Is ABS-CBN's The General's Daughter patterned after the Hollywood hit in 1999?
by Direk Romm Burlat
When ABS-CBN came out with its press release about The General's Daughter, I had some reservations. It seems the new teleserye is wide in scope. From the looks of it, the story centers on war, of criminals, of feuding families and some mission. Based on rating experience, love stories mostly domestic dramas involving mistresses are sure hits on television. Likewise, I see some traces of "Ang Probinsyano" in "The General's Daughter" it being an action TV series.The only difference is the protagonist in the former is a man while the latter has the woman as central character. But with a powerhouse cast, it will surely spell the difference. Consider this as the Diamond Star Maricel Soriano's comeback of sorts. Her fans have been waiting for the right moment where Marya has to "step" on the TV screen again after her award-winning MMK portrayal last year. After all, she was a Drama Anthology Queen. And there's Tirso Cruz III and Albert Martinez who are two of our most sought-after veteran actors. Janice de Belen's presence would make a difference as she still is the forever-Flordeluna who has dominated TV for a long time. Adding the powerful cast is Eula Valdez whose Amor Powers characterization in Pangako SaYo remains classic up to these days. The teleserye also offers the millennials some popular actors of their generation: Paolo Avelino, Arjo Atayde, Ryza Cenon, JC de Vera, Ronnie Alonte, Loisa Andalio. And, this is the comeback of the action-drama queen Angel Locsin after five years. Her last teleserye was The Legal Wife with Maja Salvador. Will this "huge" cast offer a "huge" rating to the station? Will this concept be just a "flash in the pan"? Or will this offer a new trend on television?
My other concern is-- this new Angel Locsin starrer has the same title as John Travolta's film in 1999. The Travolta starrer talks about the " well-known and well-respected base commander who is murdered, an undercover detective who is summoned to look into the matter and finds a slew of cover-ups at West Point." This American movie is based on the 1992 novel by American author Nelson Demille. The John Travolta movie which is mainly a crime movie earned three wins and 5 nominations.
Will this new primetime teleserye of ABS-CBN suffer some comparison to the Hollywood film? Channel 2's pool of writers for The General's Daughter should pool their resources together to come up with a different treatment, different situations, different characters and different vision. And knowing that Filipinos are more into dramas with some twists, the director and writer should think it wise to have some melodramatic scenes in between. Conflicts should be well thought of.
I watched the pilot episode of the station's new baby and I was happy to see Angel and Marya opening the serye together. Angel Locsin was thrown into an island after being shot during a mission. She suffered a temporary amnesia and was taken care of by Nanang Sabel played by Marya. But the townsfolk protest of having her in the island so she planned of moving out of the island without any direction as she can't remember a thing. Where does this first episode lead? I am definite, interesting scenes will soon follow making the Filipino viewers glue on their seats at home.
When ABS-CBN came out with its press release about The General's Daughter, I had some reservations. It seems the new teleserye is wide in scope. From the looks of it, the story centers on war, of criminals, of feuding families and some mission. Based on rating experience, love stories mostly domestic dramas involving mistresses are sure hits on television. Likewise, I see some traces of "Ang Probinsyano" in "The General's Daughter" it being an action TV series.The only difference is the protagonist in the former is a man while the latter has the woman as central character. But with a powerhouse cast, it will surely spell the difference. Consider this as the Diamond Star Maricel Soriano's comeback of sorts. Her fans have been waiting for the right moment where Marya has to "step" on the TV screen again after her award-winning MMK portrayal last year. After all, she was a Drama Anthology Queen. And there's Tirso Cruz III and Albert Martinez who are two of our most sought-after veteran actors. Janice de Belen's presence would make a difference as she still is the forever-Flordeluna who has dominated TV for a long time. Adding the powerful cast is Eula Valdez whose Amor Powers characterization in Pangako SaYo remains classic up to these days. The teleserye also offers the millennials some popular actors of their generation: Paolo Avelino, Arjo Atayde, Ryza Cenon, JC de Vera, Ronnie Alonte, Loisa Andalio. And, this is the comeback of the action-drama queen Angel Locsin after five years. Her last teleserye was The Legal Wife with Maja Salvador. Will this "huge" cast offer a "huge" rating to the station? Will this concept be just a "flash in the pan"? Or will this offer a new trend on television?
My other concern is-- this new Angel Locsin starrer has the same title as John Travolta's film in 1999. The Travolta starrer talks about the " well-known and well-respected base commander who is murdered, an undercover detective who is summoned to look into the matter and finds a slew of cover-ups at West Point." This American movie is based on the 1992 novel by American author Nelson Demille. The John Travolta movie which is mainly a crime movie earned three wins and 5 nominations.
Will this new primetime teleserye of ABS-CBN suffer some comparison to the Hollywood film? Channel 2's pool of writers for The General's Daughter should pool their resources together to come up with a different treatment, different situations, different characters and different vision. And knowing that Filipinos are more into dramas with some twists, the director and writer should think it wise to have some melodramatic scenes in between. Conflicts should be well thought of.
I watched the pilot episode of the station's new baby and I was happy to see Angel and Marya opening the serye together. Angel Locsin was thrown into an island after being shot during a mission. She suffered a temporary amnesia and was taken care of by Nanang Sabel played by Marya. But the townsfolk protest of having her in the island so she planned of moving out of the island without any direction as she can't remember a thing. Where does this first episode lead? I am definite, interesting scenes will soon follow making the Filipino viewers glue on their seats at home.
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