Movies used to be something you watched on foreign film programs on TV.

My first encounter with movies wasn’t really at a movie theater, but mostly at Western movie theaters on TV. It was a time before video became popular as the main premise was to watch movies. You could say this was before the advent of microwave ovens, which could heat just about anything in cooking.

People can’t understand the era without this video, so even if I have more opportunities to explain in detail, it feels like I’m explaining about the Stone Age, which makes me feel miserable. The biggest shock these days is rewinding the tapes I rented — I’ve already lost the habit of “rewinding” the tapes — because the media is disks! For them, it has been from the moment they were born. What do you mean? Furthermore, from now on, why did I set the disc every time? The time will come when we will have to answer this question. Definitely!

All relationships are changing rapidly… change, progress, development. Where did the new things I loved go? Before you know it, you’ve probably been left behind by the torrent of evolution.

This is the second volume of Lottle’s nonsense.

A movie critic’s strong personality

There was once a time when movies were aired in the form of TV programs as a centerpiece that could earn high viewership ratings. Every week during prime time, each station aired movies that had already been released in theaters, dubbed them into Japanese using their own cast, and had commentators explaining the highlights before and after, all in perfect packaging. .

Basically, the slot starts at 9:00 pm and ends a little before 11:00 pm, so if you exclude commercials, the total time is just under an hour and a half. Most movies in the world are around two hours long, so this is an edited version with about 20 minutes cut out. But if I hadn’t seen it when it was released in theaters, I wouldn’t know how it differs since there’s no way to compare it. I have fond memories of being shocked when I later found out that even though they looked similar, they didn’t, or in the worst case scenario, the lines and music had been changed to suit the program’s needs. I don’t really know what’s right about it, since it’s often prized as a bonus when it’s packaged several times.

You can still watch movies from the comfort of your home. Moreover, rather than every week, each commercial broadcast station was devoting prime time every day of the week to Western movie theaters, so in a sense it’s like a dream, but I think it’s definitely more like a dream now that you can watch everything on streaming. Well, not everyone is grateful.

Monday is TBS’s “Monday Roadshow.” There was no Tuesday, but Wednesday was Nippon Television’s “Wednesday Road Show”, which later moved to Friday, and is the only program that remains today. On Thursdays, Tokyo Channel 12 will be renamed TV Tokyo’s “Thursday Western Movie Theater.” Friday is Fuji TV’s “Golden Western Movie Theater.” Skipping Saturday, Sunday is now NET’s “Sunday Western Movie Theater” on TV Asahi.

In addition to that, there were irregular special program slots, and when baseball broadcasts were canceled due to rain, we would show movies as umbrella programs, so we never let our guard down.In fact, most baseball stadiums are now dome stadiums. It’s being held at , so there’s no need to cancel it. It’s the future, isn’t it?

Of course, there are now many ways to watch your favorite movies at any time you want. It’s extremely inconvenient that you can’t enjoy it unless you sit in front of the TV at a certain time. However, that once-in-a-lifetime feeling of excitement was actually a bit similar to watching a movie for the first time in a movie theater, and when I think back on it now, I didn’t really feel any inconvenience.

What’s more, the commentary before the show started, without which I think the main story would have been cut less often, was a small act of kindness and a big help, and each station had its own unique commentator.

The long-established TV Asahi has Mr. Nagaharu Yodogawa, who should be called an “icon of film critics” rather than “the leading film critic of the Showa era.” TBS is film critic, foodie, and audio critic Masahiro Ogi. Although he was a gentle, gentlemanly and quite nice person, he passed away in 1988 and was replaced by comedian Kazuki Kosakai, but it was difficult for Kosakai, who was still young and in his 30s at the time, to make up for the age difference. Ta. It seemed like he wasn’t talking about movies in a bossy way…even though he was even more like a young guy!

So, Fuji TV has actor Tadao Takashima. TV Tokyo never established the face of the program as it changed every two to three years, but in 1987, a woman was appointed as a commentator for a Western movie theater, which was rare. Naoko Kimura is a film critic. The final line, which is a characteristic of Western movie theater programs and is repeated in some way on other stations, is the question, “What remains in your heart?” I felt indescribable, but it lasted for 17 years. So it’s an amazing thing.