It’s 12 noon! It’s time for a show! It’s Showtime!!!
Recalls Bobet Vidanes, director of the Kapamilya noontime stress-buster, “I remember I was in London when I thought of a concept for a show. I couldn’t sleep and I could hear in my mind the Beatles song All You Need is Love, and the line ‘there’s nothing you can do that can’t be done’ kept playing and playing. I wanted a show that’s new to televiewers and I was convinced that the right time had come to put it on. Sa tingin ko, kayang gawin ito. Ang gusto ko lang ay maging matagumpay ang gagawing show to make people happy. From the very start, that was my vision for Showtime. How long would it last on air, I didn’t know; I wasn’t sure. All I know was that I wanted to create a venue for people who wanted to be seen on television. Ganun na nga ang nangyari. So on Oct. 24, 2009, the journey of Showtime started.”
So you didn’t expect the show to last this long?
“Honestly, I didn’t expect the show to last eight years, and it’s going on and on and on! Beyond my expectation. I didn’t expect because it hurts if things don’t come up to your expectation. Masakit ang failure.”
Competition in the field is stiff, cutthroat. What were the challenges that you have to hurdle (mention the most difficult and how you survived it)?
“I think the most difficult was in 2010 when the MTRCB (Movie & Television Review & Classification Board) suspended the show. I was saddened by the reality that all your plans could be lost in the blink of an eye, ganoon kabilis nawawala ang lahat ng plano mo at lahat ng mga pangarap mong gawin para sa show at para sa mga sumusuporta dito. Nagsisimula na kaming makilala noon, dumadami na ang mga nanonood.
“And then, the next thing we knew, we were suspended already! We had less than nine hours to come up with a new show. Kaya nagkaroon ng ‘magpasikat.’ We pooled our resources together, we helped one another, from the hosts to the staff and the crew…and the talents that we enlisted to put up a new show in so limited a time.”
What do you consider the show’s big come-ons that the other shows don’t have?
“We opened the show to everybody, sa lahat-lahat na — all genders, everybody from all levels of society, people of all age. You want to show your talent? Come to Showtime! You dream to be popular? Come to Showtime! You just want to be seen on TV? Come to Showtime! That’s why we have segments like Bida Kapamilya, Bida Kabarkada, Inter-town and Inter-Barangay Dance Contests, That’s My Tomboy, I Am Pogay, Kalok-Alike, Gandang Lalake, Gandang Babae, Stars on 45, Tawag ng Tanghalan, Magpasikat, Mini-Me (every anniversary) and many more.
“And the tradition of introducing entertaining segments regularly, ‘yun ang puso ng Showtime kasi ‘yun ang nagpapasaya sa madlang people. That’s what we bear in mind all the time for our show — to make the madlang people happy.”
And here are the hosts’ answers to questions 1 (What was the most challenging time for you as a host of It’s Showtime!?) and 2 (What do you love about the show?):
Billy Crawford
1. “The hardest was I was arrested while I was working. I guess that people have read about it in the papers.”
2. “What do I love about Showtime? Siguro the aftermath, the support I got from Showtime made me feel like I was a part of a family aside from my own. That’s the biggest blessing any noontime host can ever ask for. Just being here on a daily basis, laughing, crying, being joyful. So it’s all mixed emotions and we’re going on our sixth year now, so it’s definitely a blessing. I’ve been here for five years and I wasn’t here when it started, so it’s great to feel na hopefully I’ll be here until the end. Hopefully, hindi matapos ‘to.”
Vhong Navarro
1. “As host, your real self surfaces, lumalabas yung tunay na ikaw, because you are working with all kinds of people. You are yourself…walang itinatago, walang kaplastikan, you represent nobody else but yourself. What counts as ‘challenging’ to me is when you have a personal problem and you have to do your best to still entertain the audience. God put me here for a mission and that’s to make people happy, and it saddens me when I can’t give my 100 percent. What is important to me is to please them more than to please myself.Hindi kami umaarte dito and we always remember that we have live audiences to entertain who miss sleep and line up to be able to watch the show.”
2. “We are like a family. We support one another. The problem of one is the problem of all; the achievement of one is the achievement of all. Kumbaga hindi namin ‘to dala-dala sa loob ng studio, dala rin namin ‘to hanggang pag-uwi ng bahay. Kumbaga dito sa amin, hindi uso ang inggitan, kasi sabi ko nga achievement ng isa, achievement ng lahat. For example, whatever success Vice or Anne is enjoying, ini-enjoy din naming lahat.”
Amy Perez
1. “I joined the show during its ’challenging’ period. I truly appreciate the fact that I am given the opportunity to work with this group of hosts, the staff, the technical people. I couldn’t imagine that after two decades, I would be back doing what I love to do best talaga. I’m so grateful that I experience how durable the Showtime family is. Kumbaga kung gaano sila nandoon para sa isa’t isa. So sobrang na-appreciate ko.”
2. “What I love about Showtime? First, I feel young every day that I am with them; I’m happy and I enjoy what I am doing. It doesn’t feel like work. I really took time to know every one of my co-hosts — ‘yung mga ugali nila, kung anong gusto o ayaw nila. It feels as if we are just playing, para lang kaming naglalaro, and at the same time make many people happy. God is so good, so amazing; He is really a God of second chance, kasi nabigyan ako ng second chance sa career ko, to be able to work with these young and talented artists of ABS-CBN.”
Jhong Hilario
1. “The biggest challenge is how we are able to maintain the family that we have nurtured on the show. Kasi importante na sa trabaho, especially dito sa Showtime, iyong lahat magkakasundo, lahat nagbibigay, tapos lahat damayan sa saya at sa problema. We try hard to sustain the bonding that we have developed and to keep it even stronger.”
2. “I agree with them. I love being on the show because it feels like being in a family. We are a family that works together in giving the televiewers our best. It matters a lot that with the show, we are able to make people forget their problems even only for a while.”
Anne Curtis
1. “Siguro, one of the hardest points in our lives or for the show, is each time one of us has a struggle. Para kaming family eh, so when one has a problem, everyone has a problem. Even when it comes to the show, we’ve been through so much in terms of like reformatting, trying to find kung ano ‘yung kiliti ng madlang people. So those are siguro the times that we’ve had to go through trials.”
2. “What I love about the show is that it’s not just a show where we are hosts on it, but it’s a show where we’ve become family.”
Karylle
1.“I’ve watched The Ellen Show, but that was a totally different experience, but now gets ko na ‘yung ano, whole…The most challenging thing would be, you do this every day; how does it stay special? So I try to put myself in the shoes of the people who watch. So when I was watching Ellen, ‘yung pipila ka, tapos nag-aantay ka, tatayo ka, sasayaw ka, parang what was it like? I’d never really had that experience, so I did that last year, in March, on my birthday. I went with my mom and my lola, so that was something. So parang, ‘ Why do people really love coming here?’ So that was one. Another siguro was being an OFW because I did nga the show in Singapore. So, why do they love it so much? And gets ko, just by talking to them. Well, of course, one was living, trying to live that life of an OFW and feeling homesick and finally coming back here like, ‘Oh my God, ang saya nga pala dito!’ So that, and just them sharing their experiences with me.
“I think it really made me see how special a simple show is for them, because it’s a daily thing. I mean, they might not watch it live here, or parang on our timeslot, but they watch it after work and it just makes them happy or at least even glimpses of it, it just gives them so much of home.”
2. “One of the things I really love was when I was a hurado kasi parang you get a bird’s-eye view, you’re up there, eh. Noong nagsa-start ako, nakikita mo parang from up there, you can see people having the time of their lives. And every time I catch one of them, I’m like ‘Oh my God,’ that person is having the time of his life, and you would really see it from up there, kasi parang may glow tapos ang laki ng ngiti. Alam mo ‘yung they took the time to come here and really just enjoy. Kasi before the show starts, si Tito Mel usually tells (the audience) something like, ‘Tell yourself, I’m gonna enjoy.’ Kasi sometimes we take life so seriously. We forget.
“Take a little vacation, have some time for yourself, or mag-enjoy ng todo. I think that’s what this show brings, even to myself, kasi I’ve never laughed so much in my life. I’ve never laughed so hard. Siguro dati, when I would find something funny, it would be funny, but not like ‘LOL,’ ‘yung hindi mo na ma-control ‘yung itsura mo sa sobra mong tawa. And I think to give that to a person and they’re watching, especially live, grabe ang saya ‘nun.”
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