ABS-CBN's And GMA-7's Poorly Done Tagalog-Dubbed Chinese Theater

Do you remember the time that before the Koreanovela craze that there was the Chinovela craze -- though it could have started sucking in people who thought it was Japanese entertainment. I remembered how often I compared the hairstyle of F4 and 5566 hairstyles to Anime characters. You may have thought F4 and 5566 are Japanese at first glance -- until you hear them sing in Mandarin. Yup, that wast he start of what I'd call the revival of the Chinese theater in the Philippines. Like Judge Bao and Amazing Twins -- both shows were dubbed but what somewhat makes me go bonkers is just how did these shows start the trend instead of the first two shows I mentioned? 

So what happened? Was it the Anime, Japanese feel that got Chinovelas to click in the Philippines? Granted, Animes were frequently aired in the Philippines so you just can't help but think "Oh! It looks like Anime!" at first glance. Meteor Garden aired in ABS-CBN and GMA-7 aired My MVP Valentine on weekdays with weekend replays. Effectively, both shows ended up becoming two versions of the Sunday Chinese Theater. Instead of Judge Bao -- you had Meteor Garden airing before the Tagalog-dubbed version of the late Fu Pei Mei's Chinese cooking show. GMA-7 also did its own version of the Chinese Sunday Theater. 

I could remember the battle of the shows. Meteor Garden had very attractive male characters who could do their part. The 5566 lacked their looks while they made it up with their effort. I couldn't forget how often I enjoyed singing Meteor Garden's opening theme and 5566's "I'm Sad". The problem was I couldn't watch both shows at the same week. They freaking had the same timeslot! Both networks were competing with two shows that had some real plot value. F4 and 5566 both presented a lot of fan favorite songs! I didn't want to just choose one. I wanted to enjoy both of them for their value though it wasn't entirely the end of it.

Meteor Garden had a second season while My MVP Valentine had none. It meant it was time to get a couple of newer shows. GMA-7 ended up getting rights to air F4-related shows such as Poor Prince, 100% Senorita (which was a huge hit), Love Storm (which did really poor), Lavender, Dolphin Bay and Snow Angel. I remembered ABS-CBN ended up getting the rights to air A Chinese Ghost Story and Westside Story all the while Sandara Park also hosted an afternoon Chinese theater segment. So far, I remembered watching First Love from Park's afternoon program where I ended up watching it more than Snow Angel for very stupid reasons -- it was because Tammy Chen was prettier than Margaret Wang -- never mind Snow Angel actually had a more interesting story! Then there was where I spent more time watching Dolphin Bay over A Chinese Ghost Story.

But it wasn't entirely Chinese either as the South Korean theater was kicking in at the same time. Though I remembered GMA-7's QTV (now replaced by GMA News Network) kept getting more shows while ABS-CBN did at the same time. There was Return of Condor Heroes (2006) and Mars in GMA-7 which I watched because I had a crush on its heroine Xiao Long Nu. ABS-CBN also had Hot Shot. Then more Korean shows started taking over which caused the Chinese theater to finally wane. However, ABS-CBN is now trying to revive it with Meteor Garden (2018) which I just think pales in comparison to Meteor Garden (2001). So will GMA-7 eventually try and revive the Chinese theater too? Hmmm... let's just wait and see!