Maria Mercedes

Thalia's soap operas are formulaic. The only thing that changes are the names of the actors; the plots are the same. She is always the poor, uncouth, tragic heroine who miraculously becomes transformed into a tenth-rate Grace Kelley. If you've seen one Thalia soap, you've seen them all. Her talent lies only in her sex appeal as her singing and acting are limited,if existent at all. From an obnoxious refined Thalia in Marimar, to an over-aged Shirley Temple in Maria del Barrio, Thalia's "Marias" are a television travesty. She seems only capable of crying, fighting and pouting. Maria Mercedes have mercy on us, and leave the airwaves.

I'm not watching this on 90's, I watch this around 2002-2003. I start to watch again this month and I think its still good for me. And yes, never judge this series with modern series.

In 1992, Thalía plays leading role in María Mercedes, the first of a successful and unique trilogy of soap operas where she would play poor, young girls called María. In María Mercedes, the character had to raise her family on her own. Eventually she fell in love with Jorge Luis, a rich man. The amazing cast included co-star, Arturo Peniche, and Thalia's sister, Laura Zapata as the villain. This was the first time Thalía shared space on the TV screen with her sister Laura, something that sometimes caused "trouble" on the set due to the sister's interminable attacks of laughter. In addition, in this soap opera, Thalía had the opportunity to work with producer Valentín Pimstein, the architect of the successful careers of actresses Verónica Castro, Lucía Mendez, Victoria Rufo and Edith González, amongst others. In summary, María Mercedes turned out to be an absolute hit, and obtained the highest ratings, paralyzing Mexican TV. It definitely won Thalía the title of "Queen of Telenovelas".

"Maria Mercedes" was a dismal remake of the 1977 novela "Rina" by director Valentin Pimstein with Thalia in the role originally played by Ofelia Medina and without the macabre flavor. Thalia's sister, Laura Zapata, plays Malvina del Olmo, a selfish and materialistic woman who is disinherited by her late husband as punishment for her greedy and selfish nature. Instead, he has left the house and fortune to Maria Mercedes, a poor and destitute girl he met on the street, on the condition she live there. According to his will, Malvina and her well-meaning but inept sister Filagonia may live there, though they will not inherit anything.

Malvina, along with her bumbling sister Filagonia, schemes a plot to disinherit Rina so they can control the fortune. Whereas the original was sinister the new version drops the supernatural elements and focuses on the comedic talents of Thalia as Maria. Thalia is quite striking and looks terrific but the revised plot is simply not interesting enough to hold much interest. Arturo Peniche as Jorge Luis del Olmo makes a handsome and romantic leading man for Thalia. but the chemistry is missing between the two. This was part of a three novela trilogy--the three Marias--starring superstar Thalia: Maria Mercedes, Mari-Mar, and Maria la Del Barrio. Of the three, Mari-Mar was the most successful.

This was a great Telenovela that time. Don't judged and compared with the modern shows and your modern judgement.