Bringing back the old gang

I caught Got 2 Believe on CinemaOne a couple of days ago. It starred Claudine Barretto, Rico Yan, and Dominic Ochoa in a typical love triangle romance between friends. I remember watching it in the cinema and actually melting in my seat at Rico’s antics. Drama wasn’t his forte, so there is no telling what his career would be like now, if acute pancreatitis hadn’t claimed him at 27 in 2002, but there was no denying his charm. Few young stars can light up the screen with one goofish grin and Rico was one of them.  

I should know. I followed Gimik religiously and was a secret fan of the Rico Yan and Judy Ann Santos love team. In fact, for a long time, I felt guilty about watching Rico and Claudine together in a romantic film.

A couple of days later, I got into a Facebook faux fight over John Lloyd Cruz. I have yet to watch In My Life, but various friends who I know to be non-fans have been generous with their praises, especially in terms of John Lloyd’s performance. For the record, I am not surprised.

My best friend, who’d noticed him first in One More Chance, told me over IM, “I think I’m falling in love with him.”

Of course, like anybody who dedicated most of her late 1990s and early 2000s Saturday afternoons to the coolest promdi young barkada in the country, I had to stake my claim. “I saw him first!” I replied. “Do you even know who Rovic is?”

A few days later, in a classic My Parents Joined Facebook move, my mom replied to my post, saying, “Hoy, mga bata pa kayo. Nauna ako!”

How could I forget? She followed Tabing Ilog as faithfully as her daughters did and was a big fan of “Rovic and Ebs.” Yes, that’s what she called Kaye Abad’s character.

Some hours ago, I read a Pep.ph article on Bobby Andrews, who expressed his desire to get together with his old T.G.I.S. buddies. They’ve been talking about a grand reunion, on- or off-camera, he expressed. Currently, only Bobby, Michael Flores, Angelu de Leon, and Ciara Sotto see each other often.

I may have been a bigger fan of Gimik, but I have a sister, and when she controlled the remote control, she switched from Gimik to T.G.I.S. and so I also became familiar with the romantic travails of “the first batch”: Peachy (Angelu), Wacks (Bobby), JM (Onemig Bondoc), Kiko (Red Sternberg), Cris (Raven Villanueva), and Micky (Michael Flores).

It still tickles me to think of the unintended cross-overs: Rica Peralejo was first on T.G.I.S. before moving on to Gimik, while Diego Castro left Gimik to join then-girlfriend Raven on T.G.I.S.

They don’t make youth-oriented shows like they did in the past these days. The money’s on local and Korean-inspired telenovelas.

I know the Philippines isn’t exactly big on re-runs, but I’d love to see those youth-oriented shows again. Or how about a “Where are they now?” special? That’d be like a high school reunion.

Any takers?

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