Why is Fair city so popular.

Mutant z

One thing im often puzzled by is the extreme popularity of Fair City which can pull in 5/600, 000 or even over 700, 000 viewership, when Ros Na Run which is actually a superior show doesnt even get a fraction of those figures, also the fact that Red Rock has been put on hiatus and looking likely to be axed it doesnt make it look good for Irish home grown tv. Yes i can understand TV3 have budget constraints and with the return of Coronation Street and Emmerdale they are less willing to invest their limited resources into producing Red Rock.

It really doesn't say much for Irish Television that the longest running soap we have has the kind of acting that would embarrass a 5 year old child its just bloody awful. Ros Na Run has far superior acting and storylines imo, and even though its been a while since I've watched it whenever i have I've been impressed with it much more than I've ever been watching Fair City which appears pathetic in comparison. The only thing that holds Ros Na Run back i believe is the fact it's broadcast in the Irish language and even though its subtitled people are just less willing to watch it because its broadcast in non English, but whenever i have seen it I've felt it has been able to hold its own against any of the British based soaps which is never the case with Fair City, the show is just so wooden that i couldn't imagine it ever surving on the BBC but has always been able to get away with substandard acting and storylines on RTE largely because such a lack of home grown competition.

It really is a sad state of affairs that Fair City is the highest rated soap in this country when its acting and production standards is well below that of both Ros Na Run and Red Rock which is likely to be scraped, leaving less in the market for home produced drama, is it simply a case of being so bad its good which somehow gives it a comedic appeal to a large audience or lack of other home produced drama because i cant understand why it has so much appeal to the Irish tv viewing public.

Go Harvey Go

It also costs about 10 cents to make.

Exaggerating for the purpose of effect there, but it's certainly cheaper than Red Rock and the British soaps. And I don't think it would be unfair to say that RTE favour cost over quality (see also: many of their comedy shows). :rolleyes:

I don't think it would be unfair, either, to say that they consider Fair City a crown jewel in the schedules - just like the Late Late Show. Lest we forget, when Brendan O'Connor's Saturday Night Show overtook the LLS in the ratings, their response was to axe the SNS and replace it with Ray D'Arcy... :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Mutant z

Go Harvey Go wrote: »

It also costs about 10 cents to make.

Exaggerating for the purpose of effect there, but it's certainly cheaper than Red Rock and the British soaps. And I don't think it would be unfair to say that RTE favour cost over quality (see also: many of their comedy shows). :rolleyes:

I don't think it would be unfair, either, to say that they consider Fair City a crown jewel in the schedules - just like the Late Late Show. Lest we forget, when Brendan O'Connor's Saturday Night Show overtook the LLS in the ratings, their response was to axe the SNS and replace it with Ray D'Arcy... :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Yes but the whole programme looks completely amateurish compared to other soaps, it looks like most of the actors have walked in off the street and been put in front of the cameras, that's the way it looks to me with a scene on Fair City, a child in a nativity play you feel could do better than a lot of the dross on that show.I just dont know how something of such low quality can pass for entertainment in this country but hey we must all have different tastes but i dont understand how anyone could seriously be entertained by it maybe its just so bad it's good and thats what makes it entertaining that the acting is so unbelievably bad it makes it comical in outlook.

Jerichoholic

Irish people will watch any old sh1t that RTE puts out, they don't care.

dee_mc

I don't have figures to hand but just to address a point made above, Fair City is not made on the cheap! It costs a bloody fortune.
Considering the budget and the number of writers being paid etc it's actually hard to fathom how it's so bad.
I don't think the actors are desperately well paid (not that many of them are worth a high wage) so I'd love to see a breakdown of how much it costs to make and where exactly the money goes.
I gave up watching fairly recently because I found that it was no longer entertaining even in a 'so bad it's good' way, in fact it was making me angry!

Dynomutt

There's an article here on the cost of making FC last year:

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/tv-news/cashstrapped-rte-spent-107m-on-filming-fair-city-last-year-36010207.html

€10.7 million in total with a budget of €53,500 per episode. In addition, €63,875 was spent on wardrobe and €8,085 went on hair. I suppose Niamh's tresses need to be in top condition each time she exits a scene with an indignant swish of her fiery locks.

The clothes budget doesn't extend to the everyday extras. You're advised to bring three sets of non-logo clothing, even though Damian clearly wears Jack & Jones t-shirts from time to time.

Jerichoholic

There's no way on earth an episode could cost that unless they were burning down the sets and building from scratch after each take.

Joe Duffy.

Mutant z wrote: »

One thing im often puzzled by is the extreme popularity of Fair City which can pull in 5/600, 000 or even over 700, 000 viewership, when Ros Na Run which is actually a superior show doesnt even get a fraction of those figures, also the fact that Red Rock has been put on hiatus and looking likely to be axed it doesnt make it look good for Irish home grown tv. Yes i can understand TV3 have budget constraints and with the return of Coronation Street and Emmerdale they are less willing to invest their limited resources into producing Red Rock.

It really doesn't say much for Irish Television that the longest running soap we have has the kind of acting that would embarrass a 5 year old child its just bloody awful. Ros Na Run has far superior acting and storylines imo, and even though its been a while since I've watched it whenever i have I've been impressed with it much more than I've ever been watching Fair City which appears pathetic in comparison. The only thing that holds Ros Na Run back i believe is the fact it's broadcast in the Irish language and even though its subtitled people are just less willing to watch it because its broadcast in non English, but whenever i have seen it I've felt it has been able to hold its own against any of the British based soaps which is never the case with Fair City, the show is just so wooden that i couldn't imagine it ever surving on the BBC but has always been able to get away with substandard acting and storylines on RTE largely because such a lack of home grown competition.

It really is a sad state of affairs that Fair City is the highest rated soap in this country when its acting and production standards is well below that of both Ros Na Run and Red Rock which is likely to be scraped, leaving less in the market for home produced drama, is it simply a case of being so bad its good which somehow gives it a comedic appeal to a large audience or lack of other home produced drama because i cant understand why it has so much appeal to the Irish tv viewing public.

Let's not get carried away about Ros Na Run, that soap has also had some dreadful acting and storylines. As for fair shıty, its on rte one 8pm so it's inevitable really that it will get decent numbers.

branie2

Because of the storylines

Gwynplaine

I tune in to see Leo's hands.
A Galaxy Note looks like a matchbox in those shovels.

Sephiroth_dude

Its so bad its good.

LoughNeagh2017

I think they should shut down the show and start a show about a Donegal village or something, build a new set on the land, 30 years of Fair City is too much.