Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald

A radio drama written by an ordinary housewife is set to go out live, and almost everyone involved wants to change it. As the broadcast approaches, the lead actress demands that her character be renamed, and the station's staff panic: the new name does not fit the story at all. Worse, fresh ideas keep arriving while the show is already on air, and the quiet melodrama about a marriage falling apart is gradually pushed toward gangsters, gunfire and a change of setting. The producer tries to hold the production together as it slides further from what its author intended.

This 1997 Japanese comedy was directed by Koki Mitani from his own screenplay. It is the earliest of the four films credited to him here, followed by The Kiyosu Conference, All About Suomi and Oi, Dazai. Toshiaki Karasawa plays Manabu Kudo, with Kyoka Suzuki, Masahiko Nishimura, Keiko Toda, Toshiyuki Hosokawa and Jun Inoue among the main cast, in a production from TOHO and Fuji Television Network that runs 103 minutes and carries 23 credited cast members.

On TMDB the film holds a rating of 7.7 out of 10 from 51 votes, a high average on a modest number of votes, suggesting a small but appreciative audience.