SANTOS. Her game show doesn’t rest on its laurels.
“Bet on Your Baby” had a particularly viewable telecast last Wednesday—thanks to its decision to feature not the parents of its pint-sized contestants, but their grandparents.
That’s right, it was the turn of celebrity lolos and lolas, Leo Martinez, Nadia Montenegro and Rico Puno, to proudly show off their cute and talented apos, and their daft and dextrous way of solving the tasks and problems that the tilt thought up for them.
All of the kids did well, but it was Rico’s grandson who made it to the weekly finals set for each Friday, and thus get a chance to win the tilt’s top prize of P1 million at the end of the week.
The show should be credited for not resting on its laurels, and periodically coming up with novel innovations, like its recent focus on celebrity grandparents.
Sob stories
On another “Bet” show, the new talent tilt, “Bet ng Bayan,” a lot is being made of many contestants’ six-handkerchief back and sob stories. We know that masa viewers are supposed to go for such weepy come-ons, which make them feel that they’re not alone in their sad lot in life (misery loves company, etc).
But, “Bet ng Bayan” resorts to the “emotional blackmail” so relentlessly that it’s simply too much of a sad and bad thing. So, lighten up, please, and give your poor viewers’ bludgeoned sensibilities a good, long rest!
On “Pure Love,” two days before it ended its run, lead stars Alex Gonzaga and Joseph Marco were given an exceptionally potent opportunity to show how good they could be as actors—in the key dramatic scene, Alex revealed to Joseph, who loved her deeply, that she had only six days to live.
They could have gone to town with the scene’s deep emotional requirements and possibilities—but, alas, they again fell short of the mark.
In particular, it was a sadly missed opportunity for Alex, who hasn’t done well in the series and could have made up for the bland or excessively ditzy impression she’s made so far. —Opportunity missed.