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I have been deprived of cable TV for 5 days a week since I moved to an apartment in Ortigas. Well, that’s less than 5 since I get the pleasure of cable TV whenever I go home to Sta. Rosa on Friday nights. Nevertheless, Monday up to Thursday nights, I’m stuck with network TV. At first, I always had the urge to cry because I miss Jack TV a lot. And HBO. And AXN. And the National Geographic channel. And FTV. But as the weeks progress, network TV’s starting to grow on me. Case in point: I now have a network TV viewing habit. And here’s how it goes:

When I’m lucky enough to get to the apartment early, I eat my dinner while watching Kris Aquino’s amusing Deal or No Deal? show. Yes, I find it very amusing to see the dreams of regular Juans and Juanas crumble right in front of me while I munch on my pork loin from Grill Queen. After that, it’s a tug-of-war between Super Inggo, Captain Barbell and Atlantika, and Studio 23 shows (but I only stick with them on Tuesdays because it’s Smallville night. I gotsa have my fill of Lanaliscious!). And then there’s the very entertaining Starstruck. Again, I delight in the fact that one by one, the dreams of young hopefuls wither and die in front of me while I’m sipping a glass of my precious Coke on the rocks. Ahhh… tastes like shattered dreams.

And finally, there’s Bakekang. A telenovela (or is it teleserye?) about a fugly girl who faces all the shit life has to offer all fuglies. Man, she’s fugly. It’s based on a comic novel by Carlo J. Caparas. And I don’t care.

I used to make fun of all the insanely ridiculous plot lines, story beats, and corny dialogue of Bakekang. I don’t have the slightest idea who most of the cast are, and the ones that I know are alumni of That’s Entertainment. All hail Kuya Germs!

I’m not seeing anything on Bakekang that I haven’t seen in other telenovelas/teleseryes/telewhatevers. I watch it because it’s funny. It’s not supposed to be, but by all that’s holy, I find it incredibly funny. But last night, Bakekang gave me a stiff kick in my precious nuts. It gave me the most touching, most poignant, most well-written scene I have ever seen on Philippine network TV: the funeral of Michael. Yeah, I don’t give a shit who Michael is, but damn those monologues were well-executed! I can’t remember the lines, but it made me sit up and take notice. Finally, I’m appreciating writers on local TV shows. Finally, there’s hope for local network TV.

Okay, so as not to be totally faggy, I also watch Bakekang because of these:

• Search for Bakekang
• Top 5 Lists #8 of 10: WordPress Plug-ins
• Prodigal