I caught the pilot episode of the Philippine version of My Girl on ABS-CBN tonight, and that was my first thought as the end credits rolled. And then I had an urge to blog about it because Cam and I had hell of a (stressful) time laughing at the corniness of it all.
I started the episode excited because I loved the original Korean version, and from what I’ve seen in previews and stuff the show seemed pretty good. However, I was a little disappointed upon seeing the actual show. I don’t know why but my attention span almost couldn’t bear the whole thing. Must be because out of the whole cast, it was only Kim Chiu who stood out for me. I never thought I’d say this, but yeah, she was actually pretty good. She was hilarious and cute and really captured the feel of the original My Girl. I don’t like her drama scenes any more than I did before, but the comedy parts were so spot on! Alex Gonzaga and David Chua were also great (even though I wasn’t too happy with Alex Gonzaga the first time I saw her on TV, which was in some Saturday drama thinger, the one where Joross Gamboa and Victor Basa fall for each other.. she was like a petulant kid there and I didn’t even bother finishing because the whole thing was pure cheese). I loved the tour bus scenes! Those were probably the only parts that I liked, even though the tourists were… bleh. Boring. As if they weren’t there at all. Kim, Alex and David provided more than enough entertainment for those scenes though so it’s ok. :)
Moving on… Gerald as Julian was.. well, usual Gerald. I dunno. I was a bit bored. He’s still pretty even while crying though, haha. But yeah, I wasn’t impressed. I also had to laugh out loud when they said his character was finishing his master’s degree in business administration (and at the top of his class in Hardvard too, if I heard correctly), because dude. He doesn’t even look like he’s graduating college. Seriously. Not convincing. (Ok, I know we aren’t meant to be convinced because we all know how young Gerald really is, but still.)
As for the rest of the cast… Kim’s/Jasmine’s dad was ok, Ronaldo Valdez(?) was… as boring as his on-screen grandson. Hoho. Bing Loyzaga was… well, I haven’t really seen enough to tell. K Brosas was a surprise. Haha. She does drama now. Never knew that. The rest, I guess we’ll still have to wait because none of them really got much airtime today of course. And the extras… oh man. The usual unconvincing extras. Bleh. When will we get at least semi-convincing extras on Philippine TV??? Ruined Jasmine’s fake-crying moment tuloy. Boo.
Aside from the slightly disappointing acting, Cam and I also hated the wierd choppy overall feeling of the show. I dunno, the pace felt rushed for me and the transitions were so abrupt and odd that it feels like just a sequence of scenes. I dunno. Meh. It’s hard to explain. But one moment Jasmine’s having some drama with her dad, then the next Gerald’s crying (without tears) over his grandfather. I didn’t get the chance to actually feel the emotion of the scene. Also, some scenes were pretty stupid, like the one where Jasmine’s dad’s cash gets stolen… who in their right mind would advertise to the world the fact that they just won tons of cash (and it wasn’t even their own money)?!?! Well, what did we expect? This was Philippine TV after all.
Oh well. It was a good laugh though, poking fun at the quality, or lack thereof, of Philippine TV. And it wasn’t that bad, really (just a bit, LOL). I hope it gets better though. But the tour scenes really are so hilarious that I think I’m going to keep watching this show for those moments. Or at least until my attention span runs out anyway (which I think will be in a week or so).
I'm Eeeek. I'm 17 and I'm a Computer Science major at the University of the Philippines.
