Too many stars in show business

David Letterman was shooting the breeze with two guests last month, and he bemoaned the lurid scandals that stars have gotten themselves involved in of late. Why he wondered, did many stars feel they were such privileged people that they could flout polite society’s rules and laws with impunity and get away with it? Then he elaborately wiggled and waggled his bushy eyebrows and asked the rhetorical question: “Do we have too many stars?”

The members of the studio audience roared in approval, because the comically cynical TV host was daring to verbalize an “important” question about the function of celebrities in society.

What in fact do celebrities do, aside from being fabulously famous and often infamous? And, why do we have so many so-called stars? Can’t we make do with only half of the huge numbers coming out of the woodwork like a voracious horde of termites?

Serious answer to a silly question: No, unlike annual import-export quotas we can’t put a limit on the number of stars, both genuine or self-styled, who inhabit our local show biz firmament. Nor can we impose a moratorium on the discovery of new starlets just because we feel that we have more than enough of them for our own good.

Practically half of this country’s population wants to be in show business because it’s perceived to be a cushy job that promises fabulous fame and fantastic fortune to the privileged few who are able to graduate from starlet to star.

Even if they can’t act their way out of a dog pound, hundreds of hopefuls without the requisite talent join all sorts of so-called talent discovery tilts . Suntok sa buwan, they call it. Baka sakali magkamali ang mga hurado.

And sometimes the talent scouts and jurors do make humongous mistakes and discover eager-beaver “Stars of Tomorrow”— who aren’t gifted enough even to make it through today! It’s a free country after all and everyone, talent show jurors included, makes mistakes.

Another reason why we can’t put a limit on new starlets and stars is the viewing public’s notoriously short attention span. Time was when new stars would remain popular for at least three show biz seasons; these days, many “amazing” discoveries dazzle viewers for only one year before they fizzle out and join the ranks of the stellar unemployed.  Discoverers of “talent” have to keep trotting out fresh faces to keep the audience interested….even if only momentarily.

New batches of stars also are constantly needed because youth is at a premium in local show biz. With some exceptions, the minute you admit to being no longer a teenager, your stellar “market value” plunges drastically. And if it’s revealed that you’ve gotten married, that practically seals the lid on your career’s coffin!

Finally, new faces are needed because local show business, especially television, is a hungry man that’s always in need of junk food, so programs and series have constantly to be produced—hence the need for an endless supply of fresh faces to keep the industry and its viewers satisfied to satiation.