I was having lunch at home one time when lo and behold, what do I see on TV but the controversial noontime game show, “Wowowee”, back on air again, only a few weeks after the dreadful ULTRA stadium stampede. Willie Revillame, that potty-mouthed, tactless and sexist host who has been suspended by the MTRCB so many times in the past, is up and about, back to his usual disgusting self, spewing tasteless jokes and generally making asses out of the masa contestants who patronize the show.
I remember feeling flabbergasted when Revillame, interviewed on TV, wanted to continue the TV show’s anniversary presentation despite the escalating death toll, because the people who made it inside the premises “wanted the show to go on”. Notwithstanding the crocodile tears, his callousness leaves a really bad impression. I do not know if this guy has a soul. Good thing saner heads in the network prevailed and temporarily cancelled the show.
Unfortunately, ABS-CBN is home to characters with extraordinary talent for crass and obscene entertainment. It has raked in millions using this tried-and-tested formula. Just look at its programming mix. It is mostly aimed at an audience with sub-human intelligence: awful showbiz chat shows that rely on screaming faggots to generate buzz and excitement; unfunny sitcoms filled with all the big-name stars engaging in slap-stick comedy, recycling dialogues and chasing each other around as the credits roll at the end, and dreadful variety shows like Wowowee which unfortunately exploit the poverty among its main target audience by luring the poor, shriveling masses with extravagant prizes, drawing them to its poorly-organized show, generally make them look, sing, and dance like idiots and then hope for a big spike in the ratings.
Oh yes, the ratings did go up, albeit on a horrid scale: the stampede that ensued from people pushing and shoving to get in left 70 of them dead, mostly elderly women, and scores more wounded and hurt.
People, everything in this show is scripted, down to the last idiotic response from its contestants. A colleague of mine, a law student at that, joined this game show once and was shamelessly instructed to give a specific moronic response to an equally moronic question, in exchange for P6,000. That’s right. They pay you to humiliate yourself in public and generate laughter. Isn’t it any wonder then that other nationalities generally regard us with contempt, as if we were second class citizens? Dumb shows like Wowowee perpetuate the notion that Filipinos are an ignorant, idiotic lot. You know what, I’d rather have a root canal operation than sit through an entire hour watching this horrible, horrible show, because at least at some point, you pass out. Insulting one's intelligence is far worse than any tooth extraction without anesthetic. The producers and everyone else involved should be subjected to a lobotomy. That’s the only way to raise their IQ levels one notch higher.
Showbiz denizens generally lament the general situation of the local entertainment industry. People are not flocking to watch local movies anymore (of course, people are sick and tired of watching brain-dead movies!). But free TV with local content remains a force to reckon with in this third-world country. The larger masa audience regards local celebrities with awe. The poor almost feel an affinity with them, treating them with reverence, as if these heavily made-up and liposuction-obsessed celebrities with fake boobs and pumpkin hair were heaven-sent.
Revillame, in fact is believed by so many of his admirers who flock to his show, to be a modern-day Santa Claus with plenty of cash to spare. They stalk him and wait outside his house in the hopes of a cash hand out. Wowowee producers ostensibly made him appear that way to ensure a loyal fan base. Pathetic.
ABS-CBN Channel 2 is very much culpable for the loss of lives at the ULTRA. We’re not even zeroing on the obvious poor organization of the show here. It’s the whole concept of producing shows that, as one reporter puts it, encourages mendicancy. That even the poor needs entertainment, no matter how crass and brain-dead it is, to make life bearable, is not even the crux of the matter. That main competitor GMA Channel 7 is not doing any better is also beside the point. It is that Filipinos, regardless of economic status, deserve a better entertainment show, one that correctly assumes its audience to consist of intelligent beings.
I remember feeling flabbergasted when Revillame, interviewed on TV, wanted to continue the TV show’s anniversary presentation despite the escalating death toll, because the people who made it inside the premises “wanted the show to go on”. Notwithstanding the crocodile tears, his callousness leaves a really bad impression. I do not know if this guy has a soul. Good thing saner heads in the network prevailed and temporarily cancelled the show.
Unfortunately, ABS-CBN is home to characters with extraordinary talent for crass and obscene entertainment. It has raked in millions using this tried-and-tested formula. Just look at its programming mix. It is mostly aimed at an audience with sub-human intelligence: awful showbiz chat shows that rely on screaming faggots to generate buzz and excitement; unfunny sitcoms filled with all the big-name stars engaging in slap-stick comedy, recycling dialogues and chasing each other around as the credits roll at the end, and dreadful variety shows like Wowowee which unfortunately exploit the poverty among its main target audience by luring the poor, shriveling masses with extravagant prizes, drawing them to its poorly-organized show, generally make them look, sing, and dance like idiots and then hope for a big spike in the ratings.
Oh yes, the ratings did go up, albeit on a horrid scale: the stampede that ensued from people pushing and shoving to get in left 70 of them dead, mostly elderly women, and scores more wounded and hurt.
People, everything in this show is scripted, down to the last idiotic response from its contestants. A colleague of mine, a law student at that, joined this game show once and was shamelessly instructed to give a specific moronic response to an equally moronic question, in exchange for P6,000. That’s right. They pay you to humiliate yourself in public and generate laughter. Isn’t it any wonder then that other nationalities generally regard us with contempt, as if we were second class citizens? Dumb shows like Wowowee perpetuate the notion that Filipinos are an ignorant, idiotic lot. You know what, I’d rather have a root canal operation than sit through an entire hour watching this horrible, horrible show, because at least at some point, you pass out. Insulting one's intelligence is far worse than any tooth extraction without anesthetic. The producers and everyone else involved should be subjected to a lobotomy. That’s the only way to raise their IQ levels one notch higher.
Showbiz denizens generally lament the general situation of the local entertainment industry. People are not flocking to watch local movies anymore (of course, people are sick and tired of watching brain-dead movies!). But free TV with local content remains a force to reckon with in this third-world country. The larger masa audience regards local celebrities with awe. The poor almost feel an affinity with them, treating them with reverence, as if these heavily made-up and liposuction-obsessed celebrities with fake boobs and pumpkin hair were heaven-sent.
Revillame, in fact is believed by so many of his admirers who flock to his show, to be a modern-day Santa Claus with plenty of cash to spare. They stalk him and wait outside his house in the hopes of a cash hand out. Wowowee producers ostensibly made him appear that way to ensure a loyal fan base. Pathetic.
ABS-CBN Channel 2 is very much culpable for the loss of lives at the ULTRA. We’re not even zeroing on the obvious poor organization of the show here. It’s the whole concept of producing shows that, as one reporter puts it, encourages mendicancy. That even the poor needs entertainment, no matter how crass and brain-dead it is, to make life bearable, is not even the crux of the matter. That main competitor GMA Channel 7 is not doing any better is also beside the point. It is that Filipinos, regardless of economic status, deserve a better entertainment show, one that correctly assumes its audience to consist of intelligent beings.
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