New TV shows excite viewers

MANZANO. Exceedingly stressful games.

Last Monday, a number of new TV programs made their debut in a strong bid to attract viewers, and distract them from the shows they usually watch.

At 11 a.m., a new game show, the local version of “Minute to Win It,” with Luis Manzano hosting, made its first batch of contestants try their best to successfully perform the most difficult tasks.

We’ve watched the US original of this show, and can say that, if the local version measures up to its “degree of difficulty,” only a few contestants may be going home with substantial winnings.

In addition, some players could end up being so frustrated by the difficulty of the physical tasks involved that “Minute to Win It” might just end up as the second most stressful game show on the tube, next only to “Million Peso Money Drop,” hosted by Vic Sotto.

We recently watched that show again after our two-week stint abroad, and can report that it still leaves its players utterly stressed and exhausted, because it expects them to be knowledgeable about such a wide range of topics!

Flavor of the season

The games on “Minute to Win It” are more physical in nature, but they’re exceedingly stressful, too—so, lots of luck to everybody, including host Luis, who’s become quite the flavor of the season as far as game- and quiz-show hosting is concerned.

Our worry is that he could be spreading himself out too thinly, so his limitations may be showing sooner than they should. —We sure hope we’re wrong!

Incidentally, we recently bumped into Edu Manzano, Luis’ dad, who’s an expert TV host himself, and we should share that he’s looking great for somebody who’s already a Golden Boy. He’s buff, his face is firm and glowing—whoever or whatever is helping him look like he’s still in his early 40s should take a bow!

Once again, we’re taking this opportunity to wish that a savvy TV producer will soon tap Edu to do what he does best—to host a talk show on the tube.

We hear that, quite recently, there was a plan to get Edu to co-host a chatfest or talk-magazine show with a couple of female TV personalities, but that project has yet to be officially green-lighted.

More pervasive

Any talk show would be a good thing for Edu to do, but the best would be a solo show, like the one Martin Nievera is getting ready to premiere soon. If both Martin and Edu will launch new talk shows at around the same time that could start a trend!

On the more pervasive and dominant teleserye front, the new series to watch out for is Nora Aunor’s drama show for TV5, “Never Say Goodbye,” which also stars Cesar Montano.

Some seasons ago, TV5 did a creditable comeback series for Nora, so we’re upbeat about this new one, as well. This time out, however, the channel should make sure that the series’ interest value doesn’t dip in midstream.

Nora’s previous series started out really well, but soon got bogged down by some other characters’ substories, so Nora had to share too much screen time with her thespic inferiors.

When you have an iconic talent like her, you should make sure that she holds the show’s central focus, from start to finish. Yes, she may not be as big a draw as she used to be, but she’s still the one and only Nora Aunor!