Novelty quickly overstays its welcome

LOGRO. Slim bag of entertaining tricks. photo: manilafoodistas.blogspot.com

LOCAL TV  has launched many “stellar” chefs in cooking shows that have given viewers a taste for fine cuisine, but we daresay that “flavor of the new year,” Boy Logro, is in a class all his own: While most chefs on TV do their best to impress viewers with their sophistication and mastery of haute cuisine, Logro does quite the opposite—he does his best (or worst) to let everyone know that he’s “just folks,” had to work his way up the kitchen hierarchy, and makes yummy food that anybody can cook—and enjoy.

It is this “everyman” quality and lack of pa-impress stuffiness that endears the new TV star to viewers of his cooking show.

Logro’s most diverting suits are his thick Visayan accent and his natural flair for “spontaneous” comedy. No need for “comic relief” when he’s around!

On the other hand, the “comedy chef’s” bag of entertaining tricks is so thin that, after watching his shows a number of times, the viewer may feel a bit antsy for more reliably professional diversion and information.

Recently, for instance, we caught his “long-version” cooking show and were momentarily entertained by his “signature” street-speak humor, and his antics with a skillet or knife.

Hard time

After a while, however, we noted that he was having a hard time keeping the “fun” patter going as he cooked, resulting in too much “dead air”—the bane of radio-TV performers.

His co-host was eager to be of help, but she didn’t appear to be a trained compere, either, so she too fell short.

What can the show do to keep its proceedings more reliably informative, interesting and diverting? First, it should make its tyro host understand that novelty is fine, but it works only for a short while.

As the weeks pass, viewers notice that the host is running out of fresh things to say and do, so he has to fill in the blanks quickly, or they’ll lose interest. “Novelty” and “spontaneity” can go from initial turn-on to eventual turn-off in only a few months.

Perhaps chef Logro can be given a more dependably entertaining and professional co-host? Maybe some really funny celebrities can be invited as members of the studio audience, to sample the dishes being cooked or do a hopefully humorous running commentary to solve the show’s “dead air” problem? Whatever.

Novelty is loads of fun, but it quickly overstays its welcome.