SMAP×SMAP was an ongoing weekly Japanese variety show on Kansai TV and Fuji TV starring the members of SMAP. The show began on April 15, 1996 and it aired from 22:00 to 22:54 every Monday. The show's usual ratings were higher than 20%, which is considered high since most variety shows range from 10-20%. Each episode begins a variety of skits, comedic performances, and/or games.  These are followed by Bistro SMAP, in which the SMAP members compete against each other to impress celebrity judges with their gourmet cooking.  Last is a musical performance by SMAP which may include celebrity guests, as well.

Hiroto Miyama is an unconventional young lawyer who dances to his own tune and gets a little obsessive. For one thing, he’s only interested in criminal cases, and he will never give up in his pursuit of the truth even if offers only a 0.1% chance of being discovered. Japan’s 99.9% criminal case conviction rate leads the world, attesting to a “highly reliable” judicial system. In other words, once a crime suspect is indicted, prosecutor arguments tend to be accepted hook, line and sinker. In the face of those 99.9% odds, there’s no money in being a defense lawyer specializing in criminal cases, but for Miyama, that’s where the interest and kernels of truth lie. From unexpected places, the mold-breaking Miyama stakes his reputation on a prayer of a chance as he clashes with hotshot lawyers who’ll go to any lengths to win in this gloriously fun, legal mystery.

Yukiko Makabe works at the #3 Special Investigation Team of the Metropolitan Police Department. She has excellent negotiation skills. Yukiko then attempts to negotiate with a hijacker on a bus, but something unexpected happens and her mission fails. Yukiko takes full responsibility and takes a transfer to a special interrogation team "Kintori". Her boss is Katsutoshi Kajiyama and Yukiko has had a difficult working relationship with him in the past. Her other coworkers include Susumu Hishimoto, Zenjiro Nakata and Haruo Koishikawa.

Yūko Ichihara is the sexy owner of a strange store which offers to make any wishes come true for a price. Kimihiro Watanuki has a special type of blood that attracts spirits and ghosts. He goes into the shop owned by Yūko Ichihara and asks her to get rid of the spirits. Yūko offers to do so if he works part-time at the store.

Hitotsu Yane no Shita is a Japanese television series. It had a first season in 1993 and a second season, titled Hitotsu Yane no Shita 2, in 1997. It was very popular in Japan, with its highest rating being a remarkable 34 percent and it was also exported to other regions in East Asia. It features Yosuke Eguchi, Noriko Sakai and Masaharu Fukuyama as its leading characters.

Shogo Kai is a lawyer at one of the big 4 law firms in Japan. He is good at his job, but he is arrogant. Shogo Kai only thinks about winning and he thinks the only way to satisfy his clients is to win. He is getting close to becoming a senior partner at the law firm. Shogo Kai's boss worries about his focus on winning above all else. As a condition of his promotion at the law firm, his boss asks him to hire a young lawyer as an associate. Shogo Kai interviews prospective young lawyers and meets Daiki Suzuki. Daiki Suzuki has high intelligence and his memory ability is amazing.

Tsukiko Otonashi is a fashionista who is too beautiful to be a detective. She is also intrigued by urban legends so much so that she believes all crimes are somehow linked to these legends. She even conducts her investigations in such a way as to prove them to be true. Tsukiko also likes to make use of whatever she can. She especially likes to enlist the help of crime lab officer Hitoro Katsuura, who happens to have a crush on her. Many other unique characters will make appearances as she investigates the crimes related to urban legends, using odd and exquisite techniques.

Manami suddenly encounters mass murder at a pub on her 22nd birthday as she is hunted down by two warring vampire clans, the Draculas and the Corvins. Manami is a child of prophecy who is meant to help the Draculas overcome their Corvin enemies who have driven them underground. Meanwhile, droves of young men and women are gathered at the Hotel Requiem by a Corvin named Yamada who informs them that the world is about to end, with this hotel being the only refuge.

To secure his daughter’s heart surgery funds, Masamune Shinjo, urged by his wife, attempts to kidnap heiress Rin Nanase. When Rin loses memory, he pretends to be her father—only to become a murder suspect after her parents are killed. Forced to flee with the genius girl, he must unravel the truth behind the crimes.

In 18th-century Edo, Tsutaya Juzaburo rises from a poor background to become a leading publisher. Despite political changes threatening his career, he works to shape Edo’s cultural scene through innovative books and collaborations with artists.

The First Investigative Division is the star unit of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Jun'ichi Ōiwa, the head of the division, leads around 400 elite detectives. He has an extremely heavy responsibility: attends initial investigations at the scenes of all brutal crimes that occur within the metropolis, decides on the course of action of the investigations at the same time as he directs many investigation task forces and gets into investigations himself at the critical phase. However, Ōiwa is definitely not a superman. Amid his suffering, Ōiwa overcomes this grave responsibility and is quite simply a "life-size hero" and "ideal boss" to his subordinates.

Rei Kagami (Ryosuke Yamada) is a billionaire and the CEO of the leading conglomerate company Kagami Group. He is an extremely smart inventor, who has developed revolutionary products, and is now doing research on high precision AI. When he was little, he was a curious and kind kid. As he grew up, his curiosity remained, but he became self-centered. For certain reasons, he begins to teach at a school, while hiding his identity as a billionaire and the CEO of Kagami Group. His performance as a teacher is quite poor compared to his excellent work as a CEO. He is incapable of understanding the ordinary lives of the teachers and students around him.

Sherlock has a peculiar character flaw. She does not open her heart to strangers. She is Japanese, but was born in Britain. She now works as an investigation consultant for the police department. Wato Tachibana is an excellent surgeon and is guided by the principal of justice. Sherlock and Wato Tachibana get to know each other through a case and begin to rely on each other.

Kamiwatari Kotone is a geisha in Kyoto. While she is sleeping after a night of drinking, her fellow geisha is killed. Kotone Kamiwatari is falsely accused of her murder and is sent to prison. There, she is bullied by other prisoners, but Kotone relies on her training from senior geishas to persevere. She also learns why she was framed for murder and sent to prison.

Two fans of pop idol Ai are reincarnated as her "secret" baby twins, Aqua and Ruby, and grow up supporting her until the tragic day she is stabbed by a stalker. Flash forward a few years later, and Aqua and Ruby are high-school students determined to make it on their own in the cut-throat world of entertainment for personal reasons.

High schooler Ichitaka Seto is in love with classmate Iori Yoshizuki, but is too shy to tell her. Again and again, he plans to tell her his true feelings, but each time something – usually a misunderstanding of some kind – gets in the way. Things complicate further when Itsuki Akiba – whom Ichitaka was friends with in their childhood before she moved to the United States – returns, her crush on him still intact.

Nasuda Ayumi is a young travel nurse who gives a bad first impression. In fact, he had been an excellent nurse practitioner in the US. He has the qualifications to carry out certain medical procedures and assist doctors in surgeries. However, some circumstances trigger his return to Japan where nurse practitioners are relatively unknown and nurses are still expected to do what doctors order. Ayumi ends up working at Amano General Medical Centre where he encounters a mysterious, legendary nurse Kuki Shizuka who will become his partner. Shizuka cleans “quietly” just like his name suggests and gets mistaken for a cleaner by the hospital staff including Ayumi. But he is actually a super nurse with boggling skills.

Takanashi Shoko is a former lawyer. She was disbarred from the law profession due to an incident. Later, she persuades a university professor, who is accredited as a lawyer, to open a law firm. Takanashi Shoko hires a lawyer and assistants to work at the law firm. The team goes after legal victory. They go up against a large firm in a civil suit. While working on the suit, the team experiences difficult situations.

The drama follows Asakura who is training to be a nurse and believes that nursing is the only profession for her, even after repeated failures.

Junko Harumi was once a model student during her middle school and high school days. She failed to enter prestigious Tokyo University and her life has not gone smoothly since then. She has a hard time finding a job and having relationships with men. Now, at the age of 31, she works as a teacher at a private institute. 3 men, who vary in type, appear in front of her. Masashi Yakumo is smart and a cousin of Junko, Kyohei Yuri is a disorderly high school student and Kazuma Yamashita is Kyohei ’s teacher in high school.