The View (RTÉ)

Fo Real

What a heap of pretentious shíte. Gather a couple of English graduates who have failed to obtain employment 20 years after leaving college; give them a fiver to watch a film; prod them with a stick to uphold a pseudo-intellectual discussion about it on TV for 20mins to the disdain of the viewing public. Ugh.

Of course, no discussion of The View would be complete without a mention of the presenter John Kelly's MASSIVE ears.

Rjd2

Yep it is quite tedious. Its a shame because Newsnight Review which it was obviously influenced by is quite watchful without dumbing itself down.

JonathanAnon

Is Nadine O'Regan on it at all this year.. I think she's lovely

Long Room Hubba

Rjd2 wrote: »

Yep it is quite tedious. Its a shame because Newsnight Review which it was obviously influenced by is quite watchful without dumbing itself down.

I think the problem with the View is not the format, which as you rightly say was cribbed from the BBC, and is anyway quite a traditional format for a discussion show. The problem is that they have entirely taken away the element of debate.

John Kelly introduces an item, then each guest in turn gives a monologue about it, and then we move on to the next item. Guests seldom engage each other in conversation, and certainly never disagree. It's like a dinner party for people who have just recovered from a heart attack. Even the presenter seems to radiate an anxiety that is astonishing in someone with two decades experience of broadcasting.

I like to defend RTE from the charge that their general approach is to (a) steal something from the BBC, and (b) remove everything that made it worth stealing. But this one is a tricky wicket.

RodVelvet

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Is Nadine O'Regan on it at all this year.. I think she's lovely

The lovely Nadine was on this weeks edition of The View. Strange top on her though. Always worth tuning in when she is on it.

Have to agree that I dislike the view aswell. Seems to stick too rigidly to an formal monologue format which doesn't seem to engage in any meaningful debate between John and the guests. What tends to transpire is a guest will go on one of these monologues while everyone else looks on in awe, disagreements rarely seem to take place.

dRNk SAnTA

I hate when reviewers spoil the plot of new movies and The View is awful for that.

Not that everyone on it is bad, but often enough there is one ridiculously pretentious arsehole who wants to tell us EXACTLY what they didn't like about the twist at the end of the movie.

Miles-e-piles

Liam Fay put it perfectly when reviewing The View in The Sunday Times Culture Section many years ago: "It's not so much a 'who's who' of Irish culture, as a 'who's that' ..."