shut down except for Channel 9. Channel 7 reopened before Christmas of 1972, while Channel 13 was allowed to resume operations in 1973.

Tony Santos, Sr. managed to jump over to Channel 9 where he directed and hosted an early evening variety series that he called Tony Santos Presents. This program –basically a mix of Oras ng Ligaya and On With the Show, was a hit with the audience and stayed on the air for a couple of years.

In early 1975, the noontime show Ariel con Tina in the relatively new station BBC-2 had to be cancelled after a misunderstanding erupted between its hosts Ariel Ureta and Tina Revilla. (Tina was then doing a movie on location with Fernando Poe, Jr. and Ariel frowned on her frequent absences in the program.)

BBC-2, however, wasn’t about to let go of Ariel and Tina, two of the station’s hot properties that time. The station managed to keep both talents by giving them separate programs on Channel 2. Tina was given a drama series called Christina, while Ariel got the early evening variety series Ariel & Company After Six.

Ariel & Company was not a daily show. It was aired only on Mondays. In this program, Ariel got to wear his best tuxedoes and had a different female co-host every week. (Toni Rose Gayda and 1974 Bini-bining Pilipinas-Universe Guada Sanchez were among his more frequent co-hosts.)

Bibeth Orteza – after gaining popularity among viewers in Channel 4’s The Morning Show (also hosted by Ariel) – was eventually taken in by Ariel & Company After Six to provide humor in the program.

The most successful product of Ariel & Company After Six, undoubtedly, was Niño Muhlach. That time, the show wanted to provide Ariel with a young sidekick and conducted an audition among pre-school youngsters. Among those who auditioned was Niño and he, along with the others were asked at one point to sing as group.

Those little singing voices actually blended beautifully. It was only marred by the tune of this one boy who sang way off-key. That was Niño.

As Ariel recalls it, he approached Niño and – using reverse psychology – told the three-year-old tyke, Boy, huwag ka nang sumabay ng kanta sa kanila kasi wala sila sa tono. To that, Niño shot back. "Yeah, especially that one (pointing to another boy in the group)." That retort from this little kid did it. Niño became a regular in Ariel & Company After Six and eventually rose to become a child superstar (the biggest since Tessie Agana) in local movies.

The late ’70s didn’t produce any outstanding variety series in the late afternoon to early evening slot. Tirso Cruz III had his musical/variety show Pipwede on Channel 9, but I doubt if he was ever proud of this program.

In 1979, Channel 9 revolutionized the early evening programming by producing Flordeluna, a daily serial that started the soap opera craze on Philippine television. Channel 7 came up with Anna Liza, while BBC-2 introduced Jaypee de Guzman in Blu.

The only variety show that sprouted around this time (and that was a rather long period that stretched up to the mid-’80s) was the government station’s Patok na Patok with Ariel Ureta. From time to time, the late Ike Lozada would also come up with his own show in this time slot. But it was clear that this was the era of soap operas.

Variety shows in the late afternoon to early evening slot were back in fashion after the EDSA revolution in 1986 – thanks to German Moreno’s That’s Entertainment.

That’s Entertainment was a much-maligned program during its time. Among the criticisms thrown its way was the insistence of Moreno to let his discoveries sing on the show even if most of them could hardly carry a tune. Then, there were those youngsters who were getting pregnant one after the other.

But looking back, That’s Entertainment wasn’t really such a bad program. In my book, it remains – so far– the best-produced variety show in the late afternoon to early evening slot on Philippine television.