Maria Hernandez (Erich Gonzales) is a charcoal maker who dreams of making furniture in her own shop, much like her mother Sandra (Assunta de Rossi), who died years ago in a fire leaving Maria orphaned. Maria grows up with Sandra's best friend Casilda (Ai-Ai de las Alas) in barrio Munting Ilog. When Casilda falls ill, Maria is forced to seek help from Father Honorio for added work. This leads her to meet Fernando de la Vega (Ian Veneracion), the owner of Amore Design, one of the country's top furniture companies. Fernando takes Maria to work for his family as a maid.
Unknown yet to Maria, Fernando was the former love of her mother Sandra. And that Fernando's wife Victoria (Angel Aquino), is Sandra's former friend and partner. Sandra and Victoria founded Amore designs, but Victoria double-crossed Sandra taking both her boyfriend and ownership of Amore. But before the fire, Sandra had bequeathed her shares to Maria, making Maria owner of 50% of Amore Designs.
Working for the De la Vegas leads Maria to meet, for the second time, Luis de la Vega (Enchong Dee), the eldest of the De la Vega children. Among those children are Vanessa (Jane Oineza) and Vladimir (Arron Villaflor). Maria had met and admired Luis before, seeing his work in Viscera, a small furniture shop. But Luis pays to her no mind. Worse, Luis, having had problems with his father Fernando, begins to suspect Maria to be Fernando's mistress. This through the suspicions of Soraya, his friend who is secretly in love with him. Luis makes Maria fall in love with him, with the intention of hurting Maria and making her leave.
Furthermore, he falls in love with Maria. And Maria, despite the pain, cannot help herself from loving Luis. But their love is put to the test by several trials. Such as, Soraya's attempt to break Luis apart from Maria, Sandra's comeback to ruin Victoria's life, lies that caused Maria's insanity which leads her into her wealthy transformation, and Sabrina who will do her best for her to keep Maria's daughter, Andrea. But an unfortunate disease will finally cause Soraya's life. Could this be Soraya's time to pay her sins to Maria?
Production started in February 2011. The series was initially part of ABS-CBN's line-up of afternoon dramas, Kapamilya Gold, together with other television series; Nasaan Ka Elisa?, Mula Sa Puso, and Hiyas.[2] However, teasers were released in July 2011, which stated that the show was to air on primetime. The series premiered on August 15, 2011 on Primetime Bida.
María la del Barrio, originally aired on Televisa in 1995. It was the third telenovela in the trilogy of Maria, that starred Thalia. The show first aired in the Philippines through RPN in 1996, ABS-CBN in 1997-1998 and GMA Network in 2002-2003, dubbed in Filipino. After GMA Network's successful adaptations of Thalia's Marimar and Rosalinda, ABS-CBN decided to remake María la del Barrio.
Postponement, reshoots and recasts
There were speculations that the production had to reshoot several scenes because the network was not convinced with the outcome of the already-shot episodes. In addition, several characters were recast, including a lengthy casting process for the role of Vladimir de la Vega. Inno Martin was originally cast to play the role of Vladimir, but after several failed recastings, the role eventually ended up being played by Arron Villaflor. The role was first offered to Enrique Gil. However, Gil had to decline due to conflicting working schedules.[3] Inno Martin's scenes as Vladimir prior to his replacement appeared in the show's first set of promos. When the show started production for the soon-to-be reshot episodes covering the first few months of the show, Martin was sacked with AJ Perez tapped to take-over the now-vacant role .[4] But after Perez' untimely passing, Villaflor was brought in to take over the role of Vladimir.[5] It finally premiered on August 15, 2011.
Reception
Ratings
After the winning 26.0% finale rating of previous time slot occupant Mula Sa Puso, Maria la del Barrio maintained the network's hold on the 6pm slot. The series debuted in fifth place with a 22.5% rating.[6] The series aired its last episode on March 2 and earned fifth place in the ratings, garnering 20% of viewers.[7]
Critical reception
On a review done by the Philippine Entertainment Portal, they quoted that "Erich looks tailor-made for the role; with her natural ability to summon naïve, childlike qualities with relative ease." They also stated that the scenes between the two lead actors provided the "'kilig' factor commonly sought by local viewers." The review concluded, "Erich has a wonderful opportunity to embrace the character as her own without having to live in the shadow of her famous Mexican predecessor."[8]
