Far-out ‘convolutions’ in TV dramas

TOMAS. Her spoofy salvos hit their mark.

VIEWERS of local drama series keep complaining about how illogical, unreal and over-the-top some plot twists and tangles have become, just to keep viewers hooked.

It’s par for the course to see characters seemingly die in accidents and fires, or as murder or assassination victims—then, some weeks later, they reappear, alive and kicking and none the worse for their (temporary) deathly detour!

Also incredible but pulled off with alacrity and frequency are complex genealogical or genetic links between seeming strangers, who turn out to be twins separated at birth, or newly born babies “exchanged” in the hospital, and thus growing up with the wrong set of parents.

Then, there are the siblings who grow up separately, meet many years later and fall in love—only to be told that their love is verboten. —But, a subsequent additional twist at the end of the series reveals a stunning, heretofore secret complication that makes it OK for them to end up together for a final, incredible but roseately romantic clinch!

Viewers scoff at these and other far-out “convolutions,” but TV dramatists resort to them anyway, blithely pointing out that teleseryes are there just to pass the time, and shouldn’t be taken seriously. If you do believe in their incredible plot premises and developments, that’s your lookout!

In addition, some TV people point out that some teleseryes may be wildly implausible and “operatically” over the top, but they can’t hold a candle to the even more amazingly impossible occurrences on American soap operas, especially those that have been telecasting daily for decades on end.

Their plot twists, turns, tangles and tumbles have become so outrageously “over” that they make their local counterparts look like rank amateurs!

On second thought…

We had high hopes for GMA 7’s two-week “political rom-com, “Naku, Boss Ko,” and viewed it quite regularly.

On the plus side, some of its spoofy salvos hit their mark quite pointedly and instructively. And Tessie Tomas’ “political makeover specialist” character was exceptionally well-conceptualized and portrayed.

In general, however, the miniseries was not as effective as planned and hoped, because it spent too much time on its “teen rom-com” scenes, featuring Ruru Madrid and Gabbi Garcia.

Their sometimes predominant participation distracted from the series’ political satire objective, which should have held sway.

This is unfortunate, because the miniseries could have been significantly instructive during the period leading up to the May 9 polls.