THE MC3 Struggles, But Nakai’s MC Reputation Remains Strong

The level of 1/20 of a popular program.

One month has passed since the broadcast began, but the start has been tough.

The new show “THE MC3” (TBS) started on October 21. In the same time slot, the variety show “Johnson,” which had featured many popular comedians, had been airing until the previous season, but it was canceled after just one year due to poor ratings. The show that replaced it was this program, which had previously aired as a special.

The three hosts are Masahiro Nakai (52), Masahiro Nakai (57), and Hiromi (59). Each episode features various guests, and the hosts and guests investigate how the public perceives them.

“The fourth episode aired on November 11, but the household rating was 5.3%, second to last in its time slot. The number of registrants on the popular streaming service ‘TVer,’ which is one of the key metrics, was only 55,000. Considering that popular variety shows usually have over a million registrants, this is about 1/20th of that level, so it’s quite a disappointing figure.

The discussions around the show have tended to focus on negative topics. For example, in the first episode, Nakai’s career was described as a national MC active in variety and sports shows but many viewers found it strange that his time in SMAP was not mentioned.

In the second episode, when the theme was marriage and family, street interviews asking about annoying husband behaviors showed overly critical opinions about men and husbands, leading to doubts about the content.” (TV magazine writer).

For Nakai, this is his fourth golden talk variety show, following the long-running “The! World Astonishing News” (NTV), “Nakai Masahiro’s Friday Smile” (TBS), and last year’s “Dareka to Nakai” (Fuji TV). This is his second show with TBS, and the background to this is a shift in the station’s policy.

“TBS has raised the target viewer age range for its variety shows from 49 to 59 years old in the autumn programming revision. This shift, moving from a show with mid-career comedians as hosts like ‘Johnson’ to a show with three hosts in their 50s, is part of that influence. However, results haven’t been seen so far.” (production company insider).

Despite the tough start, Nakai’s reputation has not declined, and support from the production side remains strong.