Clinic v Fair City

Meeja Ireland

The ratings for the first week of The Clinic have gone up on Aertel. It had 435,000 viewers, which seems pretty good. It's better than any episode of Eastenders, for example.

61,000 behind Fair City, though.

I presume it will pick up ground as the season heats up. As someone pointed out on the Clinic thread, the first episode tends to be something of a catch-up on the events of the previous season. That's not the greatest choice dramatically, but it might mean that the viewing figures for week one are unrepresentative.

SOUTH PAW

I don't think we can really compare the two shows. The Clinic, I believe, has a much bigger budget than Fair City and I assume that means the actors are better paid aswell. The Clinic actors don't work as long or as often and I've never seen any of the Clinic stars driving a "taxi" (Deegan in fair city);)

I actually felt really embarrassed for him and the other fair city actors when he said that, imo compared to the English soaps the Irish actors are poorly thought of by RTE, by showing Eastenders their adding to the English's soap-stars already heafty wage packets.

I'm not sure but I think a production company makes The Clinic and sells it to RTE(could be wrong)

Meeja Ireland

SOUTH PAW wrote: »

I don't think we can really compare the two shows. The Clinic, I believe, has a much bigger budget than Fair City and I assume that means the actors are better paid aswell. The Clinic actors don't work as long or as often and I've never seen any of the Clinic stars driving a "taxi" (Deegan in fair city);)

I actually felt really embarrassed for him and the other fair city actors when he said that, imo compared to the English soaps the Irish actors are poorly thought of by RTE, by showing Eastenders their adding to the English's soap-stars already heafty wage packets.

I'm not sure but I think a production company makes The Clinic and sells it to RTE(could be wrong)

No, you're right. It's made by Parallel Productions.

I think it's true that the Fair City actors don't get stellar amounts of money. I don't think that's going to change any time soon, but it would be nice to see them get more respect for what they do. The old mentality that the UK version of everything is better seems to thrive in some places. The way they fawn over the British soap stars is unreal. Even the RTE Guide seems to have a love affair with Coronation Street.

Compared to making a living in theatre, however, even Fair City must look like Hugh Hefner's gold-plated ballscratcher.

SOUTH PAW

Meeja Ireland wrote: »

The old mentality that the UK version of everything is better seems to thrive in some places. The way they fawn over the British soap stars is unreal. Even the RTE Guide seems to have a love affair with Coronation Streeet

100% agree Meeja! When I see the RTE guide all over the Corrie stars it makes me sick!! RTE don't even show it ffs!:eek: TV3 do and their so bloody petty they don't even review Fair City on their morning show soap review

angel01

I don't watch the clinic so it will always be Fair City for me

SOUTH PAW

angel01 wrote: »

I don't watch the clinic so it will always be Fair City for me

+1 angel01:D
Only watched a couple of the very first episodes and couldn't get into it.

Meeja Ireland

SOUTH PAW wrote: »

TV3 do and their so bloody petty they don't even review Fair City on their morning show soap review

That is incredibly petty, isn't it? You'd wonder what they're hoping to achieve.

I presume the idea is that they don't want to advertise their opponent's product, but surely they have more to gain by ackowledging what people are watching. A soap review that leaves out the most popular soap is just not doing its job properly. They leave out Ros na Run too, don't they?

It makes them look childish.

SOUTH PAW

Meeja Ireland wrote: »

That is incredibly petty, isn't it? You'd wonder what they're hoping to achieve.

I presume the idea is that they don't want to advertise their opponent's product, but surely they have more to gain by ackowledging what people are watching. A soap review that leaves out the most popular soap is just not doing its job properly. They leave out Ros na Run too, don't they?

It makes them look childish.

Agree completely, just reflects the caliber of people involved with it! Not sure about Ros na Run thought

Epicurus

Meeja Ireland wrote: »

That is incredibly petty, isn't it? You'd wonder what they're hoping to achieve.

I presume the idea is that they don't want to advertise their opponent's product, but surely they have more to gain by ackowledging what people are watching. A soap review that leaves out the most popular soap is just not doing its job properly. They leave out Ros na Run too, don't they?

It makes them look childish.

When Hollyoaks was on TV3 there a while back, i dont think RTE previewed it on their Soap previews like the Afternoon Show.

Eddie_1980

Fair City for me. I detest The Clinic.

Meeja Ireland

Epicurus wrote: »

When Hollyoaks was on TV3 there a while back, i dont think RTE previewed it on their Soap previews like the Afternoon Show.

That's more to do with its narrower appeal as a programme, surely? I don't know what the figures are, but it can't be as popular as Coronation Street - which they do preview.

Epicurus

Meeja Ireland wrote: »

That's more to do with its narrower appeal as a programme, surely? I don't know what the figures are, but it can't be as popular as Coronation Street - which they do preview.

I dont know what the figures are Meeja Ireland, i never watched it when i was in Ireland, but in college here it seems to be the soap they all watch

Meeja Ireland

Epicurus wrote: »

I dont know what the figures are Meeja Ireland, i never watched it when i was in Ireland, but in college here it seems to be the soap they all watch

I must give it a look. I always thought it was a bit like a lads mag, with lots of teenage hotties strutting around doing nothing much. But I may be completely wrong about that.

I hope college is going well. Have you found a source of Fair City episodes yet? I think it's terrible that people can't use the RTE Player outside Ireland.

Epicurus

Meeja Ireland wrote: »

I must give it a look. I always thought it was a bit like a lads mag, with lots of teenage hotties strutting around doing nothing much. But I may be completely wrong about that.

I hope college is going well. Have you found a source of Fair City episodes yet? I think it's terrible that people can't use the RTE Player outside Ireland.

It could well be, i havent seen it here either. Fair City keeps me occupied enough. Ya i can see it if im online when its on at eight.

angel01

I don't like hollyoaks either, never got into that

Ann22

I know 'Fair City' has great storylines but I don't watch it, I watch 'The Clinic' for the simple reason that it's only on once a week. I'd never get to watch every episode of 'Fair City' 'cos it's on so often. I just about manage to keep up with 'Corrie' and only see the 'Eastenders' weekend omnibus.
'The Clinic' clearly has a bigger budget, I see Victoria Smurfit seems to have joined the cast and John Kavanagh was in it the other week. I tape in on Sunday night and curl up on the sofa to watch it in peace Monday mornings 'cos it's my day off:).

Whiskey Devil

Hollyoaks is a load of rubbish. Complete knobs behind that. :mad:

guybague

The Clinic is being terminated. As one critic in the Turbine remarked years ago - the show was always like the entire script had been aestheticized. it's time it was put out of its misery. The approach of dragging in the likes of Smurfit and Doody to appeal to the Irish Daily Mail/RIP magazine set was a major financial mistake. Still it will free up Leigh Arnold to aim for higher before Xmas - like a panto.

Link: http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/clinic-axed-over-slump-in-ratings-claims-rte-1952840.html

guybague

According to today's Irish Daily Mail, there is a possibility of Tv3 picking up the Clinic, so all is not lost. Harry Browne of DIT also wrote a piece about it in the same issue (there is no online version of that newspaper).

The Indo, however, also has the story: http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/tv3-wants-to-take-over-axed-drama-the-clinic-1953717.html