Unusual images on my TV screen

BEYONCÉ. Took the easy way out.

Last week, I finally caught Solar TV’s “Cebuano News” telecast, and found it a promising programming endeavor. Since I understand Cebuano, I was able to evaluate the show’s reports and found them fairly easy to follow.

Thinking more generally, I can see this new service to Cebuano-speaking viewers catching on. In time, would somebody “dare” to do a drama series in Cebuano? A musical program featuring Cebuano songs and singers?

The logic behind all this is that many Cebuano speakers live all over the Philippines, including Metro Manila. Some of them would welcome shows in the language they most prefer to use, hence this programming initiative.

A percentage of that specialized “niche” audience would be good enough to make more Cebuano-language shows a viable proposition.

—And, if Cebuano TV programs are here, can shows in the other major local languages or dialects be far behind?

Incredible scam

On US TV, the big deal these days is the incredible scam pulled on a Hawaiian football star by his close friend, who used the photo of a beautiful girl to make his unsuspecting buddy believe that he was meeting and talking to a real woman—with whom he promptly fell in love!

The sports star was really clueless, because he continued to lovingly interact with his “girlfriend” for a long time—until she “died!”

When the scam was finally exposed, the viewing public was incredulous, but the football star stuck to his story. Viewers’ attention then shifted to the scam’s perpetrator, who was “talented” enough to be able to fool his friend as he spoke in a girl’s voice.

Behavior

Naturally, some people sniffed more than a whiff of homosexual longing in the scam, and the scammer’s behavior when he was finally interviewed on TV did little to belie that added complication.

Elsewhere, TV show hosts criticized Beyoncé for lip-synching her rendition of the American national anthem during US President Barack Obama’s recent second investiture.

Sheepishly, Beyoncé admitted to taking the easy way out, but explained that she did so because she didn’t have time to rehearse at the venue.

To prove her detractors wrong, Beyoncé sang live at a function before the Super Bowl—and her “amazing” performance left everyone open-mouthed. Rebuttal accepted—and, case closed!