Double the delight–or happiness halved?

WOODLEY AND LAWRENCE. Peas in a pod?

Events and newsmakers in entertainment are coming up in pairs these days, but it isn’t clear if the doubling is working out to viewers’ advantage. Two current mermaid fantaseryes are turning out to be one too many, since both “Dyesebel” and “Kambal Sirena” plug for the same environmental advocacies.

In terms of their personal dramas, “Kambal” appears to have an edge, since it offers double the melodramatic situations and complications that its twin protagonists get involved in—but, the series’ unfocused progression effectively neutralizes that advantage.

Tale of two Julias

For his part, Enrique Gil is in a double daze of his own these days, since he used to be paired off with Julia Montes but is currently playing screen consort to Julia Barretto in “Mira Bella.”

From one Julia to another? That definitely doesn’t sit well with fans of his tandem with Montes, who expect designated screen consorts to be loyal, if nothing else.

Well, reality check, folks: In the TV trade’s scheme of things, “fresh and new” is more important than “loyal”—unless the tandem is as big as KathNiel, whose love team has become so popular that they’re following up on their recently concluded teleserye with a big movie project that’s bent on becoming one of the biggest mega-hits of 2014.

It’s deemed OK for Gil to be paired off with the newer and younger Julia Barretto, because Montes is now busy with Coco Martin on another new show, “Ikaw Lamang.” —But, the trouble with that tandem, which was launched in a hit teleserye a couple of TV seasons ago, is that Montes has to “share” Coco with another young-adult star, Kim Chiu.

In fact, the way the new series’ storytelling is coming along, it looks like it’s designed to conclude with Coco and Kim in each other’s arms—with Montes’ character ending up luhaan (but not necessarily alone.) —Confusing? Welcome to the casually expedient world of TV casting!

Another “double trouble” situation is the fact that “Divergent’s new female star, Shailene Woodley, is coming across like the split or spitting image of Hollywood’s current “princess” Jennifer Lawrence. For proof positive, see the two young comers’ “reflecting pool” visages on this page. Shailene has a lot going for her, but the fact that she looks so much like “JLaw” could inhibit some producers from casting her in their new projects.

On the local entertainment scene, this used to be a problem for Angel Locsin look-alike, Glaiza de Castro. It took Glaiza years to find her own niche in show business, and she did this by proving that she was a versatile talent, who couldn’t only act but also sing and dance with polish and panache. Shailene has her own tough row to hoe in this regard, because her “JLaw problem” isn’t going to go away anytime soon!

Our fourth instance of “double exposure” isn’t as controversial, thank goodness: It involves new film director Steve McQueen, who won plaudits and awards for his work on “12 Years a Slave.” What’s so unusually intriguing about that?

Veteran film buffs will recall that, in the 1960s, “Steve McQueen” was also a big name in the movies, but the screen monicker belonged to an actor, a charismatic action-drama player who starred in quite a number of movies in the ’50s and the ’60s, like “The Great Escape” and “The Sand Pebbles.” If memory serves, his first wife was a Fil-Am talent named Neile Adams (he later married Ali MacGraw).