''Martin After Dark'' (later retitled ''Martin Nievera After Dark'') is a

Philippine television Television in the Philippines was introduced in October 1953 upon the first commercial broadcast made by Alto Broadcasting System (now ABS-CBN), making the Philippines the first Southeast Asian country and the second in Asia to do so. Even ...

musical talk show broadcast by GMA Radio-Television Arts and

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

. Hosted by

Martin Nievera Martin Ramon Razon Nievera (born February 5, 1963) is a Filipino singer and songwriter. Known for his contemporary love ballads and on-stage personality, he is celebrated as one of the most important figures in local Filipino music. With a care ...

, it premiered on July 30, 1988. The show concluded on November 28, 1998.

History

The show served as Nievera's comeback on

GMA Network GMA Network (an acronym of its legal name, Global Media Arts and commonly known as GMA) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine commercial broadcast network, serving as the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network (company), ...

in 1988 after he and wife Pops Fernandez briefly left the network in 1987 to host "Twogether" on

. The show ushered an era on Philippine television where the Saturday late night timeslot is allotted for various guest celebrities and politicians to share their secrets on national television coupled with music and laughter. Martin was accompanied by "Lunch Date" co-host Jon Santos whose various stand-up impersonations before each commercial gap served as comic relief. In 1992, the show exchanged time slots and broadcast days with the then-Sunday musical variety show "RSVP" which was hosted by

Dawn Zulueta Marie Rachel Salman Taleon-Lagdameo (born March 4, 1969), known professionally as Dawn Zulueta (), is a Filipino actress, host and commercial model. She was recognized as the only Filipino actor to win two different major accolades in acting ca ...

and

Ariel Ureta Juan Ariel Muñoz Ureta (; born November 5, 1946) is a Filipino comedian, actor and TV host. Ureta is a comedic icon in the Philippines during the 60's and the 70's. He has done many Filipino films. This includes ''Zoom Zoom Superman'', ''Si ...

. The GMA management's decision to exchange time slots reportedly did not sit well with Martin, but continued hosting the show. In April 1993, "Martin After Dark" was pre-empted in two successive weeks by two television events aired by GMA: The

Binibining Pilipinas Binibining Pilipinas (abbreviated as Bb. Pilipinas or BBP; ) is the oldest active national beauty pageant in the Philippines. Founded in 1964, it currently selects Filipina representatives to compete in one of the Big Four international beau ...

pageant and the

Film Academy of the Philippines Established in 1981, the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) is the Philippines' official counterpart of the United States' Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The FAP was founded through Executive Order 640-A issued by the Presiden ...

(FAP) Awards night. The pre-emption of "MAD" for 2 weeks in favor of the 2 special events served as the last straw for the show's producer (Backstage Productions) and Martin, who eventually severed his ties with GMA Network and did not show up anymore when taping for the show resumed. The network aired reruns of "MAD" for a month while negotiations were underway to save the situation with the producers. The show was eventually cancelled by GMA Network after negotiations bogged down. It was also reported that Martin Nievera and his producer have already decided to move to

while the show was pre-empted. Due to legal conflicts the transfer was delayed until October 1993. Upon the show's move to ABS-CBN, it was renamed as ''Martin Nievera After Dark''.

References

1988 Philippine television series debuts 1998 Philippine television series endings ABS-CBN talk shows Filipino-language television shows GMA Network talk shows Philippine English-language television shows {{Philippines-tv-prog-stub