To say that Filipinos were excited about the Meteor Garden remake when it was first announced would be an understatement. So when Netflix announced Tuesday that the show would available on the streaming platform, many counted down the days ’til the July 13 world premiere.
Except that day never came, at least not for fans based in the Philippines.
Over the weekend, fans noticed that the show does not turn up in Netflix search results and, alas, it was confirmed in a report by Rappler that Meteor Garden is not available locally because ABS-CBN got the rights to air it in the country.
ABS-CBN posted a teaser for the show on Friday but did not specify when it would premiere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBiOzXicAZ4
The idea of having to wait to see the show did not go over well with some fans who, naturally, took to social media to express their disappointment. They’re still posting about it today.
“Meteor Garden 2018 is on netflix but just not in the Philippines. How is that fair?” Twitter user @heleryyyrose said.
https://twitter.com/heleryyyrose/status/1018637949452161025
@bochsamaniego wanted an answer to his burning question. “Why is Meteor Garden not available on Netflix Philippines? Why???,” he wrote and tagged Netflix’s tech support account.
https://twitter.com/bochsamaniego/status/1018624335500603392
All @ever_army could do was to be sarcastic. “Good news: meteor garden is available on netflix… Bad news: not just in the philippines,” she said.
https://twitter.com/ever__army/status/1018086790090055680
@iamjordiaashley was so disappointed, she even used expletives. “Meteor Garden is available on Netflix but f*ck except in the Philippines. F*ck why??!!!” she said in Filipino.
available na nga yung Meteor Garden sa Netflix putek kaso except sa philippines putaaaa huyyy bat ganun??!!!
— jordiiii (@iamjordiashley) July 14, 2018
Some were also not happy about ABS-CBN getting rights to the show.
“Meteor Garden is not available in Netflix Philippines. Because ABS-CBN holds the right to air the show. Fudge,” @itsmariantb said with a bunch of emojis including broken hearts, angry faces, and skulls.
https://twitter.com/itsmariantb/status/1018442522530418689
This backlash may seem too intense for a TV show but is unsurprising given how popular the original Meteor Garden was in the Philippines. It premiered on ABS-CBN in 2003 and quickly gained popularity, turning it into a national phenomenon.
While it was popular all over Asia, it was especially big in the Philippines.
Twitter user @zhu_magnet illustrated this in two tweets.
“[O]ne of the most shocking things that ive ever heard is that meteor garden wasnt that big of a phenomenon in other countries that it was in the philippines.”
“[M]y singaporean friend only knew the japanese ver and i was so confused??”
https://twitter.com/zhu_magnet/status/1018468813765873664
And Filipinos still love it to this day. Last month, a video parodying the show even went viral on Facebook.
The original Meteor Garden is Taiwanese but was based on the Japanese manga Hana Yori Dango. It tells the story of San Cai, a girl who gets the attention of F4 — a clique made up of the most popular boys in school — and falls in love with the leader of the group, Dao Ming Si.
The Korean drama version Boys Over Flowers was also aired on ABS-CBN in 2009 and was also a hit.
The 2018 version is a mainland Chinese production and stars actress Shen Yue, who is known for the 2017 drama A Love So Beautiful.
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