Edu lightens and brightens ‘Good Morning Club’

MANZANO. Combines seriousness of purpose with a blithe presentational style.

After we failed to see Edu Manzano on TV5’s “Good Morning Club” last month, we thought that we would give the early-morning show a wide berth for a long time. But, what would you know? Our “professionalism” won out, and we found ourselves waking up at 4:30 a.m. the very next day, to see if Edu would finally show up on his newest program. —Well, he did, and we’re really glad we gave the show a follow-up view.

Edu’s presence on the show as its newest co-host has definitely boosted its appeal. He’s an experienced TV host with a laid-back and wryly humorous style that lightens and brightens the program, which can sometimes be too earnest for its own good.

Edu knows how to combine seriousness of purpose with a blithe presentational style, a knack that some of his co-hosts would do well to emulate.

Personality

Another male co-host, Paolo Bediones, has been with the show longer and is a good on-cam personality in his own right. But, with Edu now on hand, he has a kumpare to chummily interact with, and their banter gives the show another with-it plus.

As for the program’s female co-hosts, the fact that Edu is a looker and a charmer definitely adds to their excitement or at least “delight” level, and the telecast we viewed felt more dynamic than the show without Edu did, just the day before.

While Edu still looks young and buff, he admitted that he’s already “57, going 58,” so that makes him the show’s most senior co-host. As such, he was the perfect handler of a medical segment on male menopause, or andropause.

Similarly apt and even inspired was the decision to tap Chiqui Roa-Puno to co-host the segment with Edu. Together, the relatively mature co-hosts handled the “delicate” topic and its attendant discussion really well, and we look forward to seeing them interacting with each other soon. In fact, TV5 could think of tapping them to co-host a new talk show, because they appear to work well together.

Edu next figured on the show’s “Kumare Con Pare” portion, in which he, Chiqui and Tintin Babao discussed the sticky issue of spousal privacy, or spouses’ “right” to intrude into their partners’ personal space, which includes their cell phones, Facebook accounts, etc. At the end of the long portion, they agreed that the rule should be: Ask permission first, before reading cell-phone messages, etc. —Fair enough!