‘Never stop trying!’
It has been the motto for GMA these past several years. The odds have not always been great for the network, but give them credit for continuing to compete despite these insurmountable obstacles.
Remember the time when ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ was so unbeatable that GMA had no choice but to stop competing against it? For years, the ABS-CBN late-night variety show proved to be GMA’s Achilles heel, and each time GMA tried to answer with a show of their own, ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ always shoves them out of the door.
But it seems like ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ has seen better days of late due to the presence of ABS-CBN’s reality and talent shows (e.g. ‘Pinoy Big Brother’). Sensing that the show’s ratings is on a downward trend, GMA decided to create a new show in ‘Bossing & Ai’ in an attempt to finally bring down ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ from its perch.
‘Bossing & Ai’ premiered last night and is a game show starring Vic Sotto and Ai-ai delas Alas as leaders of two groups of contestants. They are joined by Jose Manalo, Tart Carlos and game master Oyo Sotto.
In essence, ‘Bossing & Ai”s competition with ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ is an extension of the ‘Eat Bulaga’-‘It’s Showtime’ rivalry, of which Vic Sotto and Vice Ganda are the respective hosts. Still, it remains to be seen if ‘Bossing & Ai’ will live up to its promise of taking down ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ for good.
Speaking of ‘Eat Bulaga’, the d’Explorer sisters of ‘Kalyeserye’ will have a talk show of their own. Beginning today at 11:30 a.m., Jose Manalo (as Lola Tinidora), Paolo Ballesteros (as Lola Tidora) and Wally Bayola (as Lola Nidora) will host ‘The Lolas’ Beautiful Show’.
The new talk show will replace ‘TROPS’, the coming-of-age drama series starring ‘Eat Bulaga”s ‘BAES’ (Kenneth Medrano, Kim Last, Jon Timmons, Tommy Penaflor, Miggy Tolentino, and Joel Palencia). ‘The Lolas’ Beautiful Show’ will mark TAPE’s first venture into the talk show genre since ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’ from 2013-15.
But unlike ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’, ‘The Lolas’ Beautiful Show’ will be pre-taped as Jose, Paolo and Wally also serve as on-location hosts of ‘Eat Bulaga”s ‘Juan for All, All for Juan’ segment. This means there will be no live transition from one show to the next.
‘The Lolas’ Beautiful Show’ would have been a perfect show to compete against the ABS-CBN morning talk show ‘Magandang Buhay’, especially now that GMA’s slate of animes are declining in popularity. Instead, the talk show will be placed as part of TAPE’s mandated 11:30-2:30 p.m. block and will go up against ‘Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin’.
Whether or not ‘The Lolas’ Beautiful Show’ will be a factor in the game remains to be seen. But as far as GMA, M-ZET and TAPE are concerned, there’s nothing wrong about continuing to try despite the odds.
From the Tube 
ILAI’s ratings are improving (from 12-14% range to 15-17% range), and new characters are added. I think The Lolas’ Beautiful Show have struggles in defeating ILAI.
Considering that GMA and TAPE have struggled to put up a successful lead-in program to Eat Bulaga the past five years, that ongoing trend may affect The Lolas’ Beautiful Show. Had GMA and TAPE make a compromise and allow this show to go up against Magandang Buhay, TLBS would have fared much better. Alas, GMA’s ever-enduring loyalty on repetitive animes prevents such a matchup, which to be honest is not a smart move now that its popularity is on a downward trend.
I think a lighter show would’ve done better on ILAI’s slot but ABS CBN doesn’t have a show ready to replace so an extension will do plus revamping KGold should be their top priority. I heard TPOF is canned. 13 weeks of canned eps so that one needs a replacement ready.
TPOF has had plenty of episodes taped in advance because of the long wait to get a suitable timeslot, and some of its scenes were shot overseas. It’s possible that it will run for only a short period of time. Still, even if ABS performs well at 11:30, they still don’t have a third afternoon teleserye to counter Ika-6 na Utos. That series would’ve been ILAI, to be honest. Magandang Buhay would’ve also been better if it was moved to 11:00 or 11:30 and act as a lead-in to It’s Showtime and go up against The Lolas’ Beautiful Show. Their current timeslot of 8:00 is totally unpredictable because you’ll never know if GMA’s repetitive animes will get hot or cold. Besides, a talk show in the pre-noontime slot was nothing new; Kris Aquino made it hip in the 90s and SIS made it better in the 2000s.
By the way, apparently TLBS ended on February 2, 2018. Thoughts on this?
Will write about that next week. It also marked the end of TAPE’s five-year run of producing late morning programs as GMA decided to extend Kapuso Movie Festival. Something related to a certain on-screen couple that gave GMA a lot of trouble over the years.
Looks like Bossing & I has either ended or is ending soon. And in typical GMA fashion, it was with little-to-no-fanfare. A relative sad end considering the individual histories of Vic Sotto and Ai-Ai. I guess it’s gone the way of Pare & Pare now (though to be fair, I think that may have been cut short due to Ogie’s then-impending transfer to TV5). Wonder what’s with GMA’s inability to produce long-running talk shows now: only Tonight with Arnold Clavio still remains.
They last aired on February 4, and for some reason it was cancelled quietly. Will write about that tomorrow. GGV is just too difficult to beat.