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?

blond45

what a load of twat..first impression is not good at all..

An tSaoi

mike65 wrote: »

The first series of Blackadder didn't really work.

You could use that line on any show that had a poor first series but it wouldn't make it true. Should they keep recommissioning every bad sitcom on the off-chance that it might get better next year?

Remember, BlackAdder had a partial change of writing staff (and a drastic change of scope and characters) for the second series, so it's not a typical case.

Creamy Goodness

Not even one laugh throughout, I thought it was awful.

mike65

Y'know I really must remember to use the next time

regi

Awful

I was really hoping for something but couldn't wait for it to be over.

An tSaoi

Sorry Mike, I didn't see the sarcasm.

Mossy Monk

I only had time to watch the first 5 minutes or so. I enjoyed what I saw. I will check it out on the RTÉ Player tomorrow.

johnfunk

I was really looking forward to this show as i know some of the people involved in its production, but what a bloody let down, its forced, unfunny and a bit boring. Who commissions this drivel? I know its easy to jump on the band wagon and slag off everything RTE produces but yet again they fail to deliver a comedy containing a few laughs. it really makes me glad that I don't pay the licence fee

currythis

I thought it was decent enough,wasn't laugh out loud funny but it had a few decent moments,it wasn't cringe worthingly bad anyway which is a good achievement for a RTE comedy.
I'll give it a few more show's before I make my mind up on it though.

Feeky Magee

The premise has so much potential, especially when O'Hanlon and Matthews are involved.

But jaysus that was piss poor. A couple of chuckles were about as far as it got, most of it reminded me of the latter series of Killinaskully, cringing and quite boring. I'll be giving it another go next week, not too confident though.

RTE is crying out for a comedy along the lines of 'Peep Show'...

JerryHandbag

I sniggered....twice. Thats about it. Could've been worse but could've been an awful lot better.

LOTTOWINNER

I've being looking forward to this all week, very disappointed:(, but hopefully it will improve.
I thought Patrick McDonnell was funny, even though he wasn't on for very long.

Aidric

I can think of nothing positive to say about this first episode so I won't.

The Prophet

I thought it was decent enough,wasn't laugh out loud funny but it had a few decent moments,it wasn't cringe worthingly bad anyway which is a good achievement for a RTE comedy.
I'll give it a few more show's before I make my mind up on it though.

I truly was expecting an apologistic post along these lines. But, wow, to hit all the defence cliches so accurately is startling!





Mediocrity really is the new excellence.

Jack Sheehan

The Prophet wrote: »

I truly was expecting an apologistic post along these lines. But, wow, to hit all the defence cliches so accurately is startling!





Mediocrity really is the new excellence.

eh, just because he didnt completely denounce it? The IT crowd's first few episodes were cac, as were blackadder's. Theres potential there, and theres nothing wrong with giving it a good shot before condemning it.

The Prophet

Jack Sheehan wrote: »

eh, just because he didnt completely denounce it?

No. Not because of that.

Meeja Ireland

I think this is very promising. Certainly it takes a few wrong turns. I could do without the twee near-surrealism of swimming flippers and Eurovision tickets. Was there a single viewer who didn't know that the bike was going into the river? And there is too much self-conscious cutesiness (characters oh-so-rurally saying baldy instead of bald, etc).

But some of the writing is sharp. I actually liked the Nazi/Pearse joke. I also think the supporting roles are very strong. Enda Oates was measured, instead of sending it up, and Owen Roe as the sidekick was just terrific. And I'd tune in again for the theme song alone.

I'm looking forward to the next episode, basically. I'd call that a victory.

johnfunk

Surely the first episode should engage an audience so that they come back and watch the rest of the run.

CliffHuxtabel

Its a stinker...straight to the wheelie bin for Val Falvey TD.

Ardal O'Hanlon is crap in this

deckydunbar

Not as bad as most Irish comedy lately. But not as good as 95% of UK sitcoms lately. RTE. WE NEED A DECENT SITCOM. CONTEMPORARY. Think Peep Show. Think Pulling. Think Inbetweeners. Think The Smoking Room. Think.

Back to Val. Liked Ardal more than anyone else in it. His sidekick and swimming cap lad are the usual RTE actors, in everything. We need new COMEDY talent. It's too Kilinaskully for my tastes. In the current climate it missed more open goals than Ireland the other night. Could do with a "Thick of It" over here with NAMA and all that.

Two or three clever lines, including the Nazi one. I once read that some of the biggest sitcom cliches are looking after dogs and falling off bikes...

Would give it one more chance but can't ever see myself ordering the box set off Amazon.