GMA Responds to ABS-CBN’s Throwbackseryes

‘Bantatay’ will be re-aired on GMA starting November 10, replacing ‘Return of the Wife’. (Logo courtesy of GMA Network)

The so-called ‘throwbackserye’ has taken over GMA as well.

After ABS-CBN decided to air re-runs of previous teleseryes in the mid-morning slot, GMA answered back with one of their own. The Kapuso network’s response was ‘Bantatay’, a drama-comedy-fantasy series starring Raymart Santiago, Gelli de Belen, Jennica Garcia and Carl Guevara.

‘Bantatay’ first aired from September 20, 2010 to February 25, 2011 on the then-extended GMA Dramarama sa Hapon (now Afternoon Prime) block. The series garnered high ratings throughout its run, despite facing intense competition from the likes of ‘Kokey @ Ako’ and ‘Sabel’.

Unfortunately for GMA, the timing for the rebroadcast of ‘Bantatay’ came at a not-so opportune time. The series’ lead star, Raymart Santiago, is currently enduring various issues involving himself and his estranged wife (and former GMA talent) Claudine Barretto, and re-airing ‘Bantatay’ may not be a good idea after all.

In fact, it would have been better if GMA extended its anime block to the 10:00 a.m. slot rather than responding to ABS-CBN’s own programming strategies. As far as they are concerned, it is the animes, no matter how repetitive they are to viewers, that are lifting GMA every morning.

Going back to ‘Bantatay’, the series proved to be one of the last GMA programs to date that rated well with viewers. Since ABS-CBN adopted Kantar as their ratings provider, the tables have turned to the latter’s favor, and have not looked back since.

In fact, in what used to be ‘Bantatay”s old timeslot preceding ’24 Oras’, the succeeding GMA teleseryes that followed have flopped consistently against ABS-CBN’s seemingly superior products. Whether it’s ‘Aryana’, ‘Annaliza’ or ‘Pure Love’, GMA seems to have no answers to ABS-CBN’s own fare.

That said, the sadness and shock that is permeating beneath the bosses in the corner of Timog Avenue and EDSA is undeniable. And now they are resorting to these responses just to keep themselves in the hunt, which is not a good idea.

‘Bantatay’ may be back, but for GMA, this is not the time for resorting to such a feeble call.

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Final Week for Mirabella; Lovers in Paris Airs in the Morning

The final episode of ‘Mirabella’ will air this Friday, July 4.

ABS-CBN’s ‘Mirabella’ enters its final week.

Just as GMA is beginning to warm up with the debut of ‘My BFF’ later today, ABS-CBN has decided to pull the plug on Julia Barretto’s debut teleserye. The final episode of ‘Mirabella’ is scheduled this Friday, July 4.

‘Mirabella’, a series that featured Barretto in two contrasting roles, debuted on March 24. The daughter of Marjorie Barretto played Mira, a woman with a strange wood-like skin, and as the series progressed, she morphed into her beautiful alter ego in Bella.

Both characters would later attract the attention of Jeremy, played by Enrique Gil, who soon became the subject of her affection.

In its four months on air, ‘Mirabella’ was unable to maintain the high level of success attained by its predecessor ‘Annaliza’. Nevertheless, the series averaged better than 20% in the TNS Kantar ratings, which is not bad even though it is the lowest-rated teleserye on the ‘Primetime Bida’ block.

However, in the GMA-dominated AGB Nielsen ratings, ‘Mirabella’ only averaged less than 15%, while rival series ‘My Love from the Star’ was a hit, averaging over 20% per episode.

Even though ‘Mirabella’ was a decent hit by ABS-CBN standards, its uncharacteristically low 20% rating only justifies that the series will be a mere short-term fix. Still, it was a good debut for Julia Barretto, and it will only give her greater amounts of exposure.

‘Mirabella’ will be replaced by ‘Pure Love’ this July 7.

Lovers in Paris Rerun Today

Meanwhile, ‘Lovers in Paris’ will be placed in the mid-morning slot. The re-run of the successful Koreanovela replaces ‘Kapamilya Kiddie Blockbusters’ starting today on the ‘Umaganda’ block.

Because ‘The Heirs’ will continue to air this week, the rivalry between ‘Lovers in Paris’ and ‘Jewel in the Palace’ will not happen anytime soon, if not altogether. Instead, ‘Lovers in Paris’ will be up against ‘Return of the Wife’, the third sequel to GMA’s highly successful ‘Temptation of Wife’, which has been airing since late May.

‘Lovers in Paris’ starred Park Shin-Yang and Kim Jung-Eun as Carlo and Vivian, respectively. The series was a hit when it first aired in 2005, and its success eventually led to an equally successful Filipino adaptation starring KC Concepcion and Piolo Pascual in 2009.