A breath of fresh air, maybe, on Hughes' 'Angin Malam'<\/p>\n
Angin Malam<\/p>\n
Host: Hughes<\/p>\n
RCTI, 11:30 p.m. Saturday<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Entertainer Hughes is something of a phenomenon
\non Indonesian TV. She is big and beautiful, possessing a pretty
\nface and the nonchalance to shrug off the fat jokes that are the
\nugly part of the territory of being in the public eye.<\/p>\n
Pretty she may be, heavy she certainly is, but she most
\ndefinitely is not stupid. A graduate in English from Atma Jaya
\nUniversity in Jakarta, she has already earned a reputation for
\nher quick repartee in her performances.<\/p>\n
It would seem a natural fit for her to host a TV talk show
\nsuch as Angin Malam (Hughes was briefly paired with sportscaster
\nAry Sudarsono but their contrasting styles were jarring). It's
\nstill a relatively new style of program for Indonesian TV, with
\nperhaps the only real predecessor being singer Ebet Kadarusman's
\nshow in the early 1990s. However, Angin Malam (which means "night
\nbreeze"), unlike Ebet's show or the U.S. programs of Johnny
\nCarson and Jay Leno which it appeared to imitate right down to
\nthe set design, does not stick to the formula of a celebrity
\nguest or two paired with a musical performer.<\/p>\n
Instead, Hughes explores one theme as the main part of the
\nhour-long show, another minor segment plus a couple of musical
\nnumbers by a guest and a call-in quiz with the dancer Putri
\nMalam. The themes usually are on current trends; these can be
\ninteresting, such as how the young occupy their free time today
\ncompared to in the past, or rather limp, such as the profession
\nof bodyguards, which was dead on arrival and beaten even further
\ninto submission over the next 45 minutes.<\/p>\n
It must be saying something for Hughes' networking that she
\npulls in interesting, high-profile guests to her set at Hotel
\nIndonesia overlooking the famed traffic circle (it's a sight to
\nbehold at night). For last week's main segment on "celebrities
\nand the media", one of the guests was none other than actress-
\nsinger Desy Ratnasari, notorious for her frosty relations with
\nthe media.<\/p>\n
It might be put down to the fact that both women are from Atma
\nJaya, but it was still a scoop that Desy showed up to tell of her
\nuneasy encounters with reporters. There was not only Desy but
\nPeggy Melati Sukma, discussing how she markets herself as an
\nactress and singer, and singer Melly Manahutu.<\/p>\n
Hughes is at her best when she uses her questions to keep the
\nconversation flowing; it's the art of the interviewer, being able
\nto subjugate one's ego and listen to what someone else has to
\nsay. Unfortunately, she occasionally has a tendency to needle.
\nShe did it a little with Desy last week, but at least this time
\nthe latter was able to hold her own (it was nothing like the
\nmortifying, stilted segment in a joint interview, in English,
\nearlier this year with Miss World Lara Dutta, in which some
\nthought Hughes was making fun of Desy).<\/p>\n
When she does go overboard, the consequences can be fatal. She
\nwent too far two weeks ago in a show about women as objects of
\nbeauty. With actress Feby Fabiola on hand, Hughes made the other
\nguest, author Remy Syllado, the butt of the joke. It got a bit
\nout of hand, particularly as Remy's ideas about love and women
\nseemed old-fashioned to the young women.<\/p>\n
When Hughes made a point of saying that Remy was himself sexy
\n-- "I like older men with glasses and long gray hair, don't you?"
\n-- the audience was lost and Remy's body language showed he was
\nready to give a little of his own back.<\/p>\n
"Well, what's really amazing is the change in perceptions of
\nbeauty today," Remy suddenly jumped in. "After all, we used to
\nthink that a woman had to be delicate to be beautiful; now we
\nhave a big sex symbol, a really big one, like you."<\/p>\n
The silence, as they say, was deafening.<\/p>\n
It's still early days for Hughes and Angin Malam, but the
\nprogram may well amount to something if the host goes with her
\ninstincts and does away with the fluff. (Bruce Emond)<\/p>",
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