Edu brightens up your day in Good Vibes

When one door closes, another one surprisingly opens.

Edu Manzano was originally slated to fly to New York last May, with chef Margarita Forés to shoot a new series of The Crawl New York for the Metro Channel.

They did a successful, three-episode run aired in September last year. However, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic prevented Edu and Margarita from leaving the country to shoot again at the Big Apple.

When that happened, Edu was instead given an online show on the Metro Channel. Good Vibes with Edu was partly inspired by the host’s consistent “good vibes” posts on Instagram. However, when Edu first learned about it, he was not initially sold to the idea of doing an online show.

Aware that he lacks the basic technological skills to operate commands even on his mobile phone, Edu did not want to be embarrassed going into a milieu he’s not familiar with. Yet, he knows his obligation to his audience is to make them feel good.

Overnight, Edu had to cram and was forced to learn how to use the popular video conferencing tool Zoom. Admittedly, he is the last person audiences can expect to go online since he is not a techie. Thankfully, he received a lot of help from his friends, who guided him to do the show.

Good Vibes with Edu was subsequently born. He is aware his “good vibes” posts on IG played a key role for his new show to happen. Good vibes is something that everybody will always welcome. It gives one a happy feeling and brightens up one’s day.

Edu taped the pilot episode when he engaged in a nostalgic conversation with his three children – Luis, Addie and Enzo. The show premiered on cable TV on Father’s Day, last June 21.

For the first episode, Edu had a time to virtually catch up with his children, who fondly reminisced about their younger days. The two, Andie and Enzo, are in New York. The youngest, 15-year-old Diego, however, was not able to join the pilot airing.

The succeeding episodes of Good Vibes with Edu highlighted iconic reunions.

In the second, where Edu was joined by some of the cast members of the once top-rating sitcom, Palibhasa, Lalake, the host apparently got the hang of working in an online show. His guests were Richard Gomez, Anjo Yllana and Amy Perez.

The cast members fondly reminisced about working in the sitcom that also starred a gin-drinking Gloria Romero, the wacky Joey Marquez and John Estrada and even comedienne Cynthia Patag.

Interestingly, Edu joined the cast of Palibhasa, Lalake, at a certain time in its 12-year run.

The third episode featured Edu’s interview with the Cruz cousins – Sunshine, Geneva and Donna – a “casting coup” to get all of them together. The schedule of Sheryl, sadly, did not jive with that of the other three cousins, so Sheryl was unable to appear in Edu’s show.

Apart from lively conversations, Good Vibes with Edu also highlights the host’s humorous side, as he shares and reacts to funny memes or videos. Edu gets to talk to family, friends and colleagues. That certainly brings comfort to viewers in light of today’s uncertainties.

At the helm of Good Vibes with Edu is Lala Ventura, also the channel head of Metro Channel, who sets the tone for the show.

Edu, who is marking his 40th year in showbiz this September and also his 65th birthday, is apparently ready to return to work even for teleserye in the Kapamilya network. The new normal way of taping amid this pandemic has been cascaded to the stars of the forthcoming teleserye, Kahit Minsan Lang, with Bea Alonzo.

Viewers will perhaps remember Edu’s memorable role as President Lucas Cabrera in FPJ’s Ang Probinsiyano. However, he had to bow out from the series early last year.

Edu was also supposed to work on the Mamasapano incident, playing a true-to-life role as PNP director Benjamin Magalong. The film was originally intended for the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) in December, but has been shelved for 2021.