More gumption than guts

GORGEOUS, garrulous Gutierrezes: (from left) Dad Eddie, Ruffa, Raymond, mom Annabelle and Richard

Reality TV buffs in the United States have all sorts of celebrities’ “aquarium” lives to ogle at, from Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott’s roller-coaster marriage to the Kardashian clan’s shrilly shallow antics.

The peeping-Tom format is doted on by producers because it’s relatively economical to bankroll, but it hasn’t caught on here, because local celebrities are notoriously onion-skinned and don’t like being bashed and trashed—an occupational hazard for celebrities who put their private lives on glaring, baring public display in “reality” shows.

We recall that Pepe Smith and his similarly idiosyncratic kids did a local reality show some years ago, but other stars haven’t exactly been scrambling to jump onto the reality TV bandwagon.

Well, the local counterparts of the Kardashians, the gorgeous and garrulous Gutierrezes, have just filled in that blank with their new show, “It Takes Gutz to Be a Gutierrez,” for the E! channel.

Take note that it’s a regional TV production rather than a completely local one, so subtitles are all over the place, as we saw when we caught the show’s premiere telecast on June 1.

In addition, the Gutierrezes are encouraged to speak in English as much as possible, which may be fine for the kids—but makes Mama Annabelle Rama sometimes uncharacteristically tongue-tied!

As the first telecast unreeled, we sensed that the production was having a hard time bringing non-Filipino viewers up to snuff in learning enough about the Gutierrez family to get a sufficient sense of context to “understand” their statements and actuations.

Loquacious, laconic

And, what did foreign viewers “get” about the “Gutsy” clan? First off, they were impressively good-looking—definitely a viewing plus! Ruffa and Raymond were also quite loquacious, talking a blue streak about this party and that event—while Richard was relatively laconic, as befits his “young action-drama star” image.

But, he did come up with the telecast’s most “breaking-news” revelation when he finally admitted that he and Sarah Lahbati were the proud parents of a beautiful love child!

That perfectly-timed revelation merely affirmed local show biz’s hottest “open secret,” but it did get the new show the publicity it needs   to attract droves of viewers from the very start.

Less positively, we observed that, while the Gutierrezes were lovely and loquacious and all that, some of them tended to come across as rather boring and lacking in substance.

Ruffa’s archly soignee projection and expression contributed to this overall impression.

The most “bored and boring” segment was the one in which Ruffa shot the breeze with her two similarly “arch” amigas, to generally stultifying effect.

Well, perhaps the show will get less “bored and boring” soon enough: A preview shows the family going on a regional ocean cruise—and sometimes getting on each other’s nerves, with Papa Eddie irritatedly complaining about his kids’ constantly argumentative and combative proclivities!

Eventful and colorful tsunamis forthcoming in the Gutierrezes’ TV aquarium? Bring them on!