Angel overshadowed by Marian

AFTER the “Katas ng Saudi” presscon on Wednesday night, we passed by Nepa Q Mart to buy some fruits and we saw so many vendors congregating around a TV set in a corner of the market. They were watching “Marimar.” And mind you, most of them are men. We asked what’s happening and someone said: “Makikilala na si Marimar ng tunay niyang ama.”

On screen, we saw Jestoni Alarcon hugging Marian Rivera and acknowledging her as his real daughter, not the impostora Bianca King. This past episode also featured the much ballyhooed “sampalan” scene where Marian slapped Bianca so hard that Bianca cried.

The past few nights centered on the discovery of Marimar’s true identity and her meeting with her rich father. Viewers were obviously so taken by it that the ratings of “Marimar” soared to 41.9 on Monday, an all time high of 44.6 on Tuesday, and 44.3 on Wednesday, making it the indisputable numero uno show on primetime TV.

Had Angel Locsin not rejected this project, it would have boosted her stocks further. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Angel’s loss is Marian’s gain. And Marian should thank Angel and her manager for making a messy decision and lacking the foresight to see that “Marimar” will be a surefire hit.

As of now, admit it or not, Angel’s career is in limbo. Without a regular show on the air, ABS-CBN makes her guest in various shows, like “Maalaala Mo Kaya” where she’s paired with Sam Milby, and she’s also hosting live shows like “ASAP” (where she sings and it’s obvious that she has a ghost singer as her voice changes from one song to another), “Wowowee” and even “Entertainment Live” where she paled in comparison to the more seasoned hosts Toni Gonzaga and Mariel Rodriguez. These shows give her exposure but we doubt if they could help forward her career. She really need to rush her first teleserye with ABS as acting is what she does better, not singing or hosting. If her new show with Piolo Pascual would topple the ratings of “Marimar,” then she could safely declare that she made the right decision in leaving GMA-7 and moving to ABS.