On Tuesday, NTV's weekly "Drama Complex" series will air a two-hour presentation of master mystery writer Seicho Matsumoto's "Yubi (Finger)" at 9 p.m., a tale of love and hatred played out among an insular group of women.
Mari Hoshino plays TV wide-show reporter Kaori Suzuki, who one day secretly witnesses popular young actress Yumiko (Maki Goto) callously dispose of her pet's dead body on the street. A director at the TV station where she works tells Kaori about Yumiko's mysterious past, and the reporter decides to try and find out more. She looks at videotapes of past interviews and reports concerning Yumiko and learns of a mysterious older woman named Tsuneko (Hisako Manda), who headed the theatrical company where Yumiko got her start in acting. She soon discovers that the relationship between Tsuneko and Yumiko is much more than that of mentor and acolyte.
Ai no Apron ("Love's Apron") (TV Asahi, Wednesday, 7 p.m.), the variety show where female tarento demonstrate their culinary skills for a panel of discerning male tarento, usually sticks to nubile young women as the objects of ridicule. However, this week, the featured cooks are two older women whose celebrity profiles are based on their status as wives and mothers.