John Lloyd plays it deftly light and vulnerable in new sitcom

Lloyd Cruz

“Home Sweetie Home,” ABS-CBN’s new Saturday night sitcom, costars John Lloyd Cruz and Toni Gonzaga—but, if its first telecast last Jan. 4 is any indication, it’s John Lloyd who carries the show.

Being the most experienced and acclaimed TV-movie actor hereabouts, he has a special knack for the light, deft, puckish touch that makes this situation comedy series especially thoroughly winning. Toni is an experienced sitcom performer in her own right, but her harder, sassier approach is less cuddly, warm and endearing.

John Lloyd’s performance is not all-out, gung-ho funny. He works with gradual accretion, a vulnerable look here, a hapless reaction there, all the while slowly but surely getting viewers on his character’s side, caring about what happens to him, and boosting his spirits and resolve when the series’ villains give him a tough time.

The resident “villains” in this case are Toni’s Fil-Am suitor from Hawaii (Jayson Gainza), and Toni’s termagant mom (Sandy Andolong) who thinks that the Fil-Am admirer is a much bigger and better catch for her daughter.

She also thinks that John Lloyd is “too handsome,” and therefore can’t be trusted to be a loyal spouse, because many other women will be out to seduce him with their wanton wiles!

Other regular characters include Toni’s younger siblings and John Lloyd’s dad, played with characteristic roving eye and swagger by Rico J. Puno.

The series’ premiere episode was diverting enough, especially the flashback scene in which John Lloyd and Toni’s characters were wed—at a demolition site, of all places, with former Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim doing the instant honors!

Thus far, however, the two stellar leads’ differing comedic styles have yet to mesh, as John Lloyd plays it with a light touch and Toni is brassier and sassier.

Being experienced professionals, however, they should be able to find a happy meeting of minds and styles soon!

For her part, Andolong comes across with the feistiness and brio a resident “irritant” needs to do her job well. She isn’t a villain in the vile and super-nasty sense of the term, but is irritating enough to make John Lloyd have to work harder to achieve peace and rapport.

This especially becomes a tall order when Toni and her family are left homeless and have to move in with John Lloyd and his dad.

If three’s company, six is definitely a crowd—especially when Sandy, instead of being properly grateful, is improperly critical of her son-in-law’s hard-up status in life!

Other notes: Toni’s younger brother is predictably played by a stout child actor (fatness is seen as funny on local screens), but a possible saving grace would be if the other characters keep nagging him to eat healthier and lose weight. That would make similarly fat, young viewers more aware of their own need to opt for a healthier lifestyle.

Finally, the show’s occasional use of flashbacks is OK  at this early stage in its storytelling, but we hope that they aren’t resorted to much longer, because they make the proceedings feel passive and dated. Situation comedies should come off as fresh and feisty, above all else.