(Eagle News) – Just when you thought the COVID-19 pandemic has stagnated TV programming, Eagle Broadcasting Corporation’s NET 25 comes up with yet again a new offering, the musical sitcom, “Kesayasaya!” which pays tribute to Filipino families and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), and which promises to complete your Sunday evening viewing habit.
This weekly musical sitcom which will have its pilot episode on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 6:30 p.m., features the return of the Robin Padilla-Vina Morales team-up, this time on Philippine TV, as well as “Asia’s Queen of Songs” Pilita Corrales, one of the pillars of Philippine music and has received international acclaim for her performances abroad.
Musical legends – 70s balladeer “Mr Debonair” Darius Razon, and Eva Vivar, the “Connie Francis of the Philippines – are also on the show, as well as Cynthia Garcia, the Jukebox Girl of the 1980s, and will showcase their versatile singing as well as explore their acting abilities in their first ever musical sitcom.
Completing the musical mix are the impersonators and look-alike of various actors who try to make it as a band after losing their jobs due to the pandemic.
“Kesayasaya!” is the story of the OFWs and the Filipino families who are intricately connected to them, as they try to survive the various challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Robin Padilla plays the lead role as Ricardo “Carding” Magtanggol, an OFW who worked as a foreman in Saudi Arabia, and the dutiful eldest son of Tatay Darius (Darius Razon) and Mommy Eva (played by Eva Vivar). Carding helps out the family as he also tries to save up so he can finally marry his fiancee, the talented singer Miss K, played by Vina Morales.
Vina plays the role of Katrina Morales or Miss K, the talented singer-chef who herself is also an OFW working in hotels abroad, particularly in Singapore. She is the eldest daughter of Mommy Gladys or Mommy G played by Pilita Corrales who herself is a former OFW. Miss K decided to come home to the country to help her mother and sister Angie.
Vina is excited about the musical sitcom and the return of the Robin-Vina team-up, which had entertained fans before in their various blockbuster movies such as “Ang Utol Kong Hoodlum” and “Miss na Miss Kita” (1991), “Ang Utol Kong Hoodlum 2 (1992), “Eto na Naman Ako” (2000), and the historical action drama film “Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo” (2014) which was an official entry to the 40th Metro Manila Film Festival.
This is, in fact, their first team-up in a Philippine television sitcom, she said.
“I’m really grateful for the blessings, and am really looking forward to this since it’s my first time to do a sitcom with Robin Padilla,” Vina said.
She said she is excited and looking forward to work with Robin again.
“Because this is our first time to work in television. And it just so happened na dito po sa NET25 so I’m very excited ,” Vina said.
“At maski may pandemic ay tuluy-tuloy po kami sa taping. Kaya abangan nyo po yan. Talagang mag-e-enjoy po kayo. There’s a lot of singing. There’s a lot of dancing. It’s about family. It’s about OFWs,” she noted.
The show’s taping and production strictly follows social and physical distancing and safety protocols, and adheres to guidelines set by the Department of Health (DOH) and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID). There is even an exclusive studio set up that is constantly sanitized for the show, as well as pre-productions done via Zoom.
“Kesayasaya!” is directed by veteran TV writer-director Jose Mari Reyes, who has directed various TV hits including “Home Along da Riles.”
Vina notes how “Kesayasaya!” is specially dedicated to the OFWs, considered as heroes for their contributions to the country as well as to world.
“Ito pong sitcom pong ito, dine-dedicate po namin sa mga OFWs kasi alam naman natin na sila ay mga bayani. Kami po rito ay may kanya-kanya kaming storya bilang isang OFW,” she added.
So this Sunday, at 6:30 p.m. watch NET 25’s first ever musical sitcom as it promises to be not just entertaining and full of valuable lessons, but is made with the Filipino family and the heroic OFWs in mind.
(Eagle News Service)