New career moves and stellar grooves

TV5 has come up with a particularly attractive new anthology series for Boots Anson Roa—“Lola Basyang,” in which the acclaimed senior star portrays one of the most iconic and beloved “storyteller” character on local radio-TV—in a decidedly fresh, modern and New-Media light!

The Lola here is now more modishly referred to by her young wards as “Lola B.” The stories being told are quite traditional (on Mariang Makiling, Juan Tamad, etc.), but the way this “cool” grandma narrates them is definitely not boring and sleep-inducing, and in fact is consciously calibrated to delight our media-savvy kids!

With Jun Lana on top of things, we can expect the new show, which premieres this month, to be child-friendly in the real, contemporary spirit of the term.

If it turns out to be as creative and perky as it promises to be, parents and mentors should make sure that their children watch the new show, because most of the other kiddie TV shows they patronize are not as “friendly” as they profess to be!

One step back

Speaking of age-appropriate child performances on TV, we used to like the current second season of “The Voice Kids” because most of its chosen contestants were really young. Unfortunately, last weekend, more 10, 11, 12 and even 13-year-old singers unsuitably got into the competition, so our enthusiastic support has diminished.

In addition, the “kids” are singing too many love songs, so we’re back to square one in that regard, as well. When will we ever learn that child singers are loved not just for their talent, but also for their innocence? That means, no adolescent, tweens and teens, please.

Comedic showcase

On “It’s Showtime,” the latest tilt seeks to provide a showcase for new comedians. Ten especially promising comics have been preselected for the tilt, which will train them for six weeks to become even better and (hopefully) funnier entertainers, with the ultimate winner copping big prizes that should send him laughing very loudly, all the way to the bank!

At first blush, all 10 solo, duo or trio acts came off fairly well, except that some of them were too gung-ho loud and livid to be comfortably diverting.

It’s also rather sad to see that there are too many “funnily ugly” comics, which is why the relatively telegenic Bob is getting more than his share of (relieved) viewers’ attention.

We trust that, next tilt around, female comics will be given their chance to compete and shine, because some of our lady laughsmiths, like Tessie Tomas, Mitch Valdes, Giselle Sanchez, Ces Quesada and Eugene Domingo, are the best in the biz. It makes sense, therefore, to expect that their younger counterparts will be similarly fave. —And they’ll probably look better than their goony male counterparts, too!