Is ‘Wish I May’ Too Late the Hero?

‘Wish I May’ has been given the go-signal by GMA.

After a long and tenuous delay, the series, named after a popular song by Alden Richards, will finally make its debut. The question is, will ‘Wish I May’ be worth the wait?

The journey of ‘Wish I May’ began in October of last year, when GMA released a pair of short teasers for the series. Regularly played during commercial breaks, many thought the series would premiere within that month, given its release at the height of the AlDub phenomenon.

Unfortunately, it never materialized. Already penciled in as a lead-out program to ‘Eat Bulaga’ (whose Kalyeserye featured the AlDub tandem), ‘Wish I May”s premiere was postponed when its eventual predecessor ‘The Half-Sisters’ was given a three-month extension.

The series was also considered for Telebabad, but GMA chose to air ‘Little Nanay’ and ‘Because of You’ instead. Eventually, GMA revealed the premiere date of ‘Wish I May’ in the teaser video below, which premiered before the end of 2015.

Which leads to today’s long-awaited premiere. ‘Wish I May’, although named after Alden’s hit song, will not feature Alden himself nor his Kalyeserye partner Maine Mendoza, for obvious reasons.

Instead, the lead stars of the series will be Bianca Umali and Miguel Tanfelix, popularly known as the BiGuel tandem. The premise of the series will involve two teens (Bianca and Miguel) falling in love with each other amid tumultuous circumstances involving their families, brought about by the genetic disorder called ‘chimerism’.

Also starring in ‘Wish I May’ are Camille Prats, Mark Anthony Fernandez, Glydel Mercado, Rochelle Pangilinan, Mark Herras, Alessandra de Rossi, Neil Ryan Sese, Juan Rodrigo, Marni Lapuz, Ash Ortega, Sancho delas Alas and Prince Villanueva. Neal del Rosario and Mark Sicat de la Cruz will direct the series.

The premiere of ‘Wish I May’ comes at a time when the AlDub phenomenon was presumed to have winded down. While ‘Eat Bulaga”s Kalyeserye continues to rack up millions of tweets with each episode, ratings for the show were on the decline, as viewers find the skit boring, repetitive and uninspiring of late.

Although GMA was able to capitalize on AlDub’s success by placing ‘Wish I May’ after ‘Eat Bulaga’, having endured a lengthy delay may not help the show’s cause at all. Had it premiered during the height of AlDub’s popularity (‘Sa Tamang Panahon’ presentation, to be specific), they may have had a chance to succeed.

Still, GMA’s hopes were on ‘Wish I May’ to flourish in the same way its predecessor ‘The Half-Sisters’ did. However, it remains to be seen if the series will be worth watching after several months of hype.

‘Wish I May’ airs weekdays at 2:35 p.m. on GMA’s Afternoon Prime.

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A Fourth Opponent for Streaking ‘Forevermore’

There is no stopping ‘Forevermore’ as their run winds down.

The ABS-CBN drama series, starring Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano, has been on top of the primetime world ever since it debuted in October of last year. So far, ‘Forevermore’ overcame the challenges of ‘Hiram na Alaala’, ‘Strawberry Lane’ and ‘Once Upon a Kiss’ of rival station GMA, beating each series by a wide margin.

Now a fourth opponent awaits the streaking teleserye.

Starting this Monday, May 4, ‘Forevermore’ will go up against ‘Let the Love Begin’, the newest GMA teleserye starring Ruru Madrid and Gabbi Garcia. The upcoming series should not be confused with the movie of the same title, starring Richard Gutierrez and Angel Locsin, which was released a decade ago under the GMA Films banner.

‘Let the Love Begin’ will also mark the return of Ai-Ai Delas Alas to the GMA camp after over a decade with ABS-CBN. Joining her in various supporting roles will be Gardo Versoza, Donita Rose, Mark Anthony Fernandez, Neil Ryan Sese, Gladys Reyes, and Ms. Gina Pareño.

Other members of the cast include Noel Trinidad, Phytos Ramirez, Abel Estanislao, Ricardo Cepeda, Joko Diaz, Rita Daniela, Ar Angel Aviles, Nomer Limatog, Angeli Bayani, Sancho Delas Alas, Therese Malvar, and Ren Escano.

The series will revolve around the cordial friendship between Jeni (Ai-Ai) and Tony (Gardo), who work for a fictional radio program that focuses on love advice. A major problem would later shatter their friendship, but their paths would soon cross again thanks to a blooming relationship between their children Erick (Ruru) and Pia (Gabbi).

‘Let the Love Begin’ may have been scheduled to air on the vacated timeslot of ‘Once Upon a Kiss’, but the series’ first few weeks may come too late to prove its worth against ‘Forevermore’. As seen in the teaser below, ABS-CBN made it clear that ‘Forevermore”s run would end very soon in favor of a new drama.

Still, the prospect of ‘Forevermore’ taking on a new Kapuso love team is hard to resist. They have already overcome the duo of Miguel Tanfelix and Bianca Umali, and now it is up to Ruru and Gabbi to show their potential against LizQuen.

‘Let the Love Begin’ premieres this Monday after ‘Pari ‘Koy’ on GMA Telebabad. Good luck.