TANTAY. Provides leavening lilt of humor.
On “The Voice-Kids,” the three mentors have already chosen two finalists each, and the six “survivors” will “battle” it out for victory starting today, with viewers’ “votes” finally kicking in as a decisive factor in choosing the ultimate winner.
On “My Destiny,” a new plus point has emerged in the portrayal being turned in by Al Tantay as Carla Abellana and Rhian Ramos’ doting dad. What makes Al’s performance exceptional is its very natural feel, like he isn’t acting at all!
Without pushing for laughs, he helps provide the leavening lilt of humor that balances the series’ “tragic” scenes involving Rhian’s recently revealed grave illness.
On “Dading,” the new factor that’s emerging is rather negative: For some reason, a lot of the weight of the show’s “villain” element is being dumped on the insufficient shoulders of the character actress who’s been cast as Gabby Eigenmann’s “parasite” of a sister.
She keeps causing problems, looking down on his partner (Glaiza de Castro) and her daughter, Princess, leeching off him, using money he’s given her to pay bills for other purposes—etc.
A better and more focused actress could have made these inimical acts more understandable to viewers, but such understanding is not to be had from the unfocused actress’ kneejerk-nasty perfromance.
A major development on the show is the return of Princess’ birth father (Benjamin Alves), who could make life even more problematic for poor, stressed-out Dading!
Relevant issue
On “Home, Sweetie, Home” recently, it was good to see that the weekly sitcom had a subplot that enabled it to tackle the currently relevant issue of obese children.
Its resident plump child actor was made to try to lose weight—and, even if he ended up losing only one pound, it could have made some parents of fat kids think about confronting the problem in their own homes—and that’s all to the good!
On the other hand, the show has an “insufficient villain” problem of its own, with many of its problems and conflicts being instigated or worsened by the nasty, boastful character played by Jayson Gainza. Why is this single character being given so much “weight” to carry? His pushy, busybody portrayal has gotten tired very quickly.
On “Moon of Desire,” things are coming along much better, and the cast, led by Meg Imperial, has been rewarded with a “Book Two” extension.
On “The Half-Sisters,” however, the love team of Barbie Forteza and Andre Paras isn’t clicking, because the young actors are so physically “uneven”—she’s quite petite and he’s too tall, so they’re visually “off.”
Yes, some actors are able to surmount such a problem (for instance, Nora Aunor once successfully costarred with Victor Wood, even if they were physically mismatched, with more than a foot’s difference in height), but Andre and Barbie aren’t as skilled at similarly compensating for the discrepancy.