Old RTE programming that was bad...

...any efforts by RTE that were memorably bad. Or maybe, of all the bad efforts by RTE, which were the worst?

From the 80s, Leave It To Mrs O'Brien. A comedy that was so bad that I avoided Fr. Ted for a year or 2 when it came out on the basis that the whole Irish priest thing could not possibly be a source of humour. Got that wrong.

From the 90s, Upwardly Mobile. Just dirge. Awful story, awful acting, awful jokes.

gifted

Fair city...just brutal...from the acting to the shadows on the walls from the camera lights...i leave the room if herself wants to look at it.

byte

Glenroe

Not only was the show absolute dirge, it was also a sobering reminder that it was back to school in the morning!

gifted

gifted wrote: »

Fair city...just brutal...from the acting to the shadows on the walls from the camera lights...i leave the room if herself wants to look at it.

Does it still have the Bistro? The Bistro was a restaurant that catered for someone looking for a sandwich on the way home from a few early jars, right up to someone looking for Michelin starred food for a special occasion. Still a step up from Hughie in Pizza Action though...

byte

byte wrote: »

Glenroe

Not only was the show absolute dirge, it was also a sobering reminder that it was back to school in the morning!

I liked the local stripper, at least that's what I presumed any woman called Teasey did for a living...

Cortina_MK_IV

Fair City. Should be used as punishment for young offenders, stuck in a room with it on a loop.

Zaph

Wanderly Wagon. How they thought they could insult kids' intelligence with that drivel for so long is beyond me. But thankfully I was too old to be around for Bosco. What little clips I've seen of that would have had me putting my foot through the TV screen, even as a kid.

osarusan

Just googled Upwardly Mobile and the Wikipedia page has two references. The first is an article in the Indo about the top 10 worst Irish TV shows ever.

It's pretty funny and while Upwardly Mobile is mentioned, this is the best one:

Play The Game
In any other country, Play The Game would have been scheduled in mid-morning to find its target audience of students, alcoholics and nursing home inmates. In Ireland, this charades-based charade ran as prime-time entertainment several times weekly for 10 years. The format involved Derek Davis, Ronan Collins, Twink, two sofas and a procession of 'special guests' who were so low-profile that carpet burns were an occupational hazard.

Play the Game had one hilarious factor, which was Twink getting visibly annoyed with her teammates. That woman was ruthless about her charades.

blueser

I thought Derek Davis and Ronan Collins WERE the two sofas?

osarusan

My own entry would be O'Gorman's People.

Didn't watch much of it, but whenever I saw it, it was just some unfortunates being patronised and condescended to by the great man himself, under the thinnest veneer of concern or interest.

Sgt Hartman

Play the Game was utter bottom of the barrel TV. I remember watching Upwardly Mobile during my college days, I would love to watch a few old episodes again just for nostalgia's sake although I wouldn't be surprised if RTE recorded over the entire series. I believe one of the actors died of of an asthma related heart attack while on the way to beat someone up with a baseball bat.

Another show was The Cassidy's. I never watched an episode myself but I heard it was utterly horrendous.

stimpson

Sgt Hartman wrote: »

Another show was The Cassidy's. I never watched an episode myself but I heard it was utterly horrendous.

My claim to fame is that I was an extra on that. I met Ed Byrnes ma in the "Green Room" (a table in the corridor with warm cans of Heineken) and you could tell she was ashamed for what her offspring had become.

Sgt Hartman

Celebrity Farm!! Anyone here remember this one? It was a reality show where z list celebrities such as Mondo from Fair City and Kevin Sharkey would perform tasks on a farm for a number of weeks to nobody's amusement.

Ryantown - Never watched this myself but I heard it was so bad that even Gerry Ryan disowned it.

Live at 3 - A dykewater dull afternoon show hosted by Derek Davis to cater for nursing home residents and the unemployable.

Mattie - Dreadful Pat Shortt sitcom about s rural Gard who moves to the city. The city is Limerick but this is never mentioned in the show, and the camera shots are taken in such a way that most of the background is out of view so you can't really tell that it's Limerick.

Val Falvey TD - Boring Ardal O'Hanlon sitcom about a caravan dwelling TD.

5rtytry56

The "Anything Goes" programme where the female presenter showed how to make your own wanderly wagon out of a cereal box and 2 coffee jars ( in the twilight years of that other kids programme) It was clear that she was'nt at all enthusiastic about the project and that there was no other topic available for the programme to choose.

5rtytry56

early 80's a series on Sunday nights set in an Irish Prison. Show prisoners puking into plastic bowls. Showing Morison management. Forget the name. On RTE 1.

utter Misery Porn.

Noveight

As mentioned already Mattie and Val Falvey TD were both dreadful.

dirkmeister

Does anyone here remember Finbars Class?!

It had a good few Fair City heads in it.

5rtytry56

Today Tonight

Naval gazing at the then ongoing Troubles in Norn iron from the point of republic of Ireland and hand wringing at contemporary industrial unrest at that time.

dirkmeister

dirkmeister wrote: »

Does anyone here remember Finbars Class?!

It had a good few Fair City heads in it.

Jesus I had scrubbed that from my memory until you said it. I'd give that the award for worst RTE program.

Sgt Hartman

Karl Spain wants to Rock - I don't care!!
Making Jake - I like PJ Gallagher but I could never "get" the Jake Stevens character

Winterlong

Bosco.

"Knock Knock open wide
See whats on the other side
Knock knock any more
Come with me thru the magic door".

The fckin zoo again. Always the fckin zoo.

Trom agus Eadrom.

In case school didn't make you hate the Irish language enough.

Cortina_MK_IV

Quicksilver. - "Will you play for 5 pence?"

5rtytry56

Youngline

foxy farmer

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Trom agus Eadrom.

In case school didn't make you hate the Irish language enough.

Liam o Murichu. My father hated him. He used to do an up for the match type programme before the all ireland finals. One night he was interviewing guests about their time playing hurling. Anyway was quizzing some fella about his hurling career. Won a few all Ireland medals.
"Were they for hurling or football?" Murichu enquires.
Well my fathers reaction was priceless. Lost his sh1t. Football football? The man was a renowned hurler with a strong hurling county being interviewed the night before a hurling final and yer man starts enquiring about football. Telly nearly went out the window that night.

foxy farmer

foxy farmer wrote: »

Liam o Murichu. My father hated him. He used to do an up for the match type programme before the all ireland finals. One night he was interviewing guests about their time playing hurling. Anyway was quizzing some fella about his hurling career. Won a few all Ireland medals.
"Were they for hurling or football?" Murichu enquires.
Well my fathers reaction was priceless. Lost his sh1t. Football football? The man was a renowned hurler with a strong hurling county being interviewed the night before a hurling final and yer man starts enquiring about football. Telly nearly went out the window that night.

It was crushingly twee. Friend of mine used to do a great Liam O'Murchu impression.

Go halainn ar FAD. Agus...I believe you sang in Covent Garden...agus...what sort of place was that now, tell us all.

Well Liam, it's bigger than Duhallow Parish Hall, you cultural ignoramus...

JupiterKid

Mailbag - aul wans moaning at how a chaste kiss on a RTÉ drama meant the country was going to hell in a hand basket.:rolleyes:

Dillin O Dheas - rubbish

The weather forecast - up until the late 80s, featured an unseen Met Eireann dry sh*te with a stick pointed at a grainy B&W satellite photo

JoMaxi - drivel

Murphy' Micro QuizM - whoever thought a game show featuring the feeble ability of a BBC microcomputer was cool needs to be shot a dawn. Prizes were a joke.

And quite a few more...

bodhrandude

I have to say Killinaskully got tired very quickly in its lifetime.

Yourself isit

THis thread is bringing back bad memories.

I don't think glenroe deserves to be in it though as it was pretty solid in terms of acting. Also unlike other drama soaps it wasnt all misery. It was leavened with some humour. More corrie than eastenders

bodhrandude

bodhrandude wrote: »

I have to say Killinaskully got tired very quickly in its lifetime.

That was during the opening credits on the very first programme...because once one or two lines of script were aired, it became clear that is was painfully unfunny.

I was told there was an episode where the joke was the resemblance between the name "Philip Eno" and the nationality Filipino, so the village was horrified at the thought of getting an Asian priest. I watched it to see what I could endure...I've seen Scór plays with better plot lines and gags.

Yourself isit

Yourself isit wrote: »

THis thread is bringing back bad memories.

I don't think glencoe deserves to be in it though as it was pretty solid in terms of acting. Also unlike other drama soaps it wasnt all misery...

Glencoe?

I always think of rain, tartan and massacres...

Yourself isit

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Glencoe?

I always think of rain, tartan and massacres...

Oh you're going to feel so silly now I've edited my post

branie2

Extra, Extra, Read all About It

goose2005

bodhrandude wrote: »

I have to say Killinaskully got tired very quickly in its lifetime.

they made THIRTY-SIX episodes. Very few British or Irish sitcoms run that long. Amazing that they managed it

Ursus Horribilis

osarusan wrote: »

My own entry would be O'Gorman's People.

Didn't watch much of it, but whenever I saw it, it was just some unfortunates being patronised and condescended to by the great man himself, under the thinnest veneer of concern or interest.

He came to my home town in one of the episodes. He interviewed one of the town's most notorious scumbags and believed, without questioning, his tales of woe. You'd think butter wouldn't melt in this fella's mouth and that life had dealt him a series of raw deals. By the time the show aired he was back in prison - again.

Gerry Ryan's forays into TV were pretty bad too. Ryantown and Secrets were awful. His later one where he simply interviewed people was a much better effort.

Hot Milk & Pepper(?) was Brendan O'Carroll's Saturday or Sunday night show.

darkdubh

The Last Furlong. Awful pile of shyte that should be buried under the foundations of Sellafield to prevent it ever being broadcast again. Simon Delaney from Batchelors Walk playing a mentally retarded Portugese opera singer. It was like a rejected sketch from Bull Island was picked up and turned into a series.

foxy farmer

SBB ina shuí. Chat and music through the medium of irish with Sean Ban Breathnach and Grainne watsername off Bosco. From 76 to 82.

For Forks Sake

darkdubh wrote: »

The Last Furlong. Awful pile of shyte that should be buried under the foundations of Sellafield to prevent it ever being broadcast again. Simon Delaney from Batchelors Walk playing a mentally retarded Portugese opera singer. It was like a rejected sketch from Bull Island was picked up and turned into a series.

F*cking hell, that actually existed :eek:

Even RTE seem to be denying it happened

Ursus Horribilis

Domhnall Gleeson was in it. I bet he wishes it was a nightmare he had after eating too much cheese before bedtime!

darkdubh

For Forks Sake wrote: »

F*cking hell, that actually existed :eek:

Even RTE seem to be denying it happened

It was all too real. I came across this review of it from Hot Press, pretty much nails it.

http://www.hotpress.com/discussions/messages.php?topic_id=2838199&o_ids=&page_no=1

Ralf and Florian

Anyone remember Molloy? So called sitcom shown by RTE in the late 80's.It just lasted one series.

Ralf and Florian

5rtytry56 wrote: »

early 80's a series on Sunday nights set in an Irish Prison. Show prisoners puking into plastic bowls. Showing Morison management. Forget the name. On RTE 1.

utter Misery Porn.

Was that "Inside"?

Ralf and Florian

osarusan wrote: »

My own entry would be O'Gorman's People.

Didn't watch much of it, but whenever I saw it, it was just some unfortunates being patronised and condescended to by the great man himself, under the thinnest veneer of concern or interest.

Always found something creepy about that guy.