Talentadong Pinoy goes international in 3rd season

When ABC 5 came out with Talentadong Pinoy in 2008, it didn’t take long for the innovative talent show to catch the public’s attention. It soon became a weekly habit, along with another favorite Shall We Dance, which honed Lucy Torres-Gomez into the hosting and dancing master she soon became.

Today, under new management of TV5, opposite other talent shows, Talentadong Pinoy (TP) stubbornly clings to its format as well as its original host Ryan Agoncillo, director Rich Ilustre, executive producer, writer, cameramen, and staff and crew that started with the show from the very beginning.

As Ilustre puts it, “We have always been very proud to say that when we launched TP, we were the only talent show on television. When the other networks mounted their own talent shows, we were flattered because it showed that Talentadong Pinoy’s format did appeal to the televiewers and at the same time, it kept us on our toes. I think the show is still going strong up to now because it has the right balance of entertainment, fun and reality. It resonates with people because all Filipinos enjoy ‘magpasikat’ and TP is where they can do it. It gives people access to their 10 minutes of fame. You don’t have to be rich, you don’t have to look like a celebrity, and you don’t have to have special connections just to get in.” The show is open to all ages, kinds of acts, Filipinos or those with Filipino blood. The youngest was a two-year-old dancer, while the oldest a 70-year-old acrobat. 

We have been one of those TP loyalists, watching the show grow amidst larger, more senior competition. We have applauded when Joshua, the Yoyo Tricker won in Season 1 and wept when Pole dancer Sfashiva lost to equally talented Joseph, the Sand Artist in Season 2. We felt that Sfashiva had a lot to do with changing the girly bar image of the pole dancer into that of a sport, just as Ciara Sotto had in giving it respectability. 

TV5’s Talentadong Pinoy international edition champion Penny Salcedo from Hong Kong

Champions for six weeks become Hall of Famers like Joseph and Joshua who went on to compete and win top awards at the World Championships of the Performing Arts in the US. Televiewers will get an opportunity to watch Season 3’s Battle of the Champions Live on May 5 and 6 at the Quezon City Memorial Circle. 

As TV5 goes global, TP grows with it. The first auditions for TP’s international edition last year held in Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai yielded a schoolteacher and singer Penny Salcedo. TP’s loyal brain bank apparently has more surprises up its sleeves in the months to come.

Direk Wenn experiments in Moron 5 movie

After delivering the highest grosser of all time in Praybeyt Benjamin, what could the acknowledged comedy wizard, director Wenn Deramas, still come up with? The answer is Moron 5 and The Crying Lady where direk Wenn thought he would experiment with one continuous gag after another until the audience doubles up in laughter on the ground. 

Co-produced by Viva Films and MVP Pictures, and scripted by Mel del Rosario, Moron 5 tells of five half-witted friends (Luis Manzano, Billy Crawford, Marvin Agustin, Martin Escudero and DJ Durano) with John “Sweet” Lapus as the Crying Lady. The friends were happily living their lives until Sweet accuses them of killing his father and they end up in prison.

From left: Billy Crawford, DJ Durano, Marvin Agustin, Luis Manzano and Martin Escudero of Moron 5

It is an interesting cast, each with his own expertise, some more experienced than the others. Not quite a few have wondered what on earth direk Wenn saw in putting them together. But leave it to the master of surprises. Moron 5 opens on Holy Saturday, April 7.

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