Reboot of an original soap, Korean drama and a continuation of a popular fantasy series
Curiosity and familiarity. These, in essence, are what Redgie Magno, assistant vice president for drama of GMA 7, says would make viewers of their station's afternoon block watch their newest offering, Sana ay Ikaw na Nga, to premiere on Monday, Sept. 3, replacing Kasalanan Bang Ibigan Ka?
Surprisingly, the network chose to tap the never-paired tandem of relative new actors, Mikael Daez and Andrea Torres. Daez, who has had a considerably lucky streak since he debuted last year via a role in the epic series Amaya, was last seen as one of the major characters of the Marian Rivera-Dingdong Dantes starrer, My Beloved. Torres, on the other hand, is familiar to TV viewers via commercials. But she has been in the industry for seven years, starting off as one of the contestants of a reality show in another station. Though she may seem a new face, the 22-year-old has had shows in the past but counts the afternoon soap as her biggest break, even making her file a leave of absence from her Communication Arts degree at the University of Santo Tomas.
Culled from one of the songs interpreted by the great Basil Valdez, Sana Ay Ikaw Na Nga was a primetime nightly soap first aired in 2002 starring then youngish Dingdong Dantes and Tanya Garcia. It was the story of love between a rich man and a poor woman whose love story would be marked by betrayal, lies and obsession. It ran for two years.
"It's not really a full remake of Sana Ay Ikaw Na Nga. Meron kaming mga ibang twists na ginawa na relevant sa times," says Magno, who shares that they are targeting to air the 2012 reboot for a total of 16 weeks.
The soap's original creator, RJ Nuevas, who returns to pen the 2012 version, says that they have compressed the story to suit the targeted run time of the new soap. He says they got rid of many sub-plots, characters and even improved the pacing of the story such as the appearance of the dual roles of Torres in two weeks time after it premieres.
Magno shares that they have been planning on doing this remake since last year but it took them this time to look for the pair that would suit the characters of Carlos Miguel Altamonte and Cecilia Fulgencio.
More remakes
Though they are not doing another remake of an original GMA drama to be shown for the remaining quarter, Magno says they are set to offer another remake set to be shown in November. This time, this particular remake will be shown in primetime. In fact, Magno shares this early it already has a fan page in Facebook.
The stars? Considered queen of nightly primetime shows of GMA Marian Rivera, Dennis Trillo, Alessandra de Rossi and newly signed Kapuso actor Rafael Rosell. The material to be remade? The Korean drama, Temptation of Wife, which was aired weekdays in 2011. It's another story of love, betrayal and revenge.
The lady executive also shares a definite answer to a particular remake that many might have been raring to hear about.
"Definitely we will do Encantadia," says Magno. "Probably third quarter. Kasi mahaba ang pagpa-plano diyan. It started pa last year. Up to now, it's still in the planning stage. Si Suzette (Doctolero, creator of the Encantadia series) kasi 'pag meron siyang ginawa na buo na, ang sunod niyang basa, ang pag-i-improve niya ng script parang hindi tumitigil. So, hindi niya pa talaga nare-release 'yung pinaka-final na script na we will do for Encantadia. It's still with her. So we are still thinking. Sa production design naman, 'yun nag-aano na rin on how to improve the look of Encantadia. It should top the first one. All these things we are considering so medyo nade-delay kami."
