Public displays: public broadcaster NHK flies the flag in Japan for US-made series. Commercial networks, says Tad Osaki, all but ignore Western fare that isn't all about movies and formats. (US Programming).

Television Asia, January, 2003 by Osaki, Tad

American series have been all but ignored by Japan's commercial stations. Except for TV Asahi, which has been running the second series of James Cameron's Dark Angel on Monday at 8pm since November 2002, the four commercial networks focus on formats and movies when they go shopping for programming.

Fuji TV still carries Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Tokyo Broadcasting Systems (TBS) Survivor in prime time slots, but both are local productions of the foreign formats. As for movies, commercial networks air one a week--provided there is no big sport or national event--plus maybe a few re-runs of oldies as fillers in post-midnight hours. In other words, long gone are the days when Japanese commercial networks, and viewers, were inundated with...

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