Stripping with pleasure

Believe it or not, a lot of TV shows even in the same network compete and try to outdo each other all for the sake of ratings.

Fortunately, this doesn’t happen between Showbiz Stripped and Startalk because the two programs are what you may call sister shows. How did this happen? Maybe it helps that around 70 percent of the people involved in Showbiz Stripped are also part of the Startalk staff.

Since I know personally – oh even the ins and outs of their lives – most of the people who work for Showbiz Stripped, I feel that I have an affiliation with this program hosted by Ricky Lo (with whom, of course, I’ve also maintained close ties all these years). A lot of the Showbiz Stripped staff members are people I consider friends: from Floy Quintos to Rommel Gacho – down the line.

But this is the downside of having friends from television: They hardly have time for you. Usually, after every edition of Startalk on Saturdays, I always have this urge to just hang around with the staff members – chatting, catching up on each other’s lives and talking about what’s nice to watch in movie theaters. Until last year, we would have this bonding at the talent room of the old GMA 7 building over simple meals of rice and a single viand.

When Showbiz Stripped was launched last year, however, everyone would just be in a hurry to get out of the Startalk studio. Why the rush? – I would ask them. Editing – for Showbiz Stripped. That’s the short reply I’d get from each one of them as they file out of the talent room in groups of three or four. Everyone would just be rushing, rushing, rushing.

Usually, I have one and a half hours to kill after Startalk (which ends at 4:30 p.m.) because I always catch the anticipated Mass at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Timog Ave. But since everyone else would be busy editing Showbiz Stripped (and that’s after a long sleepless night of editing Startalk’s video materials), I’d have to kill time by myself. Sometimes, I’d go to the fourth floor editing bay and watch the staff work. I’d be hitting two birds with one stone here: I get to spend time with my friends (Reylie Manalo, Agnes Suriaga, etc.) – and I get to watch Showbiz Stripped hours before its actual airtime (after Hokus Pokus).

A few minutes before six, I would leave – happy with the thought that I’ve already seen a great part of Showbiz Stripped even before everyone else has seen it. Janine Piad-Nacar would also scoot out of the editing room to hear Mass with her very patient husband, Obet Nacar, who is with GMA 7 engineering. The three of us would meet again in church and Janine and I would make faces at each other during that part of the Mass where you are supposed to say Peace be with you!

After the Mass, while I officially have the weekend off, Janine still has to return to GMA 7 to continue supervising that night’s edition of Showbiz Stripped. Sometimes, she would even skip the anticipated Mass altogether because of Showbiz Stripped. (I presume she hears Mass the following day.)

On some occasions, the staff would finish editing the show just a few minutes before airing: photofinish as they say – colloquially – in the races. No, this is not a case of procrastination.

Showbiz Stripped dares to do things that are basically undoable – and that takes time: from the subject who hems and haws first before agreeing to the interview (in cases like those, it’s always Tito Ricky to the rescue!) to the gathering of materials related to the topic. In the end, they are able to do what others had dismissed as impossible – and they do it well.

Take for instance, their pilot telecast where they featured two of show business’ most admired – but very elusive – women: Susan Roces and Lily Monteverde. Now, remember that the Showbiz Stripped initial episode happened when Ms. Roces was still deep into her mourning (the beloved Fernando Poe Jr. had just died then) and she had yet to make herself visible at opposition rallies.

In the case of Lily Monteverde, every showbiz insider knows that Regal’s matriarch hardly makes herself available for interviews (why, she only began attending awards presentations recently). But in that Showbiz Stripped first telecast, they were able to capture the camera-shy producer in her private moments: playing with her grandchildren and even rolling on her back in the lawn.

Showbiz Stripped also goes into editing late because one quality that most viewers look forward to – and expect – in the show is its freshness. Every Saturday night therefore, Showbiz Stripped is aired on GMA 7 oven-fresh – still piping-hot. Never mind the fact that almost everyone involved in the show nearly died of a heart attack because they didn’t know if they’d be able to make it to airtime. Somehow they do – with a quality product each time.

That they’re able to come up with excellent episodes each time no longer surprises me. Never have I seen a group of people with such discriminating eye and taste (what with Floy and Rommel G. there). They run the show like a Louis Vuitton factory. They only get the best and throw away the rest.

One time, they were working on a very controversial topic and Issa Aguirre (Fayatollah to Tigbakan followers) spent half an afternoon with me at the Placement restaurant in Tomas Morato getting information from me about showbiz figures who got involved in scandals in the past. They ended up throwing away wealth of research materials (Issa had also interviewed other sources regarding the subject matter) because some of the people involved in those issues were no longer around to defend themselves. Now, that’s what I call fairness.

For being just and fair (and having quality all the time), the show had been rewarded with excellent ratings that are way high for a late-night program. (Imagine what it could achieve if put on primetime.) In its slot, it’s always No. 1 and is way, way ahead of competition.

Last Saturday, Showbiz Stripped marked its first year and in the next three Saturdays, it will feature even more interesting topics as part of its month-long anniversary celebration. Wow, one year – and on top all throughout!

What’s the program’s secret? If you ask me, it’s nothing but hard work. Yes, that’s what you’ll see – even if you have it stripped.