Do you still remember Marina, the ABS-CBN fantasy series starring Claudine Barretto?
Aired in 2004, it was the first teleserye to use the term “fantaserye,” as it was also the first daily prime-time show to combine the elements of fantasy and drama.
The series tells the story of Marina (Claudine), a woman who is cursed to become a mermaid once she reaches seven years old.
She spends her teenage years underwater, and realizes that she wants to have a normal person’s legs and live like a human.
In exchange for human legs, Marina deals with the powerful sea witch Dugong (Malou de Guzman).
Marina served as a gamble for the Kapamilya network, which had been trying a new genre despite the network’s dwindling performance in the ratings game.
But in the end, Marina proved to be a phenomenal success. According to Charo Santos-Concio in her book My Journey, the ratings peaked at 41%.
It also produced iconic characters in Philippine pop culture, particularly Marina and Dugong.
But, totoo ba, Marina was supposed to air for one season or only 13 weeks?
In a recent exclusive interview with PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal), Marina headwriter Keiko Aquino revealed this trivia.
She said, “Ang Marina, dapat 13 weeks lang, iyon ang usapan.
“Kasi nag-start kami ng summer, hindi na kami makakapag-shoot ng June kasi tag-ulan na.”
But then, the ratings were impressive that network bigwigs did not want to pull the plug on the show.
Keiko continued, “O, e, akalain ba naming kakagatin ng tao iyong sirena! Di ba, naging phenomenal?
“Ipina-extend ng ipina-extend sa amin, napunta na kami sa perya, naging ano na si Claudine, naging corals, naging goldfish, kasi hindi kami makapag-shoot sa dagat!”
Later, GMA-7 answered the new competition with Mulawin, a story about humanoid birds.
Eventually, Marina started losing to Mulawin, and on its ninth month on air, ABS-CBN decided to end the show.
Laughing, Keiko continued, “’Tapos di ba, nagkaroon ng Mulawin, ‘tapos tinalo na kami. Ginawa na namin siyang tutubi! Humaba iyon yata ng nine months.”
Marina was recently re-aired on the YouTube channel of Jeepney TV, ABS-CBN’s throwback cable channel.
Dugong (Malou de Guzman) and Pearly Shells (Chokoleit) also became a meme on Facebook.
The text read (published as is): “Kung naabutan mo tong palabas na to aba mag-asawa kana”
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