New Irish Sit-com on RTE TWO?????

steve 0

Well for my 2 cents thought it had its good points, like the housemate interviews and of course Vixen. Nice!
Unfortunately the Kevin guy was way over done as was the voice over, in fact if the voice over was not there I would have liked it more.
Also, I don't think it's possible that anything could be as bad as the English Class.

Wertz

AngelinaJolie wrote: »

So......
Do you want RTE do spout the bull that comes from American networks or do you want to support the writers who love the above shows?

You make a pretty salient point here and while the following may belong in Conspiracy Theories, has anyone considered the possibility that someone in RTÉ decided to allow this to air in all it's rough and readiness to try and just bury the idea of home produced comedy altogther?
I mean in the long run it's probably a lot cheaper to just buy in tried and tested US fare rather than throwing mud against the home produced comedy wall and hoping something sticks, when very few past efforts have.
The rantings of a madman really...nobody in RTÉ is that cunning.

Again I ask the question, why have at least 2 contributors to this thread only signed up tonight to slate the show?
Polly Hill and deiselad22, I'm looking at you...

Boardsbud

AngelinaJolie wrote: »

Dear everybody on these boards.....

And especially this guy/girl,

Its guy !

First off, I want to point out how pilots are generally received: people hate them. No, let me clarify that: people hate what's actually got the potential to be something be good.

Yes we've all seen dodgy pilots. Probably a lot of potentially good shows fall at that hurdle and never see the light of day.
I'm guessing you are attached to the show in some way yes? I'll be honest and say the "humour" of it is not to my taste but that's entirely subjective. What went on air, in my opinion, seemed not much more than an ill thought through early draft. Was the voice over an after thought? I got the impression there was a lot more of it than you might have initially envisaged at least.
Ian Rush made the point a few posts back up that everyone's been screwed over here, the people behind the show and most importantly the viewing public.

Fact: Seinfeld was almost cancelled after the first season because people thought it was crap.
Fact: Arrested Development, one of the best sit-coms to come out of America in years, was cancelled in the third season.
Fact: Family Guy was cancelled.
Fact: Futurama was cancelled.
So......

So these are all shows you like. I like some of them too. Some fell victim to falling audience figures. Some ran their natural course. Fact.

Do you want RTE do spout the bull (support the bull ?) that comes from American networks or do you want to support the writers who love the above shows?

That "bull" is the reality of commercial TV. I'll support any writer who turns out a good show. I don't care what they like or dislike, thats irrelevant to me. RTE should support that too. Fairplay to Mr Stubbs for coming back here tonight to make his case. I do wonder though if the reaction here had been more positive would he be sharing his production woes of time constraints and budgets with us ?

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but for this seems to be pissing on something for the sake of pissing on something.

No this is a discussion forum. U take the good with the bad. I'm ony expressing an opinion, mine.

When have you ever seem something like this on RTE?

Trouble in Paradise, The Cassidys, Extra Extra spring to mind straight off.

Better than The English Class?

No, not in my opinion.

You mean a cheap rip-off of Mind Your Language meets The Office is the height of comedy compared to The Roaring Twenties?

I agree all those comparisons have been trashed out here in great detail in the past, check the archives.

If you really think this, well, sir, you really don't know comedy, in my opinion.

To which you are entitled, as am I.

Bob in Belfast

I thought it was wonderful, though not as funny as the 'English Class'.
It's a real shame there's only one more episode to go.

RTE what are you waiting for?
Give this show a full season, it's comedy gold.

kmart6

Pure sh1te!

And the TV licence has gone up again,so interesting to see the crap we pay for!

AngelinaJolie

ok you've made some fair points; some which I accept ('the reality of commercial TV), some which I don't ('When have you ever seem something like this on RTE? Trouble in Paradise, The Cassidys, Extra Extra spring to mind straight off.')

I will admit that The Roaring Twenties is a bit rough around the edges ( and yes you're right, I am connected with the show) but I don't think you (or anyone, for that matter) should throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I am actually offended that you are comparing The Roaring Twenties with the aforementioned sit-coms because, believe you me, when this sit-com was conceived, it was not with those previous efforts in mind. In fact, (and with all due respect to the writers) it was as far away as possible from those efforts.
If you are comparing it with classics (like, for example, Monty Python) well, yes, it needs its fair degree of polishing; but The English Class? Extra, Extra, The Cassidys? Why, why are you comparing it to these shows? I am guessing that you are old enough to remember, but young enough to actually not remember the details of the latter? I know for a fact the writer tried to get a copy of The Cassidys on DVD (but failed) so as not to repeat the same mistakes.
I would suggest that, instead of being negative, that, maybe, just maybe, you respond with positive suggestions on how to make the show better - even though it may have the horrible warm, fuzzy feeling of a Dr. Phil show or something ya just might see on Friends or Everyone loves Raymond. It's hard at first to do it, but then you'll see, gee whizz, just how great it is, to be, gosh darn it, really nice -ish.....
PS: I am sounding like that guy out of Scrubs.... see how pervasive sit-coms actually are!

uh_to_interject

Uh, to interject briefly before retiring once more to the hallowed sanctity of lurkerdom, I'd just like to say that while this new show was only mildly diverting (at best), I think we should nevertheless salute the modicum of ambition that was at work here.

To put this on a par with The English Class is quite simply offensive, not only to the show's makers, but to anyone with the smallest inkling of what good comedy is. The English Class was tack. It was, moreover, a relentlessly excruciating example of the institution of RTE at its most pompous and coldly contemptuous. That was why it riled people so... it wasn't the fact the show was dire, lamentable toss, but that (in all six of its faeces-encrusted episodes) it encapsulated the full scale of RTE's disregard for its paying audience.

The Roaring Twenties, by contrast, was at least an attempt to appeal to some audience, even if ultimately it disappoints that audience considerably. Certainly, the creators overestimated the general appeal of what is essentially a fanboy pastiche of Spaced/Python/Seinfeld, but there was, if nothing else, a spirit of adventure in the show that has rarely been seen in an RTE sitcom.

The fact remains, however, that for me it raised nary a titter, and I would echo many of the complaints about the acting, particularly the choice of high farce for Kevin. The various character profiles were overall a little pedestrian (but then most sitcom personae are two-dimensional cliches - but if you make them funny, then that is forgivable).

The one thing I did quite enjoy was the show's breakneck pace. That takes serious effort and hard work, and is as much a testament to the writing as it is to the framing/editing. I could even see what they were trying to do with the voiceover. Elsewhere, however, the pop culture references were a little heavy-handed, and some of the accents - as ever on Irish productions - were aaaaarghh.

As astute posters have already pointed out, the problem is that talent in this country - in whatever department it emerges, but most notably in writing - has very few spaces to develop. RTE has badly let us down here. Constantly, they absorb proven comics (invariably stand-ups) rather than support emerging talent. And they lack the stones to run something that might ruffle some feathers. (Whatever happened to Langerland?)

Anyway, to the lads behind The Roaring Twenties, keep the chin up. You had a right good stab at it, and (should RTE decide to pick it up) I think there's enough there to flesh out into something more coherent.

Lurker Ex Machina

P.S. Pity about you're using Arcade Fire for the theme-tune. Great tune, obviously, but you might as well just have composed a jingle with the words '18-34 demographic' being sung hoarsely ad nauseum by some marketing guru. On the other hand, much respect for ye olde Dawn of the Dead music :cool:..... Odd that the remake was on at exactly the same time on the other channel.

AngelinaJolie

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Lurker.
All comments are taken on board, positive and negative. Well, constructive comments, like the above, at least.
As for the Arcade Fire theme tune.. it was, kind of, original, when first muted! And it just seemed to fit. And I still think it does, even though, it's run the full gamut and now lives in clicheland.

Mr Stubbs

We did our best and i accept that most you people thought it was cow fodder. But at least I'm awake here at 3.44am trying to give some feedback -- something which RTE never seem interested in.

And as for you people who thought The Roaring Twenties was EVEN WORSE THAN the ENGLISH CLASS??

f u c k o f ff.

Mr E

I watched it late last night.

OK, it wasn't worse than the english class. (Come on, lets be realistic here - the English Class was the worst thing RTE did in the last 10 years)

It wasn't absolutely terrible either. Tone that overacting eejit Kevin down, take away the Terry Wogan-soundalike voice over, and don't let people do accents they aren't able to do (that Don character trying a Aussie/NZ/SA/American accent - I couldn't place it).

I did laugh a couple of times, so it shows promise (with a few tweaks).

And I do think that people have come on here to bash it for the sake of bashing it (because with RTE, they know nothing else....)

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

humanji

Well, nuts to the lot of you. I quite liked it and am not ashamed to say I even laughed out loud at parts. Yes, it could of been better and yes it had some bad parts, but it's a pilot made by relative amateurs. As was pointed out before all the other shows mentioned in this thread were not first attempt.

I say the script could really of used a couple of rewrites and as was pointed out earlier, there seemed to be too much effort being made to make every character "zany". But f*ck it, this is a damn site better than any other low budget offerings rte have ever had. We could have a lot worse on offer (didn't I hear rumour of The English Class series 2?).

And think of the positive side. This is showing that rte are giving newcomers a chance. All the begrudgers here seem to know what makes a great comedy show, so there's nothing stopping you from making the next big thing. You all seem to know exactly how to do it, so off you go. We'll see how far you get.

The show wasn't great, but it wasn't bad, IMO. It's made me do something that I haven't do in a long, long time: I'm actually looking forward to the next episode.


Oh, and does anyone else think that maybe those who signed up to boards just to bitch about this show were somehow involved in the English Class and are just bitter? :P

gucci

i didnt realise til i read this thread that the show was meant to be a replacement for podge and rodge, and when compared to that it dosnt seem so bad!!
to be honest i wasnt overly impressed but as a first off impression it was poor but had potential. as has been stated 50 times above, its very rare to start of brilliant. however a few tweaks here and there and some better directorship/acting and it could be half decent (it could also be a completely different show....maybe thats my point!)

i just genuinely didnt believe that some of the characters believed that they were in a comedy, they looked very tentative and tense on screen, something that may improve in 2 or 3 shows time?

Teg Veece

They're not actually going to go through all 1126 days til Kevin's 30th birthday are they?!

*shudder*

is_that_so

As a license payer I feel fully entitled to make whatever comments I choose about how that money is spent. After watching the program I took a look at a short film called Joyriders , also on RTE2, which was far far better because it seemed to know where it was going.

I don't think the program was without redemption, although I won't watch it again, but the overall affect was just a meandering mess.

I got the impression that what was shown is still "in development". I personally know a number of other people who have also received development grants to produce shows, which certainly turned out a lot better.

One of the problems of working on a project of your own, in general, is that you can get very close to it. To me it just wasn't funny and I got the impression that it so wrapped up in trying to be funny it didn't occur to anyone that it might not be.

I am no writer but I would say dropping the voice-over, throwing out 90% of the characters and focussing on the main characters could have made for a better show.

Best of luck to the writers and the producers. Look forward to your next effort.

Dennis the Stone

Mr E wrote: »

And I do think that people have come on here to bash it for the sake of bashing it (because with RTE, they know nothing else....)

Maybe there's an element of that, but at the same time, I hate when somebody says this to me. I'm slating it because it is crap, I fully believe so. I have nothing against RTE; each time they announce something new in the line of comedy I suspect that it is going to be poor but I certainly hope that it won't be. It usually is.

Hated this; maybe we should all pick up a pen and try to write something. Somebody eventually will come up with something to put this dreadful legacy to bed.

mike65

I'm waiting for Liam Fay to sign up....must watch the repeat (unless someone can youtube it)

Mike.

Basq

Mr E wrote: »

And I do think that people have come on here to bash it for the sake of bashing it (because with RTE, they know nothing else....)

Couldn't agree more Dave.

Saskia

Wertz wrote: »

Again I ask the question, why have at least 2 contributors to this thread only signed up tonight to slate the show?
Polly Hill and deiselad22, I'm looking at you...

I didnt see it but there's some seriously dodgy posts in this thread that should be looked at by Mods. There's clearly one person with multiple names on this topic with an agenda against Mr Stubbs.

Basq

Saskia wrote: »

I didnt see it but there's some seriously dodgy posts in this thread that should be looked at by Mods. There's clearly one person with multiple names on this topic with an agenda against Mr Stubbs.

Then report the post (or posts) you wish to be examined.. that's what it's there for!

I think the majority of the posts so far are concise and well thought out.. there are a couple of "pure shoite" (etc) comments which add very little.

But some people actually gave detailed and honest opinions on what they liked and didn't like - feedback is welcome to be honest.

mulphisto

I didn't think it was the worst thing I'd ever seen. It had it's moments. To the creators, fair play to you, I'm sure we'll be hearing more from you. I think a lot of us know what's it like to give something a go and then have the rest of the world slag you off. The fact people were posting reviews\opinions three minutes into the show is a bit worrying. Kinda seemed like they were hoping they wouldn't like it.
B.T.W I'm not involved with the show!

dodgyme

I watched five minutes of it before deciding it was pure sh*te. It only took 5 mins, now that is efficiency.

the five minutes I watched had a lads balls hanging out and and the worst stereotyped interviews for a housemate I ever saw. What muck!

I mean if you have to resort to a lads balls hanging out in the first episode you are fairly screwed, (no pun intended)

kevmy

Deiselad22 wrote: »

Kevmy, that's nonsense. I turned it on with an open mind. I had heard nothing about it, didn't know if it was a comedy or drama like Bachelor's Walk.

The problem is - after the first episode - I still don't know what it is. Is it a comedy? There were no funny moments. I think it's just one of those specialist comedy show u might see late at night on BBC3. Thats why I dont wanna slate the individuals involved. There is a market (albeit small) for this type of show. But RTE should be aiming higher.

I thought there were a few funny moments and I don't think anyone else here would have mistaken it for a drama even if they didn't find it funny. And to be honest I can see where the guys where going with this even if they didn't hit the mark.

mulphisto wrote: »

I didn't think it was the worst thing I'd ever seen. It had it's moments. To the creators, fair play to you, I'm sure we'll be hearing more from you. I think a lot of us know what's it like to give something a go and then have the rest of the world slag you off. The fact people were posting reviews\opinions three minutes into the show is a bit worrying. Kinda seemed like they were hoping they wouldn't like it.
B.T.W I'm not involved with the show!

That's the thing though if this doesn't get picked up chances are RTE will ignore these writers and never give them a chance again

hot fuss

I usually give RTÉ it's dues for the amount of quality programming it has one. Tonight's Arts Live on Graham Linehan for instance is something I'm really interested in seeing. I thought Singlehanded was really well made and very enjoyable. Pure Mule was a great drama, as was Stardust. I could go on but basically just wanted to make the point that I'm not about to bash the Roaring Twenties for the sake of it..

BUT, in this instance I have got to say I thought the Roaring Twenties was possible the worst thing I've ever seen on TV. Student TV at it's worst. The script sounded like it was written by a 12 year old, the acting was so bad, with special emphasis on that Kevin character. I am just glad it's only a two part series and let that be the end of it. Utter tripe.

Elmo

This is not a replacement for Rodge and Podge, they have only made 2 episodes, and for a TV show 100,000 is very little.

Also AFAIK Makin Jake only has one episode.

hot fuss

Elmo wrote: »

Also AFAIK Makin Jake only has one episode.

Makin Jake is a five or six part series as far as I know.. at least five parts anyway.

betonit

I dont think theres anything wrong with people signing up to this forum just the bash the show. That was pathetic last night, people are venting their anger about it, and thats what forums are for. Everyone who ever joined a forum did so as they had someting to say. Dont discourage people for having something to say. What Im angry about is the English Class got the go ahead HOW!! and then they follow it with this stuff. Who gives the green light for these things. Im absolutely sure there is better than that out there and has been rejected by RTE.

Tim Robbins

AngelinaJolie wrote: »

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Lurker.
All comments are taken on board, positive and negative. Well, constructive comments, like the above, at least.
As for the Arcade Fire theme tune.. it was, kind of, original, when first muted! And it just seemed to fit. And I still think it does, even though, it's run the full gamut and now lives in clicheland.

I thought it was very poor.
1. Actors were stage actors, over emphasising facial expressions as if they were on stage not on a tv camera.
2. Editing was poor.
3. Script was poor. No depth, imagination.
4. Timing way off. A split second in comedy can make a huge difference. It can me very hard to get the timing right, very fast humour e.g. scrubs can work but it's very hard to do. Slower stuff, little pauses here and there is also an art that's very difficult.

Deiselad22

God – there are all sorts of accusations flying around now.

To clear up a couple of things, I signed up last night because I used to have a username and password, forgot password, couldn’t remember the email address I had signed up with, etc etc, and I thought it easier to sign up with a username and password that I would remember. Is there a rule on here that your first 100 posts have to be complimentary or else you’re open to suspicion?

I have no links to comedy shows on RTE or otherwise, no axe to grind.
And to be fair, all of my posts have been fair criticism. I don’t claim to know the secret to what makes great comedy, but I do know bad stuff when I see it – and I am firmly entitled to give an opinion as a viewer and a licence fee payer.

I will repeat what I said – there is a market and a timeslot for this. 10.55 Monday straight after the Panel is not it. I would rather see RTE develop a Channel 4-type comedy lab series for pilots, maybe at the weekends.

christo82

Does Ireland actually have any good TV actors in their twenties? Are they all hiding under a rock or something?