Netflix drama series "Jimmy ~ Aho mitai na honma no hanashi ~" to be re-filmed and broadcast on a later date

Yoshimoto Kogyo announced on 6 July that the Netflix drama series "Jimmy ~ Aho mitai na honma no hanashi ~" which was originally scheduled for broadcast from 7 July, will be re-filmed after choosing a new lead actor to take over Koide Keisuke's role. As such, the drama's broadcast will be postponed to a later date which is yet to be confirmed. The drama was pulled off the broadcast schedule due to the scandal involving Koide over his alleged drinking with and having sex with an underage girl which came to light last month.

The drama which consisted of 9 episodes and was to be shown in 190 countries via Netflix, is based on the life of comedian Jimmy Onishi. The story describes the "fateful" meeting at Osaka in the 1980s between Sanma and Jimmy when Sanma found the latter tied to the staircase of a theatre without wearing any clothes. At that time, Jimmy was just a newbie comedian who failed at everything he did while Sanma was already a popular star. Subsequently, Sanma helped Jimmy to develop his comedic talent and the latter even became an international artist. Koide had played Sanma while joint lead Nakao Akiyoshi played Jimmy. This was the first time in Sanma's 42-year career that he produced a drama series.

In the statement released by Yoshimoto, the same crew and cast will be doing the re-filming of the necessary parts thus the broadcast date will be decided when that is completed. Netflix also released their comments about this issue where they revealed that Yoshimoto had initiated the plan to re-film the drama and change the broadcast date so they went ahead with this decision which they agreed was in the best interests of its members.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sponichi / Yomiuri Hochi / Oricon