Last Monday’s premiere of ABS-CBN’s newest afternoon Koreanovela ‘Legend of the Blue Sea’ defied expectations and scored an impressive victory on its first try. This despite the fact that most regional networks receive localized versions of ‘TV Patrol’ in the afternoon instead of the Koreanovela.
Via ABS-CBN PR (source courtesy of Kantar Media Philippines):
Fans tuned in to the pilot episode of “Legend of the Blue Sea” starring Lee Min Ho as it scored a national TV rating of 15.5%, compared to “Wowowin” with only 11.8%.
Affected areas can still watch ‘Legend of the Blue Sea’ at 9:30 a.m. the next day. If not, subscribe to iWant TV to watch the Koreanovela within hours of original broadcast.
As for the primetime Koreanovela ‘Goblin’, it scored a 12.1 % rating on its first night, six better than fellow Koreanovela ‘Scarlet Heart’. Not bad.
The revenge of the Kapamilya Asianovela continues.
On Monday, ABS-CBN will premiere not one, but two Asianovelas on the same day. The two series are as follows:
Legend of the Blue Sea
Starring Lee Min-ho and Jun Ji-hyun, ‘Legend of the Blue Sea’ tells the love story of a con-artist and a mermaid who travels across the ocean to find him. The series aired in its native Korea from November 2016 to January 2017 and earned six SBS Drama Awards.
‘Legend of the Blue Sea’ also spawned a soundtrack album starring some of Korea’s top artists. More importantly, the series is aired in syndication in select Asian countries, the United States, and Canada.
Goblin
Best known in its native Korea as ‘Guardian: The Lonely and Great God’ and known internationally as ‘Goblin’, this drama tells the story of an immortal goblin who, along with an amnesiac grim reaper, takes care of the afterlife and evaluates all souls who pass here. However, a woman with an innate ability to see ghosts soon falls in love with the goblin and ended up becoming engaged with him.
The series stars Gong Yoo, Kim Go-eun, Lee Dong-wook, Yoo In-na, and Yook Sung-jae. It ran from December 2016 to January 2017 and was popular (though controversial at times) in both Korea and international markets.
‘Legend of the Blue Sea’ will be assigned to the Kapamilya Gold block replacing ‘Minute to Win It’, while ‘Goblin’ will be placed on Primetime Bida’s final slot to replace ‘Love in the Moonlight’. While ‘Goblin’ will have no problems filling in on primetime, ‘Legend of the Blue Sea’ will have their hands full considering that not all areas will receive the Koreanovela at the same time.
Nevertheless, the premiere of two Kapamilya Asianovelas this Monday should add more excitement to KDrama fans. After several years of on-and-off Koreanovelas, all signs indicate that ABS-CBN’s FTHA (First and True Home of Asianovelas) slate is back in business.
For the first time in nearly two years, a Koreanovela will occupy the penultimate slot on ABS-CBN’s Primetime Bida.
Tonight will mark the premiere of the popular Korean series ‘Love in the Moonlight’, starring Park Bo Gum and Kim Yoo Jung. The series enjoyed an impressive run in its native Korea, and it won a number of awards such as Best Couple, Best Excellent Actress, and Best Actor awards in the 2016 KBS Drama Awards.
Prior to ‘Love in the Moonlight’, Primetime Bida has not had a Korean drama since ‘My Lovely Girl’, whose last episode was aired in June 2015. In between, two seasons of ‘Pinoy Big Brother’ (737, Lucky 7), the teleserye ‘You’re My Home’, and the American series ‘Jane the Virgin’ were aired on that slot.
‘Love in the Moonlight’ is just one of several Korean dramas whose rights were acquired by ABS-CBN a few weeks ago. Others in the pipeline include ‘Legend of the Blue Sea’, ‘Hwarang’, ‘Goblin’, ‘Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo’, ‘W’ and ‘Doctors’.
In premiering ‘Love in the Moonlight’, ABS-CBN crushed the notion that Asianovelas on Channel 2 were essentially extinct. Their last Korean drama was ‘My Love Donna’ last year, and many thought the network finally moved on from the genre once sister channel CineMo began to import its own set of Koreanovelas later that year.
Instead, ABS-CBN surprised many, including Koreanovela fans, by acquiring the aforementioned hit Korean dramas. And considering how rival GMA loaded themselves up with more Asianovelas (including those airing on sister station GMA News TV), ABS-CBN made it clear that they are still indeed the ‘First and True Home of Asianovelas’.
The question now is whether or not ‘Love in the Moonlight”s success in Korea will translate over to the Philippines. With ABS-CBN having not aired a Koreanovela on primetime in nearly two years, this will be a huge test to see if their decision to bring them back is all worth it.
‘Love in the Moonlight’ airs weeknights after ‘A Love to Last’ on ABS-CBN Primetime Bida.
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