The national PTA conference has released the results of its annual survey of the best and worst TV shows for kids. The survey ranks the shows that parents don’t want their kids to watch, and the lineup is much the same as last year. Top of the list is TV Asahi’s “London Hearts,” which features comedy duo London Boots exposing the immorality of Japan’s youth and getting lots of belly laughs in the process. Second was a personal favorite of mine, “Sui10!” named after its time slot of 10pm on Wednesday on Fuji TV. Also known as “One Night Rock n’ Roll” the hugely popular comedy show features a host of outlandish characters and often mayhem. Ranked third was TV Asahi anime tyke “Crayon Shinchan,” the 5-year old whose antics include dropping his pants and lusting after older women. Most of the other shows in the Top 10 were variety. Needless to say, many of the shows parents do want their kids to watch are the very ones they’re least likely to enjoy. NHK had four of the Top 10, and none in the other ranking. Most kids would rather do their homework than watch news and documentaries, but TBS travel shows like “Sekai Fushigi Hakken” (#9) and “Sekai Ururun Taizaiki” (#10) are pretty good. The parents’ favorite was NHK’s documentary “Project X”, followed by the “Doubutsu Kisoutengai!” animal show and long running “3-nen B-kumi Kimpachi Sensei” school drama, both on TBS.
• Popular band Southern All Stars are to play this summer’s 6th Rock in Japan festival, the biggest outdoor event in the country. It will be held at the Hitachi Waterfront Park in Ibaragi on August 5-7, and will be Sazan’s first outdoor festival performance since they played at the Seibu Stadium Super Fest 22 years ago. The band have a big few months ahead of them – they will release their 51st singles on July 20 and start a 21-show nationwide tour in the autumn.