Boy Abunda kicks off Kapuso comeback with two new shows

MANILA, Philippines — Is the King of Talk Boy Abunda bringing back the showbiz talk show format via his comeback on GMA?

That’s one of the questions The STAR asked Boy after he recently signed up with the Kapuso network, which is where he started his enduring and storied hosting career with showbiz-oriented talk shows Show & Tell and Startalk from 1994 to 1999.

Last week, GMA officially announced that the TV host’s Fast Talk with Boy Abunda is part of the content lineup for 2023. It’s going to be an entertainment-oriented, daily afternoon program set to premiere this month.

Boy told The STAR: “This is a new chapter, but you know I am in familiar territory, I mean insofar as GMA 7 is concerned. The vice president for talk of GMA 7, Janine Piad, used to be my production manager for Startalk, and the consultant for talk now, who used to be my first executive producer in GMA 7, is Bang Arespacochaga. My director of my entertainment show, Rommel Gacho, used to be my executive producer for Startalk and my executive producer now, Reiley Manalo, used to be a segment producer for Startalk.

“But we didn’t lose contact with each other all these years when I was gone. Ang medyo ano lang dito, bago na ang panahon. We’ll have to do a show with the onslaught of social media and the internet. But I’m working with people I know, I’m working with people I worked with.”

For him, what’s both challenging and exciting is how to play into the talk format. “How do we win, to be very blunt about it. I don’t want to use the word, how do we become relevant in the chaotic world of social media, for example. Ang ano mo dun, you create your own blue ocean. Why engage in the red ocean, when it’s too noisy out there. So I’m excited about doing new concepts, really reimagining old (methods). Because how much can you do with the art of interview? So yun yung process that really excites me.”

Since there are no more showbiz-oriented talk shows in the tradition of his former programs Startalk or The Buzz on TV nowadays, can audiences expect Boy reviving the format?

He said, “If you go online, everybody’s doing news, everybody’s doing commentary, everybody’s doing not just commentary but analysis of different kinds. So, how do you play into it, how do you play into that? So, of course, I’ll do a little of all of the above…”

However, doing interviews is Boy’s brand if not strength and it’s no surprise, as he hinted, that the show will focus on that.

“Ako kasi I believe in the magic and I believe in the power of the interview. I think that’s my equity. That show will definitely have an interview… Fun interviews, explosive interviews, I mean, whatever kinds of interviews we can.”

He continued, “How am I gonna make (the interview) exciting? I will work hard to discover new styles of interviewing. How can I spice up my interview?

“So, I’d like to be able to discover new techniques the same way I did with Mahiwagang Salamin and Fast Talk. Or I’ll probably reinvent what I have done,” he added, referring to signature techniques from his previous shows.

Boy Abunda is joined by Kapuso executives during his contract-signing with GMA Network, where he jumpstarted his TV hosting career in the '90s.

Boy looked back on how, in the first place, he came up with both Fast Talk andMahiwagang Salamin, one of the best “versions” of which was the “collab” with KMJS host and GMA news pillar Jessica Soho because of the never-been-heard information they both extracted from each other.

Interestingly, when he started these techniques, Boy said he was “triggered by certain experiences that brought me to those concepts.”

“Like how do I end an interview with someone very serious? I do fast talk. Yung ganun, hanggang you dribble, you percolate that inside your mind, until you come up with something, you try it, you test it, people like it, people remember it,” he said.

His Mahiwagang Salamin actually originated in Startalk. “How did I do it? I must be inspired by one of those great interviewers. It could be Barbara Walters or I must have seen something similar to that, and then I went to make my Mahiwagang Salamin and discovered that people become emotional…

“There was a time when I was doing television for Startalk, The Buzz, I got that dubious reputation that you had to cry every time I did an interview because you had to face the imaginary mirror. But alam mo, that’s a technique that I discovered makes people emotional… When you’re confronted by yourself…it becomes very visceral…

“(For example) ‘Nandito ang aking mahiwagang salamin, ngayon na pinagdadaanan mo ito, ano yung nais mong sabihin sa sarili mo?’ And when you go in and you start to think, you go to your gut and you tell your story and most of them become emotional,” he observed.

Besides his entertainment program, Boy is going to co-host and “moderate” a blocktimer public affairs program with Sen. Peter Alan Cayetano and Sen. Pia Cayetano. It will be reminiscent of Compañero y Compañera, the free legal advice show of the sibling senators’ father, the late Sen. Renato Cayetano. If things go as planned, this will start airing by the first week of February.

When asked about dream projects, Boy hopes he gets to do a strictly interview TV show. “My wish is for me to be able to do an interview show, my title na ako, I want to call it, Tell Me Your Story,” he said.

Perhaps, with GMA’s sister channel GTV? Nevertheless, if he’s allowed to do so, Boy expressed interest to co-produce it with GMA.

Meanwhile, what will happen now to his BATALK YouTube Channel, which currently has almost two million subscribers?

The veteran host said, “GMA 7 has allowed me to continue with my YouTube channel with some very reasonable adjustments. Like I cannot do an entertainment story that I had with my YouTube channel, the basic things.

“Excited din ako kasi meron akong interview style that I’ll be doing with politicians. I’m calling it Politalk 50, 50 questions but mala-Vogue, naglalakad kami, we’re in the mountain, etc., etc., but I ask political questions. It’s a bit like Fast Talk where I ask 50 questions and I get fast answers.”

Besides the shows, what audiences can expect from Boy is that he’s game and willing to experiment and explore formats and styles on his return as a Kapuso host.

“I remain hungry. I still listen, I still learn, nag-aaral din ako, nagtuturo din ako, I mentor. But it’s really that hunger, I think. I’m really excited to do this show, or shows, and to see how I can move toward something I don’t know in terms of hosting and interviewing, especially the latter. Tingnan natin where this brings us,” he said.