Does Sharon’s size matter?

Of the many stars who have moved over to TV5, Sharon Cuneta generated the most buzz. She is the Megastar after all and ABS-CBN had been her home for the past 23 years. What's more, she reportedly signed a P1 billion contract in late November, 2011.

Initially, I doubted the astronomical sum and none of the top executives of the Kapatid network would confirm the amount. I only accepted the figure when Sharon told Philippine Star columnist Ricky Lo in March this year that she did not sign up with TV 5 because of the one billion.

Although I realize that the huge sum will cover not just her TV shows but also movies and special projects like commercial endorsements for Manny Pangilinan's many companies for the next five years, I expected the network to give her a mega program befitting her stature. Initially, there was talk about Sharon doing a show in January this year. But January came and went with Sharon a no show.

Then there was an announcement that she would finally host a "different" kind of talk show in March. The network's publicists called it different but they hinted it would be similar to Oprah Winfrey's show. That didn't happen either.

Sharon's controversial billboard

Recently, the network announced that her talk show would premiere on May 7. Then, billboards began popping up showing Sharon with "Mataba na kung mataba" in huge letters and "ang puso ko" and "Magpakatotoo na tayo" in smaller type. It brought me back to her "before and after" billboard for Marie France which received a lot of negative feedback on the Internet. Netizens commented that her photograph looked digitally enhanced.

This time, the network decided to face her weight issue head on by giving it a spin, with "mataba" also referring to her "puso." The message that the billboard conveyed to me was that Sharon should be accepted for what she is, extra pounds and all. That might be considered as brave by some viewers but others may also react actively to the network flaunting Sharon's abundant figure.

Last Monday, May 14, the show "Sharon: Kasama Mo, Kapatid" finally went on the air at 4:30 p.m. My initial reaction was, why put TV 5's billion peso talent on a non-prime time slot? Maybe, the network has other plans for her and the talk show was just the initial salvo. Sharon managed to do a fairly competent hosting job. Since it was Mother's Day last Sunday, she said that the show would focus on mothers for the whole week.

Her first two guests were moms who decided to leave their wayward husbands. The main guest of the show, however, was Judy Ann Santos and I wondered what tales of woe she would share similar to the two moms before her. As it turned out, the segment started out as straight out of "The Buzz" as the two friends discussed show biz intrigue then later Juday's cooking ability. Shawie forgot her role as host and became too comfortable with Juday.

Distracted by her figure

What about the week's topic, motherhood? That would come after the commercial and it had to do with the parenting style of Juday and Ryan, nothing gut-wrenching. The show ended with taped messages from Juday's mom and Ryan. They also greeted her on her birthday. Then came a supposedly surprise appearance of Sharon's family—Senator Francis Pangilinan and kids (minus KC) praising Shawie. I guess the show can be excused for this self-indulgent portion since it was the first episode.

Though I realize that Sharon's weight should not affect my appreciation of the show, I still got distracted by her figure especially seeing her side by side with the svelte Juday who looked stunning beside the Megastar.

What's clear to me is that TV5 won't get back its huge investment if Sharon does not get back to her ideal weight. She's been saying that she will lose the extra pounds for quite some time now. She'd better do it soon as she can't be hosting talk shows forever. Doing movies and endorsements will require her to look more glamorous. Unfortunately, Sharon is working in a field where looks are important.

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.