Patty and Kim who?
Patti Grandidge and Kim Jones, that's who. They're the host and on-the-scene reporter, respectively, of "Etcetera" the latest local lifestyle show on ETC (RPN 9 and Sky Cable, Destiny, Ch. 14}, which premieres on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 7:45 p.m. I haven't seen this 15-minute show yet but if it's as lively and refreshing as these two young ladies, then "Etcetera" is something viewers can look forward to.
Don't be fooled by their foreign family names. Both have Filipino blood. Both of their dads are Brits. Patti's mom is related to Jun Urbano, who's known to TV viewers as Mr. Shooli in the political satire "Mongolian Barbecue." She has vague memories of appearing on that show when she was only nine years old. (She's 23 now.) When I told her that Jun was an award-winning director of commercials, a respected movie director and the son of National Artist Manuel Conde, she vowed to find out more about his Tito Jun from her mom.
Kim's mom is half Filipino, half Spanish and the family spent some time in Adelaide, Australia. I noticed that she didn't speak like an Aussie. Kim, 24, says she left the Land Down Under in her teens. However, she still has not forgotten Oz speak like "brekkie" for "breakfast," "barbie" for "barbecue" and "take away" for "take out" food.
Although both have appeared in TV commercials (Jollibee, Sun Cellular, Globe) they are tyros in the TV industry. According to Annie Biaga, Solar's Network Development head, Patti was one of the last to audition for the job and arrived when they were about to pack up as it was a stormy evening. They had already seen more than a 100 ladies but when Patti faced the camera and went through the 40-minute audition process, they knew they had finally found their host. "She was quite nervous doing her spiels but her imaginary interview with Heidi Klum really impressed us," says Annie. Kim also got the nod from the creative people.
"Etcetera" is billed as "capsules for the stylish young." It only runs for 15 minutes and will have no commercial interruptions. I told Annie no program can survive without commercials. I surmised that this was really more of a trial balloon that will be expanded to a half-hour segment if it clicks and attracts sponsors.
Solar is betting on the two newbies to bring in the stylish youth who are known for their short attention span to spend 15 minutes and watch a show where they "are kept up to date on what's in and what's put in style, beauty, the Web and youth." The show will offer beauty tips, fashion trends, shopping suggestions and recommend websites worth visiting.
If Patti succeeds in her hosting job, will she consider a career in show business? "Show business is not for me. I don't know how to act," she replies. She'll be more comfortable in more hosting jobs. Patti graduated with a degree in International Business from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California then interned at Sprinkles, a famous bakery in Los Angeles. She is a certified foodie and started baking at the age of five. She has been writing a food blog since she was in college. Today, she has a home-based business called Patti Cakes. She sells, what else, cupcakes which we sampled during the press con for "Etcetera." They were yummy.
Kim is the more bubbly of the two. Her press kit states that she's "not afraid to break out into song and dance." I asked her to give us a sample and she laughed and wanted to find out who wrote the story. Eventually, she agreed to sing an Aussie folk song "Waltzing Matilda" if we joined her in the singing.
I asked her, "If the genie granted you three wishes, what would they be? Her reply: travel around the world, visit the Dalai Lama and an endless supply of chamomile tea. Not an endless supply of dollars?
I gave another hypothetical situation. If you found a briefcase with $5 million dollars on a deserted street, what would you do? Her reply: turn it over to the police. Despite my insistence that the police might just keep it or there was no way to locate the owner, she still did not want to take the money home because it was wrong. Finally, she agreed to just donate the entire amount to charity.
What an interesting duo! Here's hoping "Etcetera" will be just as interesting.
Disclaimer: The views and observations of the author do not represent the position of Yahoo! Southeast Asia on the issue or topic being discussed.
