On November 7th, TV Asahi announced that it will broadcast "Zawatsuku! Omisoka" on New Year's Eve again this year. This will be the seventh year in a row that the program will be broadcast, and just like last year, it will run for approximately eight hours from 5pm until 1am on New Year's Eve.
This is a special edition of "Zawatsuku! Friday" (Fridays at 6:50 PM, excluding some areas), a popular program featuring talks by Kazushige Nagashima, Yoshizumi Ishihara, and Chisako Takashima. Last year, the viewer ratings (according to Video Research, Kanto region) for Part 1 (from 5 PM) were 5.8% for individuals and 10.1% for households, 7.9% for individuals and 12.7% for households for Part 2 (from 6 PM), and 5.2% for individuals and 8.5% for households for Part 3 (7:30 PM). Parts 1 and 2 were the top-rated commercial broadcasters in their time slots for the fourth consecutive year.
This year, in addition to the usual variety of games, quizzes, and talks, TV Asahi will also be broadcasting a new drama, "The Takashima Chisako Murder Case," featuring a star-studded cast that only TV Asahi can offer.
On the 7th, during the program, host Takahashi Shigeo of "Savannah" announced, "We would love to star in a drama too," to which Takashima replied, "Huh? I can't do that." The moment she heard the title, she protested, "Don't be ridiculous!", but when she heard that a star-studded cast was set to appear, she was relieved, saying, "Well, if the four of us do it, it'll be a school play."
Meanwhile, Nagashima, who believes Takashima would be better suited to the role of the culprit than the victim, predicted the story, saying, "Chisako burns us all to the stake one by one, and then there's no one left...and at the end, Chisako gets hit by the spotlight." Ishihara requested a role reminiscent of the classic "Seibu Keisatsu," saying, "Since a murder is going to occur, maybe I should play a detective? If so, make me the 'leader'!"
