Stardom, the 2nd time around

For years now, we’ve been urging producers to revive the careers of some gifted but underrated stars. It’s heartening to see that, of late, some of those underused talents are finally getting a fresh crack at popularity.

The latest, most welcome “comebacker” is Francine Prieto, who’s now a regular cast member of TV5’s promising new sitcom, “2 1/2 Daddies,” which makes its debut today. The sitcom is a casting coup, because it stars three Padilla siblings—Robin, Rommel and the former Rustom, now BiBi Gandanghari.

Prieto. Better career prospects.

It turns out, as per the show’s “winking” plot, that one of the three siblings could be the father of the show’s cute resident moppet. If that sounds like a mashup of “Three Men and a Baby” and “Two and A Half-Men”—go figure!

In any case, Francine has a good role in the new show, so things are looking up for her!

Other “underutilized” stars we want to see more of on the big and small screens include Niño Muhlach, Hilda Koronel and Robert Arevalo. Any takers among our producers and directors? They definitely won’t be sorry!

Scripting problems

Some ongoing drama series have been having scripting problems of late. For instance, on “Forevermore,” the focus has puzzlingly shifted, from leads Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano, to the psychologically troubled character played by Sofia Andres.

She’s Enrique’s “ex” and just can’t let go of him—and her contorted fixation has been given undue prominence on the otherwise viewable show. This plotting detour has been going on for much too long, to the leads’ detriment, so we hope the dismally depressed girl will snap out of her blue funk—pronto.

On “Bagito,” the focus has temporarily shifted from the young couple’s love child to the teen dad’s “feelings” for his best female friend, played by Alexa Ilacad.

If you ask us, after what Nash Aguas’ character has gone through, this latest “new love” subplot is just asking for (more) trouble. You would think that he’d solve his existing problems first before getting involved in another potentially nasty fix!

And, on “Dream Dad,” too much time was recently taken by the filming of a new Wink Milk commercial starring the series’ Baby character.

She’s pert and cute and all that, but the commercial was quite forgettable—so, what was all that extended fuss about?

Also “negatively noticeable” is how the series’ female characters have taken over its plotting, leaving male actors Zanjoe Marudo and Ariel Ureta in the lurch, and tweedling their thumbs.

Ureta is in a particularly lethargic situation, because just about all his character is made to do is play golf and look askance at Zanjoe and his mom’s plan to adopt Baby.

—That’s no way to treat a veteran actor who’s proven in the past that he can do much more.