Willie Revillame to Return to TV in 2014

Image courtesy of www.abs-cbnnews.com

Source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

TV host plans new show on network 'with most viewers'

Willie Revillame said he is planning to revive his self-produced variety show, preferably on a network that has wide viewership, sometime in 2014.

The 52-year-old host revealed the plan in an interview with sports journalist Snow Badua on the sidelines of the Pacquiao-Rios bout in Macau last Sunday.

Asked what his fans can expect from him after the end of his noontime show "Wowowillie" in October, Revillame quipped, laughing, "Sa kanto-kanto lang muna ako! Sa tabi-tabi lang muna!"

"Hindi pa naman," he added, as to whether he's looking to switch networks, "kasi one month pa lang naman ako nagbabakasayon eh."

"Siguro next year, early next year," he said.

Revillame's "Wowowillie" aired its final episode last October 12 after seven months on air. In his first announcement of the program's end in May, Revillame said it would mark his retirement from television.

But in his closing lines in the program's finale, Revillame said, "I will return!"

The host was asked on Sunday which network he hopes to carry his comeback show. He answered: "Hindi ko pa alam."

"Syempre pag-aaralan ko mabuti kung saan mas maraming makakapanood sa programang gusto kong gawin," he said.

In September, Revillame aired his frustration about the limited viewership of his program on TV5. "No matter how good your show is, if the signal is not strong, people won't watch you," he said at the time.

Revillame transferred to the Manny V. Pangilinan-owned network in 2010, after the controversial end of his five-year program with ABS-CBN, "Wowowee."

His first TV5 show, "Willing Willie," similarly drew controversies, among them involving allegations of child abuse when a 6-year-old contestant was supposedly made to perform as a "macho dancer."

The controversy, which involved advertisers pulling out from the show, prompted Revillame to announce it would go on hiatus. A month later, it resumed as the reformatted "Wiltime Bigtime."

Yet another revamp as "Wowowillie" marked the program's transfer to a noontime slot in January this year.

Still on the subject of a possible network transfer for his planned 2014 program, Revillame said on Sunday, "Kahit saan naman, pwede, basta maganda 'yung programa, 'di ba? Basta maganda 'yung project, basta makabigay ng saya araw-araw at makakatulong."

"'Yun ang importante," he said.