Val Falvey TD

JP Liz

Ardal O’Hanlon stars as recently elected TD Val Falvey in this brand new six-part series written by Arthur Mathews (Father Ted) and Paul Woodfull (Stew). Through bumbling, the lack of sufficient political cunning, and sheer bad luck, Val stumbles from one crisis to another with his unwanted knack for constantly getting into trouble landing him in deep water with the party whip, his constituents and his family alike. The life of a rural TD is rarely glamorous and puts severe pressure on Val’s fragile ego. A tough job - but somebody’s got to do it.

will it be a hit or miss?

petes

I saw the advertisement and it looks promising. When does it start?

kwyjibot

It's on at 7:30 this Sunday

WolfForager

Isn't 7.30 RTE's usual reject time? Somewhat akin to "Killinaskully".

The Prophet

I'll reserve full judgement until I catch some of it first hand, but it sounds like it has some potential, if only for the pedigree of Matthews (and to a lesser degree, O'Hanlon) attached.

Which production company made it? A properly-run outfit with intelligent funny well-written copy and strong script editing goes a long ways methinks.

petes

WolfForager wrote: »

Isn't 7.30 RTE's usual reject time? Somewhat akin to "Killinaskully".

I actually like Killinaskully but I get what you are saying about the half seven time slot. There isn't much I'd watch on RTE at that time.

JonathanAnon

cant understand why they are doing this. Has the whole TD thing not been covered by Pat Shortt's character in Killinaskully.

Reginald P. DuM

Val Falvey TD is brought to us by Grand Pictures, the same people who gave us Paths to Freedom, Fergus's Wedding and the movie Wide Open Spaces, which was also scrpited by Mathews. WE shall reserve judgement until we see it. It may not be too bad, clearly it'll be better than Killinaskully, without even seeing it one can assume as much. Personaly I liked Paths to Freedom so I hope this will be good too.

baalthor

Interesting that Ardal's father is Rory O'Hanlon, veteran FF TD and former minister and Ceann Comhairle.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

WolfForager wrote: »

Isn't 7.30 RTE's usual reject time? Somewhat akin to "Killinaskully".

It would make sense to put it at that time if they're gonna show it on a Sunday, otherwise it'd be up against The X-Factor result show and I don't really see any other day RTÉ could put it on where it would have the potential to do well.

el diablo

I like the theme tune on the ads for Val Falvey. My new ring-tone, methinks.

Looks like it'll be a fairly true reflection of our local TDs.... incompetent gombeens the lot of them. :rolleyes:

An tSaoi

Very disappointed so far. That woman from Nightlive is in it, and she's not much better in this. No good lines so far. It feels more like Killinaskully than The Thick Of It (which is a bad thing). Still, early days. Let's give it a chance for Mathews' sake.

bertie4evr

Well this is a load of shite

chughes

I like it so far.

An tSaoi

I could see how the how Pearce bit ("Wasn't he photographed from the side 'cause he was crosseyed?") and how the Nazis made a good job of marketing might have seemed alright in the writer's room, but I don't think it's really translating to the screen very well.

Maybe it would have worked better as a three-wall, audience sitcom?

The Prophet

It would be a great comedy... if only it had a few bellylaughs in it.

Quite a poor first half episode so far.

alan4cult

This is a real let down.

An tSaoi

There was one line that I quite liked so far: "It's always something small that gets you in the end. Nixon; a tape. Kennedy; a bullet." Apart from that, underwhelming.

The whole swimming caps and flippers bartering point was lame. Edit: And what do you know, he fell off his bike. Hilarity in motion.

omahaid

This is ****e alright. Phew, it's over now.

Proxy

Yeah, not sure about this at all. I'll give it another look next week...

thecornerboy

What an utterly pointless, toothless and unamusing show. The RTE comedy curse strikes again. Pathetic.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Pretty underwhelming, but will give it one more chance next week.

alan4cult

Proxy wrote: »

Yeah, not sure about this at all. I'll give it another look next week...

Ya same. At least I won't be expecting much then.

An tSaoi

Yeah, I suppose it's only fair we give it another chance, However, they'd really want to up the anté if they want to keep me tuning in.

twincamman

not funny at all

Jack Sheehan

I enjoyed it. It wasn't mind blowing but it was enjoyable.

The Prophet

There should be 4 series of it 'to give it a chance'. I jest, of course.



Pretty underwhelming stuff. There were one or two underplayed lines that were decent, but by-and-large it was poor sitcom entertainment.

Arthur Mathews has spilt comedy pie all over his shirt.

MementoMori

Pretty weak.

Very little in the way of laughs and a very poor story overall.

mike65

The first series of Blackadder didn't really work.

Melange

Stilted, forced and generally lacking in properly funny moments. It's a real shame, as so much could be done with the character of the architypal rural TD.

Proxy

Is Killinaskully on tonight?