The series is a police detective drama starring actor Masakazu Tamura as Furuhata Ninzaburo and Masahiko Nishimura as his stereotypically bumbling sidekick, Shintaro Imaizumi.
Pop-stars like Takuya Kimura of SMAP (boy-band),[5] television hosts like Sanma Akashiya (variety) and even sports figures like Ichiro Suzuki (baseball) have been featured on this program.
A kabuki actor kills a security guard who witnessed him committing a hit-and-run and uses a stage elevator to bring his body to the theatre, making it look like he fell from the catwalk.
A psychiatric therapist concocts a plan to murder her illegitimate lover by tricking him into entering her home through the window while dressed as a burglar, making the crime look like self-defense.
A mystery writer stages an alibi by faxing himself ransom notes from a murderous killer demanding millions of yen in exchange for his wife.
Special Appearance: Zen Kajiwara A doctor meets with a private investigator who has proof of his infidelity while in transit and kills him with a lethal injection, stealing the jacket containing the pictures.
Special Appearance: Takashi Yamaguchi Furuhata and Imaizumi watch a live psychic television show, whose star battles with a local professor to prove his powers are real.
Special Appearance: Shūichirō Moriyama The secretary of a prominent position gets involved in a plan to deal with his boss's affair partner, but after the politician threatens to pass him over as a successor, he decides to kill him as well.
Special Appearance: Michiko Ameku Furuhata is at a radio station where a celebrity DJ received several death threats, but she'd been sending them to herself in preparation to murder her subordinate for stealing her boyfriend.
Unbeknownst to him, this lawyer committed the crime himself, and Furuhata takes to the witness stand to prevent him from sending Imaizumi to prison in his place.
A Catholic school headmistress kills a beloved teacher, but her decision to leave the door open while committing the crime convinces Furuhata that he's dealing with a killer who follows strict rules.
Special Appearance: Yoneko Matsukane A game-loving doctor convinces an aging mystery writer to fake a suicide attempt to win back his wife from an affair.
Special Appearance: Takashi Kobayashi A famous drama writer bludgeons her sister to death and attempts to make it look like the result of a break in.
Special Appearance: Yoshimasa Kondo Furuhata participated in a quiz show with disastrous results, but before leaving the studio he discovers the body of a costume designer.
The reigning quiz champion had accidentally killed the victim while trying to cheat but manages to escape the crime scene while its only exit is closely watched by two comedians.
A killer experiences a string of bad luck leaving him trapped in his victim's apartment with Furuhata at the door, attempting to return a wallet.
Special Appearance: Hachiro Oka Furuhata catches a cold and stops in a small village to recover with his colleagues, getting caught up in the entire community's attempt to cover up a murder.
Special Appearance: Yuko Ito A dentist murders her ex-boyfriend and attempts to use Furuhata as his alibi, tricking him and another witness into thinking she was cleaning his teeth at the time of the crime.
Special Appearance: Naho Toda A wheelchair-bound scientist kills his colleague and old friend using a deadly gift and some well-timed phone calls.
Most episodes of Furuhata Ninzaburo ran for 50 minutes (excluding commercial and news breaks); however, the show would periodically air extended length TV movie specials.
In the second season of the drama, Fuji TV produced a series of 7-minute comedic skits called "Imaizumi Shintaro" which followed the "Furuhata Ninzaburo" episode.
However, the skit always ends with Imaizumi proving his ineptitude or losing his nerve and Kuwabara is forced to help escort his sobbing, spineless and broken friend out of the lab.
Hanada also makes a brief cameo appearance During his last year in junior high, young Furuhata Ninzaburo, a bright but anti-social teenager reluctantly moves to small village with his single mom.
Lonely and bored, young Furuhata, with the help of classmate Mukojima Otokichi, reads Sherlock Holmes and solves petty crimes.