Val Falvey TD

Elmo · 29-11-2009 9:18pm

Lemondrop kid wrote: »

Em do you have the INp article for pasting/ posting?
I cannot believe any even lowly hack could give this the thumbs up

seems to be a friend

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/playing-the-eejit-in-the-name-of-comedy-1957999.html

The new RTE comedy series Val Falvey TD is co-written by a close personal friend of mine, Arthur Mathews. So I should declare my ethical position in matters of this nature.

It goes something like this: If the show is very good, it would be morally wrong for me not to point this out, because then the writer in question would be the victim of a grave injustice, denied due recognition in a national newspaper for no good reason apart from his relationship with me.

And if the show is terrible, I will simply pretend that it doesn't exist.

As you may already have gathered, Val Falvey falls into the former category, and is entitled to all the recognition it will be getting, now and into the future, perhaps for TV eternity.

For all we know, they will still be showing Falvey every night on RTE2 in 15 years time, like they show Mathews' Father Ted. And it can be compared to Ted, not just for the involvement of Mathews and Ardal O'Hanlon, but in the sense that in many ways it is a celebration of eejitry -- every character in this series has unique characteristics, but they are all united by one thing -- they are all eejits.

And Mathews, along with co-writer Paul Woodfull, is chronicling the lives of these eejits so faithfully, it is now perhaps time that our national universities took notice, and printed up an honorary doctorate for services to eejitry and for a lifetime of achievement in this field.

There are also huge contributions from Ardal O'Hanlon as Val Falvey himself and Owen Roe as his handler -- never for a moment does the mask slip, to reveal anything but the most overwhelming levels of total and irreversible gombeenism, or, to give it its true name, eejitry.

It isn't enough to be an eejit.

Elmo · 29-11-2009 9:20pm

smcgiff wrote: »

*pilot episode just finishes in RTE HQ*

RTE Mandarin #1 - 'Jaysus, that's shíte'
RTE Mandarin #2 - 'Remember what happened when we passed on Fr Ted'
RTE Mandarin #1 - 'Sign that shíte up!'

RTE Mandarin #2 must have forgotten that RTÉ never got the opportunity to produce Fr. Ted.

Wouldn't mind but the BAI (Broadcasting Authority of Ireland) gave money towards it as well!

Lemondrop kid · 29-11-2009 9:25pm

Elmo wrote: »

seems to be a friend

Jesus, that is shocking - f**king scandlous. Do you know the name of the writer.
Good God I'm in shock - honest

smcgiff · 29-11-2009 9:25pm

Elmo wrote: »

RTE Mandarin #2 must have forgotten that RTÉ never got the opportunity to produce Fr. Ted.

Hah! - Thought I heard RTE fumbled it.

MikeC101 · 29-11-2009 9:26pm

Val Falvey falls into the former category, and is entitled to all the recognition it will be getting, now and into the future, perhaps for TV eternity.

The writer can't be serious, can he? Recognition for TV eternity?

For all we know, they will still be showing Falvey every night on RTE2 in 15 years time, like they show Mathews' Father Ted.

Well yes, I could see them doing this, but that would be because they've been bankrupt for the previous ten years, after the Montrose Riots of 2014, when license payers finally snapped, after the building of the second Tubridy statue, and stormed the RTE HQ and lynched the top brass.

And it can be compared to Ted, not just for the involvement of Mathews and Ardal O'Hanlon, but in the sense that in many ways it is a celebration of eejitry

It certainly is that. A celebration of the eejitry the writers think the public possess, to try and present such bland crap as comedy.

And Mathews, along with co-writer Paul Woodfull, is chronicling the lives of these eejits so faithfully, it is now perhaps time that our national universities took notice, and printed up an honorary doctorate for services to eejitry and for a lifetime of achievement in this field.

ffs....at this point I ask, is the article actually being satirical? If not...

There are also huge contributions from Ardal O'Hanlon as Val Falvey himself and Owen Roe as his handler -- never for a moment does the mask slip, to reveal anything but the most overwhelming levels of total and irreversible gombeenism, or, to give it its true name, eejitry.

Funny that, almost as if O'Hanlon was some sort of secret eejit?

Edit: After reading it a second time, the article is a joke, right? Especially with the "services to eejitry and for a lifetime of achievement in this field." ?

Elmo · 29-11-2009 9:26pm

Lemondrop kid wrote: »

Jesus, that is shocking - f**king scandlous. Do you know the name of the writer.
Good God I'm in shock - honest

Declan Lynch, wouldn't mind but often he doesn't review he just passes remark on shows and then deviates into some sarcastic Indo nonsense!

dr.bollocko · 29-11-2009 9:27pm

Mind-numbingly pointless. Ardal was better off in the dumb looking super hero outfit.

Lemondrop kid · 29-11-2009 9:28pm

Oh Declan Lynch. Nuff said.

Elmo · 29-11-2009 9:33pm

MikeC101 wrote: »

ffs....at this point I ask, is the article actually being satirical? If not...

On continuing to read I am also going to go with sarcasim the headline was

Playing the eejit in the name of comedy

And he goes on to praise McSavage in a sarcastic tone also. Problem with sarcasm is that it doesn't come across in print, perhaps Mathews based the Sarcastic Priest in Father Ted on Declan Lynch.

Johnny Giles · 29-11-2009 9:44pm

What was the idea behind the scene where Val's daughter walked off after seeing Owen Roe cleaning Ardal's coat.

Were they trying to suggest they were gay or something? If so it failed badly. Childish writing. I'd rather watch a repeat of Killinaskully.

Aidric · 29-11-2009 9:57pm

The Tribune also stated the show was 'very good'. What's going on here?

http://www.tribune.ie/arts/other/article/2009/nov/29/television-critic-patrick-freyne-no-sex-for-ladett/

Johnny Giles · 29-11-2009 11:00pm

Aidric wrote: »

The Tribune also stated the show was 'very good'. What's going on here?

http://www.tribune.ie/arts/other/article/2009/nov/29/television-critic-patrick-freyne-no-sex-for-ladett/

Harvey Hunter don't like the show.

peanuthead · 29-11-2009 11:02pm

JP Liz wrote: »

will it be a hit or miss?

I know I'm in late with this but ... miss

Our man in Havana · 29-11-2009 11:02pm

It is dire. Awful awful stuff.

cursai · 29-11-2009 11:06pm

what is the name of vals girlfriend, the one with the botox eyes. its seems everything shes in is muck. remember the cassidys or that skit news show

JonathanAnon · 29-11-2009 11:07pm

And Mathews, along with co-writer Paul Woodfull, is chronicling the lives of these eejits so faithfully, it is now perhaps time that our national universities took notice, and printed up an honorary doctorate for services to eejitry and for a lifetime of achievement in this field.

And if they do set up such a doctorate for eegitry, this particular journalist will be at the top of the queue. He prefaced the article by stating that he knew the writer and that this would not colour his objectivity, and then showed no objectivity at all. It was like he was trying to overcompensate for his own realization that he didnt have the balls to pan what was a very poorly written bit of "comedy", cos it was written by his friend.

and features plenty of laugh-out-loud bits (one constituent reveals to Val that she swam in a toxic waste-infected lake because there was "a nice Jacuzzi effect")

The Tribune (thanks for posting the link btw), as well !!!! This example of the "humour" was again just another joke that didnt work. The whole story about the pollution is very cliché, but more so than that it was very badly written and not funny at all. The "milieu" as the journalist describes it, is a paint by numbers sort of thing. They follow every cliché of politicians..... and still manage to make it unfunny. I mean, if they parted from the stereotypes and tried to write something groundbreaking you would understand, but how can they paint all the numbers with the wrong colours??

Johnny Giles · 29-11-2009 11:13pm

cursai wrote: »

what is the name of vals girlfriend, the one with the botox eyes. its seems everything shes in is muck. remember the cassidys or that skit news show

She was in fair city. She killed her OAP millionaire husband.

Johnny Giles · 29-11-2009 11:14pm

Notice Val's son has appeared in two episodes for a few seconds. Says nothing but wears t-shirts saying "I hate my family" etc.

How much is he getting paid for doing nothing.

cursai · 29-11-2009 11:14pm

amelia crowley. thats her name. she jinxed

JonathanAnon · 29-11-2009 11:18pm

cursai wrote: »

what is the name of vals girlfriend, the one with the botox eyes. its seems everything shes in is muck. remember the cassidys or that skit news show

Christine played by Amelia Crowley. She does a lot of voiceover as well. And
she was in Fair City as well, so she must be good.. :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJCVQFJbvL4

Johnny Giles · 29-11-2009 11:23pm

She's a chancer

She looks like a dish of dirt. Ardal should know better!

cursai · 29-11-2009 11:48pm

she must have a public job in rte ir is stepping out with someone in there. cause its not on talent shes getting by

giftgrub · 30-11-2009 4:05am

I had the choice of watchinig Val Falvey or The Thick of It....

No brainer

thepilgrim · 30-11-2009 2:37pm

am i alone in thinking that this show could have been improved "slightly" if O'Hanlon and Roe reversed roles. I get the impression O'Hanlon lazily picked the Falvey role for himself and fell back on Dougal-isms to get by. May have been more interesting to cast Roe as Falvey...

JonathanAnon · 30-11-2009 2:44pm

Johnny Giles wrote: »

What was the idea behind the scene where Val's daughter walked off after seeing Owen Roe cleaning Ardal's coat.

Yeah that was just bizarre, and I watched the thing twice and I still dont know why he took the dog... The section where he is giving the "epic" speech at the end is embarrassingly bad as well. The music comes in blaring over the top before he's said anything. And his "solution" to the problem is soooo simplistic.

I think they are trying to allude to Val having homosexual tendencies, with the scene mentioned above and the way that he extended uncomfortably the hug at the end of the program.

Owen Roe is carrying the show's credibility, as most of the other acting is poor to mediocre. If he wasnt there it would be a complete shambles. Not that the writing isnt making enough of a shambles already.

mattman · 30-11-2009 5:27pm

said i'd give it a 2nd chance..

watched 6mins....what a pile!

back to naked camera! yippeee...

m.

Venom · 30-11-2009 5:45pm

Got as far as the paper fight and off it went. Dreadful show but what's to be expected from the likes of RTE

mink_man · 30-11-2009 5:49pm

middlin it is...

fryup · 30-11-2009 6:49pm

its very mediocore, its a pity cause on paper it could be a hit...dozy clueless redneck becomes politician overnight

maybe they need the midas touch of graham linehan (IT crowd) to make it a bit sharper

Rioski · 30-11-2009 7:28pm

Venom wrote: »

Got as far as the paper fight and off it went. Dreadful show but what's to be expected from the likes of RTE

I couldn't believe that scene, it was like something out of a school play (only the acting was alot worse).

It really is god awful, give me 'upwardly mobile' any day ahead of this crap.
The theme tune is ok though.

Val Falvey TD

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