New Soaps All Start With The Lead Stars Missing In The Pilot Episodes

SEVERAL SHOWS started last Monday. Three on GMA 7 (“Paraiso Ko’y Ikaw”, “Carmela” and “Rhodora X”) and one with ABS-CBN (“Legal Wife”.) It’s worth noting that in all shows, none of the lead stars have appeared yet. All the stories started with the parents of the lead characters or showed their characters while they were still little children.

Honestly, we feel this traditional chronological manner of storytelling is not the best way to start a new drama series. We favour the JJ Abrams school of storytelling that starts in media res (in the middle of the story), then it goes back to how it started.

It’s best to introduce the lead stars as they are (Marian Rivera, Jennylyn Mercado, Angel Locsin at the present time), then return to the back story of the characters they play. This will not only be more attractive for viewers but it also whets their appetite and helps them quickly latch on and get hooked to the story. May kakapitan na sila. As it is, some viewers told us, “Manonood na lang kami pag lumabas na sina Marian at Alden.”