Brian Cowen skit on RTE's Frontline

RATM

Did anyone see this?

Its the satire piece on the Frontline tonight.
http://www.rte.ie/news/thefrontline/

It was shown at the end of RTE's the Frontline tonight. It contrasts Cowen as a drunken leader alongside Boris Yeltsin. The closing line is someone singing 'Dirty Old Cowen' to the tune of Dirty Old Town.

Quite a brazen attack on Cowen and FF by RTE and Im frankly surprised that Pat Kenny okayed this. Still found it hilarious though

I wonder how the FF press office will play this in the morning after the last debacle with RTE over showing the naked art of him in the gallery.

Wolfe Tone

I think it destroyed The Frontlines credibility completely. I thought it was totally unsuitable and should not have aired. A brazen attack on the government, disgraceful.



It was funny though, but it had no place on a serious political show.

Liam Byrne

Thought the end of it was relatively funny; the rest of it was far too true to be even considered satirical.

paddyland

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

I think it destroyed The Frontlines credibility completely. I thought it was totally unsuitable and should not have aired. A brazen attack on the government, disgraceful.



It was funny though, but it had no place on a serious political show.

I am anti FF, I despise Cowen, I think he deserves all the approbrium he gets for treating the people of this country like imbeciles, and for his part in ruining a generation of Irish people.

However, I do agree that the Frontline is not the place for this, I have always felt that the rather contrived skits were at odds with the general theme of the show, and in most cases, were rather strange and unfunny.

The only good Cowen has done in the past three years is to undermine the reputation of his own party, and leave it wide open to richly deserved criticism. The longer he stays, the more damage is done to FF, and we wouldn't be lucky enough for him to last long enough to see the FF party dead and buried for good.

Shea O'Meara

It's a cheap shot. I'm suprised RTE allowed it.....unless FFail were okay with it...hmmm....operation blame it on Brian seems to be in full effect.

nesf

I felt it was very much out of place on a show that's supposed to be a neutral forum for debate. I'm all for political satire, to the point that I wish RTE had a specific show of it every so often, but it's important to separate what's supposed to be serious debate from satire and light entertainment*.


*That said it's quite difficult to construe The Frontline as a serious debate program it often descends to populist crap and only rarely offers serious analysis of current issues.

Poly

I think Kenny is a bit peeved at being blamed for Cowen's problems, FF were criticising him for broadcasting Coveney's comment.
This is Kenny getting a dig back.

ei.sdraob

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Thought the end of it was relatively funny; the rest of it was far too true to be even considered satirical.

Same

do we live in a failed state were we cant even pull the piss at our leaders (who have no such reservations)?

its the media's job to turn thumbscrews on the political parties

and IMHO they should have been doing this many years ago

the media was as much asleep on the wheel as our government, who are now rapidly becoming an international embarrassment, never mind their rock bottom reputation in this country

danbohan

Shea O'Meara wrote: »

It's a cheap shot. I'm suprised RTE allowed it.....unless FFail were okay with it...hmmm....operation blame it on Brian seems to be in full effect.

the scariest/funniest thing on frontline is that we have minsters like conor lenighan in this country , is it any wonder we are fjuked

alnolan

RATM wrote: »

Did anyone see this?

Its the satire piece on the Frontline tonight.
http://www.rte.ie/news/thefrontline/

It was shown at the end of RTE's the Frontline tonight. It contrasts Cowen as a drunken leader alongside Boris Yeltsin. The closing line is someone singing 'Dirty Old Cowen' to the tune of Dirty Old Town.

Quite a brazen attack on Cowen and FF by RTE and Im frankly surprised that Pat Kenny okayed this. Still found it hilarious though

I wonder how the FF press office will play this in the morning after the last debacle with RTE over showing the naked art of him in the gallery.

High res version here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh7bP1phKUM

I loved it.

Nijmegen

I think that having a skit at the end of Frontline is okay (though more of them could be funny!). The skit last night was really laying a dig into Fianna Fail and Brian Cowen, but in that sense I think it completely encapsulated the mood of the country, as did the audience.

There were many crank ideas running around, but the general feeling of anger at the government and at Fianna Fail was something everyone could agree on.

Even Conor Lenihan was moved to laughter when the young girls on FAS and PLC courses were asked if they were in any political organisation, and they replied "No... And not Fianna Fail for sure!"

The entire government defence at this stage is "We're in this mess, now entrust us to get us out of it!"

Red Alert

I think the skits are funny, and I certainly don't think that Cowen should be excluded from them.

I do worry though that they could become a stick that FF or its cronies in the RTE board could use to seriously muzzle the frontline in general.

meditraitor

I thought it was funny, can't see the harm either.

Lenihen is an embarrasment but worst of all he is indictative of many FF/FG family business politicians in Ireland! any bets he gets back in next election?

Casillas

I saw that skit last night, read the comments here and on politics.ie but can't believe that there is no real mention of it in the media. Where did this come from, was it authorised by RTE? What happened to unbiased, objective criticism of government policy?

meditraitor

Casillas wrote: »

What happened to unbiased, objective criticism of government policy?

What an odd concept?

Liam Byrne

Casillas wrote: »

I saw that skit last night, read the comments here and on politics.ie but can't believe that there is no real mention of it in the media. Where did this come from, was it authorised by RTE? What happened to unbiased, objective criticism of government policy?

What percentage of the skit wasn't factually true?

Shea O'Meara

The sketch was passable, as funny, or almost as the stuff making the rounds on the web. I didn't think it was any use to be honest, (obvious Carlsberg quip been done to death, Dirty aul' town/Cowen). Also it seemed a little laboured in the 'funnier last week' stakes.

Throwning a skit at the end of a serious debate show is a bad idea and cheapens anything of note that went before it.
Where are the sketches showing the banks, Bertie laughing at us?
I believe this is a FFail backed or 'turned a blind eye to' sketch to make the last few years about a gombeen getting drunk and having to quit politics.
The Ivor mention was another point, ('thanks Brian!') where's Bertie in this mention of Ivor? I believe they are using Cowen as a patsy. Although he should in the least apologise to the Irish people and retire, I fear FFail are going to use the drunk on air issue to hang Cowen, leaving the way open for a new FFail having 'cleaned house'. It's a win win for FFail. Either public backlash against the opposition or 'It was all Cowen!'.

We need a proper political satire show along the lines of Hall's Pictorial Weekly' although the RTE gene pool is short on wit and they hate going outside into the real world lest the common folk come on board.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzu1ToAxdFk

Happyman42

I thought it really wrong of that particular programme to be transmitting that sketch. I'm sure the Fianna Fail establishment are delighted that the electorate are swallowing the Cowen as the 'drunken evil ringmaster' line. They are in 'Party' damage limitation mode now ad won't be bothered about sarcrificing individuals, so they won't be bothered by this. Expect the new leader to be ushered in proclaiming blame on Cowen and a pristine new ethos. Oh were have we heard all that before and the hook line and sinker will be swallowed again. Sad

Mrmoe

The skit would be absolutely brilliant if it was used appropriately. I don't think this suits the Frontline. It would have been much better in a programme dedicated entirely to political satire.

Darsad

It is such a sad and frustrating situation that we are left with this arrogant slob because FF are afraid a new Taoiseach would not be elceted and thus force a GE !

Bottle_of_Smoke

Haven;'t seen it, sounds like it should be on apres match, after the panel or something like that. Don't think it should be on attached to the frontline no matter how much I dislike FF.

Any commentary referring to it in newspapers?

RATM

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Haven;'t seen it, sounds like it should be on apres match, after the panel or something like that. Don't think it should be on attached to the frontline no matter how much I dislike FF.

Any commentary referring to it in newspapers?

No commentary I saw anyway which surprised me.

Maybe the FF press office have learnt their lesson after the Cowen painting debacle and know well that now is a dreadful time to pick a fight with a large media organisation, whether you fund them or not.

JonathanAnon

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

I think it destroyed The Frontlines credibility completely. I thought it was totally unsuitable and should not have aired.

I agree.. They tried these sketches last year and they didnt work.. Juvenile LCD stuff, not much better than Killinaskully.