ABS-CBN Holy Week Features A Dangerous Life

One thing though I want to ask: where's Santino and May Bukas Pa when it is needed the most, especially this Holy Week? Why not pick the most important highlights of the show from start to end and breeze through the less important ones? I hope for year 2011, Santino and May Bukas Pa will be there on Holy Week. Truly, this is one inspirational drama series that TV and the audience needs these days.

My wish after this Holy Week: the Resurrection Sunday Urbi Et Orbi by the Pope from the Vatican State in the city of Rome in Italy live on ABS-CBN (or at the least in the Catholic Media Network)! It serves to be one good thing to mark Easter. (Just wondering: why not an ABS-CBN and Catholic Media Network team-up?)

For all I know, there will be marathon of the hit series Agua Bendita and some cartoons and live shows for children. (Hope all of those kiddie shows are as inspirational as they can be.) I was so happy to see an Easter Vigil Mass schedule as part of ABS-CBN's Easter Triduum! (I would be happier if Urbi Et orbi will be seen!) I wonder why there was no MMK for the Easter Weekend. More religious specials with Jescom and other Catholic orgs: a must!

I can see that there are Star Cinema family-oriented films there, like the Judy-Ryan starrer Sakal/Sakali/Saklolo, and even the original Kokey, plus the movie version of Princess Sarah (the 1995 version, starring Camille Pratts).

What drew my attention to ABS-CBN's Holy Week sked--the main reason behind this entry--is A Dangerous Life.

I was then 4 years old in 1988 when I saw the already number 1 ABS-CBN advertising heavily its telecast of the Philippine-Australian production. (The Australian producer was the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The show was beamed worldwide, and was seen in the US via HBO.) This early I saw the logo of the show, with pics of Tessie Tomas on TV as Imelda Marcos.

I then saw pics from the show again and again on some ABS-CBN tribute plugs (Anniversary plugs to be exact and some tribute station ID's), making me feel that the show was such a historic feat, because not only it showed the story of the EDSA Revolution but also it aired on the station that lived to experience the fruits of EDSA.

It was when I was studying in DLSU and frequenting its library that I chanced upon a library record of A Dangerous Life. I never knew ABS-CBN broadcast the show non-stop in 1988 for 6 hours! And it was telecast December 1988, with Christmas around the corner! (During that time, TV Patrol was already number 1. ABS-CBN has set up its regional stations in Bacolod, Cebu and Davao, where it launched on that same year its regional editions of TV Patrol.)

It seemed ABS-CBN marked Philippine history with this show. So I took the risk to see the video of the show for the next 6 hours at one library AVR. Thankfully it lasted just 4-5 hours.

And here's what I knew: An English-speaking journalist Tony O' Neil (Gary Bussey) is a bit confused on whether to pursue his compatriot Angie Fox (Rebecca McGuilling) or his newly-found Filipina girlfriend Sally (played superbly by Dina Bonnevie). With Angie learning of Tony and Sally's relationship, she just then cut off his ties with Tony and became chummy with a Colonel Tecson (Roy Alvarez). Tony and Angie were brought together again, due to Sally's death at the hands of the local militia suspecting her being a communist rebel and Colonel Tecson joining other soldiers breaking away from the decades-long administration of President Marcos (played effectively by Ruben Rustia).

And that's where we have a hodge-podge of events Tony and Angie had never before seen in their lives: a nation like the Philippines with such series of tumultuous events--the aftermath of Sen. Ninoy Aquino's assasination wherein Tony himself was at the then Manila International Airport when the senator was shot, the assassination case wherein tears were shed by the dramatic Imelda Marcos (played passionately by Tessie Tomas, so much that she got an Emmy nomination then), the 1986 snap elections, the EDSA Revolution and the start of the presidency of Ninoy's wife Cory (played graciously by Laurice Guillen). A lot of the best Filipino actors played their parts in the movie as the EDSA setting unfolded: Spanky Manicad, Joonee Gamboa, the late Johnny Delgado (Tatang as we know from May Bukas Pa and Anghel na Walang Langit, and Laurice's hubby), Ray Ventura, Rez Cortez, Jaime Fabregas (yes, the Father Anthony we know from May Bukas Pa), Rolando Tinio, Noel Trinidad, Pen Medina, Vic Diaz, Junix Inocian, Mona Lisa and Odette Khan. (They played various EDSA characters so watch out for them.) And yes, characters in the EDSA story not to miss are there such as Butz Aquino (played by Freddie Santos), Kris Aquino (played by Lea Cabusi), Fabian Ver (Mervyn Samson), the then American Ambassador Stephen Bosworth (Michael Pate), and General Artemio Tadiar (Felindo Obach).

In case you did not know Gary Busey, ask your uncle or father who watched the original Mel Gibson-Danny Glover starrer Lethal Weapon. Gary portrayed the character who served as nemesis for Mel Gibson's character.

In 1988, A Dangerous Life then broke all TV viewership records in the Philippines, getting unprecendented ratings for the broadcast! I was then 4 years old. Now 22 years later, as a yuppie, I and even you will get this rare chance to relive recent Philippine history at its most dramatic--this Easter Triduum and still at ABS-CBN, the network that broadcast it originally.

Perhaps ABS-CBN sees the broadcast of such a historic show fitting at this time when our country again is at the crossroads, with another election in place this May. The destiny of our country, the tomorrow is now on our hands. If you're not convinced all of us are part of the story of our country, as chronicled on TV Patrol, you need the show A Dangerous Life.

A Dangerous Life will be back on ABS-CBN at 9 in the evening for 3 straight days (not 6 straight hours) this Moundy Thursday, Good Friday and Black Saturday (April 1-April 3). Don't miss it for our dear country!

With A Dangerous Life on board this Easter Triduum, it's a Deal! Better Easter Triduum sked, a Deal!