willie, wowowee, way to go

writes emil jurado in manila standard today:

Willie Revillame of Wowowee appeared confident when he, along with his lawyers, met media to bid them goodbye. Where Wowowee would be going next, whether to GMA-7 or to Manny Pangilinan’s ABC-5, he didn’t say. But it was evident that he was aware he had the goods on the Lopez-owned ABS-CBN network.

Wowowee, which used to air for three hours every day, made Revillame a sensation not only among viewers here but also to Filipino Americans who could watch him over The Filipino Channel. But the network changed it so that Willie would only appear once a week. That is, in effect, an abrogation of Revillame’s contract. Every lawyer should know this.

Thus, ABS-CBN cannot hold on to Wowowee, a program which gave the Lopez network some P3 million daily (with Willie getting almost P1 million daily). No wonder, ABS-CBN reported a 178 percent surge in income, what with all those political advertisements during the campaign and close to P3.5 billion from Wowowee.

Despite attempts of ABS-CBN to replace Wowowee, new programs just don’t do as well in ratings. . .

like him or hate him, there is no denying willie’s awesome appeal to the filipino masses and i almost can’t believe that the network has chosento disenfranchise him — it’s like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.   i suppose there’s more to it than meets the eye?

“Willie . . . violated the behavioral provisions of his contract when he threatened the ABS-CBN management during the May 4, 2010 episode of Wowowee, with a resignation if management does not fire another artist of the network. His behavior was generally seen as a display of disrespect and arrogance, completely unacceptable to the Filipino public.

but willie’s may 4 behavior was not “completely unacceptable” to me.   while he may have crossed a line when he passionately if arrogantly reacted to jobert sucaldito’s criticism of a wowowee game calling for contestants na high school graduates with 75-79 general average, i thought that sucaldito also crossed a line when he arrogantly asked, why feature contestants who are bobo?   THAT was completely unacceptable to me.

in the first place, what was he doing, dissing a kapamilya?   he started it, not willie.  (and it wasn’t the first time, i hear.)   wala bang “behavioral provision” ang kontrata niya?   in the second place, what was he doing, dissing these high school graduates given the low and laughable quality of education our public school system provides.   kasalanan kaya nila na mababa ang grades nila?   porke ba mababa ang grades ay bobo na?   and yet willie was quickly sanctioned, suspended without pay, and sucaldito gayly prattles on, i mean, gets off scot-free, nary a public reprimand.

i’m told, of course, that i’m being naive.   that this is political.   that willie is being made to suffer for going orange rather than yellow last may.  the witches won, and the witches rule?

Comments

  1. “in the first place, what was he doing, dissing a kapamilya? he started it, not willie. ”

    cant an abs-cbn opinion journalist NOT criticize an abs-cbn talent?

    “he started it”? really?

    further, there is a HUGE difference between what willie said and jobert said (assuming he did say it).

    jobert can have whatever opinion, and is free to say it.

    willie can have an opinion too. if he had just said:”mali si jobert, i’m insulted, he must apologize” that would have been fine.

    but what willie actually did was blackmail ABS-CBN. “its him or me!” thats not freedom of speech.

    huge difference.

  2. Revillame has a problem. There is something called “business interference tort,” where the defendant is said to have caused some party to breach a contract with plaintiff. Revillame’s new “employer” potentially faces such a tort action from ABS-CBN. Of course, Revillame can “buy out” his contract on terms agreeable to the other side. That is, if he thinks such a buy-out is worth it.

  3. “cant an abs-cbn opinion journalist NOT criticize an abs-cbn talent?”

    sucaldito is not an opinion journalist. he is an entertainment writer who sells gossips, intrigues and press releases for his own talent.

    “jobert can have whatever opinion, and is free to say it. ”

    in a corporate world where employees are bound to support the company’s goal i.e. growth thru profit, criticisms about the org., the product lines are confined to suggestion boxes or board room if they high rollers.

    can you imagine an employee of Jolibee criticizing a co-employee in public which could affect their image perception?

  4. “sucaldito gayly prattles on, i mean, gets off scot-free, nary a public reprimand.”

    ikaw na ang maging kaibigan ni B.A.

    there is an old saying which says:

    “What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.”

    The return of Willie to Wowowee did not materialize because they claimed than an executive threatened to resign if ABS CBN is going to welcome Willie back.

    I do not believe this reason.

    I thought it was because of Pokwang and Mariel. Willie announced that he might remove these two talents of BA when he comes back.

    Kanino ba malakas si BA?

  5. “but what willie actually did was blackmail ABS-CBN. “its him or me!” thats not freedom of speech.

    huge difference.”

    If I were a stockholder of the corporation and is made to choose between the scrapping of a product that hardly contributes to the contribution margin of the financial bottomline of the fs and a product which contributes megabucks to the profitability of the business, I would prefer number two. I do not care if it has a reputation of a big ego. That big ego makes it tick to the public that it is targeting.

  6. Until we see the specifics of the contract between Yoyoy este Revillame and ABS-CBN I believe we can’t say for sure who really has a legal standing on the firing of Revillame or his planned move to another network.

    Of course we should defend and uphold freedom of expression but Willie’s as I see it is more of a tantrum and a meltdown due to his huge ego that is at most ridiculous. His tantrum is nothing more than a sound byte and gossip material for ridicule among satirist but what I find ironic is the partisanship that it generated among the viewing public.

    Speaking of huge ego, the Lopezes are egomaniacs too known in the past as presidential kingmaker and Willie’s mistake is to flaunt it at the expense of pricking the owner’s with a bigger ego so the end result is canning of the show and his eventual firing.

    As far as I am concerned its a trashy show and I am glad I don’t even have to flick the remote because I am not a TFC subscriber… why waste money on dumb shows from an idiot box in the first place, LOL……

  7. “If I were a stockholder of the corporation and is made to choose between the scrapping of a product that hardly contributes to the contribution margin of the financial bottomline of the fs and a product which contributes megabucks to the profitability of the business, I would prefer number two. I do not care if it has a reputation of a big ego. That big ego makes it tick to the public that it is targeting.”

    I don’t think you’ll do that if you own the company. Money might be something but its not everything. They might be earning less with Joebert Sucaldito but still they are earning, right? It might not be as big as what they might earn with Willie around but who the heck cares if the bigger profit comes with a headache as a bonus.

    Sure, they’d lose money for a month or two or even a year or so, but I think it is a better option that letting Willie’s ego grow bigger than the universe. The repercussion will definitely be bigger than what abs-cbn will earn financially.

    Willie Revillame’s behavior might be acceptable to some sectors but I firmly believe that there are more of us whom he had offended and we say, freeze him until he realizes that the Lopezes have bigger egos than his.

  8. “Money might be something but its not everything. They might be earning less with Joebert Sucaldito but still they are earning, right? ”

    we are talking about billions and not thousands of revenues lost just because there was one guy who does not understand what team effort is.

    freedom of expression does not include badmouthing your team mate. In a corporation, every revenue generating department is a profit center. What they do or what strategies they adopt, the other profit centers do not have the right to criticize. As I have said, there are suggestion boxes which Sucaldito could have used to comment on the kind of the contestants the WWW chose for their games instead of using his program to lambast a fellow kapamilya.

    Other than that, he is not part of the think tank of the program, he has his own department to take care of, peddling gossips and intrigues.

    As an employee, he has options to choose from–quit, live with it or shut up but he knows he has someone to back him up.

  9. wawa naman kami dito sa USA si willie na nga lang nagpapaligaya sa aming mga matatanda nawala pa cya.TV 5 ? wala naman dito yan . boring ibang shows. galing na ako sa eat bulaga pinag tatawanan ako ng mga kaibigan ko kasi ako lang eat bulaga. willie ! balik ka na! pls !