Too much of a feisty and sassy thing

PINEDA. Coco Martin’s scrappy little sidekick is now playing it too big.

Our recent article on “real-looking” child stars got good feedback from viewers, some of whom agreed that the minitrend in favor of non-tisoy talents should be extended to include—all age groups of local TV-film actors! Now, that would boost the reality and believability factors on local TV in a big and much-needed way!

On the other hand, we note that one of the Pinoy-looking newcomers we cited, Simon Pineda (Onyok in “Ang Probinsyano”) has quickly become too siga and angas for comfort.

He’s become instantly popular as Coco Martin’s scrappy, little sidekick on the hit show, but he’s now playing it too big, loud and broad, so his mentors should make it a point to rein him in!

On “Princess In The Palace,” the problem now is the implausibility of some of its “presidential” and “palatial” scenes.

For instance, Ryzza Mae Dizon’s character was recently scolded by the snooty lola Boots Anson Roa plays on the show, and tearfully decided to sneak out of Malacañang Palace—as easy as pie! We wonder what real presidential security personnel have to say about that!

Yes, it’s a difficult task to approximate the actual presidential situation and syndrome, but the show simply has to measure up, because believability in production and execution isn’t preferred, it’s required!

For starters, the actor playing the president’s security chief in the daytime series is too young and raw to be credible in his important role. Adjustments and improvements clearly need to be made, before incredulous viewers’ eyebrows fly off their brows completely.

On “Ningning,” the otherwise viewable series is still dissipating its focus on its main protagonists by now going into its supporting players. Last Monday, for instance, the big to-do was over a secondary character’s impending wedding.

Like we’ve said, this can be a good thing because it “democratizes” the drama, but it can also end up upstaging the principal players and diluting their conflicts, which should be central to the show. Better artistic judgment is decidedly in order.

On “It Takes Gutz to Be a Gutierrez,” the first season’s generally “beautiful but bland” proceedings have now been substantially spiced up by the reality show’s firmer focus on Annabelle Rama, the Gutierrez family’s feisty matriarch.

The main object and target of her caustic and pithy comments is her only daughter, Ruffa, who resents her “smothering” mom’s penchant for “running her life,” despite her already being an adult (and then some).

This can be too much of the same nagging and hectoring thing over and over again—but, it’s still more viewable than the first season’s lovely but bland clichés.

‘Showtime’s’ extra effort

Most of the time, TV program hosts with daily shows do pretty much the same, old shtick—but, once in a bracing while, they exert extra effort and creativity to come up with special production numbers that surprise even themselves.

This is what’s occasionally been happening on “Its Showtime,” where the hosts push themselves to come up with memorable concepts and performances. For instance, last Monday, Karylle and Jhong’s team came up with nothing less than a short original Filipino musical about two sibling children who pledge to look out for each other.

Their paths soon diverge, and they’re played in adulthood by Karylle as a singing star, and Jhong as her brother, now tragically a criminal. Still, he manages to save her life before he expires—so, he ends up being true to his pledge, despite the passing of the years and their story’s tragic denouement.

That sounds rather pat and predictable, but the performances were so committed, and the new songs by Yael Yuzon so good that the musical story flared to moving life.

Top marks

The fact that the show had come up with a minimusical rather than just the usual “wala  lang” pa-kwela surprised everyone—and thrilled the studio audience, which gave the number top marks.

Yes, even daily “racketeers” on TV can do exceptional work—so, they should do it more often, right? After all, they profess to love their audience to bits, so why not prove it as memorably as they did last week?

Fact is, truly special production numbers could end up becoming more frequent treats on “It’s Showtime”: Last Tuesday, the team of Vhong Navarro and Ryan Bang presented a different format that was also exceptionally well-conceptualized, produced and performed. They came up with a more technical marvel that involved the use of pre-taped TV images inveighing against the pollution of the environment, which were seamlessly integrated with the two hosts’ live actions—as well as those of guest players like Angelica Panganiban and John Lloyd Cruz.

The complicated number was memorable in its own right, so the show’s other hosts now realize that they also have to pump up their creativity and hard work—or else their relative laziness will be too embarrassingly obvious to ignore or cover up!

We hope that other TV people will in turn realize that they should also wake up, get off their slothful butts, and treat their viewers to the best they can be!