It has been more than two years since its last fresh episode aired.
On Friday, June 26, an end of an era happened on ABS-CBN’s Umaganda morning block as the network’s longest-running morning talk show took its final bow, albeit silenty and without any fanfare.
For its last episode, the program replayed the 2023 Valentine’s Day episode, which featured the appearances of the hosts’ other halves — Regine Velasquez was joined by husband Ogie Alcasid, Jolina Magdangal was there with Mark Escueta, and Melai Cantiveros appeared together with Jason Francisco.
Throughout the course of the program, there were also no indications or any mentions that the edition was already the end of the road for Magandang Buhay, which ran for more than 10 years, with approximately 2,900 episodes.
Before its plug was finally pulled, Magandang Buhay has been airing repeats for more than two years, with its last original edition being a sponsored program with Jolina and Melai, as well as their families, that was broadcast on May 13, 2024. Since then, no further episodes were produced.
MB‘s reruns also became overly repetitive, as the scope was only limited to editions from the time Regine first appeared as guest co-host — then a temporary measure due to original host Karla Estrada’s leave amid the 2022 election season — up until early 2024.
HOW THE MOMSHIES BEGAN, CHANGES
In 2015, Jolina, Melai, and Karla participated in the first season of the reality competition franchise Your Face Sounds Familiar, which was ultimately won by Melai.
The following year, in 2016, when Kris Aquino decided to step back from daily grind due to her health and choosing to spend more time with her family, her eponymous talk show Kris TV ended after a nearly five-year-long run.
Eventually, the original trio took over the morning slot she vacated, with Magandang Buhay launching in April 2016.
It had a slow start in the ratings game, but it slowly earned a following among its core audience, thanks to various celebrities who have graced the talk show.
Following the terrestrial network shutdown of ABS-CBN in May 2020, Magandang Buhay was carried over to Kapamilya Channel on cable and satellite TV in June 2020, before it eventually landed a free TV spot anew via A2Z in October 2020.
Due to the 2022 elections, as stated, Karla Estrada left the program throughout the prescribed period of the ban for candidates. During which, Regine, along with Judy Ann Santos, became the frequent interim co-hosts.
In June 2022, Estrada bade farewell to the talk show and the new triumvirate was formed with Asia’s Songbird Regine Velasquez-Alcasid officially replacing the Queen Mother.
TV5, ALLTV TELECAST
As part of the expanded partnership between ABS-CBN and TV5, on February 6, 2023, Magandang Buhay finally joined the rest of ABS-CBN’s entertainment offerings shown on the Kapatid network.
Initially, it was screened as a simulcast at 9:00 am, and served as a lead-in to the rest of TV5’s daytime programming.
However, that was soon scrapped, as TV5 opted to create its mid-morning news and information show Gud Morning Kapatid, which premiered on June 19, 2023 at 9:30 am — directly running opposite MB‘s last 30 minutes.
As a result, MB was moved to an earlier time slot of 7:00 am, and shifted to a one-episode-delayed basis on TV5, while retaining the show at 9:00 am on its other platforms.
As per reports, TV5 had also initially planned to transfer MB to the 6:00 am slot in March 2024, which led to the program’s eventual pullout from the station — thus, resulting the initial two-month streak of replays.
On May 13, 2024, the very same day when the final fresh episode was aired, it was also a special day for Magandang Buhay, as it became part of the first wave of Kapamilya programs to make the jump to ALLTV, along with TV Patrol and the rest of the Jeepney TV block.
That also spelled its return to its original home on free-to-air channel 2, which ABS-CBN used to operate prior to its 2020 terrestrial shutdown.
POST-MB
Following the lack of development surrounding the future of Magandang Buhay, its hosts were given different assignments within ABS-CBN.
Regine continued to be an important pillar of the Sunday musical variety show ASAP (which is now known as ASAP XP) and served as part of the jury of the inaugural Idol Kids Philippines that aired in 2025.
As for Jolina, she was included in the cast of the primetime action drama series Lavender Fields in 2024, where she starred alongside Jodi Sta. Maria, Jericho Rosales, and Janine Gutierrez.
Meanwhile, Melai continued doing interviews via her digital Bisaya talk show Kuan-On-One, which was also eventually brought to linear television.
Regarding the network’s programming line-up, there will be a major shift starting Monday, June 29.
Effective on the said date, the Kapamilya Blockbusters movie block on ABS-CBN sa ALLTV2 and Kapamilya Channel will be transferred to an earlier slot at 8:30 am, with a simulcast on TV5 as Blockbusters Sa Umaga already confirmed.
At 10:30 am, on ALLTV2 and Kapamilya Channel, the digital talk show Oh My Gan! with Ganiel Krishnan will air.
That is a prelude to the morning talk show Face To Face With Ate Koring, an original production of TV5, which will begin simulcasting on ABS-CBN platforms, including A2Z, at 11:00 am.
UPDATE (as of June 28): In the latest shift in the schedules of ABS-CBN platforms for Monday, June 29, Magandang Buhay reruns are now expected to continue indefinitely, with the show slated to air at 8:30 am only on A2Z.
