The Philippine Online Chronicles

After 13 years on the airwaves, GMA-7’s noontime musical variety show SOP came to an end on February 28, 2010.

‘Sobrang Okay, Pare!’

‘Sobrang Okay, Pare!’ saw its first airing on February 2, 1997 with a live show from the GMA Network studios. Driven by its namesake, it was pinned to captivate the viewer’s attention and rival its counterpart, ABS-CBN’s ASAP (All-star Sunday Afternoon Party).  SOP suffered in comparison to ASAP during its initial season and had to stay afloat amidst low ratings, few advertisers, controversies and criticisms from the entertainment press – one of which was for using an acronym for the show’s title that sounded like that of its nemesis.

SOP’s standing became "okay," though, when Louie Ignacio (known music video and commercial director) replaced Al Quinn as the show’s director and major changes were made to its format and content. Finally, the show got the nods of the viewers and advertisers, and was beginning to become a threat to ASAP’s dominance.

The year 1998 marked the show’s first anniversary and reformat, with "Sobrang Okay, Pare" shortened to just "SOP." Another milestone to the show’s name was finally catching up with ASAP when, Asia’s Songbird Regine Velasquez joined the crew. She, together with Ogie Alcasid, Janno Gibbs, and Jaya, headlined the show until its end.

SOP’s golden age didn’t come until 2002, however, when it temporarily snatched the number one spot from ASAP in the ratings game, inspiring it to change its name to "SOP Rules." However, the Kapuso show’s victory proved to be short-lived once again when one of its main hosts, Lani Misalucha, signed up with ASAP.

From fully charged to dead battery

In SOP’s attempt to nab the top spot in the ratings game back, the show had its last re-launch, "SOP Fully Charged," last November 2009. Despite boasting a new production set, additions to its roster of co-hosts, and the promise of more production numbers and less talk, the show still fell short of expectations as it received mixed reactions from its loyal viewers. SOP wasn’t able to emerge from the ratings quicksand (be it in Mega Manila or nationwide) despite having given its last full measure of retooling efforts: welcoming Claudine Barretto into the GMA family, re-launching Jolina Magdangal, and welcoming back Regine Velasquez to the show.

With all its attempts proving to be futile, SOP dropped the phrase "fully charged" from its title card and on February 28 this year, the show took its final bow.

Happy ending gone bad

"SOP: The Final Party" promised a happy ending, but the singing of an "anti-ASAP rap" towards the show’s end sparked much controversy and heated discussions between SOP loyalists and ASAP fanatics. In the show’s last segment, "Sobrang OJ," where the whole ensemble sang SOP’s theme song for the last time, the four main hosts (Ogie Alcasid, Janno Gibbs, Regine Velasquez, and Jaya) rapped in reference to its rival program, ASAP XV: "Itong ASAP tuwang-tuwa ngayon, natalo na nila ang dating hindi matalo. Ngunit bakit hindi niyo ba alam, kami’y magbabalik at hindi pa magtatapos ang laban!" (ASAP is overjoyed right now, they have finally defeated what they couldn’t back then. But bear this in mind, we will return because the battle isn’t over yet!) But the more-than-ever "star-powered" ASAP XV didn’t give SOP a chance to recover in the daytime race even for the last time – TNS’s February 28 national ratings reveal ABS-CBN’s ASAP with 19.2 percent versus GMA-7’s SOP with 11.9 percent.

The said controversial segment has been uploaded to YouTube and has been viewed over 10,000 times as of this writing. Forums have sprouted here and there, and heated exchanges between Kapuso and Kapamilya fans ensue. Another offshoot from this incident is a group on the social-networking site Facebook called "We Condemn SOP’s UNPROFESSIONALISM and BITTERNESS." The page garnered some 500 fans on the day of its creation.

‘We shall return!’

After SOP’s farewell episode last Sunday, viewers will have to wait for another three weeks before the replacement’s debut. The show, which will be called "Party Pilipinas," will still be directed by SOP’s Louie Ignacio with Paul Basinillo as co-director, and will be headlined by Regine Velasquez, Ogie Alcasid, Janno Gibbs, and Jaya – the same key personalities that fronted the now defunct SOP. Names of the roster of artists are yet to be released, but there are news that Jay-R, Kyla, and La Diva will be staying.

Whether Party Pilipinas will just be a revamp or a noontime musical variety show with a snappier name than its predecessor, televiewers are yet to find out; but one thing’s for sure: it will take a lot for Party Pilipinas to overthrow ASAP’s 15 years of domination.

Photo screencap taken from kapamstk.