Dealmakers and deal-breakers on TV

WITH SO MANY new TV shows currently vying for viewers’ attention, new productions have been working hard to come up with “unique viewing propositions” to make them stand out.

More than any other factor, “fantasy” is the most popular draw in this regard, with GMA 7’s fantaseryes leading the way. On “Dwarfina,” the dealmaker is the series’ pint-sized heroine, portrayed by Heart Evangelista.

The show is popular, but some deal-breakers distract from its success. First, some of its “special effects” are too obviously sketchy or artificial to be truly special. And, in terms of performance, Will Devaughn’s portrayal of a mini-royal is so stilted and wooden that we wonder if he’s stumbled into this teleserye by mistake. Shouldn’t he be in “Machete,” instead?

Juxtapositions

Speaking of “Machete,” it has its own dealmaker and deal-breaker juxtapositions: On the plus side, its title player is a certified hunk. On the down side, that’s pretty much all he is, and its resident female villain acts up a “demented” storm but isn’t scary at all—which may help explain why the relatively new show is being rather abruptly concluded.

On “I (Heart) You, Pare,” the storytelling is relatively eventful, but the show has a deal-breaker of its own in Dingdong Dantes’ failure to recognize Regine Velasquez as the girl he kissed early in the story. Not all of the “gay” make-up and “Facifica Falayfay” acting in the world can “explain away” that key reality, so the show’s facile treatment of that important point is a major deal-breaker for the otherwise diverting production.

Instructively enough, the problem has remained now that Regine has changed her “disguise” from florid gay to Dingdong’s male “bro,” complete with macho moustache.

Dingdong must really be shortsighted, because he still can’t see that it’s a girl under all that “macho” make-up. Regine’s clearly un-masculine speaking voice is another dead giveaway, but Dingdong doesn’t notice the discordant pitch, either. How conveniently clueless can you get?

Finally, on “Nita Negrita,” it’s good that the new series is tackling some Filipinos’ “racist” tendencies by fielding a “black” ingenue lead. But, her distractingly inconsistent and really ebony-black make-up prevents the show from coming into its own as a believable viewing experience.