MANILA, Philippines ? At a recent media forum, we asked members of the audience to speak up and share their thoughts, opinions, feelings about the TV programs they were watching. We pointed out that one reason why some show biz people weren?t listening to the viewing pubic was the fact that it wasn?t speaking up loudly and in concert and making itself heard. Now was the time for them to find their collective voice.

Having been encouraged in that rather gung-ho hortatory way, some audience members did come up with pretty revealing thoughts and comments. We hope the industry is listening and is ready to act on their observations:

TV commercials

There are too many TV commercials, and their volume is too loud. When this opinion was expressed, a number of people spoke up to agree that this was indeed a problem. It was felt that the commercial load exceeded the prescribed limit, so authorities were asked to look into the matter.

Not enough good TV shows for young viewers. A communication teacher spoke up to remind members of the TV industry that they were obliged to devote a certain percentage of their programming time to good and substantial shows for children and teenagers, but this requirement wasn?t being met.

To make things worse, some good children?s shows are no longer being telecast due to poor advertising support, so advertisers were also blamed for supporting inane programs (?nakaka-bobo? was the word used).

Young TV teleserye talents don?t know how to act well. Their loud and shallow acting is distracting and irritating. Their shows try to compensate for their limitations by casting some competent mature actors, but their roles are relatively small, so their contribution is minimal. It was suggested that TV producers cast lead roles on point of acting talent, not looks.

Excessive focus

Newscasts were faulted for being too loud and overly dramatic, and for their excessive focus on crime, violence and show biz ?news.?

Individual show biz stars were criticized for leading ?scandalous? lives and generally setting a bad example. Negative behavior cited included having children out of wedlock, declaring that marriage is ?just a piece of paper,? living ostentatiously, getting into feuds and controversies to boost their careers, etc.

Some TV hosts were criticized for talking too much, too loudly and out of place, thus leaving their guests with not enough time to express themselves.

TV hosts were reminded that viewers were more interested in what their guests had to say, since the hosts? views were already only too well-known by their shows? regular viewers.