Rating Korina Sanchez’s ‘Rated K’
As a newscaster on "TV Patrol," Korina Sanchez deals mostly with serious stuff like politics, crime, natural disasters, and so on.
Once a week, Korina takes a break from all that with her magazine program called "Rated K" (Sundays, 7:30 p.m. on ABS-CBN) where she tackles less weighty issues.
In her last two episodes, she featured animal trainers, homes of the rich and famous, herbal supplements to improve the memory, a married priest, dads who are also moms, celebrity dads and persons with painful and electrifying occupations (more on that later).
Competent and likable
In previous interview shows that Korina hosted, she was on camera most of the time. Not so on "Rated K" though her voice-overs dominate the production.
When she does interview some of the guests, she's quite competent and likeable. It would have been interesting, though, if she did something else aside from chatting with them.
Maybe the animal trainer could have come up with a stunt involving Korina and his pets.
The working househusband
The segment that affected me a lot featured a dad whose wife was in Dubai on a two-year work contract.
He augments her remittances by working as a tricycle driver while rearing his daughters and taking on the work at home. He brings his kids to school and fetches them after class. At home, he does the marketing and cooking (breakfast, lunch and dinner), washes clothes by hand and irons them late at night.
He's been teased several times by his neighbors but he has learned to take their kidding in stride. What gives him a lot of pleasure is looking at the medals his children have won because of their academic achievements.
Cringe-worthy moments
When I watch movies, I close my eyes when scenes involve knives and other sharp objects. So when the show featured people with painful jobs like this woman whose stomach was used as a chopping board and this guy who had four knives pressed to his tummy as he pulled a car with a rope around his waist, I turned away from the TV.
I also cringed at the sight of this man who had electricity run through his body. What a way to earn a living! The show did the right thing by superimposing the warning "HUWAG GAYAHIN" in big letters all throughout the segment.
Casual ads
I realize that shows are supported by advertising so on top of the commercials there are also casual ads within the show.
A feature on a busy married couple carried a plug for a pill that's supposed to give the husband more stamina during their intimate moments.
Then the show suggested giving another dad a ticket on Philippine Air Asia as a gift on Father's Day. The segment included an interview with the airline's executive officer, Ma-an Hontiveros, who also had a magazine program before called "MsEllaneous."
Another concerned an herbal supplement that helped improve one's memory.
And what are casual plugs without Dr. Vicki Belo? While many TV performers just acknowledge her at the end of a variety show, "Rated K" had segments showing how she aided actors and actresses maintain their beautiful looks.
Cross-promotions
Naturally, the featured stars were talents who had appeared or are appearing in ABS-CBN shows.
"Rated K's" Father's day special on celebrity dads featured Christopher de Leon ("Dahil Sa Pag-Ibig"), Albert Martinez ("Princess and I"), Richard Gomez ("Walang Hanggan").
The segment on actresses' beauty secrets courtesy of Belo had "It's Showtime's" Anne Curtis, Karylle, and Georgina Wilson and Julia Montes ("Walang Hanggan").
I find casual ads annoying so when they intrude on the program content, I reach for my remote and switch channels.
I was also not comfortable with the feature on the P88 million house but felt good about Korina's program of giving away slippers and school supplies to public school children in depressed areas.
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.
