MANILA, Philippines?More than 50 years ago, Nida Blanca delighted moviegoers when she played a sassy, scrappy vendor in a series of comedy-musical films. They proved to be so popular that they became a sort of cinematic template that?s been imitated since then.

Up to the present? You?d better believe it: Ai Ai de las Alas and Kim Chiu are again playing scrappy, sassy vendors in the new limited comedy series, ?Maling Akala.?

Their vendor characters have been updated and made more current by having them sell pirated DVDs, but underneath all the trendy gussying-up, it?s still the old clichés that are being trotted out for their nth time around the park.

Oh, boy, this horse is so old that it may not make it back to the stable alive.

Fresh and funny?

As for the series? two lead stars, they do the regulation comedy shtick of high energy, spasmodic gestures and facial twitches, and screaming at the top of their lungs to make viewers believe that what they?re watching is fresh and funny. It often isn?t, however?but on the local TV comedy scene, antic, addled and epileptic appearances are everything.

To be sure, new director Francis X. Pasion tries to ?humanize? the twitchy, spasmodic proceedings by providing the mother-daughter lead characters a few ?soft? and ?real? moments before they resume their frenzied and frenetic assault on viewers? sensibilities.

The moments of relative truth, calm and introspection are welcome?but, they are too few to make much of a difference.

What happens to the vendors in their latest incarnation as Kim and Ai Ai? No surprise at all, they have a hard time making both ends meet, running away from the long arm of the law, and getting harassed and hounded by ?five-six? artists. So, what else is new? Alas, very little.

So, do we give this comedy series up for good? Uh, not so fast: At the end of its first telecast, ?Maling Akala? introduced a mysterious woman ditzily played by Yayo Aguila, and a still unclear connection between her and the vendors was being hinted at.

How will it pan out in the weeks to come?

Prospects of potentially droll situations unfolding in succeeding telecasts are incentive enough to keep us viewing?and hoping for real comedy to happen?in the weeks to come.

We trust, however, that as the hopefully funny plot continues to thicken, Ai Ai will get rid of her over-the-top performance style. It?s so irritating to watch, because it presumes that viewers can be bamboozled into thinking something is funny when it?s really an old, old joke exhumed from the cemetery of long-expired ?humor.?

No versatile performer

As for Kim Chiu, she shouldn?t wear so much makeup, especially when she?s playing vendors and other ?ordinary? people. More to the point, she should work on her voice, which is too small and thin for drama and comedy acting alike. In addition, she should put on weight, because she?s too gaunt to be easy on the eyes.

Most important of all, she shouldn?t delude herself into thinking she?s a versatile performer who can do everything. Her performance in her last TV melodrama was forced, and her comedy work in ?Maling Akala? is jerky and clueless about the real meaning of humor.

So, why is a young performer who?s obviously still learning the ropes being given all those big roles on TV? Because she?s popular. Well, we congratulate Kim for her popularity, but we must remind her that, as her roles get bigger and more demanding, she?s better have what it takes to do full justice to them, or else they could end up biting her in the peripatetic posterior.