The English Class (and Irish Tv Comedy)

[Ash]

Only caught the last 10 minutes of this but I presume the
first 20 minutes were just as sh!te.

Once again a very, very poor offering from RTE :mad:
It was so bad that it actually made Anonymous look mildly amusing!

[Lionel Ritchie]

watched five excruciating minutes wondering what the hell it was.

The chap playing the teacher should revert to whatever Mother Goose/Ugly Sisters roles he's evidently more familiar with.

This could rival Upwardly Mobile for cringe inducing unfunniness. It really could.

...and did no-one tell them that LWT were making Mind Your Language a full thirty years ago? Maybe they thought no one would remember.

[Ash]

The chap playing the teacher should revert to whatever Mother Goose/Ugly
Sisters roles he's evidently more familiar with.


I think he was in Fair City before this! :o
They should really rename it "Cant Act, Wont Act"

[Sligo Hornet]

watched five excruciating minutes wondering what the hell it was.

The chap playing the teacher should revert to whatever Mother Goose/Ugly Sisters roles he's evidently more familiar with.

This could rival Upwardly Mobile for cringe inducing unfunniness. It really could.

...and did no-one tell them that LWT were making Mind Your Language a full thirty years ago? Maybe they thought no one would remember.

That has to have been the most unfunny heap of sh*te to appear as "humour":eek:

[Wolfie]

Only caught the last 10 minutes of this but I presume the
first 20 minutes were just as sh!te.

Once again a very, very poor offering from RTE :mad:
It was so bad that it actually made Anonymous look mildly amusing!

I was fortunate enough not to endure this - but this thread has reminded me of how poor RTE's attempts at comedy have been over the years.

They actually turned down Arthur Matthews and Graham Linehan's approach in relation to Father Ted. This offering appears to be the latest in a long line of comedy failures.

Anyone got any suggestions, a "pitch" so to speak, for an Irish comedy series that might actually turn out to be well observed and, above all things, just funny? I reckon there's a few on here certainly couldn't do any worse.

[Magicme]

Just get UCD students together, they are funny.

[anto1208]

I had to sit through the ad for it and actually went red looking at it i was so embarressed by it , yet another wacky character that is over acted by a crap actor and im normally willing to give anything a go but this is serious pants .Makes you happy forking out 158 euro on your licence that it isnt being wasted anyway !!!! .

Thank god there is new Family guy ( 2 episodes stars wars parody ) , American dad and curb is on to its 4th new episode so there should be no reason to watch the english class !!!!

Good stuff rte has done

Realing in the years i like
bachelors walk 1st series before it got all soppy and gay
love is the drug
prosperity

that is all i can think of

[Aberdonian Stu]

I would have cut you off at Reeling in the Years, it's good the rest is dirge.

[tetsujin1979]

Watched the first 5 minutes or so of it. Once the teacher started doing the "happened in the past, hasn't happened yet" and thought he was acting like a rapper, I switched back to the football.
Utter, utter dreck.
Thank God for the panel after it.

[Magicme]

For once am grateful that spend monday nights at meetings.

[Angus]

Just logged on and was going to start a thread on this but glad to see we already have one.

I watched this open mouthed that somebody not only commissioned this, then made it and then signed off and said, yes, let's broadcast this.

This is Mind Your Language with one change - in MYL, the teacher was clever and Johnny Foreigners were caricatures and stupid - the hilarious, post modern, abstract, 21st century shift in this is that the teacher is supposed to be some kind of sub David Brent character.

Apart from the fact that this operates barely, yes, barely, on the right side of the "R" word, it is staggeringly bad - RTE have a few half decent shows like Dan and Becs, Bachelors Walk, that prison thing with Rats and that comedienne woman person, so there were signs of life but this is so spectacularly bad and ill advised as to be beyond a joke.

[stann]

Apart from the fact that this operates barely, yes, barely, on the right side of the "R" word, it is staggeringly bad - RTE have a few half decent shows like Dan and Becs, Bachelors Walk, that prison thing with Rats and that comedienne woman person, so there were signs of life but this is so spectacularly bad and ill advised as to be beyond a joke.

Paths To Freedom was a good aberration because of the actors involved and the fact it was a spoof documentary, but RTE just cannot do sitcoms, there must be some genetic incapability there.
Their efforts are worse than bad, consistently, and you're right, you have to wonder who are the gimps that are saying 'this is great, let's get it out!' because, as well as everything else, we're paying them. :mad:

[Ash]

Their output is quantity rather than quality.
Justify the licence fee by churning out programme
after programme, no matter how bad they are. :mad:

[John83]

...They actually turned down Arthur Matthews and Graham Linehan's approach in relation to Father Ted...
Small correction: Matthews and Linehan never offered it to them - they felt that it wasn't worth their while to make that pitch. RTE just weren't interested in making a comedy like that.
(I have this from Linehan himself).

[Dodge]

They actually turned down Arthur Matthews and Graham Linehan's approach in relation to Father Ted

No they didn't. Hat trick and channel 4 commisioned a sitcom from them.

Agree with all other comments though. RTE's worst problem is they proximity to BBC and their excellent US purchases.

[Lim till i die]

I genuinely thought this was going to be a thread started by the Ucd lads and dedicated to improving our grammar :)

[Angus]

I genuinely thought this was going to be a thread started by the Ucd lads and dedicated to improving our grammar :)

Oh, come on, you don't need the "and", all you need there is a simple comma.

[Schumi]

I genuinely thought this was going to be a thread started by the Ucd lads and dedicated to improving our grammar :)
UCD should be all capitals. ;)

Be careful what you wish for. :D

[Lim till i die]

Oh, come on, you don't need the "and", all you need there is a simple comma.

Indeed ;)

[gustavo]

No they didn't. Hat trick and channel 4 commisioned a sitcom from them.

Agree with all other comments though. RTE's worst problem is they proximity to BBC and their excellent US purchases.

Agreed , RTE's output is probably better than a lot of Continetal Europes

[Lim till i die]

UCD should be all capitals. ;)

:p


Be careful what you wish for.

It's the only way we'll learn :o

[Wolfie]

Small correction: Matthews and Linehan never offered it to them - they felt that it wasn't worth their while to make that pitch. RTE just weren't interested in making a comedy like that.
(I have this from Linehan himself).

I sit corrected, so to speak.

Although it speaks volumes that they pre-empted what RTE's answer would have been beforehand.

[Torn-Ado]

I didn't see this. If its anything like Upwardly mobile and The Cassidys, then holy christ.

The best drama RTE did in recent times was 'Pure Mule'. That was quality.

[Aberdonian Stu]

I'd have called it Pure Rubbish.

[Ash]

Pure Mule was absolute tripe. Right up there with that other
country & western singer shyte they had on a while back!

RTE - Rarely Televise Entertainment

[Sligo Hornet]

Pure Mule was absolute tripe. Right up there with that other
country & western singer shyte they had on a while back!

RTE - Rarely Televise Entertainment

Be careful...."Moscow Mule" could take that personally!:D

[Lionel Ritchie]

Pure Mule was absolute tripe. Right up there with that other
country & western singer shyte they had on a while back!

RTE - Rarely Televise Entertainment

That wasn't the one about the GAA team that wore the same colours as Sky Ones Dreamteam was it? I know it had some quasi-agricultural reference or some such in its title. Might've been something about having four toes either maybe...? Gone now anyway. Our loss I s'pose.:)

[Ash]

Be careful...."Moscow Mule" could take that personally!:D

Oops, never thought I'd have to be careful when giving out about Mules :D


That wasn't the one about the GAA team that wore
the same colours as Sky Ones Dreamteam was it?

Totally forgot about that, that was another poor offering. "'On Home Ground".
I think that was set somewhere in Kildare.

"Trouble in Paradise" was the other rubbish I was thinking of. I think it was
supposed to be set somewhere near Tullamore or Shannonbridge.
Hardly Paradise!!!

[anto1208]

I forgot Soupy Norman one of the funniest shows on any station , But i dont think RTE had much to do with making that they just showed it and since it was so good they wont make another series .

[Ash]

I forgot Soupy Norman one of the funniest shows
on any station , But i dont think RTE had much to do with making that they
just showed it and since it was so good they wont make another series

I only caught a few minutes of Soupy Norman but it looked very funny.
Was that all Barry Murphys work?

I think he's very funny, although he was my sworn enemy after he took the
p!ss out of me at a comedy gig in Athlone. It was about 12 years ago and
I swore I'd have my revenge :mad:

Played footy against him in Herbert Park about 4 years later and creased
him with a very hard, but fair ;) tackle. He was wearing a knee support so
I thought if he was silly enough to show a sign of weakness I had to take
advantage.

[anto1208]

I only caught a few minutes of Soupy Norman but it looked very funny.
Was that all Barry Murphys work?

I think he's very funny, although he was my sworn enemy after he took the
p!ss out of me at a comedy gig in Athlone. It was about 12 years ago and
I swore I'd have my revenge :mad:

Played footy against him in Herbert Park about 4 years later and creased
him with a very hard, but fair ;) tackle. He was wearing a knee support so
I thought if he was silly enough to show a sign of weakness I had to take
advantage.


Yea him and mark Doherthey its all on youtube now if you want to watch it .

[Dodge]

But i dont think RTE had much to do with making that they just showed it and since it was so good they wont make another series .
So you're not giving them the credit for the first series and giving them the blame for not making the second series?

Oh and "On Home Ground" was a BBC production

[anto1208]

So you're not giving them the credit for the first series and giving them the blame for not making the second series?

Oh and "On Home Ground" was a BBC production

Well yes its normally the way things happen here. RTE rarly commision a show in the way the BBC does , what would happen is the production company would make the show and sell it to rte ( there for RTE have very little to do with the making of it same way they had nothing to do with prison break but still show it ) .

But a production company normally wouldnt go and make a second series unless the station in this case RTE said they would want it . If they say no it wouldnt get the go ahead .

[Dodge]

No TV programmes get made in Ireland without RTE/TV3/TG4 paying for it. The production might be independent but nothing gets done without commisioning

[Blue-Army]

Good stuff rte has done

Realing in the years i like
bachelors walk 1st series before it got all soppy and gay
love is the drug
prosperity

that is all i can think of
what about Naked camera???

[hunt4the]

Does anyone watch the "comedy" night on rte
I had the misfortune of losing reception on sky digital on monday night,
so stuck with the poverty channels i sat through an episode of the english teacher on rte, is this supposed to be funny?
I dont think i laughed once.. its embarrasing to watch its such a blatant copy of the office's mocumentary setup except the script is pathetic....
I thought that rubbish prosperity was funnier ;)

after this carcrash television i then watched the Podge and Rodge show,
since when has saying gee-bag and fanny repeatedly been funny?

and this is where our tv liscence money goes :o

[John83]

...after this carcrash television i then watched the Podge and Rodge show,
since when has saying gee-bag and fanny repeatedly been funny? ...
For some people, it's hilarious. Some stand-up comedians make a living from swearing and a bit of innuendo.

Irish stand-up is reasonably good, but RTE have always been terrible at making comedy programmes.

[bennocelt]

Rte arent that bad, i mean their documentaries are quite good............the Hidden History series (or whatever you call it) has been superb, and their Sport coverage is far and away the best thats out their

I watch Rte and TnG a lot and find it much better that BBc, etc, and would prefer if the ycontinued to produce irish progs no matter (lime Nked camera, Podge and Rodge, etc) than wasting money on trash american tv (which is so brilliant:rolleyes:)

[Red&White]

, a "pitch" so to speak, for an Irish comedy series that might actually turn out to be well observed and, above all things, just funny? I reckon there's a few on here certainly couldn't do any worse.

A friend and I have been working on a sketch show for the last year or so. At no point did either of us ever consider going to RTE with it. The original plan was to go to the BBC and ITV with it, although we've now decided to go the radio route (in the UK). The only think RTE has been good for is giving us every confidence that we'll succeed, because we know we're better than almost anything on it.

[CollegeTillIDie]

The Best Irish sitcom ever has to be '' C U Burn '' on TG4... As Gaeilge.
A friend and I have been working on a sketch show for the last year or so. At no point did either of us ever consider going to RTE with it. The original plan was to go to the BBC and ITV with it, although we've now decided to go the radio route (in the UK). The only think RTE has been good for is giving us every confidence that we'll succeed, because we know we're better than almost anything on it.If it's radio then reconsider RTE because their radio departments have always given airtime to radio '' drama''. They also seem to have a better feel for comedy than their television counterparts. Also try BBC Radio Ulster before going to Britain, because the Northerners are more in tune with our humour than they might in Ingerland.

[Wolfie]

A friend and I have been working on a sketch show for the last year or so. At no point did either of us ever consider going to RTE with it. The original plan was to go to the BBC and ITV with it, although we've now decided to go the radio route (in the UK). The only think RTE has been good for is giving us every confidence that we'll succeed, because we know we're better than almost anything on it.

Best of luck with it Red and White.

A mate of mine was drafting a sit com recently. The premise was that an International Football Association appoint a complete novice to manage the team.

In each episode, the team and management find themselves in zany, Keystone Cops style scenarios with hilarious results.

I told him, no offence, but it seemed a bit too far fetched.

[osarusan]

A mate of mine was drafting a sit com recently. The premise was that an International Football Association appoint a complete novice to manage the team.

In each episode, the team and management find themselves in zany, Keystone Cops style scenarios with hilarious results.

I told him, no offence, but it seemed a bit too far fetched.

Hey, I've seen that. I've gotta say, the acting is superb. Very convincing.

[cheifo]

Prosperity really tickled me.Nothing like a bit of light hearted slapstick.

[Wolfie]

Hey, I've seen that. I've gotta say, the acting is superb. Very convincing.

Yeah - the Cyprus away episode was slap stick, tragic comedy of the highest order.

[anto1208]

Prosperity really tickled me.Nothing like a bit of light hearted slapstick.

I found it very funny "ah he loves the fifa!"



on another point RTE are refusing to buy Samantha who by Celia Ahern

Maybe they arent as dumb as i think :D