Advertisement

Is Kris Aquino losing her magic touch?

When Kris Aquino first appeared on TV at the age of 14 on the late Inday Badiday's "See True," her guesting attracted the highest rating ever for that show biz talk show. Eventually, she would become one of the country's most popular entertainment personalities scoring high ratings on her TV shows and generating massive box office revenues for her movies.

During her brother Noynoy's presidential campaign, Kris vowed to leave her TV shows and devote her time to helping her brother in public service, if he won. When Noynoy swept the presidential elections, Kris announced she was leaving "The Buzz" and everyone thought she was going to fulfill her campaign promise.

Months later, she would be one of the co-hosts of "Pilipinas Win na Win" which was trying desperately to compete with "Eat Bulaga." Kris's appearance on "PWNW" didn't do anything to increase the show's ratings and after a while, she was removed as one of the co-hosts.

Kris surfaced later in a game show, a format that she had already mastered as a host of the popular "Game Ka Na Ba?" She was asked to be the Bob Barker or Drew Carrey of the local version of "The Price of Right" which was aired daily. The show failed to get impressive ratings and had to be downgraded to a weekly airing.

Now, Kris is trying again to reclaim her lost glory on a daily morning show called "Kris TV" and for the premiere episode, she had as guest, a politician who is being linked to her in gossip columns, senator Chiz Escudero. An astute move on the part of ABS-CBN, create intrigue to attract viewers. Unfortunately, I was unable to catch that episode but managed to tune in to the second episode today (June 28).

Her guests were child stars of the Kapamilya network and their moms, "Mula Sa Puso's" Zaijan Jaranilla, "Mutya's" Mutya Orquia and Bugoy Cariño. Unlike "The Buzz" where intrigue is the name of the game, the kids are much too young to be involved in juicy items. Unluckily for Kris, children are not ideal guests for talk shows unless they're irrepressible. Sure enough, the three had very little to say and Kris had to do most of the talking. Well, the moms managed to put in some comments from time to time.

Otherwise, it was Kris who dominated the show with her many asides including several references to her two kids, Bimby and Josh and putting in her own experiences as a mom, which was interesting enough. With very little to offer, the show dragged on for a very long 60 minutes. It perked up a bit with a number from the winners of a dance contest on "ASAP" and Bugoy and her mom, who is a choreographer, in another dance number.

Tomorrow, the show will feature the finalists of "Pilipinas Got Talent," an ABS-CBN production. This is where viewers are shortchanged because the network will only feature its talents and none from its competitors.

In the US, David Letterman's talk show, which is a CBS property, can invite talents from ABC, NBC and Fox. The same goes for Jay Leno. Why can't we do that here?.

The show ended with clips of her visit to Sorsogon with Chiz where she distributed school materials to students and spent time with the senator at his residence where he showed Kris his fishponds. Tomorrow, Kris will be featuring Sorsogon's tourist attraction, the butanding. I don't know if Chiz will still be around, but chances are he will be.

Kris used to be very visible on TV but now at the age of 40, is she losing her touch? I noticed that "Kris TV" did not have too many advertisers which the network will explain away as "The show is just starting." A morning show is not ideal for reclaiming lost glory so the network should come up with a format that showcases her bubbly personality. How about a reality show like "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" where the camera followed each move of the sisters? I'm sure following Kris and her daily activities will prove interesting to viewers.

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