The best of Pinoy Talentados

“It’s our happy place,” says Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez, one of the regular talent scouts of the country’s longest-running talent show, Talentadong Pinoy. That, more or less, sums up the sentiment of the people behind and on-cam of the show; a feeling echoed by resident director Rich Ilustre who further states “we (cast and crew) have been together for the past five years and we’ve come to treat each other like real families such that we always look forward to our taping schedules.”

I have personally seen how Talentadong Pinoy has grown and matured through all these years, as virtually Pinoys from all walks of life, come to watch the taped as live episodes of the program. Contestants appear on the set, armed with grit and determination — young and old alike, male and female, urban sophisticates and rural hopefuls — to try their luck and get a stab at fame. I feel though, that this year’s finalists represent the best of the lot.

Aired initially in 2008, the groundbreaking talent program continues to grow. Direk Rich, who has been its director from the start, admits that one of the challenges of the show is that each contestant showcases a different talent, thus, the judging criteria are different from the usual criteria set for, let’s say, your usual singing competition. But he is happy to note that this did not deter them from showcasing the best talents there is and in fact “We’re very happy that through our show, you can see their growth as performers, especially with our Hall of Famers who compete in the program for five weeks before entering the finals.” For direk Rich, “the biggest challenge is to consistently discover good contestants and helping them reach their full potential as performers.”

Definitely, Ryan Agoncillo’s superb hosting style is one of the reasons why the show continues to enjoy high ratings on TV5’s weekend primetime viewing. Moreover, direk Rich also makes it a point to give the audience a wide variety of contestants every week. So far, the show has featured talents like jugglers, sand artists, rubics cube champions, apart from the singers and dancers who normally populate a contest show. “We also mount special episodes from time to time like the celebrity edition and kids edition as a breaker to the weekly competition, plus we have guest talent scouts to add variety to the judging panel,” direk Rich adds.

We have been witness to the spectacular grand finals, which Talentadong Pinoy had mounted in the past. There was one final season when Ryan descended from the ceiling on a harness at the Ynares Center and another grand final episode when three different stages were set up at the Quezon City Memorial Circle.

What do we expect from direk Rich this time? Dubbed Talentadong Pinoy Battle Royale, direk Rich assures the audience “that our viewers will be treated to another spectacular show. “The show reunites the three ultimate talentados from the three seasons and they will make up a grand opening number. “Another thing to look forward to is Ryan’s special performance which will be one of the highlights of this year’s grand finals.”

For this year’s Battle Royale, seven contestants will vie for the grand prizes of a million peso cash and house and lot. They are, Sor Apao; Larvae, Laserman, Rina Forbes, Spyro Marco, Nocturnal Dance Company and Haina Udin;

With Ryan’s special number on Aug. 18, I am pretty sure that this will take Talentadong Pinoy finals to a higher level of achievement, as direk Rich and his cast and crew make sure that televiewers worldwide are treated to the best that Filipino arts and show business can present.