The unthinkable has happened.
On March 28, ABS-CBN will bring ‘Jane the Virgin’ to Channel 2 as a replacement to ‘You’re My Home’. This will mark the first time in over a decade that Channel 2 had an American series on its lineup.
‘Jane the Virgin’ stars Gina Rodriguez as the titular 23-year-old virgin woman. She was accidentally inseminated artificially with sperm samples of a wealthy and married hotel owner Rafael (played by Justin Baldoni), disrupting her plans of keeping her virginity.
The incident eventually led to the two becoming a couple and raising a child of their own. Still, it didn’t help that her plans to marry her detective boyfriend (Brett Dier) ended in ruin because of it.
In the United States, ‘Jane the Virgin’ airs on the CW and has a total of two seasons and 36 episodes since premiering in the autumn of 2014. It was recently renewed for a third season thanks to good ratings and positive reviews.
Due to the fact that ‘Jane the Virgin’, like all other American series, airs weekly and only on a seasonal basis, broadcasting the series will be a problem for ABS-CBN. Because of that, they might need to produce or import a replacement as soon as possible, due to these circumstances.
And even if ‘Jane the Virgin’ was renewed for another season or two, the Kapamilya network may not even make a long-term commitment. That said, their decision to air ‘Jane the Virgin’ will depend on its performance and how willing are they to take a risk.
The truth is, Filipino viewers have no penchant for patience, and for ABS-CBN, this may turn out to be a big mistake. After all, such seasonal series only caters to the upper and middle class, and for a station with a mass following, this might not help at all.
‘Jane the Virgin’, dubbed in Filipino, airs weeknights starting March 28 after ‘The Story of Us’ on Primetime Bida.
FTT Advisory: From the Tube will take a break in observance of Holy Week. Regular posts resume on March 28. Have a wonderful and blessed Holy Week.
From the Tube 
I should’ve written that though. Oh well, have a safe Holy Week!
See you on Easter.
In my opinion, and as a huge fan of Jane The Virgin, I also agree that it is indeed a mistake on ABS’ part.
Other than the reasons you said, another problem that I see with ABS’ airing of Jane is that, just like the ongoing trend of Tagalizing movies and the fact that TV5 has been doing this as well lately with Teen Wolf and The Vampire Diaries, the idea of Tagalog dubbing seems to be perpetuating social class stereotypes on the use of the English language.
One feasible suggestion that the networks could do is, like I wrote on a comment here before, to implement a dual language feature on select programs, in order to give the audience a choice on whether to watch a series/movie in English or Tagalog, while still retaining viewership numbers. And this would be convenient since we’re about to enter the digital phase. However, I do know that like HD, implementing the feature would take time.
Another problem that I would like to point out is that there are many storylines in the series that involve lesbian characters, and knowing how MTRCB’s censorship guidelines are still very backward up to this day, there will be cuts, for sure, much like what happened with ETC’s airing of Pretty Little Liars.
Then again, at least there are other alternatives that some viewers interested in the series can take advantage of, albeit they’re costly. There’s Sony Channel, which airs the series same-day as the US and virtually intact, and there’s also Netflix PH.
No wonder why more and more upper class people are subscribed to cable nowadays, thanks to Tagalization of English-language programming on free TV, which is now catered to the masses.
I remember when ABS used to air ’24’, they aired that series on a weekly basis (specifically on Sundays) and it was dubbed in Filipino.
With their recent move on airing Jane The Virgin top-billed by the Golden Globe Award winner Gina Rodriguez, I think it will lead to a huge disaster. US series are too expensive to acquire and they are mostly catered to the upper class and the middle class audience. Since they air on a weekly basis every season (mostly around 22 episodes), I think ABS should do a ’24’ and air it once a week, but we’re way too late anyway to suggest that to ABS-CBN.
In essence, it’s only a short-term solution for the network without any long-term commitment. Too bad.
As for Jane The Virgin’s ratings, it managed to get a 10.5% rating last night vs. Heart of Asia Presents with 6.6%, based on data from Kantar Media.
Still decent enough. And it was also trending on Twitter.
And ABS invested on yet another US TV series. This time, it’s action-comedy Lethal Weapon. It is based on the film Lethal Weapon. With just 18 episodes on its recently-concluded first season, will we see the same treatment as Jane The Virgin? Or will ABS go the 24 route back when they have the rights?
Speaking of 24, Lethal Weapon is the first US action TV series that ABS aired since 24.
I won’t be surprised to see them back out after just one season. Tagalized American series are TV5’s thing and ABS is not that interested in following their lead. They’re more interested in one-season Koreanovelas, that’s all.
Besides, Studio 23 is now a distant memory for Kapamilyas. American series are best seen on cable and Netflix.