How I survived my sitcom ‘debut’

The call came at the right time.

It was a leisurely Monday afternoon and I was with some friends entertaining a balikbayan guests and her three-year-old daughter who’s up-to-date on local-showbiz goings-on because her mom is a subscriber to TFC (The Filipino Channel), like most of my Pinoy friends in Los Angeles.

My Manila-based friend’s three-year-old daughter is also a TV addict and, like her small cousin from L.A., she’s an incurable, screaming Jolina Magdangal fan who tries her best to act and to dress up and to sing and sound like Jolina.

"I watch Jolina’s show Arriba! Arriba! all the time," boasted the L.A-bred Jolinian with a slight American twang. "She’s my idol."

We were having snacks at Jollibee at Rockwell (where we were showing our balikbayan guests around) and the two little Jolinians were wondering when they could see their idol in the flesh when that call came – from Tang, on behalf of Arriba! Arriba!

"Mag-guest ka naman sa show namin," Tang said.

In Arriba! Arriba!?, I asked Tang quite incredulously.

When the two little Jolinians heard those magic words (Arriba! Arriba!), they screamed like crazy, twirling the Jolina-inspired ribbons in their hair. So I told them that I was being invited to guest on Jolina’s show and they screamed all the more in mounting excitement.

So I said "yes" to Tang, more to please the two excited little Jolinians than to have a belated crack at TV stardom.

The taping was scheduled the next day.

When I woke up more than 12 hours after I said "yes" to Tang, I realized I was back in my right senses and I wanted to back out of the guesting. Too late. The script had been written (I was to play the talent scout named Jet Lo who discovered Jolina a.k.a. Winona Arriba as a singer) and the taping was already in progress, with my "call" set at 2 o’clock that afternoon. So...

I brought along three extra long-sleeved shirts, with matching showbiz-y ties, as instructed by the PA (Production Assistant), armed with the script sent to me midnight of the previous day. I was going to be in three scenes: Onstage supposedly introducing "The star of the show... Winona Arriba!" (Jolina wasn’t around when that scene was shot); at a mamihan where Jet Lo was supposed to have seen Jolina/Winona’s videoke appearance (still, Jolina/Winona wasn’t around during the shooting); and at Jolina/Winona’s home where I was supposed to inform her family (mom Sandy Andolong, dad Johnny Delgado, Ai-Ai delas Alas, Edgar Mortiz, John Lapuz, etc.) that I was grooming Jolina/Winona as the next big star.

The mamihan scene was done outside the ABS-CBN Studio (at the backyard) at dusk. Nervous to death, I told direk John-D Lasatin that it was my "first time," so please, direk, "Be gentle with me!" I informed direk John (Arriba’s outdoor director) that I never had any acting experience in my whole life, that the only "acting" I ever did was when, back in high school, I pretended to have a terrible stomachache to avoid taking an exam I wasn’t prepared for or when I feigned innocence when a traffic cop apprehended me for trying to beat the red light.

The scene was finished in two takes (some "extras" committed mistakes, not me), and so was the "onstage" scene where I was supposed to present Jolina/Winona in her first big public performance.

That "onstage" scene and the one with the Arriba Family were directed by Gilbert Perez (Kahit Isang Saglit and his second forthcoming movie, Star Cinema’s Trip) whom I also properly warned that it was my "first time," so please, direk, "Be gentle with me, too!" Direk Gilbert smiled and said, "Just be yourself; act naturally."

Easy does it? Guess again.

When that Arriba! Arriba! episode is finally telecast tonight (from 7 to 8 o’clock, on ABS-CBN), I expect the little Jolinian in L.A. and the little Jolinian back home to be, as usual, frozen with delight before the TV sets. But I wonder, when they scream and scream, will they be doing so for their Dear Jolina or for me?

Luckily, I survived that sitcom "debut" unscathed.

Of course, the "verdict" on my future as a "sitcomedian" is now in the hands of the televiewers.

I submit myself to the "trial" with all humility.

Yes, there is, indeed, a ‘third party’

Remember that little "curtain-raiser" item three issues ago about the noontime co-host who has separated from her husband (from a popular showbiz clan)? Was a third party (on whose side?) involved in the break-up which surprised a lot of people because the couple was known to be happy and ideal?

Somebody close to the couple confirmed that, sob and sigh, the couple did break up a few weeks ago and the wife has moved to her own condo unit somewhere in San Juan, Metro Manila, while the husband has remained in their conjugal home. Their seven-year-old only son is shuttling between his estranged parents for the time being.

Now, could a very much married basketball player (from the south but based in Manila) have anything to do with the couple’s break-up? Could it be true that the player’s wife, who recently gave birth to their first child, is starting to, well, "act up"? Are the player and his wife also in danger of breaking up?

The separada TV host must be really in love with the player because she even brought him to the victory party of her other TV show, making everybody around wonder at her brazen move. The player and the woman met in the noontime show she’s co-hosting and where he once guested in.

A few weeks ago when the poor husband confirmed the affair, he confronted the TV host. Their break-up was, according to the Funfare DPA, "a mutual decision."

I don’t agree, though, with the accusation that the TV host is a "home-wrecker" because she doesn’t look it (even if she now appears sexy in her TV shows). The irony of it all is that her home station is reportedly planning to tap her as host of a new show about home-making and cooking. Will she be credible in that kind of show?

Meanwhile, watch out for developments on this brewing controversy. Now, a blind item. Soon, a full-blown "national issue"?

Stay tuned.