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Sarah Sechan: Talking the talk
Sarah Sechsn is showing her lighter side on her TV talk show, and finding happiness off camera
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Sarah Sechsn is showing her lighter side on her TV talk show, and finding happiness off camera.
Sarah Sechan received several offers to host TV talk shows over the years, but until recently, nothing was to her liking.
In contrast to the trend in Indonesian talk shows ' with their cheesy gimmicks and straight-man sidekicks ' the former MTV Asia VJ's list of talk-show icons included singer-comedian Tika Panggabean, the late Indra Safera and Oprah Winfrey.
Yet she could not follow their leads. Indra, she says, had a special gift for getting people to open up ' 'If I did that I would just come off as nosy' ' but neither would Oprah's heart-on-her-sleeve approach work for Sarah, who is known for being protective of her privacy and not suffering fools gladly.
But when NET, the new news, lifestyle and entertainment channel, offered a different program concept, Sarah was up for the challenge.
'I've always wanted to do a talk show, but nothing serious, like politics or the economy. I wanted it to be fun, so people come home, take a break for an hour and enjoy it,' she says, adding that she felt entirely at home with the young, dynamic vibe of the new station, founded by former Trans TV executive director Wishnutama.
In keeping with her wishes, the nightly Sarah Sechan show is a feel-good, lighthearted mix of celebrity interviews, segments with precociously talented kids and the host's deliberately ironic persona of inflated statements about her looks and talents.
She likes to put her guests in funny, if sometimes uncomfortable, situations. She scared the living daylights out of radio host and friend Indy Barends with fake snakes and coaxed veteran actress Jajang C. Noer into doing an impromptu rap.
Although NET is in its early days, Sarah's show is attracting Jakarta's urban viewers, who can also catch the reruns on YouTube. The program recently celebrated the broadcast of its 100th show.
Its homey set and talk show-variety format have sparked comparisons to The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In fact, Sarah says, many have tried to style her as Indonesia's answer to the US queen of gab.
'Nearly everyone who offered me a talk show was like, 'ooh, we'll make it like Ellen'. Well, Ellen is Ellen, I like her, she's entertaining, but I'm not her. And when I first was in meetings with NET, they also mentioned Ellen, and I wanted to say, 'If you stop saying Ellen, I'll do it for you. It's Sarah here'.'
Fun Times
Sarah, who spend many of her formative years in the US and Europe, first became known in the mid-1990s as a tad sarcastic, world-weary-beyond-her-years VJ on the newly started MTV Asia. As well as hosting TV shows and emceeing gigs, she later worked as an editor at CosmoGirl and made several movies. But she says fronting the talk show has been her biggest challenge.
'I was happy they were giving me the show, without a sidekick, but I was so nervous. It's not MTV, where you're just talking about music and playing videos.
Here I am meeting different kinds of people and talking about different kinds of stuff. I consider myself anti-social: I don't have an arisan group and my friends are the same ones that I have had for years,' she says.
'But I am lucky that I have the support of a great creative team, and also that the segments are not too long ... I still have so much to learn, but I am learning as I go.'
Although Wishnutama told her to just be herself, she decided to tone down her usual sarcasm ' 'My friends and other people may get it, but some people may be sitting there thinking, 'what's she's talking about?'' She has shown the naysayers that she do lighter entertainment and be a considerate host, especially when dealing with her younger guests. To use her trademark expression, she is kece (cool).
'I'm 39, I'm mature but not so old yet, and I still want to have fun. I want to interview the girls from Cherrybelle, the boys from SM*SH, but I also want to interview [Trade Minister] Gita Wirjawan to find out what he is about.'
But all that talking is not easy. 'Getting information from people and also being entertaining is really tiring. I go home and I just want to meditate. You have to be in a good mood all the time.'
Son Shine
Although the show is a priority, Sarah says her 9-year-old son, Rajata, always takes precedence in her plans. In fact, she says she wants her show to be 'something that my friends can watch, and that will also be positive for my son to view'.
She has tried to organize the shooting schedule so that she can spend time with him. While she is away from home, Rajata has the run of the house, ordering pizza and playing video games.
She admits to some lingering singlemother guilt after she and Rajata's father, Emir Hakim, divorced two years ago.
'I'll still ask him, 'Are you happy?' 'Yes, I'm happy, Mom'. And then I'll ask, 'Do you ever wish Mommy and Daddy would get back together?' 'I'm happy that I have two homes to go to,' he says. And it's good that Emir is a very positive person and doesn't talk about the past. I'm the more dramatic one,' Sarah says.
'Divorce is tough but there wasn't anything dramatic involved, we went our separate ways. We communicate because of Rajata, and that is fine.'
She has a new boyfriend, an American chiropractor working in Jakarta, who has become a new BFF for her son, sharing basketball trivia and movies and playing Lego.
'I'm very happy with him. With this relationship we can sit together, have a drink, laugh and joke together. He's my friend, which is something different from the usual relationship roles.'
Is marriage on the cards?
'We want to take our time. We talk about it, but just like doing the talk show ' when the time is right, it happens. You can't force it.'
' Photos Meutia Ananda
