JANA Agoncillo
Last Jan. 5, the well-liked, late-morning drama series, “Ningning,” finally concluded its extended storytelling. Unlike other shows, it did not overstay its welcome by stretching its original story out too thinly.
So, it ended on an emotional and thematic high, reaping grateful viewers’ plaudits due to its many meaningful “lessons” and insights, which were made truly empathetic because the series was about “ordinary” people—who rose to extraordinarily admirable heights of human behavior and relationships.
The show’s regular viewers were grateful for the implicitly believable and felt portrayals of its leads—Jana Agoncillo in the title role, and Ketchup Eusebio as her young father.
Even better, the characters around them, played by Rommel Padilla, Sylvia Sanchez, Nyoy Volante, Vandolph Quizon, Mercedes Cabral and John Steven de Guzman, came up with similarly felt performances.
Another major contribution of the series was its writers’ refusal to go the way of all flash and shallowness seen in other TV drama series, in the way that they wrote dialogue for child characters.
The sad and sorry industry practice is to make children sound too wise, old and “profound” for their tender years, thus robbing them of the innocence and vulnerability that should actually be their unique and special quality.
So, “Ningning” writers should take a well-deserved group bow—for a “teaching” job well done!
The last few weeks of “Ningning” were particularly heartbreaking because its title character was given a grave medical problem that saw her going completely blind—before the last week’s expectedly happy conclusion, after Ningning underwent a successful corneal transplant!
In the process, the finale didn’t just effect an inspiringly bracing conclusion, but it also educated viewers about the great need for organ donors to turn disabled people’s lives around.
We trust that, after the show’s conclusion, many more people will volunteer to donate their organs, to make “Ningning’s” happy ending a reality in other disabled people’s lives, as well.
What’s up next for the “realistically inspiring” drama series’ production team and actors?
We hope that director Jeffrey Jeturian and his team will be tapped to come up with another implicitly believable series.
As for Jana Agoncillo, she’s good and ready for a film showcase—before she gets any older!
If you liked “Ningning” as much as we did, the next time you hear fake and pompous dialogue written for and delivered by child characters on a local TV drama series—make sure you (loudly) complain, so that the erring writers will know that they can no longer get away with it—because viewers won’t let them!