X post brings forth memories of ‘messy’ and funny TV moments

ONE of the most popular posts right now on the app X is one that starts with “some of messy moments in philippine live television—a thread.” User @Bb_menita03 on X started the ball rolling with Pia Wurtzbach’s Miss Universe win in 2015. She managed to dig up a lot of gems, including the fight involving a Tulfo brother and actress Claudine Barretto, before something inevitable happened.

The quote tweets started to roll in and were so wild and unhinged that if you didn’t live through those times, you’d think they never happened. But I lived through those times when all we had to entertain us was the television set.

Two of the gems came from GMA. In 2018, GMA’S resident meteorologist Nathaniel “Mang Tani” Cruz went viral when he stifled his laughter after correcting himself because he mistakenly called Balitanghali anchor Jun Veneracion, “Josie.” The incident was so funny that Arnold Clavio interviewed Mang Tani about it. As Mang Tani explained it to Clavio, his focus when he’s reporting about a typhoon is the typhoon itself. It so happened that the typhoon was called Josie and Josie was on his mind at that time.

The other GMA incident was when the late Mike Enriquez cued to a report by Bam Alegre on a vehicular incident involving a truck. The eyewitness then recounted how a person hit the truck, corrected himself a couple of times until finally saying two trucks collided with each other.

As I type it, the stories don’t seem so wild but if you watch the videos, they really are hilarious and not in the way that we’re making fun of people and their mistakes and misfortunes. Rather, we laugh because of how the situations seem so far from the usual order of things.

For example, if you’re a millennial or Gen Z, you wouldn’t get the significance of a video with former Miss Mauritius Viveka Babajee announcing “Ruffa Gutierrez” during an awards show while a wide-eyed Gretchen Barretto looked around helplessly. In the quote tweets is also a video of Sarah Geronimo and John Lloyd Cruz doing a skit for Vice Ganda’s show. The skit involved cookies and the repartee and facial expressions of those involved were hilarious. There’s also a game show where the question was if blank and blank are celebrating their 24th monsthsary, how many years have they been a couple? The answers were so far from the correct one, with one contestant replying “40 years!”

Many of the videos in the quote tweets involved dentures flying off mouths and people stumbling. But those watching and laughing at the videos were not ridiculing those whose dentures slip and fall. Rather, they are laughing at how very Filipino these situations are.

It’s also very Filipino when we laugh at our own fumbles and falls. Laughing at the videos—at least this is my point of view—doesn’t mean I think I am better than these people. I laugh because I, too, have had my fair share of funny and embarrassing moments. They just haven’t been caught on video and shared with thousands of people.

So thank you to user @Bb_menita03 for making the past few days full of laughter. We needed to look back at those times when we argued with family members and housemates whose turn it was with the TV remote. These days, we’re all on our individual screens, which is okay, but sometimes I do miss those days.

BINI, DONBELLE IN SAMSUNG FANFEST

IF you didn’t get tickets to the BINI concert, you can catch the P-pop girl group at SM North Edsa The Annex on April 13 for the Samsung Awesome Summer Fanfest. Other artists in the two-day (April 13 and 14) event are Donny Pangilinan, Belle Mariano, and Adie.

The fanfest celebrates the release of Samsung’s latest A-series phones, the Galaxy A55 5G and A35 5G. During the event at SM North Edsa, there will be Awesome Adventure Zones where you can test the phones to take pictures and videos.

If you purchase the Galaxy A55 5G and A35 5G on or before April 10, 2024 in any Samsung authorized stores, you have the chance to win meet-and-greet tickets for #Teamgalaxy stars, including Donbelle, BINI, and Adie. If you buy your Galaxy A55 5G or A35 5G on the day of the event, you can get a guaranteed photo opportunity with Donbelle.

The Galaxy A55 5G and A35 5G are perfect for summer because they can withstand water splashes, thanks to their IP67 rating. Both phones are also dustresistant. The phones have the Dual Recording feature and the Single Take feature that allows you to capture up to 14 different types of photos and videos in just three to 10 seconds. At the Awesome Creative Studio during the Awesome Summer Fanfest, you can try the Galaxy A55 5G and A35 5G and enhance your portraits like a pro with the Photo Remaster feature. The Object Eraser and Custom Stickers ensure that your photos are always perfect.

Purchase your very own Galaxy A55 5G or Galaxy A35 5G on April 13-14 at SM North Edsa The Annex and snag an Awesome Summer Kit along with an exclusive Donbelle Summer photo card set—all for free.

You can also get even more awesome freebies when you purchase the Galaxy A55 5G or Galaxy A35 5G from now until April 18, 2024. These freebies include a Buds FE worth ₱5,490 and a travel adapter worth ₱1,190 with every purchase, plus up to additional ₱5,000 off when you trade in your old phone. You can also get Samsung wearables and accessories at good prices with other bundle deals. Get 30 percent off on the Galaxy Fit3, Galaxy Buds2 Pro and Galaxy Buds2, and 20 percent off on the Galaxy Watch6 Series, Watch5 Pro, and Buds FE. Buy the Galaxy A55 5G and A35 5G at Samsung.com or any authorized retail stores.

More information is available on @Samsungph on Facebook.