Eventful debut for kiddie game show

NIÑO AND ALONZO MUHLACH. Stellar promise.

Judy Ann Santos’ new TV show, “Bet On Your Baby,” is making waves on the tube, because it’s the only local game show for kids that features competing teams made up of toddlers and their parents. On the program’s first telecast two weeks ago, the winning team was so lucky that it won the top prize of P1 million!

Talk about a great buena mano debut, that amazing feat generated a lot of interest in the new program, so it looks like its popularity is assured.

The game show’s viewability is further enhanced by the fact that its initial contestants have been celebrity couples and their very young kids. Last telecast, for instance, one of the teams was made up of Niño Muhlach, his wife Abby, and their son, Alonzo.

It was Niño and Abby who had to do most of the work, as Alonzo was made to follow certain instructions, under their persuasive guidance, within a limiting time frame.

In Alonzo’s case, it was to refrain from eating a yummy candy within his reach—so, juvenile self-control and obedience were the key factors up for testing. As anybody with a toddler in the family will attest that can be a very iffy proposition, especially if there’s a time limit involved.

Well, Abby and Niño were able to control their scion, so they ended up winning P200,000—definitely good enough for a day’s fun and games!

What’s unique about the new game show is its combination of childlike fun and the difficulty of some of the tasks up for execution. Some of them require a psychological approach that doesn’t always work, so that provides the unpredictability and excitement that keeps people viewing.

The mother of a toddler herself, Judy Ann is the perfect choice to host this sort of TV game show. The tilt is deceptively easy to handle, because it looks so simple and straightforward, but it actually requires a lot of savvy and subtle guidance, because the young players sometimes get distracted by the “eventful” set, the hectic production situation, etc.

Finally, what about the possibility of young Alonzo following in his famous dad’s show biz footsteps? That’s not all that far-fetched, since Alonzo looks and talks like Niño’s mini-me! After delightfully making his cute and perky debut on “Bet On Your Baby,” we bet that it’s Niño Alonzo’s own time to shine!