Wowowee

Wowowee
Genre Variety, Game show, Comedy
Created by ABS-CBN Corporation
Willie Revillame
Developed by Edgar "Bobot" Mortiz
Willie Revillame
Directed by Johnny Manahan
Arnel Natividad
Starring Willie Revillame
and Others
Country of origin Philippines
Original language(s) Filipino, English
Production
Executive producer(s) Cynthia Jordan
Harold Nueva
Location(s) Quezon City, Metro Manila
Running time 3¼ hours
Broadcast
Original channel ABS-CBN
The Filipino Channel
Picture format 480i SDTV
Original run February 5, 2005 – July 30, 2010
Chronology
Related shows Willing Willie/Wil Time Bigtime (TV5)
Wowowillie (TV5)
External links
Website

Wowowee was a Philippine noon-time variety show broadcast by ABS-CBN. The show premiered on February 5, 2005, and aired live on weekdays and Saturdays. The show was also broadcast worldwide through ABS-CBN's The Filipino Channel. The show officially ended on July 30, 2010 and was replaced the following day by a new variety show, Pilipinas Win Na Win.[1][2]

Cast

Main host

Co-hosts

Guest hosts

Featuring

Final segments

Cash Motto

In the Cash Motto segment, a random studio audience member who sent in a motto gets to play a game with winnings up to PHP1,000,000. He/she will have one minute to grab as much cash in the air in a secluded capsule. He/she cannot take peso bills while it is on the tank itself. The contestant is provided a broom to loosen up the money, so more will fly in the air. The amount of money he/she gets is what they keep. If the total amount of money grabbed reaches PHP40,000 or over, the contestant will receive a Wowowee videoke along with the money he/she grabbed. Another random studio audience member is chosen after the segment. This second audience member does not get to play the game, but has to guess how much money the first audience member grabbed. The co-hosts usually give a hint on the range. The contestant has up to three chances to guess how much he/she won. If the contestant gets the amount right, they win whatever the other player won. If they fail to guess, they still win PHP1,000 for being chosen.

Hep, Hep, Hooray

Twenty (previously ten) random audience members get to play Hep, Hep, Hooray. The game retired at the end of 2009 but quickly returned on January 4, 2010, due to more audience demand than its predecessor, Samson, Lion, and Delilah.

In this segment of the show, the audience is prepared to dance to one of Willie Revillame's hit songs. This opening song number is the theme tune for the choosing of the ten random audience members, the audience is warmed up for the public displays of talent, where Willie and his co-hosts will draw from the audience, from different sections including the TFC subscribers to dance the song in an entertaining way.

The objective of the game is to repeat the words "Hep" "Hep" "Peipei". A co-host puts the microphone in front of a contestants face and they are supposed to say "Hep Hep" while clapping their hands together below their waist, then another co-host will put the microphone to another contestant's face and they are to finish the cheer with saying "Hooray" and raising their hands in the air. If a contestant makes a mistake, they are out of the game, but they win PHP1,000 and a gift pack from Rexona as a consolation prize. This is a last person standing game. The one who lasts the longest wins.

Since Cash Bukas, the old bonus round for the game has moved on to Willie of ForTune, new rules were written on its relaunch. The final person standing goes for the final round, where the contestant can duel against one of the three "Amazonas": April, Lovely, and Aiko. During the duel, same rules apply repeating the words "Hep" "Hep" "Hooray". The contestant's goal is to beat the "Amazona" to win the jackpot, which always starts at PHP10,000. Every day the jackpot is not won, another PHP10,000 is added to it. On January 25, 2010, Jana was removed as an Amazona due to losing three times; April replaced her. A new batch of Amazonas were introduced on March 8 of the same year, referred to the hosts as "Amazunas". A new name to "Amazunas" was introduced last April 10: the "Dragon Ladies". Beginning July 5, the "Dragon Ladies" portion was removed, and the last person standing automatically wins P10,000 from Rexona.

On July 26, a new format called the Pair Factor was introduced. The twenty random audience members choose a partner to play with. The rules still mainly stay the same, however, they must both clap with "Hep" "Hep", and raise their hands with "Hooray". There are two groups consisting of five pairs each playing in their own group. The winner of rounds one and two will advance to the final round competing against each other. The last pair standing wins P10,000 from Rexona.

Willie of ForTune

Six people selected earlier through "themed" auditions compete in pairs in rounds of Willie of ForTune. The in-house keyboardist plays a portion of a song, and the first person to name the song correctly wins one point. If the player can correctly sing the exact lyrics from that portion of the song, they will receive the second point. Two points are required to win the round and get to round two. In this round, the three remaining players go to a knock out question. One song will be played, and whoever can buzz in the correct song title first wins PHP10,000 and advances to the jackpot round, Cash Bukas.

Every Saturday, celebrity teams play against each other. Same gameplay rules used in the weekday version exists. However, the team who gets to five points first wins, and goes straight to the jackpot round, Cash Bukas.

Cash Bukas

In the Cash Bukas segment, the winner of Willie of ForTune (previously the player is taken from Hep, Hep, Hooray) gets to play for four prizes. 10 trays are available for the player to select, while the player only selects three to play with. Next, the player must choose only one tray. The player is offered increasing amounts of cash until the player takes the offer, or keeps playing to open the tray. The trays offered in the game follows:

Tic Tac to Win

Tic Tac to Win is a game that premiered on January 1, 2010, with a format similar to past "end-games" in the show, including its predecessor, Want More, No More. Beginning on February 6 of the same year, the game played on a recurring basis.

Tumpak o Sablay

A group of fifty contestants is asked a trivia question that was asked by a random person in the streets, or a celebrity in some cases. The contestants must go to either side of the stage "Tumpak" (Correct) or "Sablay" (Fail) to guess if their answer is right or wrong. Similar to Pera o Bayong, the last person standing on the round gets to play for the jackpot round with PHP10,000 to keep.

Jackpot Round

Twenty letters (A-T) with prizes in different amounts are presented on a 5x4 board. The winner of the previous round chooses nine letters from the board, and arranges the letters as they desire on a giant tic-tac-toe board. Scattered and hidden in the twenty letters contain:

Eight letters contain instant cash for the contestant to keep:

The goal is to make a tic-tac-toe of either the car, house, or PHP1,000,000. If a tic-tac-toe is achieved, it is won to them. If no tic-tac-toe was achieved, he/she still keeps the instant cash that was won on the board.

Special shows

World tours

Wowowee had broadcast episodes from other locations in the Philippines, and had also gone on world tours to other countries such as the United States (San Francisco, New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Reno, Chicago, Honolulu, Atlantic City, San Diego, Houston, and Guam), Australia (Sydney), Canada (Winnipeg), and Dubai.[5]

In celebration of TFC's 15th anniversary and Wowowee‍ '​s 4th anniversary, Wowowee held a grand world tour in 2009. Starting in Dubai, the tour reached Italy, United States (San Francisco, Seattle, Orlando and Las Vegas) and Canada (Toronto).

2006: Alay sa Kapamilya

Alay sa Kapamilya was a program organized by ABS-CBN as an observation for the PhilSports Arena stampede victims. It preempted Wowowee for six days while the network decided over the fate of the variety show. The shows were a solemn tribute to the victims, featuring performances by ABS-CBN regulars. Eventually, ABS-CBN decided to temporarily cancel the variety show until its return on March 11, 2006.[6]

2006: Honoring Overseas Filipino Workers

On several occasions, the show has paid tribute to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) serving across the world. On the August 2, 2006, episode, Wowowee with cooperation with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) produced a special edition saluting and featuring female OFW's who returned from Lebanon where a war was present in that country. They were all invited to attend and even participate in the show that day. The contestants during the first half that day were close friends of the OFWs, while an unspecified number of OFW's participated in "The Ultimate Pera O Bayong". All the winnings won in during the show were combined together and evenly distributed to all of the OFWs in the audience, with the grand total of winnings being PHP1,390,000.

2007: Armed Forces of the Philippines join Wowowee

On September 1, 2007, about 500 soldiers came in full force to the show. Representatives from the major services, AFPWSSUS and Technical Services come to play and have fun during the show and take a crack at the grand prizes in different games.

Highlights of the event were the interviews with the loved ones of Marines who lost their lives in the fight against the Abu Sayaff Group/ MILF rebels in Basilan last July 10 and August 11, 2007. Tearfully, loved ones recounted their last communication with the fallen Marines. Host Willie Revillame also asked each of them for a short message and everybody was moved to tears during the emotion-filled moment. AFP, PIO Chief LTC Bartolome Bacarro held back his tears but could not help it, just like the rest. Emotions rose again when candles were lit for the Marines.[7]

2010: New set and co-hosts

A new set and a new batch of co-hosts were introduced on April 10, 2010. Joining the four co-hosts already on the show were Carmen Soo, Isabelle Abiera, Jed Montero, and Kelly Misa. The new set consisted of a large LED video wall on the front of the stage with a brand new lighted flooring. Audience seats were moved and had seat numbers that might be used for future games.

The show began with an extravagant opening sequence of Willie Revillame singing and dancing to his hit songs over the past five years. Later, the usual games were played. In Cash Motto, a new format was explained that will begin taking place the 17th of April called Cash Mo-Tour, in which the cash tank will travel around Metro Manila and barangays for lucky people to win big. In Hep, Hep, Hooray, the winner will play against the new name of the "Amazunas", the "Dragon Ladies" for the special jackpot of the day, PHP100,000. It was announced on the week of April 12 that the first stop for the Cash Mo-Tour will be held at Plaza Moriones in Tondo, Manila, but due to technical difficulties, it was announced on April 16 that the premiere would be postponed. Two months later on June 19, the game premiered in Valenzuela City.

Cancellation

On July 27, 2010, ABS-CBN confirmed that Wowowee ended on July 30, 2010, after five years of airing. It was replaced by Pilipinas Win Na Win effective the following day. The new show is a variety game show hosted by Kris Aquino and Robin Padilla. Former Wowowee co-hosts Mariel Rodriguez, Pokwang, and Valerie Concepcion co-host the new show.[1][2][8][9] However, due to poor ratings, Pilipinas Win Na Win was cancelled after five months.

On January 2011, ABS-CBN announced through its Push.com site that a new noontime show, hosted by ex-Magandang Tanghali Bayan hosts Randy Santiago and John Estrada as well as Toni Gonzaga and ex-Wowowee host Mariel Rodriguez, was in the works.[10] The show, entitled Happy Yipee Yehey! premiered on February 12, 2011, a week after what would have been the sixth anniversary of Wowowee.[11]

Willing Willie and Wil Time Bigtime

After a five-month hiatus, Willie Revillame made his comeback on the TV5 show Willing Willie. Several personalities from Wowowee are also included in the new show's roster of hosts, including Owen Ercia and DJ Coki.

On November 24, 2010, ABS-CBN filed a copyright infringement suit against Willie Revillame, Wil Productions, Inc. and TV5 for allegedly copying Wowowee in Willing Willie.[12] However, hearings on the case, which was filed at the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 66 under presiding judge Joselito C. Villarosa, was suspended after the Court of Appeals granted the request for a temporary restraining order by TV5.[13]

TV5 then filed a petition for certiorari, prohibition and writ of preliminary injunction before the Court of Appeals. ABS-CBN responded by filing a motion seeking to dismiss the petition of the former. On March 10, 2011, the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of TV5.[14][15]

On May 14, 2011, Willie Revillame's comeback for the primetime variety show Wil Time Bigtime after 9 months, this show has now officially canceled on January 5, 2013.

Wowowillie

Main article: Wowowillie

TV5 announced the newest noontime variety show Wowowillie, it premiered on January 26, 2013 but the show was cancelled last October 12, 2013 due to the early retirement from television of Willie Revillame as well as poor ratings of the show.

In popular culture

Wowowee was featured in the 2009 Metro Manila Film Festival entry Nobody, Nobody But... Juan.

Awards

See also

References

External links