ETC airs last show today

Curtain-raisers:

• As I was saying, I have stopped taking awards seriously; I dismiss them as showbiz’s annual jokes on us the still gullible public. No wonder, many people have started calling the Film Academy Awards a Fantasy/Friendship Awards and the long-discredited FAMAS Awards as a "Farce-MAS Awards." But I must congratulate Eddie Garcia (Bahid, Best Actor), Kris Aquino (Mano Po, Best Supporting Actress) and Piolo Pascual (Dekada ’70, Best Supporting Actor) who truly deserved the honors. I was somewhat taken aback when Gil Portes, who protested to high heavens against his non-inclusion as Best Director nominee (Munting Tinig) in the recent FAP Awards, accepted his trophy with a wide, wide smile. He would have been consistent if he "politely" declined the "honor" in sympathy with Munting Tinig lead actress Alessandra de Rossi. Oh, well, there could only be one Lino Brocka (who returned an Urian Best Director trophy in protest for the non-win of his protege Phillip Salvador for Jaguar years ago, remember?).

• Here’s what to expect on The Buzz (ABS-CBN, 4 to 5:30 p.m.) this coming Easter Sunday, April 20: Klaudia Koronel’s tearful confession about/against her father and how she now regrets having joined showbiz, the emotional confession of Dennis da Silva about the rape case filed against him and about Ruffa Gutierrez, revelations about Piolo Pascual and Judy Ann Santos’ true relationship, and the continuation of the controversy involving Jimboy and Mahal and how the former has been "using" the latter.

• Yesterday afternoon as I was driving out of a building in Quezon City, I almost sideswiped a passing silver Honda Civic. A few feet away, the car stopped near the sidewalk and out came an obviously angry lady (driving) ready to lash out at poor me. I rolled down my right window and, voila, I recognized the pretty near-victim – yes, Janna Victoria! To make a long story short, we ended up laughing about the near mishap. But I still say "sorry" to Janna for the incident. I forgot to ask her if she was on her way to keep an appointment with her boyfriend, Dominic Ochoa.

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The sad news is that ETC, co-hosted by Boy Abunda and Tintin Bersola, is fading out even if it’s said to be ahead of the competition. ETC will have its last telecast today.

The good news is that the over-worked Boy Abunda will finally have time to unwind. With the daily show ETC, the Sunday show The Buzz and the weekly Private Conversations, Boy hardly had time for himself. He was forever up and about, making friends (this one included) wonder if he ever slept.

After ETC, however, Boy will host another weekly show slated for a weekend timeslot.

Meanwhile, Tintin herself will have her own show (details not yet revealed).

No, there’s no truth to the rumor that the new show replacing ETC will be hosted by Edu Manzano (currently ubiquitous on ABS-CBN, so familiar has he become that you can almost memorize the number of his misplaced strands of hair) but by Erwin Tulfo who is still in Baghdad covering developments there "live" for TV Patrol.

As you can see, the merry-go-round at ABS-CBN continues, with Julius Babao now co-anchoring TV Patrol with Korina Sanchez. There’s a little story behind it. Rival station GMA 7 was deadset on recruiting Julius, with the contract ready for signing, but ABS-CBN topped the GMA offer when it got wind of Julius’ secret plan to jump ober da bakod. GMA’s plan was to put Julius on Frontpage as co-anchor of Mel Tiangco.

Now, can you guess what was the ABS-CBN offer made that made Julius forget GMA and decide to stay where he is?

Ruffa-Yilmaz wedding set for replay

There’s big news about Ruffa Gutierrez coming up but the Holy Week isn’t the right time to break it. Just stay tuned.

Anyway, the good news is that those who missed the first telecast of Ruffa and Yilmaz Bektas’ fabulous wedding (the only real glamorous showbiz event so far this year) and those who want to watch it again will have another chance on Sabado de Gloria, April 19, starting at 9 p.m. still on GMA 7.

The TV special, recorded for posterity by thousands of people (I included), will feature additional portions not shown in the original telecast. It’s a "must" viewing after the gloom of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

At this writing, Ruffa has flown back to Los Angeles from a brief stay in Istanbul to start house-hunting. Yilmaz is set to follow his four-month pregnant brand-new wife who’s giving birth sometime in August.

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