Schedule Suggestions: How could TV5 accommodate a possible (more) overloaded noontime line-up

‘Eat… Showtime?’

On April 4, 2023, online website Bilyonaryo issued an article, saying that should the talks about settling the issues behind-the-scenes at ‘Eat Bulaga’ break down, the team, including Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon, may consider moving the show out of TAPE and GMA. Bilyonaryo also stated that a deadline of April 11 has been set, or else that change would be inevitable.

In the same report, the website reported that the EB group is in initial talks with other networks, including TV5 and NET25. They might consider partnering with Brightlight Productions to air the show elsewhere.

Brightlight’s current noontime show on TV5, ‘Tropang LOL’, has been reportedly cancelled and will air only until the end of the month on channel 5. The company is also reportedly in negotiation with NET25 to air the show after April 29. Hence, blocking the possibility of TVJ bringing their gem to the same network where each of them already has their own show.

Thus, enticing the EB team to consider TV5, should things go south. Along with that, the possibility of ‘Eat Bulaga’ and ‘It’s Showtime’ teaming up to form the mega-noontime combo that will indeed scare the competition arose.

TAPE, Eat Bulaga, TV5, Brightlight, and NET25 have all not commented on the said report.

In this edition of Schedule Suggestions, let’s go off-beat once again and analyze how that ‘mega-noontime’ on the Kapatid network will look like, should it come into fruition. After all, with the recent events in the Philippine television scene, nothing is really impossible.

Let’s get going.

Scenario 1

• 6:00am – Ted Failon DJ Chacha
• 7:00am – Frontline sa Umaga
• 7:30am – Maine Goals
• 8:00am – Magandang Buhay
• 9:00am – Face 2 Face
• 10:00am – It’s Showtime / EB
• 12:30pm – EB / It’s Showtime
• 3:00pm – Bakit Manipis Ang Ulap? (rerun)
• 3:30pm – Cine Cinco
• 5:00pm – Frontline Pilipinas
• 6:30pm – Maine Goals (primetime replay)
• 7:00pm – True Beauty (rerun)

• 6:00am – Ted Failon DJ Chacha
• 7:00am – Frontline sa Umaga
• 7:30am – Maine Goals
• 8:00am – Magandang Buhay
• 9:00am – Face 2 Face
• 10:00am – It’s Showtime / EB
• 12:30pm – EB / It’s Showtime
• 3:00pm – PBA (LIVE)
• 5:00pm – Frontline Pilipinas
• 6:00pm – PBA (LIVE)

In this first scenario, the line-up will have to be completely rejigged from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.

The major move in the mornings would be the transfer of ‘Frontline sa Umaga’ back to an earlier slot, in this case, 7:00 am. The TV5 Kids block on weekday mornings will also have to go. Both ‘#MaineGoals’ and ‘Magandang Buhay’ will move an hour earlier, airing at 7:30 am and 8:00 am, respectively.

The returning ‘Face 2 Face’ with Karla Estrada and Alex Calleja, which will launch on May 1st, will also have to be adjusted to 9:00 am, much earlier than its already announced time slot of 10:30 am.

Those changes would open the 5-hour-block from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Since it’s difficult to choose who gets the morning slot or the noontime slot, let’s just assume that both IS and EB will get 2 and 1/2 hours each under this scenario.

Meanwhile, minor adjustments to the mid-afternoon and evening blocks will be made.

Scenario 2

• 6:00am – Ted Failon DJ Chacha
• 7:00am – Frontline sa Umaga
• 7:30am – Maine Goals
• 8:00am – Magandang Buhay
• 9:00am – Face 2 Face
• 10:00am – It’s Showtime / EB
• 12:30pm – EB / It’s Showtime
• 3:00pm – Bakit Manipis Ang Ulap? (rerun)
• 3:30pm – TV5 Kids block
• 5:00pm – Frontline Pilipinas
• 6:00pm – Cine Cinco
• 7:30pm – True Beauty (rerun)

• 6:00am – Ted Failon DJ Chacha
• 7:00am – Frontline sa Umaga
• 7:30am – Maine Goals
• 8:00am – Magandang Buhay
• 9:00am – Face 2 Face
• 10:00am – It’s Showtime / EB
• 12:30pm – EB / It’s Showtime
• 3:00pm – PBA (LIVE)
• 5:00pm – Frontline Pilipinas
• 6:00pm – PBA (LIVE)

Under this scenario, the same adjustments in the morning and afternoon blocks will be implemented.

But, the TV5 Kids block will be transferred to the afternoons, similar to what the network had done in the past, most notably in 2011 and 2016.

As for ‘Cine Cinco’, the said movie block can move to the post-Frontline Pilipinas slot, with the rerun of ‘True Beauty’ airing at 7:30 pm instead.

Scenario 3

• 6:00am – Ted Failon at DJ Chacha
• 7:00am – Frontline sa Umaga
• 7:30am – TV5 Kids block
• 8:30am – Maine Goals
• 9:00am – Magandang Buhay
• 10:00am – EB / It’s Showtime
• 12:30pm – It’s Showtime / EB
• 3:00pm – Bakit Manipis Ang Ulap? (rerun)
• 4:00pm – True Beauty (rerun)
• 5:00pm – Frontline Pilipinas
• 6:30pm – Maine Goals (primetime replay)
• 7:00pm – Face 2 Face

• 6:00am – Ted Failon at DJ Chacha
• 7:30am – Frontline sa Umaga
• 7:00am – TV5 Kids block
• 8:30am – Maine Goals
• 9:00am – Magandang Buhay
• 10:00am – EB / It’s Showtime
• 12:30pm – It’s Showtime / EB
• 3:00pm – PBA (LIVE)
• 5:00pm – Frontline Pilipinas
• 6:00pm – PBA (LIVE)

In this example, there will be as minimal change to the existing schedule as possible.

Foremost, ‘Frontline sa Umaga’, will be cut down to 30 minutes in order to allow the TV5 Kids block to take the 7:30 to 8:30 hour. Then, ‘#MaineGoals’ and ‘Magandang Buhay’ will remain at their current time slots in the real-world setting.

Still, the IS-EB team-up will take the five-hour-long block from 10 to 3.

The reruns of old TV5 dramas will also have to be transffered to the afternoons, to allow the network to showcase fresh programming on the early primetime block.

‘Face 2 Face’ will then take the 7 to 8 pm hour, which will then make it the de facto replacement of Sing Galing and be TV5’s first original show in primetime after SG ended its run in December.

Scenario 4

• 4:00am – Religious programming
• 5:00am – Frontline sa Umaga
• 6:00am – Ted Failon DJ Chacha
• 7:00am – TV5 Kids block
• 8:00am – Magandang Buhay
• 9:00am – Maine Goals
• 9:30am – Face 2 Face
• 10:30am – EB / It’s Showtime
• 1:00pm – It’s Showtime / EB
• 3:30pm – Cine Cinco
• 5:30pm – Frontline Pilipinas
• 6:30pm – Bakit Manipis Ang Ulap? (rerun)
• 7:15pm – True Beauty (rerun)

• 4:00am – Religious programming
• 5:00am – Frontline sa Umaga
• 6:00am – Ted Failon DJ Chacha
• 7:00am – TV5 Kids block
• 8:00am – Magandang Buhay
• 9:00am – Maine Goals
• 9:30am – Face 2 Face
• 10:30am – EB / It’s Showtime
• 1:00pm – It’s Showtime / EB
• 3:30pm – PBA (LIVE)
• 5:30pm – Frontline Pilipinas
• 6:00pm – PBA (LIVE)

Should TV5 insist putting all the shows in the time blocks where they are now or supposed to be, it will be inevitable for the network to move pieces and even sign on earlier than they do right now.

In this, TV5 will sign on at 4:00 am every weekday, with the religious shows currently at 5:00 am, moving an hour earlier. ‘Frontline sa Umaga’ will also have to move to 5:00 am, becoming the first produced show live programming of the network to air on the said slot in almost 6 years.

Jumping ahead, ‘Magandang Buhay’ will have to move back to its usual pre-pandemic and shutdown slot of 8:00 am, while ‘#MaineGoals’ will have to be moved to 9:00 am. As for ‘Face 2 Face’, it will complete the morning talk package when it is slided to the 9:30 am slot.

Still keeping their respective 2 and 1/2 hours runtime, the ‘It’s Showtime’ and ‘Eat Bulaga’ combo will air from 10:30 to 3:30 pm, at least for this example.

Meanwhile, TV5 can either place its rerun block in the late afternoons or in the early-primetime slot.

Scenario 5

• 6:00am – Ted Failon DJ Chacha
• 7:00am – Frontline sa Umaga
• 7:30am – TV5 Kids block
• 9:00am – Magandang Buhay
• 10:00am – Maine Goals
• 10:30am – Face 2 Face
• 11:30am – EB / It’s Showtime
• 1:30pm – It’s Showtime / EB
• 3:30pm – Bakit Manipis ang Ulap? (rerun)
• 4:00pm – Cine Cinco
• 5:30pm – Frontline Pilipinas
• 7:00pm – True Beauty (rerun)

• 6:00am – Ted Failon DJ Chacha
• 7:00am – Frontline sa Umaga
• 7:30am – TV5 Kids block
• 9:00am – Magandang Buhay
• 10:00am – Maine Goals
• 10:30am – Face 2 Face
• 11:30am – EB / It’s Showtime
• 1:30pm – It’s Showtime / EB
• 3:30pm – PBA (LIVE)
• 5:30pm – Frontline Pilipinas
• 6:00pm – PBA (LIVE)

In this final scenario, most of TV5’s current line-up remains in their respective positions in the schedule, with the exception of the following.

‘Frontline sa Umaga’ is transferred to 7:00 am and is reduced to 30 minutes. The TV5 Kids block keeps its 90 minute-long block from 7:30 to 9:00 am. With that, ‘#MaineGoals’ will have to move to 10:00 am.

In line with the recent time slot announcement, ‘Face 2 Face’ will air at 10:30 am — coincidentally the iconic slot of the original incarnation of the show.

The IS-EB combo will then run for four hours, from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm, with both shows running for only two hours each, instead of two-and-a-half.

TV5’s afternoon and pre-primetime line-up will be impacted minimally under this scheme.

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Now, the pros and cons of this supposed mega-noontime combo of the Kapatid network.

Of course, the biggest pro will be that these two shows will beef up TV5’s offerings and improve its fortunes in the noontime variety game. While Showtime is already a huge help in attracting a bigger audience to 5 during those hours, still, having the noontime institution that is the team of Eat Bulaga will only solidify those figures even further.

However, the cons may just outweigh all of that. One, TV5 may have a hard time adjusting its lineup from daytime to primetime, just to fit in both IS and EB. Two, it will be rather tricky to choose which of them gets the highly-coveted 12 noon slot and which one will have to adjust to a less-than-desirable time for a noontime show — that is either the late morning or afternoon slot. After all, both can prove how worthy they are of the noon hour, as one is simply the country’s longest-running noontime show, while the other is the longest-running Kapamilya noontime program and in this case, is the first to air on TV5.

Both ‘Eat Bulaga’ and ‘It’s Showtime’ also have solid fan bases, one of whom will indeed cry foul if they think or merely feel that one of the two shows is getting the shorter end of the stick. Alas, might only lead to a weaker performance for that show or worse, the both of them.

Thus, having the two shows in the same yard should be dealt with extreme caution, no matter how beneficial this mega-noontime combo to a network could be.

DISCLAIMER: THE HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIOS PRESENTED IN THIS ARTICLE MUST NOT BE TAKEN AS FACTS ON THEIR OWN. DESPITE THAT, TRENDROD WISHES TO REMIND READERS THAT IT STILL TOOK INTO ACCOUNT REAL-WORLD FACTS TO COME UP WITH THE ANALYSES IT HAD PRESENTED.