LIFE HAS BECOME SO CHALLENGING and complicated that some people have stopped believing in miracles. Instructively, however, others believe fiercely in miracles ? because life has become so challenging. When all else fails, despite the wonders that man?s technological wizardry has effected, God is still the answer ? even when, for some, He?s also become the question.
Huh? How can these conundrums and seeming contradictions exist side by side, in push me-pull you fashion? That?s both the question and the answer. Put more succinctly, the question and the answer are one.
These admittedly befuddling thoughts come to mind, because we?ve just caught the premiere broadcast of ?Chances Are,? QTV?s new show about seemingly inexplicable events and encounters in people?s lives, telecast Monday nights.
Hosted by the agreeably low-key Paolo Abrera, the show is a welcome departure from all of those hard-edged and cynical ?reality? programs on TV. In fact, ?Chances Are? can also be described as a ?beyond reality? show, because it looks beyond actual and physical limits, to the less quantifiable but decidedly still essential possibilities of life.
Once in an inspiring while, those possibilities become moving and transforming actualities, contra mundum and all of the carefully calibrated rules of the ?real? world, and those rare epiphanies help us comprehend the true parameters of existence.
The first ?Chances Are? telecast focused on the case of a young boy who was grievously ill for 17 days, apparently expired for 45 minutes, then came back to life. While the program scrupulously included the doubting comments of some doctors, it was clear that, if it wasn?t absolutely miraculous, the boy?s unusual experience was definitely wondrous ? and wonderful.
Thus, the feature achieved the show?s intention to inspire viewers with life?s unexpected possibilities. What made the feature less of a total thrill was the program?s admission that the boy?s case had already been touched on by Jessica Soho in her own TV program.
We were also a bit disappointed that the entire telecast of ?Chances Are? focused only on the boy?s experience. As a result, our interest level dropped after a while. Perhaps, the program would be more eventful and absorbing if it featured two wondrous events or encounters per week?
On the whole, however, we found ?Chances Are? a welcome addition to our local viewing fare, because it reminds us that life is more than just what we see, touch and experience. In this sometimes dismayingly cynical age, we need all the upbeat and possibility-expanding ?Chances? we can get!
Perfect resource person
A bright spot on radio was provided last month by the dzMM program ?Music & Memories,? co-hosted by Boots Anson-Roa and Willie Nepomuceno.
We?ve caught portions of the show in the past, but we really gave it a good, long listen that Sunday, because the special guest was Jose Mari Chan.
Mari turned out to be the perfect resource person for the ?musical nostalgia? program, because he not only sang snippets of the many popular songs he?s composed since the 1960s, but he was also very knowledgeable about other local and foreign songwriter?s works.
He was such a fount of knowledge that he even contributed interesting anecdotes about specific songs. As a result, many listeners contacted the program to express their delight and gratitude for a most eventful musical afternoon.
Boots and Willie were also at their best, adding to the information Mari provided, interacting with callers, and contributing their own musical anecdotes, highlights and sidelights.
Other musical savvy people who should guest on the show include Mitch Valdes, Behn Cervantes, Ryan Cayabyab, Edmund Sicam, Willy Cruz, Rico J. Puno, Joan Orendain, Andy Bais, Lyn Pareja, Fritz Ynfante, Basil Valdez, Joey de Leon and Leo Rialp.
