Entertainment

A healthy end to the network war

May 28, 2012 | 12:00am

It took longer than it should have, but the time is in sight for the destructive network war to say goodbye and good riddance. The irrepressible Joey de Leon may joke about it as he did at the media launch of TV5’s upcoming Sunday show Game N Go but like it or not, the network war is no more.

The signs have been there long enough — the discontent from actors, writers, basically the creative end of the business, who felt their growth curtailed by network rivalry that didn’t help the networks themselves, and worse, fostered a demoralizing effect on values among the youth. When asked his opinion about the much talked about sale of GMA 7 to TV5, Joey quipped, “Mahal na mahal ni Manny Pangilinan (TV5’s owner) ang Eat, Bulaga! He had been a faithful follower for the past 30 years. Yan ang reason why he is buying GMA.”

We have it through reputable sources that the sale is on, whether you call it a buy-out or a corporate merger, and most people are happy about it. The remaining big player ABS-CBN is said to have long been girding itself for this more profitable, if not less stressful environment of two networks borrowing talents from one another, co-ventures, and happier employees. It is no secret that three of the biggest stars of ABS-CBN (Sarah Geronimo, Anne Curtis, Cristine Reyes) are not their own, but borrowed from the Viva Group of companies, headed by the shrewd businessman Boss Vic del Rosario, who has also established himself as one of TV5’s talent suppliers. There is certainly no reason why people in the same industry cannot co-exist cordially.

Many years ago, the principal thinker among network executives was Tony Tuviera, guiding light of Eat, Bulaga! who thought of bringing the troika of Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon (TVJ) to Romy Jalosjos for a noontime show on Radio Philippines Network (RPN). Joey coined the title Eat, Bulaga!, Vic composed the theme song, and Eat, Bulaga! went on air on July 30, 1979, 33 years ago. It did the rounds of various TV networks until it ended up on GMA 7.

It is the longest-running noontime variety show on air in the history of Philippine television, and maintains basically the same hosts of Tito, Vic and Joey. Tuviera, meantime as chairman and CEO of Television and Production Exponents Inc. (TAPE), branched out into movies with M-Zet productions as well as various other co-productions and advocacy projects like one for Gawad Kalinga. It is apparent that Tuviera’s owner-supplier arrangement with GMA antedates all other co-prods and has expertly avoided name-calling and the war among the Kapuso, Kapamilya and Kapatid.

All these thoughts come to mind as we attend the launch of Game N Go slated for Sunday noontime starting June 17. Game show veterans Joey and Edu Manzano are the game makers, with Arnel Ignacio, Gelli de Belen and Shalani Soledad-Romulo as game keepers supporting them. As TV5’s Perci Intalan, head of Entertainment and Creative Production, explains, the show is basically a game show which will introduce original games like True or Fall, Singgaling Go, Yugyug Tube, Pritong Pares, Game N Gocery and Face It. We were given a sampling of the games that even lured the audience to join in. The production had early on stated that it would stay away from the musical-variety format so as not to compete on the same level with Channels 2 and 7.

At the same time, we have many questions we know the new owners have been grappling with. If GMA-TV5 will both be on free TV, what would differentiate one from the other? Having both Joey and Edu, two of the most successful television hosts on TV at the helm, there is no question this new show will go on smoothly. But what has TV5 done about the problem of erratic signal and the lack of sponsorship? And once the station becomes stable with significant return on investment, how will it deal with the purported bloated talent fees it has been offering as incentive? Will this become the norm?