‘Meteor Garden’ was moved to the late afternoons, with the intent of attracting more viewers.
The rebroadcast of ‘Meteor Garden’ on ABS-CBN Channel 2 raked in not only high ratings, but also several spots on Twitter’s trending topics. Despite the impressive viewing numbers, ABS-CBN management was not satisfied with its mid-afternoon placing, and as a result, they decided to move ‘Meteor Garden’ to a better timeslot in hopes of attracting more viewers.
Starting today, ‘Meteor Garden’ will now be seen every weekday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. Consequently, ‘My Girlfriend is a Gumiho’ and ABS-CBN’s News and Current Affairs programs were moved to earlier timeslots. Outside of the Greater Manila Area, ‘Meteor Garden’ will be seen at 4:00 p.m. to make way for the regional versions of ‘TV Patrol’.
The move of ‘Meteor Garden’ to a new timeslot elicited a mostly negative reaction in social media circles. Most viewers fear that ABS-CBN management is using ‘Meteor Garden’ in order to increase the ratings of ‘Mirabella’, the primetime drama series starring Julia Barretto and Enrique Gil. While ‘Mirabella’ debuted strongly in its first week, its ratings in its second week sharply declined, a far cry from its predecessor ‘Annaliza’, which consistently ranked in the top 10 and had at least a 20% rating in its 10 months on the air.
Viewers from the provinces also reacted at its 4:30 timeslot, fearing that the airtime of ‘Meteor Garden’ may be cut short by the regional broadcasts of ‘TV Patrol’. Fortunately, the ABS-CBN Regional Network Group rectified the situation, and ‘Meteor Garden’ was moved to 4:00 p.m. for benefit of provincial viewers. Still, it had to sacrifice ‘My Girlfriend is a Gumiho’, and as a result, the Koreanovela was moved to the mid-morning slot after the ‘Animazing’ block.
Notwithstanding the negative reactions by the netizens, it seems that the management at ABS-CBN has done a good job in moving ‘Meteor Garden’ back to the late afternoons (the 2003 airing of the series was placed at the 5:30 p.m. slot). But it remains to be seen whether or not ‘Meteor Garden”s new timeslot will mean better ratings for the Taiwanese drama series.
(*) ‘Meteor Garden’ also airs on Jeepney TV at certain points of the day. Jeepney TV is available only for SkyCable digital subscribers.
From the Tube 
Yeah, I don’t like the new time slot of Meteor Garden 😥
Neither do I. Ginagamit lang nila ‘to para lang tumaas ang ratings ng Mirabella.
Imagine if there’s a TV Patrol Metro Manila…
That would be illogical. Remember, Metro Manila is also known as the National Capital Region, which is the center of the Philippine government. And TV Patrol at 6:30 p.m. covers national affairs.
I don’t see it as illogical. Rather, it’s a necessity for Metro Manila residents to have a bulletin of their own. I prefer to see TV Patrol cut its duration to 45-55 minutes.
So Imperial Manila
or TV Patrol Mega Manila, rather. covering stories in the metro and the surrounding provinces of Cavite, Bulacan, Rizal, and Laguna. that would be better.
correction: It was the current affairs shows that were moved to the morning timeslot, airing after Kris TV and one a one-day delay (Red Alert airs on Monday, Bistado on Tuesday so on and so forth). My Girlfriend is a Gumiho is airing at the same time as it is in Manila.
Sa provinces lang.
yep.