Monday, August 27, 2007 Baumgart: Winning the jackpot By Elisabeth Baumgart inkblots
THERE is something about noontime shows that captivate viewers during lunch and make their spoons stop halfway to their mouths.
I rarely get the time to watch the game shows over lunch, because I’m either neck high with deadlines and projects, or I’m sleeping. But when my friends and I get the time to actually watch television at noon, we all hurry off to my place and watch Edu Manzano wiggle his booty.
Perhaps, that is it then. The wiggling of the Manzano booty might actually be behind the nationwide fixation of certain noontime TV shows.
That and everybody who are watching the noontime game shows who keep on screaming out the answers at the TV screen in hopes that the player would actually hear them. If the player doesn’t get the right answer, televiewers immediately label him as an idiot and are just about ready to throw their plates at the TV set.
I eagerly await the day when somebody actually chokes on a vegetable because of all the hype and excitement over the game show that the entire nation is hooked to.
There must be some kind of logic behind watching noontime shows. I find it interesting to note that those who are watching the shows do not win anything at all while the one who gets made fun of on public television runs away with a million pesos and some random living room or lifestyle showcase.
Where’s the justice in that? The guy on TV wins a million bucks, while you sit in your living room munching on last night’s leftovers.
But undeniably, we enjoy seeing others triumph-especially if the underdog wins. When by myself, I find myself cheering along players who definitely need the money. In a way, I feel proud of the people who come out of the game successful and who genuinely deserve the cash.
While riding a taxi one evening, the driver complained about game shows getting players who are either already stinking rich or are station actors who earn enough to feed an entire army with each taping they do.
“They should get poor people to join the show!” exclaimed the driver with conviction, while whizzing down the empty highway. “So that they get a chance of winning a million pesos or more!”
I had to agree. What’s the point of making the rich richer, when they are already rich to being with? I think picking out a briefcase isn’t that difficult-it’s pure luck. Anyone, no matter of what social class, can pick a briefcase and pray to high heavens that they win the jackpot.
Come to think of it, seeing the rich getting richer on television is nothing new. We get that a lot in politics and in society. Creepy as it may seem, life as we know it, is a noontime game show already. Hopefully, someday, we too get to pick the right briefcase.
