Willie Revillame is returning to a familiar spot, sort of.
Starting February 1, ‘Wowowin’ will air every Monday to Friday on GMA’s Telebabad block. The move was announced nearly two weeks after the said game show aired its final Sunday episode last January 17.
Most loyal followers of Willie Revillame are no stranger to his presence on primetime during weekdays. From 2010 to 2013, Willie hosted ‘Willing Willie’ and ‘Wil Time Big Time’ on TV5 six times a week, an attempt which did not go well for the Kapatid network.
During his time on TV5, Willie became embroiled in numerous off-stage and on-stage controversies. The most infamous of those events took place in March 2011, when a six-year-old boy performed a ‘macho dance’ that did not sit well with the majority, and led to the show’s brief suspension.
Even though ‘Wowowin’ enjoyed a resurgence since moving to an earlier timeslot on Sunday afternoons, it was clear that Willie was not satisfied with its success. Thus, at the urging of GMA Network executives, both parties decided to move ‘Wowowin’ to weeknights, a move which seems risky for the network.
Although ‘Wowowin’ will air much earlier than Willie’s prior shows on TV5, it will still face intense competition on its timeslot. The final four weeks of ‘Pasion de Amor’, in particular, will be ‘Wowowin”s first opponent, and based on the ABS-CBN teleserye’s constant success, it will not be easy for ‘Wowowin’ to topple.
Also, like the Sunday episodes, ‘Wowowin’ will only air for an hour, and will be aired on tape-delay. GMA made it clear from the start that ‘Wowowin’ will be strictly supervised so as to prevent any untoward incident that have affected Willie’s shows in the past.
Risks aside, for Willie Revillame and his loyal followers, this is a win-win situation. Now that ‘Wowowin’ will be aired five times a week, viewers can enjoy the same old ‘bigyan ng jacket’ style every day of the week, much like the old days.
‘Wowowin’ airs weeknights at 5:30 p.m. on GMA Telebabad, starting February 1.
From the Tube 
Good: It will crush Luis Manzano’s KDOND in the ratings game.
Bad: The new launch week will coincide the 10th anniversary of the ULTRA Stampede that his former show on ABS-CBN, Wowowee, was partially yet jointly accounted for.
Worse: Overtime and lascivious antics!
GMA, for sure, will be strict with it.
Wala yatang overtime kasi taped na
Exactly. Knowing GMA, they won’t allow Willie to go beyond its set running time, that’s why Wowowin is taped as a way to prevent a repeat occurrence of what happened in his time with TV5.
Taped as live muna siya but if they succeed in ratings, malamang mag-lilive na siya.
That’s a big if, since ABS is expected to have a replacement for PDA by next week. And the dominance of Primetime Bida has been well-documented.
15 minutes katapat ng DOND Barangay Edition and 45 minutes katapat ng PDA na malapit ng matapos? I Dont know waht will happen. Awkward scheduling. Bakit kaya hindi itinapat mainly sa DOND para nasa same genre? but nevertheless, it is still a good show. dahil fan din naman ako ni Willie since Wowowee days. when it comes to his intentions to help the less fortunates.
There is also changes in the line-up of programs on the afternoon grid. Public affairs programs will be aired at 5pm (the same timeslot that will be used for regional newscast).
Heard also that Dagupan and Cebu newscasts had to revert into their original titles starting today (baka kasi di pumatok ang 24 Oras branding kaya ibinalik nila)
In essence, GMA Telebabad will start twenty minutes earlier than Primetime Bida. However, with Wowowin now in the fold, GMA will only have four dramas on primetime against ABS’ five. With that, good luck na lang sa GMA.
Matunog lang yung bagong nilang segment na Cash Salo. But i heard this was used already during his tenure w/ TV5 (if i remember, Wiling Willie)
Well, kay Willie naman yung rights so it’s his decision to use his old segments whenever he wants to.
Correction: PDA will air for 4 more weeks.
Spoke too soon. Very rough beginning for Wowowin, if that’s the case.
In terms of ratings, Pasion de Amor still prevailed last Monday.
Pasion De Amor (18.9%) vs. Wowowin (14.8%) (data from Kantar).
Yung final episode nga ng The Producers last Friday, 9.5% lang ang rating, compared to Pasion de Amor’s 22.3% (data from Kantar).
Mukhang Wowowin na ang serious challenger ng Pasion de Amor as of late. Tinalo na ng PDA ang mga Koreanovelas, pati ang comeback ng Starstruck (I highly doubt na babalik pa ang Starstruck considering its comeback is a huge disaster).
GMA seems to be better off with Wowowin to kick off Telebabad. But with PDA only down to four more weeks, baka mahirapan pa ito.
Well we will not see Willie and Wowowin….. for only two weeks. He said the show will take a short break so he can relax and take a rest. It is also a good time to prepare for the show’s 1st anniversary. The show’s two week hiatus starts tomorrow.
His studio will be used for GMA’s election coverage, that’s why he’s on vacation.