Nanette Inventor first gained fame in 1983 doing standup comedy as Donya Buding. Now, nearly three decades later, she plays another filthy rich character in “Ang Yaman ni Lola,” the new telesitcom-reality game show that replaces “Daisy Siete” after “Eat Bulaga” from Monday to Friday.
Produced by News and Public Affairs that also handled “Extra Challenge,” she’s Lola Barbie, a former housemaid who marries the son of her rich “amo” but remained childless. She inherits all the family’s wealth so she decides to share her riches by holding a contest each week for real people who try to outdo each other in their assigned challenges inside her fabulous villa in Pampanga. For the show’s first week, her guests will be housemaids or kasambahays. For the second week, it will be beauty parlor workers and, on the third week, cargadors. People from various professions will be invited later. As they try to outsmart each other, someone gets eliminated each day until the last man standing wins a prize of P100,000.
Lola Barbie’s kind gesture is resisted by the family’s lawyer, Kimberly Cabagnot (Sheryl Cruz), who wants to inherit Lola’s fortune intact. She makes life miserable for the contestants. Also in the cast are Benjie Paras as Benjo, Sheryl’s henpecked husband who’s a former cager turned movie star and now househusband to their two kids, Joyce Ching and Aaron Novilla; and Patricia Ysmael as the mayordoma and Fabio Ide as the handyman-driver. “Boytoy ko rin pero di ko pinapatulan,” says Nanette, who doesn’t mind playing “lola” since she’s one in real life. “I have three apos in the U.S. who I visit every year.”
“Ang Yaman ni Lola” starts airing this Monday and promises to give a refreshing alternative to all the afternoon teleseryes so common nowadays. Since it’s produced by News and not by Entertainment, which one pays higher between the two? “Pareho lang,” Nanette says, to which Sheryl and Benjie quickly concur.
