MANILA, Philippines?After ?K, The P1 Million Videoke Challenge? and ?Don?t Forget the Lyrics,? there?s a third game show for singers that?s currently being telecast weeknights on the tube: ABS-CBN?s ?The Singing Bee,? hosted by Cesar Montano.
We caught the new game show?s first telecast (after ?Kung Fu Kids?) last April 21, and observed that it makes for exciting and even unnerving viewing, because it demands so much from its contestants on point of remembering the lyrics of a wide range of songs.
Buena mano celebrity contestants Jodi Santamaria, Pooh, Bayani Agbayani, Derek Ramsay, Keanna Reeves and Heart Evangelista found this out for themselves when they competed last week. They weren?t acting when they looked worried, confused and occasionally even terrified as the show?s challenges came fast and furious.
In fact, the show was so inherently absorbing that its standard bevy of sexy dancers were unnecessary distractions?the program could certainly do without them.
Host Cesar was also too unnecessarily hyper?he didn?t have to whip up such a big lather, because the show?s excitement level was already high.
The first challenge was for the contestants to continue singing the lyrics of a song after the live studio band had stopped playing. The ?Jumblebee? round was even tougher, because it required the contestants to quickly make sense of a bunch of mixed-up lyrics.
?Showdown? round
Keanna, Heart, Bayani and Derek were quickly eliminated, leaving Jodi and Pooh to compete in the ?Showdown? round. Jodi put up a good fight, but Pooh ultimately won out.
This gave some viewers a sense of déjà vu because, sometime back, Pooh had won P2 million on ?1 vs 100.? Would he be able to continue with his winning streak?
The final round required Pooh to recall the lyrics of seven songs?if he got five right, he would win the jackpot of P1 million. Alas, he wasn?t able to measure up to that difficult challenge?but Pooh still won viewers? admiration because some of the song lyrics he did recall were quite obscure.
The new show?s plus factors include Mel Villena and his band. On the other hand, some of the program?s resident singers could enunciate with greater clarity, to make it easier for the contestants to mentally latch onto the songs they perform.
It would also be good if, once in a while, Cesar himself would sing part of a song or two. To further enliven the musical proceedings, a named singer could occasionally be invited to perform.
Not so incidentally, the entry of ?The Singing Bee? is most welcome, because it adds to the variety of shows telecast during the evening prime time hours. For much too long has that long slot been dominated by telenovelas, which run counter to the public?s right to varied TV viewing options.
New films on view
Based on a true story, ?21? chronicles the efforts of college students to use their brilliance to win a lot of money at the blackjack tables in Las Vegas casinos. Stars include Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne.
?Star Wars: The Clone Wars,? pits favorite characters like Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padme Amidala and new heroes like Anakin?s padawan learner, Ahsoka, against villains like Palpatine, Count Dooku and General Grievous.
In the ?Dark Knight,? Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime: He sets out to dismantle the criminal organizations that plague the city streets. But he and his allies soon find themselves contending with a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker (Heath Ledger, in his last screen portrayal). Christian Bale plays Batman, and Christopher Nolan directs.
In the animated feature, ?Wall-E,? an old robot discovers a new purpose in life when he meets a sleek search robot named Eve. She realizes that he?s inadvertently stumbled on the key to the planet Earth?s future, and races to tell surviving humans about it. For his part, Wall-E chases Eve across the galaxy, and sets into motion an exciting and imaginative comedy adventure through startlingly creative visions of the future.
