A story that is constantly upbeat quickly becomes tiring. Conflict and resolution are necessary to maintain interest, and while happy endings are still more popular than depressing ones, characters should go through some sort of emotional turmoil before arriving at them.

After producer Masanao Takahashi came up with the idea for the TBS drama series "Napoleon no Mura" ("Napoleon's Village"; Sun., 9 p.m.), he developed it in order to "encourage people who live in places that they think have nothing to offer," he told Sports Nippon in a recent interview. Takahashi is talking about towns and villages with shrinking populations. He mentions that the central government has shown its determination to reverse this trend by creating a ministry for reviving regions, and "Napoleon" represents his "grand dream" to assist in this endeavor.

TV shows and movies designed to have a social impact are common, but in order to be effective they usually have to convey a sense of possibility. Takahashi obviously wants these localities to survive and even thrive, and in order to promote such a demographic movement, he has to focus on the positive aspects of rural life, and pretty much all the time.