Fun, prizes, and nostalgia brought back viewers to pre-pandemic moments, made the episode extra special
A2Z | KAPAMILYA CHANNEL
Presenter: Vice Ganda
Format: Singing Gameshow
Premise: 100 contestants work together to guess missing lyrics for them to play the jackpot round whose prize amounts to PhP2 million
Running Time: 90 minutes
Time slot: 7 PM on Saturdays, 7:30 PM on Sundays
Why You Should See It:
Those who have seen Everybody Sing’s pre-pandemic trailers may have wondered for a while where those episodes are. Having featured live studio audiences and a bigger number of studio players, the mood and energy are expected to be a lot different from its current version.
ABS-CBN finally started releasing those pre-pandemic taped episodes last weekend.
The first episode featured haircutters as its ‘Songbayanan’, or players from a specific working sector.
The stark difference between this version and the current is easily spotted.
More players are tapped to play here. Ane hundred.
As they used the same studio, the set is expectedly looking crowded—but that’s today, viewers are used to seeing almost empty live production sets, because of the still widely-practiced social distancing protocols.
As there are more players, the energy is unsurprisingly ecstatic, and the players are practically the studio audience, themselves. There is a festive mood, and it kind of brought back memories of the noon-time shows and other variety shows when live viewers were still allowed to enter studios.
These episodes don’t feature Vice Ganda yet in her drag and cosplay outfits, which he showcases every episode in the show’s current version.
The jackpot prize is definitely bigger now, amounting to PhP2,000,000 which is four times bigger than the current prize. It makes sense, however, as players are reduced to just 25 in the current version.
That said, correct answers in the pre-jackpot rounds are still priced at PhP1,000, but each studio player is only allowed to answer once, while the current version allows the same player to answer twice which means he can have as much as PhP2,000 bonus price.
Each correct answer corresponds to a second, which means more correct answers are needed for the studio players to accumulate enough time to answer all questions in the jackpot round. Unlike the pandemic version, each game is aired in two episodes.
Regardless of the changes, the mechanics of the game are essentially the same.
There are three pre-jackpot round categories, each with varying rules, except that each correct answer means one second would be added to the jackpot round time. Correct guesses in the jackpot round are also valued at PhP100,000, which is ten times bigger than the current’s 10,000.
Haircutters were able to name three songs correctly, which means they were able to win PhP300,000, giving each of them PhP3,000 to take home.
Perhaps, one of the more noticeable differences, is that there are more and tighter interactions in this version.
Vice was able to extract better, more interesting, and more hilarious stories from each set of contestants. The present version also has beautiful stories to tell, and with all the players being affected by the pandemic in one way or another, there are more inspiring and heartbreaking stories to tell.
Vice Ganda remains the effective presenter that he is. His eloquence still allows him to create remarkable conversations with the players, and his quirk and energy still enable him to make the whole set dynamic.
His magic is undoubtedly evident here, only magnified by the presence of an equally energetic and vivacious studio audience. Surely these moments would be missed again, once the show reverts to its present version with just 25 players, after two weekends.
Catch Everybody Sing on A2Z, Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, and iWantTFC, every weekend. Watch the 100 Songbayanan Special teaser below:
