Koreanovela Overload Continues on GMA

Add a sixth Koreanovela to GMA’s weekday lineup.

In what seems like a new record in Philippine television history, GMA will air six Koreanovelas every weekday beginning this Tuesday, August 4. The latest addition is ‘Reply 1997’, a Koreanovela that reminisces on the good times of teenage life.

The story focuses on six high school buddies who reunite for a dinner after 15 years apart, two of whom would announce their marriage. Throughout the story, flashbacks of their teenage lives will resurface throughout the conversation, switching back and forth between their 18-year-old selves in 1997, and their present selves 15 years later.

‘Reply 1997’ stars Jung Eun-ji, Seo In-guk, Hoya, Shin So-yul, Eun Ji-won, and Lee Si-eon. The series was one of the most popular dramas in Korean television.

The entry of ‘Reply 1997’ continues a downward trend for GMA in terms of programming quality and creativity. As mentioned earlier, GMA will air six Koreanovelas starting this Tuesday, the list of which are as follows:

1. The Master’s Sun (re-run; airing at 9:40 a.m., replacing Secret Garden)
2. Two Mothers (airing at 10:10 a.m.)
3. The King’s Doctor (airing at 10:50 a.m.)
4. Birth of a Beauty (airing at 5:15 p.m.)
5. Reply 1997 (airing at 5:50 p.m. starting this Tuesday)
6. Pinocchio (airing at 9:55 p.m. on Mondays-Thursdays)

With six Koreanovelas at their disposal, it is clear that GMA’s creative nadir is now at its worst point. The inability to produce formidable local programming and their overreliance on importing other countries’ programs are taking its toll on the creative staff.

Worse, ‘Reply 1997’ will face a tough opponent in ABS-CBN’s ‘Pasion de Amor’. The local adaptation of the original Colombian telenovela has been on a ratings tear, and it left its soon-to-be-departing opponent ‘My Mother’s Secret’ in the dust.

The breaking point is now near for GMA. Six Koreanovelas on a weekday won’t help their cause.

Note: ‘My Mother’s Secret’ was scheduled to end tomorrow, July 31. But due to a preemption that was caused by the State of the Nation Address last Monday, the series is now scheduled to finish on Monday, August 3. ‘Reply 1997”s premiere will be moved to Tuesday, August 4.

GMA Finally Responds to Ipaglaban Mo

A huge test awaits ‘Ipaglaban Mo’ tomorrow afternoon.

Enter ‘Karelasyon’, the upcoming GMA drama anthology hosted by Carla Abellana. The program will showcase a different side of love and relationships, with stories focusing on various ordeals that may affect one’s love for the other.

Throughout the show, various issues such as jealousy, infidelity, individual obsessions and vices, and family and work-related issues will be presented and discussed. As such, sweet and light-hearted moments will be deemphasized in ‘Karelasyon’, but rather, more hostile and confrontational scenes will be the norm.

With the impending debut of ‘Karelasyon’, it seems that GMA has found a more appropriate program to challenge ‘Ipaglaban Mo’. Since premiering on June 7, 2014, ‘Ipaglaban Mo’ has given opposing GMA programs fits, beating ‘Startalk’, ‘Wish Ko Lang’ and ‘Asian Horror Stories’ in the ratings.

The consistently high ratings of ‘Ipaglaban Mo’ posed some problems for ‘Startalk’, whose return to Saturday afternoons last year was met with little to no fanfare. Not even a change of timeslot with the newly-reformatted ‘Wish Ko Lang’ and a reduction in airtime helped matters.

‘Ipaglaban Mo’ also fared better than ‘Asian Horror Stories’ (and its alternate name ‘Tales of Horror’). As a result, GMA decided to do something drastic in hopes of arresting this skid.

Thus, ‘Karelasyon’ was conceived, in order to answer ‘Ipaglaban Mo’. The latter program may not be similar to ‘Ipaglaban Mo’ in terms of scope, but is nevertheless helpful in solving issues that are presented in each episode.

Now GMA must hope that ‘Karelasyon’ will deliver a more respectable performance than ‘Ipaglaban Mo”s previous opponents. The pilot episode of the show should be a measuring stick as to how ‘Karelasyon’ will perform in the long term. Good luck.

‘Karelasyon’ premieres tomorrow after ‘Eat Bulaga’ on GMA.