Sunday, 5 May 2013

Ser Chief and Maya phenomenon



As the title clearly emphasized, I decided to write this because of my over addiction (over na, addiction pa!) to the number 1 day-time rom-com drama in the Philippines – Be Careful With My Heart! I will not elaborate the story because anyone can easily know or find out what is it all about. There are several reasons why I am so hooked with this drama and as there are so many first times that happen to the protagonist Maya dela Rosa, so do I. First time that I joined a fan group in Facebook specifically for a Pinoy Teleserye, first time to activate a twitter account just to follow all the lead stars of the show, first time to have interactions with people around the world whom I totally don’t know but we have only one thing in common and that is being a fan of Ser Chief and Maya; and lastly first time to do a blog like this just because I can’t contain my fascination of the show that I feel I’m gonna explode any minute if I will not let it out!
So what are the reasons why this very simple and light hearted drama has this certain enticement to all the viewers? 

First, I’m not really a fan of pinoy teleseryes. I already stopped watching it from the time that Koreanovelas and other Asianovelas invaded the Philippine territory. I find pinoy series are sickening because of the “patayan, iyakan, pagmamalupit ng kontrabida sa bida, pa-awa effect, corruption, kerida, power hunger and greediness” that they always depict in most of the storylines. In short, there’s always “sex and violence” in all of the previous dramas and even some of the current ones right now. I mean, come on! These issues are very common and are actually happening in the country and it’s so ironic that even then, people are still inclined to watch this kind of storylines! So when Be Cafeful With My Heart came out, I was so pessimistic about it not to mention that it’s also an experimental tandem between Jodi Sta. Maria and Richard Yap. To my surprise, the story has the same style with koreanovelas that I loved! That is why I quickly changed my outlook and viewpoint about this drama. It makes you laugh all the time and most of all, you will feel the “kilig” that I typically feel when I’m watching Kdramas. And because of that “kilig explosion”, all the viewers always feel happy and stress free everyday until we get to sleep, we feel that we are like Maya dela Rosa whose in-love and inspired no matter how bad is the day, we still can smile and have a good mood. How can you not love this kind of show where it only gives you positivity, good vibes and hope everyday?

Second, (and also the last reason just to sum-up ‘coz I don’t want it to make long) the show portrays good values which the other teleseryes don’t have. There’s no crime, no hatred, no envy, no greed, no competition, in short you can just always see and feel the greatest of them all – Love! Of course there are still few conflicts and misunderstandings but those are normal part of every Filipino, or every human being. The good thing is that they presented it in the correct way of handling and solving problems/life issues which can be very very useful to a family, to a student, to a son, to a daughter, and even to parents. If all the shows in television are like this, I doubt if there will ever be a crime on the street!

So in line with this, I was curious to research the Philippine TV Drama history and I found these in Wikipedia:
1.       Soap Operas originated when Gulong ng Palad was first heard in radio in 1949. Then it was expanded into TV in 1960s. It was also the longest serial spanned for decades and was made into soap starring Marianne dela Riva and Romnick Sarmenta (Wow, my Dad was only 7yrs old then! And I always heard this before but of course I wasn’t born yet during that time.)
2.       The first teleserye was Hiwaga sa Bahay na Bato in 1963 produced by ABS-CBN. (Kaya nman pala magaling ang ABS-CBN sa mga drama, imagine 50 years of making and producing soap operas and dramas, I doubt if other TV rivals can be able to surpass what this network did in terms of television dramas)
3.       RPN 9 produced Flordeluna starring Janice de Belen in early 80s. GMA 7 produced Annaliza starring the late Julie Vega.   (For a longest time, I was hoping that they will air these two rival shows again when I was still young because I really really want to see them!).
4.       In 90s, of course we can never forget Mara Clara that lasted for 5 yrs! (1992-97) ( I can’t believe that all of us were fooled for that lost diary in 5 years! Haha) Then Came Experanza that lasted for 3 years, Mula sa Puso also lasted for 3 years and Pangako Sayo that lasted for 2 years. Another longest daytime series was Valiente which lasted for 7 years. (But because it was moved to GMA 7 in its half life time, I kind lost track of it obviously I am more of Kapamilya than Kapuso hehe).

There are so many primetime TV series after this list and I know that it became primetime because of the importation of a Latin telenovela “Marimar” by RPN 9 which was aired at night time.  And because of that, all the other TV networks competed in getting other South American TV series to add in their primetime TV dramas. Another major change in 2003  was when ABS-CBN got the rights for airing the number 1 Asianovela during that time – Meteor Garden. It was actually the second Asianovela to be broadcasted in the Philippines because the first was Amazing Twins in RPN 9 (which was one of my favorites too). And that’s the start of GMA 7 getting the rights for Koreanovela Endless Love series which were also soaring high during that time in Korea. Then ABS-CBN got their first Korean drama “Lover in Paris” which started my addiction to Kdramas!
There are some interesting facts that I’ve found out when I was reading the Philipping drama history. In 2006 they actually did a remake of Gulong ng Palad starring Kristine Hermosa which I didn’t know at all (maybe because I was already hooked on kdramas hehe). Sineserye “Bituing Walang Ningning” starring Sarah Geronimo was actually the highest rated finale episodes for a Musical-TV series.
So after all these things, I just wonder what will be the first title of Be Careful With My Heart to be written in history record. It could be the first highest rated experimental tandem day-time rom-com drama in the history of Philippine television. (hahaha!)

Because I said that BCWMH presented the most important thing in the world which is LOVE, I’m gonna end my blog with a Bible verse:

…And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE.  (1 Cor. 13:13)