And the Eat Bulaga! saga continues

There goes another plot twist. The house that tried to build a new Eat Bulaga!, Tahanang Pinakamasaya! has aired its last show. The news is all over social media and by the time this piece comes out, an official statement, I’m told, will be released.

Happy days are over, indeed. This was just roughly nine months since the new show started. Financial difficulties were among the reasons for the short-lived run, sources say.

Eat Bulaga! meanwhile, in its new home, TV5, is winning the ratings – and earnings – war. Tycoon Manny Pangilinan is happy about it, say my sources.

At the end of the day, Eat Bulaga! the variety show that media tycoon Antonio Tuviera or Mr. T., as he is known in the entertainment industry, has built, remains unbeatable. Why is this? Because he knows production like the back of his hand. He started from the ground up, holding those long snaking cables for the cameramen, doing film editing and scoring etc., to earn a living.

Indeed, what this latest plot twist shows is that television production is primarily an art first before it is a business.

Many of the successful top honchos of successful entertainment entities have extensive production background. They have mastered the art of entertainment production.

For instance, Charo Santos-Concho, former CEO of ABS-CBN, started as a production assistant with the pre-martial law Radio Philippines Network.

Even the so-called Mother of Creatives, Malou Santos, former head of Star Cinema, started as a production assistant in the 1984 movie “Pasukuin si Waway” top billed by Rudy Fernandez.

As for Mr. T, the Eat Bulaga! he founded premiered on July 30, 1979. It was he who pitched the idea to the triumvirate Tito, Vic and Joey, whose fame rose to meteoric heights because of the noontime show.

This was what I wrote last year: “As the co-owner of Television and Production Exponents Inc., the company behind Eat Bulaga!, Mr. T. handled the show’s day-to-day operations and steered the ship through different competitors and changing audience preferences.”

These real life stories tell us that producing an entertainment show, as I said, is an art. And hard work. It’s also about building relationships with the staff