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| Source: starforallseasons.com |
The ‘80s saw the fierce battle among moviedom’s most luminous actresses who also graced primetime TV with their beauty and talent via their own variety/musical shows. Vilma Santos, the Star for All Seasons, danced and sang on her Vilma! show. Sharon Cuneta, the Megastar, sang her heart out on The Sharon Cuneta Show (TSCS); Nora Aunor delighted her fans with her golden voice on Superstar. And Alma Moreno, who was once called the “Shining Star,” wowed the viewers with her sexy dance numbers on Loveli-Ness. Those were shows that featured these superstars as hosts and performers. Those were the times when these showbiz dames, along with PBA cagers, were staples for the viewing public, just as soap operas are mainstays in Filipinos’ households nowadays.
Peak of
the Musical Variety Show Format
The
ascendancy of musical variety shows reached its zenith during the ‘90s. Nora’s
show was already off the air, while Alma’s career took a backseat. Manilyn
Reynes, whose veritable popularity during the early ‘90s prompted the press to
accord her the tag “Star of the New Decade,” came up with her own show,
“Manilyn Live.” Pops Fernandez, who was given the title “Concert Queen,” hosted
a couple of short-lived shows with different networks. The rivalry, though, was
between the two superstars who were the highest-paid most sought-after at the
time: Vilma and Sharon. These mega-watt stars owned the decade. Their shows
were both top-raters, and they became queens of their respective networks,
which were also two of the top TV stations: Vilma on GMA 7 and Sharon on
ABS-CBN 2. The shows were perennial competitors at the Star Awards for TV in
the Best Musical Variety Show category, although Sharon’s was more musical and
Vilma’s was more into dance. Vilma’s
show garnered more recognition and was even a finalist for the Best Variety
Show category at the New York Film & Television Award. While Sharon mainly
sang and hosted on her show, Vilma hosted, did death-defying dance sequences,
and also sang. Both shows were very successful, but Vilma! was viewed as a better, more structured show, always had the
Araneta Coliseum as its venue for most of its anniversary shows, and went on to
become Philippine TV's most awarded musical variety show.
By 1995,
still at the top of its game, Vilma!‘s
run ended as its star had to semi-retire to prioritize her family. It marked
the abrupt decline of the musical variety show format. Vilma, after her
childbirth with her youngest son, returned on TV and resurrected her show, this
time rebranded as “Vilma, A Limited
Engagement Only,” albeit, as the title suggested, only for a short
duration.(RRI Espinoza)
(A rehash of a previous blog post. Click this to go to original post.)
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