From left: Cacai and Raul Mitra, Ryan Cayabyab and Regine Velasquez in “Sarap Diva.” Facebook Page
We have so many channels telecasting these days that even a cursory survey of currently available viewing options shows that—there’s something on the boob tube for everyone! Practically all tastes, from the sublime to the ridiculous, can be smilingly served, and all itches are enthusiastically scratched, no problem!
On the high end, the BBC World cable channel can be relied upon to provide not just round-the-clock news coverage and public affairs programs, but also shows on art and culture that are generally not to be savored on “free” TV.
On the Bloomberg channel, the acclaimed Charlie Rose expertly conducts incisive interviews and panel discussions that respect viewers’ intelligence instead of insulting it (which is what many other channels lazily and cynically do).
The National Geographic Channel also has eminently viewable shows to offer, more slanted in favor of productions about nature and the sciences. Ditto for Discovery Channel.
For “lifestyle” programs, Sony Channel (formerly beTV), 2nd Avenue and Star World are generally reliable.
Cooking shows all over
What about cooking shows? Instructively, they’re all over the TV programming spectrum, both on cable and “free” TV:
Kris Aquino often features restaurants and chefs on her morning show; GMA 7 has “Sarap Diva” and other gustatory tours of the metro for foodies. 2nd Avenue has “Top Chef,” “Eat, Drink, Love,” “Chef Roblé & Co.,” and “Top Chef Masters.”
More: GMA News Channel tickles the tummy with “Sarap With Family” and “Tara Let’s Eat”; Sony Channel has “Cupcake Wars”; Lifestyle Network has “Flavors of Spain,” “Rachael Ray,” “The Good Cook,” “Cutthroat Kitchen,” “Food Safari,” “Curiosity Got the Chef,” “The Food Tripper,” etc.!
Why the runaway popularity of shows about food and cooking? Well, everybody’s got to eat—but, more pertinently, cooking shows are relatively inexpensive to produce because they require minimal star value—and many commercials are for food products, so a good income is more or less assured!
What about movie buffs and less picky lovers of popcorny cinematic entertainment? Many film channels now avidly and even rabidly aim to please them as well, with a veritable smorgasbord of old and new, good and cheerfully lousy productions—take your pick!
Diverse offerings
For instance, on just one “ordinary” TV day recently, viewers could have watched movies round the clock, including diverse offerings such as “Election” and “Gattaca” on HBO, “Air Force One” on Cinemax, “Jurassic Park” and “Pearl Harbor” on Star Movies, “Batas Militar” and “Kisapmata” (!) on Cinema One, and “Andrea, Paano Ba Maging Isang Ina” on PBO. Not bad, not bad at all!
Finally, what about shows that qualify as “guilty pleasures”? We blush to abashedly cite some of them—all of the Kardashian clan’s trendy and tacky reality programs, the “Real Housewives” and “Big Rich Texas” “stylish” shockeroos, RuPaul’s cross-dressing capers, some smarmy teleseryes, the T3 newscasts, most “Jersey Shore”-type snooky-wookies, ridiculously rough and tough nature shows like “Mountain Men,” and survival challenges with participants cavorting about, naked as the day they were born (too many years ago)!