Nino-san Moves to Golden Time as NTV Gains Lead in Arashi Competition

It was recently announced that “Nino-san” on Nippon Television, in which Kazuya Ninomiya (41) of the popular group “Arashi,” who has been on hiatus since 2009, will move from its current Sunday morning broadcast to the Friday 7 p.m. slot and enter the golden zone (GP slot, 7-10 p.m.) in October. The program has been on the air since the beginning of the 13th.

The program was broadcast in the midnight slot when it first began in April ’13, but moved to Sunday noon six months later in October of the same year, and to Sunday morning in April ’20. The “Nino-san Family,” including Fuma Kikuchi (29) of “timelesz (former Sexy Zone),” a regular and junior member of Ninomiya, Tomonori Jinnai (50), Takashi Yoshimura (44), Nao Asahi (30), Gambareruya, and 3 o’clock heroine, will continue to work on the show after the transition. The “Nino-san Family,” including Takashi Yoshimura (50), Takashi Yoshimura (44), Nao Asahi (30), Gambareluya, and Heroine at 3:00, will continue to appear on the show.

In moving to a new slot, Ninomiya said, “I’m sure there are people who like the current Sunday morning slot. I feel sorry for those people.” “I want to keep it the same so that both the existing customers and the Friday 7:00 p.m. customers can enjoy it,” he commented.

The average household rating for the most recent broadcast on July 28 was 6.6% (Video Research, Kanto region). It was the second highest viewership rating in the same time slot after “Sunday Japon” (TBS). However, it is far behind “Wide Na Show” (Fuji Television Network).

While there are many patterns of moving from the late-night time slot to the golden time slot, it is quite unusual for a morning program to move into the GP slot not as a special program, but as a frame shift. Compared to other stations, this highlights how “preferential” Nippon TV is to the members of Arashi,” said a reporter in charge of broadcasting.

As for the other “Arashi” members’ work at Nippon TV, Sho Sakurai (42) has been the Monday anchor of the evening news program “news zero” since October 2006. In this connection, he has been the main anchor for the station’s live coverage of the ongoing Paris Olympics, and this is his ninth Olympics anchor for both summer and winter.

Masaki Aiba (41), following the sudden death of TV personality Ken Shimura in March ’20, has taken on the role of the successor to “Genius: Shimura Dobutsuen,” for which Shimura served as MC and he himself appeared regularly! Shimura Dobutsuen,” in which he had appeared as a regular. In October of the same year, he became the MC of “I LOVE Everybody’s Animal Park,” which started as the successor to “Tensai! In April 2010, the program was renamed “Aha! Minnano Zoo” in April 2010. He is also the only former Johnny’s talent to appear on the current 24-hour TV program.

Mr. Aiba must feel indebted to Nippon TV, since his Fuji variety show “Aiba ◎× Club,” for which he served as MC, had to be moved from the Thursday prime time slot to the Kanto local Saturday evening slot starting in April.

Mr. Sakurai’s father is a former bureaucrat in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, which oversees the TV business, and his sister is also a Nippon TV employee, although this may have nothing to do with it. In addition, a classmate of hers from Keio University is a producer, and she and Suzu Hirose (26) starred in the drama “Nemesis” (’21), which was also made into a movie. Speaking of Mr. Sakurai, the hit drama “Occupation Series,” in which he played the lead role of Musashi Saburo in ’23 and ’24, was also produced by Nippon TV,” said a TV station official.

Of the five members of Arashi, except for leader Satoshi Ono (43) and Jun Matsumoto (40), three are married and have children. All three of them are valued by Nippon TV, and as the mainstays of the family, they cannot thank the company enough for their support.

As reported in “FRIDAY Digital” on July 27, Sakurai’s role as an Olympics anchor has been criticized by some for her lack of motivation and lack of study in the field, and viewers have also said that they are tired of seeing Sakurai as the anchor all the time. Even so, Nippon TV seems to have a solid calculation behind their generous treatment.

Arashi” will celebrate its 25th anniversary on November 3 this year. For the sake of the fans who have supported us, we can’t just let that day pass by without doing anything to celebrate the memorial year.

Of the members, Matsumoto will be in London until November 2, the day before the anniversary, but he will be performing in the lead role in a play at Nippon TV in secret. However, it is said that a top-secret project is underway within Nippon TV. It is likely that all five members will appear together on a Nippon TV program on or after the 3rd of the same month.

(Entertainment journalist) “A program by either Sakurai, Aiba, or Ninomiya on Nippon TV may bring good news for Arashi fans.

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