Philippine noontime variety television shows

Student Canteen (1979–1986)

Eat... Bulaga! struggled on its ratings due to lack of advertisers on its first year of airing due to Student Canteen's stronghold on television. EB was in danger of cancellation until "Mr. Macho" was launched in 1980, which made Bulaga surpassed the ratings of its rival. Eat... Bulaga! was aired nationwide in 1982 with the launch of RPN's domestic satellite, which also coincided with Coney Reyes' transfer to EB and Chiqui Hollman to Student Canteen. Other fresh faces were introduced in Student Canteen but the show was eventually cancelled in March 1986, days after the People Power Revolution. Student Canteen was again revived in 1989 but it was cancelled again in 1990 due to misunderstanding with RPN's management.

Lunch Date (1986–1993)

Lunch Date became Student Canteen's successor in 1986. Its original hosts were Orly Mercado, Rico J. Puno, Toni Rose Gayda and Chiqui Hollmann. When the show was reformatted after a year, it only retained both Gayda and Hollman and brought in a mix of old and new faces to host the show, including Randy Santiago, Keno, Lito Pimentel, Tina Revilla, Pilita Corrales, Louie Heredia, Sheryl Cruz, Jon Santos, Dennis Padilla, Fe Delos Reyes, Manilyn Reynes, Willie Revillame and Ai Ai de las Alas. The show introduced new segments that will challenge EB's reign in the noontime slot.

In 1987, Aiza Seguerra, a Little Miss Philippines winner, joined the show and became an instant hit to viewers. In 1989, Eat... Bulaga! moved to ABS-CBN due to RPN's sequestration under the Cory Aquino administration. Eat... Bulaga! (together with other new shows launched) helped ABS-CBN to attain its status as the No. 1 TV network from being No. 4. It also started the rivalry of GMA Network and ABS-CBN in the noontime slot that still exist until today. In 1993, GMA Network's management decided to reformat their own noontime show and replaced it by SST: Salo-Salo Together. According to Joey de Leon, Lunch Date was their toughest opponent ever because it was pitted against EB for more than 7 years, the longest compared to other noontime shows.

SST: Salo-Salo Together (1993–1995)

SST was first aired on March 20, 1993 as a replacement for Lunch Date, hosted by Randy Santiago, Dennis Padilla, and Smokey Manaloto with Liezl Martinez, Anjanette Abayari, Joy Ortega and Giselle Sanchez as co-hosts. In less than six months after it aired, SST started to take over Eat... Bulaga! in the ratings by providing fresh interactive segments. Comedians Ai-Ai delas Alas and Bayani Agbayani also became co-hosts of SST.

It started as a blind item as 1994 was about to end, until showbiz news had leaked out that SST was going to go off the air to give way to Eat... Bulaga! at the 12 pm slot, after EB itself had decided to move to GMA Network following their contract with ABS-CBN was bogged down. During SST's New Year episode on December 31, 1994, the announcement of the new variety show's move to GMA was officially made by main hosts Randy Santiago and Dennis Padilla. The hosts and talents were sad because they felt the GMA Network management did not give them a chance to prove that they could carry the noontime show to new heights. But at the same time, they felt happy because the management decided to keep the show after they decided to move SST to an earlier time slot, as a pre-programming to Eat... Bulaga!. SST made its last noontime episode on January 27, 1995. In June 1995, SST was permanently cancelled.

'Sang Linggo nAPO Sila (1995–1998)

Due to Eat... Bulaga!'s moved to rival GMA Network, ABS-CBN decided to make Sa Linggo nAPO Sila a weeklong noontime show as 'Sang Linggo nAPO SIla. It aired its pilot episode on February 4, 1995 led by the famous APO Hiking Society, TVJ's former co-stars in OK Lang, a defunct TV show on IBC 13. During its first year, 'Sang Linggo was winning the ratings game in the provinces and cities where ABS-CBN have stronger signal. But the real challenge to the show was to deviate its content from the usual noontime variety show that Eat... Bulaga! presented to the viewers for almost two decades. Meanwhile, Bulaga had presented new faces like Allan K., Jose Manalo, and Donna Cruz, and new segments such as Super SiReyna and Philippine Bulaga Association. Calendar Girl was introduced by 'Sang Linggo nAPO Sila in 1998 with John Estrada, Randy Santiago, and Willie Revillame handling the segment by delivering naughtier jokes on TV.

The rating for SLNS had improved but the main hosts did not sit well with the changes on their show. Eventually, ABS-CBN had ended again its own noontime show (due to criticisms that the show was too intelligent for an average Filipino) on November 28, 1998 with Magandang Tanghali Bayan taking place with its main hosts: Randy, John, and Willie.

Magandang Tanghali Bayan (1998–2003)

After the APO had failed to beat the continuing supremacy of EB, the new triumvirate of Randy, John, and Willie was pitted to the established trio of Tito, Vic, and Joey as ABS-CBN launched its new noontime show on November 30, 1998 with the title Magandang Tanghali Bayan. Its highlight segment, Pera O Bayong, made MTB overtook Eat... Bulaga!'s ratings for years. Due to the growing popularity of the show, EB gave its first millions on television through its new segments Meron O Wala and the all-time popular segment Laban O Bawi which featured the phenomenal all-female dance group Sexbomb Girls. Meanwhile, MTB had faced numerous controversies and suspensions including the one-week suspension of the show in August 1999 due to the notorious green jokes of the main hosts. During that week, the show was replaced by Esep-Esep. In 2001, Willie Revillame was axed on the show which resulted to major changes on the set of new hosts and segments. MTB had lost its victory in terms of ratings to EB, which lead to its second incarnation, Masayang Tanghali Bayan.

Masayang Tanghali Bayan (2003–2004)

Magandang Tanghali Bayan aired its last episode on February 21, 2003 and was replaced by Masayang Tanghali Bayan to cope-up with the noontime competition against Eat... Bulaga!. The new MTB premiered on February 22, 2003 with Randy, John, and Willie making their comeback on the noontime slot together with other co-hosts Dennis Padilla, Aiai delas Alas, Bayani Agbayani, Mickey Ferriols, Aubrey Miles, Tado, and Bentong. The show had given out more cash prizes than its predecessor through the segments Super Jack En Poy and Urong Sulong. Before the end of 2003, Willie Revillame resigned from the show in the midst of controversy regarding his derogatory joke against their co-host Mahal. The show continued to air until February 2004 with comedian Vhong Navarro and actor-host Edu Manzano taking over Willie's place. However, Masayang Tanghali Bayan failed to sustain viewership and was given the axe on February 20, 2004, two days before their first anniversary on television.

MTB: Ang Saya Saya (2004–2005)

The third incarnation of MTB, entitled MTB: Ang Saya Saya premiered on February 21, 2004 with Ai ai delas Alas, Edu Manzano, and Arnell Ignacio as its main hosts. The show also introduced new set of co-hosts and segments, especially reality talent-based search segments. However, these efforts were overshadowed by the spectacular Silver Anniversary Special of Eat Bulaga! which got the all-time highest rating of a noontime show exceeding to 30%. On November 15, 2004, MTB: Ang Saya Saya lost its 12:00pm slot to Kris Aquino's Pilipinas, Game KNB? and started airing as an afternoon variety show on a 1:00pm time slot as the network's strategic move against the anniversary special, but it had failed. After months of low ratings, the management decided to permanently cancelled the third incarnation of MTB on February 4, 2005 and launched a new noontime show under its new main host Willie Revillame.

Wowowee (2005–2010)

Due to public clamor, former MTB main host Willie Revillame made his comeback on the noontime slot with the new noontime show entitled Wowowee on February 5, 2005. ABS-CBN's strong reach in the Philippines and worldwide through TFC had helped Wowowee to lead the noontime race for years. Willie's novelty songs became popular because of Wowowee and it became an instant hit to the Filipino masses.

Wowowee also faced different controversies on its five-year run on television. The ULTRA Stampede which happened during the first anniversary of the show, lead to the death of 71 people. The Guinness World Records cited the incident as "the greatest death toll in a game show". Another controversy was the Hello Papi Scandal, wherein Revillame allegedly cheated a contestant during the jackpot round on one of the Wowowee's game segments. The scandal also lead to a word war on-air between Willie and one of the EB's main hosts Joey de Leon.

The competition became harder for Eat Bulaga! so they decided to have a different approach on celebrating their 30th anniversary in 2009 by honoring different people from different fields, giving scholarships to honor students, and constructing classrooms for public schools in different provinces. EB also renovated their studio to accommodate more studio audience, install LED screens, and to commemorate the first death anniversary of Francis Magalona on March 6, 2010. Eat Bulaga! also launched its widely popular segment Juan for All, All for Juan: Bayanihan of D' Pipol (a regular segment which broadcasts from different barangays).

On May 4, 2010, Willie challenged the ABS-CBN management to remove Jobert Sucaldito (radio/TV host) or he will resign from the noontime show due to Sucaldito's criticisms against Revillame and the show itself. SInce May 5, Willie did not appeared on Wowowee and it became an indefinite leave after numerous days. After negotiations between Revillame and the network, the network decided that Wowowee will air its final episode on July 30, 2010 (coinciding with Eat Bulaga!'s 31st anniversary). The show was replaced by Pilipinas Win Na Win. Wowowee become the ABS-CBN's longest-running noontime show that was pitted against Eat Bulaga!. Willie is currently on GMA Network, hosting Wowowin, a primetime variety game show with the same format with Wowowee.

Pilipinas Win Na Win (2010)

After the cancellation of Wowowee, Pilipinas Win Na Win premiered on July 31, 2010 with Kris Aquino and Robin Padilla as its main hosts, together with other co-hosts from Wowowee. Some of the shows staff left the show to join Willie's comeback on TV5 in October 2010. Suffering a plague of low ratings since launch, ABS-CBN asked Kris mid-September for her to leave the show, and so she quietly left the show without any goodbyes on September 30, 2010. Two days later on October 2, ABS-CBN officially announced four new hosts and two new co-hosts. The four hosts tagged as the "hitmakers" include Rico J. Puno, Rey Valera, Marco Sison, and Nonoy Zuniga.

After a battle of constant low ratings and many alternate time slots, Pilipinas Win Na Win ended on December 31, 2010 during the New Year celebration. The cancellation was announced by Rico J. Puno several times during the December 20 episode. Rumors of this issue were around entertainment websites from interviews of a fellow co-host, Valerie Concepcion before the network announced its cancellation. Its time slot was temporarily occupied by Showtime. On February 12, 2011, a new noontime show was aired entitled Happy Yipee Yehey!. The show was ABS-CBN's shortest-lived noontime show.

Happy Yipee Yehey! (2011–2012)

The unsuccessful stint of PWNW was immediately replaced by Happy Yipee Yehey which premiered on February 12, 2011. Before its premiere, Willie Revillame (at that time, he was hosting Willing Willie on TV5) challenged its upcoming host John Estrada that the HYY will not reach its success in terms of ratings and Revillame will promote Eat Bulaga! constantly on his show. HYY was hosted by former MTB hosts John Estrada and Randy Santiago, Toni Gonzaga, Rico J. Puno, Pokwang, and others. The new noontime show introduced segments similar to its predecessors like Pera O Bayong, My Girl, Miss Kasamabahay, etc.

Revillame's prediction came to reality. HYY constantly got low ratings because of Eat Bulaga!'s stronghold to its noontime viewership. On January 2012, Showtime was cancelled on its late morning slot and it was later revealed that Showtime will be formatted into a new noontime variety show, replacing HYY. Happy Yipee Yehey aired its final episode on February 4, 2012 to give way to ABS-CBN's new noontime show, It's Showtime.

It's Showtime (2012–present)

Showtime, a morning talent show, was transferred to the noontime slot as It's Showtime on February 6, 2012.The new noontime show introduced segments from the Showtime series and new segments like Sine Mo 'To, AdVice Ganda, That's My Tomboy, I Am PoGay, and Magpasikat with content and concepts allegedly copied from rival show.