Lose some, win some on TV

DANTES. Hosts cooking show with a historic and heroic twist.

We get to see only a few TV shows about the arts, so we eagerly awaited the telecast of the new program on the visual arts, “Gallery Girls,” featuring young women who are budding experts and apprentices in top US galleries.

Unfortunately, when we finally got to watch the show, it turned out that it was more interested in the girls’ private and social lives than in the paintings hanging on the walls of their galleries! The focus was on the lovely ladies’ catfights over the most eligible men, and their desperate need for speedy advancement in the gallery world.

To achieve this, they were ready to use all the wiles and connections they had—especially the daughters of top collectors, who got their wily way with gallery owners by promising that their wealthy dads would give them good business.

The new show is occasionally diverting, but we still wish that it would focus more on the art, and less on the hearts of its resident feuding tarts. —Perhaps next season?

More to offer

Another show we recently caught for the first time, “Hapag ng Mga Bayani,” on GMA News TV, turned out to have more to offer, as host Dingdong Dantes and guest cooks and chefs shared recipes associated with some of our heroes.

The cooking show with a historic and heroic twist was a pleasant and informative viewing experience. The highlight of the telecast we viewed was its unusual focus on the dishes that Ninoy Aquino ate during his years behind bars. The program even interviewed the old cook who had prepared those dishes for Ninoy, providing a personal touch and commentary that was quietly moving.

Drama about AIDS

On a telecast of “Magpakailanman” last month, former screen sweethearts, Jennylyn Mercado and Mark Herras, were reunited in a drama about AIDS. Herras played an overseas contract worker who was infected abroad and Mercado portrayed his wife, who later also fell ill.

The episode was a timely reminder for all OFWs and their spouses to be more aware of how the dreaded disease can be contracted and spread—and the need for taking an AIDS test to “detect and protect” the stricken workers’ innocent loved ones.

The TV drama gave Jennylyn ample opportunity to display her thespic ability, but Herras was “sidelined” by his character’s illness and figured in only a few telling scenes—more’s the pity.

Disney’s new TV gambit

On US TV, the question about what the Disney people are doing to replace their old “High School Musical” franchise has been answered by reports that their next big project is a TV series that’s inspired by the “teen beach romp” flicks of the ’50s, topbilling the beautiful blonde-next-door, Sandra Dee, and her similarly dreamy beau, Troy Donahue.

The new and updated series is right up teen viewers’ alley, especially during the long summer break, so a fun time is expected to be had by all—including the Disney folks, who should soon be happily sunbathing and swimming—all the way to the bank!