Taken Down [RTE]

donkeykong5

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

joanne_ryan83 wrote: »

sir
with all due respect mr Carolan has a a degree from nuig in socilogy and politics,

What's with the "sir" **** on every post?

Pretending they are foreign. Sir!

The Late Late Show

3rd episode a bit better than the 2nd but still dull and toned down. Watched Sudden Impact right after it and that is how it should be done and how Love/Hate and The Handmaid's Tale did it as well. I can't help but think that Taken Down is a victim of the current RTE attitude to not show violence of any kind. Taken Down if made in 2012 would have been excellent. Nothing wrong with the Taken Down story but it is just so damn tame. RTE should either decide to make dramas like this in the proper manner or else concentrate on something else. Love/Hate was perfect and Taken Down would be good too if it was only allowed to be made in that spirit.

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Deleted User wrote: »

There is talented irish writers out there im sure and Carolan to be fair done a sound job with Love/hate. I think we need to invest in creative writers but the problem is we are stifled by this politically correct agenda

Stuart Carolan and possibly Jo Spain are good writers. There is nothing wrong with the story here but it is the PRODUCTION. Watched Sudden impact right after it and the depiction of misogynist abuse here just as in Love/Hate and The Handmaid's Tale is not sugar-coated. RTE have ruined Taken Down, Rebellion and Clean Break by caving in to the type of people who constantly criticised the violence in Love/Hate and now The Handmaid's Tale. My answer to them types: if they don't want to watch violence, then don't watch dramas about criminal gangs or dystopian dictatorships. Go and watch Daniel & Majella B&B roadtrip and let others watch crime and dystopian dramas.

joanne_ryan83

joanne_ryan83 wrote: »

sir
with all due respect mr Carolan has a a degree from nuig in socilogy and politics,

No one disputed his education or the fact he has a certain amount of intelligence but his views on immigration are deeply flawed. If Western countries keep taking in refugees then the origin countries will never learn and will continue to act the bollócks.

Leaders with some bit of back bone should be coming together and warning these dictators that their carry on is a burden on the rest of the world instead of resorting to this unsustainable madness of direct provision and forced migration.

donkeykong5

Deleted User wrote: »

joanne_ryan83 wrote: »

sir
with all due respect mr Carolan has a a degree from nuig in socilogy and politics,

No one disputed his education or the fact he has a certain amount of intelligence but his views on immigration are deeply flawed. If Western countries keep taking in refugees then the origin countries will never learn and will continue to act the bollócks.

Leaders with some bit of back bone should be coming together and warning these dictators that their carry on is a burden on the rest of the world instead of resorting to this unsustainable madness of direct provision and forced migration.

ffs. Look what's happening in rooskey in leitrim. Locals not even consulted. !

donkeykong5

donkeykong5 wrote: »

ffs. Look what's happening in rooskey in leitrim. Locals not even consulted. !

All because of selfish egotistical w@nkers of politicians but then we continue to return these clowns in droves....my own constituency is one of the worst culprits

BoroMan32

A slight improvement, but still basically sh!te.......

Some of it is just laughable, like your man has a swig of the beer and says ''Nice and cold''......aye, right.

tylercheribini

BoroMan32 wrote: »

A slight improvement, but still basically sh!te.......

Some of it is just laughable, like your man has a swig of the beer and says ''Nice and cold''......aye, right.

Yea Harold Pinter-esque dialogue, dunno what it is about that actor but I just never find him that convincing in whatever he is in, not particularly bad but just so middle of the road. I've been revisiting Scarface a lot recently so Irish TV just seems ten times worse than usual at the moment.

RabbleRouser2k

Deleted User wrote: »

No one disputed his education or the fact he has a certain amount of intelligence but his views on immigration are deeply flawed. If Western countries keep taking in refugees then the origin countries will never learn and will continue to act the bollócks.

joanne_ryan83 wrote: »

sir
with all due respect mr Carolan has a a degree from nuig in socilogy and politics,

Don't care what his qualification is, or even if he earned training from the Correspondence school of Tampa. (Simpson's reference).
The writing is bad-plain and simple. There are better writers out there with lesser education (Alan Moore or Frank Darabont for example) who write far greater scripts than this. This is tame and timid. It comes across as someone who's literally done all their research via twitter.

This genuinely needed research via speaking to the men and women on the streets-instead you get a feel of the lazy writers from Mitchell and Webb.

If Finding Joy is getting a second series (which I have to question, since it barely had any viewers) then it's clear that RTE don't care about what they're putting out.

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tylercheribini wrote: »

Yea Harold Pinter-esque dialogue, dunno what it is about that actor but I just never find him that convincing in whatever he is in, not particularly bad but just so middle of the road. I've been revisiting Scarface a lot recently so Irish TV just seems ten times worse than usual at the moment.

RTE has the ability to destroy everything. They are like the Taliban when it comes to repressing violence. Harold Pinter would not tolerate this: he afterall did the screenplay for the first and largely underrated film of The Handmaid's Tale back at a time when Gilead was not as real as now. Like Pinter, Stuart Carolan is very talented but sadly RTE will not allow another Love/Hate. Sad. And where are the accountants in RTE? Another Love/Hate would make them a lot of cash. Taken Down could well have been excellent and an Irish Handmaid's Tale about Magdalene Laundries series too could be made but RTE do not seem to have the stomach for anything more violent than Dancing With the Stars these days.

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RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

Don't care what his qualification is, or even if he earned training from the Correspondence school of Tampa. (Simpson's reference).
The writing is bad-plain and simple. There are better writers out there with lesser education (Alan Moore or Frank Darabont for example) who write far greater scripts than this. This is tame and timid. It comes across as someone who's literally done all their research via twitter.

This genuinely needed research via speaking to the men and women on the streets-instead you get a feel of the lazy writers from Mitchell and Webb.

If Finding Joy is getting a second series (which I have to question, since it barely had any viewers) then it's clear that RTE don't care about what they're putting out.

The problem here is the original writers are edited by a Taliban-like RTE who sanitise 99% of the original script. Taken Down by Stuart Carolan was most likely written as a violent drama akin to Love/Hate (which of course he wrote) or The Handmaid's Tale. But RTE DECIDED the Irish people should not be 'corrupted' by that! Finding Joy and Striking Out are typical modern RTE dramas and a reason why people with talent like Stuart Carolan should go elsewhere.

If it was anymore one dimensional it would be a single point..

RabbleRouser2k

The Late Late Show wrote: »

The problem here is the original writers are edited by a Taliban-like RTE who sanitise 99% of the original script. Taken Down by Stuart Carolan was most likely written as a violent drama akin to Love/Hate (which of course he wrote) or The Handmaid's Tale. But RTE DECIDED the Irish people should not be 'corrupted' by that! Finding Joy and Striking Out are typical modern RTE dramas and a reason why people with talent like Stuart Carolan should go elsewhere.

There's talent, and then there's the person who has only one story to tell. And maybe Carolan is that guy.
Much of the speculation as to why it's bad is speculation about RTE. But if you look at Carolan's other projects-he's had some duds too. Be it Little White Lie, or the Dunphy Show (Yeah, I know he was a producer in name only on that show). As well as working on RAW.
Or people can try and put the blame on the other write, Jo Spain-and maybe there might be a little truth there (she's a novelist-a first time screenplay can often be quite bad. Be it for tv or movies).

It can't all be blamed on RTE. Like, the drama 'Charlie' took more chances with a drama based on real people-Taken Down may be 'inspired' by real events, as we're told...
But there's no sense of truth to it. It just doesn't feel human-the characters feel one dimensional. There's no drama, no sense of peril... the most sense of drama is the 'careful, that's harassment'... but the lead is so wooden, I didn't know if it was her joking or being serious.
Like, the characters are so throwaway, there's nothing to hook onto.

And according to reports, it's costing, give or take, about €5 million. For six episodes. I don't see where the money has gone, or is going. RTE also went to great lengths to get advertising for this, and their other new shows. (Apparently they wanted €400 000 for advertising, whether this included shows that were largely produced by everyone but RTE-such as Women on the Verge. I don't know).

John Boland reviewed the show, and I feel he's largely spot on.

When it comes to drama, RTÉ's track record has always been erratic, to say the least, and for every Love/Hate there have been five Striking Outs.

This is the country that produced Wilde, Shaw, Synge, O'Casey, Beckett, Friel, Murphy, Roche, Carr and McPherson, but RTÉ has hardly ever been able to channel our genius for drama in terms of television.

As it happened, I thought Love/Hate overrated, its professional competence being mistaken for something more interesting, but it was a masterpiece compared with the first episode of Taken Down (RTÉ1), which comes from the same team of writer Stuart Carolan (with Jo Spain) and director David Caffrey.

The set-up was good, with striking use of the old Pigeon House fort at the South Wall in Dublin as a bleak provision centre for asylum seekers, and with the murder of a young Nigerian woman - found bludgeoned in a nearby bus shelter - kickstarting the plot.

The plight of the refugees, especially that of Nigerian mother Abeni (Aïssa Maïga) and Algerian Samir (Slimane Dazi), was well evoked, but the gardaí investigating the case were given no discernible personalities. There was a casually racist cop, whose poisonous attitude seemed to come from nowhere, while the lead duo of Inspector Jen (Lynn Rafferty) and deputy Niamh (Orla Fitzgerald) just came across as robotic. And matters weren't helped by a pacing that was so sluggish as to be funereal.

Maybe these failings will be redressed as the series proceeds, but the competition in crime dramas is fierce out there, with new series arriving all the time from America, Britain, France, Scandinavia and elsewhere, the best of which are distinguished by engrossing storylines and genuinely intriguing characters.

In the past 11 months alone, I've been riveted by such new dramas as Killing Eve and Mr Mercedes (both on RTÉ), Bodyguard on BBC1 (though it went a bit bonkers towards the end), The Forest (Netflix) and the slow-burning Blood on Virgin One, while new seasons of Spiral (BBC4), Shetland (BBC1) and Better Call Saul (Netflix) have also been unmissable.

Taken Down will need to seriously up its game if it's to compete with any of these.

(Review taken from link below-it requires free registering or signing in with facebook or google accounts).

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/tv-reviews/review-rt-fails-to-make-compelling-drama-out-of-refugee-crisis-with-taken-down-37509038.html

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All writers can have hits and misses but RTE has sadly had many shows post-Love/Hate that were all misses. Suppose they were the makers of Mr Mercedes or The Handmaid's Tale, they would have messed up those too despite Stephen King and Margaret Atwood. One thing Taken Down, Clean Break, Rebellion, Striking Out and Acceptable Risk have in common is they all had an interesting story but ruined by RTE's new Puritanical anti-violence attitude. Yet RTE continue to show the news which features the Kinahan feud (Love/Hate), Trump's America (The Handmaid's Tale brought to life: it shows that series too late at night but on RTE 2 not RTE 1 stating this is not to be viewed by the mainstream audience unlike Daniel and Majella or Bannon Room to Improve) and so on. RTE also showed Mr Mercedes but the attitude seems to be: show violent shows popular not made in Ireland but not make ones here.

rob316

The writers have taken a good interesting topic and turned it into a dull boring show. It needs pace and better characters.

prunudo

I wonder is the pace of the show a metaphor for how long people are in direct provison!

youre boring me now

How do you people get satisfaction from posting the exact same criticisms as ones already posted numerous times?!

Should be a thread for those who find it decent-to-good, where we can post about the show unaffected by the anti-RTE crew, whose ability to discern a good drama I would question. (“It’s too slow,” etc - LOL!)

yourdeadwright

youre boring me now wrote: »

How do you people get satisfaction from posting the exact same criticisms as ones already posted numerous times?!

Should be a thread for those who find it decent-to-good, where we can post about the show unaffected by the anti-RTE crew, whose ability to discern a good drama I would question. (“It’s too slow,” etc - LOL!)

In this case the tv show just happens to be slow and the majority think the same ?

What's the problem with people having the same opinion ,If everyone loved it would you have a problem with that to ?

clfy39tzve8njq

youre boring me now wrote:

Should be a thread for those who find it decent-to-good, where we can post about the show unaffected by the anti-RTE crew, whose ability to discern a good drama I would question. (“It’s too slow,†etc - LOL!)

Are you saying you want a separate thread just for posters who agree with you.
It's a discussion forum it's going to have people with different opinions.

yourdeadwright

Colby Blue Denim wrote: »

Are you saying you want a separate thread just for posters who agree with you.
It's a discussion forum it's going to have people with different opinions.

How dare they ,iv never heard the like in all my life

The Specialist

youre boring me now wrote: »

Should be a thread for those who find it decent-to-good, where we can post about the show unaffected by the anti-RTE crew, whose ability to discern a good drama I would question. (“It’s too slow,” etc - LOL!)

The only "LOL" would be the 2 posts your circle jerk thread would have (sorry that would be actually be the 2nd LOL after your statement here that this is a good drama).

youre boring me now

Are you all the same person or do you just happen to be similarly stupid?

yourdeadwright wrote: »

In this case the tv show just happens to be slow and the majority think the same ?

What's the problem with people having the same opinion ,If everyone loved it would you have a problem with that to ?

If you’re looking for bangs and flashes, I suppose it might seem slow. The problem is the relentless reputation of the same ill-considered criticisms.

Colby Blue Denim wrote: »

Are you saying you want a separate thread just for posters who agree with you.
It's a discussion forum it's going to have people with different opinions.

No..! Just to weed out the likes of you and your irrelevant opinions.

The Specialist wrote: »

The only "LOL" would be the 2 posts your circle jerk thread would have (sorry that would be actually be the 2nd LOL after your statement here that this is a good drama).

Yikes, that was cringe.

clfy39tzve8njq

youre boring me now wrote:

No..! Just to weed out the likes of you and your irrelevant opinions.

Excuse me, but my opinion is every bit as relevant as yours as is the opinion of every other poster. If you can't cope with differing opinions without resorting to insults maybe forums aren't the best place for you.

The Late Late Show

yourdeadwright wrote: »

In this case the tv show just happens to be slow and the majority think the same ?

What's the problem with people having the same opinion ,If everyone loved it would you have a problem with that to ?

When the majority of people feel the same about TV shows, then they all cannot be wrong. The flaws in Taken Down are typical RTE and the producers of the show in RTE are 100% to blame. RTE are determined to sanitise everything and their dramas are now the equivalent to drama as boybands are to music.

The subject matter of Taken Down is good but the production is poor. If it was made in 2012, it would open with a balaclava-clad terrorist murdering the woman and then would have shown an abusive relationship between the main character and her employer who would treat her like a handmaid.

youre boring me now

Colby Blue Denim wrote: »

Excuse me, but my opinion is every bit as relevant as yours as is the opinion of every other poster. If you can't cope with differing opinions without resorting to insults maybe forums aren't the best place for you.

Lol that you think your opinion is in any way worthy of being heard by others.

The Specialist

youre boring me now wrote: »

Lol that you think your opinion is in any way worthy of being heard by others.

From your snarky up your own arse attitude, I'm going to take a guess you either work in some section of RTE or have some involvement in the program.

The Late Late Show

rob316 wrote: »

The writers have taken a good interesting topic and turned it into a dull boring show. It needs pace and better characters.

I'd blame the RTE Green light team. They edited all the violence out of it because of the squeamish types who cry 'torture porn' when they watched The Handmaid's Tale and Love/Hate. Taken Down is made for fans of Dancing With The Stars and Westlife.

youre boring me now

The Specialist wrote: »

From your snarky up your own arse attitude, I'm going to take a guess you either work in some section of RTE or have some involvement in the program.

Lol, what a pathetic and inaccurate stab in the dark!

The Late Late Show

rob316 wrote: »

Finding joy getting a second season. Who the **** watches this ****e

Typical. More of the retrograde attitudes of RTE. When the world in general gives us top quality drama series like The Handmaid's Tale, Game of Thrones, Mr Mercedes and Better Call Saul, RTE shove on this tripe. Compared to Finding Joy, Taken Down is a masterpiece!

Deleted User wrote: »

No surprise there. She is one of the darlings of RTE along with hubby :rolleyes: Like Tubs she is well connected and even her very wooden talentless brother Mark manages to get the odd gig here and there

Amy Huberman is very lightweight and her 2 recent series are very very poor. She is well connected and perfectly suits the focus on tame watered down fare RTE want to push at us. Amy Huberman could never play someone like Offred/June from The Handmaid's Tale or Siobhan from Love/Hate that is for sure. There was a reason why she never was in Love/Hate.

tylercheribini wrote: »

The show is a microcosm of decades old RTE practice.

Finding Joy is like The Big Bow Wow and dozens other attempts at drama. Cheaply made watered down crap with nothing of substance in it whatsoever. RTE are insulting its viewers by producing this type of tripe and expecting us to pay for it.

hatrickpatrick

How do ye think Flora got caught? Or did she voluntarily go back to the brothel even knowing that they'd likely retaliate for her escape attempts?