When evening news shows have time to fill they often run short reports by freelance news teams about pressing social problems. A common theme right now is the rise of shoplifting among senior citizens, a development that has in turn given rise to specialty security guards who patrol department stores and grocery stores.
That's also the theme of the mystery drama "Manbiki G-Men: Nikaido Yuki 18" (Shoplifting Detectives: Yuki Nikaido 18; TBS, Mon., 9 p.m.), in which veteran actress Nana Kinomi plays a plain clothes security guard assigned to patrol a department store food section. One day Yuki comes across an old man who has fainted and she brings him to the hospital by ambulance. The old man has suffered a stroke and knows he will not live much longer, so he asks Yuki if he can hear his last will and testament.
Later, the husband of the old man's daughter contacts Yuki with an offer. If she tells him what the old man stipulated in his last will, he will pay her a lot of money. This week's guest on the nighttime talk show "TOKIO@5LDK" (Fuji, Thurs., 11 p.m.) is actress Takako Matsu, who rarely talks about her personal life. However, the five members of the boy band TOKIO, who host the show, are quite personable and persuasive, and they get the kabuki family scion to talk about things she's never discussed before on television.