RTE's new 8 episode gangland drama with an all star cast.
AMC start date is September 9th I can't see a start date for RTE just a coming soon.
I thought it was a decent enough opener. There's enough there to make me come back next week anyway.
You're right nothing to work with, no way for any actor to deliver that sex talk to their son and win an Oscar while staying on script. She had some woeful dialogue to deliver.
Thought it was decent. I know she didn't have much to work with in terms of good dialogue, but still thought the actress playing Amanda was particularly bad.
I went back and watched the whole thing after abandoning after 20 minutes first time out, my opinion hasn't changed really. Only copped it was Charlie Cox playing Michael during the end which could have been something straight out of his role as Dare Devil in terms of his acting and the slip of the accent.
I know these people are drug dealers and scavengers of human misery and aren't supposed to be likeable but it's made worse by the fact that it looks like a D4 family born and bread are trying their hand at it.
I can never warm to Gillen, anything I've seen him in has been too similar to everything else I've seen him in. Think it's the accent it never sounds right.
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Wait! you mean to say RTÉ could not afford to increase their tiny Budget/Comedy Scripted and drama because they have to produce programming across a wide variety of genres and they have a wide number of media platforms to budget for!
But then I am not talking about massive big budget Dramas or Comedies, I am talking about a variety of all types. I suppose your right when you are right, they also have to look after children's TV and Educational programming. Oh and their imported programming that's important just €25m per year!
I suppose next you will be telling me about special events that they have to broadcast, sporting events that happen every four and are only postponed due to a oh I don't know a pandemic? Not that they know they own the rights to such games or that 4 years crops up very quickly. You just don't have time to budget for such events.
Maybe they might want to tighten those purse strings a little more careful and spread that budget a little more evenly.
No class
Not bad at all , always liked Ciaran Hinds ,the guy never stops working
Aidan Gillen has good screen presence ,never understood the level of slagging he gets ?
The Eric guy is a cliché but probably needed
I’ll keep watching but found the actors a bit unbelievable as Dublin gangsters.
just watched, not bad quite a bit of a better start than Love/Hate strong enough characters something I didn't see in early L/H until at least series 3 when Nidge came into his own and hams like Gillen and Sheehan were bumped off
Enjoyed it, finally some decent Irish TV, hopefully it improves as it goes along.
I'd also like them to, but several TV and radio stations alongside an online presence means budgets are tight. Live sport and highly paid staff must leave little to play with. It's also an enormous risk and they'd get hammered for any failures as the BBC does by the Tories and their media. Thus spreading the risk makes sense I think.
Thought it was okay, while it looked slick it really took me out of it when they were hanging out and living in Dublin 4 and Grand Canal Dock areas. The realism is lacking IMO, the main family seem to be a classic drug gang selling to street dealers and getting their stuff off an Irish trafficker who has connections to the source. I can't think of many instances where the gang leaves the area they are from unless they are getting their own stuff. If you think of a gang like 'The Family' to my knowledge, they are still living in Ballyfermot, Mr. Big still lives in Coolock, Greg Lynch still lives in the Oliver Bond flats, etc. I know some do indeed leave where they are from but not to the heart of Dublin 4!
A lot of people are defending how well dressed the cast are and the location on their houses by comparing them to the Kinahan family and their affiliates (One guy looked to be based on Ross Browning, Cunnigham seemed to be based on Christy Kinahan) but the Kinahan's are traffickers and at the top of the drug food chain living in Dubai and previously Spain so comparing the main family to the Kinahan's seems incorrect in my eyes who are just a gang in Dublin and not international traffickers. Also the locations and houses they live in would have CAB on their tales all day every day. In real life, as stated, they generally stay in the area they are from but upgrade the house from the inside with cash in hand jobs, trying to explain a property purchase of a lovely house in Lansdowne road to authorities would not end well.
The cast themselves aren't very convincing, I don't really buy they are some successful drug dealing family, there's no one who had the same presence as say Fran from Love/Hate who I thought was very convincing as a Dublin gangster.
Granted I know it's a tv show and it seems like it will be entertaining but it's hard not to shake the realism aspect they are missing. I understand why it's so slick and flash, it seems to me like they are selling this to an American audience and the visuals of Grand Canal and the houses are quite nice and will draw people in somewhat. Nonetheless I'll continue to watch next weekend.
Not a bad 1st episode. Definitely better than the Bray cr@p with Butsy that was on virgin media a year ago.
I am actually agreeing, RTÉ are the commissioners of that show, I would say that that was their most expensive spend this year on Drama. My point is that RTÉ don't commission that much drama and spend less than 1% on Independent drama/scripted comedy in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. They could if they wanted produce more Drama.
Three official production partners. Irrespective of the appropriation of input they'll be equal partners in the (unlikely) event of any forthcoming awards.
BBC studios and Treasure for RTÉ AFAIK. The point is that the argument that RTÉ don't have enough money for Drama is wrong, RTÉ spend just 1% of their budget if even on Independent Drama last year. Almost all of their current set of dramas are either co-pros or they have little or nothing to do with the production, most of the public funding coming from the BAI and Screen Ireland.
It’s just another Love/Hate really.
Watchable but nothing special.
I put the tan down to being part Ghanaian rather than fake tan!
Nothing special IMO, she looks like every 'curvy' beautician who is plastered in fake tan and makeup, I know being overly done up like that is the trendy thing now but I think it's naff, once they take the warpaint off it's like looking at a different person.
Just rewatched the episode and it is just so uneven, especially the dialogue, most of it is so unremarkable and lazily written that when they do go for some humor it feels inorganic and out of place like the Ma telling her son about the ride she got the night he was conceived or the fella answering the door naked.
The best scene/shot by far was the drive by, really well done capturing the POV from inside the car, felt a bit of an adrenaline rush even.
The end I thought it was odd how your man took so long to check on the young lad or notice he'd been shot as well. Not that it mattered because you knew he was gonna get it anyway.
They really went out of their way to show off the bodies of the male actors. The bit at the end where Mikey took his shirt off to stop the bleeding of your man was purely a case of 'let's remind the audience that this guy is an ex con who can kick some arse if need be.' which we already knew since he was Daredevil (and Owen from Boardwalk Empire.)
Eric's misses is a fine looking women
BBC, RTE and Treasure Entertainment the three production companies for Smother.
Don't know, nobody on the cast list with that name. Possibly a character that is mentioned but never seen, but if that's the case why is there an image on the family tree?
I wasn't saying they are comparable shows I was saying they both had an element of humor is all, which is missing in this new show Sopranos is easily superior in every way. Unfortunately I don't think Kin will even be as good as Love/Hate as the characters just arent that interesting or likable.
Produced by BBC Studios for RTÉ. While commissioned by RTÉ its one in very few (particularly) in the last 10 years. Any idea how much RTÉ spend on Independent drama in relation to the over all budget?
Who plays him?
Did we see Bren (Jimmy and mikeys dad) in this episode? He doesn't seem to have been at the welcome home party?
Exactly. My point was that RTE are still heavily involved in the copro dramas they commission. KIN was purely an acquisition hence no RTE involvement.
Very few European TV companies do major non co-productions. Not financially feasible, particularly for a national broadcaster in a nation of 5m people. Smother earlier this year was a decent exported one that RTE were heavily involved in.
He's got a very distinctive voice too.
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