Eat, Bulaga! stays at GMA; Mel to host a drama series

Two big news from Funfare’s DPA who roams the corridors of GMA 7:

1. The top-rating noontime show Eat, Bulaga! (which won another award at the recent Star Awards for Television) will stay on at GMA, and

2. Frontpage anchor lady Mel Tiangco will host her own drama anthology effective first week of November.

These past weeks, there have been speculations that Bulaga!, produced by Tony Tuviera who’s a blocktimer, was moving to another channel upon the expiration of its contract with GMA. Bulaga! is, so to speak, a prize catch and GMA bigwigs are aware of it. Yesterday before noon, GMA and Tuviera signed another contract, good for two years.

A few issues ago, Funfare reported that Vic Sotto was terminating his GMA sitcom Daddy Di Do Du and moving over to rival channel ABS-CBN to take over the Saturday evening timeslot to be vacated by Arriba! Arriba! Obviously, the negotiations between Vic and ABS-CBN have fallen through because Vic (a Bulaga! mainstay) also renewed his contract with GMA yesterday, meaning goodbye ABS-CBN and on with Daddy Di Do Du.

If on today’s edition of Eat, Bulaga! you see the unstoppable Joey de Leon flapping his wings and twitting the competition (okay, okay, MTB!), you should know why. Knowing Vic to be such a gentleman, I’m sure he won’t resort to anything negative, aware as he may be of the law of karma.

Now, how would a hard-driving newscaster like Mel Tiangco appear as the host of a drama anthology ala ABS-CBN’s Charo Santos-Concio in Maalaala Mo Kaya?

We’ll see first week of November when GMA launches Mel as host of Magpakailan Man which, although a drama, veers away from Maalaala’s "letter-story" formula. Like Madam Charo, Mel won’t be acting on the anthology, not yet anyway (give her a little more push and she just might). At the moment, according to the Funfare DPA, GMA is scouting around for a lady director to handle the anthology. Will GMA, uh, "pirate" one of ABS-CBN’s lady directors? Who of them is "it"? Who will bite the, uh, forbidden apple?

The network "war" hasn’t ended, in case you thought it had. It’s going on beneath a surface of suspicious peace.

Who will be the new Miss Earth (2002)?

Some 54 environment-friendly beauties from around the world will compete for the (second) Miss Earth title tomorrow night, starting at 9:30, at the Folk Arts Theater, covered "live" by ABS-CBN which is a major sponsor of the pageant.

Here’s a report from Funfare’s "beauty experts" Gery Yumping, Joey Cezare, Francis Calubaquib and Felix Manuel (who’s in the United Kingdom):

The candidates were presented to the press last Oct. 3 at the Bahia Restaurant of Hotel Intercontinental-Manila. The rain delayed the presentation but hardly dampened the enthusiasm of the candidates and the media guys.

Here are the winners in the preliminary competitions:

Swimsuit: Miss Colombia Diana Patricia Botero Ibarra, first; Miss Finland Elina Hurve, second; Miss Czech Republic Apolena Tumova, third; and Miss Estonia Merilin Malmet, fourth.

Talent: Miss Bosnia Dzejla Glavovic, first; Miss Great Britain Louise Glover, second; Miss Guatemala Florecita de Jesus Cobian Azurdia, third; and Miss Australia Ineke Candice Leffers, fourth.

National Costume: Miss Korea Jin A Lee, first; Miss Philippines April Ross Lim Perez, second; Miss India Reshmi Ghosh, third; and Miss Costa Rica Maria del Mar Ruiz, fourth.

Evening Gown: Miss Peru Claudia Ortiz de Zevallos, first; Miss Bosnia Dzejla Glavovic, second; Miss Guatemala Florecita de Jesus Cobian Azurdia, third; and Miss Dominican Republic Yilda Santana, fourth.

And here are our top 15 choices (most likely to land in the semi-finals and/or finals), at random order:

• Miss Albania, Anjeza Maja, 18, 5’7", 34-24-35

• Miss Bosnia/Herzegovina, Dzejla Glavovic, 19, 5’9", 36-24-36

• Miss China, Zhong Mei, 25, 5’9", 33-24-35

• Miss Colombia, Diana Patricia Botero, 18, 5’6", 35-24-36

• Miss Costa Rica, Maria del Mar Ruiz, 22, 5’5", 34-24-35

• Miss Czech Republic, Apolena Tumova, 21, 5’8", 35-24-35

• Miss Finland, Elina Hurve, 21, 5’6", 34-24-35

• Miss Honduras, Leslie Paredes, 22, 5’6", 35-25-35

• Miss Korea, Jin A Lee, 20, 5’6", 34-24-36

• Miss Norway, Linn Olaisen, 20, 5’9", 35-25-35

• Miss Panama, Carolina Miranda, 20, 5’7", 34-24-34

• Miss Peru, Claudia Ortiz de Zevallos, 20, 5’8", 35-23-35

• Miss Philippines, April Ross Lim Perez, 21, 5’8", 34-25-34

• Miss Venezuela, Dagmar Votteri, 20, 5’8", 35-24-35

• Miss Yugoslavia, Sladjana Bozovic, 21, 5’9", 34-27-36