After nearly two decades on the air since moving to GMA-7, TAPE Inc's variety show formerly known as Eat Bulaga, renamed Tahanang Pinakamasaya, has officially ended its broadcast run.
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| TAPE's Eat Bulaga rebranded as Tahanang Pinakamasaya! while TV5's E.A.T. is now EAT...BULAGA! |
The recent episode is basically a re-run of past episodes but TAPE and GMA released statements regarding the noontime show's closure.
On TAPE's side:
It is with a heavy heart that we inform our televiewers that our noontime show ‘Tahanang Pinakamasaya’ on Kapuso network, GMA-7, will no longer be on air effective March 8, 2024.
TAPE, Inc. extends its profound gratitude to its home network, GMA-7, for a long and fruitful partnership. GMA 7’s kind consideration and understanding of the company’s unwanted circumstances have been instrumental in helping the company in this transition. Despite our best efforts to save the show, both parties have reached a mutual agreement to finally call off the show.
To the loyal viewers, esteemed hosts, supportive advertisers, hardworking crew and dedicated employees who have been with us from the beginning - from the longest running noontime show ‘Eat Bulaga’ to the present ‘Tahanang Pinakamasaya’ - our sincerest ‘Thank you!’ and optimistic ‘See you again!’
On GMA-7's side:
Due to unavoidable circumstances, TAPE has made the difficult decision to cease the airing of 'Tahanang Pinakamasaya.'
GMA Network would like to thank TAPE for its invaluable contribution to noontime programming for the past decades, which Filipinos will surely remember for many years to come.
Maraming salamat, Kapuso.
The presenters of Tahanang Pinakamasaya bid their final farewell to the viewers and audiences last Saturday, March 2, 2024, before TAPE pulled the plug on its official live stream, raising speculations that this is the end of the era. It really is.
As a result, the episodes aired on the final broadcast week were usually reruns of select episodes. Not much is known about what show will take over its now-vacant noontime slot dominated by ABS-CBN's IT'S SHOWTIME and TV5's EAT BULAGA with the TVJ and the Dabarkads. Some say GMA-7 will air just movies on the said timeslot for the time being.
How did it all lead to this?
The Eat Bulaga that Filipinos know first aired at the end of July 1979, Broadcast City was their first home studio with RPN-9 (now RPTV) as their home network. Then, they moved to the Celebrity Sports Plaza in 1987 until they switched to ABS-CBN's Studio 1 (now Dolphy Theater) in 1989. The show re-used the Celebrity Sports Plaza in 1994 to say farewell to ABS-CBN as they moved to GMA-7 and their fourth home studio of the show, Broadway Centrum, in 1995.
After 23 years of delivering rousing and engrossing segments in the heart of Broadway Centrum, the country's longest-running noontime show has moved to its new location, the APT Studios, marking a brand new beginning in Eat Bulaga's four-decade history.
The TVJ and the Dabarkads enjoyed the spoils of the success of their show for over four decades until the Dark Age of Eat Bulaga came. No, it's not because of the COVID pandemic, it's because of the Jalosjos family in charge of TAPE that spurred a feud between TVJ and TAPE, Inc. That feud between them because of the show's proposed changes prompted the TVJ trio to leave TAPE for good at the end of May 2023 along with the other Dabarkads. Their farewell speech wasn't televised and instead streamed on the official Eat Bulaga Facebook page.
Moments later, the TVJ and their Dabarkads pals got themselves a new home; TV5. The problem is, that they're still figuring out what will the name of their TV5 show will be due to a legal battle over who has the right to use the Eat Bulaga title, between the TVJ trio and TAPE. They did say they would say the title on July 1st, adding days of speculation for the observers who follow the ongoing Eat Bulaga war that caused a seismic shift in Philippine noontime viewing.
Then, on that fateful day of July 1, 2023, the same day IT'S SHOWTIME made its GTV simulcast debut, it's the comeback of TVJ and the Dabarkads in their new home channel, TV5. From an emotional welcome to the climax of their world premiere, they've unveiled the official name of their new noontime show, It's titled EAT... That's it, they called the show EAT..., but the TVJ trio said this title is temporary because they're still in a legal battle over the Eat Bulaga trademark.
The 5th of January, 2024 saw the TVJ trio of Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey De Leon, win the copyright infringement and unfair competition cases against TAPE, Inc. and TV network GMA over the rights of the Eat Bulaga! trademark, meaning neither TAPE nor GMA Network has the right to use the Eat Bulaga or EB trademark.
As a result of the ruling, the January 6, 2024 episodes of both noontime shows saw drastic changes. The old Eat Bulaga! that Filipinos know, under the thumb of TAPE Inc., has been rebranded as "Tahanang Pinakamasaya!" while the TV5 EAT... variety show has been renamed as "EAT...BULAGA!", a seismic shift in Philippine television nearly four-and-a-half decades in the making.
Long story short but you get the idea. The Eat Bulaga of yesteryears is dead and gone for real.
Thanks for the memories, OLD EAT BULAGA. You fought well until the very end.
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