Koreanovelas at night

June 14, 2014

In a surprise in Philippine television, Viva Television (a division of Viva Entertainment that includes Viva Films) recently went into a partnership with People's Television Network (PTV-4) and the same Viva blocktimers with IBC-13 (with Asian Television Content) and RPN-9 (with Solar Entertainment).

It's not excatly a business partnership, but a mutual agreement of cooperation allowing Viva to block-but the primetime slots. At a recent presscon, the chairman and CEO Vic del Rosario, Jr. announced the four new programss that will occupy those slots: Noli Me Tangere (weeknights 9 p.m.) and Angel's Revenge (weeknights 9:30 p.m.) will run daily from Monday to Friday, K-Pop Idol Search Pinoy Edition (Saturdays 7 p.m. and Sunday 8 p.m.) and Wonderful Days (Saturdays 9:45 p.m.).

It is a bold move, I guess, by both Viva and PTV-4 considering the formidable competition two warring network giants in the primetime block.

But according to Viva execs, there will always be an audience who may want other fare apart from the soap opera types which by tradition have been dominating this time segment.

Angel's Revenge and Wonderful Days are both Korean soaps. Viva, actually, has been emboldened by the success of IBC's Spy Myung-Wol and RPN's Dear My Sister which is giving the soap operas a run for their money with recent ratings that could gradually change audience viewing patterns in the months. The new two Korean primetime soaps are a big gamble by Viva. But Vic del Rosario, Jr. is very optimistic that they could set a precedent in alternative programming.

Noli Me Tangere is a sereal drama produced by Viva Television which follows the saga of the 1898 independence day of those Dr. Jose Rizal beginnings back to the 23rd century. It stars Andre Paras in the role of Crisóstomo Ibarra, Yassi Pressman as María Clara, Cheska Iñigo as Sisa, Michael Flores, Sarah Polvereni, JC Cuadrado, Imee Hartamong, others. Directed by Robert Quebral.