MANILA, Philippines — GMA-7's upcoming historical, time travel series "Maria Clara at Ibarra" is touted to be a "mega serye" that goes beyond the ratings war on TV.
Seasoned theater, film and TV actress Ces Quesada said that "Maria Clara At Ibarra" is a "mega serye." She also thanked GMA-7 for taking the risk in producing an expensive show and contributing in nation building.
"Hindi kasi ito ordinaryong teleserye. I call it 'mega serye' in terms of scope, artistic, ethical, production, everything... 'Yung effort nila para mag-nation building, I call it, 'yun nga, 'yung responsibility goes beyond ratings. I am so happy that somebody took this risk," Quesada said at last week's presscon where she and the rest of the cast attended in their costumes.
Julie Anne San Jose, who plays Maria Clara, was absent because she was in the United States for a GMA-7 concert. Apart from her, Tirso Cruz III and Andrea Torres were not present during the presscon.
Quesada plays Tiya Isabel, the sister of Kapitan Tiago (played by Juan Rodrigo) who is the known father of Maria Clara.
"Maria Clara at Ibarra" is based on the classic literature "Noli Me Tangere" and "El Filibusterismo," written by National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal. GMA-7 put a twist on the show by introducing the popular time travel or transmigration genre by creating the character of Maria Clara "Klay" Infantes, played by Barbie Forteza, a modern-day nursing student who does not care about history and gets transported back to the Spanish era, specifically meeting the characters of the two books.
The show's supervising producer Helen Rose Sese disclosed to Philstar.com after the media conference that the pitch for the show happened as early as September 2020.
She said that GMA Drama had always been taking risks in introducing "innovative concepts" on TV.
"Ang unang-unang na-mention was love of country of every Filipino, medyo nawawala, 'di ba? Lalo na sa kabataan. Iba na 'yung focus nila ngayon and that's what we want to bring back, na ma-appreciate ng mga kabataan and for them to be also involved sa current events na nangyayari sa bansa natin," Sese said.
She added that the show is slated to run for 20 weeks and is expected to air until February. If it becomes a hit, they are already studying on producing its second season since there are quite a lot of events that transpired in the two books.