Sunday, April 17, 2016

Summary of drama-related events and broadcasts affected by the Kumamoto earthquake

Here is a summary of the drama-related events and broadcasts affected by the Kumamoto earthquake to date. More announcements (if any) will be made known via the blog's Facebook page and Twitter.

It is indeed unfortunate that such a devastating disaster has happened and we hope for the best for those affected by it. In the meantime, we should be patient and understanding about these changes in the broadcast schedule since it's natural that the media coverage will focus on the disaster and that it's probably not the best time now to be engaging in promotional activities for the dramas. 

To go ahead with the broadcast or not is not a very easy decision to make. Considering that the dramas have to be shown within the three-month window period, rescheduling can be difficult and may also result in the reduction in the number of episodes just to ensure that the drama finishes its run on time. That can affect the quality of the whole production. Likewise, the pre-booked advertisement slots need to be adjusted. Given that all attention is focused on the news coverage nowadays, ratings of the drama will be affected too. Perhaps that is why some TV stations choose not to go ahead for the pilot episode broadcast since a low figure in the first episode does not look good.

- TV Asahi drama "Keishicho Sousa Ikkacho" starring Naito Takashi which was in the midst of its 2-hour pilot episode broadcast on 14 April was interrupted at 9.26pm when the earthquake took place and the TV station switched to an emergency broadcast. Although the episode was slated to be shown  again at 2.30pm on 16 April, the second earthquake took place in the early morning thus the broadcast was cancelled. The re-broadcast's date has been confirmed to be at 2.04pm on 18 April.

- The screening event and press conference for TV Tokyo's Spring 2016 drama "Doctor Chousahan ~ Iryou Jikou no Yami wo Abake ~" starring Tanihara Shosuke was scheduled to take place on 16 April but has been cancelled.

- NTV Spring 2016 drama "Omukae Desu" starring Fukushi Sota and Tsuchiya Tao had its pilot episode broadcast on 16 April postponed. Promotional activities on other NTV programmes on the previous day were also cancelled.

- Matsumoto Jun's live appearances on some TBS programmes today to promote his new drama "99.9 Keiji Senmon Bengoshi" from 15 to 17 April had been cancelled. Broadcast of the first episode on the 17th is not affected. The production press conference on 16 April was cancelled.

- First episode of TBS Spring 2016 drama "Watashi kekkon dekinainjanakute, shinain desu" went ahead as scheduled on 14 April. However, "live" promotional appearances on other TBS programmes on the same day had been cancelled.

- The first episode of "Hayako-sensei, Kekkon surutte hontou desuka?" will be postponed to next Thursday 21st April from its initial start date of 14th April.

- The 12th episode of NHK morning drama "Toto Neechan" scheduled on 16 April has been postponed to tomorrow i.e. 18 April at the usual timeslot.

- The production press conference for FujiTV's "Boku no Yabai Tsuma" was supposed to take place on 15 April but was cancelled. There are no plans to hold this again.

- The second episode of NTV's "Doctor Car" starring Gouriki Ayame which was scheduled to be shown on 14 April has been postponed to 21 April.

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