ASAP (TV program)

ASAP (an abbreviation of its full name, All-Star Sunday Afternoon Party) is a Philippine television variety show broadcast by ABS-CBN and Kapamilya Channel. Originally hosted by Martin Nievera, Pops Fernandez, Ariel Rivera and Dayanara Torres, it premiered on February 5, 1995, on the network's Sunday noontime line up replacing Sa Linggo nAPO Sila. Nievera, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Gary Valenciano, Sarah Geronimo, Erik Santos, Darren Espanto, Kim Chiu, Enchong Dee, Ogie Alcasid, Regine Velasquez, Robi Domingo, Edward Barber, Alexa Ilacad, Donny Pangilinan, Belle Mariano, and Janine Gutierrez currently serve as the hosts. It is the longest-running Sunday noontime variety show on Philippine television.

When Sa Linggo nAPO Sila became 'Sang Linggo nAPO Sila to replace Eat Bulaga! (which left ABS-CBN to transfer to GMA after then-producer TAPE Inc. (show now produced by TVJ Productions on TV5 and RPTV) denied ABS-CBN's offer to buy the airing rights of the show), a TV show was conceptualized by Deo Endrinal with a group of production people from the displaced APO show in January 1995 as a "concert party" on Sundays. Martin Nievera accidentally joined the group while on break from taping his eponymous talk show. He gave the show the title acronym ASAP which stood for All-Star Sunday Afternoon Party. The production group decided to bring him and Pops Fernandez, along with Ariel Rivera and Dayanara Torres as main hosts for the show. The cast of Pare Ko (Claudine Barretto, Victor Neri, Roselle Nava, Gio Alvarez, Jao Mapa, Mark Anthony Fernandez, Nikka Valencia) became co-hosts for the show to attract younger audiences. In 1996, the show's line-up of co-hosts and performers evolved as it included different young stars from ABS-CBN's Talent Center (Ang TV, Gimik and Star Circle). The show also celebrated its first anniversary as it finally wrested the top spot away from its closest rival GMA Supershow. The show became victorious in 1997 as they celebrated their 2nd anniversary from the Araneta Coliseum, as their erstwhile institutional rival show GMA Supershow folded up; Supershow was replaced by SOP.

The show originally had its own theme song, Hot na Hot sa ASAP in 1995. During the show's second anniversary, another theme song was released entitled Better Than Ever, to replace the original theme. Initial broadcast commenced on February 5, 1995, at the Delta Theatre in Quezon Avenue. In 1997, they transferred to Studio 3 of the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center in Quezon City, sharing space with 'Sang Linggo nAPO Sila. However, it suffered a setback on May 10, 1998, when one of the main hosts, Martin Nievera resigned from the show because of marital issues with co-host (and now ex-wife) Pops Fernandez and also to focus on his eponymous late night talk show. Dayanara Torres later on left the show to pursue a career in Hollywood. Richard Gomez and Zsa Zsa Padilla became regular hosts from that time on as replacements to Nievera and Torres.

On February 7, 1999, the show celebrated its 4th anniversary via a simultaneous broadcast from the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay and the University of St. La Salle Coliseum in Bacolod City to usher the second season of the MBA. Magandang Tanghali Bayan main hosts Randy Santiago, John Estrada and Willie Revillame helped out in hosting ASAP from Bacolod while the main hosts were in Cuneta Astrodome. In the same year, the show celebrated the finales of its top-rating soaps Mula sa Puso and Esperanza through a grand production number.

In 2001, the producers added the tagline "The Only One" to the show's title to emphasize itself as unique amidst the rise of shows duplicating its concept. On March 11 of the same year, the show created new sensations out of "The Hunks", a new group composed of long-time Kapamilya heartthrobs Piolo Pascual, Diether Ocampo, Jericho Rosales, Carlos Agassi and Bernard Palanca. Their phenomenal success as a group made noise around Philippine entertainment circles as they stormed their way through various appearances within ABS-CBN shows and concerts abroad. ASAP's rival show SOP even got wind of the group's popularity by creating a parody group, "Da HungHunks".

In 2002, the show lost former co-host and occasional guest Rico Yan to pancreatitis, while Jolina Magdangal left ASAP and transferred to GMA Network to join SOP, along with Marvin Agustin who would later transfer in 2006. It also became the go-to show for the premieres of ABS-CBN Summer and Christmas station IDs by that period until 2015, when TV Patrol and It's Showtime changed venue (although it later became the venue for the premiere of the ABS-CBN's 2018 Christmas ID and 2021 Summer ID). The show also introduced daring segments such as Rated R (headed by Rica Peralejo) and Clash Dance (Regine Tolentino and Angela Velez).

In May 2002, Martin Nievera officially returned to ASAP after four years of hiatus a main host due to his marital issues with Fernandez, and served as a permanent replacement to Richard Gomez when the latter formally ended his contract with ABS-CBN and moved to rival network GMA.

In February 2003, ASAP celebrated its 8th anniversary with another special show at the Araneta Coliseum. The anniversary show was remembered for the launch of the year-long celebration of ABS-CBN's 50th year of Philippine television. It was also by that time when a major controversy happened when Angela Velez suddenly had a wardrobe malfunction while dancing on stage.