''Mara Clara'' is a Philippine drama television series on

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast broadcast network, network tha ...

, which aired from August 17, 1992 to February 14, 1997, replacing ''Sebya, Mahal Kita'' and was replaced by ''

Esperanza Esperanza is the Spanish word for hope, and may refer to: Places Philippines * Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, a municipality * Esperanza, Masbate, a municipality * Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat, a municipality United States * Esperanza, Mississippi, ...

''. The series stars

Judy Ann Santos Judy Anne Lumagui Santos (born May 11, 1978) is a Filipino actress and film producer. Prolific in film and television in the Philippines since the early 1990s, she is known for her comedic and dramatic roles in independent films and blockbus ...

and

Gladys Reyes Gladys Sommereux (née Reyes; born June 23, 1977), is a Filipino actress best known for her role as "Clara," the lead villainess from the 90s ABS-CBN hit series '' Mara Clara''. In 2012, after years with her home network ABS-CBN, she transferred ...

. It was the longest running ABS-CBN weekday drama and on Philippine television until June 26, 2020 when ''

FPJ's Ang Probinsyano ''FPJ's Ang Probinsyano'' (lit. ''FPJ's The Provincial Man''; abbreviated as ''FPJAP'' and internationally known as ''Brothers'') is a 2015 Philippine action drama television series under ABS-CBN Entertainment replacing ''Nathaniel''. Bas ...

'' surpassed it upon airing its 1,166th episode. It was adapted into a feature film released by

Star Cinema ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc. (doing business as Star Cinema or ABS-CBN Films) is a Philippines, Filipino film studio and film and television production company and film distributor headquartered in Quezon City. It is one of the major film ...

in 1996. ''Mara Clara'' was a first release from

Dreamscape Entertainment Dreamscape Entertainment is a Philippine television production company and entertainment division of ABS-CBN Corporation. It is one of the media conglomerate's television production units that supplies telenovelas for the flagship television n ...

. The title is derived from

María Clara María Clara, whose full name is María Clara de los Santos y Alba, is the ''mestiza'' heroine in '' Noli Me Tángere'', a novel by José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines. Her name and character have since become a byword in Filipi ...

, the ''mestiza'' heroine of

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is considered the national he ...

’s ''Noli Me Tángere''. This series is currently streaming on

Jeepney TV Jeepney TV is a 24-hour Television in the Philippines, Philippine pay television channel owned and operated by ABS-CBN Corporation, ABS-CBN's narrowcast arm Creative Programs Inc. since 2012. The programming consists of classic and archived ser ...

YouTube Channel YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most v ...

every 1:00 pm and 1:30 pm.

Plot

Mara and Clara were switched at birth, and the details of this event were recorded by Kardo ( Dan Fernandez), a hospital staff, in his diary. Mara (

) lived as the poor daughter of the couple Susan (Susan Africa) and Gary Davis (Eruel Tongco/ William Martinez) while Clara (

), their real daughter, was brought up the rich Amanthe (

Juan Rodrigo José Dante P. Pascual, known professionally as Juan Rodrigo, is a Filipino stage, film and television actor, singer and model. Personal life and career Rodrigo was discovered by his former talent manager Boy De Guia. He started as a dancer, ...

) and Almira Del Valle (

Beverly Vergel Beverly Vergel is an actress and film writer, director and producer, who now lives and works in Canada after many screen appearances in the Philippines during the 1980s and 1990s. Biography She was born in Manila, Philippines to actors César ...

). The good-natured Del Valle couple (

and

) takes in Mara (

) as a servant and decides to spend for her education, not knowing that she is their real daughter. Gary (Eruel Tongco/ William Martinez), who is actually a gang and syndicate leader, approves of the idea that Mara lives with the Del Valles to extort money. Clara makes life for Mara difficult. But, as time progresses they find out their true identity in the spotlights, damages are paid, and they all know where to stand.

Cast and characters

Main cast

as Mara Davis / Mara del Valle *

as Clara del Valle / Clara Davis

Supporting cast

as Amante del Valle *

as Almira Castillo-del Valle *Eruel Tongco (Series, 1992-1996) and William Martinez (Movie version) as Gary Davis *

Susan Africa Susan Africa (born August 20, 1959) is a veteran Filipino film, television and theatre actress. Recognised as a legend in the Philippine cinema, Africa won "Best Supporting Actress" at the 13th Metro Manila Film Festival for her performance i ...

as Susan Davis *Noel Colet/Jeffrey Santos as Enrico Castillo/Enrico David * Dan Fernandez as Kardo Davis *Leni Santos as Lenita *Maila Gumila as Gary's Sister *Naty Mallares as Lola Binay *Minnie Aguilar as Lagring *Michael "Eagle" Riggs as CG *

Wowie de Guzman Jeffrey Camangyan (born September 22, 1976), known professionally as Wowie de Guzman, is a Filipino dancer and a stage, film and TV actor. He was one of the top matinee idols from the 1990s. His break came as a member of dance group Universal Mo ...

as Christian Torralba *Christopher Roxas as Erris Reyes *

Paolo Contis Paolo Enrico Tusi Contis (born March 14, 1984) is a Filipino actor host singer and comedian of Italian descent. Contis debuted as a child actor in the ABS-CBN show ''Ang TV'' during the 1990s. A GMA Network artist for 17 years, he has won sever ...

as Jepoy *Jochelle Olalia as Karen *Agatha Tapan as Denise *Carol Magallanes as Carol *

Anita Linda Alice Bueñaflor Lake (November 23, 1924 – June 10, 2020), better known by her stage name Anita Linda, was a Filipino film actress. A romantic lead in her youth, she later gained critical acclaim for her portrayals in maternal or elderly r ...

as Pacita *

Ian Galliguez Ian Galliguez (born December 11, 1975) is a Filipino actress known for her comedic role in the television show ''Labs Ko Si Babe''. She has appeared on numerous shows on ABS-CBN. Galliguez is of a mixed descent with Spanish, Portuguese, Chines ...

as Bekya *Tom Santos *Anna Lumibao *

Whitney Tyson Whitney Tyson (born Bunny Fowler) is a Filipina actress, singer and comedian, best known for her role as Elizabeth in ''FPJ's Ang Probinsyano''. Personal life Tyson was born Bunny Fowler in Angeles, Pampanga, the only child of an African-America ...

as Querubin *Rose Zen Lopez *Jane Zaleta *JR Herrera *Jeffrey Hidalgo

Recurring

Piolo Pascual Piolo Jose Nonato Pascual (, born January 12, 1977) is a Filipino film and television actor, singer, model, and producer. Early life Piolo Jose Nonato Pascual was born on January 12, 1977, in Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center located in Malate ...

Rico Yan Rico Yan (; born Ricardo Carlos Castro Yan; March 14, 1975 – March 29, 2002) was a Filipino matinee idol, model, film and television actor, host, spokesperson and entrepreneur. Yan graduated from De La Salle University in 1997 with a degr ...

as Derick Gonzales * Angelika Dela Cruz as Joyce

Production

After the cancellation of " Ula: Batang Gubat", director Emil Cruz Jr. conceptualizes a soap opera entitled "Mara Clara" and was presented to ABS-CBN for approval. Judy Ann Santos and Gladys Reyes were handpicked by the director for the titular roles. During the early years of the soap, majority of scenes, particularly the Del Valle mansion are shot inside the studio. It was near the end of Book 1 towards Book 2 that the series started shooting on an actual location. On May 19, 1996, cast members Eruel Tongco, Ireneo Sevilla, Joy Clarise Cojuangco and Bienvenido dela Rosa died when their vehicle fell into a ravine in

Palayan Palayan, officially the City of Palayan ( fil, Lungsod ng Palayan, Ilocano: ''Siudad ti Palayan''), is a 5th class component city and capital of the province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of ...

while driving home from a

Nueva Ecija Nueva Ecija, officially the Province of Nueva Ecija ( tgl, Lalawigan ng Nueva Ecija , also ; ilo, Probinsia ti Nueva Ecija; pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Nueva Ecija; Kapampangan: ''Lalawigan/Probinsia ning Nueva Ecija''), is a landlocked province i ...

stage presentation.

Broadcast

Timeslot

The series originally aired at 2:30 p.m. as a blocktimer produced by its original director Emil Cruz, Jr. from August 17, 1992 until September 30, 1994 after ''

Anna Luna ''Anna Luna'' was an afternoon Philippine soap opera which aired on ABS-CBN from November 27, 1989 to September 30, 1994. The series was the longest Philippine drama series on ABS-CBN until 2022 when '' FPJ's Ang Probinsyano'' surpassed it. Anna ...

''. It moved to a 2:00 p.m. timeslot on October 3, 1994 when its predecessor Anna Luna moved from the said network to RPN. The show's rights was later on purchased by ABS-CBN Entertainment and was moved to a primetime slot on July 8, 1996 after ''

TV Patrol ''TV Patrol'' is a Philippine television newscast produced by ABS-CBN News. It premiered on March 2, 1987, at the former ABS-CBN television network, replacing ''Balita Ngayon''. ''TV Patrol'' is the flagship national newscast of the network a ...

'' to challenge RPN's Tagalog-language dub of Mexican telenovela, '' Marimar''. It ended on February 14, 1997 to make way for ''

'' as the replacement on February 17.

Reruns

The series re-aired in 2007 by affiliates

Studio 23 Studio 23 (officially Studio 23, Inc. and previously AMCARA Broadcasting Network) was a Filipino television network owned by ABS-CBN Corporation. The network was named for its flagship station in Metro Manila, DWAC-TV and carried on UHF chann ...

(now S+A) and Kapamilya Channel (internationally subsidiary of

The Filipino Channel The Filipino Channel, commonly known as TFC, is a 24-hour global subscription television network based in Daly City, California with studios in Redwood City, California and offices in Africa, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, UAE, Ethi ...

) through 2008. It aired internationally in 1994 til its series finale on

when it first aired as same day airings. It then re-aired in 2007-2008 for the first time on the Kapamilya Channel.

Adaptations

Film adaptation

In 1996, a movie was produced based on the television series. The Mara Clara movie adaptation was the first television series created by ABS-CBN to be adapted by

. On the adaptation, the only cast changed was the character of Gary Davis who was portrayed by Eruel Tongco in the television, and was played by William Martinez in the movie due to Tongco's death from a car accident in 1996.

Remake

During the ABS-CBN trade event held on August 24, 2010 at the World Trade Center Manila, it was announced that a remake of the series will start its production in 2010.

Kathryn Bernardo Kathryn Chandria Manuel Bernardo (; born March 26, 1996) is a Filipino actress and singer. Dubbed as “''Asia's Superstar”'' by various media outlets, People Asia hailed Bernardo as the Box Office Queen of her generation for being the onl ...

is slated for the role of Mara, with

Julia Montes Mara Hautea Schnittka (; born March 19, 1995), known professionally as Julia Montes (), is a Filipino-German actress and model. She is one of the most sought-after actresses in the country and has been hailed as the “''Royal Princess of Dram ...

as Clara.Kathryn Bernardo and Julia Montes topbill ABS-CBN's remake of Mara Clara
retrieved via www.pep.ph 09-29-2010 The 2010 remake, starring

as Mara and

as Clara, aired on ABS-CBN from October 25, 2010 to June 3, 2011.

Difference between series and movie

Reception

The series had its highest rating of 45% in one of its episode in 1994, it is considered as one of the most highest rating Filipino TV series of all time. The TV series made waves through most of the Filipino audience and being called by ABS-CBN as, "Ina ng Pinoy Soap Opera" owing to the series' huge success. However, some of the viewer base has shown a negative response for the character of Clara; played by

, due to its violent actions done throughout the series against Judy's character, Mara, which provoked a huge reaction on those who viewed the show's protagonist Mara, more favorably. As a result, the viewers and netizens tagged Gladys Reyes as the "

Bella Flores Remedios Papa Dancel (February 27, 1929 – May 19, 2013), commonly known as Bella Flores, was a Filipina actress. She was best known for her "iconic" portrayals of film villains. She is popularly referred as the original “Queen of Kontrabida ...

of the 90's".

Notes

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0437730, Mara Clara ABS-CBN drama series 1992 Philippine television series debuts 1997 Philippine television series endings Filipino-language television shows Television shows set in the Philippines Television series about teenagers Television series by Dreamscape Entertainment Television