Kapuso returns to fantasy mode

Officers at the Kapuso network claim proudly that where it is now is largely because of the fantasy dramas it has aired since the time it has overtaken ABS-CBN’s primetime programming with Mulawin and followed later by Darna, Encantadia, Majika and Captain Barbell.

The network has since believed that its strength lies in this format, hence it has continued to produce and air drama series that had no connections with reality. While most of them are set in parallel universe, they were also implausibly improbable.

But audiences (at least in Mega Manila) liked them…until lately when there is a whiff of paradigm shift in audience tastes, most evident in the rising ratings of traditional dramas on ABS-CBN like Tayong Dalawa, Only You, May Bukas Pa, and Dahil May Isang Ikaw.

Now, GMA-7 celebrates its yearlong 60th anniversary and kicks it off with the pilot of The Last Prince.

This telefantasya, as the Kapuso people have branded their fantasy series, defies natural science and only happens in the wild imagination of the entertainment team of the network.

The drama happens up in the clouds (something that is not solid enough to hold a castle made of stones) and its inhabitants that are as human as the people in a parallel universe they call “lupa.” But what nearly had me falling off my chair during the launch last week was the sight on screen of vegetation in the “kingdom”), in a place called Paladino. But the drama, as in most Kapuso fare with costumes and grand setting, happens in a parallel universe.

The drama features what the GMA-7 pitchers call as the Royal Teen Couple—Aljur Abrenica as Prinsipe Almiro and Kris Bernal as Lara— with an all-star supporting cast that includes Eula Valdez as Adela, Carmina Villaroel as Reyna Lamara, Angelu de Leon as Mayang, Chanda Romero as Rosata, Emilio Garcia as Adorno, Benjie Paras as Rizayo, Bianca King as Bawana, Chynna Ortaleza as Lourdez, Paolo Ballesteros as Anexi, Karen de los Reyes as Minnie, Elvis Gutierrez as Guwarko, Bubbles Paraiso as Prinsesa Saraya, Joey Paras as Salim Salamin, Steff Prescott as Naveya, Francis Magundayao as Onuro, Rita Iringan as Gigi and Angeli Nicole Sanoy as Bambi.

Rosalinda stars Geoff Eigenmann and Carla Abellana play Prinsipe Javino, the rightful heir to the throne, and Sonia, the veterinarian who will fall in love with him, respectively.

The Last Prince also marks the TV comeback of Princess Punzalan, as she plays the coveted role of Alwana.

Will the fantasy format help Kapuso reclaim the audience share it is slowly losing in Mega Manila to the more conventional dramas aired by the network on Mother Ignacia and Eugenio Lopez Sr. Avenues? Will the audience throw their support for Aljur and Kris?

Wait, I think the Kapamilya network is also fielding something today, it’s called Tanging Yaman, a more timely drama on how a fireman became the president of the Republic of the Philippines.

Regine as Elektra

I think the writers of Darna doesn’t really know what the word Elektra means, because if they do they wouldn’t use it for a character that is being played by Regine Velasquez.

“Electra complex” is defined in psychoanalysis as “a daughter’s unconscious unresolved sexual attraction to her father.”

Expectedly the writers will justify this with an answer that the words are of different spelling… the one used by psychoanalysts has a “c’ while Regine’s Darna character has a “k.”

Yet the phonetics are the same, no matter how different the spelling is.

In Greek mythology, Electra is the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. She helped her brother Orestes to avenge their father’s murder by killing their mother and Clytemnestra’s lover.

But this Darna’s Elektra is not of Greek origin, but someone from a different planet.

Now, this is the reason more intelligent parents are telling their children to avoid watching local shows as they miseducate them.

Don’t writers do research anymore, or are they just doing this to earn their keep and make their pocketbooks fat?

What about the media’s (TV especially) responsibility to their audience? Don’t they care if children refer to Elektra as an alien, more than a mental condition?

This is even more ridiculuous. Is there a planet named Venusa? Well, if your children keep on watching Darna, they’d tell you there is and that’s where Elektra (Regine Velasquez) came from.

Richard and Heart’s on-cam wedding

Richard Gutierrez and Heart Evangelista tied the knot last week, or at least their characters did in Full House.

The series has constantly topped the ratings until this two weeks when Dahil May Isang Ikaw overtook it, a full-fledged Kapuso said it was due to the fact that the drama on the other channel was on its last two-week stretch.

Justin (Richard Gutierrez) and Jessie (Heart Evangelista) still couldn’t help but bicker at each other so Jessie— for the nth time —packed her bags and left the house. She left the contract with Justin, as well as a letter explaining her reasons for running away.

Ever the nosy couple, Donald (Rainier Castillo) and Lisette (Sheena Halili) meddled in Jessie’s affairs igniting yet another series of catastrophically funny events.

Now, with situations not going anywhere yet, will Full House dim the ending of Dahil May Isang Ikaw this week?

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