| Eat Bulaga! | |
|---|---|
| Format | Variety, Game show, Comedy |
| Created by | Television and Production Exponents (TAPE) Inc. |
| Developed by | TAPE Inc. |
| Directed by | Bert de Leon Jojo Jardeleza Poochie Rivera Ding Bolaños |
| Starring | Tito Sotto Vic Sotto Joey de Leon and others |
| Opening theme | Eat Bulaga Theme Song |
| Country of origin | Philippines |
| Language(s) | Tagalog Filipino English |
| No. of episodes | 9,610 (as of December 27, 2011) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Antonio P. Tuviera Malou Choa-Fagar |
| Producer(s) | Antonio P. Tuviera |
| Location(s) | GMA Broadway Centrum (New Manila, Quezon City) |
| Camera setup | Multiple-camera setup |
| Running time | 2 1⁄2 hours |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | RPN (1979-1989) ABS-CBN (1989-1995) GMA Network (1995-present) |
| Picture format | 480i SDTV |
| Original run | July 30, 1979 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Eat Bulaga! is a noon-time variety show in the Philippines produced by Television And Production Exponents Inc. (TAPE) and aired by GMA Network. The show is broadcast from The New TAPE Studios (Eastside Studio) at the GMA Broadway Centrum in New Manila, Quezon City. Eat Bulaga! is aired Weekdays at 12:00 pm to 2:30 pm (PHT) and Saturdays at 12:00 pm to 2:30 pm (PST). The show is also broadcast worldwide through GMA Pinoy TV. This year, the show celebrates its 32nd year on Philippine Television.[1] Eat Bulaga also holds the record of being the longest-running program on air in the history of local television.[2]
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Eat Bulaga premiered on July 30, 1979 on RPN at Broadcast City, Diliman, Quezon City.[3] Because the show was to occur during noontime, Eat was used to represent lunchtime. Bulaga (which means "surprise" in English) was to represent their plan to fill the show with lots of big surprises. This is how the title "Eat Bulaga" came into existence. Plus, the title Bulaga could also refer to its another meaning Peek-a-boo!, a game played with children. Eat is the transliteration of It!, a word popularly known from the game tag. Because both titles represent such activities of children, the slogan "Hangga't May Bata, May Eat Bulaga!" ("While There Are Still Children, There will be Eat Bulaga!") was born.[4]
RPN outsourced the idea to TAPE. At that time, comic troika Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon were the most popular movie comedians. They were hired together with Chiqui Hollman and Richie Reyes (a.k.a. Richie d' Horsie) as co-hosts. It was Joey who coined the title of the show, "Eat... Bulaga!" to attract all socioeconomic classes.
The TV program innovated numerous concepts on Philippine television which were later copied by rival TV programs.
In 1989 due to the sequestration of RPN, the show moved to ABS-CBN (under a co-production agreement) along with other TAPE-produced shows Agila, Coney Reyes on Camera and Okey Ka Fairy Ko! (from IBC). To drum up promotions for Eat Bulaga's move to ABS-CBN, the then-Star Network came up with a creative promotion of "..." (three dots) which stood for three top-rating daytime shows (Eat Bulaga, Agila and Coney Reyes on Camera) that will finally air on Channel 2. The "three dots" also figured prominently in the early logos of "Eat...Bulaga!". The show's move helped strengthen the network's programming. The premiere telecast of Eat Bulaga at their new home was on February 20, 1989 and for this momentous event, the show was staged at the Araneta Coliseum.
In 1992, Tito Sotto left the show after he ran successfully for a Senate seat. He became a senator during the May elections, which saw Fidel V. Ramos winning the presidency. However, despite leaving the show, he still managed to appear on special occasions, mostly Christmas and New Year. Sotto was able to serve 2 terms in the Senate, from 1992 until 2004. In his last year at the Senate, he went back to Bulaga on a weekly basis (usually on Saturdays).
The show once again moved to another network, this time on GMA Network because ABS-CBN wanted to buy the airing rights of Eat Bulaga from TAPE, Inc. When the group led by Tony Tuviera and Malou Choa-Fagar reneged on the proposed deal, ABS-CBN removed Bulaga and its sister shows Valiente and Okay Ka, Fairy Ko from its roster of shows and decided to reformat its Sunday-only show Sa Linggo nAPO Sila into a week-long show, 'Sang Linggo nAPO Sila. Eat Bulaga premiered on GMA on January 28, 1995, again at the Araneta Coliseum.[5][6] Prior to Eat Bulaga's premiere on its new home, month-long promotions were made by GMA Network by coming up with the famous catchy TV ad, "9-2=7" (nine minus two equals seven), which was a pun on Eat Bulaga's move from Channel 9 (RPN) to Channel 2 (ABS-CBN) to Channel 7 (GMA). Its move to GMA is also the comeback of Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon on GMA after they left Student Canteen for Eat Bulaga in 1979.
In 2001, Eat Bulaga was the first to give away the first millions on the Philippine television. When Magandang Tanghali Bayan, a former noontime show of ABS-CBN, introduced Pera o Bayong to its audience, it became an instant hit. MTB topped the ratings of Eat Bulaga for two years. This forced the Eat Bulaga management to give the first millions "to get the audience interest back."[7]
Eat Bulaga! celebrated its 25th year on television in October 2004 at the Expo Amphitheater in Clarkfield, Angeles City, Pampanga, making it the longest-running television show in the Philippines. The television special was attended by an estimated 60,000 spectators and enjoyed the highest daytime TV rating in the Philippines. The special was cited as winner in the Asian Television Awards in Singapore on December 1, 2005.[8] The said event was also hailed as the most successful television event on Philippine TV and was narrowly matched only by the 1st Starstruck Final Judgement. The special presentation entitled Eat Bulaga Silver Special was broadcasted on November 2004 before the broadcast of show's 25th year event in Expo Amphitheater and it was produced by TAPE Inc. & GMA News and Public Affairs. It was hosted by News and Public Affairs personalities Rhea Santos and her Unang Hirit co-host and one of Eat Bulaga's former contestants Arnold Clavio.
In December 2004, GMA signed a 5-year contract extension to keep the show on their network until December 29, 2009. After celebrating 25th anniversary, it was incidentally the 10th anniversary of Eat Bulaga's start in GMA the next year.
Over the years, many people have predicted that the show would move to another network every time their contract with GMA was close to expiry. But, in interviews with GMA executives led by Atty. Felipe Gozon and Jimmy Duavit - GMA expressed their desire to keep the show for as long as they can as there is no vacant timeslot in other TV station and to let its ratings rise. Joey de Leon on the other hand, is also considered as an important factor to Bulaga's stay in GMA since he has been fiercely loyal to the station and his efforts have been rewarded.
Eat Bulaga is considered by many as an institution - becoming a launchpad for many different Filipino comedians and showbiz newbies who have had large success on the show. Tony Tuviera identified the show as a "way of life" when they beat MTV's Tsunami Aid special at the Asian Television Awards.
In 2006, the SexBomb Girls left the show due to a dispute with the show's producers, which pushed them to auditioning dancers for the new EB Babes
On January 2007, Gladys Guevarra left to undergo therapy. Because of health reasons, she had formally filed her resignation letter from Eat Bulaga.[9] In May 2007, the casting for the show was affected when three of its hosts, Tito Sotto, Anjo Yllana and Teri Onor ran for public office. Sotto and Yllana were re-electionists for Senate and Paranaque Vice Mayor respectively. However they lost to more formidable opponents. Only Onor (real name Dexter Dominguez) won a seat as Vice Mayor of his hometown in Abucay, Bataan. Moreover, the line-up of hosts for "Bulaga" was reduced after some hosts either resigned or ended contract.
The show also went online when they launched their own website www.eatbulaga.tv. The loyal viewers can access the hosts' biographical information, as well as the past episodes of the show.
On September 2007, a series of word war occurred between Joey de Leon and the controversial host of their rival show, Willie Revillame. Joey de Leon talked about the recent scandals happening on Wowowee, which he dubbed as Hello Pappy (a comic parody name of Hello Garci). The scandal would also be referenced by television personality Joey de Leon during a publicized feud with fellow television personality Willie Revillame surrounding allegations of rigging on ABS-CBN's program Wowowee. The referent line is "Explain Before You Complain!".[10][11][12]
On March 6, 2009, one of Eat Bulaga's long-time co-host Francis Magalona succumbed to leukemia. The following day, the show produced a special tribute episode where the whole cast performed his past songs dedicated in his memory. During the tribute, it was revealed that Francis Magalona came up with the word Dabarkads that became a popular name to the Eat Bulaga family.[13]
In 2009, Eat Bulaga! celebrates its 30th Anniversary, dubbed as Tatlong Dekads ng Dabarkads (Three Decades of the Dabarkads). On this anniversary celebration, Eat Bulaga! focused on honoring and helping remarkable people, including thirty poor, but hard-working students and other everyday heroes. As the hosts explained, they would rather help the poor people in this anniversary than throw an elegant celebration. This was their gesture of paying back to the public who has supported them all these years.[14][15]
Last December 18, 2009 Eat Bulaga! renewed its contract with GMA Network. The network's President and CEO Felipe Gozon declared during the contract renewal that "Eat Bulaga!" is their only choice for the network's flagship program at noontime. The longest-running noontime show will stay in the said network for three more years.
On January 1, 2010 the show occupied the 700-seater Westside Studio of the GMA Broadway TV Complex, which was home to many GMA variety shows in the past, because GMA Broadway Centrum was being renovated. The show returned to their original studio in GMA Broadway Centrum on March 6, 2010 to find a newly digital design and spacious look of the stage. The audience seats were now cushioned. A LED wall is found in the center of the stage where the Eat Bulaga segments happen.
On April 5, 2010 the show welcomed back their longtime host Jose Manalo who was on leave for a long period of time because of his wife's jewelry scam issue in 2009.
Starting July 5, 2010 the show has an extension of 30 minutes compared to previous episodes. This is because Daisy Siete, which has been airing for a long time, has ended and the 30 minutes of that program was given to Eat Bulaga!
On July 30, 2010, the show celebrated its 31st year on Philippine television. Also in this memorable day, some of the former hosts of Eat Bulaga played Sa Pula, Sa Puti, a former segment of Eat Bulaga, including two of the former hosts who pioneered Eat Bulaga with the TVJ.
From February 14, 2011, Iza Calzado joined the cast. She is expected to be a guest co-host for at least a month but is now a regular recurring host.
On March 11, 2011, the show signed an extended contract with GMA Network until 2015.[16]
On October 6, 2011, Eat Bulaga! launched its coffee table book called Ang Unang Tatlong Dekada (The First Three Decades). It is part of their celebration of their legacy for reaching more than thirty years on television. The book is written by Butch Francisco (a veteran columnist and TV host) with Jako de Leon (son of Joey de Leon) behind the entire design concept of the book, chronicling the more than thirty years of history of the program. It took them eight years to completely finish it.[17] Alongside the book, Eat Bulaga also gave away 3000 limited edition CDs of the 2004 Silver Special Anniversary celebration.[18][19][20] GMA News and Public Affairs produced a documentary that tells about the 32 years of broadcast of Eat Bulaga entitled "Kuwentong Dabarkads" which was hosted by Dingdong Dantes.
From November 2011, Isabelle Daza, niece of late ex-host Rio Diaz, is added to the roster of hosts.
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With the loss of the SexBombs, the producers of Eat Bulaga decided to form a brand new in-house dance group, the EB Babes (the EB standing for "Eat Bulaga!"). The group was formed using a reality competition with open auditions. The new group officially debuted later during August 2006.
On December 16, 2006 the SexBomb Girls appeared on Eat Bulaga for the first time in nine months during the "Give Love on Christmas Day" segment with a song and dance number. Former SexBomb Girl Sugar Mercado rejoined the girls in the said number and some Eat Bulaga hosts were happy to see them again. On March 12, the SexBomb Girls returned as "guest dancers" once again - but only appearing during Fridays.[21]
The two groups finally met each other in a "showdown" on February 3, 2007, as requested by the public, especially the fans of both groups. The episode gained a 31.2% share of the ratings for that day. Rumors later surfaced about a possible rematch between the two groups, but in a TV interview with the SexBombs, it was revealed that there would be no rematch with the EB Babes for a while, but, a couple of weeks later, they met each other for another showdown, but, it was less popular than the previous one. Currently, the SexBombs are seen on Fridays on a temporary basis, while the EB Babes are seen for the rest of the week. Occasionally, the two groups can be seen together during opening numbers on Saturday episodes.
Wally and Jose and Paolo will go to the same barangay to be part of Juan for All, All for Juan. The contestants were chosen by the team of Eat Bulaga who were registering people for their chance to be part of the Juan for All segment on the previous day. Once selected, they will sing a specific song and will be judged by 5 EB Dabarkads judges who can give a score from the range of 15-20 points, the one with the highest points, wins PhP15,000 and an Xtreme Magic Sing while the other contestant wins PhP 2,000.
There are three teams with two people in each. It is similar to the game of 20 Questions, but instead of limiting the number of questions, the game limits the time of the game to 2 minutes. The guesser must only reply Oo (Yes), Hindi (No) and Pwede (Can Be), other replies will incur a 3 second penalty for every wrong reply which will be added in their official time. One will have to guess whatever the answer is while the other answers with those three words mentioned before. A Dabarkads will be selected to go into a flushroom. Three to four Dabarkads play, each holding 10, 000 pesos, 15, 000 pesos and 20, 000 pesos. If the pair answers correctly, they win whatever the prize the Dabarkads is holding and if they have the fastest time, will head to the Jackpot round. Each pair must finish in two minutes. In the Jackpot round, the winning pair will play again following the same concepts except this time, both of them would have to guess, taking turns. Also, they are only given one category and is to answer three words correctly in 3 minutes. If they answer one correctly, 10, 000 pesos, two, 15, 000 pesos and three is 20, 000 pesos. Consolation prize is 5, 000 pesos. If the pair answered 3 words in the jackpot round they will win 50,000 pesos. The three winners of each with the fastest time is to reunite again on Fridays to compete for the Pinoy Henyo trophy. Also, if the contestants answer the Pinoy Henyo Word of the Day, they will receive an additional PhP 5,000. Then, recently, a Finals has been developed for the fastest teams, and the finals will be announced for a designated day.
Wally, Jose and Paolo will go to a barangay where people in the barangay registered from 12pm to 4pm of the previous day. On certain days, a food challenge will be up for grabs and they present their food platter to the hosts, they will then choose who will be able to play for PhP 30,000 by spinning the roulette by picking a name of a family from a box. After the game, the hosts will then pick a name from the jar and will call that person to confirm their address. Wally, Jose and Paolo will then go to the designated house. The contestants receive various amounts at given times but the total does not usually go below PhP 30,000 and can go up to PhP 50,000 or even more on special occasions. The contestant receives gift packs from a variety of sponsors. After that, the numbers are laid out in the streets and all who wish to be eligible to win PhP 10,000 have to bring three things that the hosts will say in a minute to the numbers and the line with the most behaved people wins and additional PhP 20,000 total (1,000 each) and 2 win Nokia phones, or if it is raining, the hosts will pick a number of entries from a jar and they will receive a certain amount of money from Eat Bulaga.
Home viewers get a chance to win different prizes just by texting a particular code that would appear right on their television screens. The first three texters from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will win the same prize.
| Discontinued segments of Eat Bulaga! | |
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