A FEW DAYS AGO, GMA Network announced one of its primetime offerings for 2017: the romantic comedy series ‘Meant To Be,’ with young Kapuso actress Barbie Forteza as the leading lady — and, to our surprise, joined by not one or two but four leading men.

But before weighing in on whether Barbie deserves all four, it’s worth noting the direction the network seems to be taking with this series. By the look of it, ‘Meant To Be’ is following the same formula that made ‘Meteor Garden’ and ‘Boys Over Flowers’ Asia-wide phenomena, the Philippines included.

Back in 2001, the Taiwanese drama ‘Meteor Garden‘ turned actress Barbie Hsu into an Asian superstar and made F4 — Jerry Yan, Vic Zhou, Vanness Wu, and Ken Chu — one of the region’s favorite boybands. Based on the Japanese shōjo manga series ‘Boys Over Flowers’ by Yoko Kamio, ‘Meteor Garden’ even got a second season that only cemented the cast’s popularity. In 2005, Japan adapted the same story as ‘Hana Yori Dango,’ followed two years later by ‘Hana Yori Dango Returns.’ Both were hits as well.

While the original ‘Meteor Garden’ left its mark on most of Asia, it was in 2009 that we were swept up again, this time by South Korea’s take on ‘Boys Over Flowers,’ which turned Lee Min-ho into an instant superstar. He was joined by Ku Hye-sun, Kim Hyun-joong (of SS501), Kim Bum, Kim Joon (of T-Max), and Kim So-eun.

Though ‘Meant To Be‘ isn’t an exact adaptation of ‘Boys Over Flowers,’ the Filipino version’s casting seems to be walking the same path, using the same formula with Forteza at the center. It’s too early to call ‘Meant To Be’ a straight copy — that kind of label could hurt the show, and given the recent noise around several other Kapuso series (looking at you, Arrow), that’s the last thing the network wants. Still, it will genuinely test whether Filipino viewers are ready for another four-boys-one-lady formula. Recently, we’ve mostly been given love triangles with no more than two rivals, sometimes going both ways. No need to panic, though — we’ll just have to wait and see what unique flavor this series brings for us, passionate Pinoy viewers.

In the Filipino version, Forteza is joined by GMA Network homegrown talents Ken Chan and Jak Roberto, former ABS-CBN talent Ivan Dorschner (Pinoy Big Brother), and newcomer Addy Raj. These four hunks play characters with distinct personalities as they compete for Barbie’s heart. Excited, guys? Let us know in the comments.

Read also: That Lady Called ‘Barbie Forteza’

Meet the cast of GMA Network series, ‘Meant To Be’ with the new Kapuso actress, Mika dela Cruz.