AFTER many months, ?Hole in the Wall? is back on weekday television (GMA 7, 5:30 p.m.), still with Ogie Alcasid and Michael V co-hosting?but, as their new TV personas, Korean ?K-Pop? fave, Kim Yoong Jung, and his No. 1 Filipina fan, Bianca.

In their previous TV incarnations on the first ?Hole in the Wall? production, Ogie was bratty Angelina and Michael was ?her? yaya. This second time around, however, the popular tandem has been rendered kaput, zilch, nada, and some fans may miss them. But it looks like they?re gone for good.

Currently in their place are the ?K-Pop? star and his top fan, but we hear that they won?t be around for long, either. Part of the updated show?s format is the sequential change in its two co-hosts? personas, possibly on a monthly basis, for sweet and savvy variety?s sake.

We hope that the changes will come often, since the hosts? current personas aren?t all that interesting. In particular, Ogie has a hard time making his ?K-Pop? persona believable, since those Korean faves are quite young and frisky, and Ogie?s impersonation, uh, isn?t.

Aside from that, Ogie and Michael do well on the show, co-hosting it with verve and humor. What about the updated tilt?s new elements? Well, they?ve added some innovations to re-energize the program?but not enough to make it a really breezy treat.

Over-familiarity breeds, if not contempt, then at least eventual disdain, predictability and consequent boredom, so one-set, one-concept game shows like ?Hole in the Wall,? with its signature dunking pool, have to be constantly inventive.

Diverting changes

The new show does offer diverting changes, but some of them have a contrary effect. For instance, the cut-out shapes in the new program often require the poor contestants to assume ?impossible? positions and angles to fit into them?which happens all too infrequently.

On its first telecast, the innovation that did work occurred during the jackpot round: The contestant was required to make herself dizzy before confronting the board blindfolded?only to happily realize that there was no cut-out shape to contend with at all and she was home free!

That was a delightful ending for the telecast, which concluded with one team winning P100,000 while the also-rans went home with P50,000?definitely not bad for one day?s ?work.?

Incidentally, the jackpot round also taught the day?s victors a lesson: As the winning group, they were entitled to ?pass? on the (unknown) finale challenge? which turned out to be no challenge at all, so the second-placers went home with the top prize! Lesson for future winning teams: Never pass on the jackpot challenge.