Unwilling TV

So now what?
After the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) handed down its 30-day suspension on "Willing Willie" which the agency said was inclusive of the show's voluntary hiatus that started on April 9, Willie Revillame is expected to be back on air on Monday, May 9. After egos were badly hurt, names were dragged in the muck, name-calling and accusations flew like ping pong balls gone berserk and cases were filed in court, it seems that life will go on. As it should, really.
Of late, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has filed a child abuse case against the beleaguered host, the parents of Little Dancing Jan Jan has filed cases against a child psychologist and bloggers who allegedly damaged their reputation and gave them sleepless nights … and Willie Revillame will return right into your homes to give you more fun, laughter and a sense of hope that not even the resignation of Merceditas Gutierrez could ever provide. But then what? The MTRCB has rendered its decision on the matter. The networks have come up with their own Ombudsman, creating Bibles on "how to treat children in that endless pursuit for creative ways of providing entertainment" in order to convince the public (and MTRCB chairperson Grace Poe-Llamanzares) that never again shall such gross miscalculations between fun and supposed child molestation ever be brought into prime time programming. And Willie Revillame will come back in full force with total studio backing in an improved, renovated and hopefully more wholesome format to set all those dancing girls wiggling their pelvises and posteriors in the spirit of fun, fun, fun!
The bottom line is that what was that fuss all about? Will the uproar in the social networks and the collective sighs of disgust from the violated middle class be conveniently forgotten to end in a whimper? Someone quite jaded said, "Oh, just give the Pinoys three weeks … and the issue will die a natural death. Kung si Marcos nga kanilang nakalimutan at napatawad, ano na lang ba itong gulong ito?"
Perhaps there is some truth in that. Because life will go on and for the Pinoy, entertainment is life that goes on and on and on. Yes, it is true: the issue is no longer Willie Revillame for they may be truth that people could have overreacted to that whole Dancing Boy Incident. After all, Jan Jan was not the first --- but hopefully the last (for quite some time) little child pushed in front of the cameras and a live audience to impersonate the suggestive choreography typical of the seedy and cheesy night life of Manila.
The problem is so much larger --- and it is not the exploitation of this little boy. Rather, it is television's exploitation of the minds of the audience --- and how it has misshapen the Filipinos' concept of what is worthwhile entertainment.
But, as another jaded observer voiced out, "Who cares? All those Facebook and Twitter zealots are not the kind of people who fill the studios or diehard Willie Revillame fans. What do they know about what the masa really wants?"
Hmmm. So I guess … that is that. The show must go on.

Posted in: SHOWBIZZ