PHILIPPINE television is fieldwork paradise for researchers and policy-makers, especially if the latter recognize the images on the blue screen as more than the result of the script of paid hacks.

The noontime shows and the reality shows are the sources of these images.

The phenomenal Eat Bulaga on GMA is a force to reckon with. The geniuses of its idea persons should be complimented but out there in the neighborhoods of their choice, three men/comedians rally like crazy in order to bring entertainment and gifts to people: Wally, Jose and Paolo. The three are not only funnymen; they are also like healers and shrinks ministering to the material poverty of the participants. I wish Paolo would stop doing the “Ate Guy” thing. It is becoming enervating. It is not funny. It is merely awkward. He is funny enough as the one with gay streaks all over his lithe body. Leave that stupid impersonation to the ugly impersonators.

Urban and rural poverty stop being concepts and become complicated facts when the team does its daily outreach.

There are unintended effects of the dole-outs to the type of participants generated. I have my preference, if we can call it that. I like my participant to be not the weepy and whining type. Those types belong to Willie Revillame’s tent. It is obvious that Tito, Vic and Joey, whether consciously or not, do not relish the sight of contestants dolorous and helpless. I realized that the reason I watch Eat Bulaga is because of this.

It is not that there are no hysterical and overly sentimental “poor” people for Eat Bulaga. There are. In fact, there are instances when the team has not yet even asked about the situation of a lucky participant and the latter is already screaming about how her child is so sick and they have no money for the hospital. The team, again, consciously or unconsciously, does not appear to encourage this angle. Thus, they proceed to make the encounter the most atrocious interaction, with bits of political incorrectness and lots of double meanings in between.

There are structures to this entertainment. Back in the studio, the triumvirate of Tito, Vic and Joey still weave their magic around people as they provide the anchor to the fun. With due respect to the senator, Joey and Vic are the comedians. The two are the wild and cool ringmaster for the other portion called Pinoy Henyo. The title is obviously a hyperbole. The questions are not really difficult; the process is mind-boggling and requires some kind of logic and deduction.

It is easy to dismiss Pinoy Henyo as again one of those insipid and brainless TV games. Closer inspection and regular viewing of this game, however, reveal a treasure trove of insights of what we are as learners. We do not know our geography, locally and “international.”

The contestants do not understand the directional concept of the north, south, east and west. People are also confused about Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. Asia is confused with Middle East; the USA, with Europe.

Lately, the Pinoy Henyo portion has started to focus on families as contestants. The first few days had the contestants going through the motion of a cheering squad. For a month or so, the cheering has been transformed into jeering, with family spokesman putting down the other families. At times, the words are blunt insults. I do not know if the Eat Bulaga management will listen but, like Paolo’s Ate Guy, these jeering and heaping insults are becoming very counterproductive. They are not fun anymore. They run counter against what Eat Bulaga has been aiming at lately: to create a more vibrant community through TV.

The All for Juan, Juan for All portion, for example, is tied to engaging advocacies like recycling and cleanliness. For the games in respective barangays, contestants are asked to bring PET bottle, which are recycled into chairs. These chairs are then donated to selected schools.

From TV5, the phenomenal program is still Face to Face. The program is daunting in its presentation. One time, the network brought the presentation to a huge covered area. The topic, notwithstanding the very open and very public setting, was about gays abusing one another and a young man whose labor option was to peddle his flesh. Fellini would blush at the grotesqueries managed by Tiang Amy (Perez).

There are several questions that I have always wanted to ask about Face to Face. Long after the curtain has been drawn to a close, does the network bother to follow up on the case that had been presented? What happens to those people who onscreen were lunging at one another? What happens to those who have reconciled?

Do the advisers/counselors get a debriefing? Do Amy Perez and Hans Mortel get also a debriefing? Day in and out, these two hosts are listening to the most preposterous, the infinitely disturbing, the severely engaging problems of the urban poor. Again, if our officials and policy-makers would only look and listen, they would find a social, political and economic landscape that is different from the ones painted by research units. Out there is a universe of Filipinos ready to slap and be slapped over a P500 debt.

Out there are women who would slug it out with gay men so they could get back their men. Out there are gay men and women whose concerns are not sexual orgies but social acceptance.

Amy Perez is the cool referee in this program. She is the calm and collected elder sister practically ready to understand and protect everyone.

Given the limited time of interaction, do the program staff feel they are manipulating the participants?

There is no clear answer to that question. It is clear though that every day, except weekends, we see Filipinos cry, laugh, rant, rave, scream, jump and stomp publicly and with no regard for privacy. The greater bulk of these men and women are toothless, or with missing teeth, or with teeth with caries.

If Eat Bulaga has the prizes to boot, then Face to Face should seriously consider addressing the dental problems of its public.

In the meantime, Face to Face should bring back Dr. Margie Holmes or, better yet, TV5 should give Margie Holmes her own program and make that something like a Face to Face confessional. I am certain that Dr. Holmes would be able to address any or all problems, including those itching around our groin and the hurt in our heart.