The Roaring Twenties (2 Viewers)

[SONYMEGADRIVE]

On the goth / bondage thing - can you imagine the conversation we'd be havng if that had been a female flatmate being forced to participate? Oh boy.

I guess alluding to attempted male rape is just funnier.

i've been trying to keep it under my hat for a while now, but
my treatement for "benny on the loose" was picked up by TG4
a few weeks ago. it's kinda like peep show and shit

 

[Franco]

Even if there are fuck all talented writers out there, RTE shouldn't be handing over money to the best out of a bad new bunch just because they 'need' a sitcom.

If RTE don't buy a ticket, then they can't win the lottery. I would think it would be part of RTE's remit to try and nurture new writers Or would it be better if they shell out for some ropey american import that's just as bad but won't cause a fraction of the uproar?

There are many talented writers, directors animators etc. in this country doing deadly stuff but RTE are notorious for not taking risks and they're also notoriously incestuous which puts a lot of people off even attempting to get a commision from them.

I'm sure they are flakey in RTE but all televison comissioners are pretty conservative. RTE have made more comedy recently than i can ever remember, none of it a success - I Dare Ya, The English Class, and David O'Doherty's show spring to mind. Take DOD, who is genuiniely funny but his show was still middling to poor. I just don't think we have the pool of talent or resources to make it fair to be comparing some of our indigenous efforts to the deadly shit that we watch or is imported.

Nobody questions, for example, why RTE can't make a show like The Wire, or Planet Earth, or The Trap, but with comedy, folks think it's just writing some funny jokes, that it's a piece of piss, and we should be able to do it handy enough.

The Roaring Twenties might appear like RTE took a risk but they didn't. It's hackneyed material that's already been done to death in other shows, both here and abroad. As a viewer, I don't think it's unrealistic to expect a plausable context and at least a hint of originality in a sitcom.

I didn't think it was good. I just feel the majority of sitcoms fall into the same pitfalls. It's a very, very hard think to do right. Therefore it doesn't surprise me that RTE never get it right.

 

[rettucs]

Ah I was just trying to formulate exactly the above thought in my mind. Thanks you s! I hate anti-begrudgery. Crap things are crap whether they come from Ireland or not. We are allowed to say so. Didn't see this program but it sounds a bit crap ...

jaysus lads, don't take me out of context, sure yis won't?

No one ever disputed this. My point about begrudgery is that we seem to be harder when its one of our own. I couldn't imagine there being a thread this long and this scathing if it was some english tv show we were on about.

And to 's', either you're very lucky to be surrounded by happy-go-lucky well-wishers that only want the best for everyone, or else I'm unlucky to be exposed to people who'd begrudge you any bit of luck or good fortune that came my (or anyone else's) way. Either way, cheers for the de-repping. A form of begrudgery for having an opinion imho.

 

[rettucs]

oh, and one other thing about RTE. They have never been let live down their ill-advised decision to pass up Father Ted way back when, and rightly so. This has probably had a profound effect on the way they now approach new programmes.

And if RTE didn't pass up Father Ted, I can imagine the uproar in this country on the Gay Byrne and Joe Duffy shows about how our national broadcaster is facilitating the mocking of the catholic church in that way.

 

[pete]

i've been trying to keep it under my hat for a while now, but
my treatement for "benny on the loose" was picked up by TG4
a few weeks ago. it's kinda like peep show and shit

i heard it's just a second rate Gay Robot

 

[jane]

Three things.

First: Link to the writer/director's thread on boards? Tried to google it.

SEcond: cephalopod, please remember: No link, no Twink. Must find her little 'begrudgers' rant immediately.

Third: I can't watch the Roaring Twenties. I can't bring myself to do it. The first few times you see these things it's car crash TV, and now, I dunno. I can't do it.

Something that really struck me when I first moved to Ireland was the higher-than-average level of musical ability in the general population, even if it's just to sing a few tunes. And I was struck by how many people were so good at telling stories, had such amazing comic timing, didn't worry too much about conventions if it got in the way of a good yarn. And for a country that has produced a remarkably high proportion of the great English-language literature...HOW THE FUCKING FUCK IS THE TV COMEDY SO SHIT? And commercial music? Why are most of the attempted exports so rubbish, when you can hear amazing music any night of the week all over the country?

I dunno, is it a good thing that RTE and music companies have had a pretty hard time commercialising some of the best things about Irish culture?

RTE doesn't take risks, and there's also a lack of discipline, or ability to translate between media. Thumped has some funny fucking threads, but if you took them and tried to make a sitcom out of them, it'd flop, and "Well, it was funny on the internet" wouldn't matter.

I think it's also a lack of confidence that stems from not ever really having made TV into a fully-fledged Irish form of media the way they did with radio. And rather than capture the distinctly Irish sense of humour, they look at what works elsewhere, and whether it was popular in Ireland, and then they try to replicate it, which they can't.

Soupy Norman is funny because it's off-the-cuff, a little bit twisted, surreal, and you can't really explain it. Soupy Norman is a good risk, a smart idea, and fucking totally fits with the kind of sense of humour that a lot of people seem to have. Taking the piss is Irish humour's great strength, which is why sitcoms never work. That's why Paths to Freedom is so good -- it was genuinely taking the piss. That's why Dan and Becks is not. You can't really have posh southsiders trying to take the piss out of themselves because they aren't quite vicious enough. A lot of the humour in these sitcoms is kind of 'you had to be there' humour, but they haven't figured out how to let the viewer 'in there'.

The guy who writes Ross O'Carroll Kelly -- whatever you think of him -- is not a posh southsider, which is why that works.

Oh, and I heard that the RTE turning down Father Ted thing is actually a myth -- they went straight to Channel 4. Am I wrong?

 

[tibor]

oh, and one other thing about RTE. They have never been let live down their ill-advised decision to pass up Father Ted way back when, and rightly so. This has probably had a profound effect on the way they now approach new programmes.

And if RTE didn't pass up Father Ted, I can imagine the uproar in this country on the Gay Byrne and Joe Duffy shows about how our national broadcaster is facilitating the mocking of the catholic church in that way.

Father Ted was never pitched to RTE, they went straight to Hat Trick Productions with it.

 

[rettucs]

Father Ted was never pitched to RTE, they went straight to Hat Trick Productions with it.

I stand corrected.

It does seem to be a well-travelled myth though.

 

[tibor]

Oh, and I heard that the RTE turning down Father Ted thing is actually a myth -- they went straight to Channel 4. Am I wrong?

I must read the full thread before posting.
I must read the full thread before posting.
I must read the full thread before posting.
I must read the full thread before posting.
...

 

[jane]

I must read the full thread before posting.
I must read the full thread before posting.
I must read the full thread before posting.
I must read the full thread before posting.
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Nah. I had it wrong too because I said Channel 4, and it was the production company, which makes way more sense. And is a reminder that this is how TV works. you don't pitch directly to RTE. You pitch to a production company and it goes through them, and it kind of depends on the relationship between the company and RTE.

Which is partly why TG4 consistently produces some good programming -- the companies who make a lot of the good stuff have a pretty good relationship with them. It's not that it's all chosen on favouritism, it's just that as in every industry, reputation means something. And for Irish language TV, the bar is just that bit higher, partly because a lot of people with good ideas just go straight for an Irish language production company because they want to avoid RTE. You won't get as much money, but you're more likely to be allowed to make the programme you want to make.

But I'm so biased it's not even funny. Having, monoglot that I am, a rather close and personal relationship with Irish language TV.

I'm also curious as to why I've never really met anyone who works in RTE who isn't highly intelligent and appreciative of good things. You've got all these good, talented people working there, so why is this not being reflected in comedy?

I can't say I could write a better one because, I dunno, I'm sure a lot of the people who work on these shows are really funny if you talk with them, but they can't write a sitcom. Maybe I couldn't do it either. But there are a hell of a lot of people out there who could do it. They're just bartending or waiting tables or working in offices and they didn't maybe go to UCD or Ballyfermot.

 

[Goodbye]

I..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................actually.

 

[hugh]

jaysus lads, don't take me out of context, sure yis won't?

No one ever disputed this. My point about begrudgery is that we seem to be harder when its one of our own. I couldn't imagine there being a thread this long and this scathing if it was some english tv show we were on about.

True enough. If it was some English show we wouldn't give much of a shit, but that's totally understandable. A show made here, about us, is gonna be of more interest to *us*. People are interested in it, they watch it, they form an opinion, they express it. I don't think people are harder when it's one of our own .... people are simply more interested, and perhaps more disappointed when it's crap. We can also see through false notes and stereotypes more easily when they are closer to home.

In a similar way, everyone in Ireland who is interested in music has an opinion about Damien Rice in a way they don't necessarily have about, I dunno, some Australian singer songwriter

 

[tibor]

A show made here, about us,

...and paid for by us...

is gonna be of more interest to *us*.

 

[Wobbler]

oh, and one other thing about RTE. They have never been let live down their ill-advised decision to pass up Father Ted way back when, and rightly so. This has probably had a profound effect on the way they now approach new programmes.

And if RTE didn't pass up Father Ted, I can imagine the uproar in this country on the Gay Byrne and Joe Duffy shows about how our national broadcaster is facilitating the mocking of the catholic church in that way.

RTE never passed up on Father Ted. It's all a big myth. It was originally offered to Channel 4 who accepted it. It was written by two Irish writers who had been based in London for a long time. Hattrick Productions produced it. RTE wasn't even an issue.

 

[Wobbler]

I must read the full thread before posting.
I must read the full thread before posting.
I must read the full thread before posting.
I must read the full thread before posting.
...

Me too.
Me too
Me too.

 

[Goodbye]

RTE never passed up on Father Ted. It's all a big myth. It was originally offered to Channel 4 who accepted it. It was written by two Irish writers who had been based in London for a long time. Hattrick Productions produced it. RTE wasn't even an issue.

Caught the end of that Graham Linihen documentary thingy there last night.
He's a great lad.

 

[therealjohnny]

Link to the writer/director's thread on boards? Tried to google it.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055212180

 

[SONYMEGADRIVE]

rte are complete suckers - did you know they passed up on father ted?

 

[cephalopod]

Had a look at the thread over on Boards.ie. Amused by the writer's response to the howling deranged mobs. He seemed to concede it was shite! That he had no time to write the script.

It was a pilot episode! He should have had plenty time. What about Seinfeld et al., with their 20+ episodes a year at peak? God forbid another 6 episodes are commisioned and the time-frame becomes even tighter.

And then the lazy batting of the ball back across court:

Why don't ye lot write something better?

Well, if I get a skilled tradesman to come and wire my house, and he makes a balls of it, is the response, Why don't you wire the fucking thing yourself? an appropriate one? Should our tongue be held on criticising things which we are possibly not suited to do ourselves? There are more than enough people who see writing scripts and comedy as their vocation in Ireland, are they all complete chancers?

Felt sorry for the dude though, can never feel good getting so thoroughly roasted.

 

[F. Fred Palakon]

Caught the end of that Graham Linihen documentary thingy there last night.
He's a great lad.

While I love Father Ted, I find the IT crowd occasionally funny but generally has an undertone of, to borrow carbide's wording, heteronormative bullshit.

Episode 1: Women don't know anything about computers, with hilarious consequences.
Episode 2: Women irrationally love shoes, with hilarious consequences.
Episode 3: Women only like bastards, with hilarious consequences.
Episode 4: Women like to clean things up all the time, with hilarious consequences.
Episode 5: Women like to go on dates with losers they can't get rid of, with hilarious consequences.
Episode 6: Women have periods, with hilarious consequences.

Meh.