Albert, Abrenica emerge victorious on ‘Artista Academy’

ABRENICA. His looks and portrayals were less of the standard mold.
ALBERT. Displays innate “emotional intelligence.”

Since it started telecasting some months ago, we’ve been keeping tabs on TV5’s star discovery tilt, “Artista Academy.” In general, we laud the channel for trying to create its own stars, rather than just “renting” or “leasing” them from other networks.

But, on occasion, we’ve been ticked off by the strange or far-out comments made by some of its jurors, which indicate that their acumen is not as spot-on as it should be.

Either that, or their way of expressing those opinions is not sufficiently clear or articulate, hence the awkward feeling we got that some of their choices may not be indicative of genuine stellar potential.

So, when the tilt recently came up with its six finalists, most of them too safely hewed to the standard industry template for young stars these days. How then could some of them emerge as genuine, charismatic discoveries who would stand out because they had something unique to offer? Tangentially, we also felt on occasion that some promising finds had been dropped too early, like Stephanie Rowe.

In any case, after we saw more performances by the six finalists, more detailed notes presented themselves: For instance, Mark Neumann was tisoy-handsome, but he had a rather weak mouth. Wouldn’t that get in the way of his stellar chances?

In terms of acting, Sophie Albert stood out from the get-go, because she appeared to have the innate “emotional intelligence” required to come up with felt portrayals. We took longer to settle on her male counterpart, but we finally chose Vin Abrenica, because his looks and portrayals were less of the standard mold.

Imagine our pleasure, therefore, when at the end of the tilt’s recent finals, our choices, Sophie and Vin, emerged as the top winners!

Bigger surprise

Vin’s victory was the bigger surprise, because his kuya, Aljur, isn’t exactly acclaimed for his acting prowess. Well, it looks like Vin got better thespic training, because his portrayals are generally more believable and empathetic than his kuya’s.

It also helps that Vin isn’t tisoy, or drop-dead handsome. Thus, he’s more of a person than a pluperfect stereotype, which is a plus point in an industry overcrowded with predictably “perfect” starlets.

Aside from announcing its two winners, “Artista Academy” further unveiled TV5’s plan to showcase its tilt’s finalists in a teen comedy-drama series. So, promising “rejects” like Rowe will have another chance to prove their stellar “K.”

In addition, TV5 will launch another discovery tilt next year, this time for “tween” (12 to 15 years old) talents.

In this regard, we suggest that TV5 starts its audition and training process much earlier than usual, say six months earlier, so that it can secretly choose its semi-finalists and have enough time to train them really well before they reveal their identities to the viewing public.

This will go a long way in correcting a major flaw in this year’s tilt, the revelation of relatively raw finalists, who didn’t impress knowledgeable viewers all that much. Six additional months of (secret) training should make up for that lack, with much more impressive and truly stellar results!