Tantei! Knight Scoop (探偵!ナイトスクープ) is a weekly, long-running TV show by Asahi Broadcasting Corp. (朝日放送 or ABC). Produced in Osaka and staffed mainly by entertainers from the Kansai area, the show is about answering the public's questions about anything and everything.
Every week they have three segments where a "detective" goes out to fulfill the viewer's request, whatever it is. They range from trying to find a long lost friend or taking back a lost item to its rightful owner - to incredible displays of fortitude in accomplishing some impossible task like counting how many grains of rice fit in a 1.8 liter (one shō) container (2004-12-10). A staple of the show is cooking weird dishes by Hayashi-sensei, including cooking a leather shoe (DVD vol8), trying to make something edible out of channeled applesnail eggs (2002-11-01, can be seen in the 2004-03-26 episode in this torrent) and baking an insanely big loaf of French baguette (2004-03-19). Language learners will appreciate the 92-year old grandpa brimming with self-confidence wanting to attempt the highest level of the Kanji Kentei exam (2002-11-08). A good example of what the show is about is the story of the exploding egg in the microwave oven (DVD Vol1, the first one).
The successes of the "detectives" and the human drama often bring the current host Toshiyuki Nishida to tears. This has become sort of a running gag for the series. Other members include Kanpei Hazama, Koeda Katsura, Makoto Kitano, Kunihiro Matsumura, Yasushi Ishida, Seiki Nagahara, Kenji Tamura, Hiroshi Tamura (Kirin), Takanori Takeyama (Cunning) etc. The previous host was Ryuutarou Kamioka.
This show truly portrays the Japanese people as they are; I absolutely love the show for its frankness. If you're tired of drama and quiz shows and like the Kansai frame of mind, this show is for you :-)
For information on the contents of the DVDs, take a look at this reference site. The DVDs are a compilation of memorable episodes mostly from the 90's, but there are some newer ones in the mix as well.
If you've got any other episodes that aren't included, please upload them! I'm especially looking for [S^M] Tantei! Knight Scoop (20080711) RAW.avi and [S^M] Tantei! Knight Scoop (20080725).avi that I'm sure somebody has got saved somewhere!