JAPANESE DRAMA DATABASE: Oishii Propose

[Excerpt from Daily Yomiuri, Wm. Penn, January 22, 2004]: Rounding out the quartet is Oishii Propose (Sundays, 9 p.m., TBS network), which started April 23. It was the last out of the starting gate but looks poised to be one of the quarter's biggest winners with a plot and style reminiscent of some of the better light sitcoms of the late 1990s.
All the elements are there: the Cinderella story, the gourmet cuisine, a love-hate romance. It is a throwback to the times when the cell phones kept in the background and did not try to outshine the stars. Kyoko Hasegawa plays Reiko, an Italian chef who lives in a run-down apartment not far from the posh restaurant where she works. Her life is in a state of flux because the restaurant has just been bought out by a big chain. She is also taking care of her young niece, foisted upon her by her irresponsible brother, a fellow who is deeply in debt. She is in the midst of a heated argument with her brother in a fancy Italian restaurant when Haruki, at the next table, notices her. She then notices him when he scratches her car in the parking lot.
Rather than apologizing, he throws a wad of cash at her and zooms off. She tries to give it back to him in an ensuing car chase but fails. As fate would have it in these predictable dramas, Haruki is also the new owner of her restaurant. Or rather, his father is. Haruki has been forced into the lucrative business after his older brother's death, but for some reason he is none too happy about his future chief executive officer status. He threatens to close down her restaurant. She wagers her cooking skills against the closure plans and saves the day by creating a spectacular spaghetti dish to win over Haruki's important dinner guest. The stage is set for nine more weeks of their love-hate relationship.
Two stars for a light-paced dinner for two.

STARRING: Hasegawa Kyoko
THEME SONG:
NETWORK: TBS
DURATION: April through June 2006