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.
From the Tube 