Walang...

I was supposed to go out with some friends a few hours ago (technically last night), but I overslept. Long story. Anyway. I woke up hungry and decided to take a late dinner (or early breakfast), tried to read, and decided to check out what was on the idiot box. I caught the last few minutes of that Lou Diamond Philips movie (Bats) on HBO (whew! aside from technology, has anything really changed in cinema? The premise, the plot, the action sequences are essentially the same; it's like the template for the average American movie has remained the same all through these years). I surfed channels... and at 1:00 am, what else is on local TV but walangggggggggg...tulugan! (Sorry, I just needed to provide a context for what I am going to write about for obviously embarrasing reasons).

As I write this, the 21st reunion of That's Entertainment is playing out on Master Showman. If you are between 30 and 50 years old, I am sure you went through a "dats" phase in your life. There was just no frigging way you could have missed out on that late afternoon phenomenon on local TV. To be honest, I wasn't really into "dats" but like I said, it wasn't something you could be totally oblivious to. Not when most everyone among your friends was into it; with some friends rooting for certain "days."

So what has happened to the mainstays of that show? I never realized just how many among our current celebrities trained on "dats." I guess that explains why many among them are awful performers or why the showbiz careers of many others did not prosper. But to be fair, that show did produce Lea Salonga, Donita Rose, Piolo Pascual, Ruffa Mae Quinto, and of course, Billy Joe Crawford (who it turns out flew all the way from Europe to grace the reunion). So I guess despite the baduy factor of the show, it cannot be denied that it did some people some good.

Seeing how those kids blossomed into adults today and still being able to recognize those who are no longer active in showbiz was surprisingly fun... the likes of Brylle Mondejar, Manolet Ripol, Mutya Crisostomo, Ricky Rivero (oh my god, this guy lost so much weight, I wanna know what he did to shed off what must have been 200 lbs), the Alejar brothers, etc.

And of course, it wouldn't be a Dats reunion without those production numbers (snicker, snicker). The difference is that the performances are more, how shall I say this, mature (as expected) and I guess more polished.

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