My Wild Guesses in the World of Local Celebrities and Sightings

These are only my hunches and “kutob” with the current issues that I keep on reading about certain celebrities and recent showbiz happenings.

** Break na si Cristine Reyes and Rayver Cruz. Cristine, oh dear, you better shape up or you will regret being such a prima donna when the glam is over, the beauty has faded and you have no one left but yourself.

** The new show of Ms. Sharon Cuneta on TV-5 will fail to succeed. The concept is old and now that the Megastar is part of a new station, many people, this blogger included, want to see reinvention.

** The Coco Martin-Angeline Quinto movie will flop, as well as the Coco-Judy Ann Santos and Coco-Marian Rivera. Coco may be cute and he is lucky to have TV shows that rated quite well on TV. But does he have enough fans that are willing to pay to see him on the big screen? I want to be proven wrong.

** It’s Showtime will be axed soon. From the time that Vice Ganda dropped Ogie Diaz as his manager, many people have realized that fame has indeed gone on his head. Most people watch Showtime just because of the fun that Vice is able to provide. The show is lame without him. But with negative intrigues thrown his way, how long could he keep his composure to make his audience laugh still?

** SIR or Showbiz Inside Report, the showbiz oriented talk show (na nagpapaka-investigative journalism) hosted by Carmina Villaroel, Janice de Belen, Joey Marquez and Ogie Diaz, will also be axed soon. Ogie Diaz may be an effective comedian, but he is no longer a credible showbiz talk show host. He doesn't do his research and say his opinions about anything based on popular beliefs. As for Carmina and Janice, they are good in hosting talk show of different variety, but with pending issues still hounding their showbiz careers, they are not fit to be seen on shows like this. Joey Marquez, well, this is not his forte. This is one boring show na nagpapaka-intelehente, but fails miserably.

** In the reunion movie of Bea Alonzo and John Lloyd Cruz with working title, The Mistress, si John Lloyd ang kabit and si Bea ang nangangaliwa. Star Cinema is very fond of twisting the twist, like what happened to My Amnesia Girl na si John Lloyd pala ang may amnesia. The theme, by the way, if it will really focus on infidelity, is still “gasgas” at this point, after the success of No Other Woman.

** Lorna Tolentino may have realized now that money is not everything in showbiz. You have to take care of your staying power, hence it is a wrong move that she moved to TV-5 and did various series that look cheap, when she has always been given great roles when she was still at ABS-CBN. Look at what happened to Dawn Zulueta and Richard Gomez now. Even Helen Gamboa is now more recognizable than the Megastar, whose career is also suffering like what is happening with LT and will soon happen to Derek Ramsey.

Sarah Geronimo Must Be Careful in Choosing Her Next Leading Man

With the success of A Very Special Love and its sequel, You Changed My Life, everybody seems to be in high spirits that a new Superstar was born. People are raving about Sarah Geronimo, how great she is and how she was able to achieve so much. Even Inquirer's entertainment columnist, Nestor Torre, weighed in on who is more deserving to sit on Sharon Cuneta's throne, should it be Sarah or KC Concepcion. But is Sarah the real reason why the said movies hit on the Box Office? I doubt it.

Personally, I went to see the first film because of John Lloyd. But I didn't get a chance to see the second one, although it's still on my plans. And yet again, I'll be watching it because of the male lead and the story. And I'll be interested to see the film even if it was Bea Alonzo playing the lead girl, or someone of Sarah's age like Kim Chiu.

I don't really have anything against Sarah. She is bubbly and she always seems to be happy. And that is what people love about her. She's fun to see. But that I think is not enough for people to see a movie just because she's in it.

There are talks that Viva and Star Cinema are planning to pair Sarah with Gerald Anderson. Now you don't want to touch something that is not broken, which is the Kimerald love team. How do these two companies think the fans would react? This is not the same case with the John Lloyd-Bea team-up. This pair has done lots of films and has graced many soap operas with the two of them as leads before they were paired off with anybody else.

As for Kim and Gerald fans, it is only normal that they will react violently about the issue of the latter being paired with Sarah. Yes, they have done a movie together, a launching movie that was like a music video stretched for more than an hour. It was a bad story, bad direction and a bad choice of launching material for a team-up that has a solid following. Now they are proving their worth by acting the best that they can give through the soap opera, Tayong Dalawa.

With TD's success, Star Cinema should be given a hint that it is high time to let this love team prove that they can do onscreen what they have achieved on TV. They should be given a good material and not a mediocre one like their first film. Their entry on the Manila Film Fest was also successful. It could have been more successful if only it was not of a horror genre and if Ms. Tadyang of the Kapuso network was not part of the trilogy.

Instead of thinking who should be paired with Sarah next, Star Cinema should focus more on who should they pair up with John Lloyd. Sarah may be popular, but she definitely is still not a Superstar. She has the makings to be one. But she still has a lot to prove and she has to do something with her voice. She no longer sounds as good as she used to when she was only starting (overexposure?).

As for the third installment of her team-up with John Lloyd, the creative team behind it should come up with something really unique but still fun. After that, Sarah should experiment on more serious roles, like how Sharon Cuneta did on Pasan Ko ang Daigdig. And she should be given a chance to shine without a known leading man. If she will be able to pull it off, then by all means, give her the crown and the title of being a genuine Superstar.