In the late 90's, Mexican telenovelas invaded Philippine television spearheaded by Marimar. In 2003, it's Asianovela's turn to hit the country by storm by the airing of Meteor Garden from Taiwan. Check out our exclusive ranking of the 10 Most Successful Imported and Tagalized TV Series in our local boobtube.

Top 10 Imported and Tagalized TV Series by peak rating:

1. Rosalinda (1999, ABS-CBN) – 69.8%

2. Meteor Garden (2003, ABS-CBN) – 63.8%

3. Marimar (1994, RPN9) – 61.7%

4. Maria Mercedes (1996, ABS-CBN) – 59.7%

5. Full House (2004, GMA) – 52.0%

6. Lovers in Paris (2004, ABS-CBN) – 45.7%

7. Stairway to heaven (2004, GMA) – 41.5%

8. Jewel in the Palace (2006, GMA) – 40.3%

9. My Name is Kim Sam Soon (2006, GMA) – 40.1%

10. Endless Love: Autumn in My Heart (2003, GMA) – 39.7%

Note: Ratings were based from the overnight tabulation of AGB Nielsen Philippines in Mega Manila as of July 2008. Take note that the figures are from a single highest recorded episode of the show and it’s NOT the average over-all ratings for the whole season. If there’s something missing in this list, feel free to post the name of the show and its corresponding rating (with link source) so we could make a correction.

TRIVIA:

RPN 9 started the telenovela craze in the country in 1996 when it aired its second tagalized Mexican telenovela, “Marimar.” ABS-CBN followed the trend by airing Maria Mercedes, another popular telenovela starring the star of Marimar, Thalia.

Bright Girl is the first Koreanovela aired on Philippine television. However, it was Endless Love: Autumn in My Heart which became the first successful koreanovela in the tv ratings. It was also touted as the series that made way to other koreanovelas in the country. GMA aired its first run in September of 2003 and due to insistent public demand, it was re-aired twice in 2004.

Due to the success of Meteor Garden and Endless Love, the term Asianovela became a popular slang in the Philippines. It pertains to dubbed South Korean, Japanese and Chinese/Taiwanese TV series.

The word Asianovela comes from the words “Asia” or “Asian” and “Novela” from the word “Telenovela”. This term was created to define the difference of a normal telenovela to Asian-produced telenovelas. The slang was first used on local internet forums, then became widely used by Filipino people.

The very first Asianovela shown in the Philippines was Amazing Twins, a Taiwanese TV series in July 2002 on IBC-13, but it gained no popularity in the Philippines despite that it was dubbed into Tagalog language.

Meteor Garden is probably the first successful Asianovela to hit the Philippines. When ABS-CBN started airing its tagalized version in 2003, it peaked to an astounding 63.8%, the 3rd highest tv rating registered in Philippine television history.