Mexican girl and talking dog capture primetime Philippine TV

Mexican girl and talking dog capture primetime Philippine TV

MANILA (AFP): A Mexican girl named Mari Mar and her talking dog out to avenge her humiliation by her rich relatives rule primetime Philippine television, reports said Tuesday.

Mari Mar, a Mexican television series dubbed into Filipino, and aired five nights a week on a government station, has taken the country by storm, prompting private networks to change their programming to compete.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted a June 16-22 survey that showed the series leading all programs, including primetime shows.

It also showed that viewership cut across all social classes.

The series, which began airing March 11, is shown Monday to Friday from 6: 30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and replayed in the afternoons.

Mari Mar is the story of a poor but beautiful barrio girl forced to marry a rich man, Sergio, who later leaves her pregnant in order to become a soccer star.

Sergio's parents immediately make her life miserable, making her eat mud, throwing her into jail for a robbery she did not commit and torching the hovel she lived in with her grandparents.

Edith del Rosario, overall producer of RPN-9, which airs Mari Mar, was quoted in an interview in the Manila Times as saying that Filipinos could relate to the underdog theme of the series.