The Philippine adaptation of the well-received Korean series, “Coffee Prince,” debuts tonight on GMA’s Telebabad primetime block. The series stars one of the loveliest love teams on Philippine television — Aljur Abenica and Kris Bernal.
Aljur plays the role of Arthur Ochoa, a wealthy but easy-go-lucky bachelor who is notorious for being a playboy. Although he loves to flirt around with just any girl that comes his way, he is actually secretly in love with his half-brother’s ex-girlfriend, Arlene (portrayed by Max Collins). Meanwhile, Kris Bernal plays the role of Andy, the exact opposite of Arthur. In her desire to help her family make ends meet, she would take any job just to earn a living. Somehow, in an interesting twist of fate, she and Arthur would fall for each other.
The Korean version of the series, which previously aired on GMA-7, was well-received by the Filipino audience. Although not much of how the story goes was changed, the context around which the Filipino adaptation would revolved has been “Filipinized” to make it more relatable to local TV viewers. Also, an additional character — that of Steven Silva — will be introduced.
During the story conference held over a month ago, the show’s director Ricky Davao admitted that while he is excited to work on the show, he couldn’t help but feel nervous especially since the original version was a top-rater. However, he is confident that the good on-screen chemistry of Aljur and Kris coupled with an ensemble cast can pull it through.
Kris and Aljur, on the other hand, are both excited to be working alongside each other once again.
During the press conference of the show held last week, members of the press noticed the extraordinary closeness of the two. Asked how special Kris is to him, Aljur’s tongue somehow slipped when he said: “sa lahat ng mga nakapartner ko, sa lahat ng naka-RELASYON ko, ibang-iba talaga si Kris.” Oops! Does this mean that Aljur and Kris are ready to admit that they became lovers before? When the media pressed on for Aljur to expound on what he had said, the actor simply smiled and digressed.
“Coffee Prince” airs tonight after “Luna Blanca” on GMA Telebabad. For more information about the show and for real-time updates, like it on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/coffeeprincegma) and follow on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/gmacoffeeprince). Viewers are encouraged to join the discussion on Twitter by using the hashtag #CoffeePrince.
