A Pinoy West Wing?
For the longest time, I have been a fan of the West Wing. Since Channel 23 showed it, I have religiously followed the series with extreme fanaticism. I even bought 2 complete seasons of the series in VCD format at the Powerbooks where to my dismay, the editing by the legitimate distributors was so lousy it would have been preferable to buy from the Pirates of Metrowalk. But I digress.
Being a Communication Arts graduate from de la Salle University who specialized in scriptwriting and film, and trained under the best scriptwriter in the land, Dr. Doy del Mundo, I was wondering to myself: Why can't anybody from the two competing stations come out with a series like the West Wing where they tackle the national burning issues of the season?
Are Filipinos too dumb that we cannot possibly comprehend the nuances of policy making? Are we too lazy to understand the complexities that go along with governance, horse trading and power-sharing?
The West Wing provides us with a glimpse of how the Washington Beltway works. Though abbreviated to one hour, it presents each side of the argument and while it has an obvious Democratic bent owing to the political mindset of the creators, it does present a probable scenario and one ends up believing in the nobility of politics as a profession.
And so, I ask, why doesn’t ABS or GMA7 come up with a decent show like West Wing instead of pandering to the masses? Instead of dumbing down the masses with Koreanovelas, why not lift them up? Instead of complaining about the hopelessness of our political situation, why not graphically portray our politics in the hope of cauterizing the apathy, the indifference and the ennui of the middle class?
We are not without talents and situations that can rival the intensity of any West Wing episode. I would be glad to join a cabal of writers to craft one up, come up with noble solutions and maybe, just maybe, our politicians would watch the series and perchance, life imitates art?
Being a Communication Arts graduate from de la Salle University who specialized in scriptwriting and film, and trained under the best scriptwriter in the land, Dr. Doy del Mundo, I was wondering to myself: Why can't anybody from the two competing stations come out with a series like the West Wing where they tackle the national burning issues of the season?
Are Filipinos too dumb that we cannot possibly comprehend the nuances of policy making? Are we too lazy to understand the complexities that go along with governance, horse trading and power-sharing?
The West Wing provides us with a glimpse of how the Washington Beltway works. Though abbreviated to one hour, it presents each side of the argument and while it has an obvious Democratic bent owing to the political mindset of the creators, it does present a probable scenario and one ends up believing in the nobility of politics as a profession.
And so, I ask, why doesn’t ABS or GMA7 come up with a decent show like West Wing instead of pandering to the masses? Instead of dumbing down the masses with Koreanovelas, why not lift them up? Instead of complaining about the hopelessness of our political situation, why not graphically portray our politics in the hope of cauterizing the apathy, the indifference and the ennui of the middle class?
We are not without talents and situations that can rival the intensity of any West Wing episode. I would be glad to join a cabal of writers to craft one up, come up with noble solutions and maybe, just maybe, our politicians would watch the series and perchance, life imitates art?
posted by Edwin Lacierda | 11:26 PM
2 Comments:
Will someone please take him up on that offer?
i remember that law drama on abs-cbn before, "your honor". the set and costumes looked like it was too much on a budget; plus for a litiguous society like ours, the drama and issues weren't compelling enough.
a pinoy west wing? working title, "arlegui"? it would be interesting, but there would be too many players involved; no convenient label whether it's the democrats or the republicans. still, who's to say if it'll work? :P
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