Next Weeks News

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.

Dr Robotnik

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

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.

Wherever you find a bad, topical panel show, you can be sure that Delamere is the smoking gun. I'm not a fan of his, but that counts for nothing, he sells out tour dates so he must be doing something right. I just feel that he has this propensity to boil everything down to a parochial 'aren't the Irish zany' routine.

It's not just him though, there's a rotational cadre of comedians who pop up in similar shows here and in the UK with their typecast personas. It's not really hard hitting satire, it's just a handy 30/60 minutes of TV listing filler.

AnonoBoy

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

As it happens I think Mock the Week is a bit ****, so I dunno if my critique is a fair one.

Oh it should be satirical alright, I'm not saying it shouldn't. It's just I haven't seen the word satire used next, nigh or near it.

But then again I wouldn't call Mock the Week satirical either really, it's just held up as a successful panel show hence my using it as an example.

briany

Dr Robotnik wrote: »

It's not just him though, there's a rotational cadre of comedians who pop up in similar shows here and in the UK with their typecast personas. It's not really hard hitting satire, it's just a handy 30/60 minutes of TV listing filler.

Panel games are, and always have been, pretty cheap and easy to produce which is what makes them popular among television producers, I would imagine.

Out of interest, what is that compels you to watch this thing? Are ye in a part of the country that can only get RTE 1 and Network 2? Have a good time bashing the show? Feel a sort of righteous outrage over how license fees are going towards this sort of thing? I'd be of the second category because, thankfully, the days of being reliant on RTE for a night's televisual entertainment are long, long gone but you can't help but go back for a morbidly curious look if something's particularly half-baked. On the other hand they say that any publicity is good publicity, so maybe it's time to put this thing to bed?

Realt Dearg Sec

briany wrote: »

Panel games are, and always have been, pretty cheap and easy to produce which is what makes them popular among television producers, I would imagine.

Out of interest, what is that compels you to watch this thing? Are ye in a part of the country that can only get RTE 1 and Network 2? Have a good time bashing the show? Feel a sort of righteous outrage over how license fees are going towards this sort of thing? I'd be of the second category because, thankfully, the days of being reliant on RTE for a night's televisual entertainment are long, long gone but you can't help but go back for a morbidly curious look if something's particularly half-baked. On the other hand they say that any publicity is good publicity, so maybe it's time to put this thing to bed?

This is a complete red herring argument.

The idea that people should simply not criticise the material that's produced, on the grounds that you can always not watch, has a superficial attraction, but it's not really good enough. It isn't about the license fee, at least not for me. The problem is that I care about Irish comedy, I think there is potential among Irish comic writers and producers, and I think the lack of originality that characterises so much of RTE's comedy production is a disservice to that potential. RTE shouldn't get a pass just because other channels exist. By that logic, you could argue that RTE needn't exist at all. The other channels you're talking about don't make comedy about Ireland, about Irish concerns, Irish current affairs. Only RTE do. I want to see that kind of comedy because I think it serves an important purpose in Irish society and it won't be served by re-runs of South Park on Comedy Central (which is, incidentally, what I put on instead of Next Week's News last night).

emanresu esrever

briany wrote: »

Panel games are, and always have been, pretty cheap and easy to produce which is what makes them popular among television producers, I would imagine.

Out of interest, what is that compels you to watch this thing? Are ye in a part of the country that can only get RTE 1 and Network 2? Have a good time bashing the show? Feel a sort of righteous outrage over how license fees are going towards this sort of thing? I'd be of the second category because, thankfully, the days of being reliant on RTE for a night's televisual entertainment are long, long gone but you can't help but go back for a morbidly curious look if something's particularly half-baked. On the other hand they say that any publicity is good publicity, so maybe it's time to put this thing to bed?

there is always one who makes this righteous argument. Foryour information, most on here who have criticised the show have pointed out that they only watched it for a small while and were so dismayed at even that brief introduction that they had to turn it off.

I missed the first episode and new years episode but i endured it last night, fairly positive what to expect and unfortunately i was fairly accurate. But i made a conscious decision to watch it and then make up my mind.

I wont be watching it again but Im fairly sure, as a licence payer that im pretty entitled to criticise the same meagre efforts over and over again.

I can understand if this show has been running on for a long tie (god forbid) and people critical of its content on such a thread have been watching it voyeouristically to just give out about it. but it has only just begun, it is on a prime time slot and we are paying for its production, so yeah, i am pretty sure anyone has a right here to criticise at this stage if they feel like it.

Skid X

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

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.

I agree with that - even the best Panel Show would struggle to fill an hour.

It's alright in places, but it's not really good enough. It's like half arsed mix of The Panel, 8 out of 10 Cats and Mock the Week (and others).

It's the kind of show that they might eventually get right, but by then the viewers will have long since switched off.

celtic tiger 2011

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

This is a complete red herring argument.

The idea that people should simply not criticise the material that's produced, on the grounds that you can always not watch, has a superficial attraction, but it's not really good enough. It isn't about the license fee, at least not for me. The problem is that I care about Irish comedy, I think there is potential among Irish comic writers and producers, and I think the lack of originality that characterises so much of RTE's comedy production is a disservice to that potential. RTE shouldn't get a pass just because other channels exist. By that logic, you could argue that RTE needn't exist at all. The other channels you're talking about don't make comedy about Ireland, about Irish concerns, Irish current affairs. Only RTE do. I want to see that kind of comedy because I think it serves an important purpose in Irish society and it won't be served by re-runs of South Park on Comedy Central (which is, incidentally, what I put on instead of Next Week's News last night).

Do you not think your expectations of Irish comedy are too high. Ireland has a population of 4 million people. All its comedy is supplied by the national broadcaster which has limited finance and a much smaller pool of talent to pick from compared to American and British stations. For a comparison its like comparing the Irish soccer team to the English soccer team, the pool of talent and investment in talent just simply isn't there. However inspite of this, in recent times RTE has produced decent comedy like Irish Pictorial Weekly and The Savage Eye.

IrishLad2012

celtic tiger 2011 wrote: »

the national broadcaster which has limited finance :eek:

Never thought I'd see them words used in the same sentence. I apologise if you have just returned from a 10 year stint in Antarctica but most up to date pay scale of RTE employees:

Ryan Tubridy - €495,000
Pat Kenny (has since left for more money)- €630,000
Marian Finucane - €295,000
Joe Duffy - €300,000
Miriam O'Callaghan - €211,167
Brendan O'Connor - €158,400
George Hamilton - €168,350

* please note the above salaries does not include the weekly edition of the RTE guide

Mr Pseudonym

IrishLad2012 wrote: »

Never thought I'd see them words used in the same sentence. I apologise if you have just returned from a 10 year stint in Antarctica but most up to date pay scale of RTE employees:

Ryan Tubridy - €723,000
Pat Kenny (has since left for more money)- €630,000
Marian Finucane - €492,000
Joe Duffy - €378,000
Miriam O'Callaghan - €307,000
Brendan O'Connor - €228,500
Derek Mooney - €220,000
Sean O'Rourke - €209,000
George Hamilton - €203,000

* please note the above salaries does not include the weekly edition of the RTE guide

*Please note, the above salaries are out-of-date!

For the year 2012:

Ryan Tubridy - €495k
Marian Finucane - €295k
Joe Duffy - €300k
Miriam O'Callaghan - €211k
Brendan O'Connor - €158k
Derek Mooney - €220k
Sean O'Rourke - €209k
George Hamilton - €168k
Bryan Dobson - €198k

IrishLad2012

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

*Please not, the above salaries are all out-of-date!

Your are probably correct, they have probably been approved Pay increases since.