The Greatest Love (Philippine TV series)

The Greatest Love
Genre
Developed by Ginny Monteagudo-Ocampo
Written by
  • Ruby Leah Castro-Villanueva
  • Jerry Gracio
  • Jaja Amarillo
  • Alpha Fortun
  • Carlo Katigbak
Directed by
Creative director(s) Ricky Lee
Starring
Opening theme The Greatest Love of All
by Sharon Cuneta
Composer(s)
Country of origin Philippines
Original language(s)
No. of episodes 163 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • Marielle De Guzman-Navarro
  • Edyl Macy Delos Santos
Producer(s) Mark Anthony D. Gile
Production location(s)
Cinematography
  • Neil Daza
  • Rain Yamson
Editor(s) Joy Buenaventura
Running time 30-45 minutes
Production company(s) GMO Entertainment Unit
Release
Original network ABS-CBN
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)
Original release September 5, 2016 (2016-09-05) – April 21, 2017 (2017-04-21)
External links
Website

The Greatest Love is a 2016 Philippine family melodrama television series directed by Dado C. Lumibao, Jeffrey R. Jeturian and Mervyn Brondial, starring Sylvia Sanchez, Nonie Buencamino, Andi Eigenmann, Dimples Romana, Arron Villaflor, Matt Evans, Joshua Garcia, and Ruby Ruiz. The series premiered on ABS-CBN's Kapamilya Gold afternoon block and worldwide on The Filipino Channel from September 5, 2016 to April 21, 2017, replacing Tubig at Langis.[1][2]

Series overview

Episode

Premise

The Greatest Love begins with young Gloria's (Ellen Adarna) great love story when she falls in love with a boatman named Peter (Ejay Falcon). Despite the fact that they love each other, Gloria is forced to marry Andres (Junjun Quintana) under duress, forced by her father to marry the man who raped her, Andres Alegre Sr., the town mayor’s nephew.

Through the years, an adult Gloria (Sylvia Sanchez) is a loving and selfless mother to Amanda (Dimples Romana), Andrei (Matt Evans), Paeng (Arron Villaflor), and Lizelle (Andi Eigenmann). To her children’s perception, their father was a hard working overseas worker who visited from time to time. They lived in the Alegre’s ancestral family home. Andre did not remit funds regularly so Gloria compensated by collecting, buying and selling junk. When their father came to visit, they were a happy family.

However, a long-kept secret shatters their once happy family and Gloria’s children leave her one by one. As Gloria struggles to keep her family together, she starts to show symptoms of dementia and begins to lose pieces of her memory. She initially brushes off the symptoms until she is finally diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

At the root of their family's problems are her children’s misconceptions that their mother was unfaithful to their father, the late Andres. Gloria refuses to sully their memory of their father, so she never admits to them that she was raped by Andres.

The breaking point is when they discover that Lizelle is an illegitimate chilld, the result of Peter and Gloria's illicit love affair, when Andres seemed like he abandoned them.

As her Alzheimer progresses, she attempts to bring back the love her family once had for each other but it becomes more difficult as she races against time while trying to gather her memories before they are completely wiped out. Peter returns to her life and together they try to mend her children’s relationship with her and each other.

Cast and characters

Main cast

CastCharacterCharacter Information
Sylvia Sanchez Gloria Guerrero-Alegre/Alcantara[3][4][5][6] She is a selfless mom to her four children. She is joyful and always has a positive outlook on life. "There is money in the trash"; is her motto in life as she leads a profitable junkshop. Her youngest child, Lizelle, helps her run the business. Her family is her most important priority and the thing that Gloria cares about the most. She soon discovers that she has Alzheimer's disease, and the symptoms of her disease cause her trouble throughout the series. After her true love Peter dies in his sleep, she later dies at the end of the series because of a severe stroke and reunited with Peter in heaven.
Nonie Buencamino Peter Alcantara Owner of Nuevo Rio, and childhood lover of Gloria. In his youth he went abroad to work for his future family with Gloria. He came back exactly on the day of Gloria and Andres' wedding, finding out that Gloria didn't wait for him. Peter is the biological father of Lizelle. Then a successful businessman, he later returns into Gloria's life and tries to make up for all the lost time that they had missed. He wants to marry Gloria but Amanda objects to this matter because they cannot accept him as part of the family. Peter waits until the Alegre siblings will finally accept him. After the Alegre siblings finally accepted him, Gloria and Peter got married. He later dies in his sleep, and after his death Gloria passes away due to her stroke, and was reunited together in heaven.
Andi Eigenmann Lizelle Alegre/Alcantara-Sobrevista [6][7][8] She is Gloria's youngest child. Lizelle is loving and understanding, and always prioritizes the needs of her loved ones. She is the result of Gloria and Peter's illicit love, that makes her an Alcantara instead of an Alegre. She is later married to Sandro and she gives birth to her first child, Sunny.
Dimples Romana Amanda "Mandy" Alegre-Cruz[6][9] Gloria's first born, she is a successful marketing executive, a good wife, and a responsible mom to her only child Z. She got mad at Gloria when she learned of her mother's secret past. She despises Lizelle and hates her because she is an illegitimate child of Gloria. When she finds out that Gloria has Alzheimer's disease, she forgives her for her mistakes and tries to make up for lost time before her mother's memory is wiped out. Sometime later, she finds out that she is the result of her father, Andres' sin, which explains why Gloria wanted to have her aborted at first while she was in her womb. Thereafter, she apologized to Gloria for every mistake she has done to her and accepted Peter as her own father and Lizelle as her own sister.
Arron Villaflor Rafael "Paeng" Alegre[6][10] He is the third of the four siblings. An aspiring indie rock singer, he has been inclined towards music since his younger years. He inherited his love for music from his father, Andres. Paeng steals money from Gloria to keep on continuing with his gambling addiction. Along with Amanda, he dislikes Lizelle and blames her as the reason Gloria and Andres' marriage broke. They later found out of about Gloria's disease, making Paeng and his other siblings change. They later spent the time they have for Gloria, before its too late. After finding out that Andres raped Gloria when she was young, which resulted to Amanda, he accepted Peter as his own father and Lizelle as his own sister.
Matt Evans Andres "Andrei" Alegre Jr.[6][11] He is the second of the four siblings and is the eldest male. He is a freelance make-up artist. An intelligent, kind, and understanding son to his Mama Gloria, his favorite person in the world. He quotes that Gloria is the only woman that Andrei will love for the rest of his life as Andrei is gay. He is in a relationship with his boyfriend named Ken. They later found out of about Gloria's disease.
Joshua Garcia Zosimo "Z" Cruz[6][12] Amanda and Chad's only child. He is a senior high school student. As he is Gloria's eldest and only grandchild, he is close to his precious grandmother, who he lovingly calls MommyLa. He disobeys his mother, Amanda, when she forbids him to see Gloria to avoid further complications in the family. Z later finds out of Gloria's disease, her love story with Peter and her rape of his grandfather Andres. After Gloria died of a severe stroke, he became a doctor.
Ruby Ruiz Lydia Balane-Thompson[6][5][13] Gloria's best friend since they were teenagers. She is like a sister to Gloria. She helps Gloria with her sickness and with their family problems. Lydia is like a mother figure to Amanda, Paeng, Andrei and Lizelle. She is the only one who knows Gloria's darkest secret that Andres molested Gloria. Later, she, right after Gloria told Amanda and Lizelle, reveals the whole truth to Andrei and Paeng.

Supporting cast

CastCharacterCharacter Information
Tetchie Agbayani Maria Estella "Stella" Alegre-Policarpio The cousin of Andres. Did not accept Lizelle because she knew all along that she is not an Alegre. Stella is Amanda, Paeng and Andrei's aunt and Lizelle's adoptive aunt. She will do everything and anything to destroy Gloria's name and reputation. Stella pretends to ask forgiveness from Gloria in order to pursue her evil plans.
Luis Alandy Chad Cruz He is Amanda's husband and Z's father. Prior to Z's high school graduation, he traveled to Beijing to teach English there to augment for his family's needs, especially Z's college tuition. It is unknown what happened to him afterwards.
Bobby Andrews Alvin Sales He is Amanda's workmate.
Mercedes Cabral Greta Ramirez She is the one who tried to steal the project from Amanda and is keen on creating conflict with Amanda. She later reconciles with Amanda and became friends. She is part of Amanda and Alvin's agency.
Guji Lorenzana Gerald Samonte He is Lizelle's ex-fiancé. He is also helping Lizelle to find her real father. Gerald is embarrassed to show his mother how the Alegre family behaves knowing his mother is judgmental. The truth later comes out.
Alex Medina Alexander "Sandro" Sobrevista [13] He is a worker of "Alegre Junkshop" who secretly likes Lizelle. He later marries Lizelle and they start a family together.
Kira Balinger Waywaya "Y" Soledad The one who taught Z not to easily trust people you just met and later on becomes a close friend and future girlfriend to Z. After Gloria died, she became a nurse.
Micah Muñoz Ken Andrei's boyfriend.
Elaine Quemuel Azon Gloria's friend and a Zumba-Chi dancer with Gloria.
Kokoy De Santos Luis Schoolmate and friend of Z
Akira Morishita Eric Schoolmate and friend of Z
Nor Domingo Jomar Peter's right-hand man and friend.
Martha Comia Bangs One of Gloria's workers at the junk shop.
Acey Aguilar Tigs One of Gloria's workers at the junk shop.
Kych Minemoto Pogs One of Gloria's workers at the junk shop.

Special participation

CastCharacterCharacter Information
Ellen Adarna young Gloria Guerrero-Alegre[5][13] Zosimo's daughter. Many people objected in her and Peter's love. They were going to get married but when Peter was in Saudi Arabia, Andres molested Gloria which made her have a daughter. The two got married but lived an unhappy. She later learned to love Andres when he started loving Lizelle as his own.
Ejay Falcon young Peter Alcantara[5][6] Gloria's boyfriend. They planning to get married but Gloria got impregnated by Andres. He came back from abroad on the day that Andres and Gloria got married. One night, he and Gloria admitted that they still have feelings for each other. He is the biological father of Lizelle.
Tonton Gutierrez Zosimo Guerrero[5][6][13] Gloria's deceased father. He objected to Gloria and Peter's love but later accepted him. Z was named after him.
Rommel Padilla Andres Alegre Sr. Gloria's late first husband, father of Amanda, Paeng, Andrei, Lizelle's adoptive father. Gloria kept on rejecting him so he raped her which resulted in Amanda. He later bore two more children, Andrei and Paeng. When he found out that Gloria has an illegitimate child with Peter, Andres decided to love Lizelle as his own. He was later killed when he saved Lizelle. The Alegre children blame Lizelle for the death of Andres.
Junjun Quintana young Andres Alegre Sr.[5][6] Gloria's first husband who raped her. Andres never stopped on pursuing Gloria even though he knew that she was in love with Peter. Andres was first attracted to Gloria because of her beauty but then learned to love her because of her character.
Regine Angeles Belle[13] She is in love with Peter but Peter is in love with Gloria.
Kate Alejandrino Joy She is the architect that Gloria consulted for the house that she will build.
Aleck Bovick Thelma Alcantara[5][6] She is the mother of Peter. Didn't agree with Peter and Gloria's love for each other, but later accepted them because it is what makes Peter happy.
Richard Quan Eulalio Dalipe[13] The mayor of Bagong Ilog who officiated the civil wedding of Gloria and Andres.
Claire Ruiz Sheila Paeng's love interest and ex-girlfriend.
Maila Gumila Melissa Samonte Gerald's mother who does not approve of Lizelle just because she is an illegitimate child of Gloria. After finding out of these, she begins to destroy the Alegre name on social media. Gloria and Amanda then beg her to stop and she does.
Jong Cuenco Mr. Samonte Gerald's father.
  • Jana Agoncillo as Leklek
  • Marnie Lapuz as Adela Sunico[13]
  • Allan Paule as Samuel
  • Kamille Filoteo as Liza
  • Lance Lucido as Buboy
  • Mara Lopez as young Stella
  • Anna Luna as young Lydia
  • Jane Oineza as teenage Amanda
  • Teejay Marquez as teenage Andrei
  • John Manalo as teenage Paeng
  • Hannah Lopez Vito as adolescent Lizelle
  • Michelle Vito as adolescent Amanda
  • Nathaniel Britt as adolescent Andrei
  • John Vincent Servilla as adolescent Paeng
  • Angeluo Alayon as young Andrei
  • Raikko Mateo as young Paeng
  • Juvylyn Bison as young Amanda

Episodes

Reception

Kantar Media National TV Ratings
(4:15PM PST)
Pilot EpisodeFinale EpisodePeakAverage
15.7%
September 5, 2016		 17.3%
April 21, 2017		 20.4%
January 11, 2017		 TBD


The finale episode that aired on April 21, 2017, received a universal acclaim from viewers. The designated hashtag "#TGLUnforgettableFinale" topped the nationwide trending list on Twitter.

Production

Timeslot and premiere

The Greatest Love was reported to replace the soon-to-be concluded My Super D on July 18, 2016,[14] but was postponed (and moved to later date) because of Pinoy Big Brother: Mga Kwento ng Dream Team ni Kuya. The network released several teasers of the show and announced a premiere date which is on September 5, 2016. A full length trailer was released on August 27, 2016.[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ ABS-CBN (July 2, 2016). "ABS-CBN unveils show for 2016". ABS-CBN.com. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  2. ↑ ABS-CBN (July 2, 2016). "The Greatest Love Teaser Trailer: Coming Soon on ABS-CBN!". ABS-CBN Entertainment. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Sylvia Sanchez embraces role of a lifetime". Philippine Daily Inquirer. September 8, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Pressure mounts for Sylvia Sanchez as 'Greatest Love' teaser earns raves". ABS-CBN News. July 11, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "'The Greatest Love' tackles dementia of parents and children". Malaya. July 18, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "ABS-CBN shows unique story of mother's unconditional love in "The Greatest Love"". ABS-CBN. July 15, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  7. ↑ "The Greatest Love: Meet Andi Eigenmann as Lizelle". ABS-CBN Entertainment. YouTube. August 24, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Andi Eigenmann makes TV comeback via The Greatest Love". Philippine Entertainment Portal. July 2, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  9. ↑ "The Greatest Love: Meet Dimples Romana as Amanda". ABS-CBN Entertainment. YouTube. August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  10. ↑ "The Greatest Love: Meet Arron Villaflor as Paeng". ABS-CBN Entertainment. YouTube. August 25, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  11. ↑ "The Greatest Love: Meet Matt Evans as Andrei". ABS-CBN Entertainment. YouTube. August 25, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  12. ↑ "The Greatest Love: Meet Joshua Garcia as Z". ABS-CBN Entertainment. YouTube. August 27, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Anarcon, James Patrick (September 6, 2016). "COMMENTARY: Sylvia Sanchez and Ellen Adarna provide highlights of The Greatest Love". Philippine Entertainment Portal. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Sylvia Sanchez thrilled over first lead role". ABS-CBN News. July 15, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  15. ↑ "The Greatest Love Full Trailer: This September 5 on ABS-CBN!". ABS-CBN Entertainment. August 27, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
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