Eat Bulaga!
Eat Bulaga!
Format Variety, Game show, Comedy
Created by Television and Production Exponents (TAPE) Inc.
Developed by TAPE Inc.
Directed by Bert de Leon
Poochie Rivera
Mark A. Reyes V (during Saturdays)
Starring Tito Sotto
Vic Sotto
Joey de Leon
and others
Opening theme Eat Bulaga! Theme Song
Country of origin Philippines
Original language(s) Tagalog
Filipino
English
No. of episodes 10,106 (as of April 1, 2013)
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 (Weekdays)
3 hours (Saturdays)
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 broadcasts from The New TAPE Studios (Eastside Studio) at the GMA Broadway Centrum in New Manila, Quezon City. Eat Bulaga! is aired Weekdays at 12:00pm to 3:00pm and Saturdays at 11:30am to 2:30pm (PHT). The show is also broadcast worldwide through GMA Pinoy TV. The name approximately translates to "Lunchtime Surprise!". The show celebrated its 33rd year on Philippine television last August 18, 2012. Eat Bulaga! holds the record of being the longest-running noontime variety program on air in the history of local television.
Its first overseas version was Eat Bulaga! Indonesia, which premiered on Indonesia's SCTV network on July 16, 2012. Eat Bulaga! became the first Philippine show, variety show in particular, to be franchised by another country.
History [edit]
The RPN years (1979-1989) [edit]
Production Specialists, Inc., a company owned by Romy Jalosjos, brought the idea of creating a noontime show for Radio Philippines Network or RPN. Antonio Tuviera, who was the working for the company, thought that the comic troika of Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon or TVJ (who had gained fame through GMA Network's Discorama and as pinch-hitters for Student Canteen, but subsequently left both) would be the perfect hosts for the new program. At a meeting at the InterContinental Manila parking lot, Tuviera made the offer to them, which they accepted.
De Leon coined the title of the show: Eat represents lunchtime while Bulaga (which means "surprise" in English) represents their plan to fill the show with lots of big surprises. The title is also a play on two children's games: Eat is the transliteration of It! from the game Tag while Bulaga refers to Peek-a-boo!. Because of this, the slogan "Hangga't May Bata, May Eat Bulaga!" ("While There Are Children, There will be Eat Bulaga!") was coined, also by de Leon. Vic Sotto, on the other hand, composed the theme song.
Eat Bulaga! premiered on July 30, 1979. TVJ, along with Chiqui Hollman and Richie Reyes (a.k.a. Richie d' Horsie) were the original hosts of the show. During its first few months on the air, the show was in danger of cancellation. Not only did it face competition against the longest-running noontime show at that time, Student Canteen, but it also lacked advertisers. In addition, TVJ did not receive their salaries for six months.
Eat Bulaga! slowly gained top-rating status in 1980 after the introduction of the segment "Mr. Macho". Production Specialists soon handed production of the show to Tuviera's TAPE, Inc. In May 1982, the Domestic Satellite was launched, allowing Eat Bulaga! and other RPN programs to be aired nationwide. During the same time, Coney Reyes joined the show while Hollman moved to Student Canteen. In 1987, Aiza Seguerra joined the show after finishing as a runner-up in the show's "Little Miss Philippines" segment.
The ABS-CBN years (1989-1995) [edit]
In 1989, Eat Bulaga 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 Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation) due to problems brought about by the sequestration of RPN. To drum up the shows' move to ABS-CBN, the then-Star Network came up with "..." ("three dots") which stood for the three top-rating daytime shows (Eat Bulaga, Agila and Coney Reyes on Camera) that would air on Channel 2.[citation needed] The three dots are also included in the show's title at the time, Eat...Bulaga!.[citation needed] On January 28, 1989, the show premiered on its new home, which was staged at the Araneta Coliseum.
Reyes left the noontime show in 1991. She was replaced by swimming champion Christine Jacob. By 1992, Tito Sotto started appearing only on weekends after topping the senatorial elections that May.
First decade on GMA and silver anniversary (1995-2004) [edit]
By the 1990s, ABS-CBN wanted to buy the airing rights of Eat Bulaga from TAPE, Inc. However, Tuviera and Malou Choa-Fagar rejected the deal, leading ABS-CBN to remove Eat...Bulaga! and its sister shows Valiente and Okay Ka, Fairy Ko from its roster of shows and to reformat its Sunday show Sa Linggo nAPO Sila into a week-long show, 'Sang Linggo nAPO Sila.
Eat...Bulaga! moved to GMA, whose efforts to dethrone the show through Lunch Date and Salo-Salo Together (SST) had failed. The show made its premiere telecast on its new home on January 28, 1995, again at the Araneta Coliseum. Prior to this, month-long promotions were made by coming up with the catchy advertisement, "9-2=7" ("nine minus two equals seven")[citation needed], alluding to the show's move from Channel 9 (RPN) to Channel 2 (ABS-CBN) to Channel 7 (GMA). It was also a homecoming for TVJ, who hosted Discorama and pinch-hitted for Student Canteen on GMA before leaving the network for Eat...Bulaga!.
In 2001, Eat...Bulaga! became the first to give away the first millions on the Philippine television. When Magandang Tanghali Bayan, then the noontime show of ABS-CBN, introduced Pera o Bayong to its audience, it became an instant hit, causing MTB to top the ratings of Eat Bulaga for two years. This forced the Eat...Bulaga! management to give the first millions, through its segment Laban o Bawi (Fight or Back Out), "to get the audience interest back."
Eat...Bulaga! celebrated its 25th year on television in November 19, 2004 at the Expo Amphitheater in Clarkfield, Angeles City, Pampanga, making it the longest-running noontime show in the Philippines. The television special was attended by an estimated 50,000 spectators and enjoyed the highest daytime TV rating in the Philippines.[citation needed] The special won the Best Entertainment (One-Off/Annual) Special at the Asian Television Awards in Singapore on December 1, 2005. The said event was also hailed as the most successful television event on Philippine television, narrowly matched only by the 1st Starstruck Final Judgement.[citation needed] The special presentation, entitled Eat Bulaga Silver Special was broadcast on November 28, 2004. By this time, Eat Bulaga! had modified its title, dropping the three dots.[citation needed]
In December 2004, GMA signed a five-year contract extension to keep the show on their network until December 29, 2009.[citation needed] After celebrating its 25th anniversary, it was incidentally the 10th anniversary of Eat Bulaga's start in GMA the following year.
Second decade on GMA, 30th anniversary and Eat Bulaga! Indonesia (2004-present) [edit]
In 2006, the SexBomb Girls left the show due to a dispute with the show's producers. The show, in turn, opened auditions for new in-house dancers, under the name "EB Babes", in the form of a reality competition. The group officially debuted on August of that year. On March 2007, the SexBomb Girls returned as regular cast members.
On September 2007, a series of word wars occurred between Joey de Leon and Willie Revillame, the host of Eat Bulaga!'s rival show Wowowee as a result of the Hello Pappy scandal.
On March 6, 2009, Francis Magalona, one of the show's long-time co-hosts, succumbed to leukemia. The following day, the show produced a tribute episode in which the whole cast performed his past songs dedicated in his memory. During the tribute, it was revealed that Magalona coined the word Dabarkads, a popular name to the Eat Bulaga family.
In 2009, Eat Bulaga! celebrated its 30th Anniversary, which was dubbed as Tatlong Dekads ng Dabarkads (Three Decades of the Dabarkads). The show focused on honoring and helping remarkable people, including thirty poor but hard-working students and other everyday heroes as a gesture of paying back to the public who has supported them all these years. On December 18 of that year, the show renewed its contract with GMA Network.[citation needed] In addition, the show signed an extended contract with GMA Network on March 2011 which would last until 2016.