RTE Genealogy Roadshow

rafferr

RTE have a new Genealogy programme starting this Sunday @ 6:30, it is called the Genealogy Roadshow. Here is the blurb from the RTE website:

'The Roadshow's crack historical and genealogical team toured the country to help people verify their old family tales and hunches. Over the course of four episodes The Genealogy Roadshow has uncovered extraordinary stories on the branches of the Irish public's family trees and gives advice on how to track down your own family history.'

http://www.rte.ie/tv/genealogyroadshow/index.html

It will be interesting to see if it is any good, RTE productions have been very poor over the last few years apart from their WDYTYA series.

chughes

I'll be watching this programme and I also watch WDYTYA but, as someone who is tracing my own family history, it's a bit annoying when people can walk into a room and some expert just happens to have found family details in a book.

For us ordinary amateur genealogists, it just doesn't work like that. It will be interesting to see if this new programme is any different.

Jellybaby1

chughes wrote: »

I'll be watching this programme and I also watch WDYTYA but, as someone who is tracing my own family history, it's a bit annoying when people can walk into a room and some expert just happens to have found family details in a book.

For us ordinary amateur genealogists, it just doesn't work like that. It will be interesting to see if this new programme is any different.

The WDUTYA programme worked on RTE as it had already been perfected by the BBC. Thankfully RTE didn't stray from that. We all know that the whole story has been researched long before the programme starts filming so it has to be professional genealogists who are involved. It will be interesting to find out their names and maybe they'd give me the info I need to get past my brick wall!! Still I love WDUTYA but I remember when it started first, I believe they researched ordinary peoples trees but then found the celebrity element attracted more interest.

pinkypinky

Yes, I'm looking forward to watching this. I know someone's father was on it. He'd already been researching for years and had to act surprised when the pro genealogists turned up something he already had! Frankly, I'm not sure what he expected they might turn up, considering how long and in depth he'd be researching on his own.

Jellybaby1

This is my tuppence-ha’penny worth:

• Some of the people obviously knew quite a lot already
• Mr Mooney was somewhat disrespectful in my view
• As advertised, it was a ‘show’ and not a ‘programme’, but the subject deserved better treatment
• Too many stories delivered at too fast a pace
• My personal preference would be for a slower delivery, but that’s just me
• No instructions on how to search records – but maybe in a later programme perhaps?
• It was nice to put a face to the name of Jim Herlihy as I have referred to his books from time to time
• For the size of the building they were in, why put a TV screen sitting on a desk/table and then sit the people at the same desk/table? Too tight.
• I hope Turtle Bunbury will tell us something about his unusual name
• I kept waiting for someone to say ‘ta-daaa’!!

I wanted to enjoy it but I’m afraid I didn’t and I’m sorry about that. I hope for better next week.

Corsendonk

pinkypinky wrote: »

Yes, I'm looking forward to watching this. I know someone's father was on it. He'd already been researching for years and had to act surprised when the pro genealogists turned up something he already had! Frankly, I'm not sure what he expected they might turn up, considering how long and in depth he'd be researching on his own.

Was he the fellow running up the stairs with the bundle of notes in his hand with the family tree on the cover? Frankly I think most of the people taking part have done comprehensive research on their family trees. The show presents a nice opportunity for these people to reveal there interesting family history to the world and I imagine the producers did look for proof of any of the more interesting stories before they set the experts on the trail.

Aglomerado

Good programme, nice to see ordinary families on TV instead of celebrities, but Derek Mooney was acting like he was still on Winning Streak.

pedroeibar1

p

pedroeibar1

What a waste of an opportunity!

I watched it because of the topic and the experts, and was prepared to put up with the poor choice of presenter, the gushing nonentity that is Derek Mooney (the idiot even referred to Adare Manor’s Long Gallery as ‘the minstrels gallery’.)

Technically it was a pathetic effort, bad camerawork, worse editing (how many times did we see self-conscious crowds climbing stairs?) and poorly put together – Bunburry’s superficial whistle-stop commentary on the Manor and the Wyndham/Quinn family was irrelevant, as were the long panning shots of Mooney in the grounds and the crowd scenes in what I think were the drawingroom and hall. Was it really necessary for the cameraman to focus continually on a pencil stuck through the hairbun of the lady from RootsIreland? The producers lost track of what they were trying to achieve and instead gave a small group their 15 seconds of ‘fame’. The claim that the program ‘helps ordinary people find extraordinary stories from their family history’ was totally ignored, no mention of Griffiths, nor any mention of census data online. Nor were any of the stories much out of the ordinary. The guy with the hanged whiteboy ancestor who insisted that O’Connell was the defense lawyer should have been followed up properly - O’Connell’s movements through correspondence, newspaper reports, speeches, etc, are quite well documented.

Had I not finished reading the Sunday papers during the program, it would have been a complete waste of time.

P.

pinkypinky

Oooh I love controversy.

I didn't get a chance to watch it last night but I recorded it and will watch later.

Afaik, Turtle is just a nickname.

chughes

pinkypinky wrote: »

Afaik, Turtle is just a nickname.

Does this mean that Bunbury is his real surname ?? :eek:

zagmund

Watched it just now on RTE player. It was grand and I'll try to catch the rest of the series, but I won't be too upset if I miss it. Agree that Mooney took away from it - they should have had someone with a little more gravitas in my view. As for his comment to that young girl at the end . . . I can't remember it word for word, but it was basically saying "There's a lot of people who wouldn't be boasting about having family in the RIC". I mean, come on . . .

Editing and flow was a bit poor in my view. The Charlie Chaplin link was interesting, but we didn't really need a 2 or 3 minute spiel on who he was, what sort of films he made, etc . . . Agree with the Daniel O'Connell thing - I would have thought there would have been some records that could indicate where he was, what cases he was involved with, etc . . . or more importantly who actually was recorded by the courts as having been involved in the case, but maybe it was just so patently unlikely given (per the show) his dislike of the White Boys that they felt it didn't warrant further research. I'm sure the oul lad who was included in one clip scratching his nose will be wondering what sort of people edited this show. The clip was just him scratching his nose.

They should definitely have details on research methods, locations, etc . . . and not just present it as an antiques roadshow format which is essentially only of value to those people who actually make it on the shortlist and feature on the show.

z

pinkypinky

Yeah, I'm quite disappointed by it. Bitty and rushed in places - I'd like them to tell us a bit more about the research. I agree about being clustered around the tv. Mooney is totally the wrong person to present. I'm surprised at John Grenham being involved in this. He and Nicola Morris really know their stuff.

Jellybaby1

pinkypinky wrote: »

Yeah, I'm quite disappointed by it. Bitty and rushed in places - I'd like them to tell us a bit more about the research. I agree about being clustered around the tv. Mooney is totally the wrong person to present. I'm surprised at John Grenham being involved in this. He and Nicola Morris really know their stuff.

I suppose really the professional genealogists don't really know what it will be like until the final product is finished. I'm sure they have no control over the editing or production. Why don't they just leave it to WDYTYA, it works for crying out loud!!

pinkypinky

I agree, Jellybaby, but I do applaud RTE for coming up with their own idea, instead of copying the BBC for once. And I will watch the rest of it - I've watched many a thing wasn't half as interested in!

pedroeibar1

pinkypinky wrote:

Oooh I love controversy.

pinkypinky wrote: »

Yeah, I'm quite disappointed by it. Bitty and rushed in places........

Aw shucks, 'n I thought we were going to go all controversial!:D

pinkypinky wrote: »

- I'm surprised at John Grenham being involved in this....

+1 on Grenham, his book was my first geno purchase. Must be 20 years ago. All of us have had to do unpleasant things for lucre; innocence of editorial control and all that, once bitten......;)
Rs
P.

rhapsody

I just watched this on RTE Player too & have to agree with alot of my fellow boardsies!
- Derek Mooney is entirely too chipper, I keep expecting him to hand people cheques. He seemed a little condescending at times. Do RTE need to keep using the same people, could someone new not present?
- The whole Charlie Chaplin section didn't need to be so long.
- The fact that there was little (nothing?) mentioned re research methods is disheartening. They could have had a short section at the end with tips on what people should do first if planning to look up their family tree; not very useful for those of us on here, but definitely more appropriate than repeated shots of the grounds/ crowd shots/ tasters of what was coming up in the episode.

As pedroeibar1 said, I felt it was a wasted oppurtunity- it seemed like they had very little info & had to spin it out to make a 50min programme. Surely they could have had more shorter segments than were shown. I doubt that that amount of people could not have yielded more stories/ things to investigate.

I will probably keep watching though, with hopes! I believe they filmed at Slane Castle so that might bring up something relevant to this neck of the woods. Also, as Jellybaby1 said, it was good to put a face (and voice!) to Jim Herlihy

shanew

Mooney doesn't suit this type of program - and he's in too much of a game show mode for me...

If you can block him out the program is worth watching. As mentioned before at least RTE have come up an original idea for family history program for TV and the format does seem to work. A quick WDYTYA for the general public, even if it's people with connections to famous people and events.

Rather than spending time giving lots of specific 'how to' details, I think what the program will do is encourage people to investigate their own family a little - maybe post a query on here, buy a few family history books (i.e. John Grenham!) and do some research themselves, or employ a researcher..


Shane

pedroeibar1

shanew wrote: »

As mentioned before at least RTE have come up an original idea for family history program for TV and the format does seem to work. A quick WDYTYA for the general public, even if it's people with connections to famous people and events.

Rather than spending time giving lots of specific 'how to' details, I think what the program will do is encourage people to investigate their own family a little - maybe post a query on here, buy a few family history books (i.e. John Grenham!) and do some research themselves, or employ a researcher..


Shane

Shane,
I disagree with you on almost everything
It is not RTE, it is an outsourced production - Big Mountain Productions. BMP come to RTE with an idea, if accepted then RTE (ie the taxpayer + licence fees) pays them to make the program. Most here agree thatthe format did not work. As for content, frankly I found the stories chosen to be uninspiring, eg the hanging story from West Cork was bereft of detail and frankly boring when several others that were more contentious eg the post-Famine Special Commission cases could have been used.

I'm not so sure that the program would encourage anyone to research ancestry, and even if it did the audience was given no clue where to start. The current economic climate will ensure that any professional genos must depend on overseas business; that program is unsellable o/seas IMO. The choice of Mooney as presenter shows that it is aimed at the lowest common denominator - most of those will remain parked on their posteriors on their couches and continue to believe that they are descended from kings and that the English confiscated their ancestral castles.
If the next one is not a big improvement I will not bother to watch it.
Rs
P.

rafferr

It was a very poor production, I was half expecting Derek to hand out cash prizes for the best family tree. There was no real intrique in the delivery of the show, unlike WDYTYA.

By the way, any word on another new series of WDYTYA on RTE?

LordSutch

Saw it tonight for the 1st time, and several things struck me straight away!

The opening music made it sound like a cross between a horror film (Predator)? and a grisly murder mystery thriller, then you had the incessant nationalistic narritive that just seemed to dominate the whole episode. People will invariably try & compare this to the BBCs very polished 'Who do you think you are', but alas there is no comparison. The RTE version included poor production & poor detail + the totally wrong (depressing) soundtrack.

My Rating for this weeks episode; 4/10.

pedroeibar1

I was not wrong in my first post on last week's program. I missed the beginning tonight, watched it for 15-20 minutes and turned it off. Not sure if that was in disgust or disappointment. Will not bother next week.

There were clear indications by participants that they had done considerable background first, so why did the producers not ‘plan’ and script a proper show? Camerawork and editing as poor as last week's program, I never again want to see a photo of the front of that house! From an informational standpoint, what sort of image does it give to the general public to think that someone can breeze into a church and browse through the parish record books?

The usual nincompoopery by Mooney, offset by the ill-at-ease demeanour of the experts. I don't know any of them, but Grenham and colleagues must be furious with the final result. Even the sponsors did not get a mention in the bit I saw, which is poor management by them. (I mean why bother sponsoring a show if your product is never used in it?) The sad thing is that this pitiable effort could (will?) have an impact on future genealogical programs.

The experts allowed themselves to be walked into it, shame on the production company, and more so on the idiots who bought it for RTE.
P.

pinkypinky

I watched it again last night and kept pausing to rant at my poor mother. Mooney is the weakest link again. I think the production company is most at fault though. RTE couldn't have known it would turn out like this when they agreed to buy it.

There was some good exposition with the woman whose mother had been adopted. That was realistic - most adopted people from that time period won't find the answers they're hoping for, and they didn't do the work for her (which would have just made it look easy for other people in the same position).

I wasn't happy with the Walsh nursechild born in Egypt story. The fact that the 2 families went to the same church wasn't enough to explain how the child ended up with them. And what about her sister?!

zagmund

I watched it and thought it was better than the first one. Or maybe I just thought it was OK in the light of the adjusted expectations following the first one.

I did think it was cool that you could just rock up to a church and trawl through their records there and then. Maybe they left out the bit from the iPhone/Android ads where it says "actual sequence has been really extensively shortened".

The one thing that bugged me was the "coming in the next episode" clip where yer man Turtle seemed to have a personal grudge against someone because they were related to someone who fired on the Forecourts/Archives with the resultant loss of much archive material. Maybe he did it for effect, maybe not, but I would have thought that this sort of thing went out with . . . well, went out long ago. Surely as a researcher and a historian the view would be to relate to what exists *now*, what can be researched *now*, and not to think about what could be researched if this hadn't happened and if we hadn't lost our archive material, and . . . and . . .

Oh, and Derek Mooney.

Oh, and the Agatha Christie mystery intro music - seriously over the top.

I did however, find it overall to be pleasant, if not educational.

z

rhapsody

pinkypinky wrote: »

.

There was some good exposition with the woman whose mother had been adopted. That was realistic - most adopted people from that time period won't find the answers they're hoping for, and they didn't do the work for her (which would have just made it look easy for other people in the same position).

This was the only bit of the programme I saw this week, and yes I thought it was good. Nicola didn't point out the cost of ruling people out of course, but at lease she was realistic about how hard the process could be.

Alicat

Just watching the episode on RTE1 now...the bloody Batman soundtrack as the opening :rolleyes: I love my genealogy but it's hardly action-movie soundtrack kinda stuff!

pinkypinky

Urge to rant rising!!

Approve of them doing a Quaker story - they have great records.

John Grenham shouldn't have said that about the IRA man's daughter (granddaughter?) - it's hardly her fault about the Four Courts.

pinkypinky

Opening a civil record cert outside the NLI is just going to confuse people!

patsman07

On today's episode one of the professionals mentioned to a woman that her father applied for a pension as he had been an IRA man in the War of Independence. He went on to say that only she or one of her sisters could receive a copy of the application as they were direct descendents. Does anybody know where he may have found out about the application?? It might help me with a G-Grandfather. First bit of useful information I got from the program.

pinkypinky

Ministry of Defence in Galway or try Cathal Brugha Barracks in Dublin.

shanew

Link to details of the Military Archive - http://www.military.ie/info-centre/military-archives

There was an index to the people that made statements on the website, but it seems to have been removed.



Shane