TV ‘musical chair’ goes on

Curtain-raisers:

• Yes, it’s true: There’s a comedy called Mana Po to be produced by Regal Films which is parodying its own smash-hit mega-production Mano Po (with the sequel, Mano Po 2, now ready to shoot, intended for the Metro Filmfest in December). The comedy stars Kris Aquino, Bayani Agbayani, Rufa Mae Quinto and, seriously now, Boy Abunda as the lawyer.

• Now that Tonyboy Cojuangco has bought ABC Channel 5 (to the tune of, hold your breath, P5 billion), will Tonyboy’s beloved Gretchen Barretto reign in that station as "queen"? Can Tonyboy’s group propel ABC 5 to a competitive level? Could it be true that they might "pirate" talents from other stations? Has Gretchen stopped appearing on ABS-CBN’s A.S.A.P. Mania in preparation for her "reign" at ABC 5? As the Side A sings, so many questions...

• Since I casually mentioned Dr. Wong’s Vaporin, the best air sanitizer (as differentiated from an air "freshner") you can ever get, hundreds of readers have been asking where they can buy it. According to Moomba Restaurant owner-manager Robert Yu (whose wife’s family is the manufacturer/distributor of Vaporin), it’s now available in all Mercury Drug outlets. I’ve been using Vaporin (no harm to your lungs; it even has medicinal effects) for several weeks now after Robert gave me some samples – in my car and in my room. For inquiries, call Denny Orosco at 801-1141 up to 46.

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Like the interminable "network war," the "musical chair" in local television goes on unabated, with ABS-CBN and GMA 7 as the two ends between the pendulum. If a talent/star feels unhappy at GMA, he/she jumps ober da bakod to ABS-CBN – or vice-versa. In some cases, the two stations "pirate" talents from each other.

Now said to be the object of a silent tug-of-war between ABS-CBN and GMA is Lani Misalucha, a co-host of GMA’s Sunday show S.O.P. who, according to Funfare DPAs, "is 99 percent sure to move to ABS-CBN." But wait, will Lani’s manager, Ronnie Henares, allow her to now that Ronnie and his wife Ida are in-charge of the GMA Artists Center (which Wyngard Tracy used to manage)? Oh, well, if the price is right, why not? After all, in showbiz and in any other field, when M-O-N-E-Y talks, everybody listens (even the deaf).

With Lani’s "impending move" from GMA, ABS-CBN talent Zsa Zsa Padilla (one of the hosts of the Sunday show A.S.A.P. Mania) might pull the rug from under everybody’s feet and hop over to GMA which is planning to cast Zsa Zsa with Christopher de Leon and Pops Fernandez (another ABS-CBN transferee) in the new soap that will take over the timeslot to be vacated soon by Ang Iibigin ay Ikaw Pa Rin.

It must be recalled that Zsa Zsa and Lani, while cordial and polite to each other, aren’t really the best of friends especially after the minor controversy following their Valentine concert three years ago at the Big Dome where Lani unwittingly stole the thunder from Zsa Zsa when Lani resorted to her old gimmick of lying on a bench while singing a difficult song Mariah Carey style. The audience went wild over that "gimmick" and other singers were said to have kept a safe distance from scene-stealer Lani since then.

Will these new players of the "musical chair" make their respective moves in opposite directions?

Stand by... Stay tuned.

Yilmaz’s reassuring words for wife Ruffa

With the new "storm" in her and husband Yilmaz Bektas’ life slowly but surely weakening, Ruffa Gutierrez has settled down, calmed her nerves and decided to listen to the "murmurings" of the baby (a girl as shown by the ultrasound) inside her tummy, due to say "Hello!" to the world either first or second week of August, instead of bothering with the intrigues.

"I’m letting her listen to Mozart," said Ruffa in a text message to Funfare from Los Angeles where she’s awaiting the stork’s visit at her and Yilmaz’s new condo unit at Marina del Rey, facing the sea. "She has been very sad lately. Kawawa naman ang baby ko."

Ruffa also shared with Funfare readers Yilmaz’s text message to her, reassuring her how much he loves her. Yilmaz is flying from Istanbul to L.A. any day now to join Ruffa.

Here’s Yilmaz’s "message of love": You are my wife; just one of you can be. You are the one! You are my owner. I love you! I am richer than Bill Gates. He has a lot of money but I have you. I am happy with you. I love you!...I need you urgent!!! I can’t wait anymore. I am shooting my head!!! Almost I am losing my mind! I love you Karim. (Karim is Turkish word for wife. – RFL)

According to Ruffa, Yilmaz wants her to get pregnant again next year. "Grabe!" exclaimed the mother-to-be who is preoccupied with decorating their baby’s nursery. "I haven’t even given birth to this one yet at gusto na niya uli ako magbuntis! Grabe!!!"

Friends have been advising Ruffa not to mind "that woman Selen" or any other (if there’s more) claiming Yilmaz for their own.

"I’m the one Yilmaz married and that’s all that matters," Ruffa ended her long text message.

Is TJ a ‘threat’ to anybody?

Now that Thomas "TJ" Manotoc is hosting the showbiz segment called Starwatch of GMA’s Frontpage, does Paolo Bediones (or Lhar Santiago) have any reason to worry or feel insecure?

Said TJ (who’s more like his father, Tommy Manotoc, than his mother, 1970 Miss International Aurora Pijuan), "No, nobody should worry or be insecure. I’m not stepping on anybody’s toes. I don’t want that to happen."

In fact, said TJ, Paolo is one of his role models (who also include Martin Nievera, Cito Beltran and Edu Manzano). "I’m learning a lot just by watching them."

TJ, who anchors Starwatch and doesn’t do field-reporting (Lhar’s turf), is also seen Monday through Friday as one of the hosts of the GMA early-morning show Unang Hirit. Isn’t he worried of being over-exposed?

"I don’t think there’s such a risk," said TJ.

If there’s any "casualty" at all, added TJ, it’s his lovelife (now zero).He sleeps at around 9 or 10 p.m. and he’s up at 4 a.m. By 5 a.m., he shall have gone over the day’s papers, already made-up and set to start work on Unang Hirit. He also co-hosts (with Angelu de Leon and Dolly Ann Carvajal) the showbiz talkshow dat.com Thursday nights on IBC Channel 13 and the PBA Games (simulcast also on IBC 13 and PTV 4) twice a week. "With that kind of schedule," said TJ, breaking into his "Tommy Manotoc" smile, "how can I have any lovelife?" (He was once romantically linked to singer Aliyah Parcs but TJ denied it.)

Being "the son of Tommy and Aurora" helps open doors, all right, but from thereon, it’s all TJ’s ballgame; he has to stand on his own two feet and prove himself.

"I think I have now a name all my own, independent from those of my Mom and Dad. I started on television a few years ago when I was 23 and last year, I was named Analyst of the Year for my sports commentary.

His half-brother Borgy (whose mom is Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos, TJ’s stepmother) might try TV-hosting but TJ nipped in the bud any attempt to pit them against each other.

"Borgy and I are okay," said TJ. "Okay na okay kami."

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