Sunday TV: Ating Alamin, I miss Kuya Germs!

Surfing free TV channels, that is after church, I am…what do you call this? I have this feeling of familiarity and friendship when I see that Gerry Geronimo is still active doing Ating Alamin, his Agriculture-Entrepreneurship show on PTV 4.

 I got to give it to this guy because for four decades he has been sharing knowledge, skills, and technology on almost every aspect of agriculture and entrepreneurship. And what’s comforting is that the format of his show has not changed: he speaks in Tagalog, he dresses like his audience, he spurts no technical jargon and he still uses the stick mic that has become his trademark. (Seeing him poking the stick mic on his guest’s face is a little hilarious, but he does that all the time.)

Nice to see that after all the technological advances and boybands, there's this little TV show that has been on air for as long as I can remember.

When my father was still the pastor of our church, I went home after Sunday school to watch TV. My favorite program then was the Movie Sneak Preview shown on channel 9 from 11-12. I sit there mesmerized by previews of Starwars and other movies of the early 80’s. After the previews ended, I always end up watching Ating Alamin. I have always had this fascination with plants and animals, anyway…

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Look at them.look at them, they are just having fun! Why can't
they do it like this, again.

I miss Kuya Germs! I miss Kuya Germs and his Sunday noon time TV show aptly titled “GMA Supershow.”

I miss the spectacular stage props, the Bellestar Dancers numbers complete with the feathers, boas and the imperial headdresses and the choreographies, and the legs. I miss Kuya Germs’ and his cohorts of emcees that talks incessantly trying to squeeze each other out, in a nice way of course.

I always had this suspicion that the owner of the Bellestar,
a lady by the name of Belle, made sense since she owned the
company, was an immortal, a vampire.

Look at the noon time shows today, with the exception of Eat Bulaga, all of them have adapted the Panel-Critic style popularized by Simon Fuller and his Idol franchise.

Now, almost all TV noontime shows here in my beloved country the Republic of the Philippines have followed the same format. Even on Sundays, even on Sundays, it’s irritating to watch actors in a team trying to outdo each other with numbers that are supposedly conceptualized and choreographed by themselves (do you think they have the time for this?). To squeeze drama out of the unbelievably unbelievable reality styled creative process, they show the practice sessions where the frustrations and the conflicts among the members are highlighted, throw in some shoutings and walk-outs --which we all know are staged-- in the end cooperation and understanding and world peace prevails. Then there's the criticism and judging...are they even contestants?

Now, what’s wrong with this? Everything!

Where's Willie Revillame? Ooo I forgot, he pissed off a lot of poweful people. I don't like him too and his power tripping on TV is ...insanely crazy.Maybe his ego has landed. Of course, the Germs is still alive and his early, early, early morning show is still on. But its not the same...God I feel old!