Where in the world is Aga Muhlach?

MUHLACH. His travel-adventure show will have the actor flying off to exciting destinations.

Ever since TV5 “seduced” Aga Muhlach into joining its growing stable of stars, industry insiders and fans have been wondering what “exciting” new productions the channel has lined up for its new recruit. Will it be yet another sitcom in the traditional Doc Aga mold? Will it be a drama anthology (our own personal preference for the gifted actor)? Will it be a musical variety extravaganza?

Those formats could still be in the pipeline for Aga at TV5, but his first show for his new studio has been announced, and it’s a deucey in its own right. —It’s titled “Pinoy Explorer,” and the novel travel-adventure show has Aga flying off to a different exciting or relatively unexplored destination each week or month, with viewers coming along for the fun ride. —Nice.

Actually, the concept may not be as novel as all that. For some years now, “Today” show host, Matt Lauer, has been flying off to some new destinations each season, in the show’s hit feature titled, “Where In The World Is Matt Lauer?”

Well, even if Aga’s show was partly “inspired” by the “Today” feature, that’s OK—what’s important is how “Pinoy Explorer” does its job. So, we’re keeping our fingers (and toes) crossed that “Pinoy Explorer” lives up to its promise. It should be a really fun trip with Aga acting as jolly guide or diving buddy. After all, he’s known and liked for his lighthearted and sometimes even childlike view of life, which helps keep him young

—certainly, younger than his 40-something calendar years.

HILTON. Subject and object of constant public attention and discussion.

Paris in Manila

Even as Aga Muhlach is flying off to destinations unknown abroad, don’t look now, but the controversial celebrity, Paris Hilton, has flown in to spend five days in Manila opening a boutique, designing a resort’s clubhouse, and doing whatever else jetsetting celebrities do when they go off to “conquer” a country. Well, Paris sure delighted her local fans, even if her arrival was marred by the loss of two of her phones somewhere along the way.

Another coincidental downer was the report just a few days ago that Paris has made it to a list that no star would want to be on: She’s now “officially” one of the Top 10 “most hated” people in the US! For your information, she’s ensconced at No. 8.

Why is the pretty heiress “hated” in the States (but, judging from her enthusiastic welcome here, not in the Philippines)? Part of the intense dislike could be due to “celebrity envy”—she appears to have everything, we don’t, and oooh!, that really gets some people’s goat!

On the other hand, part of the seething scorn could be due to Paris’ “signature” projection, aided and abetted by her own reality TV show—which used to characterize her as a vapid, shallow, self-absorbed, willful, and all-around turn-off!

Now, why would a star intentionally aim for such a negative projection? Perhaps to make herself controversial, and thus always in the news and the subject and object of constant public attention and discussion. —Well, if there’s substance to that view, Paris’ handlers appear to have done their job too well, because she’s made it to that scurrilous list.

—Time now for some damage control, don’t you think?