Getting hooked on AlDub

The surge in popularity of the AlDub (Alden Richards-Yaya Dub) love team has taken the country by storm. The team-up is trending not only nationwide, but also worldwide as millions of Pinoys around the world has been bitten by the AlDub fever. This has resulted to even higher ratings for “Eat Bulaga,” which scored more than double the rating of “It’s Showtime,” making the rival show eat the dust, so to speak.

The love team is the hottest thing during lunch time viewing and people can’t get enough of Alden and Yaya Dub. The two young lookers have caught the fancy of viewers. The crowd hoping to get inside the “Eat Bulaga” studios in Broadway has ballooned to even greater proportions. Some of them troop to the studio as early as 2 a.m. to camp out, hoping they would get the best seats when gates open to accommodate viewers. But even if they do not gain access, the people stay, hoping to get a glimpse of the bedimpled Alden.

The video of  Yaya Dub fainting in the middle of her supposed wedding to Frankie Arinolli (played by Jose Manalo) last Saturday garnered five million views. That was how curious people were on whether Maine Mendoza (Yaya Dub’s real name) fainted or it was just for show.

Almost half a million people tweeted last Sunday about the AlDub love team with the hashtag #AlDubSaTamang Panahon which trended worldwide in 62 countries.

There is even a clamor for PNoy to declare the next wedding ceremony of Yaya Dub and Frankie a holiday, so that more people can watch. That is how hooked viewers are with Eat Bulaga’s “Kalye Serye,” a skit that has everyone talking no end since it started three weeks ago.

We should commend the writers and director of “Eat Bulaga,” and the main stars of the “Kalye Serye” –Wally Bayola (Lola Nidora), Jose Manalo (Frankie Arinolli) and of course, Alden and Maine. The segment’s success is indeed phenomenal.

The AlDub love team celebrates its first month anniversary tomorrow and we bet more people will be glued to their TV sets as the EB Kalye Serye unfolds its latest episode.

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The Quezon City Government is producing the musical “MLQ, Ang Buhay ni Manuel Luis Quezon,” which will premiere on August 19, the 137th birth anniversary of the first President of the Philippine Commonwealth and the founder of Quezon City.

The original screenplay depicts in a creative and entertaining way the transformative manner of Quezon City’s founder in the movement of the Philippines towards independence. The play is being produced for the  public school students of Quezon City who, together with their teachers and principals, will be the main audience and will have the privilege of watching it for free.

The city government is funding the full production of the play as part of its Diamond Jubilee celebration, because of its educational and inspirational value. Mayor Herbert Bautista said that it will enable audiences to have a much better appreciation and understanding of Quezon’s personality and his extraordinary and astute qualities as a leader, while appreciating key periods in the history of Philippine governance.

Mounting the musical is Full House Production which says the play originally written by George de Jesus III has a very contemporary treatment and narrates history in a way that it becomes entertaining and easily understandable to a young audience.

The play shows Quezon’s introduction to politics – from being a councilor, governor, assemblyman, commissioner to the US House of Representatives and Senator, until he won the first presidential elections in 1935 and became the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth. Also included in the play is the historical passage of the Tydings-McDuffie Law, paving the way for the granting of freedom and independence to the Philippines.

The play is topbilled by Arnold Reyes, Cinemalaya 2009 Best Supporting Actor, who will play the role of Manuel Luis Quezon. The supporting cast includes Joel Molina, Joshua Deocareza and Analin Bantug as three college students, Ron Alfonso, Mayen Bustamante, Eric dela Cruz, Stella Cañete, Richard Cunanan, Chinie Nepomuceno, Jun Ofrasio, Juliene Mendoza, Joel Saracho, and Melvin Sumalinog.

MLQ will be the opening play of the refurbished New Frontier Theater, now called Kia Theater at the Araneta Center, Cubao. All QC-LGU officials, including barangay officials, will be invited to the premiere night. Succeeding play dates will be exclusively for QC’s public high school students.

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A young, pretty newcomer is said to be a problem to her network. The production people she had been working with in a project have not-so -nice words about the newbie who they say has a bad attitude. She is disrespectful, not only to her younger co-stars, but even to the senior stars who are working with her. She also doesn’t do her job well and this caused delays in the production.

The network has high expectations of her when she was launched together with a new crop of talents. She was given a break to be the lead actress in a teleserye, so people are wondering why she is having difficult time with her role in a new soap. One time, taping was packed up because she could not execute the scene well despite several takes.

Is it true that management decided to get a new director for the soap because the neophyte can’t act well? They are hoping that under a new director, creative juices might start flowing from the newcomer.