Tabloid

What is "Tabloid" ALL ABOUT?:  At 9 p.m. on Fuji TV, Takako Tokiwa appears in "Taburoido" (Tabloid). Due to a mistake she makes at a press conference, Tokiwa is transferred from the quality newspaper where she works to an affiliate tabloid where she is shocked to learn that everything works differently.

"Tabloid" (Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on the Fuji TV network). Thank heavens for Takako Tokiwa! With sharp, pertinent dialogue reminiscent of the realistic police drama "Odoru Daisosasen," this drama takes us behind the scenes in the Tokyo newspaper world. It is a region that has seldom been realistically portrayed on TV but anyone who has spent some time in Kasumigaseki will recognize "Tabloid" has a definite ring of truth to it.  Tokiwa plays a reporter for a major daily newspaper. She's a sharp dresser with a sharp tongue and she commits the ultimate press club transgression.  She asks an embarrassing but pertinent question in a Finance Ministry press conference. Back at the home office, she is reminded of the "rules": don't ask or write about anything sensitive, just farm the press releases handed out. Actual reporting, especially investigative reporting, is not part of the game. As punishment for breaking the rules, she is demoted to a post on Yukan Top, her paper's affiliated sex and sleaze tabloid. It is 120 yen and sold only at newsstands. So, her new editor explains, it must come up with headlines juicy and jolting enough to tempt commuters to opt for a Yukan Top rather than a can of coffee on the way home. The top story the day she arrives on the job revolves around whether a certain young starlet's new nude photo collection will or will not feature hair.  Tokiwa is decidedly disgusted, but as the day wears on she also realizes one of the strange truths of the local media world. Despite all their sex and sleaze and silly fabrications, the popular press is one of the few places where one just might read about what is really happening (remember Aum and various other scandals) and where an industrious reporter can actually track down a story. Tokiwa soon finds she has the freedom to write about an accused murderer who she just may be able to prove innocent. Definitely try to tune in to this one. It looks more interesting, educational and realistic than anything else on the small screen this season.