Parekoy gives daytime TV a new twist

BY ISAH V. RED

Television audiences in the afternoon will get something different beginning today. The Kapamilya network is finally showing its nearly two-years-in-the-making comedy series beginning today after Wowowee. It is called Parekoy.

Movie director Quark Henares (son of Vicky Belo, yes the controversial owner of a chain of beauty clinics, and ex-husband Atom Henares of the famed FM radio NU 107) takes the directing chore for the series with singer-turned-director Randy Santiago (brother of Rowell Santiago and son of the late screenwriter/director Pablo Santiago and actress Cielito Legaspi).

The telecast of Parekoy is a breakthrough on daytime TV, especially in the afternoon, the programming of which is basically centered on soap opera.

While the show is structured like a continuing series (the daily episodes are not independent of each other but a part of a whole) that has a start, middle, and surely an ending after 13 weeks.

?It?s like your ordinary soap,? says John Prats who stars as Joseph in the series, ?the difference is we?re not in the melodrama mold. We find ourselves in some very funny situations.?

The ?we? John refers to are his co-stars Zanjoe Marudo who plays Mario, and Jayson Gainza as Jess. They are known in the neighborhood as the ?susmaryosep? trio for the only reason that their names have been culled from Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Randy seems determined to change the landscape of daytime television as he is very optimistic about Parekoy.

He said that apart from the three guys? funny experiences, each of their families are in some very weird situations. Will the macho and homophobic Mario be shocked to find out his father?s secret? How will Joseph be able to face and handle being a good brother to his siblings?all sisters? Will Jess be able to overcome being ?under de saya? to his wife? These and more will be what the audiences have to watch out for starting this afternoon.

John and Jayson

So many talents, but few shows to appear on! That is actually what?s happening on television these days. It?s a dog-eat-dog world, and the process of natural selection is at work 24/7.

So, it?s a miracle that John Prats is still in the list of working actors (even if in the past year he had nothing but a dancing sequence in the Sunday noontime variety show Asap).

?We have been taping for Parekoy in the last year and a half,? he said, ?But the management wanted something more than what they had seen in the first-week package, so we had to do it all over again.?

Now that the show is finally on the air, John is not only excited about the idea but looking forward to working full time for it. On Dec. 30, the crew was still taping sequences for the show?s advance episodes.

Jayson Gainza, on the other hand, is even more excited, after all it?s not that easy to be cast in a show on ABS-CBN without help from a clever manager. The Pinoy Big Brother alumnus is solely managed by Star Magic which has close to a hundred talents under its care. He was previously in I Love Betty La Fea and continues to make appearances irregularly. It is in Parekoy, though, that his comic talent is being fully harnessed by both Randy Santiago and Quark Henares.

He is a Batangas City native (he still goes home when time permits) with his wife and kids, but he has found an apartment near the ABS-CBN compound to make things easier for him.

From among his Big Brother batch, Jayson is perhaps the most successful, not to mention Zanjoe Marudo and Sam Milby, both of whom are being co-managed with Star Magic by very astute talent scouts.

Best actress

Anne Curtis was incredulous when she was called as the Best Actress in last year?s Metro Manila Film Festival Awards for her performance as Feliza, the native Filipino girl who becomes romantically involved with a mestizo soldier in the last days of the Spanish regime in the Philippines.

?I just couldn?t think that from among many, ako ?yung nanalo,? Anne said during a hastily called victory lunch for the winners of Baler.

The actress, who slipped off the taping of Dyosa to be with the members of the media at Pugad Dencio?s at Marikina Riverbanks, said that she just couldn?t let go of the trophy. ?You know, I had taping from the awards night, so I went straight to the location with the trophy,? she said with a slight giggle. ?I also slept with it.?

The award is Anne?s first ever, so it made it very memorable for her. ?I have done a lot of things, been to different places in the Philippines, and even convinced my parents to stay because of my career, so the award is just a confirmation that I made the right decision,? she said.

In the meantime, she relishes being a ?best actress? until such time she finds something (or someone) to focus her mind on.

Gender Sensitive Film of 2008

Love in the time of war is what Baler was all about, and it?s about a woman?s decision to fight for her love despite objections from a father whose hatred for anything related to the Spanish regime boils his blood, like a lava in a volcano intensifying every minute for an eruption.

These values and their subdued but excellent representation in the language, action and characters of Feliza Reyes (Anne Curtis) and Celso Resurreccion (Jericho Rosales) were enough for the jurors to proclaim Viva Films? Baler as the 2008 Most Gender Sensitive Film in the 34th Metro Manila Film Festival. Baler bested seven other finalists taking into account the criteria set by the jurors which gave 40 percent for cinematic techniques and 40 percent for substance, or for highlighting gender-sensitive issues of love, parenting and war and how these were developed and managed from conflict to conciliation by director Mark Meily from the screenplay by Roy Iglesias.

The film was recognized to have an unconventional approach to tackling men?s and women?s issues, especially in a war setting. This trait earned for Baler the prestigious recognition given at the Dec. 27 awards night held at the Sofitel.

The Most Gender Sensitive Film Award was conceptualized by the Quezon City government under the initiative of Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and since 2003 has recognized films that balances the gender and development (GAD) advocacy ?with cinematic craftsmanship. It favors those that effectively utilize cinematography, production design, costume design and overall direction to resolve relevant gender issues.?

It started in 2003, with films like Homecoming, Aishite Imasu, Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo, and Desperadas receiving the honor, a special trophy sculpted by Social artist Sandra Torrijos, and a cash prize of P50,000.

This year, Baler showed the woman?s role as being more participative, convincing enough to get the jurors? nod. Grace Alfonso, chancellor of the UP Open University and a member of the panel of jurors, saw elements in the film that made the concept of patriarchy crumble, specifically in certain scenes which showed the protagonist?s strength of character. There was an effective use of ?Silent Strength??a characteristic displayed by the woman (Curtis) who presented herself emotionally in such manner, far from the typical crying and shrieking seen in movies. Award-winning director and scriptwriter Pablo Gomez, Ateneo professor Danton Remoto, actor Harlene Bautista, and Barangay Pansol?s Punong Barangay, Dominic Flores, shared their time to view all eight films and deliberate on this year?s winner.

Coming in close second is Dayo, which was applauded for its complex, multi-dimensional, sensitive, caring, and strong characterization of the manananggal. Despite its conventionally exoticized take on the woman as the said mythical character, the film attempts to humanize this manananggal to show her complexity in a positively different view.