Revival of that hit drama because of Ando Lloyd’s slump? … Ando Lloyd ended its run last week with a viewership rating of 12.6%; the drama never able to outdo the 19.2% it debuted at. Television viewership ratings have itself been on a steady decline in this decade, and on the whole, the fall dramas have fared dismally this year with the exception of Doctor X Season 2, Aibou Season 12 and Legal High Season 2. 10% is actually a rather respectable figure. But probably not when you are Kimura Takuya, the “ratings man”. So the newspapers and magazines have been having a field day with some articles proclaiming the collapse of the “Kimutaku legend” and others that “Kimutaku is Kimutaku no matter what he acts in”. Oh what an epiphany! Nonetheless, with the average viewership ratings of Kimura’s dramas being the highest among all the artistes under the Johnny’s stable, this needs to be defended at all cost and his agency is reportedly aiming to turn things around quickly. According to an industry insider who observes that the dramas scoring solid ratings these days are all sequels of popular dramas, Kimura is willing to star in a followup to the hit drama Hero despite his aversion to sequels. This could be broadcast as early as October next year. The plan that has emerged includes Matsu Takako who has had a long hiatus from TV, and Ayase Haruka. Please say that this will just stay as it is. A plan.
Ando Lloyd’s huge production costs … The magazine Flash has revealed that the production costs of Ando Lloyd was a whopping 60 million yen. This is twice that of last season’s hit drama Hanzawa Naoki‘s 30 million yen and more than twice that of Kurokouchi and Otto no Kanojo‘s 25 million yen. A TBS network staff commented that the location fees and CG contributed to Ando Lloyd’s abnormally high costs, so the near single digit ratings is absymal. Ando Lloyd had a strong debut at 19.2% but viewership ratings gradually dipped and languished around 10 – 11% from episode 4, leading an industry insider to say at that time that the topic of viewership ratings has now become taboo within TBS. In contrast, viewership ratings for Hanzawa Naoki consistently surpassed 30% toward the later half of the series and the last episode hit a record high of 42.2%. Because Ando Lloyd followed Hanzawa Naoki in the same time slot, there appears to be a sense of disbelief at how the two dramas could have fared so differently. An entertainment reporter says the production company which handled Ando Lloyd has a strong desire for it to hit the big screen due to its experience with many movies. However, there is no mood to talk about making a movie when they could not even deliver results commensurate with the enormous production costs. Before its broadcast, Ando Lloyd had been compared with Hanzawa Naoki but the only thing it has “repaid twofold” is the money invested.
Tagged: Kimura Takuya
