Extended teleseryes’ stretch marks are showing
SALVADOR. Her drama series benefits from its new plot development.
Logically, when you set out to tell a story, it has an opening, a middle and an end—and an organizing reason for being told.
On some teleseryes these days, however, those rules are made to be broken, because popular series are sometimes stretched way beyond their initial storytelling parameters, so the cash cows can continuously and profitably be milked!
Trouble is, some of those resulting stretch marks are difficult to disguise.
On “Inday Bote,” for instance, the fantasy series’ resident child elemental, Entoy, has been separated from his grieving, searching folks for the longest time.
Finally, they’re about to get happily reunited—but, all sorts of unexpected, last-minute hindrances keep cropping up, so the viewer gets very antsy and frustrated!
What seems to be the problem? The people behind the show may be afraid that, after the long-delayed reunion, the series will have to end, ASAP.
Well, not necessarily. It can pay more attention to its human leads, whose rich-poor story has thus far been insufficiently focused on.
The show has been paying more attention to its villains, who may be colorful and all that, but shouldn’t be allowed to upstage everybody else!
On “Oh My G,” stretch marks are also evident in the really long time that the series’ teen lead, Janella Salvador, is taking to finally trace the key whereabouts of her late dad’s mysterious special friend.
Less frustratingly, the series is benefiting from its new plot development, which has Janella being forced to give up her wealthy lifestyle and go decidedly more middle-class, because her guardians fooled around with her inheritance.
In the process, she learns valuable lessons about life as it really is, and viewers learn along with her, so that’s all to the good.
On “Forevermore,” which is already on its Book Two, the extended storytelling sometimes feels like it’s been going on, well, “forever”—but, the good news is that the series is finally on its last couple of weeks.
So, will Agnes end up in Xander’s “undeserving” arms, against all odds? This is a TV rom-com with a lot of “fated” fantasticating to it, so a Happy Ending is practically assured!
Finally, on “Bridges of Love,” contentious siblings Jericho Rosales and Paulo Avelino are finally about to realize that they’ve been cluelessly sharing the same woman, and all heck and hell is expected to explode!
—But, as of last week, they were tantalizingly made to remain on clueless mode, to some viewers’ chagrin. —Let’s shake a leg, shall we, so the siblings’ square-off can have enough time to “satisfyingly” rise to a hyper-melodramatic peak?
