Real estate and home renovation programs continue to be popular, but the housing-oriented special, "Osekkaina Sawabe Fudosan" ("Meddlesome Sawabe Real Estate Company"; NHK-G, Mon., 10:55 p.m.), aims for something out of the ordinary.
The program introduces Haraichi Sawabe, the president of a fictional real estate company that specializes in bizarre properties from all over the world. His mission is, of course, to sell you on these homes, so he has to explain them in such a way that you can imagine yourself living in them. In truth, no one may actually be looking for such strange residences, but he explains how much rent the landlord charges and the layout. He will also enumerate the customs peculiar to the locality, and even the rumors that are spreading throughout the neighborhood.
Drama series from South Korea are staples on the commercial satellite stations, and this week BS Asahi starts showing the king (or rather, queen) of them all. "Sondoku Jo-o" ("The Great Queen Seondeok"; Mon.-Fri., 8:58 a.m.), first broadcast in 2009, remains the highest-rated drama series in the history of Korean television.