The Kapamilya network isn't crowing about it, but the new series, The Iron Heart starring Richard Gutierrez, is expected to approximate the popularity of FPJ's Ang Probinsyano which featured Coco Martin and an all-star cast.
The Iron Heart premiered on 14 November on the same time slot of FPJAP, the country's longest-running drama series which ran from 28 September 2015 to 22 August 2022.
Martin's character Cardo Dalisay in FPJAP engaged a never-ending stream of enemies in death-defying scenarios.
In The Iron Heart, Gutierrez as the dual character Apollo Adelantar / Olimpio "Tisoy" Custodio battles villains led by crime syndicate boss Albert Martinez (who had portrayed the vicious arch enemy of Dalisay in FPJAP), with Diether Ocampo, Baron Geisler, and Jake Cuenca in the cast.
At the show's media launch, Cuenca said the production required them to look good and dashing even while ruthlessly liquidating their foes.
Wattpad series
The Viva Wattpad series The Rain in España is set in the campuses of the University of Santo Tomas in España, Manila and Ateneo de Manila University in Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City, including the bars near them. The show's main characters are students who drink.
Some scenes may be shot at Far Eastern University, as short walking distance from UST. The series' student characters drive cars and live in dorms.
Its second-half will be set in corporate offices, where lead characters portrayed by Heaven Peralejo and Marco Gallo work after finishing Architecture in UST and Law at Ateneo, respectively. They are ex-lovers in school but get back in each other's arms after graduation.
The Rain in España is from a serial novel published in 2020 on the website Wattpad. The novel was written by Gwy Saludes who studied Legal Management at UST. She's in her early 20s but has bought herself a car and invested in a commercial building, according to her bio on Wattpad.
In the cast of the 10-episode series are Gab Lagman, Bea Binene, Krissha Viaje, Nicole Omillo, Aubrey Caraan, Gabby Padilla, Frost Sandoval, and Francis Magundayao.
The Rain in España is directed by Theodore Boborol, who previously helmed Just the Way You Are, Vince and Kath and James, Finally Found Someone, Iska, Connected, and The Entitled.
Viva has yet to announce where it will air and when.
We've read reviews of the novel on Wattpad itself — written in English, and no mention of loving or hating a scene set amid the rain on the flood-prone street of España.