Carmen’s clueless conundrum

PADILLA. Bone of contention.

On “Ang Probinsyano,” the big news last month was the emergence of Carmen (Bela Padilla) as the series’ bone of contention— in more ways than one.

All of a sudden, the young widow of Cardo’s twin brother has decided to “love” the guy (Arjo Atayde) who killed him! She doesn’t know this but viewers do, so we are all appalled at her lousy judgement.

Of course she did it not for herself but for her son, Junior, to give him the dad he needs and wants—but why this rather oily and obviously “suspect” character? Bests us, and we hope Carmen will come to her senses—posthaste!

Carmen’s current conundrum is proving to be a problem not just for her, but for the series’ good guys, as well. How can so many great cops be such lousy judges of character, allowing Arjo’s character to decieve them—for years!—Minus 60 points for everybody, all around.

This goes double for Cardo (Coco Martin), who’s determined to avenge his twin brother’s death—but doesn’t even suspect that the killer is right  beside him—and is bedding his brother’s widow to boot!

We’re all for secrets, big surprises and flawed heroes and all that, but this group’s cluelessness is mind-boggling. Our cop friends tell us that there are no secrets in Manila—but, in this show, the best cops don’t even know that their own top ranks have long been invaded and infected by the enemy?—Oh, wow.

Another problem with “Ang Probinsyano” now is that Albert Martinez’s character is still being used as the series’ top villain, despite his failure to rise to the evil occasions for months now.

Program updates

Eugene Domingo’s new “anthology comedy” show on GMA 7, “Dear Uge,” sounds like a good idea, because we definitely need variety and fresh, alternative concepts on local TV.—But, the episode we caught on March 5 didn’t live up to expectations.

It was about the fake marriage that Benjamin Alves and Jackie Rice entered into just so he could come into his inheritance—a rather tired concept that they couldn’t freshen up enough.

New shows have to work harder to prove their worth, and encourage viewers to shift to watching it, rather than the program they patronize on the same time slot.

Better, fresher scripting and direction are needed to make the show come into its own, and give Eugene a TV starrer she can truly be proud of.

On “Banana Sundae” on March 6, fun features that worked and clicked with the studio audience included a long, over-the-top spoof of local teleseryes, with guest star Jolina Magdangal joining the show’s regulars in briskly coming up with one radically “shocking” revelation after another.

On the other hand, an even longer spoof of TV “advice” shows failed to fly. Still, the show as a whole was a fun view, and Jolina scored on point of versatility, essaying a number of different roles with dependable skill and wit.

Also noteworthy was Ryan Bang’s effort to speak better Tagalog. He now joins Sam Milby in a very short list of “imported” talents who have finally bitten the bullet and worked harder to learn the language of most of the people who comprise their intended audience.

Sure hope that Daniel Matsunaga, Fabio Ide and so many other recalcitrants will shake a leg—and catch up!