From MAILER-DAEMON Thu Jan 16 15:45:07 2003 Date: 16 Jan 2003 15:45:07 -0800 From: Mail System Internal Data Subject: DON'T DELETE THIS MESSAGE -- FOLDER INTERNAL DATA X-IMAP: 1042760707 0000000000 Status: RO This text is part of the internal format of your mail folder, and is not a real message. It is created automatically by the mail system software. If deleted, important folder data will be lost, and it will be re-created with the data reset to initial values. From owner-dorama@oort.cohprog.com Thu Jan 16 09:35:55 2003 From owner-dorama@oort.cohprog.com Thu Jan 16 09:35:54 2003 Received: from spf1.us4.outblaze.com (205-158-62-23.outblaze.com [205.158.62.23]) by beg.ugcs.caltech.edu (8.12.1/8.12.1/UGCS/5.0) with ESMTP id h0GHZsnL016909 for ; Thu, 16 Jan 2003 09:35:54 -0800 Received: from oort.cohprog.com (oort.cohprog.com [193.247.238.1]) by spf1.us4.outblaze.com (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id h0GHZjBo039257; Thu, 16 Jan 2003 17:35:49 GMT Received: from oort.cohprog.com (majordom@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by oort.cohprog.com (8.12.7/8.12.7) with ESMTP id h0GH8FCZ022665 for ; Thu, 16 Jan 2003 18:08:15 +0100 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by oort.cohprog.com (8.12.7/8.12.7/Submit) id h0GH8Ffc022664 for dorama-outgoing; Thu, 16 Jan 2003 18:08:15 +0100 X-Authentication-Warning: oort.cohprog.com: majordom set sender to owner-dorama using -f Received: from smtp807.mail.sc5.yahoo.com (smtp807.mail.sc5.yahoo.com [66.163.168.186]) by oort.cohprog.com (8.12.7/8.12.7) with SMTP id h0GH5oCZ022539 for ; Thu, 16 Jan 2003 18:05:51 +0100 Received: from adsl-64-166-62-145.dsl.frsn01.pacbell.net (HELO pc2099) (nt2099@sbcglobal.net@64.166.62.145 with login) by smtp-sbc-v1.mail.vip.sc5.yahoo.com with SMTP; 16 Jan 2003 17:06:56 -0000 Message-Id: <00bf01c2bd83$5d9e0e00$6401a8c0@pc2099> From: "Dennis A. Amith [kndy]" To: "nt2099 ML - Welcome to Cyberia baby!" Subject: [Dorama ML] [j-ent] TELEVIEWS / Several promising dramas get off to a good start Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2003 09:18:58 -0800 Organization: nt2099 Media and Entertainment MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-Msmail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-Mimeole: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 X-Mailscanner: Found to be clean, Found to be clean Sender: owner-dorama@oort.cohprog.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: dorama@cohprog.com Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: TELEVIEWS / Several promising dramas get off to a good start Wm. Penn / Special to The Daily Yomiuri Three series amassed a total of 10 stars in the first week of the new TV season. Could things at last be looking up on the drama scene? Fuji has two series destined to hover near the top of the ratings list this quarter. The best one is Bijo ka Yaju (Beauty or the Beast, Thursdays at 10 p.m.), which gives both Nanako Matsushima and Masaharu Fukuyama the kind of roles at which they excel. Makoto (Matsushima) is the cool, savvy product of an elite upbringing, with all the right connections and an MBA from Harvard to boot. She has been brought in as chief producer of the JBC News program with a pay-and-benefits package that would make Jack Welch jealous. She also has been given complete hiring and firing authority over the staff of the hapless news report, which brings in ratings of a meager 5 percent. She believes news is a "show" and she can perform rating wonders on this very sick patient. Enjoying life is the motto of playboy Nagase (Fukuyama). Caught up in some sort of scandal on the variety show circuit, he has been transferred to a director's slot on the JBC News. In interviews with the staff, Makoto quickly pegs most of them as lazy elitists. They are happy to toss government press releases to the public as news. They take more care in arranging their after-hour party menus. The staff are worried about their jobs, but figure it will be either the casual Nagase or the "oddball" photographer, who is always off filming wildlife pieces, who will be fired first. The cool Makoto's first decisions are to let Nagase bring in a cheery new weather girl and suspend the photographer. Her first night running the show, she thinks she has a sure scoop. By using her father's connections, she has lined up an exclusive interview with the old-style politician everyone thinks will win a big election. He is sitting in the studio waiting to go on-air when a relatively unknown environmentalist, who has campaigned to save a local owl habitat, among other things, pulls off a surprise landslide win. JBC is stuck with a has-been in the studio. Makoto panics, but Nagase remembers their photographer has film of the owl campaign and whizzes it on air. It's a coup and ratings go double-digit overnight. Screenwriter Tomoko Yoshida appears to be a rather fresh face and it shows. The script for episode one was heartwarming without falling into the usual trite scriptwriting stereotypes. The interplay between Matsushima and Fukuyama is also good and the dialogue sharp. A hint of romance has already been established. It turns out the pair knew each other exactly nine years and three months previously. Just how well they knew each other has yet to be established. By the end of episode one, Makoto's flaws are beginning to show. She is smart, but is she too cool? Nagase starts out as a bit of a silly cad, but turns out to be a little deeper than he looks. Four stars so far. Let's hope it is not one of those one-week wonders that fades by episode two. Have often wondered whether it is the writers who fade, or the directors and producers who can shred a promising script so quickly. Monday night is also shaping up into an evening where sitting home in front of the TV may not be such a bad option. Itsumo Futari de (Mondays at 9 p.m. on Fuji) teams up Takako Matsu and Kenji Sakaguchi in a story exploring the possibilities of love between old grade school chums, a possibility with which just about everyone in the country ought to be able to identify. Tanimachi (Matsu) is 26 and still stuck waitressing in a remote Hokkaido noodle shop by day, writing novels by night and trying to save cash to head to Tokyo. Only her grandmother has any faith her dream may come true. The script is not exceptionally realistic, but small touches of reality make it entertaining. She tires of hearing the Kita no Kuni Kara theme song played endlessly in the restaurant, and when she gets to Tokyo, she can't get over how cold the unheated capital is. One day a publishing executive marches into the noodle shop and announces she is the winner of a new writers grand prix and a chance at the big time in Tokyo. At the local train station, she gets a cheery, royal sendoff. Grandma warns her that life is full of traumas but just keep following that dream anyway. This suggests she has an inkling of what awaits, but wants to give her granddaughter a chance to get away anyhow. When Tanimachi arrives at the Tokyo publishing house, it is revealed the contest is just the work of a clever scam artist. She has won nothing except the realization the thief made off with 3 million yen he said was necessary to establish her in Tokyo. Our heroine has obviously not yet heard of print-on-demand self-publishing. She could have had a thousand copies run off for that sum. Anyhow, the money was her grandmother's hard-earned savings. There is no way she is going home now. She remembers her old grade school pal Kenta (who she calls Hachi because he used to follow her around like the famous loyal dog Hachiko) and shows up on his rather luxurious doorstep. He has done pretty well as a hack writer and assistant to a bigshot TV world commentator and big-time womanizer played by Masahiko Nishimura. Poor Kenta soon has both his brother and Tanimachi sharing the residence while he is trying to pursue a dental hygienist. Determined to take her manuscript to every publisher in Tokyo, Tanimachi ends up in a rundown publishing company now printing idol photo collections and video game stuff. The irresponsible young man who has inherited it hires her to reestablish the literary section. Takashi Kashiwabara had this role, but unfortunately a neck injury will sideline him from week three. This script is not as sharp as Bijo ka Yaju. It falls prey to an overemphasis on symbolism (like the lucky charm bracelet, a present from grandma, whichi is lost and found again, thus providing the impetus to battle on), but give it three stars for definite potential. The main highlight of Monday nights is FBEye (bilingual, at 8 p.m. on TV Asahi). We are not likely to ever see a more warmhearted portrayal of the FBI than this. Our lovable agents are a deaf woman and her canine companion. She enters the agency with high expectations, only to discover she is a "token" hire in the disabilities category and they plan to have her perusing fingerprints for a career. Then one day a charming agent notices her secret weapon. She can read lips, for Pete's sake. He gets her assigned to his unit, tracking what the nasty bad guys are saying. Cute premise, fairly well done. Three stars for this enchanting, fairy tale view of the bureau. Netsuretsu-teki Chuka Hanten, a completely original atrocity, debuted on the Fuji network Jan. 8 at 9 p.m. Only hopelessly addicted cult fans of gourmet cooking shows should tune in this one. Poor Kyoka Suzuki! How did she ever get caught up as gourmet tour conductor on this cruise ship of fools in search of the famed golden chahan (fried rice)? The only thing this show has going for it are the special effects that had rice flying off the wonder wok and turning into golden bomblets in mid-air. I almost expected to see Spiderman and Superman show up for lunch. The utterly confusing opening segment, in which seven famed chefs miss the boat, was sheer slapstick. They are replaced by seven crazy amateurs. I can think of no sauce that would make this farce palatable. No stars, no salt. Someone pass the after-dinner mints, quick!