Trivia - RTÉ Comedy Drama

Das Kitty

Got word of this today via my friend's blog:

http://tvsales.rte.ie/autumn/content/entertainment/trivia.html

This new RTÉ comedy-drama series explores the relationships between the four members of a table quiz team in a small town in Monaghan as they close in on victory for 52 consecutive weeks. David Pearse plays Lawrence, the overly-obsessed captain; Keith McErlean is his long-suffering best friend Adam; Olivia Caffrey is Cathy Boyle, who has feelings for Adam who is also her boss and Janet Moran plays the star recruit Molly who opens Lawrence's eyes to the world. Aoibhinn McGinnity plays Tara, the quiz master/MC.

Starts February 3rd

It would be nice for it to be good, we'll see!

JonathanAnon

It's very hard to have any optimism when you hear the words RTE and comedy in the same sentence.. But hopefully they can do something better than Val Falvey, Mattie, Killinaskully, The English Teacher etc etc.... exceptionally poor efforts..

JP Liz V1

The actor who plays Shane on Raw is also the lead in this

grandpictures

Hi,

Trivia is a six part TV series for prime time RTE 1 about the captain of a pub quiz team – a man who knows it all but hasn’t learned a thing. It's a funny and charming comedy about a belated male coming-of-age and his thirty-something friends coping with modern life in a small town.

Just in case you're looking for more information, check out the Trivia Facebook page...http://www.facebook.com/pages/Trivia/116013445103800

Regards,
Grand Pictures

Also Starring LeVar Burton

It sounds like an interesting premise, so hopefully it'll work...

mikom

Well it's got the pickarooney in it, so that's a good start.

Nolanger

Starring Bonad from Zonad!

JonathanAnon

What do ye reckon lads, if the funniest bits were shown in the promo (as they usually are) it doesn't bode well.. nevertheless I am prepared to watch the full first episode, and be extremely cynical and gratuitously critical in my own inimitably curmudgeonly way ...

Mr E

I have it set to sky+ for weekend viewing. Will be reading this thread later with interest.

brian_t

I'll certainly watch the first episode. It is repeated on Saturday after The Saturday Night Show at 11.15pm. A lot of this series was filmed around Celbridge and in the old Setanta House hotel.

ArtSmart

yeah, I'll sacrifice a Family Guy re-run. but it better be good....

Edit i see rte are trying an extra prime time thingy at same time as vinny. he he. de gloves is off across the board.

445279.ie

It's on the break now and I haven't laughed once

ArtSmart

Not too bad. more comedy drama than sitcom. ending a bit weak there - the shark story with added music. main actor very good. we'll see...

JonathanAnon

That's the little girl from the soup ad... She's good in fairness.

Acting is solid enough, but it's not particularly funny...

JonathanAnon

ArtSmart wrote: »

Not too bad. more comedy drama than sitcom. ending a bit weak there - the shark story with added music. main actor very good. we'll see...

Agree on that story. McErlean is excellent in this.. Not mad on the Laurence guy, he looks more like a provo than a quiz buff..

amdublin

It's not funny.
The questions are way too easy.
Aside from that it is a good drama.

amdublin

JonathanAnon wrote: »

That's the little girl from the soup ad... She's good in fairness.

Yes I like her in that ad.

For some reason she reminds me of Elaine Cassidy

ArtSmart

yeah. drama with vague moments of comedy. still, nice pace, not too cringy, watchable.

445279.ie

I'll give it another shot next week and see how it goes.

Hopefully we'll get our comedy fix on Vincent Browne in a while

YohanCabeye7

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Agree on that story. McErlean is excellent in this.. Not mad on the Laurence guy, he looks more like a provo than a quiz buff..

McErlean/the bar owner, plays the biggest bore of a charcter...

I thought Laurence and the Chef were good, for the most part, but the women made me cringe a little.

Happyman42

Well set up and competent. Worth another watch.

ArtSmart

Happyman42 wrote: »

Well set up and competent. Worth another watch.

yeah, competent is the word. pretty good direction/two main male char good actors. will watch next week anyway

Dan Chipowski

I liked it, and thought that Laurence was the stand out character.

Wasn't mad on the main female character or actress.

Enjoyable overall though

Diabhal Beag

Thought it was alright on a story point of view but it wasn't funny at all. Hope it will be better next week.

The made Lawrence out to just be a ****. Nothing funny about him or any other characters really.

Happyman42

I think the intention was to be wry rather than out and out funny tbf.

mickdw

How many of the actors were in bachelors walk?

Rorkimaru

mickdw wrote: »

How many of the actors were in bachelors walk?

Well RTE doesn't really like new blood so....

I thought it was quite bland. it was professionally delivered but I found it wearing thin before the end of the episode. Given that it's a pilot I'll give them another one or two shots as they had to set the scene but I didn't really find it entertaining.

There were solid performances all round but nothing stand out for me. There's a long list of potential people to blame for this so I'm going to reserve final judgment but it wasn't a good first impression.

FouxDaFaFa

It wasn't bad for RTE (I've come to have low expectations). Not quite sure how they'll get 6 episodes out of it though, I think one or two tight eps would suffice. I thought the shark thing was pointless. It stood out a mile and kind of disrupted the flow of things. Unnecessary.

Rorkimaru

I gave it another watch on the player (RTE's best move IMO, only way they could improve on it would be going full channel 4 and putting all their shows on youtube) and I have to say it got a bit worse the second time when I was really scrutinizing it.

That said, I can't complain because RTE is doing what I love to see in that they are commissioning experimental or risky shows for short 6ep runs of 20min episodes. This format delivered things like the inbetweeners and Peep Show and hopefully they will stick to the format more.

These days it's very possible to produce a run like that for less than 100k so it'd be good to see more of the like than the 50 odd percent of re-runs that they're known for.

While I'm still not sold on this show it could be the start of RTE going in a better direction which I'm all for.

thesandeman

Not impressed Im afraid :-(
Give me Mrs Brown any day.
Best bit I thought was the end when Laurence? was trying to be nice but fecked up. Also a bit confusing watching McElean on this while he is also doing RAW. Bit like Phil in The Bill on RTE at the moment also on Eastenders.
Ill give it another go next week though.

Shane10

i thought it wasnt bad at all, few funny moments and i'll watch it next week. always find McErlean interesting to watch even though i dont really watch Raw. the quiz buff guy was in batchelors walk aswell in a few episodes if i remember, funny enough. all in all not bad.

wyndham

It was watchable, just about. Dragged a bit. McErlean is a talent.

podge018

I enjoyed it, wish I didn't though as I really want to say it's the only programme I know which jumped the shark in it's first episode.

Elmo

Wow a kind of a good thread on RTÉ comedy.

It is from the producers of "Paths To Freedom". I wasn't impressed by the promo but I will take a look on the player at some stage.

Ash.J.Williams

just caught the last 10 mins, was it all building up to that anticlimax awkward bit at the end or is there more to it?

grandpictures

You can see the whole episode on the RTE Player...
http://boards.ie/tre/2056157974

Skid

Not bad, I'll probably watch next week. Don't know why they billed it as a comedy.

Hope the pace picks up in the second episode.

SprostonGreen

I could only stick 15 minutes of it, just not for me.

Das Kitty

Hmm. First episode wasn't the best IMO. Bit too much Basil Exposition going on. Hope it's settled in a bit better next week.

ianrush

The whole episode felt so low key, it was like it was afraid to be caught trying to be funny at times. Not terrrible, just not enough happening in it.

mickdw

I watched it a second time and thought it was better. Might be decent as it goes along.

EKRIUQ

Slow enough first episode, but has poential. Don't know why its billed as a comedy!

Duckworth_Luas

Liked that.

Hesh's Umpire

First episode of any new series is always a bit slow as characters have to be developed. Hope second episode picks it up a bit. I like it but wasn't really thinking of it as a "comedy".

Mongarra

Not a bad start but I thought Laurence (Lawrence?) was a bit OTT as the real nerd. Is there anyone that introverted and single-minded about so little?

itsbillythehick

I think on the whole it's a cozy little show, gently funny with well drawn characters and great tone.

The weak link I have to say is McErlean. It's not that he's a bad actor, merely htat he's miscast. The character is clearly supposed to be a devillishly charming heart-throb, but McErlean's just has too polite a demeanor to sell it. I think he's still in Shane-from-Raw mode. They should have found someone with a bit more of a twinkle in his eye.

Writing's great though.

Molly007

I liked it. I loved Batchelors Walk and it's in the same vein. So I'll watch it next week anyway for def.

JonathanAnon

Second episode on tonight.. about to start now..

thesandeman

Seems to be a bit better this week. Still not really a comedy though.
RTE seem to have a bit of a problem with categorising their programmes.

Sardonicat

No.

Just, no.

JonathanAnon

Slightly unbelievable that she would let him take her and her child out after their second meeting... especially given what happened on the first night.

That's Michelle Doherty isnt it..