WILLIE REVILLAME GRATEFUL FOR 'SECOND CHANCE' ON TELEVISION AS KAPATID

WHAT CAN AUDIENCES EXPECT FROM WILLIE

- NATHALIE TOMADA

Revillame's return to television?

After more than a year of hiatus, the veteran host is making his TV comeback through a partnership deal of his production outfit, Goodwill Productions, with Manny V. Pangilinan's MediaQuest Ventures and TV5 network.

A contract-signing was held on Friday attended by MediaQuest executives led by MediaQuest and Cignal TV president and CEO Jane Basas, along with TV5 president and CEO Guido Zaballero.

"I'm very excited and I'm very, very happy for this partnership with, you know, the one and only Mr. Willie Revillame. This is a full circle for him and for us because he was actually with us 11 years ago," Basas said during the announcement of Willie's TV5 return at the Cignal Launchpad in Mandaluyong.

Willie's former shows- "Willing Willie," "Wil Time Bigtime" and "Wowowillie" - aired for three years on TV5 from 2010 to 2013.

Recalling how he found his way back to the Kapatid network, Willie shared during the contract signing: "The first meeting between Ms. Sienna (Olaso, Cignal vice president for channels and content) and Ms. Jane was because of Atty. Buko (Dela Cruz, TVJ legal counsel). In that meeting, we had no idea what to do, talagang totally zero.

Bigla na lang there's what you call spark sa isa't isa eh. And then from there, we decided, 'Okay, I will do this, this is a partnership.' In fact, with Ma'am Jane, sa kanya nanggaling na, 'Ako, all-out ako sa mga ganito.' Kung all-out ka, sige. That's why Goodwill Productions and MediaQuest (partnered)." For weeks now, rumors have circulated about Willie's return to TV5.

However, he stated that they have finally decided to make the announcement to "move on." "We've been brainstorming, but there was still no signing of the contract. There are so many plans. The studio has been fixed... I said, 'Ma'am Sienna, maybe so that we can really start smoothly, we finish the contract and then after that, we brainstorm.