There are no sacred cows here

Now Na! (Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. on QTV 11) is officially classified as a celebrity game show. But like its multi-talented host, Arnell Ignacio (who can host, sing, dance and act – both comedy and drama), this show also crosses over and sometimes becomes a comedy, a showbiz talk show and a reality program.

Well, it can easily transform into comedy because Arnell is very funny. But his spiels and even the questions (provided by his very creative writers) that are asked of celebrity contestants are very funny to the point that you’d mistake this game show for a comedy program.

I am in the panel of this program along with Alessandra de Rossi (with Mylene Dizon occasionally pinch-hitting) and Joy Viado (we’re there to make life miserable for the contestants and try to beat them in the final game) and from where we are seated way up in the balcony we all roll down the aisle laughing just watching the way the game is being conducted below.

Some of the celebrity contestants give the most ridiculous answers – unintentionally – and watching them make fun of themselves can be very amusing.

On some occasions, Now Na! becomes a showbiz talk show – with intrigues galore. One time I came to work only to see an agitated Alessandra waiting on the set. No, she wasn’t really bothered. But clearly, she was annoyed.

When I asked her what the problem was, she pointed to one of the contestants below and saw Jennylyn Mercado. As any showbiz watcher knows, these two young women had a problem in the past (but let’s not go back to that anymore) and there was tension in the program because that was the first time they were seeing each other since their falling out.

The tension in the GMA 7 Broadway Centrum studio was so intense that it sent shock waves to GMA 7 EDSA that houses the offices of Startalk and S-Files and in a matter of minutes the crew of both shows had come swooping in. During the break, Startalk pulled me out of the panel and made me interview both Jennylyn and Alessandra.

Mercifully, the tension eased immediately because Jennylyn was the first to go. In Round 1, she was out of there. Whether she did it on purpose (just to get out of that tense-filled situation), only she knows. Of course, if you ask Alessandra, she has something else to say. Oh, but what a relief it was for all of us at the end of the day – that no blood flowed despite the tension. And it was a bit tiring, too – doing a game show and showbiz talk in one program.

For its forthcoming Halloween special (which we did very recently), Now Na! was able to invite the likes of Snooky Serna, Cherry Pie Picache and Jaclyn Jose – all respected award-winning actresses you don’t expect to see participating in a game show. (The line-up was so impressive I thought they were doing an anniversary show.)

I feared they wouldn’t survive Round 1 in the show because in Now Na! contestants are sometimes made to get chips buried under a bowl of ice cream using only the mouth.

During the episode of Snooky and company, they were made to eat polvoron. Sounds easy? Not if you have to eat it while wearing plastic fangs inside your mouth. (It’s a Halloween episode and the fangs were an added touch to it.)

The other contestants that time were William Martinez and Teri Onor. With William, I didn’t think he would have a problem eating polvoron with plastic fangs. After all, he was nicknamed Kulit early in his career. It’s the same thing with Teri because he is a stand-up comedian and knows how to laugh at himself.

But the three highly-esteemed actresses? With Snooky, she has this mysterious side we do not know about. Somehow I can still imagine in my head Snooky participating in this game – all in the spirit of fun.

Cherry Pie? When we see each other (which isn’t really very often), we always think of something to laugh about and her laughter can be contagious. Yes, I could still see her playing in this game.

But Jaclyn Jose, this year’s Urian Best Actress? I’ve always known her to be very serious. Whenever we would be together at film events we always talk about serious stuff – about film and about life. But believe it or not she went on playing the game. But it looked like we were desecrating an icon while she was at it.

Oh, but it was fun and these things you only get to watch in Now Na! because nothing is sacred in this program. (With Arnell Ignacio there, what did you expect?) At that point, the show was like a reality show and you don’t know what’s going to happen next.

Next time I report for work in Now Na! I don’t know what to expect anymore. Maybe the program would evolve into something else aside from its being a celebrity game show.

But whatever format it turns into, you can expect the fun to be always there and instant – as in now na.