In Tokyo

LAST Friday, when a popular two-hour mid-day TV show ended its 20-year run, there was a lot of mandatory tearing and sobbing by the show’s regulars as they each made their mini-farewell speeches.

One or two even bawled uncontrollably.

Sentimentality aside, there is indeed quite a lot to cry about these days as far as Japanese television shows are concerned.

The decision by the network concerned to cancel that particular show had no doubt been made for purely economic reasons.

Hit by a huge drop in advertising revenue as a result of the deepening recession, the network felt it could no longer afford to pay the fee demanded by the show’s well-known presenter Monta Mino.

From this week, Mino’s slot was taken over by a younger and cheaper presenter.

Major programming changes at all of Tokyo’s privately-owned TV networks this month reflect the huge cost-cutting that is taken place all round.

One-hour drama slots during the 7pm to 10 pm Golden Time on weekday evenings have typically been slashed from three to two slots, with the vacant air time filled by live variety shows.

Dramas are understandably expensive to make, especially if they feature popular actors.

Live variety shows, many of them in quiz formats, are cheap by comparison especially if they feature budding actors and comedians who are in no position to demand huge fees.

To minimize operating expenses, some networks have even gone as far as buying cheaper lunch boxes for staff and entertainers, and even reducing the lighting on sets.

Viewers also have to put up with more live news shows and talk shows.

When shows like these go on for as long as four hours, however, one can be pretty sure that much of it is going to be a big yawn.

And these are just the traditional earth channels.

On satellite channels, where viewership has always been lower, the networks have enthusiastically embraced one- to two-hour long travelogue shows to fill up their air time.

In the past, such shows would often feature a celebrity or two, who act as guides for the viewer.

To save money, the latest travelogue shows dispense with the use of celebrities altogether.

Many of these shows consequently look more like extended promotional material for tour agencies.

Over the past year or so, the quality of television programming on private networks have noticeably fallen. 

This is as much due to gradual cost-cutting as it is due to the unhealthy trend by the networks to want to turn anything – even hard political news - into entertainment by trivializing the substance.

One wonders if this state of affairs will be reversed when the economy gets back into shape.