GMA’s Answer to TV5’s Wattpad Presents

TV5’s ‘Wattpad Presents’ now has a new rival.

Starting October 6, GMA’s new anthology called ‘Seasons of Love’ will air on the timeslot that will be vacated by ‘My BFF’. Like ‘Wattpad Presents’, ‘Seasons of Love’ will focus on one particular love story each week, and will air for a month.

The first story under the ‘Seasons of Love’ banner will be ‘Soulmate, Soulhate’, and will feature Ruru Madrid and Gabrielle Garcia in their first lead roles together.

Both Madrid and Garcia currently appear in ‘My Destiny’ in supporting roles, and will continue to do so while ‘Seasons of Love: Soulmate, Soulhate’ is ongoing.

‘Soulmate, Soulhate’ will focus on two teenagers whose personalities change following a meteor shower. Soon after, they met and eventually forged a romantic relationship.

Three other upcoming stories under the ‘Seasons of Love’ banner will follow suit, with titles and cast yet to be determined.

Curiously, ABS-CBN also aired a romantic anthology called ‘Seasons of Love’. Not to be confused with GMA’s own upcoming series, ABS-CBN’s version aired as a weekly program every Sunday afternoon from 2004 to 2005.

Going back to GMA’s ‘Seasons of Love’, the short-term series will definitely carry a lot of expectations, since it will feature some of the Kapuso network’s up and coming young stars. In addition, the series will go up against the Kapamilya network’s highly-rated teleserye ‘Pure Love’, which has demolished ‘My BFF’ in the ratings.

‘Seasons of Love”s rivalry with ‘Wattpad Presents’ will also be followed closely, though not at the same timeslot. ‘Wattpad Presents” third story, ‘Poser’, will premiere hours after ‘Seasons of Love: Soulmate, Soulhate’ debuts, and based on the success of ‘Wattpad Presents” first two offerings, pressure will definitely be on ‘Seasons of Love’ to come up with a better story that will interest viewers.

With that, let’s wish GMA good luck on ‘Seasons of Love’, and hope this short-term series will pay off.

‘Seasons of Love’ premieres this October 6, and will air every Monday to Thursday before ’24 Oras’.

Advertisement

The Return of Juan Direction, Plus Wattpad Stories Premiere on TV5

The Fil-foreign quintet known as ‘Juan Direction’ is back.

Michael McConnell, Daniel Marsh, Brian Wilson, Henry Edwards and Charlie Sutcliffe return for a two-week special starting tonight. They will be joined by a new set of hunky Fil-foreigners: male supermodel and 2014 Mr. World Philippines winner John Spainhour, American Ninja Warrior finalist Shane Daniels, and Cosmopolitan centerfold hunk Wil Dasovich.

The ‘Juan Direction’ special will be known as ‘Islanders’. As the title suggests, the original ‘Juan Direction’ and their Fil-foreign visitors will be stranded on the islands of Masbate and experience their fair share of adventures and misadventures in an isolated setting.

Since debuting in October 2013, ‘Juan Direction’ has become one of TV5’s top programs. This led to bigger opportunities for the quintet on other Kapatid programs; their most recent project, ‘One of the Boys’, aired from May to July of this year.

The upcoming ‘Juan Direction’ special is not the only new offering on TV5, however.

As part of TV5’s deal with the Canadian-based company Wattpad, the Kapatid network will air a drama special called ‘Wattpad Presents’. The first offering from the series, ‘My Tag Boyfriend’, premieres tonight and will run throughout the week.

Starring real-life couple Jasmine Curtis-Smith and Sam Concepcion, ‘My Tag Boyfriend’ tells the story of a Facebook addict whose accidental tag of a campus hearthrob on her status post went viral. A series of funny encounters eventually led to a relationship between the two.

In addition to ‘My Tag Boyfriend’, three other stories from Wattpad are in production and will be aired over the next few weeks: ‘Mr. Popular Meets Ms. Nobody’, starring Mark Neumann, Shaira Mae dela Cruz, and Diego Loyzaga; ‘Poser’, starring Akihiro Blanco, Chanel Morales and Sam Rodriguez; and ‘Almost a Cinderella Story’, starring Eula Caballero and Carl Guevara.

The entry of ‘Wattpad Presents’ should bring good vibes to Filipino Wattpad writers and romance enthusiasts. Having penetrated the big screen via the likes of ‘Diary ng Panget’, ‘She’s Dating the Gangster’ and ‘Talk Back and You’re Dead’, Wattpad now hopes to enjoy a similar level of success on the small screen, something TV5 is more than willing to provide.

‘Wattpad Presents’ and ‘Juan Direction: Islanders’ will air back-to-back starting at 7:00 p.m. later tonight on TV5.