It's the proverbial Holy Week dilemma that makes suffering mandatory for all those who are stuck in front of their television sets for some reason: Holy Week free TV programming. And just because you're in some vacay spot doesn't mean you're spared; as long as you're still within the Philippine islands, you are stuck with TV.
I blatantly did not include cable shows here for the simple reason that as the world turns, cable shows with their regional programming restrictions and canned shows will simply do not change much even though it's the holiest of holy days in the Catholic calendar. Al Jazeera will still air their scheduled for-all-seasons documentaries, CNN and Fox will still update on the US healthcare package for all the seven days of holiness on this other side of the world, while Arirang will not break away from its confetti-ready talent and variety shows. The same goes to free TV channels that are really not in the mainstream psyche of the regular Filipino viewer, such as (with all due respect) the ever-warring Iglesia Vs. Soriano channels, for instance.
In the Philippines with only two free TV channels to choose from (the third wheel, TV 5, is yet to make a mark after a ho-hum launching featuring mostly stars from the two other networks) and with their mass-targeted audience tags (ABS-CBN 2 - Kapamilya and GMA 7 - Kapuso), the suffering takes on the form of inappropriate programming selections mostly packed in the early morning and primetime (6pm onwards).
On these supposed godly hours of Holy Week programming, choices reeked from tagalized cartoon shows in the morning that simply do not have any connection at all with the sacred days ahead and marathons of soap opera reruns obviously bent on capturing audience interest that they've lost during regular telecast schedules.
Ironically, the dead hours (about after 12nn to 5pm) were peppered with what seemed like a sinner's redemption selection, what with contemplative servings of your usual Siete Palabras, and those Holy Week homilies broadcasted from Sto. Domingo Church, and other religious specials often featuring a high-profile priest either lecturing from a church's pulpit or in Araneta Coliseum.
The challenge in this broadcast segment (sandwiched between early morning and primetime) lies not on the TV channels really, but to the viewers whose free will to participate in some kind of remote redemptive exercise from sin are defeated by the simple power of body clock (that 3 o'clock habit of napping) made weaker by the sweltering afternoon heat.
So, who could blame lolo who wants to skip hell as what the 1st testimonial speaker of the Seven Last Words promises polygamous husbands who goes back to the lawfully wedded one (then again, "goes back" was not explicitly explained by Mr. Testimonial), but weakens as the path to salvation was about to be explained, dozing off in a prelude to the afterlife.
Ironically, on waking hours, just when everyone could use a bit of some sensible TV to feed their souls, idiotic programming lineup awashed the idiot box's offerings, making the monicker so redundant and at its worst best on Holy Week.
Of the two networks, perhaps the worst sin committed against unwilling and innocent viewers was courtesy of the Kapuso commune. While saving graces can be found in inspirational though wishy-washy formats of replays Wish Ko Lang and Cinemaserye (the "Butch" episode starring Sunshine Dizon), no amount of repenting can atone for the sin of blatant, actually desperate move of including ill-timed programs, led by that moronically inappropriate queen-of-all-Holy Week-horrendous-program choices Tanikala (a horror-mystery-black-documentary), followed by the marathon rerun of that teenybopper hogwash First Time. What else was there beside a commercial motive whispered on the ears by he-who-must-not-be-named to decision-brokers of this network, that these ill-produced shows made it into the network's Holy Week programming.
Around this flag of irreverent and insensitive disservice to poor viewers fly the horses of doom(ed)-old, flat-dead movies that will never earn a fraction of audience share when shown on regular days: Captain Barbell, Enteng Kabisote, Rubberman and that Regine-Robin washout. What was this network thinking? While other observers can go to the extent of believing these bad, bad choices to be a covert power play by a non-Catholic media entity (Born against, err, again Christians), a few forgiving souls see it as a folly of man being man (read: stupid).
However, a redeeming value was noted with the network's Black Saturday lineup notably Manaoag: The Call of the Virgin and a fresh program effort featuring Marian Rivera in the TV-movie Anghel sa Lupa.
On the other fence, ABS-CBN 2 was able to redeem itself from the sins of its early morning mundane-obtuse-violent cartoons and unimaginative canned noontime religious blah-blahs by a few sensible marathon reruns, led by the latest tv rendition to the beloved story of twins Agua Bendita, where it devoted a total of 6 hours (2 hours each on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Black Saturday) of its Holy Week block.
Still, a confession must be made on whoever wrote and produced that segment of Matanglawin shown on Holy Thursday, where that hyperventilating host reported on animals’ souls being equal to that of man, and even namedrop a Pope to give credence to this inaccurate broadcast sensationalism! This situation is a regular sin of producers, writers and hyperventilating hosts (who are often unmasked in situations like this for their real average IQs after all) for failing to see loopholes in their scripts. Mind you, this is one serious misinformation on television about an established philosophical issue (ever heard of metaphysical and sensient soul distinctions?) Repent, recant and hide your faces – now na!
Early on in the week, the Kapamilya circle received an early flak on its programming service from a church official, Msgr. Gaspar Balerite of Catarman, Northern Samar who rebuked the channel's insensitivity via a post in the CBCP website.
The Monsignor lambasted the show ASAP's transgression against the sanctity of Palm Sunday courtesy of its Boracay special, featuring skimpily-clad performers on the beach. While defenders of the black bikinis were quick to retort the rather predictable "it's-a-beach-we-don't-wear-habits-here" mantra, the early call for sobriety of skin showcase seemed to strike a chord, at least until Easter Sunday, it seems. The priest also warned shows promoting commercial tie-ups with resorts for showcasing Holy Week as a time of merrymaking when it is supposed to be a time for repentance and meditation.
Come Easter Sunday, when the poor Holy Week captive audience can break loose from the mundane television fares of the past three days, regular programming is back, though this is not to say that non-Holy Week programming is redemption from stupid offerings and senseless broadcasting hoopla. It is quite the contrary.
What I mean here is that, as a ravenous consumer of television products, there is light at the end of the tunnel when some free TV programming brokers will finally be blessed with sense, sensibility and inspired guidance to give justice to the Holy Week block next year.
And maybe just a word of longing, as echoed by my dear Mama, who sorely missed her dose of The Ten Commandments every Holy Week: RPN 9 must continue its mission, albeit once a year, of giving back to every Filipino Holy Week TV viewer that overwhelming spiritual effect of watching the sea divide into two as Moses laboriously held on to his holy staff, then come together again when all the good people are safe beyond, drowning the King's nasty soldiers in its midst - a triumph of good vs. evil in all its majestic cinematography.
Come on Channel 9, it could redeem you from the clutches of being government-owned.
