The story-reveal of Tito Vic & Joey’s sudden exit from Eat Bulaga was kind of he-said-she-said — sabi nina TVJ, sabi ng mga Jalosjos — that barely agreed on anything. What was clear lang to all and sundry was that TVJ did not get to bid their audience of some 44 years a proper goodbye. They were unceremoniously replaced by unfamiliar faces of unknown talents, mostly newbies, everyone trying very hard to have fun and be funny a la Legit Dabarkads, as though high energy, never mind history, is all it takes as long as hawak at gamit ng show ang Eat Bulaga title and the “recall quality of the enduring brand.” Big mistake.

Tito Vic & Joey had every right and reason to be offended by the outright grab of a brand that the trio built painstakingly from scratch, fuelled by creative comedic juices unlike any others’ in Philippine TV and pop culture. Sure, the producers had reason to look ahead, the trio is getting on in years, dapat paghandaan ang kanilang exit, sinong ipapalit na kayang i-sustain ang ratings ng said-to-be the longest-running noontime TV show in the world, lalo na’t may Vice Ganda na namamayagpag on the side.

But surely the Jalosjos squad could have treated TVJ with some respect instead of treating them like talents na puwedeng | madaling palitan ng kung sino-sino lang. As if the physical brand were all that mattered when really, without TVJ, Eat Bulaga is a hollow brand that doesn’t match the product and smacks of unfair, if legal, appropriation of Tito Vic and Joey’s creative property. ‘Twould have been smarter to come up with a new name, build a new brand that would match the vibes of an evolving lunchtime demographic.

Obviously I’m a TVJ fan, have been since the days of Discorama and “Tough Hits” where they’d do the singing trio act, punning and playing around with the lyrics of top hits (Billboard and OPM), in perfect harmony yet — it helped that they could really sing — toward punchlines ranging from the sublimely hilarious to grossly bastos. Check out Baby A. Gil’s “How ‘song wreckers’ Tito, Vic and Joey made Tough Hits” and also YouTube where you’ll find some 6 volumes of “Tough Hits” na nakakatawa pa rin LOLZ. And read here “Joey de Leon credits Danny Javier of APO for coining ‘Tough Hits’.

The only time we stopped watching Eat Bulaga was in the year of the RH debate when “Tito Sen” was vigorously opposing the Reproductive Health Bill, refusing women the right to choose. By the time he ran for VP in 2022 we thought he could win anyway if EB mobilized the kalye-serye constituency nationwide. Pero tila napaatras kay Sara?

And no we haven’t forgotten the 1982 scandal, but I must admit it didn’t stop us watching EB, I guess because the culprits claimed innocence and so we were all giving them the benefit of the doubt, that is, until that bomb of a public apology some two months later, which apparently was accepted not just by the victims but also by the madlang pipol. When the trio held that post-apology Saturday special in Araneta Coliseum to test kung mapupuno pa rin nila, the big dome was packed to the rafters.  The high point of the show was Dina Bonnevie’s surprise appearance, topped by a beso kay hubby Vic. All was forgiven.

CORRECTION: the big dome event event took place pala august 7, 1982. my mistake. not after the october 13 apology but two days after marvic sotto, jose ma. de leon and richard reyes filed a 5.5 million peso libel suit vs. pepsi paloma, guada guarin, rey de la cruz, 2 publishers and 2 reporters. the surprise appearance of dina bonnevie, i now suppose, was to send the message that she, too, totally believed that her hubby and friends were innocent of the rape allegations.

In fairness, they’ve been well-behaved naman ever since, LOL. Very occasional na ang mishaps, i.e., the politically incorrect “hurtful jabs” at women, minorities, atbp. na dating narereklamo. Kayâ sobra naman yung Rappler article that says they’re a “sleazy trio” and likens them to Trump (!!!) as “personification of toxic masculinity” hereabouts. Excuse me, ang “sleazy” at “toxic” ay yung convicted  pedophile of a patriarch (sentenced to two life terms in 1997) na pinakawalan ni GMA in 2007.

And what about the non-fan on Facebook who thinks “the boomer TVJ” are no role models and hopes their new show avoids “boomer content and old regressive values”.  Hello?  TVJ never came on as “role models”, rather as entertainers, troubadours singing the songs of the sixties and seventies and joking around to make us laugh, at them and at ourselves, earthy Pinoy humor resurrected, this in the time of martial law when there was little else worth laughing at or about.

These are not very different times, come to think of it, when there’s so much more wrong with nation and planet, and I’m just glad TVJ & the Legit Dabarkads are back, hopefully for a final season that’ll be a happy mix of live music and comic relief, old and new, boomer to genZ, at LGBTQIA+++ na rin. #GoBoomers