The battle of the Sunday noontime shows

January 8's opening number on "ASAP 2012" left me breathless because there were so many things happening on the screen—dancers in lavish costumes parading all over the stage, pole dancers executing difficult acrobatic maneuvers, a magician and a disappearing bird that turns into a lovely lady, singers belting their numbers in tune (most of them anyway). In spite of all these activities, the director (Johnny Manahan?) was able to mount a seamless production number. Minor flubs would have been excusable considering that this was a live presentation (I think) but there were no slip-ups, no awkward moments or extended long shots.

What spoiled my enjoyment of the show was that portion where Gary V interpreted "Hangang Sa Dulo ng Walang Hanggan," a song that can best be described in Pilipino as "makabagbag damdamin." Gary did a great job, interpreted the song with all seriousness and did justice to George Canseco's romantic opus. The audience refused to cooperate and started applauding for most of the musical number, shouting with delight with some of them repeatedly screaming "I love you, Gary V!" To Gary's credit, he maintained his serious pose up to the last note.

Meantime, GMA's "Party Pilipinas" had a less complicated opening number with the usual medley of lively songs.

So what did the Kapatid network have to offer as competition to "ASAP" and "Party Pilipinas?" A local version of a Japanese game show, that's what. Before anyone dismisses TV5's Sunday noontime programming as a useless exercise, this is actually a valid strategy. Since both ABS-CBN and GMA have musical variety shows, TV5 is resorting to counter-programming, in other words, airing a show completely different from what the other networks have to offer. The idea is to appeal to viewers who are tired or who may eventually tire of watching singing and dancing every Sunday.

The show is called "Celebrity Samurai" and if "ASAP" has Jericho Rosales, Gary V and Zsa Zsa Padilla and "PP" has Ogie Alcasid and J.R., "CS" has Sarah G, Rhianna and Charice. The difference is that the last three are gay impersonators. Not all of the celebs on the show are fake. Jao Mapa, Wilma Doesnt, Mr. Foo and JC Parker may be considered celebrities but not on the same level as Echo and company. They are joined by unknowns like Tiny, Kulay the Barbarian, Godzira and Princess Hentai. The only real superstar on the show is Joey de Leon. Most of the games are meant to inflict physical harm on the contestants. Losers suffer minor electric shocks and get their feet stomped on.

How does Joey fare as a game show host? Not as well as his buddy, Vic Sotto, who handles "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." Joey tries too hard to make viewers laugh while Vic doesn't have to exert too much effort to get the audience to like him. He is a natural. Joey's humor requires parental guidance while Vic's jokes are designed for the general audience.

The budget of "Celebrity Samurai" is definitely just a fraction of the other networks' noontime shows so even if it doesn't attract too many sponsors, the losses on the show are probably quite small. The biggest expense on "CS" is Joey's talent fee.

If TV5 does decide to be more competitive with "ASAP" and "Party Pilipinas," I doubt if the network will come up with a musical variety show. It will probably be an expensive reality show or a big budget version of "Celebrity Samurai" with real celebs.

Disclaimer: The views and observations of the author do not represent the position of Yahoo! Southeast Asia on the issue or topic being discussed.