Days off are for de-stressing, leisure and catching up on the latest television shows. Tonight, I intentionally watched the television debut of the Philippine franchise of the Colombian hit Yo Soy Betty La Fea. Since I'm a fan of the original telenovela (Oh yes!), I wanted to see the Filipino producer's take on the TV show. And I do have a couple of things to say.
Let's start with the good points.
Bea Alonzo playing the title role is a good choice. She looks pretty much like the original, Ana María Orozco, at least while playing the fea part. Acting-wise, Ms. Alonzo can handle it.
Vhong Navarro as Betty's equally-ugly bestfriend, Nicolas, is a good pick as well. His association with comedic roles fits the character perfectly.
Well, the writers were able to establish the personality of the main characters as early as now, which is a good thing.
Now let's move on with the not-so-good points.
First, they could've chosen a better theme song. I know it should not be similar to the original theme, but the weird beat of the melody just didn't do it good.
Though John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo look good on screen, I think that their team-up for this series is too much already. As if we hadn't had enough of these two both in movies and on television. I think they're playing it safe and don't want to risk it to be a flop if they messed up with the pairing.
I understand that they don't have to emulate everything from the original, but when adding characters, they have to give the names some thought. When the you already have names such as Beatriz, Armando, Marcela, and Daniela, you don't name other characters like Andrew, Rose and Kylie unless the script calls that they hail from a different country.
It's generally a nice series to watch if you don't have anything else to do. I know Bea Alonzo fits the part, but I guess a better use of this series is to introduce a new artist or actress. Imagine viewers speculating every night who the beautiful face is behind that terribly looking character.
And to prove that I'm a Betty La Fea addict, here's the original theme song Se Dice De Mi, which is in my computer file:
