Television: Indio

Last wednesday, the press and select individuals were invited for a screening of the program that would serve as GMA-7’s opening salvo. And I must say, what we saw was nothing short of amazing.

And it will only get better.

Here’s GMA Network’s press release for the program;

Fresh from the box-office success of his Metro Manila Film Festival entry Si Enteng, Si Agimat at Si Ako, Sen. Bong Revilla Jr. faces 2013 with his biggest project to date with the Kapuso Network.

He leads the much-awaited drama-fantasy series Indio which will premiere on January 14 on the GMA Telebabad block.

According to Senator Bong, he is never satisfied with a mediocre work that is why he exerted extra efforts to make the series outstanding.

As Senator Bong puts it, “Bago ko simulan ang Indio, nag-acting workshop muna ako para maging maganda ang pag-portray ko sa role na Indio. Hanggang ngayon ay patuloy pa naming pinapaganda ang Indio. Dapat nila itong abangan dahil ito ay aming pinaghandaan at pinaghirapan. Kaya nagpapasalamat ako sa GMA for giving me a very good project to start my 2013.”

Now, onto my reaction to the first three episodes shown during the screening:

The acting is a little inconsistent, but completely forgivable. I wasn’t as blown away by Sarah Lahbati’s performance as other people were, but she has a lot of potential. Jomari Yllana looked like he was phoning in his acting, as was Ellen Adarna. Luis Alandy and Agot Isidro, unsurprisingly, were very effective in their special roles.

Story-wise, being part of the creative team, I’m happy to see that they’ve stuck to the script. Some scenes tended to be longer than necessary, but I think (at this point) Director Dondon Santos really wants to make Indio look and feel different from GMA-7’s very popular historical epic: Amaya. And I’m sure going further into the story, we’ll see less establishing shots as, by the second week, the world will have been fully established already.

What will catch viewers’ eyes though are the special effects. Indio really benefited from an early pre-production date as most of the effects are seamless. The scene with the Bacunaua and the opening scene that tied down the timeline/era were exceptionally done. It’s not perfect, but nothing ever is. I can definitely say that it’s something to be proud of though.

Exciting times are ahead for the television industry–and Indio is just the beginning of new things.

Indio airs weeknights after the news program 24 Oras, over at GMA Network. A special primer will be shown tonight, January 13 after Imbestigador, on the same network.