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SOP

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SOP (stands for Sobrang Okey Pare) was a Sunday musical-variety show aired on GMA Network. It premiered on February 2, 1997, replacing GMA Supershow. The show concluded on February 28, 2010, with a total of 672 episodes. It was replaced by Party Pilipinas in its timeslot.

History[]

After the month-long farewell of GMA Supershow in January 1997, SOP (as Sobrang Okey Pare) started airing on February 2, 1997, with a live episode from the GMA Broadway studios. Regular dancers include the VIP Dancers, Universal Motion Dancers, Abstract Dancers and Kidz at Work; with Al Quinn as director and German Moreno as production consultant.

However, the show suffered in comparison to ABS-CBN’s ASAP and even had to endure a lot of criticisms from the entertainment press for using an acronym for the show’s title that sounded like the rival show’s. Despite the effort by the hosts and staff to make the show more exciting for the viewers every Sunday, Sobrang Okey Pare registered low ratings from the start and hardly gained support from the advertisers.

Soon after, Sobrang Okey, Pare quickly caught the attention of the viewers and advertisers and soon was becoming on its way as a threat to the dominance of rival ASAP.

In 1998, the GMA management decided to reformat the show, introduce new segments and add new hosts. On its first anniversary, the show’s title Sobrang Okey Pare was shortened to SOP and introduced a new, lively theme song that says it all: "S-O-P dito sa GMA!"

In 2002, the show finally grabbed the No. 1 spot from ASAP in the ratings game. The same year, the program broadcast a special telecast on October 27, which was actually the telecast of the unveiling of GMA's new corporate logo and rebranding as the "Kapuso Network". When the new logo was unveiled on the GMA Network Center, Regine Velasquez appeared in the show singing the new theme song of GMA, "Kapuso, Anumang Kulay Ng Buhay".

In 2003, SOP's tagline (and secondary show title) became SOP Rules after it's rival ASAP reformatted.

In June 2004, SOP produced a spin-off show, SOP Gigsters which feature the young contract stars of GMA. Richard Gutierrez and his twin brother Raymond Gutierrez were named as hosts of the new show.

In 2005, the entire cast of SOP and SOP Gigsters together with Mel Tiangco, Joey de Leon, Richard Gomez and German Moreno went to San Francisco, California, United States, for the launch of GMA Pinoy TV.[1]

On June 23, 2007, SOP began airing simultaneously over Barangay LS 97.1, GMA's FM radio station in Metro Manila.

The show moved to a new set at GMA Network Center Annex, Studio 7 in November 2008. It is one of the biggest studios in the Philippines accommodating 1,000-member audiences.[2]

On November 22, 2009, SOP would be relaunched as SOP Fully Charged with a new set and new co-hosts to join main hosts Regine Velasquez, Ogie Alcasid, Janno Gibbs and Jaya. However, on January 31, 2010, SOP dropped the phrase "Fully Charged" from its title card. It was also confirmed that main host Ogie Alcasid had become the show's creative director.

Cancellation[]

Even with the reformatting of the show, it was not able to beat its rival show (ASAP XV). Just a few months after the re-launching of the show, in an interview published on February 24, 2010, Ogie Alcasid confirmed SOP would air its final episode on February 28, 2010, and that it would be replaced by another Sunday musical-variety show entitled Party Pilipinas.

On February 28, 2010, the show had its final episode and it served as a reunion of the people who became part of the show. Among the former co-host/performers in attendance were Dingdong Dantes, KC Montero, Bernadette Allyson, South Border's Jay Durias, Bobby Andrews and Angelika dela Cruz.

Cast[]

Co-hosts and performers[]

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Controversies[]

Though SOP is packaged as a wholesome musical variety show, or as it called "Concert TV", it also had its share of unguarded moments and controversies caught live on and off camera before a national audience. With the controversies surrounding the show and its cast members, the staff decided to make fun of it instead by creating a segment titled "Sobrang OJ Pare" where main hosts Ogie Alcasid and Janno Gibbs sing top hit songs with lyrics involving the hottest issues and poking fun at the personalities involved in it.

Janno Gibbs' walk-out[]

The show suffered a controversy in early 2003 when one of its main hosts, Janno Gibbs, walked out after the show’s opening number in a particular episode and never came back. The incident was triggered when Janno’s wife, Bing Loyzaga reportedly that she was given a cold treatment by the people who were together with her in the dressing room. GMA executives conducted an investigation on the incident and suspended Janno from the show for 2 months.

While the suspension was in effect, Janno appeared in the rival show ASAP where his wife Bing Loyzaga celebrated her birthday. He also guested in Aga Muhlach’s comedy show "OK Fine Whatever". This fueled speculations that he was transferring to ABS-CBN. Reports said that ABS-CBN has presented an offer to Janno where his talent fee will be doubled, and will have 3 regular shows (including ASAP), movies with Star Cinema (the network’s film arm), and recordings with Star Records. But Janno refused the offer made by ABS-CBN after GMA decided to lift his suspension from SOP and signed him up for a new comedy program that will further boost his team-up with bosom buddy Anjo Yllana and veteran comedian Joey de Leon. Janno returned to SOP on May 2003 and started working for his new comedy program on GMA, "Nuts Entertainment."

Ogie and Regine's love relationship[]

Also on that same year, rumors spread that Ogie Alcasid and Regine Velasquez were making beautiful music together. The story surfaced while the two were doing a series of Valentine concerts entitled "The Singer and the Songwriter." Ogie’s wife, Michelle Van Eimeren was reportedly affected by the rumors but she has already denied this. Moreover, Ogie and Regine have denied the rumor as well as they have stressed that the two of them have a "wonderful working relationship and are very good friends."

In August 19, 2006, rumors about Ogie Alcasid and Regine Velasquez's love affair once again came out in the open after the Philippine broadsheet, The Philippine Star came out with a banner headline in the entertainment section that Ogie has filed for an annulment case against his wife Michelle Van Eimeren so that he could marry Regine. The article was written by Ricky Lo who supposedly had a lawyer as his source. A day after the story came out, Ogie spoke out during his birthday celebration at SOP and asked the press to spare his family. He immediately denied the whole story and apologized to Regine for the incident.

However, the supposed denial of their relationship did not quickly die down as actions spoke louder than words. During the Star Awards ceremony in October, Regine and Ogie dedicated their awards to one another (Ogie won as Best Comedy Actor while Regine won as Best Talent Show Host). During the 2007 New Year celebration at Baywalk jointly sponsored by GMA Network and Tanduay, the two SOP co-hosts hugged and kissed one another. Recently, GMA talk show Showbiz Central dished out the latest news about the couple: they will be marrying this June. Neither Ogie nor Regine admitted the news until recently, when Ogie decided to tell all in an exclusive interview with Philippine magazine YES. In the 16-page interview in YES, Ogie admitted he and former wife Michelle Van Eimeren have separated, while declaring that he loves Regine so much.

Kissing incidents[]

  • The show created a big controversy on February 2005 when co-hosts Dingdong Dantes and Karylle locked lips while doing an interpretative dance repertoire where Janno Gibbs and Jolina Magdangal sang.
    • Because of what happened, many people started to become interested in what's the real score behind Dingdong and Karylle considering the fact that Dingdong and previous SOP co-host Antoinette Taus were an item. It didn't take long for Dingdong and Karylle to admit that they were going steady as lovers after they guested at GMA's talk show Startalk in April 2005.
  • The kissing incident was repeated on February 2006 when SOP Gigsters co-hosts Mark Herras and Jennylyn Mercado kissed on the lips before the cameras, while Jay-R and Janno Gibbs were singing. The sequence was supposed to be part of the show's Videoke segment where chosen actors play a part while the host/guest performer is singing. Apparently, Mark and Jennylyn got carried away and their live kissing became talk of the town, apparently because when that incident happened the popular loveteam were no longer an item in real life.

Other incidents and controversies[]

In 2005, some SOP hosts like Janno Gibbs, Jay-R, Kyla and Aryana were feted by their rival hosts in ASAP's Platinum Circle Awards. The awarding became a controversy because GMA executives felt that SOP was being used for ASAP's own gain, but Deo Endrinal, an ABS-CBN executive, pointed out that the inclusion of the four SOP hosts in the winners circle of the ASAP Platinum Circle was done without malice and it was not an intention to insult their rival show. As a result, the GMA management did not allow any of the representatives from their subsidiary GMA Records nor the four SOP hosts to appear in the rival show ASAP to accept the awards. On the same year, another unguarded moment where Rufa Mae Quinto uttered the word "pekpek" (Filipino slang for "vagina") on national television, in reference to the "short" shorts that she was wearing during the opening number. She actually called the shorts she was wearing as "pekpek" shorts. As a result, the MTRCB reviewed the particular episode and reprimanded Rufa Mae for her actions. Her memorandum had been issued around the first week of July 2005 to be circumspect in her speech and choice of words.

In 2007, a controversy sparked on the SOP set when Asia's songbird Regine Velasquez sang the lyrics of the Dream Girls' song "Listen" incorrectly. Reportedly, one of the staff members of SOP covered the teleprompter, meaning that Velasquez may not have seen the lyrics correctly thus paving her to sing incorrect lyrics such as "Listen, I am the dog who leave you", "And ????? to say what's on your mind", and "But lolanenough you've made me you know, cannot complete". After her performance she left the stage and walked off. Coincidentally, some clips of Ogie Alcasid nodding disappointingly but supportively are shown. Tons of criticism boomed, but Regine and SOP fans remain unperturbed by this nonsense issues. According to some fan clubs and critics, mishaps can happen, not only to Velasquez, but to other singers as well. Anyhow the next week, she silenced critics by singing the full version of the song flawlessly.

Trivia[]

  • The show has also been pre-empted in various occasions to accommodate important events such as the Manny Pacquiao fights (in cooperation with Solar Sports).
  • The show has also replayed on Sunday primetime during the Kapuso launch in 2002 and Christmas special in 2004.
  • The show's finale episode became controversial by netizens for it's anti-ASAP rant by two of it's main hosts (Ogie Alcasid and Janno Gibbs) that says: "Itong ASAP tuwang-tuwa ngayon. Natalo na nila ang dati-y hindi matalo."
    • This is a reference to the fact that SOP had beaten ASAP in ratings in 2002 until before the end of 2009, where this time, even with it's relaunch as SOP Fully Charged, could no longer beat ASAP, which triggered various rumors that some of its main hosts were not happy with the reformatted content of the show and the internal problems experienced by the show's staff.
    • Coincidentally, many of the former SOP cast had appeared on ASAP - several of them had transferred to ABS-CBN and started making appearances on the said show. Among of which are Ogie Alcasid and Regine Velasquez (who are became part of ASAP since 2016 and 2018, respectively).

References[]

  1. ↑ Template:Cite news
  2. ↑ FIRST READ ON PEP: GMA-7 reveals upcoming lineup of shows
  3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Transfer
  4. ↑ "Tricia Roman finds happiness outside of showbiz".
  5. ↑ "Click actress Trina Zuniga: WHERE IS SHE NOW?".
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