A hallmark of quality is consistency

John Lloyd Cruz

After “Home Sweetie Home” began telecasting, we didn’t pay much attention to it because we found its storylines generally thin and predictable, and female lead, Toni Gonzaga, wasn’t believable as an “ordinary” married woman.

However, after she got married in real life and had a baby of her own, we caught up with the show again to see if her portrayal has benefited from her actual experience as a wife and mother.

The good news is that it has, because she’s less put-on and more comfortable in her now “lived-in” TV sitcom persona, and that’s all to the good.

On the other hand, the weekly sitcom’s plotting continues to be thin and predictable. The recent Saturday we caught it, for instance, the big to-do was about the show’s resident middle-class family being traumatized by a wave of burglaries, especially when its members mistook a dollar sign scrawled on their gate to be the dreaded “code” for their house to be next on the burglary ring’s list.

It turned out that the “code” was actually a harbinger of good fortune, indicating that they were supposed to get free groceries from a store. But, since the dollar sign had been timorously erased, they ended up with—nothing.

That’s it? A whole show hanging on such a slim thread of misplaced fear and dread? More substantial and intricately witty comedic plotting, please!

Another “nega” note on the less than “sweetie” TV treat is its being so relentlessly loud and urgent. We suppose that it’s the production’s way of covering up for its less than eventful plotting, but the distraction only makes things worse.

The screaming culprits are the supporting comedians in the show who do their darnedest to upstage each other so viewers will notice them, not the rest of the pushy competition. But, this “loudest is best” vibe has the opposite effect, turning viewers off, instead of on.

We were also disappointed to see the show’s principal actors, led by John Lloyd Cruz, pretty much letting the supporting cast members do most of the acting and comedic heavy lifting. In particular, we felt that John Lloyd should be turning in a more dominant portrayal, because it’s his show.

Established stars should realize that success has to be continually worked at and earned, or else viewers will feel short-changed and cease to be avid fans.

Just because the weekly sitcom has been running for a long time is no excuse for its lead players to take it easy.

As some other stars have found out, when you think you’re a permanent favorite and take it easy, the impact of your performance is lessened, and some viewers’ attention and devotion may stray.

Elsewhere on the John Lloyd Cruz “front,” we find it interesting that the now “maturing” star is becoming the costar of choice and du jour of many of our “bankable” female TV-film leads.

He’s “earned” this choice status by coming up with “serial” hits with Sarah Geronimo, Bea Alonzo and other popular actresses. So, their respective fans periodically yearn for new “reunion” projects with them, which they obligingly and profitably supply.

In addition, John Lloyd has earned a new niche for himself as an “indie” supporter and draw, further enhancing his thespic chops and reputation. How’s that for having the best of both worlds?

All the more reason, then, for John Lloyd to not breeze through his weekly sitcom chores. After all, the best artists are also the most consistent.