<figure id="attachment_224492" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-224492" style="width: 1417px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="da310a25"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2018/08/97baec3fb8bee879dc20282996012bfd.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-224492" class="wp-caption-text">Matsumoto will start a new regular series in April. Will he be the savior of Fuji Television?</figcaption></figure>
 The decision to air a new regular Fuji Television program &#8220;Matsumoto to Nakai&#8221; featuring &#8220;Downtown&#8221; Hitoshi Matsumoto (59) and Masahiro Nakai (50) as MCs was reported all at once the other day.
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 When Mr. Nakai announced he was taking a leave of absence due to health problems last November, Matsumoto tweeted on his Twitter account, &#8220;I promised Mr. Nakai a year-end party. I&#8217;m looking forward to it. Nakai, who made his comeback this year, has deep feelings for the show, so naturally, expectations for the show are high.
 The talk show is based on the concept of matching Matsumoto and Nakai with &#8220;two people they would like to meet,&#8221; and has been broadcast as a special program twice before, in November 2020 and February 2022. The past two programs have featured a father-son talk show between Shinichi Mori (75) and Hiro (29), vocalist of &#8220;MY FIRST STORY,&#8221; and a unique talk show between Tomoyasu Hotei (61), guitarist, and Tsuyoshi Shinjo (51), manager of the Nippon-Ham Fighters.
 It has only been announced so far that the program will become a regular program in the Sunday prime time slot starting this spring in April, but the specific broadcast time has been confirmed. A person involved in the aforementioned entertainment industry said, &#8220;The program will be broadcast every Sunday at 9:00 p.m..
 The program will air every Sunday from 9:00 pm. The same time slot is a fierce battle zone with competition from &#8220;Matrix&#8221; (NTV), &#8220;Sunday Station&#8221; (TV Asahi), and &#8220;Sunday Gekijo&#8221; (TBS), but Fuji Television dared to go head-to-head with &#8220;Matsumo to Nakai&#8221;. The &#8220;Matrix&#8221; is probably in a state of trepidation.
 What does this mean? An entertainment industry insider continues, &#8220;The Sunday 9:00 p.m. time slot is a fierce battle.
 A person involved in the entertainment industry continues, &#8220;The 9:00 p.m. Sunday time slot is a fierce battleground, so the stations have naturally coordinated their programs by dividing them into different genres. Fuji Television&#8217;s goal is to attract the viewer base of &#8220;Matrix,&#8221; which has been broadcast for over 20 years and has been losing viewers in recent years.
 Matsumo to Nakai&#8221; is the brainchild of Koichi Minato, who took over as president of Fuji Television last year. Laugh Ito! TV,&#8221; &#8220;Homma dekka! TV&#8221; and &#8220;Hitoshi Matsumoto&#8217;s Sake no Tsumami ni Naru Hanashi&#8221; as chief producer, NTV is well-prepared for the battle. For Nippon TV, April will be a critical month.
 It has been 20 years since NTV began broadcasting in 2002. For 20 years since its launch in 2002, &#8220;Matrix Counseling Center&#8221; has been an indispensable face of Nippon TV&#8217;s variety programs, but in recent years it has been struggling with low viewership ratings. Then comes &#8220;Matsumo to Nakai&#8221; with a full house. The battle between Nippon TV and Fuji for the variety slot at 9:00 p.m. on Sundays is about to get underway. The outcome of the battle will be seen at &#8230;&#8230;.

 Yasuko Sakaguchi

 The decision to air "Matsumo to Nakai", a new Fuji Television program featuring "Downtown" Hitoshi Matsumoto (59) and Masahiro Nakai (50), as MCs, was reported all at once recently. When Nakai announced last November that he was taking a leave of absence due to health problems

Fuji Television&#8217;s winning move &#8220;Matsumo to Nakai&#8221; broadcast slot decided! Nippon TV&#8217;s &#8220;Long-lived Variety&#8221; in a tight spot behind the scenes

Fuji Television’s winning move “Matsumo to Nakai” broadcast slot decided! Nippon TV’s “Long-lived Variety” in a tight spot behind the scenes

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