The RPN Years (1979-1989)
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.
Read more about this topic: Eat Bulaga!, History
Famous quotes containing the word years:
“a voice still so hollow
That it seems to call out to me from forty years ago,
When you were all aglow,
And not the thin ghost that I now frailly follow!”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)