JaDine Returns with Till I Met You

JaDine is back on the small screen.

Seven months after the conclusion of the love team’s breakout TV hit ‘On the Wings of Love’, James Reid and Nadine Lustre return for a greater dose of ‘kilig’, but at the same time tackle more serious storylines. Their newest project, ‘Till I Met You’, will showcase a more mature JaDine, while it introduces a new star.

‘Till I Met You’ will focus on the lives of three people, each with a story to tell. Iris (Nadine) and Basti (James) are a couple and are set to marry, but things soon turn when Iris’ best friend Ali, played by JC Santos, is revealed to have a secret relationship with Basti.

Like more recent ABS-CBN dramas featuring their love teams, ‘Till I Met You’ will also highlight a particular tourist attraction. The early portion of the series was shot in Greece, a country that features a mild Mediterranean climate and a vast tradition of civilization and commerce.

Joining JaDine and JC on ‘Till I Met You’ are Carmina Villaroel, Zoren Legaspi, Pokwang, Angel Aquino, Kim Molina, Noel Trinidad and Robert Seña, with Richard Yap and Jay Manalo playing special roles. The series will be directed by Antonette Jadaone and Andoy Ranay, both of whom have been the directors of JaDine’s projects in the past.

The hype for ‘Till I Met You’ has been tremendous leading up to its premiere. News regarding the upcoming series became a constant trending topic on social media, and as such, fans of JaDine cannot stop talking about ‘Till I Met You”s hit potential.

This should cause a concern for GMA, whose continuous failures to concoct their own popular love teams have been well documented. The expected popularity of ‘Till I Met You’ could keep GMA out of it, especially now that they are airing a Koreanovela (in this case ‘Descendants of the Sun’) as a last resort.

It will be interesting to see how the new and improved JaDine will fare the second time around. But as far as viewers are concerned, there will be no surprises, as they are poised to once again generate high ratings for ABS-CBN based on past reputation.

‘Till I Met You’ premieres this Monday, and airs weeknights after ‘Ang Probinsyano’ on ABS-CBN’s Primetime Bida.

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GMA Koreanovela to Oppose Dolce Amore

The high cost of running ‘Encantadia’ is currently felt throughout GMA Telebabad.

As director Mark Reyes earlier revealed, ‘Encantadia”s production budget is ‘roughly equal to two primetime shows or three non-primetime shows‘. As a result of these huge expenses, GMA was left with no choice but to resort to two Koreanovelas as a cheap alternative on their Telebabad block over producing another local drama.

One of these Koreanovelas happen to be the next opponent of ABS-CBN’s ‘Dolce Amore’. The latter series, starring Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil, has given GMA a lot of problems, having defeated ‘That’s My Amboy’ and the short-lived ‘Once Again’ by big margins.

It is clear to GMA that they can no longer beat the more popular tandems of ABS-CBN. With that in mind, their only course of action now is to stop chasing either LizQuen, KathNiel (Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla) and JaDine (James Reid and Nadine Lustre), and air a Koreanovela in its place, which is exactly what they’ll do tonight.

Enter ‘Descendants of the Sun’, the hit Korean drama that starred Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo. The series’ plot revolves around a love story between a doctor and a soldier stationed within Greece and the Balkans.

‘Descendants of the Sun’ ran for 16 episodes in its native Korea. In the Philippines, however, it is expected to air for roughly 20-25 episodes, which is still a typically short run for a GMA Koreanovela.

The other Koreanovela in question is ‘The Healer’, which unlike ‘Descendants of the Sun’, will only air three times a week. The series will star Ji Chang-wook, Park Min-young and Yoo Ji-tae.

In its native Korea, ‘The Healer’ ran for 20 episodes. This equates to roughly 30 episodes once it airs in the Philippines.

As two Koreanovelas permeate the Telebabad lineup, GMA is now feeling the sting of frustration. After the rough start that the new ‘Encantadia’ endured, it won’t be long before GMA admits its mistake of investing heavily on the fantaserye over more important projects (e.g. digital and high-definition broadcasts).

That said, two Koreanovelas on Telebabad could only be a short-term solution to compensate for the heavy expenditures of ‘Encantadia’. But as far as GMA is concerned, these two may not be enough to solve its ratings and broadcast issues.

‘Descendants of the Sun’ airs after ‘Encantadia’, while ‘The Healer’ airs after ‘Juan Happy Love Story’ on GMA Telebabad.