A History of Vic Sotto Sitcoms (Part 1)

The cast of ‘Okay Ka, Fairy Ko’ nearly 30 years after it first aired. Tweetie de Leon was the second actress to play the role of Faye. (Photo credit: Allan K Official Instagram)

It has been nearly 30 years since Vic Sotto left the shadows of TVJ and became a star himself.

On Sunday, June 19, his newest sitcom ‘Hay, Bahay!’ will officially premiere on GMA. This will mark Vic Sotto’s eighth sitcom as a solo artist, and ninth overall.

While he was better known as 1/3 of the fabled trio TVJ alongside Tito Sotto and Joey de Leon, and the host of ‘Eat Bulaga’, it was his individual comedic brilliance on television and film that cemented his legacy. Without further ado, let’s look back at his solo sitcoms over the years (in chronological order), starting with the first four on the list.

1. Okay Ka, Fairy Ko! (1987-97)

Aired on: IBC-13 (1987-89), ABS-CBN (1989-95), GMA (1995-97)

Notable co-stars: Aiza Seguerra, Alice Dixson, Tweetie de Leon, Dawn Zulueta, Charito Solis, Jinky Oda, Ruby Rodriguez, Larry Silva

The sitcom that started it all, ‘Okay Ka, Fairy Ko’ introduced viewers to Enteng Kabisote, the mechanic-turned-husband of the fairy Faye. The character then went on to star in nine box-office hit movies based on the sitcom.

2. 1 For 3 (1997-2001)

Aired on: GMA

Notable co-stars: Ai-ai delas Alas, Charlene Gonzales, Rosanna Roces, Nanette Inventor, Imee Marcos, Allan K, Mickey Ferriols

Believe it or not, ‘Hay, Bahay’ is not the first sitcom to star both Vic Sotto and Ai-ai delas Alas. When Charlene Gonzales left ‘1 For 3’ to host ABS-CBN’s ‘Keep on Dancing’, Ai-ai was introduced in the sitcom as one of Gene’s (Vic) housemates.

3. Daddy Di Do Du (2001-07)

Aired on: GMA

Notable co-stars: Danica Sotto, Maxene Magalona, Isabelle de Leon, Cindy Kurleto, Redford White, Ruby Rodriguez, Joonee Gamboa, Jose Manalo, Paolo Ballesteros, Nida Blanca

The first sitcom to feature Vic and daughter Danica, ‘Daddy Di Do Du’ was the second in Vic’s sitcom filmography to feature a mystical theme. Unfortunately, just a few months into the sitcom’s run, Nida Blanca was murdered, and her character was written off afterwards.

4. Ful Haus (2007-09)

Aired on: GMA

Notable co-stars: Pia Guanio, Jose Manalo, BJ Forbes, Joonee Gamboa, Marissa Delgado, Mitoy Yonting, Sugar Mercado

Based on the Koreanovela ‘Full House’, ‘Ful Haus’ marked the debut of child star BJ Forbes, whose claim to fame was via the Tide detergent commercials as ‘Tolits’. This was also the first project for Mitoy Yonting prior to winning season 1 of ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ several years later.

For Part 2 of A History of Vic Sotto sitcoms, click here.

Note: ‘Hay, Bahay!’ will air every Sunday after ’24 Oras Weekend’ on GMA. All of his sitcoms are property of M-Zet Productions.

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‘Bet on Your Baby’ Replaces ‘Pretty Man’ on ABS-CBN

The hit game show ‘Bet on Your Baby’ is back.

ABS-CBN officially announced that the second season of ‘Bet on Your Baby’ will air starting September 22 on the Kapamilya Gold block. The game show will replace the Koreanovela ‘Pretty Man’ on its timeslot.

‘Bet on Your Baby’ will again be hosted by Judy Ann Santos.

The season premiere of ‘Bet on Your Baby’ will mark the return of the game show to weekday afternoons, something that has not happened on Philippine television since TV5’s ‘Jeepney Jackpot: Pera o Para’ last year. It will also be ABS-CBN’s first such venture since ‘The Price is Right’ in 2011.

A total of eight millionaire child-parent pairs were produced in the first season of ‘Bet on Your Baby’. The game show first aired on Saturday nights from September 19, 2013 to May 17, 2014, earning high ratings on each episode.

Now ABS-CBN must hope that the show’s latest season and its five-a-week scheme will produce the same, if not better, results.

Looking ahead to Monday’s premiere, it was a huge gamble on the part of ABS-CBN to replace a short-lived Koreanovela in ‘Pretty Man’ with a game show like ‘Bet on Your Baby’. Their last weekday afternoon game show, ‘The Price is Right’, did not even click with viewers, and was forced to move to Saturdays due to low ratings.

Fortunately for ‘Bet on Your Baby’, they will be facing little pressure on their timeslot. The game show will go up against GMA’s re-run of ‘Full House’, which is not expected to be a factor in the ratings.

As for the end of ‘Pretty Man’, it was unfortunate to see another Kapamilya Asianovela go. The conclusion of ‘Pretty Man’ means that they are back to airing just one Asianovela, and that is the primetime series ‘Miss Ripley’.

In addition, Kapamilya Gold will only have one drama series in its arsenal, which is the telenovela ‘Ana Manuela’. The lack of dramas, especially local ones, in this block is a sign that ABS-CBN is now trying to save some money for next year’s projects, at the risk of losing viewers and ad shares.

And with that, good luck to ‘Bet on Your Baby’ on making things interesting every weekday afternoons.

‘Full House’ Returns and Other Changes on Afternoon Prime

‘Si Mama Bear, si Papa Bear, si Baby Bear!’ One of the most iconic phrases in Asianovela lore is back.

GMA announced that the Koreanovela ‘Full House’ will be re-aired on Afternoon Prime. The series, which made Korean singer Rain a full-fledged superstar in his home country, was one of the Kapuso network’s most popular and recognizable Koreanovelas.

First aired in 2005 on GMA Telebabad, ‘Full House’ became an instant success, at a time when GMA was dominating primetime television. The popularity of the original ‘Full House’ led to several more re-runs in the morning, and eventually a Filipino adaptation in 2009, starring Heart Evangelista and Richard Gutierrez.

The return of ‘Full House’ is just one of several changes that will take place on Afternoon Prime beginning today.

In response to ABS-CBN’s tweaking of ‘Kapamilya Gold’, GMA decided to counter with their own revision of Afternoon Prime. Both ‘The Half-Sisters’ and ‘Dading’ will retain their old timeslots, but that is it.

‘May Queen’, the Koreanovela starring Han Ji Hye, will now be seen at 4:05 p.m. The series replaced ‘Jewel in the Palace’ as the closing program on ‘Afternoon Prime’ early in September, but it did not fare well against ‘Pretty Man’ ratings-wise.

Now up against ‘Ana Manuela’, GMA hopes that ‘May Queen’ will enjoy an even better performance against a telenovela whose ratings have constantly fluctuated since its debut.

Also moving to a new timeslot is the News and Public Affairs block, consisting of ‘Alisto’, ‘Tunay na Buhay’, ‘Power House’, ‘Reporters’ Notebook’, and ‘Love Hotline’. The block will again compete with ABS-CBN’s News and Current Affairs block (‘Bistado’, ‘Mutya ng Masa’, ‘My Puhunan’, ‘Tapatan ni Tunying’, ‘Red Alert’), which had moved to a later timeslot since late August.

And finally, ‘Full House’ will be assigned as the closing program on Afternoon Prime. The re-run of ‘Full House’ will take on ‘Pretty Man’ in its timeslot.

The response that GMA made to ABS-CBN was swift and stirring. Now the question is, will Afternoon Prime take advantage of their revised schedule? Let’s see what happens this week on both networks.

GMA Again Answers Meteor Garden with Jewel in the Palace

‘Jewel in the Palace’ will again be aired on GMA starting next Monday. The Asianovela was a ratings hit in the mid-2000s.

‘Meteor Garden”s re-run on ABS-CBN has been a tremendous boost to the network’s weekday afternoon programming. And with the said Asianovela continuing to rake in high ratings, GMA needs a quick response.

They got one, in the form of their own highly-rated Asianovela in ‘Jewel in the Palace’.

The re-run of ‘Jewel in the Palace’ is slated to air starting May 26 on GMA, replacing ‘Mischievous Kiss’. The said Asianovela first aired in the mid-2000s, and during its initial broadcast, the show provided a boost in GMA’s teleserye dominance at the time. It was so successful that it was later re-run on the Kapuso network.

The theme song of the initial broadcast of ‘Jewel in the Palace’ was Faith Cuneta’s version of ‘Pangarap na Bituin’, which was later remade by Sarah Geronimo for the ABS-CBN teleserye of the same name. However, it was not used in the first re-run, and it is still unknown if the title song will again be used for the upcoming re-run.

‘Jewel in the Palace’ was considered the first of a series of highly-rated GMA Asianovelas in the 2000s, one that later included ‘My Name is Kim Sam-Soon’, ‘Jumong’, ‘Full House’, ‘Endless Love’, ‘Stairway to Heaven’, ‘The Baker King’, ‘Coffee Prince’, and ‘Attic Cat’. These shows, along with GMA’s fantaseryes, contributed to the network’s dominance in the middle part of the decade.

But more importantly, the success of ‘Jewel in the Palace’ helped Kapuso viewers forget about ‘My MVP Valentine’, GMA’s first Asianovela which flopped against ‘Meteor Garden’ in its initial broadcast.

It remains to be seen whether or not ‘Jewel in the Palace’ will once again become a ratings hit. But for GMA, they seem to have found a perfect way to celebrate their own 10th anniversary of bringing Asianovelas to Filipinos, and a perfect antidote to the success of ‘Meteor Garden’.