Peas in a pod

BARRETTO AND GUTIERREZ. Nothing succeeds like success—and excess?

Way back when, stars were quite different from one another: Rogelio and Jaime de la Rosa were mestizos, while Leopoldo Salcedo and Lolita Rodriguez were kayumanggi. Rita Gomez was different from Nida Blanca, and Amalia Fuentes couldn’t be mistaken for Susan Roces.

These days, however, many starlets try to make it by molding themselves after established stellar types, in the mistaken view that nothing succeeds like success—and excess.

How did they arrive at this strange conclusion? One explanation could be the show biz scene’s shortsighted focus on clones of big stars, rather than new talents with distinct personalities of their own.

“The new Piolo Pascual,” “The new John Lloyd Cruz”—that’s how starlets’ handlers gush over their latest bets—in the misguided hope that, if producers can’t afford to hire the original (and expensive) stars, they’ll settle for their cheaper copies.

Ditto for today’s TV-film fans, who are deemed to go for types, rather than genuine talents with something unique to offer. That may be true on the short term, but for durable careers, uniqueness is still what matters.

Nowhere is this same-same problem more evident than in the “sweet” female starlet field, with multiple “lookalike” comers trying to win the same fan market’s prized favor. They include Julia Barretto, Janine Gutierrez, Liza Soberano, Janella Salvador and Jane Oineza.

Range and variety

The “sweet” image they share drastically limits their range and variety as performers, even as their respective cadres of fans do their best to make the loudest and most supportive fuss and bother.

When push comes to shove, however, there’s little elbow room in a pod for its resident competing peas to use to make a unique impression! To be sure, these starlets’ handlers do their best to get them cast in key roles on TV that will hasten their ascent to stardom.

For instance, Liza’s backers have been trying for years to kick-start her stellar rise, to little positive effect—until her recent hit series, “Forevermore,” finally did the trick.

Janine also topbilled her own shows, but is currently “between assignments”—not a comfy spot for a competing starlet to be in. Ditto for Julia Barretto.

For her part, Janella is younger than most, but she’s been lucky and now also has her own regular show, “Oh My G.”

The latest comer, Jane, got her show biz start on “Pinoy Big Brother,” and became popular enough to develop a fan base big enough to “support” her current series, “Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita?”

As long as these “sweet” types are seen regularly on the tube, they can remain in contention. But, when shows and commercial endorsements stop coming, their respective PR machines have to work much harder to make up for the slack.

The bottom line is, there are simply too many “sweet” starlets out there for TV-film productions to showcase and support, so (sooner than later), two or three frontrunners will leave the others behind.

What options do these also-rans have? They can always “change image” and try to make it in a less crowded field, as comediennes, singer-dancers or “sweetly sexy” types. —The best of luck and pluck to them, one and all!