FTT Wonders: Who Really Aired the First Asianovela in the Philippines?

Taiwanese drama ‘Amazing Twins’ was considered by some viewers to be the first Asianovela to air in the Philippines when it was broadcast on IBC-13 in early 2003. (Photo credit: CTS)

Tagalized Asian dramas are a thing these days.

Also popularly known as ‘Asianovelas’, these programs are imported from neighboring Asian countries such as Taiwan, Japan and Korea. Although the initial wave of Asianovelas were of Taiwanese origin, Korean dramas (colloqiually known as Koreanovelas) became a more common sight on Philippine television as the years pass.

But in order to understand the origin of the Asianovela, one must go back to 2003, the year these Tagalized Asian dramas first arrived. For many years, ABS-CBN claimed that they were the ‘First and True Home of Asianovelas’, given that they were responsible for bringing ‘Meteor Garden’ to the small screen around 15 years ago.

However, there is also an argument that IBC-13, with help from Viva Entertainment, was actually the first station to air an Asianovela. Just months before ‘Meteor Garden’ arrived, IBC-13 aired a Taiwanese action series called ‘Amazing Twins’ (locally known as ‘The Legendary Siblings 2’).

Unfortunately for IBC-13, ‘Amazing Twins’ tanked in the ratings, mainly due to the network’s poor reception and reach that persists to this day. It also did not help that the series aired once a week, which makes some viewers impatient given the daily nature of Filipino dramas.

Meanwhile, ‘Meteor Garden’ became a smash hit, turning F4 and Barbie Hsu into household names. The series also benefited from its near-daily airings on ABS-CBN, thus making viewers wait less for the next episode.

Following the success of ‘Meteor Garden’, ABS-CBN, GMA and occasionally ABC/TV5 began to air more Asianovelas. But as time passed, Korean dramas became the most preferred choice thanks to series such as ‘Jewel in the Palace’, ‘Endless Love’ and ‘Lovers in Paris’.

GMA also made history in 2005 by airing ‘Gokusen’, the first Asianovela hailing from Japan. Then earlier this month, the network premiered the Thai drama ‘You’re My Destiny’.

Given that ‘Meteor Garden’ became popular to begin with, it is safe to assume that this series gave birth to the modern-day Asianovela. As much as people would argue about ‘Amazing Twins’ being the first Asian drama to air in the country, it did not quite fit the mold of today’s Asianovela since it failed to become a hit and was only seen once a week.

Still, the jury is on the viewers to decide. Who really is the first Asianovela to air in the country?

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KPC to Stay Despite Premiere of Temptation

‘Kapuso Primetime Cinema’ will remain on GMA Telebabad for the next two weeks.

The said movie block will stay on the lineup despite the premiere of the Koreanovela ‘Temptation’. The latter, starring ‘Stairway to Heaven”s Cholo and Jodi (Kwon Sang-woo and Choi Ji-woo respectively), will air starting tonight after ‘Kapuso Primetime Cinema’.

The reason behind it is that ‘That’s My Amboy”s premiere will not take place until January 25. ‘The Half-Sisters’, an ongoing Afternoon Prime series that also starred Barbie Forteza and Andre Paras, will air its final episode this Friday, and premiering ‘That’s My Amboy’ tonight would cause a conflict of interest.

Keeping ‘Kapuso Primetime Cinema’ would also maintain the balance of GMA’s Telebabad lineup in check. However, this won’t help the viewers of ‘Saksi’, as they will be forced to watch the newscast at a much later time than usual.

Over the next two weeks, ‘Temptation’ will air five times a week, a rare occurrence for late primetime Koreanovelas on Telebabad. It will air Mondays to Thursdays at 10:45 p.m., after ‘Kapuso Primetime Cinema’, and Fridays at 9:15 p.m., in between ‘Because of You’ and ‘Bubble Gang’.

This means that every Monday to Thursday will see ‘Temptation’ go up against both ‘Tonight with Boy Abunda’ and the early part of ‘Bandila’, while on Fridays, it will go up against ‘On the Wings of Love’. While they may have a chance to win from Monday to Thursday, albeit with a reduced viewership, the same probably can’t be said for Friday.

Of course, this will only take place for the next two weeks. Once ‘That’s My Amboy’ premieres, expect ‘Temptation’ to revert back to a four times a week broadcast on the late primetime slot.

With that, here is the GMA Telebabad lineup for the next two weeks.

5:45 p.m. – The Producers

6:30 p.m. – 24 Oras

7:45 p.m. – Little Nanay

8:30 p.m. – Because of You

9:15 p.m. – Kapuso Primetime Cinema (Mondays-Thursdays)/Temptation (Fridays)

10:45 p.m. – Temptation (Mondays-Thursdays)

Quite a mess for GMA Telebabad to start the year. But oh well, good luck.

GMA’s Post-StarStruck Response is a Koreanovela, Plus No Miss World Telecast

A new Koreanovela will kick things off for GMA Telebabad.

Tonight will be the premiere of ‘The Producers’, a recently-aired Korean drama series starring Kim Soo-hyun, Cha Tae-hyun, Gong Hyo-jin and IU. The series is produced by the same group who created another hit Korean drama in ‘My Love from the Star’.

This brings the total number of current Asianovelas on GMA to three. Two of them (‘Someone Like You’, ‘Ice Adonis’) form part of the network’s Heart of Asia Mornings block.

Unfortunately for GMA, ‘The Producers’ will be up against ‘Pasion de Amor’, the ABS-CBN teleserye that continues to heat up the ratings with each intense scene. Combined with waning interest in the Koreanovela genre, and a programming mismatch ensues between the two shows.

That said, it will be a very tough challenge for GMA and ‘The Producers’ to rekindle the once-popular Koreanovela genre. Whether or not they will accomplish that remains to be seen.

‘The Producers’ airs weeknights at 5:50 p.m., before ’24 Oras’ on GMA Telebabad.

No Televised Broadcast of Miss World

The 2015 Miss World was held last Saturday, with Spain’s Mireia Lalaguna winning the crown. The Philippines’ Miss World representative, Hillarie Parungao, finished in the top ten.

Unfortunately, despite the presence of ‘MariMar’ star and 2013 winner Megan Young as one of the pageant’s hosts, this year’s Miss World was not televised at all in the Philippines. The reason: GMA’s concurrent live broadcast of ‘StarStruck: The Final Judgment’, won by Migo Adecer and Klea Pineda.

There was also no delayed broadcast of the said pageant the following day, as GMA realized it was not worth it given the country’s Miss World bet only made the top ten. News reports were also absent on GMA News programs within days of the event; the only Miss World-related report is of Parungao’s return to the country.

With GMA unable to air this year’s Miss World (even though they aired the Miss World Philippines pageant two months earlier), it may be a better idea for the organizers to find a new network for subsequent Miss World and Miss World Philippines pageants. GMA’s non-commitment to a Miss World broadcast is not a good sign for their relationship, and worse, a black eye for the embattled network.

That said, next year’s Miss World will provide a lot of questions to prospective coverors. Will there ever be another broadcast of Miss World in the Philippines? Only time will tell.

Postscript: Speaking of beauty pageants, congratulations to Pia Wurtzbach for winning the 2015 Miss Universe pageant, albeit with the help of a premature announcement of Miss Colombia’s victory by host Steve Harvey. The victory of the Philippines’ Wurtzbach should help spike the event’s ratings on ABS-CBN this week. 

My Mother’s Secret Reprieved for Another Week

‘My Mother’s Secret’ will now end on August 7 with an additional four episodes ordered. (Logo courtesy of GMA Network)

‘My Mother’s Secret’ has lived to fight another week.

The series was supposed to end Friday, July 31. But with the State of the Nation Address extending beyond its allotted time of two hours, last Monday’s episode of ‘My Mother’s Secret’ was preempted and aired the next day.

Not wanting to end the series on the following Monday, GMA acted on the matter and added another week (or four more episodes) to ‘My Mother’s Secret’. Thus, the series finale will now air next Friday, August 7, and the six-pack Koreanovela plan of the Kapuso network will have to wait.

As noted in a prior article, ‘My Mother’s Secret’ had been a ratings failure for the network, fluctuating within the 10% mark in both AGB Nielsen’s NUTAM and Kantar Media. The series couldn’t beat ABS-CBN’s ‘Pasion de Amor’, whose sexy and lustful theme propelled it to success.

Despite the extension, ‘My Mother’s Secret’ will still fall short of the typical 80 episodes a teleserye takes these days. The series will end with 54 episodes produced, which is not respectable enough by teleserye standards.

With ‘My Mother’s Secret”s extension, its successor ‘Reply 1997’ will now air starting next Monday, August 10. It was supposed to begin this Monday, August 3, and was aimed at an August 4 premiere date if not for ‘My Mother’s Secret”s reluctant extension.

For the viewers of ‘My Mother’s Secret’, this is their last chance to see what fate awaits the actress-turned-reluctant mother (played by Gwen Zamora) and her daughter (played by Kim Rodriguez). The final week of the series should be an interesting one, albeit only for the few and the loyal.

The now-official finale week of ‘My Mother’s Secret’ airs this Monday to Friday at 5:50 p.m., right before ’24 Oras’.

Asianovelas on ABS-CBN To Be Affected Again By PBB

The entry of ‘Pinoy Big Brother: 737’ should cause some concern to Kapamilya Asianovela fans.

Starting next Monday, weekday editions of PBB: 737 will air twice a day, similar to prior seasons. The afternoon edition will air after ‘Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita’, and the primetime edition will air after ‘Aquino & Abunda Tonight’.

The two editions of ‘Pinoy Big Brother: 737’ will replace a pair of Asianovelas that are on their final week: Kapamilya Gold’s ‘Let’s Get Married’, and Primetime Bida’s ‘My Lovely Girl’.

With the Asianovelas about to be shut out in the afternoon and primetime slots, ABS-CBN will now have to find a way to maintain interest to these programs in a different timeslot. After all, they don’t want to rob Asianovela fans of their enjoyment and pleasure in watching such series.

One particular option may be the Umaganda block, where the network’s Asianovelas have enjoyed ratings success in recent years. However, the network has not broadcast an Asianovela in the morning since ‘Lovers in Paris’ re-aired from June to August of last year.

Currently the only open slot on Umaganda is ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’, which is merely a filler program. The movie block is up against GMA Asianovelas ‘Secret Garden’ and ‘Two Mothers’, and Latinovela ‘Corazon Indomable’, all of which were decent performers for the Kapuso network.

Replacing ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ with either one or two Asianovelas may help ABS-CBN regain some sense of respectability in the morning block. It should also make up for the presence of PBB in their timeslots, in order to satisfy the cravings of Kapamilya Asianovela fans.

If ABS-CBN decides not to air an Asianovela at all, it will definitely hurt the network’s morale. After all, they are regarded as the ‘First and True Home of Asianovelas’, having first brought one in 2003 with ‘Meteor Garden’.

That said, keeping up with GMA’s ‘Heart of Asia’ should help ABS-CBN continue its tradition of bringing quality Asianovelas to the small screen. The Asianovela-loving fanbase is growing, so ABS-CBN has to heed to their demands.