My 15 most memorable TV interviews

(First of a series)

Startalk is now well into its 15th year and had a simple anniversary presentation not so long ago. Like in anniversaries past, the hosts were made to meet the press who threw us all sorts of questions and once again I was asked this: What are your most unforgettable interviews?

For some strange reason, I am never able to answer that right. Maybe because my mind would be preoccupied with other thoughts, that’s why. (The interviews are conducted in between commercial breaks and there’s work still waiting to be done after that and I am not completely myself during those conversations). To play it safe, I just say that each one is unforgettable — although in my heart, I am aware that I’m not being fair to the reporter asking the question. I know I can do better than that, except that there would be no time to think since even before I could even start opening my memory bank, I’m already being called to do an on-cam spiel and so, goodbye to the question.

To finally settle the matter (even just for my own peace of mind), I decided to list down my 15 most unforgettable interviews (to mark Startalk’s 15 years on television) and here’s the first batch:

Miriam Quiambao — I was only into my second week in Startalk when I was asked to do a taped interview with her upon her arrival — fresh from her triumph as Miss Universe first runner-up. I recall that everything that could go wrong went wrong that time. At first, I was supposed to meet her at the airport and there was so much confusion there. Then it was decided that I would just interview her in one of the suites of the Century Park Sheraton.

On my way there, my car conked out since prior to that, nobody was maintaining the vehicle. As I recall it, before I accepted Startalk, I was basically based abroad and was just coming in and out to do the Urian, plus other non-showbiz commitments. (My plan was to stay in the show just for a season or two, but stayed behind after I lost all my money in a bank run to collect whatever I could get from PDIC — and it wasn’t much.)

The problem was I was still going to pick up movie journalist Jojo Gabinete at his place in Cubao and he was surprised to see me in a cab. While in the taxi, I realized that I had left my semi-formal attire in the car, which I had towed back to the house.

Since I had no time to retrieve my clothes, I showed up for the interview in a blue gym shirt. Nobody noticed that anymore since all eyes were on Miriam, who looked ravishing in spite of the long trip from New York.

Another unforgettable incident in my Miriam interview was when I had the chance to talk to her family members. Her parents turned out to be former co-workers of my aunt, Dolly Lim, in Winthrop, a pharmaceutical firm. Mildred, her younger sister, was the schoolmate of my eldest nephew Andrew in La Salle. Small world.

The Miriam interview was a breeze, especially since she was so gracious and charming — still is (we had a sort of reunion when I did a short interview with her during our show’s anniversary and I thought that was so fitting since she will forever be part of my Startalk career).

The story, however, doesn’t end there. After the interview, I was sent down to host a semi-formal luncheon in Miriam’s honor and people were wearing coats, blazers and smart casual and I was on stage in my blue gym shirt. I still wince at the memory as I type this a decade later.

John Rendez — It was an interview nobody wanted to do — not even John himself because I knew he was just being pushed in front of the camera to explain his side regarding his tiff with the children of Nora Aunor (it was being implied in the papers that there was violence involved).

On the Startalk side, none of the hosts was willing to do the interview either because there was something unusual about his aura that time. Supposedly, it was Rosanna Roces who was assigned to do the one-on-one, but she begged off and at the last minute our director Floy Quintos made me sit with John and we were both uncomfortable. From my end, I didn’t understand the issue since there was no time for briefing anymore and I merely relied on the questions written on the manila paper that was being held in front of me by the segment writer. Add to that the fact that I was just into my third episode of Startalk that time and was just feeling my way through television again after a long absence.

When the time came for me to ask about the tiff (supposedly there was a gun involved, but I wasn’t sure), John countered by asking, “What are you trying to infer?” Infer? I grappled in my head what it meant. I had been writing for so long, but I never encountered that word. Thoughts of the disaster movie Towering Infer-no flashed in my mind and I was completely thrown off.

John was also in the worst of moods and I knew that because prior to the interview, I saw one of Nora’s secretaries, Maristela Fontanos, trying to calm him down because apparently he was so reluctant to sit down and talk on-cam. Looking back, I was just waiting for him to strangle me on national TV and I would have gladly offered my neck just to end both our miseries. It was the biggest catastrophe since the sinking of the Titanic.

But what do you know? Two days later, our then executive producer Rommel Gacho, called me up on the landline (I didn’t have a cell phone yet that time) to tell me that Startalk, which in those days only rated from six to seven percent weekly, got a whooping 15 percent! We rated! I didn’t feel so bad anymore after that.

A lot of people obviously watched that interview because everyone kept asking me later what was wrong with John during our on-cam talk. I just told them that I think he is basically a good person (and I believe he is), but probably wasn’t himself that time. However, I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to infer anything. There — I am now finally able to use the word and understand its meaning.

(To be continued)