Since its 1995 debut, ABS-CBN’s musical variety show, ASAP, has gone head-to-head with no less than five flagships Sunday noon-time shows from GMA Network.
All Sunday Afternoon Party aka ASAP is celebrating its 27th year on air on Sunday, February 7, 2022. Rebranded as ASAP Natin ‘To, since 2018, the Kapamilya musical variety show has been home to some of the country’s most seasoned and most recording stars and performers.
ASAP is the direct descendant of the defunct ABS-CBN variety program, Sa Linggo nAPO Sila, which aired on Channel 2, from December 1989 to January 1995.
The show sustained more than five years of direct competition against GMA Network’s then-longest-running musical variety show, GMA Supershow. Within its six months of airing, ASAP was already successful in taking the lead from its rival GMA show, which finally folded on January 26, 1997, before it was able to celebrate its 20th year on air.
Sobrang Okay Pare or SOP debuted on GMA Sunday noontime slot, on February 2, 1997, with Ogie Alcasid, Janno Gibbs, Vina Morales, and Cacai Velasquez, serving as main hosts and performers.
The show stayed on the air for 13 years and had several reformations to confront ASAP’s evolving form. It was called SOP Rules in 2003, and SOP Fully Charged in 2009 until its last episode on January 24, 2010.
On March 28, 2010, GMA Network debuted Party Pilipinas to replace SOP.
The show was able to beat ASAP in TV ratings, but was unable to sustain it until its last episode on May 13, 2013. Sunday All Stars replaced the show on June 16, 2013. The new variety show took inspiration from the defunct German Moreno show, That’s Entertainment, by segmenting all performers into teams. This effort, however, didn’t succeed, and only remained on the air for a little over two years. It aired its finale episode on August 2, 2015.
GMA Network wanted to become experimental with Sunday All-Star’s replacement show. Debuting on August 9, 2015, Sunday PinaSaya is a hybrid of stand-up comedy and musical variety. High ratings, as expected weren’t enough to keep the show afloat, as it eventually folded on December 29, 2019. It was eight months short of celebrating its 5th anniversary.
The latest and current Kapuso variety show to go head-to-head with ASAP is All-Out-Sundays, which premiered on the heels of the current pandemic. All-Out-Sundays took over Sunday PinaSaya’s timeslot on January 5, 2020. It’s been two years since it started going against its Kapamilya rival show.
ASAP, itself has gone through reformatting episodes, but it certainly kept its original identity. It has evolved alongside OPM and has welcomed new breeds of young performers, while it also served as the home to the country’s brightest and most seasoned artists, through the years.
It’s a distinction the show will most likely keep beyond its 27th year on air.
