RTE Chatshows = poor poor fare

BuilderPlumber

RTE's 2 main chatshows on Friday and Saturday seem to be going from bad to worse this year. Worse and worse they seem to be getting. Overdoses of the same people and the same type of guests seem to rampant. If the 2015-16 season was all about overdosing us with poor modern country music, 2016-17 seems to be about overdosing us on interviews with sports personalities.

The lineup for tonight's Ray D'Arcy show is evidence of how poor this show has got. There has not been one decent show since it came back in September. Meanwhile, the Tubridy show has plodded along with some good guests (Bruce Springsteen, Roger Moore) poorly interviewed and too many poor guests and too many sports personalities are being interviewed on both shows.

We can be thankful they have toned down this modern 'boyfolk' country a bit but boybands in other guises continue to dominate our screens. Kian Egan is on (yet) again tonight. RTE have reached new lows and it is little wonder no one is watching these channels much anymore.

batistuta9

Rte 1 is the most watched channel in Ireland.
The lls is the most watched show every week.

bigroad

If you are forced to pay 160 euro per year ,one has to make themselves watch RTE to get some value however painful it might be.

Rothko

As long as people keep watching and the ratings stay high then nothing will change.

bigroad

Who makes up the ratings i wonder.Its all bull s.it .

porsche boy

I don't think the guests are as bad as the presenters.
Tubridy is a snide, slimy pr1ck and I couldn't warm to him if he was on fire.
Ray D'Arcy is terrible. Really uncomfortable to watch and when he does this 'trick the audience' whether it's Jack Nickolson or Daniel O'Donnell its pathetic.
Brendan O'Connor was all wrong as well, no charisma and a sense he was looking down on the viewers made it awkward and uncomfortable.

Why does it always have to be so serious? So boring? A light entertainment chat show the likes of Jimmy Kimmell, Jimmy Fallon, Jay Leno, Dave Letterman etc would be my vote. Tommy Tiernan's show where he didn't know who was coming on was interesting, it just disappeared though.

Banjoxed

Two shows are clearly not better than one. And the LLS has lost whatever crusading balls it had in the past, and replaced controversies of Irish society with sob stories that wouldn't be out of place on ITV's 'Surprise Surprise'

lertsnim

bigroad wrote: »

Who makes up the ratings i wonder.Its all bull s.it .

Sure. All a big conspiracy.

Fr Tod Umptious

porsche boy wrote: »

I don't think the guests are as bad as the presenters.
Tubridy is a snide, slimy pr1ck and I couldn't warm to him if he was on fire.
Ray D'Arcy is terrible. Really uncomfortable to watch and when he does this 'trick the audience' whether it's Jack Nickolson or Daniel O'Donnell its pathetic.
Brendan O'Connor was all wrong as well, no charisma and a sense he was looking down on the viewers made it awkward and uncomfortable.

Why does it always have to be so serious? So boring? A light entertainment chat show the likes of Jimmy Kimmell, Jimmy Fallon, Jay Leno, Dave Letterman etc would be my vote. Tommy Tiernan's show where he didn't know who was coming on was interesting, it just disappeared though.

I think the LLS takes itself way too serious at this stage.

Sure at one point it was the show that set the agenda for the nation, but that was in a different era.

I have very very little interest in the entertainment world, or in showbiz, or goss or whatever you want to call it, but I find myself watching Norton and being entertained, why ?, because Norton is funny and the show is light hearted.

Now I know RTE will never compete with the BBC for the line up, but they could at least have an entertaining presenter.

As for the Saturday night offering, I don't know why we need to chat shows at the weekend, give us a good film, new or classic, instead.

By the way has anyone ever counted the percentage of guests of both shows that are West life/Boyzone/Louis Walsh, or a rugby player in each year ?

It must be massive.

PeterTheNinth

I have to agree strongly with the OP. We are extremely poorly served by the live TV chat shows that RTE puts out. But unless RTE are prepared to make a brave decision and give the show who is someone that is a natural entertainer, and not somebody who is good friends with someone in RTE, it will never change.

If you look at any of the British presenters, Alan Carr / Jonathan Ross / Graham Norton etc etc... All natural entertainers, and no doubt were the funniest guy in their class at school. Would you really consider Tubridy or D'Arcy natural entertainers? Are they funny?

I thought they had made progress when Brendan O'Connor had the Saturday show for a few years. It was evolving nicely. Presenter who was at ease, bit risque, not afraid to ask the hard questions, getting the best out of a poor enough list. But it was so frustrating when they then brought in D'arcy instead of O'Connor. This was a HUGE step backward. RTE should have been preparing to move O'Connor to Friday and move Tubridy back to Saturday night.

D'Arcy just looks so uncomfortable. Even when he walks down the steps at the start of the show, he's grimacing cos the lights are annoying him. He looks like he would rather be anywhere else. And he spends the show trying to convince everybody that "this is a lot of fun". He should try convincing himself first.

Dirty Dingus McGee

batistuta9 wrote: »

Rte 1 is the most watched channel in Ireland.
The lls is the most watched show every week.

Which means nothing.

If you put a recording of a dog licking it's balls on a continuous loop on RTE 1 it would get a few hundred thousand viewers.Some people just watch RTE out of habit.

ronnie3585

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

If you put a recording of a dog licking it's balls on a continuous loop on RTE 1 it would get a few hundred thousand viewers.Some people just watch RTE out of habit.

This would represent more value for money vis a vis the TV Licence than the way things currently stand.

Give me two hours of a dog licking its hairy balls over the obscenely over paid Tubridy interviewing fellow RTE 'celebrities' any day.

Vorenus400

Watched the Brendan O Connor show last week. He seems to have been neutered and is now afraid to go near any topic that might get a complaint. Out of the 4 chat show presenters, he was the only one who would ask an inappropriate question. Tubs is very conservative and toes the company line, darcy is an incompetent mess. miriam is nice but dull.

At the end of the day, the chat shows are probably cheap or easy to make. Everyone gets paid and no one complains in public, just online. Was watching irelands fittest family earlier. They have 4 mentors like the x factor who do nothing except shout encouragment. Then there is mairead farrell for interviews and another guy to comment on the action. You could probably make the show with a commentator and then have the familys talk to camera after. Less wages and you could invest the money elsewhere. It does seem that RTE is about making jobs for people in the club. Guests from the canteen in RTE are no different. Its an insulated little club

Keplar240B

Watching a movie one evening a few weeks back and flicked over to RTE during one of the ads.
I don't recall whether it was tubs or dassie,
The guest was the RTE "unnecessary journeys" lady who was intensely telling the studio audience how some of them had cancer and did not know it.
Rapidly switched off RTE.
That just sums it up.

jimmyw

RTE are far to conservative and boring and they are afraid to try a completely new format or show for Friday nights.I think the LLS should have been humanely put down years ago.In my opinion, the show was better when Gay Byrne used to present it.Others might disagree, and thats fine.PK was not too bad, but still it lost some of its appeal I think.The show is supposed to be a light entertainment show, but all these heavy heart breaking stories are not light entertainment. Thats not to say they should not be told or aired, but in some other show.

I cant get my head around what kind of a hold Darcy has over RTE? He comes back to them and almost immediately, they give him not only a radio show, but his own TV show, albeit of poor quality.Maybe they were so grateful that someone was quite willing to want to work for them, I dont know.

I think Brendan O Connors show was better, and I dont like his present show.

In general, RTEs shows are pants.

Agent Coulson

I never liked Gay Byrne but he could interview and chat and his guests were interesting and good most of the time but stars were different back in the 60's,70's & 80's as they were stars and when there was a debate it really was debated even if Gay was heavy handed & condescending.


Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, Oliver Reed, Billy Connolly, Peter Ustinov were all regular guests over the years and were stars and also great Raconteurs.


Who do we get on the Irish chat shows these days the latest 15 minutes of fame reality star or the likes of the girlfriend or boyfriend of that guy or girl that was on that show that no one really watched.

the whole year inn

Well its more fool you to watch that muck.They wont change untill viewers ratings drop and thats not going to happen if people are turning in,just so they can complain on the internet.
If you actually enjoy then good for you watch it but if not change the channell.

Agent Coulson

No fool me I haven't watched any chatshow on RTE in years I do check out to see what guests they may have on that would interest me but there hasn't been any in years.

Graham Norton is the only chatshow I watch these days but it's more light entertainment than chat show.


The likes of Gay Byrne's Late Late and Parkinson and Wogan's chat shows are long gone sadly.

the whole year inn

Agent Coulson wrote: »

No fool me I haven't watched any chatshow on RTE in years I do check out to see what guests they may have on that would interest me but there hasn't been any in years.

Graham Norton is the only chatshow I watch these days but it's more light entertainment than chat show.


The likes of Gay Byrne's Late Late and Parkinson and Wogan's chat shows are long gone sadly.

Wasnt directed at you,just the people who tune in and know fine well its muck.
I used to watch alot of Conan and Leno/Fallon but I got sick of the fake guests and made up stories and espically the bull**** games they play.I think Conan and Jimmy are funny but thats it unless Norm was on or someother good comidian is on.
I only watch Norton now,hes the same guests as Conan but he pulls the piss out of them more and I like the format all the guests on at once,its a better flow.

brick tamland

The format is all wrong and very dated. Circa 4 hours of chat show across prime slots on Friday and Saturday is way too much and as a result it gets filled with poor standards of guests and terrible cringy segments to fill the time.

Norton show is about 50 mins and the likes of Ross and Carr where 1 hour max. They didn't need to fill time with terrible make over segments, pieces on sheep shearing or Z list celebs ( I rarely watch either show but times I've flicked on recently this is what I've seen)

Less is more

batistuta9

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Which means nothing.

If you put a recording of a dog licking it's balls on a continuous loop on RTE 1 it would get a few hundred thousand viewers.Some people just watch RTE out of habit.

it means more money that they'll get from advertisers, it means the pressure for change from within is less likely, etc. it cost brendan o'connor his show too :pac:

if you take those 200k away, who you think cant change the channel, the LLS would still be the most watched show, darcy's show & fair city would still be up there too. the only show that really breaks their dominance is coronation street

i'm not saying i like those shows or i think rte 1 programs are any good but that's the way it is, some people like rte1. maybe a lot of them are older though.
then you've the likes in this forum who tune in every week & don't really like it they just like to slag it off.

though rte 2 struggles except for sport. the future for rte 1 & LLS will be interesting, probably a more relevant discussion than saying no one is watching because they are at the minute.
but maybe we'll all reach an age where we can't be bothered changing the channel

longshanks

A friend of mine was at the Graham Norton show a couple of times. Once where Russell Brand was a guest. During filming he threw a stop and wouldn't talk for half an hour. What happened was everyone sat around awkwardly until he could be persuaded to talk again. When she watched the show on the following Friday there was no trace of the whole affair, just a neatly edited hour of entertainment.
When Tom Cruise was on there was no mention of Scientology etc.
The Graham Norton show is entertaining but it's not interviewing, it's advertising. Nothing more. Johnathon Ross the same.
At least with Tubridy it's an interview broadcast live.

Lady Chatterton

I completely agree with you that it is way more challenging to present a live chat show than a pre-recorded one that can be nicely packaged afterwards.

However, RTE chat shows have been little more than infomercials for sometime - one of the most shameless plugs I witnessed recently was on the Late Late Show - Francis Brennan appeared on the show to promote his new Dunnes Stores bedding range. Dunnes Stores is a highly profitable company, it should be paying for TV commercials we shouldn't be made watch a middle-aged man fight with a duvet cover on a Friday night.

BuilderPlumber

Agent Coulson wrote: »

I never liked Gay Byrne but he could interview and chat and his guests were interesting and good most of the time but stars were different back in the 60's,70's & 80's as they were stars and when there was a debate it really was debated even if Gay was heavy handed & condescending.


Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, Oliver Reed, Billy Connolly, Peter Ustinov were all regular guests over the years and were stars and also great Raconteurs.


Who do we get on the Irish chat shows these days the latest 15 minutes of fame reality star or the likes of the girlfriend or boyfriend of that guy or girl that was on that show that no one really watched.

Have to agree. There were better guests and debates back then and none of this reality star muck that we have today. This stuff has killed off proper TV. I have never consciously watched any reality talent shows or the likes of Big Brother ever and do not feel like I have missed anything. Of course they were on in places I was and when flicking through channels and I saw some people addicted to this drivel.

Boybands and talent show winners are everywhere. They are currently ruining country music as well with their modern drivel they market as such. They also have the nerve to cover Luke Kelly even. The world would be a better place without the likes of Jim Devine, Lee Matthews, Eoghan Quigg and Niall Horan being made into gods by the Irish media over the years. These 4 singers either were in a boyband or else a talent show.

The funny thing is the concept of this being a 'live in studio' show kills off possibilities. Of course they need ticket revenue but for those viewing it on TV one would be better served if it was not all live or not all in studio. Guests could be interviewed via videoconferencing or during the week at different times. Having shows depend on who is around for the timeslot 9.30 to 11.45 or 10 to 11.15 Friday and Saturday means the poor or the same guests will be on more often than not.

BuilderPlumber

the whole year inn wrote: »

Well its more fool you to watch that muck.They wont change untill viewers ratings drop and thats not going to happen if people are turning in,just so they can complain on the internet.
If you actually enjoy then good for you watch it but if not change the channell.

I gave up watching Irish chatshows in full too a long time ago. Now I generally do not watch them at all or else will watch the odd good guest on them and that part only. I don't want to see the latest boyband, talent show contestant, reality star (who is nothing in particular), modern country singer, etc, etc. All drivel. Overdoes of the likes of Bill Cullen, Twink, Louis Walsh and Ruby Walsh and in more recent years Katie Hopkins have also turned me off. People should turn off the channel and complain to RTE, TV3, etc. about the poor fare that is on these shows.

The Late Late Show and its format worked with Gay Byrne and worked in that era. Nowadays it is a pale imitation of its former self and a vehicle for promoting reality shows. I think that we have too many channels all competing for pieces of the same finite cake. Licence fees, advertising revenue and grants have to be divided among more and then quality disimproves. 1 good channel would be better than 5 poor Irish channels. The market has been well and truly saturated and it is quantity not quality. Reality TV exists because of one reason only: it is financed on a shoestring. It requires little more than a camera and presenters who are paid anyway.

Checkmate19

Rte are just interested in making cheap knock offs of other programme's, cookery shows and cheap reality shows. It's a complete and utter waste of public money and a job's for the boys club. Hang around the rte canteen long enough and you'll get some gig. In general main station tv has gone to the pits. The only good stuff being made is mostly coming from the usa. In this day and age there is no justification for rte to be getting the license fee and also ad fee's. Where is the money going because in my opinion is just squandered.

They seem to throw money at anyone who seems anyway in their eyes popular. Nathan Carter being the prime example. Bang average singer who became popular on a cover of a decent song. Low and behold he has his own show which is terrible.

Duggie2012

Checkmate19 wrote: »

Rte are just interested in making cheap knock offs of other programme's, cookery shows and cheap reality shows. It's a complete and utter waste of public money and a job's for the boys club. Hang around the rte canteen long enough and you'll get some gig. In general main station tv has gone to the pits. The only good stuff being made is mostly coming from the usa. In this day and age there is no justification for rte to be getting the license fee and also ad fee's. Where is the money going because in my opinion is just squandered.

They seem to throw money at anyone who seems anyway in their eyes popular. Nathan Carter being the prime example. Bang average singer who became popular on a cover of a decent song. Low and behold he has his own show which is terrible.

exactly, this is RTE's thing. anyone remotely...even remotely popular RTE flog them to death over and over until people are sick of the sight of them. its pathetic.

lertsnim

Checkmate19 wrote: »

They seem to throw money at anyone who seems anyway in their eyes popular.

Isn't that how it works for all channels?

Checkmate19

No not really how it works for other channels. Other channels usually come up with an idea and then find a presenter. Rte go with this person is popular so make any aul show for them. Or give presenters who are well past there sell by date shows. What do rte do well these days. Sport was something they where decent at but they are losing rights to it by the day. Money been squandered on ****e like meet the MacDonaghs etc.

NufcNavan

Checkmate19 wrote: »

No not really how it works for other channels. Other channels usually come up with an idea and then find a presenter. Rte go with this person is popular so make any aul show for them. Or give presenters who are well past there sell by date shows. What do rte do well these days. Sport was something they where decent at but they are losing rights to it by the day. Money been squandered on ****e like meet the MacDonaghs etc.

RTE are totally out of touch with the public.

There is a new show on travellers, gays, transgender etc. every other week.

Una Mullaly's programme on young people in Ireland made months ago and she didn't interact or interview with anyone outside of a two mile radius of Blackrock

It's too much and complete oversaturation.

velo.2010

longshanks wrote: »

Once where Russell Brand was a guest. During filming he threw a stop and wouldn't talk for half an hour. What happened was everyone sat around awkwardly until he could be persuaded to talk again. When she watched the show on the following Friday there was no trace of the whole affair, just a neatly edited hour of entertainment.
When Tom Cruise was on there was no mention of Scientology etc.
The Graham Norton show is entertaining but it's not interviewing, it's advertising. Nothing more. Johnathon Ross the same.

Interesting. I remember Nadine Coyle apparently calling out one of the 'Red Chair' participants as being a plant a few years ago.

Anyway, as mentioned above, the chat/talk show format as we once knew it is pretty much gone. In the US, its movie promo, followed by silly game with the ocassional anecdote thrown in. I think James Corden is making a good fist of trying to bring back that old school formula of having on all the guests at the same time, but yet his show is known more for its karaoke game shtick. Norton is the same with his show, which comes across even more as just three or four movie teasers with the actors on hand to introduce them.

Parkinson and Gay Byrne were of an era of entertainers and raconteurs who were willing to come on a show and .... talk! Think Peter Sellers and so on. The movie game changed and you got more serious actors who were reluctant to feature on such shows. Wogan experienced this in the UK and even the great Johhny Carson had similar in the States. Young, fresh actors who thought they were too cool for school. To counter this, shows had to diversify even more from the standard opening monologue and chat, to what we see today with the games and fake laughs and stories.

Even allowing for the above, the two RTE chat shows are completely awful. When the LLS has any decent guest, Tubridy still manages to mangle the interviews and make his guest feel uncomfortable. Think about it - aside from RTE staffers, just how many return guests has Tubridy had on his show? They don't come back! D'arcy is an even more cynical person and doesn't belong on air from what we've seen. The best RTE have done in the talk genre was the series of interviews by Mike Murphy a few years ago. RTE's best broadcaster in my opinion. Very natural in front of camera and genuinely interested in his guests. The 'one on one' is really the only format that fulfils that chat show requirement.

Just on the RTE viewing figures. As someone said above, you could have a static picture and RTE would still get large numbers... but why? Apart from being number one on the channel/remote, RTE is safe viewing for people. On a Friday night, if the kids are still up or someone is visiting the house, you know that there will be nothing of offence going on in the background. And sure, there might just be something interest to tune into!

The current chat show/interview regime is an odd arrangement to be sure. Richard Ayoade's take on format is enlightening. The 'lie of the interview situation' as he puts it. The first clip below is BBC and he mentions how its 'sociopathic' to appear on numerous talk shows or TV interviews of any kind but its something that can't be avoided when flogging a book or film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zHjgcCHo6I

Here is the more well known appearance on Channel 4 news where he and Krisnan Guru Murthy have something of a piss take interview in the wake of his (Murthy) famous head to head with Quentin Tarantino.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjC3ycS_2js

ligerdub

Glad I found this topic. Tubridy is my bug bear.

For me he's especially galling around this time of year. When he first got that gig he was adamant that he was taking the serious approach, and that he wasn't going to wear a Christmas jumper. He got a bit of grief over that so over the years he has projected this image of King of Kids, the biggest lover of Christmas ever ever, and you'd wanna see how Christmassy my Christmas jumper is going to be this year folks. I can't wait!

To top it off then he insists on this Joe Everyman trick where he pretends he can relate to some poor yoke who can't afford to put her bins out, and the false empathy with the downtrodden. The lad is so duplicitous it's unreal. His continued indulgance of lovvie lefties is particularly grating too.

Most of all though he just isn't good in the role. He mumbles nervously through interviews with serious political sorts like Paxman, can't ask coherent questions to the likes of Jonah Hill. Sure he can interview the colleagues in RTE or where there is some mawkish celebration of his mentor "Gerry" while people look on in indifference.

That being said I can't stand Norton and his sneery attitude to regular folk as he turns to his guests to pull the traps on their stories.

I can't be too harsh about D'Arcy. It was never his domain, he should do the right thing and take himself out of that seat.

O'Connor has potential but again has fallen for the indulgence of lefties again for the sake of a bit of pats on the back.

O'Callaghan is obsessed with feminism. When she puts that aside she is decent from a politics standpoint.

I'll be slaughtered for this bit I seriously consider Kenny to be a league apart from anything on RTE these days.

lertsnim

Checkmate19 wrote: »

No not really how it works for other channels. Other channels usually come up with an idea and then find a presenter. Rte go with this person is popular so make any aul show for them. Or give presenters who are well past there sell by date shows. What do rte do well these days. Sport was something they where decent at but they are losing rights to it by the day. Money been squandered on ****e like meet the MacDonaghs etc.

Of course. The BBC didn't throw money at Graham Norton and ITV never threw money at Jonathan Ross.

RTÉ go with popular person because it will mean viewers. It's not that hard to figure out. As much as I dislike the likes of Nathan Carter and Ryan Tubridy there is an audience for them.

Agricola

My theory on the strange phenomenon of Tubridy keeping his job and BoC losing his and D'arcy taking it - RTE is an old boy's club where talent, ability or suitability for a job count for little. It's all about how popular you are with colleagues and the DG. How could it be any other way. This is Ireland afterall.

My theory on why the LLS still gets high ratings - A large number of Irish TV viewers and especially older Irish TV viewers haven't a critical bone in their body. And they are a little too patriotic. If an English chat show was airing on a Friday night with Muhammad Ali, Billy Connolly, Barack Obama and the ghost of Michael Collins, a huge number of people here would still watch Tubridy stumble through interviews with Marty Morrisey, Twink, Joe Duffy and a woman from Clontarf who won an all Ireland pub quiz.

"shure it's the late late, ya HAVE to watch it!!!"

"no, you're thinking of the old show from the 70s and 80s, when the host had a clue and many of the guests were top notch, this isnt the same, it's dogshít!"

"what? shure it's the late late though!"

Jimmy Garlic

ligerdub wrote: »

I'll be slaughtered for this bit I seriously consider Kenny to be a league apart from anything on RTE these days.

In hindsight he wasn't all that bad. A fairly decent interviewer.

BuilderPlumber

Checkmate19 wrote: »

Rte are just interested in making cheap knock offs of other programme's, cookery shows and cheap reality shows. It's a complete and utter waste of public money and a job's for the boys club. Hang around the rte canteen long enough and you'll get some gig. In general main station tv has gone to the pits. The only good stuff being made is mostly coming from the usa. In this day and age there is no justification for rte to be getting the license fee and also ad fee's. Where is the money going because in my opinion is just squandered.

They seem to throw money at anyone who seems anyway in their eyes popular. Nathan Carter being the prime example. Bang average singer who became popular on a cover of a decent song. Low and behold he has his own show which is terrible.

RTE make these boring shows like those reality and cookery ones because they are dirt cheap to make. All them Rachel Allen cookery shows follow the same old tired format. Her, her family and her family's restaurant are promoted shamelessly day in day out on RTE while others could do with a break.

Good stuff comes out of America but often is not even shown by RTE or else shown months/years later. When RTE do something good they shut it down after a few years. Love/Hate being an example. They replace good programmes with poor, cheap to make fare.

Licking up to the likes of Tubridy in the RTE canteen is most likely what one has to do to become rich and famous. They will then be on the chatshows and then forced on us in every possible way.

Nathan Carter is better than the other so-called country singers RTE are pushing at us all the time. That Stetsons and Stilettos programme Sundays is another example of pure drivel. The makers of this would not know proper blues country if it jumped up and bit them in the face. Nathan Carter's show is just a direct copy of Imelda May's show done last year. What should be on at 9.30 this time of year on Sundays is Love/Hate. But that is too expensive to make and requires non-RTE regulars.

Money is squandered on the salaries of the likes of Tubridy and Pat Kenny in the past. They do not deserve their salaries and programmes like The Late Late Show and The Frontline are/were proof of this. Useless, boring, and/or depressing drivel designed to cater for the limited abilities of wooden presenters rather than to provide entertainment for the audience.

5rtytry56

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

.........and The Frontline are/were proof of this. Useless, boring, and/or depressing drivel designed to cater for the limited abilities of wooden presenters rather than to provide entertainment for the audience.

The Frontline was advertised as a program in which the frontline workers could articulate and suggest solutions for pain points in their work; In the event, it turned out to be a pure Venting and Rant - fest and no more.

Go Harvey Go

Agricola wrote: »

My theory on the strange phenomenon of Tubridy keeping his job and BoC losing his and D'arcy taking it - RTE is an old boy's club where talent, ability or suitability for a job count for little. It's all about how popular you are with colleagues and the DG. How could it be any other way. This is Ireland afterall.

I will always maintain that RTE pressed the panic button once the Saturday Night Show overtook the LLS in the ratings. :rolleyes:

5rtytry56 wrote: »

The Frontline was advertised as a program in which the frontline workers could articulate and suggest solutions for pain points in their work; In the event, it turned out to be a pure Venting and Rant - fest and no more.

And I will always maintain that the Frontline was just Questions and Answers with a different name, a different Today Tonight presenter and a nastier approach.

Thargor

I absolutely cringe whenever Ryan Tubridy is talking to anyone from the UK or the US, or pretending he cares about sport, he is the most overpaid and overrated presenter on tv. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill taking the piss out of him and asking him if he was nervous was the most entertaining thing the LLS ever did.

jelutong

On today's show Tubridy thanked Marty Moo for hosting yesterday's programme.
In fact he went so far as to say he "appreciated him doing it." No ,I don't listen to the show.Couldn't find the remote.

BuilderPlumber

ligerdub wrote: »

Glad I found this topic. Tubridy is my bug bear.

For me he's especially galling around this time of year. When he first got that gig he was adamant that he was taking the serious approach, and that he wasn't going to wear a Christmas jumper. He got a bit of grief over that so over the years he has projected this image of King of Kids, the biggest lover of Christmas ever ever, and you'd wanna see how Christmassy my Christmas jumper is going to be this year folks. I can't wait!

To top it off then he insists on this Joe Everyman trick where he pretends he can relate to some poor yoke who can't afford to put her bins out, and the false empathy with the downtrodden. The lad is so duplicitous it's unreal. His continued indulgance of lovvie lefties is particularly grating too.

Most of all though he just isn't good in the role. He mumbles nervously through interviews with serious political sorts like Paxman, can't ask coherent questions to the likes of Jonah Hill. Sure he can interview the colleagues in RTE or where there is some mawkish celebration of his mentor "Gerry" while people look on in indifference.

That being said I can't stand Norton and his sneery attitude to regular folk as he turns to his guests to pull the traps on their stories.

I can't be too harsh about D'Arcy. It was never his domain, he should do the right thing and take himself out of that seat.

O'Connor has potential but again has fallen for the indulgence of lefties again for the sake of a bit of pats on the back.

O'Callaghan is obsessed with feminism. When she puts that aside she is decent from a politics standpoint.

I'll be slaughtered for this bit I seriously consider Kenny to be a league apart from anything on RTE these days.

Tubridy cannot identify with the poor and downtrodden. He is part of what amounts to almost royalty. His interviews are cliched and unconvincing a lot of the time.

This Christmas image Tubridy wants to portray and his obsession with The Toy Show is strange for a man like him. Over the next few days the toy show is all we will be hearing about. There will be images of Tubridy dressed in some sort of a Santa suit and he will burst onto our screens in one in a week's time playing with all these children. Ironically it will not be the most childish show he'll do: that will no doubt be the Valentine's special!!

Thargor wrote: »

I absolutely cringe whenever Ryan Tubridy is talking to anyone from the UK or the US, or pretending he cares about sport, he is the most overpaid and overrated presenter on tv. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill taking the piss out of him and asking him if he was nervous was the most entertaining thing the LLS ever did.

Tubridy is overpaid and overrated. Things went downhill since he got the job. Tubridy has done some abysmal interviews over the years and has been mocked by his guests. The Late Late Show has become a joke and the joke is on us. If this was some private D4 club they would be entitled to do what they would like. Instead this is a nationally broadcast circus that we are paying to fund and that will not even respect us.

Vorenus400

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

This Christmas image Tubridy wants to portray and his obsession with The Toy Show is strange for a man like him. Over the next few days the toy show is all we will be hearing about. There will be images of Tubridy dressed in some sort of a Santa suit and he will burst onto our screens in one in a week's time playing with all these children. Ironically it will not be the most childish show he'll do: that will no doubt be the Valentine's special!!

The toyshow is the one show of the year where Tubridy is semi competent. He is better than Pat Kenny for that one show. They are selling the hell out of it for that reason. You can see that Tubs puts the work in for that show. Barely any notes or cards. Pity he cant put an ounce of that hard work into a usual Friday night show.:(

Vorenus400

2 minutes into the late late show and I have no idea how many times they have mentioned the toy show. They are overselling it

Mebuntu

1. There are no interesting presenters anymore. Tubs, Ray and, God help us all, Brendan are boredom personified and have no interview know-how.

2. There are (very) few interesting people to interview anymore so all we get is z-rated so-called celebrities on ever-increasing repeat that have zero charisma.

3. On the (very) odd occasion in a million when someone of possible interest comes on, the right questions are not asked and, in any event, the interview is finished before they get started.

I don't get this Toy Show thing at all and never have.

human 19

ligerdub wrote: »

I'll be slaughtered for this bit I seriously consider Kenny to be a league apart from anything on RTE these days.

It's a pity I cant find a clip of the cringeworthy Interview PK had with Craig Charles some years back where Pk thoroughly earned the moniker of "the plank" . Craig was firing witticisms at Pat which duly hit him and fell dead to the floor. It was embarrasing to watch. PK cant do light entertainment.

As many have said, he is good on factual or political conversations, but not on fun.

For me, the king is Bill Maher. Information and comedy together during his interviews. His monologues can also be hilarious. For example...

PeterTheNinth

jelutong wrote: »

On today's show Tubridy thanked Marty Moo for hosting yesterday's programme.

You might laugh at this but Marty Morrissey is hugely underrated and undervalued as a radio presenter. He filled in for Derek Mooney after he left (and RTE were trying to cobble together the money for D'Arcy) and he was very good - He's genuine, has some life experience outside of Montrose, and has an upbeat, cheery mindset. None of the fakelaughing/bootlicking of Tubridy and none of the preachy hypocrisy of D'Arcy. What you see is what you get with Marty.

On his first day D'Arcy started with a story about how he tried to walk into RTE discretely so that he wouldn't bump into anybody he knew!! Way to start the job with a positive mental attitude.. And it's been downhill from there.

ligerdub

Well put.

neris

PeterTheNinth wrote: »

On his first day D'Arcy started with a story about how he tried to walk into RTE discretely so that he wouldn't bump into anybody he knew!! Way to start the job with a positive mental attitude.. And it's been downhill from there.

dont forget the soup

5rtytry56

For all my own personal disdain and spurning of the RTE late late toy show, The TV3 Toy Show is still at heart an unashamed cheesy imitation of the rte production and just don't say that. Jedward pair take over from Billy Barry so and so's.

ligerdub

5rtytry56 wrote: »

For all my own personal disdain and spurning of the RTE late late toy show, The TV3 Toy Show is still at heart an unashamed cheesy imitation of the rte production and just don't say that. Jedward pair take over from Billy Barry so and so's.

I thought Jedward were Billy Barry so and so's

BuilderPlumber

5rtytry56 wrote: »

For all my own personal disdain and spurning of the RTE late late toy show, The TV3 Toy Show is still at heart an unashamed cheesy imitation of the rte production and just don't say that. Jedward pair take over from Billy Barry so and so's.

Of course the TV3 version is an imitation of Tubridy's toy show. TV3 in general is just another version of RTE 1 anyway and all it seems to do is produce RTE type programmes and revive concepts that RTE ditched. I'm surprised they haven't tried a weekend chatshow to rival Tubridy.

As regard the Tubridy toy show: it is perhaps the only one of his 30+ shows that is thought out and aimed at a specific audience. It is coherent and entertains the audience it is aimed at and most of all Tubridy is comfortable in the role.

Contrast this with Tubridy's poor interviews of sports stars or his fake aggressive interviews with politicians. Or his pushing all this poor modern music and comedy at audiences who want something different. Or that woeful Valentines show. At least the toy show is what it is supposed to be.