Recycled?!

The Philippines, with its rich culture, imaginative and talented citizens, is now experiencing a shortage or more appropriately called a recycling of ideas and it is very evident in local television. Recycling stuff is a good thing and everybody knows that but it doesn't necessarily have to reach the shores of our local television networks. For one, it makes a lot of people think that we are currently experiencing a shortage of creativity and skill. Not only that, it gives others an impression that we settle for the familiar rather than explore other good stuff and be proud that we have a rich collection of our own.

At this point you might be wondering what I am exactly referring to. I suppose it's not hard to scan your television channels during night time and see what's hot or what's not. Darna, for example, is a story that has become widely known to a lot of Filipinos and I believe it has been seen for millions (pardon the exaggeration) of times on silver screens or TV sets and for a lot of Filipinos, it may be considered hot but I personally think otherwise. Having said that, you might be led to think that I dislike the aforementioned novel. Don't get me wrong. I admire the novel but what I am not happy about is the fact that it can be recalled by many that Darna was aired years back; actually in just less than a decade. There's no denying that Angel Locsin's image as Darna can still be recalled by the majority. Probably the worst thing about this is that the story was previously shown in the same television network only with a different set of cast this time around. I have nothing against the new face of Darna or her new costume but the big deal for me here is the failure to explore and feature more Filipino stories that deserve airtime spots as well. Why does it have to be Darna again? Can't any other fictional character be featured instead or does this indicate a degradation of the Philippine television's quality and creativity? I do not wish to think that our local TV networks' think tanks are getting lazier year after year but it is apparently what I see. The gap from the previous Darna to the present one can be counted using one hand only and I'm convinced that there should be something done to avoid cases like this. Though I saw a high probability of Darna being visible again to Filipinos through television or other forms of media, I didn't expect it to come sooner than expected. What I find funny is the undying support and patronage of Filipinos for stories despite having repeatedly featured/aired on television. It really makes me think that we either don't have any other choice but to watch what's fed to us over television, we don't get bored with the common or we just watch it because that "beautiful" lady's face can be seen again—this time as the new Darna.

Unfortunately, it's not just Darna that is faced with the same fate. Our local television networks also started the remakes of foreign TV series that once captured Juan de la Cruz's attention. I didn't even know that copying story ideas from foreign countries could even be taken into consideration also. I hate to say this but the way I see it, we just don't give a damn about what these local networks are airing. For as long as we're entertained, we don't bother whether the ones we are watching are copied, recycled or doesn't make sense at all.

Honestly, I don't know whether I should feel happy with the present TV shows given the remakes and "recycling" as I'd rather call them. This particularly gives me the urge to get the remote control and either change channel or turn off the television set.