In 1996, a telenovela changed Philippine television. Back in those days, one channel lorded over all. ABS-CBN had everyone watching all their programs, including an hour-long evening news report called TV Patrol. Then, government-sequestered RPN-9 came out with a clumsily-dubbed telenovela about a poor little girl who talked to her dog. Her name was Marimar and soon, everyone was watching her! I followed this little show trying to guess what they were saying in the original Spanish, or that was my excuse, because really, I had never seen a show like this! The flamboyant acting, the outrageous plot, the cartoonish characters! My ma and sister even recall that they would come home from school and the streets were eerily empty and they would run home quickly because it meant Marimar had started. Soon, TV Patrol was cut down to 30 minutes and afternoon soap Mara Clara was put on primetime to combat the Thalia invasion. And after that, Philippine TV was never the same again. Now, primetime shows mean soaps, fantasy soaps and Korean soaps. Gone are the sitcoms and public affairs shows have been pushed back to ungodly hours.
Almost ten years later, GMA has decided to remake Marimar with a Filipino cast and I must admit, I love it. It is my guilty pleasure once again. While I have misgivings about some of the casting (I mean you, Richard Gomez) I love Marian Rivera! She captures the verve and allure of Thalia perfectly! Thank God the role didn't go to Angel Locsin. And while I am sure this will not surpass the thrill of the original since we already know how it will end, I welcome the chance to reacquaint myself with Bella Aldama, Brenda and Corazon once again. One suggestion: I hope they guest Ogie Alcasid and Michael V. to recreate the spoof of Marimar which they did on Bubble Gang! That would be a riot!
