A press conference celebrating the 30th anniversary of TV Tokyo's "Afternoon Roadshow" (broadcast every Monday to Friday at 1:40 PM) and its Guinness World Record certification was held on April 1st at the station in Roppongi, Tokyo. The program has been certified by Guinness World Records as "the terrestrial television program that has broadcast the most movies in the world," and producers Eiichiro Okamoto and Wakana Ogi spoke about the significance of broadcasting movies on terrestrial television.
The program began airing on April 1, 1996. On this day, it celebrated its 30th anniversary, and as of the broadcast on March 31, the total number of episodes had reached 6,252. The official record is titled "Most Episodes of a Terrestrial Television Program Broadcasting Movies," and the program was awarded a certificate by an official Guinness World Records adjudicator.
The lineup mainly consists of foreign films, broadcasting a wide range from classic movies to "B-movies." Ogi explained, "The person who appeared the most was the American actor and film director Clint Eastwood. Among women, it was the American actress Sandra Bullock." The highest viewership rating of 3.4% was recorded for "The Magnificent Nine," starring Sadao Abe, which aired in May 2020.
Since the program airs at 1:40 p.m., other stations are often broadcasting news programs or similar shows at that time. Okamoto explains, "If we do exactly the same thing as other stations, we'll get lost in the crowd. I think TV Tokyo has a unique and distinctive character in its DNA, so in that sense, movies have become one of our options."
In recent years, subscription services that allow unlimited viewing of movies via streaming have become popular, but Okamoto offers his opinion, saying, "Subscriptions have a huge selection, and you can choose what you want, so at first glance it seems really fun. You have so many choices, but I think you'll get tired of choosing."
He then added, "With terrestrial television, we are, in a sense, curating what we show, so there are fewer duds. Multiple people watch and broadcast what they find interesting, so the probability of feeling like you've 'failed' or 'wasted your time' is lower than with subscription services. I think that's definitely a strength," explaining the significance of broadcasting movies on terrestrial television.
