Jan . 22-Feb . 7 , 2015 11
June 8 - 21 , 2017
Philippine Showbiz Today
Jan . 22-Feb . 7 , 2015 11
Feature Story
W henever from high school batchmates would attend reunions , we would always reminisce about the good old days . And what mattered to most of us all those years ago was getting home from school in time to watch our favourite TV show .
I belong to that generation that grew up watching television , the so-called lost generation that learned how to read , write and add from watching child-friendly shows like Sesame Street and The Electric Company . Before having breakfast we would wake up early on Saturday mornings to watch the Saturday Fun Machine which aired on RPN Channel 9 .
After spending five days in school , Saturday meant we could
spend most of the day in front of the TV screen . It was the weekend and there was no need to study our lessons or do our homework until the following day , Sunday , when we would have to sleep early in the evening for the start of another week of school .
Back in the 1970s , television sets were not the streamlined , slim flat screens we are all familiar with today . Instead of Samsung and Sony , we had Zenith and Hitachi , with monitors resembling those seen in the old sci-fi Star Trek series , complete with a pair of antenna a la My Favourite Martian .
It was a real luxury back then being able to stay at home during weekends and watch what the channels had to offer to us avid viewers . Back then , in the late 1970s and early 1980s , there were only five channels to choose from : channels 2 , 4 , 7 , 9 and 13 . Cable television and UHF didn ’ t exist yet . Mornings would begin with various movie trailers of Filipino , American and Hong Kong movies .
After the movie trailers , the variety shows would quickly follow . Through the years we have seen so many variety shows , hosts and guest hosts that it has been a blur : Student Canteen ,
When Television was King
Lunch Date , Kalatog Pinggan and the variety show institution Eat ... Bulaga ! Watching the noontime shows that are aired today is like getting stuck in a time warp . The more time passes by , the more things stay the same .
Early afternoons welcomed you with black-and-white Tagalog movies that are now considered real gems . I get goose bumps when I remember watching a young Fernando Poe , Jr . in the monster movie Anak ng Bulkan which had a giant eagle named Golyat . Manang Biday and Manang Waray fought it out while Darna , featuring the young Vilma Santos , took it out on the Planet Women .
Early evenings began with those regular weepers , soap operas that everybody loved to watch , Anna Liza on channel 7 and Flor de Luna on channel 9 . Then my Mom and Dad would
come home from work at the PAGASA and Dad would take his place in front of the television set to watch the evening news .
Back then , I remember that the evening news telecast started in prime time because they came on at 7:30 p . m . Tina Monzon- Palma was the anchorwoman of GMA-7 ’ s newscast , while the late Harry Gasser led the Newswatch on RPN-9 . Right now , the newscasts on television has just
by Jose K . Lirios PST Manila Correspondent
Newswatch
gotten earlier and earlier .
Primetime was such an exciting time for us kids way back then . Channel 7 had a monopoly on all the latest foreign TV shows , one for each day . The A-Team with George Peppard and Mr . T aired on Mondays with their
McGyver-like improvisations and comedic routines . Knight Rider was another all-time favourite when David Hasselhoff still wore a shirt . You could watch Lee Majors doing his routines as a stuntman on The Fall Guy on channel 7 and in reruns of the Six Million Dollar Man on another channel . There were also flashes of The Love Boat and Charlie ’ s Angels .
Channel 13 had the monopoly on primetime Filipino shows back then , and they had some really funny ones . There was the gang of goof-ups of Wanbol High on Iskul Bukol and there was the great gag show T . O . D . A . S ., Television ’ s Outrageous Delightful All-Star
Show . And they had a really long-running sitcom in Chicks to Chicks .
Channel 9 had memorable comedy shows in the late Dolphy ’ s John en Marsha , Duplex and in Noel Trinidad and Subas Herrero ’ s musical gag show Champoy .
John en Marsha
Sunday mornings featured Jeanne Young on Spin-A-Win where you could agree or disagree before DJ Hillbilly Willy played the next song . Also airing was German Moreno ’ s extravagant pseudovaudeville shows on channel 7 , and the evenings were ruled by the PBA games , Nora Aunor ’ s longrunning Superstar and Sunday ’ s Big Event , the prototype for big TV outlets for movies .
Television is said to be a mirror of the lives we live , distilling reality in the so-called idiot box . Despite all of the trash one can watch these days , TV still offers some terrific and intelligent alternatives , like most of the TV programs we grew up with . Television , then as now , is not always a lobotomizing experience , unless you keep watching brainless TV shows like Beavis and Butt-head . With proper parental supervision , you can discover for yourself just how helpful TV can be to learning without going overboard . ●