Gerald Anderson vs Maricel Soriano

I know, this is already becoming like an anti-Gerald Anderson blog. But I was really waiting for other juicy and interesting news in the local showbiz scene to end the three earlier posts that involved Gerald. To my surprise, he has gotten himself into another trouble, to which his home network was quick to protect and make him look like an angel who can't do any wrong (which only makes matters worse).

CTO: Kalandian.com

The issue: Veteran actress, Maricel Soriano, was reported to being blunt, frustrated and emotional after taping a scene with Gerald. She shouted hurtful words at him that reportedly made him cry, but said sorry to Ms. Maricel afterwards. According to some reports, Maricel did not like how Gerald delivered during the scene and it had already taken them quite a time to do that. She then told the actor that he was already being the cause of delay among other stuff that instead of challenging Gerald, it made him fear the veteran star and vowed to his bosses that he will not be part of the show if Maricel was going to be retained.

The verdict: Star Magic and the Kapamilya network, which handle Gerald's career, decided to remove Maricel from the "doomed" soap opera and retain their favorite, este, Gerald. They even sent out a strong statement in defense of their action and I quote:

"Star Magic has the utmost confidence not only in Gerald Anderson’s exceptional ability as an actor, but also in his unassailable personal character and professional behavior. The incidents that led to the removal of Maricel from Gerald’s latest telenovela were not provoked or instigated by Gerald in any manner."

I know that Gerald has improved a lot on his acting skills from the time that he has started, but he has still a lot to learn. The "exceptional ability" part of Star Magic's statement is a clear indication of favoritism. He may have the ability, but as compared with what Maricel Soriano can give into their every scene, I am pretty sure that if somebody must be given that "exceptional ability" remark, it would have been the veteran star and not this playboy, este, young actor.

I almost puked at the "unassailable personal character" part. They made it appear that this young actor can do no wrong. He is so good that his reputation cannot be tarnished. At this point of his career, humility might be the key to salvage what is still left of him. And these unbelievable praise releases about him aren't helping at all.

Star Magic seems to be so serious about this that even TV Patrol has reported about the depression that Maricel has been going through for the past years, which may be affecting her work and sanity. It was like all of a sudden, just because she made the wrong move of picking on the network's favorite, she is the meanest person on this local showbizlandia.

I know, she is not a saint. Maricel still needs to talk about past issues that involve her maids. But no one can contest that she is good in her craft and someone who deserves the praise, exceptional.

Regarding the issue, Maricel has kept mum, so it is enlightening to read words from someone who is on her side. Here are some statements from the actress' close friend and the director of her upcoming movie with Vice Ganda, Wenn Deramas. The following were lifted from Part 1. Director Wenn Deramas defends Maricel Soriano: "Huwag nating sabihin na yung tao ay ganito at ganyan dahil lamang sa isang insidente."

“Sa akin, isolated case ‘yan.

“Huwag nating sabihin na yung tao ay ganito at ganyan dahil lamang sa isang insidente.

“Isipin pa rin natin ang mga ginawa ni Maricel Soriano sa ABS-CBN, sa industriya—kung paano niya tayo pinasaya, kung paano siya napakahusay sa lahat ng kanyang mga ginagawa."

Wala raw maipipintas ang direktor kay Maricel pagdating sa propesyunalismo at pagmamahal na pinapakita nito sa trabaho.

“Si Maricel, hindi mo mapupulaan sa kanyang trabaho—na si Maricel hindi magaling sa pelikula o teleserye… wala, e.

“Tinatrabaho niya yun at hindi puwede sa kanya na ‘ako lang ang magaling.’ Dapat tayo.

“Pinaniniwalaan ko si Maricel Soriano.

“Gaya ng sinabi ko, isolated case yung nangyari na hindi mo puwedeng husgahan ang tao dahil lang dun sa nangyari. 

“Saka ilan lang silang nandun nung nangyari yun.

“Unfortunately, si Maricel Soriano ang tipo ng artista na hindi magsasalita para ipagtanggol ang sarili niya.”

As for this blogger, even though Gerald is their contract star, the Kapamilya network should have protected both actors. As it is, only Maricel's reputation is being tarnished as the issue has blown out of proportion and the veteran star is now the subject of several malicious blind items. Whether these are true or not, the Kapamilya network's action only made the situation worse. Instead of saving her from further humiliation, ABS-CBN has only added more insult to the injury, in expense of the more experienced star.

I wonder if they will still go on with the doomed teleserye with the network's current favorite. I don't hate Gerald, but I want him to be humble enough to admit his mistakes and apologize publicly to those whom he has offended and hurt, instead of acting like he has not done anything wrong.

Vice Ganda VS Ate Gay

Ate Gay is one good comedian who is only waiting for the right opportunity to shine. He never fails to make me laugh whenever I catch him doing short skits and gags on his appearances at various local TV shows. He can make people laugh without degrading them (a lot) and this is what makes him different from more famous comedians, like Vice Ganda.

Vice Ganda's forte is to make people look bad and ugly and make them feel "tanga" in order to exude his audience' laughter.

When Ate Gay expressed his excitement on his Twitter account that he was tapped to replace Vice on It's Showtime while Vice would go on a break for weeks, I was happy. I just thought that finally, Ate Gay's time has come and wondered, "May babalikan pa kaya si Vice."

Well, they have different strengths, I guess. There are audiences, of course, who prefer Vice's style, but there are also those who have yet to discover the funny antics of Ate Gay. His quite famous skit, The Door, is frequently used on It's Showtime's rival, Eat Bulaga, by Allan K and the trio of Jose, Wally and Paolo.

Now that Vice is already on vacation, Ai-Ai delas Alas took his spot on the show. Something obviously happened, which led to these tweets of Ate Gay.

To add fuel to the fire, Ogie Diaz, Vice's former manager whom he also had an issue with in which Ogie until now, had chosen to remain silent about, retweeted Ate Gay's reply to one follower and added his comments as well.

ABS-CBN must once again help Vice get out of this mess before he could gain any more detractors, but they must also take a second look at Ate Gay. This one is certainly a diamond in the rough and a big threat to those who have already experienced success and let it gone into their heads.

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.

My Local Celebrity Pairing Bets for 2012

Obviously, I am a Kim Chiu-Whoever her partner is fan. It only goes that I favor Xian Lim at the moment because they haven’t done solo TV drama and movie yet. After Xian, I hope that Kim gets paired with someone who is older and more mature, like Piolo Pascual. I want to see the contrast and for a change, see a film that tackles age gap in relationships from a different light.

Xian will also look good when paired with older leading ladies, like Judy Ann Santos or Claudine Barretto, if the latter will decide to come back at ABS-CBN or if ABS-CBN would accept her still. If ever Sandara Park would do a movie with Star Cinema, I think that Xian will also create an on-screen stir as her partner.

As per Gerald Anderson, it is only now that I am realizing that it will be quite promising to see him on screen with Bea Alonzo, but I don’t think that this is the right time for this team-up. There are many fans who still haven’t moved on from the controversies that these two have created when they fell for each other at the wrong place and at the wrong time (sounds like a movie premise already). For the meantime, I hope that he gets paired with KC Concepcion. I think that the pairing has the ability to prove that KC is only waiting for the right material and right partner to prove her bankability.

Bea Alonzo, although she’s not visible on TV, is doing a film, but as months go by, it appears as if this film is doomed (hopefully not). I wonder how an artist feels every time they had to re-shoot scenes that they have already done just because their partner had chosen to pursue their Hollywood dream and the replacement had chosen to move to another network. They can break the curse by bringing John Lloyd Cruz in. He is Bea’s reliable partner and the pairing has a huge following.

This is not a new pairing, but the Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla team-up should be given a movie while it is still hot. And oh please, don’t let Kathryn wear her hair with bangs, like how she looks at the soap, Princess and I. She’s more beautiful with how she looked during her Mara Clara days, but her beauty really shone when she played the young Gretchen in Magkaribal.

It is tricky to find the right pair for Julia Montes. I really thought that she would not be able to pull it off with Coco Martin, but she did, with flying colors. I think that she really is the next Bea Alonzo. For these women, great acting, plus good looks are enough even though they don’t have constant partners.

There are two big Kapamilya stars who badly need reinvention, Vice Ganda and Sarah Geronimo. Vice has already proven that he can create blockbuster movies even without the help of other big stars. I wonder how it would look if the idea of pairing Angel Locsin with the man version of Vice Ganda would push through. I don’t think so. A good gay film will do, but no more slapsticks comedy, please.

I want to see a different Sarah Geronimo. Sarah who is acting her age and is experiencing real life and love troubles of women in their mid 20s. Just for a change, I want to see her serious side, yung pang award. It does not matter who her leading man is. Her movies, for as long as these are of good taste and quality, will earn whether she has a big star or a newcomer as a partner.

What about the stars from the other network? I think that at the moment, while GMA-7 has not yet found the formula to develop “big” stars, big in the sense that the viewing public will pay to see them on the big screen and not be contented being part of the percentage of the TV ratings, GMA Films should go back to their old formula. They ought to bring back quality films to the mainstream market. They have specialized on the genre before, giving people the likes of Muro Ami, Deathrow, Jose Rizal and so on.

That’s it. Just sharing some musings while I am working on certain articles that are harder to finish than this kind =)

P.S.

I love the current ad (as of this writing) on my blog's upper banner, kilig!