No Longer Trending: Has Gandang Gabi Vice Reached the Twilight?

Seems like ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ has gone past its prime.

Once one of ABS-CBN’s most popular programs on Sundays, ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ is now merely fighting to stay relevant. Recent episodes showed that ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ only averages an 8% rating in Kantar, a far cry from its highest-rated episode on May 6, 2013 when it scored 23.7%.

“The Kids’ Choice” topped Sunday (Oct 21) programming with 27.6%, beating “Studio 7” (18.4%). #KantarMedia pic.twitter.com/FXTbbTNyJf

— ABS-CBN PR (@ABSCBNpr) October 22, 2018

Much of ‘Gandang Gabi Vice”s sudden decline is blamed on its exceedingly late timeslot. In the past, the show aired at around 10:00 or 10:15 p.m., but nowadays it is seen at around 10:50 or 11:00 p.m.

A late timeslot like that can take a toll on the viewers, especially if they have work or school for tomorrow. So much for sticking around.

‘Gandang Gabi Vice”s later-than-usual broadcast has something to do with ABS-CBN’s insistence to air a second talent/reality show on weekend primetime. Unfortunately, such an unforgiving formula is too much to take for the average viewer, as the current program ‘I Can See Your Voice’ is not even an impact player at this point.

Making matters worse for ABS-CBN is the fact that rival GMA program ‘Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho’ is becoming more ‘trending’ than ever with unusual stories that would leave the audience astonished. And it helped that GMA allowed the show to air for two hours to keep viewers invested.

GMA’s extension of ‘Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho’ is not by accident. Mainly due to Vice Ganda’s constant torment of its rivals to the point that GMA cancelled said shows without warning, the network decided to let Jessica Soho occupy that additional hour instead.

So far, it has worked. Not only did ‘Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho’ lured a chunk of ABS-CBN’s audience away, it also unintentionally led to the ratings decline that ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ faces to this day.

This Sunday, ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ will feature newly-signed Kapamilya Regine Velasquez as its guest. But it remains to be seen if the show will recapture its glory days.

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Still Undisputed: Gandang Gabi Vice Claims Another Victim

‘Bossing & Ai’ was cancelled by GMA after only 20 episodes and low ratings opposite ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’. (Logo courtesy of GMA Network)

Once again, no one can stop ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’.

The latest victim of this ABS-CBN Sunday night talk show was ‘Bossing & Ai’, a game show/talk show hosted by Vic Sotto and Ai-ai delas Alas. Following its last episode on February 4, GMA quietly cancelled the program without any explanation.

First premiered on September 24, ‘Bossing & Ai’ marked Vic Sotto’s first foray into late-night television after years of producing primetime sitcoms. It also became his first television project with Ai-ai delas Alas following a string of box-office films.

From the moment it first aired, however, it became clear that ‘Bossing & Ai’ was destined to fail. The program only mustered an average of 6% in the Kantar ratings whereas ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ scored around 11%.

The mismatch between ‘Bossing & Ai’ and ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ was of no surprise considering that ‘Eat Bulaga’ and ‘It’s Showtime’ are also running in the same vein in recent years. It can also be said that Vice Ganda has had Vic Sotto’s number on television unlike in the Metro Manila Film Festival where the two comedy legends seem to be evenly matched.

Overall, ‘Bossing & Ai’ only aired a total of 20 episodes. While it was still eight episodes better than ‘Pare & Pare’ and nine more than ‘Para Sa ‘Yo Ang Laban Na ‘To’, the run of ‘Bossing & Ai’ remains short by GMA’s standards.

After the cancellation of ‘Bossing & Ai’, GMA reverted back to airing ‘Sunday Night Box Office’ opposite ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ (with occasional airings of Manny Pacquiao’s drama anthology ‘Stories for the Soul’ in between). Perhaps this is their last resort considering the numerous shows that failed against Vice Ganda’s talk show.

It remains to be seen whether or not GMA will once again try to beat ‘Gandang Gabi Vice’ with a program of their own. But if ‘Bossing & Ai’ is definitely the last straw, then what a way to wave the white flag of surrender and concede to an unbeatable opponent.

GMA Tries Again with Bossing & Ai + The Lolas’ Beautiful Show

‘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.