Why is irish tv crap?

Kraken

The public deserve an answer.

Mossy Monk

i used to ask the same question but i find myself watching the Irish channels a lot more lately. i watch mainly imported programmes but i find myself watching current affairs and news programmes more now than i ever did

Oeneus

Because for some reason in Ireland they are too damn scared of showing things that might be in the very slightest, offensive.

Remember back in the day when RTE rejected Father Ted, so they sold it to Channel 4 instead. Then, RTE realised how cool it was and started showing it.

RTE = W@nkers!

ONireland

Irish TV ain't crap! RTE and TV3 are far, far, far, far, far, far, far, better than the BBC or any pay-TV channel.

Currently, my favourite channels are Channel 4, Network 2, TV3 and for movies TG4.
The BBC used to be excellent, but since they started all this digital crap, they've just slid below Channel 5 in terms of quality of programming.

mike65

Observers have for decades pondered why RTE is indeed crap,
and the primary reason is that its run as a semi-state body,
this over the years cowed the mangement allowed its finances to become stretched.

Every time I see the likes of Bob Colllins I can't help but think
civil servant, becasue thats what he is, not a creative talent.

RTE is afraid of a good idea and ceratinly anything that strays
beyond what is deemed "normal", how Podge and Rodge stay on air beats me.

Its main responce to the competiton is to ape what they do but a year too late when no ones interested.
I'm waiting for Castaway 2003 when a group of Foxrock residents
are left to fend for themselves in Clondalkin. Actually that could be quite good!

As for current affairs, they're pretty poor, on the Beeb or Channel 4 they do stuff which explains how institutions opperate how that country works or does'nt, stuff which actaualy enlightens. Here a prog like Seven Ages comes along once in a blue moon.

Mike.

dmeehan

its the usual story for the irish semi-states
you dont need to have any experience in the field
you just need a leaving cert and be able to speak irish

Clinical Waste

Originally posted by ONireland
Irish TV ain't crap! RTE and TV3 are far, far, far, far, far, far, far, better than the BBC or any pay-TV channel.

OMG!

(watch out for the hat with the antennae on it..)

Saruman

In fairness to them they showed that thing on the heppatitus c scandal.. (probably spelt it wrong) but i almsot never watch it.. as Bertie said.. Coz i got sky, coz it got sky.. in fact eh coz i got sky!

ONireland

Because I got ITV Digital...

Marconi

RTE may have it's faults and has to accept criticism for them. But it is a cash starved organisation running on a budget which is only a frction of the BBC's - a station they are often unfairly compared to..... RTE is generally accepted among European broadcasters as being an efficient and progressive company, believe it or not! We Irish are always great at slagging-off our own.....

TV3 is basically a foreign-owned company with little home-produced material.

Whilst we're at it, can anyone name just one good imaginative programme which SKY themselves produce out of all the millions they receive from their worshippers??

DMC

Whilst we're at it, can anyone name just one good imaginative programme which SKY themselves produce out of all the millions they receive from their worshippers??

Ibiza Uncovered, Carribean Uncovered, The Villa....

oh, hold on....

mike65

Fair point Marconi,

Sky has vast revenue streams but has spent about 3.50 (Sterling!) on origional programming. In the US HBO and
Showtime actually make quality progs with their cash cows.

Mike.

byte

Can original programming include Lorraine, Kirsty's Home Videos, Baddiels Syndrome, Dream Team, Time Gentlemen Please, Harry Enfields Brand Spanking New Show? And that's just Sky1.

As for TV3 they have just 20/20, News, ummm. I think that's it! Do they still have that Speakeasy program during daytime?

mike65

But they're all very cheap and mainly crap!
Band of Brothers and the Sopranoscost a ton and were/are good
tv.

TV3 is well, for those without access to UK channels.

Mike.

Johnny_the_fox

Irish TV ain't crap! RTE and TV3 are far, far, far, far, far, far, far, better than the BBC or any pay-TV channel.

I agree.

Im from the north and all I got was that BBC sh*te until the summer when rte came in our life, now its never off.

Rte cost us 120 english pounds ....... which was worth it.

originally posted by Irishbyte:

Can original programming include Lorraine, Kirsty's Home Videos, Baddiels Syndrome, Dream Team, Time Gentlemen Please, Harry Enfields Brand Spanking New Show? And that's just Sky1.

With the exception of Dreamteam, the rest are complete Cheap Trash.
But even Dreamteam has at times very wooden acting and predictable plotlines.

IMHO Taggart on ITV is an example of good standard drama,like a good book hard to put down once you start watching
If Sky wanted to, they could fund similar programmes-but they don't in the mistaken belief that dross like Kirsty's home video's wins viewers/advertising.

I agree with the notion that RTE is a "civil Servant" type outfit and it amazes me how what talent there is there, survives top Brasses mentality .
The cancellation of Bull island being an example of bad programme management-it couldn't have been from lack of funds in that case.
Having said that RTE is on a winner with it's Documentary/current affairs output.
mm

Lenny

Well if you're the type of housey person over the weekend, RET1 or NEt2 usually show about 4/5 films every night on the weekend starting from around 7pm, well, they have been doing that for the past 5 weeks as I noticed in the paper, but there was a good film on last night, "Midnight Express" on TV3, I thought it was good, better than anything on Digital.

ONireland

Lorraine, = So good I never heard of it.
Kirsty's Home Videos, = Porn
Baddiels Syndrome, = Mildly funny. Bit like watching the news while drunk.
Dream Team, = Boring....
Time Gentlemen Please, = See Baddiel's Syndrome
Harry Enfields Brand Spanking New Show = So unoriginal they couldn't think of their own name for it.

ONireland

Remember shortly after Zig and Zag left the Den, Bosco was forced into retirement. Something was going on there!

Mossy Monk

Bosco, the television god of many small people. can anyone remember the song they sang when they went through the magic door?

DMC

Oh God.................

Knock Knock,
Open wide,
See whats on the other side,
Knock Knock,
Anymore,
Come with me through the magic door.....

Doo dee doodle do do, Doo dee doodle do do, etc......

Charles Slane

Damien,

my advice would be to seek professional help. To make any progress you will first need to admit to yourself that you have a serious Bosco problem.

Doo dee doodle do do, Doo dee doodle do do.

chernobyl

I have no idea why RTE is so bad as i have not visited their domain in 5 years and some days to boot, but i might take a look tonight...will have rig a coat hanger aerial up.

byte

Originally posted by ONireland
Lorraine, = So good I never heard of it.
Kirsty's Home Videos, = Porn
Baddiels Syndrome, = Mildly funny. Bit like watching the news while drunk.
Dream Team, = Boring....
Time Gentlemen Please, = See Baddiel's Syndrome
Harry Enfields Brand Spanking New Show = So unoriginal they couldn't think of their own name for it.

I just mentioned original programming made by Sky UK and not US/Aussie imported.

Lorraine is cack and is daytime telly with Lorriane Kelly or Keane or whatever her surname is.

One I forgot to mention is Close Up series which follows soccer players. It has followed Owen, Redknapp (God knows why they followed him), Yorke (or him) and Beckham is tonight (Sky1 @ 9). Wonder if I can avail of plugging revenues from Sky1?!:D

suppafly

yeah i agree with you ONireland all of those programmes are crap. Kirsty used to be alright at the start but now its just shows all clips that they have shown already cuz nobody sends they're videos into that crappy show. The Only decent things on sky are Simpsons and Dream Team, and recently that Close up thing is pretty good. Cuz all the rest of the stuff that Sky show is all the "someplace Uncovered" and the villa crap! i can't wait till RTE come onto Sky digital in April.

Actually that Close up documentary programme on Sky One is Good.
So Good in fact you would have thought it was RTE that made it:)
Very unusual of Sky.
mm

DMC

Originally posted by Charles Slane
Damien,

my advice would be to seek professional help. To make any progress you will first need to admit to yourself that you have a serious Bosco problem.

Doo dee doodle do do, Doo dee doodle do do.

Charles, I can sing to you the Safe Cross Code song too, if ye like?

Portrane here I come.....:D :mad:

Here comes the wagon.....wanderly,wanderly wagon.......:D
I know a good nurse in Newcastle,expert at injections in the boom:D Remember JR in the last series of Dallas...
Lets all go in:p
mm

Oeneus

TG4 RULES!!!!!!!!! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Irish_Ranger_IR

well if everyone paid there TV Licience then we would have good programs...

Pay it now, only €130 for the year, *sob**sniff* had to pay it Inspector at the door, I be back in 2 weeks to see if you have licience.

That's Why

But it's getting better, now that I chipped in......

But it's getting better, now that I chipped in......

ROFLOL:D
mm

tman

tg4 can be good at times, theyve got the show of the clubbing.com trip to ibiza tonight. if it's anything like the description in issue 1 of the magazine, then i'll be happy.

Irish_Ranger_IR

Originally posted by Irish_Ranger_IR
well if everyone paid there TV Licience then we would have good programs...

Pay it now, only €130 for the year, *sob**sniff* had to pay it Inspector at the door, I be back in 2 weeks to see if you have licience.

That's Why

But it's getting better, now that I chipped in......

I ment "It might get better now, that I chipperd in !"

:rolleyes:

Elmo

I have only had the other channels a year now and i have to say that they show more crap then RTE or TV3 or TG4.

The BBC is very good at what it does as is RTE.

RTE has a very good news service for irish people so we can know whats going on in our own country.

No Tears was well made, Fair City is a soap opera don't expect to much is what I say (i.e. All Soaps Are Crap and all soaps have their bad actors), Did you not see Batchlors Walk excelent series, Rodge and Podge, True Lives, Would You Beleive, Prime Time, Adgenda (have to give something to TV3), lets not mention morning or daytime ever channel is crap during the day except N2, Drive, Ros Na Run (a good soap), Amu San...., Treasure Island (Just as good as an reality tv crap far better then the most boringest show on TV Big Brother), RiRa, Paths to Freedom.

If you dont like whats on Irish TV and you want good Irish TV go out and make your own programmes. (The IPU at RTE might give you a hand, Maybe tv3 might let you make something for them).

RTE 1 is an excelent TV channel with some very interesting documentries did i mention True lives and WYB before.

By the way you don't need to speak Gealige to be able to watch TG4 they have on screen subtitles if you dont mind reading subtitles.

by the way RTE dont make to much TV, compare all their programmes and relate to the amount to TV programmes coming from Britain and the work out how much of a percentage of crap their is on the each station and they will come out even 80% crap, 20% good. (this is why there is never anything on the TV worth watching)

CHRISTYG

Are RTE in the habit of what they did on Wednesday afternoon often, which was, for those who missed it (about 99% of the population, leaving strange people like me!) cutting off a very exciting snooker match in the final frame to show a repeat of "Crossroads" or something like that? Does that happen often? It used to on BBC-20 years ago!!!

Elmo

The BBC have begun to show the news during Films as does ITV.

Network Two do it sometimes on Thursday.

This is very annoying for anybody enjoying anything their watching but that does not relate to weather or not the tv is crap but in fairness while i dont like watching snooker I would rather watch then Crossroads.

The quality of Home produced shows is very high is what i was getting at. (No matter what station they are on)

The Gopher

In my opinion our tv is way better than the UK terrestrials.We always get films before the UK and were months ahead in USTV.UKTV shows hardly any new films apart from huge ones like James Bond films and Titanic[am I the only person in Ireland who never actually saw that?Dont intend to neither].Heres the general rundown
RTE 1-Its news output generally sucks,as does most of its brutal in house programming like Fair City[dose any1 even watch it???].But you have to give them credit for showing most films within 3 or at most 4 years after release.
Network 2-Not a bad channel as it has USTV on way before the UK.But its comedy output has really suffered lately with the dropping of diamonds like Dont Feed the Gondalas and not repeating Fr Ted so they can show the awful Fergus Wedding.
TV3-Good news output,if a little short.Though not as good as RTE film wise they still manage to get their hands on the occasional great recent films.I dont really watch much of the USTV on TV3 though[I never got hooked to the likes of Buffy 2 years ago or whenever for one reason-the title!Calling it Buffy I thought it must be some kind of kids show or a cartoon with a silly name like that!]
TG4-The odd good film hidden among the swathe of gibberish which is Irish language tv.

byte

What would the yearly budget of TV3 be compared to RTE1 or N2? It would be considerably lower IMO since they don't get the added bonus TV license dosh. I do think the channel has dramatically improved its output since launch. I for one think the TV3 News is excellent. Much better than than the living dead presenters on RTE News. Also is Agenda and a programme I don't see mentioned, 20/20.

I just hope TV3 continues to grow and improve.

Elmo

It is an awful TV channel, why well lets take its budget

1) Plenty of cash around with Canada's and Britain's biggest media companies backing it

2) TG4 have a miserable budget and yet it still a make irish Drama (Even if it is in the Irish Lanuage, TV5 is in French its dreadful not because it is in french but because it just is)

3) They took Corronation Street away from RTE and this cost RTE millions and they still aren't making enough Irish Prime time TV.

So why do we have to put up with the same old stuff that RTE were showing up to recently

And I thought that TV3 would give us a something else to watch

I was wrong

TG4 rules anyway, If TV3 had done what TG4 had done (but in English) they would be No. 1 today(and from the very beginning).

Cathal Goan has done nothing to inspire RTE its a pity he didn't do what he had done to TG4.

Fair City is that bad for sake people get over Fair City it is a soap opera and all soap operas are bad, they all have bad actors, they all have addivitve scripts thats why people watch them its eye candy. enough said. ye wah!

Bring back Bull Island, 2TV, Batchlors walk, Glenroe (It was getting realy good towards the end).

By the way 20/20 came to some problems recently and that is why it is off the air.

CHRISTYG

I used to LOVE Glenroe when UTV showed it in the early 1990s. When was it scrapped, and why?

Kalina

As RTE is in very definite financial trouble, there are probably big changes on their way. Apparently their cash-flow is so bad that Tara, their digital counter-part has recently gone into liquidation just to pay RTE money it was owed. Also RTE might very well have to sell their up-market studios and office space in Dublin 4 to raise cash just to keep the company afloat.
In fairness to RTE they are trying. They are battling tooth and nail with TV3 for the big movie premieres and soaps. OK, so RTE lost Coronation St but with TV3 part owned by Granada, RTE were fighting a losing battle. But at least RTE are hitting back with EastEnders and their own soap Fair City (not that it's up to much but it does increase ratings substantially.
They've made their fair share of mistakes, one being to let Pat Kenny host The Late Late Show, and Telly Bingo should never have been allowed on the screen. But they've played an excellent hand by showing popular programs such as PopStars, Ally McBeal, 24, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Band of Brothers and The Weakest Link and they were one of the first TV channels on this side of the Atlantic to air the present series of Friends.
TV3 has done very well since it first arrived, with intelligent ploys to steal viewers such as their early morning breakfast show and their broadcasting the evening news at 5.30, a half hour before RTE's Six-1. By then, it's old news. The most head-wrecking thing about TV3 is the lenght of their ad-breaks, does anyone else think they are painfully long?? As long as they continue to create strong competition for RTE encouraging them to strive for newer and better programme schedules than we'll get good value for the TV licence fee!!!

Elmo

I dont think pat kenny was the mistake RTE made, it was not replacing his show on saturday night with a new Chat show, I would have thought that 500,000 viewers was good for a saturday night yet they cut their saturday night chat show.

I think Ireland AM is a waste of money which could be better spend on Prime Time TV, I am sure that 500,000 viewer on a friday and Saturday night for 2 hours is better then 8,000 viewers in the morning. (Perhaps a chat show would not be a bad idea).

I liked their idea of having a 5.30 news and 7.00 news (ie when the viewer can see after their trip home in the bad traffic) but now that they just repeat the same news 30 mins later because of Emmerdale, this is a big mistake. (Does anyone eles thing that Lorraine Keane and Martin King just turn up for the 5.30 news????)

I dont think TV3 provide the kind of competition that will get RTE up of their A R S E S and do anything which is a pity, lets face Pat Kenny was right when he said that he had hoped that TV3 would provide more jobs for presenter i.e an alternative to RTE when it started up, it has been on the air 3 years now and has done little in that department, except for reintroducing the talkabout presenter back to the Irish Viewing public and yet noone gives out about him being on TV3( That's because he is on in the morning and most people are watch Socky's little big morning show on n2 with their children.)

The weakest link is broadcast by TV3, Not all the bad Irish TV is on RTE.

Big bulabus for ITV Ireland.

I am sorry if i am kicking TV3, but I have been so disappointed by it and the fact that TG4 is the best irish channel doesn't help RTE or TV3.

[CALIBUR]

Remember back in the day when RTE rejected Father Ted, so they sold it to Channel 4 instead. Then, RTE realised how cool it was and started showing it. RTE = W@nkers!

rte = old twats. tv shows dated back in the 70s

ill paint the walls with my brains with shotgun if rte don't update there tv shows

Elmo

RTE where not offered Father Ted.

The guys behind the show where living in england at the time and had a good following over their, I beleive the where approached by channel four.

Note they are the same people behind Hippies and Black Books.

Black Books being far better then Father Ted and Hippies

ITV are not very good with sit-coms, name a good ITV sit-com.

mike65

Rising Damp! The New Statesman er that one that was set "oop north" about a dyfunctional big business family, in the 30s' starred Timothy West and was pretty good it was on in the mid 80s'

Three ain't that many though.


Mike

DMC

Brass.

mike65

Thats the one, thanks Damo, I would'nt have slept much tonight!:D Wheres my teddy?

Mike.

PacMan

Ireland Am on TV3 breakfast service, is there to "Get Around" the regulations for news and current affairs quota.
Yes its not good, but it gives TV3 the entire primetime to put on Movies, Corrie, and Sport.
Ireland AM is basically a loop-hole for TV3 to get around the regulators quota.

Elmo

and TV3 think of you the veiwer when they put out that loophole, money just doesn't come into it now does it, also not very many good movies on TV3 now are there. Oddly, I still would of thought that more viewers means more money so why didn't they just do a chat show during primetime, is The Late Late Show way more expensive then Ireland AM????

Ireland AM was on long before Corrie came to 3.

ITV comedy Rising damp was good did not think it came from ITV, i am surprised.

I would love to see an irish comedy come from TV3 that would be nice, and if it was good it would certainly get up RTE's nose, oh the Humanity.

RTE haven't putout that much comedy however it has Batchlor's Walk, Paths to Freedom and Rodge and Podge, Also the den has always been funny.

mike65

Originally posted by Elmo
ITV comedy Rising damp was good did not think it came from ITV, i am surprised.

I would love to see an irish comedy come from TV3 that would be nice, and if it was good it would certainly get up RTE's nose, oh the Humanity.

When channel Channel 4 show the Rising Damp repeats they show the original ad "bookends" thats how I knew.

As for TV3, they did try something vaguely amusing with two
of Irelands "hip new comic talents" but it quickly dissapeared I think.

Mike.

Elmo

Messers Tykal and Rooney or something like that when TV3 first appeared on the Telly.

It was alright actually but in the same way that The Green Green Grass of Home or DFTG where funny.

I'd like to see a TV3 sit-com or a good RTE one actually any good sit com is fine by me.

Even if C4 do it.

Also was Brass the one with the Catholic family, it was repeated last summer on RTE One?