Can Ara help boost
ABS-CBN ratings?

The four women who play the title roles are half sisters from different dads, with Nova Villa, the film’s narrator, as their common mom. Ruffa Gutierrez gives a trenchant performance as the frivolous daughter of a general who acknowledged her only when he was about to die. She inherited a big sum from her dad but she doesn’t know how to manage her finances and lives an extravagant life that eventually sends her to jail. She has a love child (Sophia Baars) whose dad (JR Valentin) is now married to someone else. A model-singer, Vito (Jay R), is offering her marriage but she prefers to be unattached.

Marian Rivera as Court-ney also gives a flamboyant performance as a female "faggot" who wears outlandish outfits and thinks she’s going to die when she feels a lump in her breast. She’s quite liberated and gets the shock of her life when her cager boyfriend (Will Devaughn) is converted by her preacher dad and becomes ultra-conservative.

Iza Calzado also does well as Stephanie, the uptight lawyer neglected by her workaholic doctor husband (TJ Trinidad), but her role is not as colorfully attention-getting as that of Ruffa and Marian. The role of Rufa Mae Quinto as Patricia, a sophisticated sexologist who turns out to be married to a closet queen (Wendell Ramos), is very challenging, but we’re afraid she’s quite miscast in it. Her acting is the same as that of the unrestrained Rufa Mae we saw as an embalmer in "Apat Dapat" and as a call center agent in "Pasukob." You won’t really believe she’s a sex expert who’s fond of quoting lines from the poetry of Emily Dickinson and popular songs from Billy Joel and Aegis. This role is originally intended for Pops Fernandez to whom it’s obviously better suited, what with all the English lines the character delivers.

Ruffa doesn’t relate well with her sisters and she doesn’t hesitate to lie to them. But when she gets into trouble, she discovers the strength of having her own family who cares. Her reconciliation with her sisters is a fitting preparation for the film’s climax which is the wedding of Marian and Will. The four actresses playing the lead roles look good together and they’re adequately supported by their leading men, notably by Wendell as the banker who discovers his true self when he meets Luis Alandy and Will who is certainly quite impressive, considering this is his first movie.

Also to be commended is the location used in the film, the local counterpart of Wisteria Lane of "Desperate Wives." The houses are fabulous and we heard this was shot in Sen. Manny Villar’s Portofino Village in Cavite.

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Baron Geisler left Kuya’s house last Thursday. It’s a case of forced eviction from "Pinoy Big Brother Celebration Edition 2" because of the many violations he committed while drunk on Christmas Day. Baron cursed the Big Brother, had an altercation with some housemates (notably, Will Devaughn, who he challenged into a fight), and generally acted like an uncouth insecure brat who says no one loves him. This is not the first time he behaved that way as he already got drunk some weeks ago and he promised then that he won’t get intoxicated again.

He was later asked to view the taped footage of his bad behavior and he says he cannot remember anything he did then. He was really pathetic, but then, he should learn how to take responsibility for his foolish actions so we believe what Kuya did to him is really justified. Baron should go to a rehab clinic to cure his alcoholism and he should also seek the help of an analyst to find out why he has so many insecurities and hang ups.

The show ends today, January 5, with its big night at the Araneta Coliseum. Special houseguests Mariel Rodriguez and Ethel Booba have also left Kuya’s house last Saturday night. The five remaining housemates are Riza Santos, Gaby de la Merced, Will Devaughn, Jon Avila, and Ruben Gonzales. It’s now up to the voting public as to who’d be evicted and who’d remain as the winning Big Four.

Before Mariel left, she bad-mouthed Riza on Friday night when they had a stag party for Ruben who proposed marriage to his live in partner on camera. Everyone got drunk and Ethel confided she has lost hope she’d succeed in bedding Will. Mariel said the situation is not hopeless and asked Ethel if it’s really love that she feels for Will. Ethel said yes (when she was just professing undying love for Janvier Daily some weeks ago) and then Mariel started cursing Riza, saying "Pu–inang virgin ito. Pu–ina talaga niya." The scene was then cut off and viewers are now wondering what will be Mariel’s explanation this time on why she behaved like that.

There are now just five remaining housemates: Riza Santos, Gabby de la Merced, Will Devaughn, Jon Avila, and comedian Ruben of Davao. Who do you think will be eliminated?

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Ara Mina and her sister, Cristine Reyes, seem bent on moving from GMA-7 to ABS-CBN. Ara also wants to have her cake and eat it, too. That’s why she wants to stay in GMA-7’s "Bubble Gang" even if she’s now doing "Prinsesa ng Banyera" on ABS. Honestly, we don’t think accepting "Prinsesa" is a good career move. Do you honestly think Ara can help in boosting the ratings of this afternoon show? We doubt it. And if ABS bosses would see that she can’t attract more viewers, we doubt if they’d assign her a lead role in a primetime show.

As for Cristine, she has been dropped from the cast of Robin Padilla’s "Joaquin Bordado," to be replaced by Iwa Moto. Obviously, GMA bosses are not exactly jubilant about her being linked to Willie Revillame and with her guesting in his "Wow-owee." Now, it’s said Cristine is being tapped to play the title role of the remake of "Eva Fonda, 16," which originally starred Alma Moreno in 1976.

Someone asked a GMA insider if they’re affected by the decision of Ara and Cristine to move to ABS. "Buh-kitt?" says the GMA insider in a different tone. "Kung si Angel Locsin nga na bigger star than both of them, hindi kami naa-pektuhan. Kung gusto nilang umalis, di umalis sila. Go and good riddance! Sa panahon ngayon, no star is indispensable kasi madaling gumawa ng bagong stars, as proven by Marian Rivera. And these days, hindi ang stars ang importante kundi ang project. You can have the biggest stars, pero kung palpak ang projects mo, wala rin."

To that, we can only say amen.

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Dennis Trillo made the mistake of allowing himself to be interviewed on air about Carlene Aguilar and their son, Calyx, in "Startalk" last Saturday and now, his word war with Carlene is once again going full blown. Dennis said it’s not true that he didn’t have a gift for their son. He added that the amount Carlene is asking as monthly allowance for their child is unreasonable. He said he has not erased the text messages Carlene sent to her as evidence.

As we all know, Carlene is the "palaban" type so she countered what Dennis said immediately. She issued a letter saying she didn’t have herself interviewed on TV "para siraan si Dennis." Here’s what her letter partly says, (edited due to space constraints): "Hindi ako nagpapa-interview para siraan si Dennis. ‘Yung nasabi ko on how many times na nadalaw ni Dennis si Calix, I said may average per month na four to five times, kasi that time hindi ko ma-remember kung ilang beses eksakto niya nadalaw si Calix, but now I checked and because I was able to list the dates he visited, ang exact number ay 10 out of 65 days since we arrived from the States. Once lang din po siya naghintay sa gate namin nung December 16 kasi ang purpose niya lang talaga is to get his driver’s license na iniwan ko sa guard. Walang order sa guard na papasukin siya and wala po ang parents ko that time. Hindi namin fault kung naghintay siya ng ilang minuto. That same day, iniwan niya sa guard ‘yung "ampao" gift ng sponsor ni Dennis kay Calix at yung gusto niyang ibigay na sustento per month. Guess po how much? Five thousand pesos! Nalaman niya kasi na ‘yan daw ang amount na binibigay ng isang actor sa mga pamilya niya, eh mas mahal pa dun ‘yung suweldo ng yaya ni Calix, so pag-uwi ng parents ko, naawa kay Dennis na baka mas kailanganin pa niya ‘yung pera dahil madami siyang sinu-suportahan kaya ibinalik kaagad sa condo niya ang ibinigay niya. Sabi pa niya, the amount we’re asking is masyadong unreasonable??? The child support we’re asking THEN was in accordance to the law, hindi po kami ang gumawa ng batas. Nasasabi kong wala siyang effort dahil wala naman po talaga akong nakikita, kasi kung meron man kahit ano pa ang sabihin ko sa kanya, hindi lang ang driver niya ang papapuntahin niya sa bahay namin dala pa ang bagong SUV niya nung Dec. 24, 2007. SIYA mismo ang pupunta para ibigay kung anuman yung ipinadala niya at kung gusto niya talagang makasama si Calix that day. Kaya nga nag-text ako sa kanya na ‘I’m home pero hindi ko tinanggap ‘yung ibinigay mo.’ My new year’s message to Dennis? For him to know what to prioritize, be man enough to make his own decisions in life, and to always keep his word. After everything that happened these past few months, sa mga sinabi at ginawa ni Dennis sa akin at sa pamilya ko, I DECIDED NOT TO ASK SUPPORT FROM HIM ANYMORE because it appears that he needs it more to support his family. As for me and Calix, we are content and very happy with what we have now. We’re so blessed with very supportive family and friends. My son doesn’t deserve a dad like him."

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Trini Tamondong emailed us to ask what we think of the court cases filed by GMA-7 and ABS-CBN about the ratings. Seriously, we don’t think it will affect the viewers directly. They’ll still watch what they want to watch. As for the advertisers, big consumer companies and ad agencies have their own research departments that conduct surveys about radio and TV shows, so they know the real score based on their own data gathering and they put their commercials in the shows that they know are rating well. One agency insider we know told us that their own findings are not too far from that of AGB.