A popular afternoon “wide show” is the latest casualty of the shake up at Nippon Terebi. In September “Za Waido” (The Wide; Mon-Fri, 1:55-3:50pm), hosted by Kusano Hitoshi (63) and Mori Fumi (33), is to end its 15-year run as the mainstay of NTV’s afternoon schedule. Popularly known as Nittere, NTV was king of the audience rankings for ten straight years up to 2003. It held the top spot for “golden time” (7-10pm), “prime time” (7-11pm) and all day (6am-12am) rankings. But since it dropped to second behind Fuji TV in 2004, it has been making major changes to its lineup. Last year it dropped the news show “NNN Kyou no Dekigoto” after 52 years, replacing it with “News Zero”. “Za Waido” first came on the air in 1993 and was unusual at the time for the fact that it didn’t start on the hour, now common practice for news and info shows. It is co-produced by NTV and Yomiuri TV, but the latter has decided to pull out and NTV felt they couldn’t afford to continue financing the show alone. It’s still doing well in its 2-hour mid-afternoon time slot, but TV Asahi’s re-runs of popular drama series is top of the rankings. It’s likely that NTV will be looking to re-jig both that slot and the hour following it that it currently fills with a drama re-run.
• Actress Yonekura Ryoko has been chosen as Miss Lily 2007. Sponsored by the The Netherlands International Flower Bulb Center, the award is given each year to the woman who looks best holding a bunch of lilies. Of course, reporters were more interested in asking her about rumors that she has rekindled her romance with kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizo (29). She insisted that since their breakup at the end of 2005 they are just good friends, despite the fact that she flew all the way to Paris in March to watch him perform. Since their split Ebizo has been linked with actresses Sato Eriko and Takaoka Saki and a current, unnamed girlfriend.