"The Music Hour" ( formerly "Utaban") ends its 14-year history
On September 14th, one of the premier music programs in Japan, The Music Hour (formally known as ‘Utaban‘) ended its 14-year history. The final episode was three hours long, and it showed the summary of its 14 year-run, including battles between one of the MC, Nakai Masahiro, and featured guests (particularly the famous battle with Ohno Satoshi of Arashi).
Many artists who have made appearances on the program submitted message videos; other musicians, such as Every Little Thing, SPEED, and the original Morning Musume showed up to say farewell to the show.
Clip of the final ep of the show at source
D:
Some speculated that the show hardly breaking double-digits ratings anymore, ever since before Utaban get its renewal and that could be one of the reasons TBS won't bother to continue it. Grr.