Busiest, buzziest bees on the tube

DE BELEN. Needs to lose her “excess baggage.”

Don’t look now but, all of a sudden, one of the busiest talents on local television is—Janice de Belen!

Time was when the only regular TV show she had was the cooking-and-celebrity-talk program, “Spoon.” These days, however, she’s one of Boy Abunda’s cohosts on the reformatted “Ang Buzz ng Bayan,” and she’s a regular on the teleserye, “Honesto,” and on “Maria Mercedes.” —When it rains, it pours!

Producers and directors like casting Janice in their shows, because she not only acts believably and well, but expresses herself candidly, succinctly and sometimes even wittily, so she’s an asset to interview and “forum” productions—unlike some other show biz stars, who content themselves with reading script spiels, period.

Now that she’s on the TV screen so often, Janice should next focus on trying to lose her “excess baggage.” As Aga Muhlach is in the process of currently showing, it can be done—and it can work additional wonders even for high-flying stellar careers.

Janice’s male counterpart in terms of “busy-ness” on-cam is GMA 7’s Arnold Clavio, who starts his TV workday with the early-early show, “Unang Hirit,” does other daily or weekly programs as the hours tick away—and then caps everything with a late, late newscast!

The last time we chatted with the overachieving and overdriven Clavio, we asked him if he still found the time to sleep, and he sheepishly countered with “Oo naman!” Fine, but we still think that the popular and gifted host and newscaster would serve his viewers even better if he had more time to bone up on the multiple topics he tackles on his many shows and—get more sleep!

TV people should remind themselves that their shows are viewed by thousands and sometimes even millions of people, so they should give them their absolute best, not an earnest facsimile thereof. Sure, some talents are exceptionally gifted, versatile and enterprising, but, when the demands and expectations are way too much, something’s got to give—and we sure hope that it isn’t the popular and overworked talent’s health!