Talentado finals vs. Sarah G. Live!

It is frustrating for one with only one TV set to be monitoring two battling shows on television. Daniel Darwin, 23, hula hoop Astroboy, was declared winner of the third season of TV5’s Talentadong Pinoy in exciting finals last weekend at the QC Memorial Circle that rated No. 1 on primetime.

We congratulate director Rich Ilustre for the feat of coordinating 200 performers on four locations — the main stage at the tented area, two satellite stages where the fire dancer and hall of famers were positioned, and the open area in front of the fountain for the 2012 Aliwan Fiesta champion complete with a giant bird float. 

Direk Rich admitted that the hardest production numbers were those that involved flying and fire. “In that sense, the magic carpet of Dancing Is Fun and Astroboy’s fiery hoops were something we had to rehearse well,” he explained. Sustantivo’s “spiderman” act was also difficult, involving special costumes so performers wouldn’t slide down the pole and so that their vision would not be impaired by the masks.

Sarah Geronimo is finally comfortable in solo show

But we almost missed Astroboy’s great moment since we were at the same time tuned into Sarah G Live! over ABS-CBN. We had been faithfully following Sarah’s progress in her first solo show which went from extreme to minor disappointment to puede na to finally “that’s better.” We can appreciate the attempts of the production to wean Sarah away from the comfort zone she is familiar with in ASAP and in her packed live concerts. Obviously, it was too early to have Sarah compete with veteran comedians and do hosting as wittily as Luis Manzano and Toni Gonzaga.    

Over on TV5, Astroboy’s win was decided based on text votes and scores given by talent scouts. A weeping and overwhelmed Arnell Ignacio won the 2012 Celebrity Edition, over Wendy Valdez, Keanna Reeves and Inday Garutay.

Meanwhile, back to Sarah G. Live!, Pinoy Big Brother grand winner Slater Young of Cebu as guest co-host appeared eager to test his hosting ability opposite Luis. Although he wasn’t given much exposure, he was very comfortable in the few minutes given him. At least he did far better than this new fave of the young crowd who flunked his first hosting of a beauty pageant. Not his fault though. Too much responsibility with too little practice! Obviously, this should not happen to both Sarah and Slater who are both wading into green territory.

Astroboy’s winning act during the Talentadong Pinoy finals

Sarah continues to impress. Her duet with Ito Rapadas of the Neocolours showed how much more comfortable she has become. Sarah G. Live! is now mostly song and dance which she is very good at. She has even done rock expertly. A new segment that shows promise is Sarah Loves You, an interview portion with people who have succeeded despite disadvantages. Featured last Sunday was a blind popster from Bacolod who had graduated at the top of her class. Our only remaining beef about her show is that commercials drown the main show. Perhaps Sarah could be given an hour and more to solve this problem?

Eraserheads album out today

Released by Star Records and Star Cinema, The Reunion: An Eraserheads Tribute Album features 14 Eraserheads hit songs contributed by iconic bands and artists including Alapaap by 6Cyclemind with Eunice of Gracenote, Minsan by Callalily, Overdrive by Vin Dancel, Fine Time by Marc Abaya of Kjwan, Super Proxy by Razorback with Gloc9, Kailan by Ney Dimaculangan and Yeng Constantino, Kaliwete by Hilera, Maling Akala by Itchyworms, Ligaya by Mayonnaise, Pare Ko by Johnny Danao, Ang Huling El Bimbo by Jay Durias, Magasin by Chicosci, With A Smile by Aiza Seguerra with Mike Villegas, and Hey Jay by Tanya Markova.

The album is available at record bars nationwide starting today. For details, visit http://facebook.com/starrecordsphil or follow @starrecordsph on Twitter.

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