Pinoy Tv's current trend: Re-makes

In Hollywood, they remake old TV shows like "Starsky & Hutch," "Dukes of Hazzard," "Miami Vice" and "Charlie’s Angels" into movies. Here in our country, the trend now is for TV companies to remake old films into TV soaps.

"Bakekang" was shown on prime time on GMA-7, also "Hindi Nahahati ang Langit" that became "Walang Kapalit" on ABS-CBN.

On GMA-7, they also have "Sine Novela" in the afternoon, while ABS-CBN has "Sine Serye" at 6 p.m. The first two films turned into TV series in "Sine Novela" were both big hits: "Pati Ba Pintig ng Puso?" that originally starred Sharon Cuneta and now, Yasmien Kurdi; and "Sinasamba Kita" that starred Vilma Santos and Lorna Tolentino when first made in 1982 and now, Sheryl Cruz and Valerie Concepcion.

On ABS-CBN, three films have been serialized so far: "Palimos ng Pagibig" (Vilma Santos and Dina Bonnevie became Rica Peralejo and Kristine Hermosa), "Hiram na Mukha" (Heart Evangelista took over from Nanette Medved) and "May Minamahal" (Aga Muhlach and Aiko Melendez became Oyo Sotto and Anne Curtis.)

The funny thing is that GMA-7’s adaptations in mid-afternoon are rating even higher, anywhere from 16 to 20%, than those of ABS-CBN that are on primetime. So what gives? Does that the mean the writers of GMA-7 are more effective in re-writing the scripts of the original movies and introducing new characters and plot elements to make them more interesting for today’s audiences?

We fervently wish, though, that this trend will not be permanent. One advantage of remaking old films is that there’s a pre-sold audience out there who’re curious how old movies are re-imagined for a new generation of younger viewers. You can’t call this a tribute or homage to old films, though, because the changes are so numerous that, often times, the material becomes quite unrecognizable from their sources. And still, we want our writers and directors to come up with more fresh and inventive storylines and stop making a rehash of old materials.

Mario Bautista
Malaya