''Whattamen'' is a Philippine primetime weekly sitcom that aired on

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...

which was aired from September 12, 2001, to February 18, 2004, and was replaced by ''

Yes, Yes Show! ''Yes, Yes Show!'' is a Philippine comedy-gag variety show on ABS-CBN. It was tagged as the first Live-Gag show in the Philippines. It aired from February 25, 2004, to 2006, replacing '' Whattamen''. Cast * Bayani Agbayani * Vhong Navarro * Aik ...

''. It was written by renowned writer-director

Jose Javier Reyes Jose "Joey" Javier Reyes (born October 21, 1954) is a Filipino professor, writer, director, miscellaneous crew and actor. He has won awards at the Gawad Urian, Metro Manila Film Festival and Filipino Star Awards for Movies for his films, whi ...

and directed by John-D Lazatin, the sitcom starred matinee idols

Rico Yan Rico Yan (; born Ricardo Carlos Castro Yan; March 14, 1975 – March 29, 2002) was a Filipino matinee idol, model, film and television actor, host, spokesperson and entrepreneur. Yan graduated from De La Salle University in 1997 with a degr ...

, Marvin Agustin and

Dominic Ochoa Jose Madrigal Ochoa (; born August 4, 1974), better known as Dominic Ochoa, is a Filipino actor, comedian, model and member of ABS-CBN's circle of homegrown talents named Star Magic, as part of the batch 4. He is currently managed by Boy Abu ...

, and comedian

Ai-Ai delas Alas Martina Eileen Hernandez delas Alas-Sibayan (born November 11, 1964), known professionally as Ai-Ai delas Alas, is a Filipino actress and comedian. She is widely regarded as the country's "Queen of Comedy" for her comedic talent and best know ...

History

Rico, Marvin and Dominic's on-screen chemistry was first seen in the network's Saturday youth oriented show ''

Gimik ''Gimik'' is a Philippine youth-oriented television series produced and broadcast by ABS-CBN. The show ran from June 15, 1996, to February 6, 1999, replacing ''Game Na Game Na!'' and was replaced by '' G-mik'' every Saturday for 90 minutes and ...

'' from June 15, 1996, to February 13, 1999. At that time, they were not performing yet as a group but they were close friends off-cam despite their solo careers as young actors. After ''Gimik'' was cancelled, the trio would continue appearing in different ABS-CBN programs, mostly on primetime soap operas. In 1999 and 2000, Rico, Marvin and Dominic appeared as guest co-hosts for Megastar Sharon Cuneta's birthday celebration. Their one-off hosting stint at " Sharon" was well-received, noting there was chemistry and rapport between the three. In late 2000, the network launched ''Star Magic Presents'', a weekly program that showcased ABS-CBN's homegrown talents in different entertainment formats. They chose Rico, Marvin and Dominic to headline the pilot episode of the program, a mini-sitcom entitled ''Whattamen''. They were joined by Jannette Mc Bride, Gabe Mercado and JM Rodriguez. The episode garnered high ratings for ''Star Magic''. The group did another episode of ''Whattamen'' a month after and also received high ratings again. This led the network to officially launch Rico, Marvin and Dominic in the noontime show ''Magandang Tanghali Bayan'' as a trio in early 2001 following the exit of one of its main host, Willie Revillame. While doing ''MTB'', the newly formed Whattamen trio made waves everywhere. On September 12, 2001, ''Whattamen'' became a full-length primetime weekly sitcom, occupying the Wednesday night time slot. Comedian Ai-Ai delas Alas joined the show as one of the main cast. Compared to previous ABS-CBN sitcoms, ''Whattamen'' was a game-changer of sorts. It was a short sitcom, with just 30 minutes of running time (including commercials). Midway into its first season, the show was already beating the competition week after week with relevant storylines and out of the box delivery of laughs. On the second season, ''Whattamen''s running time was extended to 45 minutes. Streetboys member and upcoming comedian Vhong Navarro was added to the cast. The improved second season was also rating well. Until fate intervened. On March 29, 2002, Rico Yan died in his sleep while on vacation in Palawan. His death left a big void in the show. On April 1, 2002, the whole cast of ''Whattamen'' paid tribute to him via the two-hour TV special ''Whattaguy: Salamat Rico''. After Rico's death, the show aired three more episodes which he taped before he died. The sitcom continued without Rico. New cast members included John Prats, Joyce Jimenez, Jenny Miller, Ryan Agoncillo, Melanie Marquez and Dennis Padilla. Sitcom director John-D Lazatin was assigned to direct the ABS-CBN teleserye ''

Bituin ''Bituin'' (International title: ''Star'') is a 2002 musical Philippine soap opera that was aired by ABS-CBN from September 23, 2002 to May 23, 2003 replacing ''Pangako Sa 'Yo'' and was replaced by ''Basta't Kasama Kita''. It starred Carol Banaw ...

'' and was replaced by Danny Caparas.

Cast

* Marvin Agustin as Matti *

as Ernest *

as Richy/Castro *

as Tita Vicky *

Dennis Padilla Dennis Esteban Dominguez Baldivia (born February 9, 1962), popularly known as Dennis Padilla (), is a Filipino comedian, TV host, radio broadcaster and actor. He is the son of the late Dencio Padilla, and the father of actress Julia Barretto. H ...

as Yaki * Joyce Jimenez *

Vhong Navarro Ferdinand Hipolito Navarro (born January 4, 1977), known professionally as Vhong Navarro, is a Filipino comedian, actor, dancer, recording artist and television host. He is a regular host on ABS-CBN's noontime variety show '' It's Showtime''. H ...

as Elton *

Jenny Miller Jenny Miller (born February 5, 1980) is a Filipino actress. She is known on her role as Beverly Castro in the TV remake of the 1989 film '' Babangon Ako't Dudurugin Kita'' that aired on GMA Network in 2008 and she is currently a freelance artist ...

John Prats John Paulo Quiambao Prats (born February 14, 1984) is a Filipino comedian, actor, dancer, TV host, director, model and entrepreneur. He started as a child star in year 1992. He is the older brother of actress and former child-star Camille Pra ...

as Oca * Candy Pangilinan as Bebeng *

Melanie Marquez Mimilanie Laurel Marquez-Lawyer (; born 16 July 1964), popularly known as Melanie Marquez, is a Filipino personality development coach, actress, film producer, author, celebrity endorser, former supermodel and beauty pageant titleholder who was ...

Ryan Agoncillo Kristoffer Lou Gonzales Agoncillo (, born April 10, 1979), known professionally as Ryan Agoncillo, is a Filipino actor, model, photographer, recording artist and TV host. Career Agoncillo started as a model at the age of fifteen, beginning as ...

* Bobby Yan * Patricia Ysmael * Izza Ignacio *Melisa Henderson

Cancellation

The show was cancelled on February 18, 2004, along with its post-program, ''Klasmeyts'' to make way for the new Wednesday gag show ''

''.

Reruns

The show re-aired on

Jeepney TV Jeepney TV is a 24-hour Philippine pay television channel owned and operated by ABS-CBN's narrowcast arm Creative Programs Inc. since 2012. The programming consists of classic and archived series and programs previously aired on ABS-CBN. The c ...

via

Sky Cable Sky Cable (stylized as SKYcable) is a cable television service of Sky Cable Corporation in the Philippines. It covers areas across the country with both digital and analog cable services, and it has 700,000 subscribers, controlling 45% of ...

Channel 9 every Saturdays at 6:00 pm and on

Studio 23 Studio 23 (officially Studio 23, Inc. and previously AMCARA Broadcasting Network) was a Filipino television network owned by ABS-CBN Corporation. The network was named for its flagship station in Metro Manila, DWAC-TV and carried on UHF cha ...

(now S+A) every Wednesdays at 11:00 am until January 15, 2014. And its international counterpart BRO in 2012–2015. In 2016, the now reformatted BRO now Sports and Action re-airs the series with its other sitcoms like ''Palibhasa Lalake'' and ''

Home Along Da Riles ''Home Along Da Riles'' ( or Home Along the Railroad) is a Philippine situational comedy series that aired on the Philippine television network ABS-CBN from December 2, 1992 to August 10, 2003, and was replaced by '' Ang Tanging Ina''. The tit ...

''.

Reunion Special

Aside from the rerun of the sitcom,

also produced a reunion special featuring the whole cast (minus Rico). The cast reminisced about the funny moments during the show's whole run, capped with a big revelation by Dominic when one of the lead stars from the rival show ''

Beh Bote Nga ''Beh Bote Nga'' is a Philippine television situational comedy series broadcast by GMA Network. Starring Janno Gibbs and Anjo Yllana, it premiered on March 9, 1999 on the network's KiliTV line up. The series concluded on April 16, 2003. It was ...

'' of

GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...

gave his blessing to the Whattamen trio.

External links