Did Father Ted do us any favours ?

pedroThePirate

Does anyone share my belief that the "Father Ted" series,
uproariously funny though it was in places, did Ireland (and
particularly rural Ireland) no great service in the eyes of the
rest of the world ?

Chris

JustinDee

No, it was brilliant in almost every facet and showed that Irish people can actually take the p*ss out of Ireland with some clever and smart comedy as well as the slapstick.
It was just a laugh and hasn't done any harm to Ireland.

omahaid

Forgive the copy paste

omahaid wrote:

Clare looked well on the Fr Ted documentary last night I thought. I moved up here a few years ago so anytime a friend or relation comes to stay I always bring them on a tour of all the Fr Ted locations

Clareman

Did Fawlty Towers do hotels any favours? Did Bread do social welfare recipients any good?Did the DinnerLadies do canteen workers any good?

Probably not, but they are comedies, not documentaries and most people enjoy them because they can see something they can relate to and find funny. Also, if just 1 person was to come to Clare just to see the Father Ted house, the site of the over 70s 5 a side, the largest lingerie shop in Ireland, or any of the other sites, then it's a great thing.

Creamy Goodness

it's a comedy.

tim_holsters

Like the rest of the world gives a toss about Father Ted.

Creamy Goodness

tim_holsters wrote: »

Like the rest of the world gives a toss about Father Ted.

they obviously do, there were people in the documentary that had travelled from australia just to see the exterior of the house. if that's not caring i don't know what is...

tim_holsters

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

they obviously do, there were people in the documentary that had travelled from australia just to see the exterior of the house. if that's not caring i don't know what is...

A couple of strays from Australia does not constitute the rest of the world.

Battleflag

Can we not take the piss out of ourselves anymore without people fearing we are going to ruin the country's image? Sure the banks did that for us anyway.

Father Ted was made 15 years ago, I'm sure more people came to Clare because of it, rather than putting people off the county.

tim_holsters

exioot wrote: »

Can we not take the piss out of ourselves anymore without people fearing we are going to ruin the country's image? Sure the banks did that for us anyway.

Father Ted was made 15 years ago, I'm sure more people came to Clare because of it than putting people off the county.

This would have to be right.

Battleflag

Haha, should have read what I typed

Claregirl

I think the only place where Fr Ted would do any damage is in the States where they believe everything on TV is "reality" as another poster said the banking crisis has made us a laughing stock in the eyes of the rest of the world

A friend of mine was in Germany recently and when she went to the bar the bartender asked where she was from he laughed and siad ha you're fu*ked aren't ye?? Then said that'll be 8 billion euro for the round of drink!

CiaranMT

OP, worrying about Fr. Ted's portrayal of Ireland is like an American worrying about the portrayal of the U.S. in Trailer Park Boys.

JustinDee

Claregirl wrote: »

I think the only place where Fr Ted would do any damage is in the States where they believe everything on TV is "reality"

Jeez, don't hold back on the generalisms and misconceptions. Is this because of the Simpsons, Different Strokes and Family Guy? :rolleyes:

mikemac

Claregirl wrote: »

A friend of mine was in Germany recently and when she went to the bar the bartender asked where she was from he laughed and siad ha you're fu*ked aren't ye?? Then said that'll be 8 billion euro for the round of drink!

It's not hard to get a comeback against a German, there is no shortage of issues you can bring up to insult them

I hope the bartender was smiling when saying this

Stuxnet

rural ireland can look after itself just fine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeashF0XED4

"dont call me Len ya little prick, Im a bishop.." lol

john t

The world and most of out immigrant workers think we are a shambles/ nation full of stupid people..and fr ted funny too us does us no favors...

Latchy

feelingstressed wrote: »

It's not hard to get a comeback against a German, there is no shortage of issues you can bring up to insult them

Yeah but for gawds sake dont mention the war


Fr Ted did no harm to anybody and if anything showed that the Irish humor at it's best ie, Irish people taken the pee out of Irish people .......long before the banks screwed the country

jill_valentine

I think the world of Father Ted is just surreal enough that viewers understand it's not drawing entirely from reality, just an extreme version of something people might sorta recognise. Nobody sees League of Gentlemen or My Name Is Earl as entirely reflective of the places they're set, although there is a kernel of something in both.

Similarly, I think the humour is complex enough that it's not just a case of having a laugh at the thick paddies falling over. Think of the John & Mary stuff - rather than simply holding them up as a grotesque caricature you're supposed to laugh at, the show treats them with a kind of horror. You're supposed to be aghast at what they do to each other, and the fact that Ted and Dougal are completely incapable of noticing it is all part of the very black humour at work.

Latchy

The black humor in Ted re John & Mary is in a strange sort of way ,can also be a metaphor of sorts for indifference that we always had in Irish society ie,we know or have the feeling something is not right with thse people or this situation but we would rather not have to see it face up, close and personell ( and open a can of worms ) but I may be seeing to much into that .

Orizio

...why would a comedy about priests effect rural Ireland?

Shapey Fiend

Excellence in anything only reflects well on a place.

This is like saying The Rubberbandits are making Limerick look bad. They're doing precisely the opposite. It's good to have a place associated with something creative. And everybody loves comedy.

Clareman

As was pointed out in the Limerick City forum, in the past if you mention Limerick all you'd get back is "Stab City", now if you mention Limerick you get "That's Limerick citttttttttttttttayyyyy"

coffeelover

Father Ted was the best ever and nothing will top it

Claregirl

JustinDee wrote: »

Jeez, don't hold back on the generalisms and misconceptions. Is this because of the Simpsons, Different Strokes and Family Guy? :rolleyes:

Nope it's from a relative living and working there for three months and being complemented on how good her english was as she was from Oireland!

Benny Lava

Father Ted has shown how Irish people are insecure about how they are perceived and paranoid about having the piss taken out of them. Seriously, it's a comedy and a surreal one at that. A negative reaction to Father Ted shows us up far more than any episode ever could. Some people seem to just need something to ring into Joe Duffy about. Cop on and enjoy what is one of the greatest comedies this country has ever seen.

pappyodaniel

CiaranMT wrote: »

OP, worrying about Fr. Ted's portrayal of Ireland is like an American worrying about the portrayal of the U.S. in Trailer Park Boys.

That was a Canadian show.

JustinDee

Benny Lava wrote: »

Cop on and enjoy what is one of the greatest comedies this country has ever seen.

...and too cowardly to produce.

It was a class show. Great laughs, subtle digs and great characters every week.

JustinDee

pappyodaniel wrote: »

That was a Canadian show.

Father Ted was a British show.

CptSternn

CiaranMT wrote: »

OP, worrying about Fr. Ted's portrayal of Ireland is like an American worrying about the portrayal of the U.S. in Trailer Park Boys.

Trailer Park Boys takes place in Canada.

MyKeyG

Benny Lava wrote: »

Father Ted has shown how Irish people are insecure about how they are perceived and paranoid about having the piss taken out of them.

I don't think that's very fair. You're talking about a nation that was the butt of British comedy for years. O'Reilly the thick Irish builder in Fawlty Towers, The 'Paddy' painter and decorater in Only fools, Bernie the thick Irish Nurse in Katherine Tate to name just a few.

Yes these shows take the mick out of their own nationality as well but I think you walk a fine line when you pick on other nationalities. It doesn't bother me but I hesitate to judge the people it does. I thought Fawlty Towers was substandard contrived comedy anyway but I love Only fools.

Shapey Fiend

The writer of Only Fools & Horses was Irish. The whole thing might as well have been an Irish show because it was all based on his family experience. A lot of the stuff like the chandelier, poker scenes were stuff his father got up to back in the day.

seachto7

MyKeyG wrote: »

The 'Paddy' painter and decorater in Only fools,

Did people honestly get their knickers in a twist over this?? :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Laisurg

tim_holsters wrote: »

Like the rest of the world gives a toss about Father Ted.

Well its quite popular in england.

MyKeyG

seachto7 wrote: »

Did people honestly get their knickers in a twist over this?? :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Well in one episode Del accuses him of being a drunken Irish man to nick a decorating job. It's not a matter of people getting their knickers in a twist over one or two incidents. The Irish were casually stereotyped for years on British television. Like I said it's all the one to me, but people are entitled to their sensibilities. It's real to some people. The treatment my Uncle got when working in England was attrocious and his family had to watch 'the thick Paddy' on television to boot.

pedroThePirate

MyKeyG wrote: »

The Irish were casually stereotyped for years on British television. Like I said it's all the one to me, but people are entitled to their sensibilities. It's real to some people. The treatment my Uncle got when working in England was attrocious and his family had to watch 'the thick Paddy' on television to boot.

This is exactly the point I was making in my original post
and I'm glad to see a number of people agreeing with me.

Ireland has a lot still to do (Riverdance and Eurovision notwithstanding)
to offset this horrible stereotyped image. Does every other country in
Europe really believe that they have none of the dreadful Father Ted
characters in their own populations ? Sure, there are thick, barely
literate people in Ireland, but there are thick, barely literate people almost
everywhere you look, in any country.

The sooner Ireland stops propping up this image of the daft, bucolic
potato-munching rural peasant and begins showing the world that
this country produced the likes of Sean O'Casey, J P Donleavy, and
W B Yeats, the better it will be for all of us, native Irish and newcomer
alike.

Chris

JustinDee

MyKeyG wrote: »

Well in one episode Del accuses him of being a drunken Irish man to nick a decorating job. It's not a matter of people getting their knickers in a twist over one or two incidents. The Irish were casually stereotyped for years on British television. Like I said it's all the one to me, but people are entitled to their sensibilities. It's real to some people. The treatment my Uncle got when working in England was attrocious and his family had to watch 'the thick Paddy' on television to boot.

Oh peace...

So what? Are Yorkshire folk really as tight-fisted and simple as on Open All Hours or Last of the Summer Wine? East-end Londoners as narrow-minded dodgy and crafty as Only Fools & Horses or In Sickness and In Health? People in the Home Counties of England village idiots? Scousers all on the lurch as in Bread?

Playing the victim by proxy doesn't prove anything except thin skin.

Father Ted (and Fawlty Towers too) was clever, brilliantly acted and written. It was almost perfect actually.

JustinDee

pedroThePirate wrote: »

Does every other country in
Europe really believe that they have none of the dreadful Father Ted
characters in their own populations ?

No, they don't.

Off the top of my head and based on where I've ended up throughout my life, Kat & Kim in Australia, Borettslaget in Norway, Ramzor in Israel. The list of hilarious character driven comedies with "dreadful" characters in Britain and the States is endless.

professore

AAARGGGHHHH more political correctness gone mad. Father Ted is funny ... I for one am not insulted by it.

MyKeyG

JustinDee wrote: »

Oh peace...

So what? Are Yorkshire folk really as tight-fisted and simple as on Open All Hours or Last of the Summer Wine? East-end Londoners as narrow-minded dodgy and crafty as Only Fools & Horses or In Sickness and In Health? People in the Home Counties of England village idiots? Scousers all on the lurch as in Bread?

No that wasn't my point. I have no problem with people laughing at themselves in fact I think it shows great character. My point was that in the current climate you walk a fine line with nationalistic or race related comedy. One nation constantly showcasing another in a negative light using cliché gets bad press.

I was reading a Only fools and horses thread on IMDb a while back and someone was making the point that past episodes on GOLD have been butchered to remove terms like 'Paddy', 'Packie' and such. Again, like I said, I don't agree but I recognize that these are the times in which we live.

I wholeheartedly agree that we have been the butt of British comedy for years. The argument here is are we sustaining that belief with our own flavour of paddywhackery? To be honest I don't think so but I don't judge people who are sensitive to that idea.

JustinDee

MyKeyG wrote: »

No that wasn't my point. I have no problem with people laughing at themselves in fact I think it shows great character. My point was that in the current climate you walk a fine line with nationalistic or race related comedy. One nation constantly showcasing another in a negative light using cliché gets bad press

The shows I mentioned are sold worldwide. They are there for you and anyone else to laugh at.
The exact same way that Father Ted is. The only reason that it wasn't produced by an Irish company is because the national broadcaster opted against a show showing the clergy of the roman catholic church in Ireland in a bad light.
As it happened, the show was so popular that they just couldn't avoid the ratings that it gets whenever broadcast.
Its not race-related or nationalistic in the slightest, apart from the episode which ridiculed racism. It was written by two people who know fully well what they're talking about.

MyKeyG

Look Britain can make British shows showing the British up as the biggest idiots in the world and sell it to whoever they want, that's their prerogative. The argument is not if Fr Ted is Irish or not, I always considered the defining factors of the show being of Irish origin (writing, wit etc) making it Irish in my view. The argument is if show's like Father Ted and Killinaskully for example exacerbate a British cliché of the Irish that we've had to tolerate for years?

Maybe I'm playing devils advocate because I agree with you, yes political correctness has hit ridiculous hights but I just don't think the OP is being particularly unreasonable either. I mean off hand I can't think of a single Irish comedy that doesn't play off one cliché or another.

Glassheart

JustinDee wrote: »

The exact same way that Father Ted is. The only reason that it wasn't produced by an Irish company is because the national broadcaster opted against a show showing the clergy of the roman catholic church in Ireland in a bad light.
As it happened, the show was so popular that they just couldn't avoid the ratings that it gets whenever broadcast.
Its not race-related or nationalistic in the slightest, apart from the episode which ridiculed racism. It was written by two people who know fully well what they're talking about.

I'm pretty sure Matthews and Linehan bypassed RTE and went straight to Channel 4 with the idea for the show.

JustinDee

Glassheart wrote: »

I'm pretty sure Matthews and Linehan bypassed RTE and went straight to Channel 4 with the idea for the show.

Not according to an interview on BBC Radio 4's 'The Interview'.

Insect Overlord

MyKeyG wrote: »

No that wasn't my point. I have no problem with people laughing at themselves in fact I think it shows great character. My point was that in the current climate you walk a fine line with nationalistic or race related comedy. One nation constantly showcasing another in a negative light using cliché gets bad press.

I think its a great shame that some critics want to retroactively apply the standards of 2011 to the art of the 1990s. Any television viewer with an ounce of intelligence should know that comedy is built on a cornerstone of caricatures. They're not supposed to be realistic portrayals of an entire nation. Rather, certain traits that are true to life are exaggerated for entertainment. Understanding the context of a remark is very important, as this thread demonstrates. Applying the standards of a documentary to a comedy will always produce skewed results.

(I'm not aiming that at you, MyKeyG. Your post just prompted me to make the point.)

MyKeyG wrote: »

I was reading a Only fools and horses thread on IMDb a while back and someone was making the point that past episodes on GOLD have been butchered to remove terms like 'Paddy', 'Packie' and such. Again, like I said, I don't agree but I recognize that these are the times in which we live.

Once again, I think it's a pity that editors had to make such actions. Not because I enjoy laughing at minorities, of course, but because it suggests the viewing majority aren't capable of telling the difference between bigotry and good humour.

MyKeyG

Oh I know you weren't. In fact it's why I made the point as I agree. I was actually watching Only Fools the other day and they cut out a great gag. It was 'The Frogs legacy'. They go to Lisa's wedding and Rodney wants to know if the crockery set they got the happy couple was from the 'bankrupt chinkys'. Too much sacrificed by political correctness already.

Claregirl

MyKeyG wrote: »

The argument is if show's like Father Ted and Killinaskully for example exacerbate a British cliché of the Irish that we've had to tolerate for years?

Father Ted and Killinaskully should never be mentioned in the same sentence EVER!! :mad:

One is the funniest show ever made and the other a shining example of embarrasing paddywhackery ever broadcast. If the op started off this thread as Did Kilinaskully do us any favours? this would be a completely different thread

el dude

JustinDee wrote: »

Not according to an interview on BBC Radio 4's 'The Interview'.

well I've most definitely heard graham lineham himself say that the show was never offered to rte. because it just never entered their heads to do so as it would have been a waste of time.

Crasp

I for one would never have gone to Clare were it not for Father Ted. I toured the conty on my motorbike for 2 days during the summer just to get around to Ted's house, the cliffs etc etc.

I'm from Cork btw.

MyKeyG

el dude wrote: »

well I've most definitely heard graham lineham himself say that the show was never offered to rte. because it just never entered their heads to do so as it would have been a waste of time.

Yeah and I've heard him discount the myth that RTE turned him away.

MyKeyG

Crasp wrote: »

I toured the conty on my motorbike for 2 days

I think you need a better motorbike LOL.