Noontime shows through the years (First of Two Parts)

After 22 years – and still going strong – Eat Bulaga is now undeniably the longest-running noontime show on Philippine television.

During all these 22 years, the show managed to survive the various trends and the fickle tastes of local televiewers. It also changed networks three times and had an odd assortment of on-camera talents flitting in and out of the program.

Although its loyal followers were witnesses to a long procession of co-hosts manning this lunchtime program, Eat Bulaga will always be associated with the popular trio of Tito, Vic & Joey.

Tito, Vic & Joey actually had its roots in the gag show called OK Lang which ran on Channel 13 from late 1973 to 1974. This program featured as mainstays then disc jockeys Joey de Leon and Ricky Manalo (he died in 1983); the brothers Sotto, Tito, Vic and Val; the Apo Hiking Society and a prepubescent kid named Raoul Casado who did Donald Duck impersonations in the show.

After the cancellation of OK Lang, the gang merely coasted along in the entertainment scene – except for the Apo members who became bigger stars in the recording business.

Sometime in the mid-’70s, Program Philippines, Inc., producer of Student Canteen, decided to come up with a late Saturday afternoon variety program on Channel 7 called Discorama for Bobby Ledesma. Tito, Vic & Joey were eventually brought in to help Ledesma host the program.

In the beginning, Discorama fared badly in the ratings game. The show, in fact, was about to get the axe when Tito, Vic & Joey suddenly decided to play around with the lyrics of popular foreign and local tunes and had their own comical version of the Top Hits countdown.

The Tito, Vic & Joey Top Hits act was so well received by local viewers, Channel 7 management decided not to cancel Discorama anymore and instead gave it a second lease on life.

Tito, Vic & Joey, meanwhile, became so popular, they were even given their own show on Channel 13 – a sitcom called Iskul Bukol which was produced by Boy Gatus’ Our Own Little Way Productions. This was in 1978.

The following year, Tony Tuviera’s Television and Production Exponents (TAPE), which was then involved in the airing of the PBA games on TV, had this bright vision of putting up a noontime show that was to be pitted against Student Canteen on Channel 7. Tuviera approached Tito, Vic & Joey and asked them if they were willing to host the new lunchtime program.

That time, Student Canteen reigned supreme in the noontime slot and meeting it head-on was tantamount to suicide. Tito, Vic & Joey knew this and were, in fact, not inclined to accept the offer from TAPE. However, they didn’t hide the fact that they were being lured by another camp to join a noontime show that was going up against Student Canteen. (Actually, there was another offer aside from that one being dangled by TAPE. The other offer came from Our Own Little Way Productions, producer of their Iskul Bukol comedy series.)

Unfortunately, Ledesma reacted rather violently to the news that Tito, Vic & Joey were being pirated by another production outfit. Quite impulsively, he dismissed without any formality Tito, Vic & Joey from Discorama. This left the trio free to accept the offer from TAPE.

To soften the look of the program, TAPE decided to get a female emcee to co-host with the comic trio of Tito, Vic & Joey. TAPE was playing around with two names that time: Charo Santos and Chiqui Hollmann. Although Charo already had the chance to work with Tito, Vic & Joey in the short-lived youth-oriented talk show Friends in the old Channel 4, TAPE eventually decided in favor of Hollmann.

The noontime show Eat Bulaga was finally launched in July 1979 on Channel 9. It was a difficult first year for Eat Bulaga. The new lunchtime show was obviously no match to the popularity of the already established Student Canteen.

Eat Bulaga got clobbered some more in the ratings game when Student Canteen launched the following year the controversial Body Language contest.

RPN-9 was about ready to cancel Eat Bulaga in August of 1980 when the show’s production staff thought of putting up the Macho Man contest (inspired by the Village People) in answer to Student Canteen’s Body Language search. That did it. Eat Bulaga finally figured in the ratings charts and, for the first time, Student Canteen had a serious threat and rival in the noontime race.

To beef up Eat Bulaga’s popularity further, Helen Gamboa and Sharon Cuneta were made to appear in the show’s Saturday editions.

By mid-1981, however, sidekick Richie D’Horsey left the show after a falling out with Tito, Vic & Joey. As to be expected, he was hardly missed by the show’s now growing followers.

But it was a different story altogether when Chiqui Hollmann decided to quit the show – on her birthday at that. (She just didn’t show up anymore for her birthday celebration in the program.) To fill in the void left by Chiqui, Eat Bulaga invited different female co-emcees every week.

In early 1982, Chiqui surprised noontime viewers when she suddenly appeared in Student Canteen one afternoon to do a dance number. In March of that year, Chiqui was made a regular on Student Canteen. On the day of Chiqui’s grand launching, the Student Canteen producers unceremoniously gave Coney Reyes her walking papers and was instantly hailed an underdog by a sympathizing public. (Helen Vela had earlier quit both Suerte sa Siete and her slot in Student Canteen.)

Coney, suddenly without a job, decided to go on a short sabbatical. But a month later, she was guest co-hosting in Pepe Pimentel’s pre-noontime variety show, Daigdig ng Mga Misis on BBC-2. Pimentel, her former co-host in Student Canteen, was offering her a permanent slot in his show. But Coney had to decline the offer. If she had to spring back from that setback, it had to be for something really big and with great impact – like joining her former program’s fiercest rival, Eat Bulaga. (to be concluded)