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Can I Help You?



Sheri Kristen Goh

Can I Help You?

"Can I Help You?", TCS' third sitcom debuted Tuesday Night in the time-slot previously filled by "Under One Roof" and "Happy Belly". It was no wonder then, the moment the television was switched on, I had the strange sensation I was watching a displaced episode of "Under One Roof", "Gotcha!", "Gurmit's World" or some TCS special.

The reason for that could be the cast. TCS seems painfully short of comedian/ennes, thus many of the cast seems to have found a second job in this sitcom. Gurmit Singh, presently seen hosting "Gotcha!" plays Sam Pereira, a recent U-grad with plenty of book learning but little experience. He is an assistant manager at department store Soong's, and successfully irks Deborah De Cruz (store supervisor) who has been working there 20 years and has things flowing smoothly in *her* way. And then there's the staff, sales assistant Jimmy Tok (Hossan Leong) who spends most of his time skivving work, Donna Mah (Vernetta Lopez) the cosmetic salesgirl whose greatest dream is to be a tai-tai, and the talkative salesgirl Faridah (Melissa Sidek a.k.a. Singapore's Tina Turner, making her acting debut), just to name a few.

The first episode has been promising, to say the least. Sam introduces a contest for the most elaborately dressed counter, leaving Deborah bristling since that's not *the* way they do things around Soong's. Needless to say, catastrophes galore in the course of competition, someone wins the competition and no one else is happy, but then things are back to normal in place for next week's episode. Plot aside, the acting has been pleasantly positive, with kudos especially to Vernetta Lopez for being so versatile and showing that she's not just Denise and forever shall be. Melissa Sidek, too deserves commendation for her television debut.

The question now is : can we finally claim now that we have a brand of comedy that we can call our own, as Singaporean comedy? After Singapore's funniest family, Singapore's funniest restaurant, Singapore's funniest departmental store, and in October, Singapore's funniest polyclinic, what have we left? Singapore's funniest pub (a la "Cheers")? Singapore's funniest JC (a la "Saved By the Bell")? Who knows? The most important thing is realising that yes, we can laugh at ourselves and it's not when a phone spits water at helpful passers-by. It's not when someone walks into a glass door. It's laughing at some of the things we believe in and hey, realise that's it's all a little silly but then it's what makes us Singaporean. Sniff.

Meanwhile, stay tuned on Tueday nights at 8pm. I have a feeling anything could happen then.


Sheri K Goh would like to remind everyone who goes shopping, "Now think. Do you REALLY need a carrier bag?"

The Flying Inkpot Rating System:
* Wait for the TV2 broadcast.
** A little creaky, but still better than staying at home with Gotcha!
*** Pretty good, bring a friend.
**** Amazing, potent stuff.
***** Perfection. See it twice.

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