Long-awaited, short-lived.
Turns out ‘The Promise of Forever’ wore out its welcome as soon as it began. The ABS-CBN drama series had been in the production pipeline for months prior to its premiere, but once it got underway, the series underachieved and only managed a measly 55 episodes once it wraps up this Friday.
First aired on September 11, ‘The Promise of Forever’ marked the Kapamilya debut of former TV5 discovery Ritz Azul, who was paired alongside Paulo Avelino. This series was supposed to be a breath of fresh air for viewers who were fed up with the network’s overreliance on ‘kabitseryes’.
Instead, ‘The Promise of Forever’ failed to make the grade. More often than not, it was rival GMA afternoon drama ‘Haplos’ that came out on top, and the former’s seemingly high expectations went up in smoke.
Not since ‘Walang Iwanan’ has an ABS-CBN afternoon series run for such a short period of time. Despite the fact that it took months for ABS-CBN to convince that ‘The Promise of Forever’ is ready to air, they only managed to produce 55 episodes during that span, an underwhelming total by Kapamilya standards.
The struggles of ‘The Promise of Forever’ gave even further indication that Kapamilya Gold is on a decline. It was clear that viewers are frustrated over the direction of Kapamilya Gold, and the performance of said block in recent months is something that ABS-CBN must urgently address.
It also didn’t help that Ritz Azul appear overwhelmed by the limelight. The series’ long wait, not to mention her first acting experience in a full-on drama series in years, made Ritz look rusty and unprepared at times.
Overall, while ‘The Promise of Forever’ was not bad, its performance leaves a lot to be desired. That said, with such a long wait and low episode turnout, ABS-CBN should realize that ‘cautious optimism’ does not work on Philippine television these days, especially when it comes to short-lived dramas such as ‘The Promise of Forever’.
This week will be the last chance for ‘The Promise of Forever’ to impress. As ABS-CBN ponders its next move, one must wonder what might have been had the network air ‘The Promise of Forever’ much earlier and not suffer the low ratings that it did today.
From the Tube 