Since TV exposure is a plus for politicians regardless of what they say, they can be put on the spot without any real loss of popularity. In fact, being humiliated can work in their favor in terms of PR.
The appeal of TV Asahi's long-running political talk show "TV Tackle" (Monday, 7 p.m.) is in the knock-down-drag-out arguments that inevitably take place between opposing camps, but don't call them debates. Nobody listens to one another, which makes the program more of a comedy show than a news show. After all, Beat Takeshi is the host.
This week's three-hour special will include many topics, but the main one will be Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe, who was the focus of the recent fake e-mail scandal. Takebe will not be present in the studio, which means the people who are will have greater freedom to say stupid things.