There was a teaser made public by GMA-7 when it attempted to deviate from the head-to-head clash of shows of its rival network, ABS-CBN. This is depicted by two plates, both contain pancit. Then GMA switched their menu of shows. When Tuesdays and Thursdays were used to be Comedy and Drama days respectively, GMA-7 swapped the time slots of its shows. However, this strategy did not work and obviously the head-to-head formula is still evident to date.

The showdown is only an element of what I call Philippine TV Bandwagon. The endless (re)cycle is composed of Breakthrough, Mimic, Face-Off. A breakthrough is something new or a recycle of something. A fantaserye is a perfect example of a TV breakthrough. The ‘first and only’ publicity for the newest show will air. When the audience embraced the show (the ratings will tell), another network will copy an idea of the said breakthrough and will release a similar show boasting the biggest, widest taglines superlative among airing shows. At first, their timeslots might be adjacent or apart. If they get a piece of audience share and brave enough, timeslot face-off begins.

To further describe the Philippine TV Bandwagon, below is a countdown of the most celebrated Philippine TV Bandwagon. Join me as we also reminisce the good old days.

20. Telesine.

GMA-7 owns the cinema brought into TV breakthrough. It features the high-profile actors and actresses you used to watch only on movies. You don’t have to pay tickets for you have your movie on free TV. Telesine became so popular that even popular song Hinahanap-hanap Kita gripped this in its line… … na parang telesine.

ABS-CBN reinvented the idea and aired its Drama Specials. For a month, it is topbilled with an actor and actress. Fans of the Superstar and Diamond Star were able to keep an eye on their idols for a limited engagement.

19. K vs. X.

Let’s deal with the more obvious copy. Channel 2 unvailed Korina Sanchez’ Balitang K. It is an afternoon magazine show which plays the letter K in its feature stories. As expected, Channel 7 launched Xtra Xtra with the same theme, same targeted audience, but only letter ‘X’.

18. Lyrics.

MTV landed on the Philippine TV and was followed by Channel V later. They already established their names long ago before Myx came. The latter is the newest music channel that scored with its trademark of lyrics display (with no bouncing ball to follow) to suit the videoke-addict Filipinos. Later, ASAP and SOP, the musical variety shows in free TV, adapted the same idea. And everybody started singing along with their favorite performers.

17. Wow Mali!

When ABC-5 launched the practical gag show, WOW Mali!, admit it you also became a camera conscious by then. You don’t know you’re the victim of a practical joke until they asked you “Do you watch Wow Mali! on ABC-5?”. Wow Mali! Harhar! But this is a “Wow Mali!” for GMA-7 when they launched similar show with closely identical “Wow”. Lucky Channel 5. The carbon copy Wow ran for a short period.

16. Youth-Oriented Shows

Teenagers went crazy over T.G.I.S. and Gimik barkadas and love teams. Who would ever forget Bobby Andrews and Angelu De Leon, Rico Yan and Judy Ann Santos, Marvin Agustin and Jolina Magdangal? These were the days where fans will kill or will die if their idols will be paired with other lovey-dovey. Since, TGIS and Gimik casts are getting no young, they were replaced by younger generation of teens. Thus, G-Mik, Click, Tabing-Ilog (Dawson’s Creek?) and Anna Karenina were shown. Repackaging these youth-oriented shows, there come Love-To-Love, Your Song and Love Spell.

15. Pera o Bayong.

MTB gained its dream rating share over Eat Bulaga when it launched the Pera o Bayong segment. This was not original (Kwarta o Kahon of RPN-9) but only with their reinvented idea, bigger prizes and higher amount of money! Eat Bulaga suffered a bit so they launched game segments like Rainbulaga and this game segment that involves casseroles (I forgot the name). Not so long, Laban O Bawi was formed. The mechanics of the jackpot is tweaked but the element of surprise and exchanges of deal were present.

Then another showdown followed. The 80’s dance of Roderick Paulate and Amy Perez, hosts of Pera O Bayong, is replaced later by Gee Girls to match with Sex Bomb Dancers.

14. Tropa vs Gang.

We really enjoyed ‘Battle of the Brainless’ portion, ‘Caronia’ dance, and of course, ‘Chicken’ of Tropang Trumpo, a comedy gag show brought to us by ABC-5. GMA-7 then pirated Ogie Alcasid and Michael V. to produce their own version, Bubble Gang. Fortunately, this rip off became popular as they rip off popular TV commercial ads, tagalized foreign songs and translated OPM songs to English. The troop of Earl, Smokey, Carmina and Gelli later bowed to gang of Ogie, Michael V, Aiko and Amanda. ABS-CBN also followed the trend as they revived Super Laffin. To give something new, Bubble Gang aired ‘Ang Dating Doon’. Alien?! Alien! Then, Super Laffin also did a carbon copy of the carbon copy.