Next Weeks News

icdg

Hot on the heels of the pilot "Next Year's News", which was a mixed bag at best, comes the series, which debuts at 9:30pm. Pilot host Eoghan McDermott has been replaced by Bernard O'Shea for the series, though whether or not he'll be utilising his Republic of Telly persona (which I can't see working for a show of this nature) or playing it straight (often a good strategy for hosts on this kind of show) remains to be seen. Basically a retool of The Panel with a hefty chunk of Mock the Week thrown in for good measure.

kneemos

Trust RTE to have three new programmes on the same night at the dame time.

JP Liz V1

I was sure Eoghan said on TSNS he would be hosting, why is it Bernard now?

basketmon

saw recording last night. Dermot is terrible, Neil only funny one

penguinbloke

This is very uncomfortable to watch.

LowOdour

This is pretty awful to watch....Delmare and OShea are always terrible...but the rest are shamefully bad too

MJ23

Watching it here now. It really is terrible. Can't stand that English fella.

WellThen?

I can't watch this, that Canadian comedian is actually good. I'm scarlet for all of us. She must think we are all degenerates. She's coming from 8 out of 10 cats to this.

Jonkenji

The only funny person on that show is the Canadian girl. Says it all really. The rest of them are about as funny as the Hayley cancer-suicide storyline in Coronation Street tonight.

My name is URL

Everything else seems to have already been criticised, so I'm just going to say that the set looks absolutely shit

DenMan

This is so bad!!! :eek:

I_smell_fear

WellThen? wrote: »

I can't watch this, that Canadian comedian is actually good. I'm scarlet for all of us. She must think we are all degenerates. She's coming from 8 out of 10 cats to this.

There's no hierarchy when it comes to Panel shows.

The show is as sloppy and awkward as most RTE productions, the trout story bit was funny but almost desperately strangled for jokes by Delamere and Jupitas. Bernard O'Shea and PJ Gallagher are terrible for over reacting and laughing at their pathetic jokes.

kneemos

I'll stick with the fat people in Channel four.

MJ23

Oh god this is pure cringe. I'm blushing with embarrassment.

penguinbloke

Phil Jupitus is the closest thing this show has to a saving grace.
So many jokes are falling flat though. Painful...

And it's still better than the new years eve one.

nicedryturf

ugh, just caught the last 10 mins of this. Phill Jupitus looked totally bewildered. Awful stuff.

ThisRegard

penguinbloke wrote: »

Phil Jupitus is the closest thing this show has to a saving grace..

No way, he even deflates QI when he's on it. This show could have been the funniest on earth but I'd never know as I switched off after a few seconds of him.

My name is URL

ThisRegard wrote: »

No way, he even deflates QI when he's on it. This show could have been the funniest on earth but I'd never know as I switched off after a few seconds of him.

*jots down on notepad like a mad person*

penguinbloke

ThisRegard wrote: »

No way, he even deflates QI when he's on it. This show could have been the funniest on earth but I'd never know as I switched off after a few seconds of him.

Sadly that doesn't make my point any less valid.

GhostInTheRuins

I was at the recording of this last night, unfortunately. Absolutely atrocious. I didn't watch it on rte but it can't be anywhere near as bad as the actual show. It took about three feckin hours to record it, although it felt like eternity. After the first 45 minutes everyone was completely bored, barely any laughs for the most of it.

I've no idea how the host (dermot?) wrangled the job, very unprofessional, needing at least 5 takes for every single line he had to say.

All in all, utter ****e.

snipey

Never saw a show as bad as this, my god what are we paying a licence for.

mikom

Horseshit.
Up to the usual RTE standard.

electrictrad

Just watched it; felt sorry for the Canadian one; she had some unreal jokes that were completely lost on the audience. In fairness to Phil Junipus, he was professional throughout even though most of the references were so completely Irish that they must have been lost on the two.

Mark of how limited Delamare and Gallagher can be that they failed to see that their material didn't leave the two foreign guests any room to contribute at all.

Never seen so many jokes fall flat on a comedy show sadly.

Bernard O'Shea should not be presenting either. Too many long silences and awkwardness; sacrificed actually making the show run smoothly for his own laboured gags.

http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/10244550/

nicedryturf

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

I was at the recording of this last night, unfortunately. Absolutely atrocious. I didn't watch it on rte but it can't be anywhere near as bad as the actual show. It took about three feckin hours to record it, although it felt like eternity. After the first 45 minutes everyone was completely bored, barely any laughs for the most of it.

I've no idea how the host (dermot?) wrangled the job, very unprofessional, needing at least 5 takes for every single line he had to say.

All in all, utter ****e.

3 hours of footage and this is the best they could scrape together? Jesus, seriously, RTE would have been better off to concede this was an unwatchable piece of crap, apologise for a for a change in the schedule and stick on the Eurovision episode of Fr. Ted or something.

briany

What was that panel game that Jason Byrne hosted the other year and was it worse than this?

IrishLad2012

Thought it was very poor. They are trying to replicate 'Mock the Week' and failing miserably, Bernard O'Shea is definitely the wrong man to have presenting. Hopefully it improves within the weeks and they get better guests on.

IrishLad2012

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

I've no idea how the host (dermot?) wrangled the job, very unprofessional, needing at least 5 takes for every single line he had to say.

There was me thinking it was done almost live, after hearing this, makes the show 10 times worse. Bernard looked like a nervous schoolboy at times and made it quite obvious he was reading everything off the teleprompter. Absolute manure.

Stevecw

There has been some poor attempts from RTE at shows like this over the years, but wow this was about as bad as it gets.
Terrible stuff, hard to understand how they even let crap like this be broadcast.

Lustrum

I was at this recording too, doors were at 6.45 and when we left at 20 to 11 it was still going on, not sure what time it finished at!

In fairness to Bernard O'Shea, he seemed to he having awful trouble reading the teleprompter, not sure what the problem was. It comes across as very unprofessional when you're there but there may be more to it than laymen like me realise. I'd agree though that they could definitely find a better host.

Some of it was funny, some not so much, and as it wore on everyone seemed to be getting bored of it (comediens and crowd) and it was much harder to get a laugh. It won't kill me if I dont see any more of it

Say Your Number

Didn't think it was all that bad, I laughed a couple of times, it was a bit hit and miss, if you think it was RTE's worst attempt at comedy, you clearly haven't watched much of the comedies they've produced.

AnonoBoy

briany wrote: »

What was that panel game that Jason Byrne hosted the other year and was it worse than this?

Can't remember the name and yes, it was worse.

Only watching it for the first time now.

It's grand. Nothing special but not the car crash I was hoping for.

You guys got my hopes up.

Realt Dearg Sec

I didn't see this before, cane in to say I hated it, but last week must have been much worse. It's...the usual **** basically. If in doubt, make a joke about "culchies"... Comedy by numbers stuff.

Who is the gay guy? He's awful. And it's ok to just say he's the gay guy, because that is pretty much the extent of his act.

Actually I think the presenter has been ok. Still you'll notice I've been typing this rather than watching.

Realt Dearg Sec

Oh Jesus, I just realised its not over! It's an hour long?? What were they thinking. A half hour and this might have been tolerable.

Harry Angstrom

This is like listening to a conversation between a bunch of people in a pub.

(A not very interesting conversation)

Sieghardt

Oh man that's awful, real shame because I really like Neil Delamere and PJ Gallagher but it's painful to watch them desperately struggling with nothing to work with

snipey

couldn't watch any more of this,turned over to crime call

emanresu esrever

i actually think this could be worse than jason byrne's muck.

atrociously thrown together, cheap budget, cheap laughs, cheap guests, terrible presenting, the days of the heights of The Panel are long gone.

PJ gallagher, nice lad, great on Naked Camera but just doesnt have any stage presence in that manner, nor does Mr. Ordinary Delamere, who i would consider a far better host than pun master.

The guests were terrible, is the lady an "acclaimed" comedian? Al Porter should just apply for the Telly bingo gig he has no quirkiness about him, which I assume is what he is aiming for. was there any point to that blow up doll story other than to make us squirm and embarass his family.

As for bernard o shea, i never got this "look at me, im pathetic" humour which he portrays on Republic of Telly. That show has become a satirical joke of itself. wasnt the original idea for it to be a satirical look at tv clips as opposed to a childish unfunny scripted show to showcase o shea and jennifer mcguire pretending they were funny.
O Shea shown up to be a rather dull nervous man when scripts are thrown out the window.

seriously, play repeats of Fr Ted or Only Fools and Horses if this is all you can offer RTE

briany

We like to say that the RTE presenters are terrible but I suppose the truth of it is that any Irish television personality with any serious talent eventually goes to the UK and the station just has to make do with the leftovers.

That's the general problem which dogs Rte, and always will. Another problem, specific to the comedy sector is the inward looking parish humour which dissects the dreary minutiae of Irish life. Now all countries comedy will do this to an extent but in Ireland it borders on an obsession and one of the things that made The Savage Eye a breath of fresh air was that McSavage actually went into his own head once in a while and pulled silly, absurd ideas out of the bag (alongside the inward looking stuff).

Realt Dearg Sec

briany wrote: »

We like to say that the RTE presenters are terrible but I suppose the truth of it is that any Irish television personality with any serious talent eventually goes to the UK and the station just has to make do with the leftovers.

That's the general problem which dogs Rte, and always will. Another problem, specific to the comedy sector is the inward looking parish humour which dissects the dreary minutiae of Irish life. Now all countries comedy will do this to an extent but in Ireland it borders on an obsession and one of the things that made The Savage Eye a breath of fresh air was that McSavage actually went into his own head once in a while and pulled silly, absurd ideas out of the bag (alongside the inward looking stuff).

I agree with this but only to a limited extent. Irish Pictorial Weekly was, to some extent, about the minutiae of Irish life as well, but it managed to do it with some flair, and more importantly, it provided some kind of satirical insight, and had an edge and a purpose to its humour as well as being (in my opinion) hilarious. It's simple enough, that kind of talent really is uncommon because the talent goes abroad. But I felt that show displayed what's possible once the people doing it aren't a bunch of mediocre hacks like Jennifer Maguire and McDermott and whoever, all of whom essentially trade on cliches about the Guards and Copper Face Jacks, and the idea that people from the country are ignorant rednecks. The Barry Murphys of this world, when left to their own devices, can do great things. Same with McSavage, who isn't as good, but I agree, once he was let do his thing rather than plain old boring observational humour completely indistinguishable from my mates down at the pub having the craic, is pretty good and inventive.

It's the lack of inventiveness that depresses me. This show, other than the set, is completely indistinguishable from about five other shows RTE have produced in the last few years that I could name off the top of my head.

Dr Robotnik

I reckon I could write a script for any satirical panel show on RTE. Here goes....

Delamere - "Drinking Tea is a such an Irish thing isn't it?"
*Hold for laughter*
Gallagher - "Do you know what else is a really Irish thing? Thanking the bus driver."
*Hold for laughter and applause*
Delamere - "Lads from Cavan love their hang sangwidges don't they?"
*Hold for laughter*
Gallagher - "Being from Cavan is such an Irish thing isn't it?"
*Hold for nervous laughter*
Delamere - "Being from Cavan and going to Cohppers is a really Irish thing though"
*Hold for 'Way-hays' from crowd followed by laughter and applause*
Gallagher - "I bet Mary Harney used to go to Coppers"
*Hold for 'Oooohs' from crowd followed by applause
Delamere - "Voting for Fianna Fail is very Irish though isn't it. What's that all about?"
*Hold for laughter*
Mairead Farrell - "I was in Coppers once and I voted for Fianna Fail. As a female woman, I don't see what the big deal is."
*Hold for 'Oooohs' from crowd followed by laughter and applause*
Ed Byrne - "People from Donnybrook like their rugby don't they? Being from Donnybrook and liking rugby is a very Irish thing isn't it?
*Hold for applause*
Delamere - "Not as Irish as being from Offaly and liking hurling"
*Hold for laughter*

emanresu esrever

The savage eye is ridiculously witty and really doesnt get the credit it deserves. Which is why it works. It isnt aimed at pleasing the masses in rte or the ordinary folk, it is aimed at pleasing Mcsavage's own unique, mad but incrediblyaccurate look at society.

lets be honest, pj gallagher and delamere etc are funny enough guys but what do they have, in terms of wit that makes the stand out ? Nothing? well, of course pj gallagher is great at the naked camera mallarky, but when it comes to shows where these guys have to portray themselves, they just act like average bar humour banter guys far too eager to raise an average laugh by targetting issues that are bound to be known. Like this week, jokes about Amber, the Rehab controversy, penalty points etc. Sure these subjects are bound to reach the target audience but arent these the sort of issues every Tom, Dick and Harry has already made light humour about this week, not just in the media but at every bar lounge in the country. There is no risk in this humour and therefore, it will get a few cheap laughs (which these genre of comedians seem content with) but the majority of viewers will recognise the inadequacies of this bar humour for a prime time slot on the national broadcaster in a country where we survive on an appetite of wit and mockery.

I was surprised RTE commissioned the savage eye for that reason. It doesnt have a nourishing effect on Irish comedy. I wouldnt be an ardent fan of Brendan o carroll but surely someone should have recognised in RTE that Mrs Browns Boys would of been a hit . Again, Fr. ted, same thing. Yet, Des Bishop wants to work in Abrakebabra and some other lad wants a girlfriend are commissioned no problem.

Yes, I agree money talks and the fact is British production brodcasters have a larger budget to offer better wage packets but even when the likes of Ed Byrne, Dara o Brian, Graham Norton etc were young they werent exactly treated like potential cash cows by RTE.

you reap what you sow, and right now we have a meadow of mediocricy and i cant anticipate it will change anytime soon.

zetalambda

Biggest pile of shite I've seen since "Meet your Neighbours". PJ Gallagher is a one trick pony. Naked Camera was good but everything he's done after this has been a massive flop.

briany

emanresu esrever wrote: »

I was surprised RTE commissioned the savage eye for that reason. It doesnt have a nourishing effect on Irish comedy. I wouldnt be an ardent fan of Brendan o carroll but surely someone should have recognised in RTE that Mrs Browns Boys would of been a hit . Again, Fr. ted, same thing. Yet, Des Bishop wants to work in Abrakebabra and some other lad wants a girlfriend are commissioned no problem.

It's a pretty damning fact about RTE that in the 64 years or so of it's existence, it's failed to oversee the production of a single exportable comedy program (excluding DVD sales of Hardy Bucks to Irish ex-pats).

Mr Pseudonym

I don't think the problem with Next Week's News, and Irish comedy in general, is that it is inward looking or that it focuses on the mundane, as has been suggested above. Some Ireland's best stand-ups - Dermot Morgan, Dave Allen, Dara O Briain - focus(ed) on every-day topics (Morgan could even be accused of being parochial). IMO, the problem is that their comedy poses at satire, when in reality they just use current events as a scaffold for harmless and unoriginal jokes.

I don't think people realise that almost all of RTE's output is commissioned from independent production companies. So, they rely on what is pitched to them. Perhaps, they could be more proactive in looking for quality and be more encouraging and supportive of those outside the industry, but ultimately what we see on TV is a reflection of what's available in Ireland.

An example of a comedy on RTE that greatly impressed me is Dan and Becs. The show ran for two series of 8-minute episodes, with two protagonists - Dan and Becs. The format alternates between a video-diary of each character, often with both discussing the same subject, exposing their humorously different interpretations. It has flaws - Holly White plays Becs as one big cliche; for me, the development of the characters was unsatisfying; and it probably runs out of steam, by the end - but David Coffey is excellent (he also writes and directs it), there are some LoL moments, and it's the first innovative comedy, I'm aware of that, RTE has commissioned. All episodes are on Youtube, and below is episode one. Note: I have no connection with the show!!

kneemos

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

I don't think the problem with Next Week's News, and Irish comedy in general, is that it is inward looking or that it focuses on the mundane, as has been suggested above. Some Ireland's best stand-ups - Dermot Morgan, Dave Allen, Dara O Briain - focus(ed) on every-day topics (Morgan could even be accused of being parochial). IMO, the problem is that their comedy poses at satire, when in reality they just use current events as a scaffold for harmless and unoriginal jokes.

I don't think people realise that almost all of RTE's output is commissioned from independent production companies. So, they rely on what is pitched to them. Perhaps, they could be more proactive in looking for quality and be more encouraging and supportive of those outside the industry, but ultimately what we see on TV is a reflection of what's available in Ireland.

An example of a comedy on RTE that greatly impressed me is Dan and Becs. The show ran for two series of 8-minute episodes, with two protagonists - Dan and Becs. The format alternates between a video-diary of each character, often with both discussing the same subject, exposing their humorously different interpretations. It has flaws - Holly White plays Becs as one big cliche; for me, the development of the characters was unsatisfying; and it probably runs out of steam, by the end - but David Coffey is excellent (he also writes and directs it), there are some LoL moments, and it's the first innovative comedy, I'm aware of that, RTE has commissioned. All episodes are on Youtube, and below is episode one. Note: I have no connection with the show!!

RTE commission it but they get to see it before they pay for it presumably?(hopefully).
On paper it probably looks better than reality,apart from yer man in the middle.

IrishLad2012

Last nights show was better than Week 1, I think Al Porter had some funny jokes but his execution of them is terrible, we get it your Gay, no need to publicise it at every opportunity, Graham Norton is gay but doesn't work it into his show and I thought the bit with the Blow up Doll, was cringe.

Now I must say this guy is only 21 years of age and has great potential if giving the right coaching and of course practice.

Also thought PJ Gallagher was poor again this week, I don't think a panel show like this suits him, he was great in Naked Camera and I like Trojan Donkey, especially his new Traveller character.

I think what happens in RTE is they don't realise the talent we have until they see it on the BBC/Channel 4 and then its too late. eg. Father Ted, Graham Norton, Dara O'Brian.

Realt Dearg Sec

In fairness, they had Dara O'Brien on shows for years before he left, you couldn't accuse them of not recognising that he was good. They just couldn't afford to keep him, which is fair enough.

People often mention Father Ted in this regard too, and the standard response seems to be that they turned down the show and forced Linehan and Matthews to go to England to shop it around. That isn't true; Linehan is on record debunking the idea, saying that he would never in a million years have made a show that was that important to him, and that capable of success, with RTE, given their track record of comedy production. (I doubt Dermot Morgan wanted to work with them ever again either after they cravenly ****canned Scrap Saturday because Haughey and co weren't fond of being poked fun at.

coolhull

snipey wrote: »

Never saw a show as bad as this, my god what are we paying a licence for.

We? Who's this 'we' you speak of?

kneemos

coolhull wrote: »

We? Who's this 'we' you speak of?[/

There's more than one...hopefully.

AnonoBoy

kneemos wrote: »

RTE commission it but they get to see it before they pay for it presumably?(hopefully).

RTE commission stuff and people get paid as it goes along. There's contracts involved, they can't just watch a show and say "Oh no we don't like that, nobody gets paid."

But presumably that's why they'd start with just a few episodes and see how it goes before giving something a full series.

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

IMO, the problem is that their comedy poses at satire, when in reality they just use current events as a scaffold for harmless and unoriginal jokes.

Are they claiming this is satire? I don't see anything different from what their doing to what Mock The Week is doing. (MTW just has a higher calibre of writing and panelists I suppose.)

Realt Dearg Sec

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Are they claiming this is satire? I don't see anything different from what their doing to what Mock The Week is doing. (MTW just has a higher calibre of writing and panelists I suppose.)

As it's a news-based show, it damn well SHOULD be satirical. It's not as if there isn't anything going on in the news these days that needs to be subjected to satire. It's just the guys they have on aren't satirists of any calibre at all, they're more like kids from the back of the class (nothing wrong with that but it really is sold as a current affairs comedy thing, like the Panel was, so it should be tackling the issues it decides to take on). As it happens I think Mock the Week is a bit ****, so I dunno if my critique is a fair one.