By: LESTER TAGA CAPAS
For at least a month now, I have been seeing the same hashtags on my news feed on almost a daily basis – including this strange pose in photos that has spread like a virus all over the internet. People were making cute poses and raising one hand near the face waving. Then I asked myself “What is all these?” The answer of course, yes, you guessed it right – ALDUB from GMA7’s Kalyeserye.
ALDUB has not only been a trending phenomenon among the youth, but of all ages.
Even my aunt knows ALDUB BETTER THAN I DO. Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza have certainly taken the noon time wars by storm. Even Twitter and Facebook are swimming in the ALDUB craze. But of course they are backed by a strong supporting cast, most notably, Wally Bayola, with his portrayal of Lola Nidora.
To be honest, I did not like the idea of a Comedy show flooding the social media networks. In my opinion ALDUB was hindering the spread of real news and social issues especially those government related. I felt like ALDUB’s fame has gone too far; given far more attention than anything else in the news and more than it deserves. In simpler terms I was a hater.
Without even attempting to find out for myself I decided to hate ALDUB arbitrarily because my mind was fixed on how I thought it was a worthless show…until…On my way home from Clark Pampanga, I was riding on a mini bus that had a Television set. GMA7 was on, I could hear people whispering “ALDUB na” “KALYESERYE na”. Literally slumping deeper into my seat, I tried to put myself to sleep before – what I was expecting to be pure torment – could begin.
But the road was so rough, it was literally impossible for me to fall asleep before the horror that was ALDUB would commence. To my surprise the whole bus echoed with laughter, as if everyone was so into it, and I was alone in my seat and self-imposed torment. “ALDUB has possessed the passengers!!” I said to myself. Trying hard to keep my eyes closed like some madman.
Eventually, they started cracking jokes on the show and I said “What the heck, why not?” So I relinquished my paranoia for a moment and opened my eyes to see what this ALDUB was like.
To my amusement, it wasn’t bad at all. In fact there were times when it actually had me laughing. One thing I noticed is that it seemed very natural for the actors to play their role. ALDUB has a good on-screen chemistry. “So that’s why they call her Yaya Dub.” I thought as she spoke through lip-synching songs, so did Alden. That wave they were doing, they call it “Pabebe wave” for reasons I do not know, has become very popular.
Into half of the show, I had forgotten why I didn’t want to watch the ALDUB Kalyeserye in the first place. It was very obvious at that point that ALDUB was a love team that gave people a chance to relax and sit back during their lunch hours. It just so happened that numerous people liked it a lot and only wanted to relieve their stress, or maybe smile and be happy at that certain hour.
ALDUB was something people could look forward to, in an effort to get through half of the day when they are tired from working in the morning Whoever came up with ALDUB had a fresh and clever idea that ultimately won them ratings and popularity.
After watching it, I could not bring myself to hating it. I felt silly to hate something I had never known.
Although I still believe that ALDUB should be given less attention than more important matters on Social media, I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with people spreading their joy. ALDUB is an ice breaker in the middle of a tiring day and if people want to get hyped about it and share how much they love ALDUB then who am I to stop them?
Kalyeserye seems to be on the top spot of any show right now, and it’s more likely that they will continue being on top until the next best show arrives. But if anything is for sure, ALDUB will be remembered for a very long time.
