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 