The late Kuniko Mukoda wrote television family dramas that were considered more realistic than the usual sentimental fare. On Monday, TBS presents a new version of an old favorite, "Hanayome" ("Bride"; 9 p.m.), starring Pinko Izumi, who is usually the muse of Sugako Hashida — probably the most famous TV dramatist after Mukoda. Izumi has never acted in a Mukoda drama.
She plays Chiyo, who as the drama opens has just finished the service commemorating the seventh anniversary of her husband's death. At the same time, she is being forced to move out of the home where she raised her family. Not knowing where to turn, and disinclined to move in with her eldest son's family, she decides to take a job as a live-in housekeeper.
Her older daughter, Setsuko (Ayako Kobayashi), tries to talk her into marrying Kurosaki, a widower who was her father's best friend, but Chiyo's younger daughter, Tomoe (Yukie Nakama), is scandalized by the suggestion.