Elemento: GMA’s Second Miniseries for October

As Halloween approaches, GMA launches another miniseries befitting the special occasion.

‘Elemento’, the horror fantasy series produced by GMA News and Public Affairs, will air starting October 10. The miniseries will feature more humanized versions of iconic creatures from various Filipino legends and myths.

Every Friday during the month of October, viewers of ‘Elemento’ will be treated to a different approach in storytelling. Throughout the series, classic Filipino Halloween icons will be converted from fearful creatures to more protagonistic beings, giving ‘Elemento’ a different spin on the legends that people used to read.

Four different stories will be featured on ‘Elemento’. The first story, ‘Si Esperanza, Ang Rebeldeng Manananggal’, features a vampire who rescues abused children. Glaiza de Castro will play the titular role, while Maria Isabel Lopez will play Esperanza’s mother and Valerie Concepcion will play Lucila, Esperanza’s evil sister. Carl Acosta and Nourish Icon Lapuz will play the role of children saved by Esperanza.

The second story, ‘Ang Masayahing Kapre na si Itim’, features a kapre who protects a forest from flooding. Bodjie Pascua will play the role of Itim, while supporting roles will be played by Ping Medina, Irma Adlawan, Lou Veloso, and child actors Joshen  Bernardo, Kyle Ocampo, Milkah Nacion and Micko Laurente.

The third story, ‘Pandora, Ang Diwata ng Wawa’, features a river fairy who exacts revenge on men who try to pollute the Wawa River. Solenn Heussaff will play the titular character, while Carlos Agassi will play her love interest. Liane Valentino and John Paul Mesde will play supporting roles.

The final story, ‘Apoy ni Bambolito’, tells the story of a black dwarf who gave an Aeta child named Anya the power of fire. Mike ‘Pekto’ Nacua will play the titular character, while Rochelle Pangilinan will play the mother of Anya, played by Marjorie Orteo.

Like ‘Seasons of Love’, ‘Elemento’ will go up against ABS-CBN’s ‘Pure Love’. And since the mini-series will only run for four Fridays this October, it will be a very daunting task for ‘Elemento’ to win its timeslot in such a short period of time.

That said, expectations will be very high for this series, especially when its premise is to tell a more good-natured side to fearsome creatures that are well-known to people. With that, good luck to the writers of ‘Elemento’ in making each story a good one.

‘Elemento’ airs starting October 10, and every Friday of October thereafter, before ’24 Oras’.

 

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GMA’s Answer to TV5’s Wattpad Presents

TV5’s ‘Wattpad Presents’ now has a new rival.

Starting October 6, GMA’s new anthology called ‘Seasons of Love’ will air on the timeslot that will be vacated by ‘My BFF’. Like ‘Wattpad Presents’, ‘Seasons of Love’ will focus on one particular love story each week, and will air for a month.

The first story under the ‘Seasons of Love’ banner will be ‘Soulmate, Soulhate’, and will feature Ruru Madrid and Gabrielle Garcia in their first lead roles together.

Both Madrid and Garcia currently appear in ‘My Destiny’ in supporting roles, and will continue to do so while ‘Seasons of Love: Soulmate, Soulhate’ is ongoing.

‘Soulmate, Soulhate’ will focus on two teenagers whose personalities change following a meteor shower. Soon after, they met and eventually forged a romantic relationship.

Three other upcoming stories under the ‘Seasons of Love’ banner will follow suit, with titles and cast yet to be determined.

Curiously, ABS-CBN also aired a romantic anthology called ‘Seasons of Love’. Not to be confused with GMA’s own upcoming series, ABS-CBN’s version aired as a weekly program every Sunday afternoon from 2004 to 2005.

Going back to GMA’s ‘Seasons of Love’, the short-term series will definitely carry a lot of expectations, since it will feature some of the Kapuso network’s up and coming young stars. In addition, the series will go up against the Kapamilya network’s highly-rated teleserye ‘Pure Love’, which has demolished ‘My BFF’ in the ratings.

‘Seasons of Love”s rivalry with ‘Wattpad Presents’ will also be followed closely, though not at the same timeslot. ‘Wattpad Presents” third story, ‘Poser’, will premiere hours after ‘Seasons of Love: Soulmate, Soulhate’ debuts, and based on the success of ‘Wattpad Presents” first two offerings, pressure will definitely be on ‘Seasons of Love’ to come up with a better story that will interest viewers.

With that, let’s wish GMA good luck on ‘Seasons of Love’, and hope this short-term series will pay off.

‘Seasons of Love’ premieres this October 6, and will air every Monday to Thursday before ’24 Oras’.