The demise of Glenroe?

Lucutus

Well?

What do you all think of our one Irish rural based drama getting the chop?

One of the very few programs, perhaps the only one that's been around for longer than I can remember.

Thoughts, comments, opinions?

Luc

Fidelis

"Oh Holy God Biddy"

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Nil desperandum crypto-fascists duce

Stephen

Thank Christ it's gone. Maybe SOMEONE in RTE has a brain after all.

WhiteWashMan

have to say it...godd riddance.
fair city, now thats the biz

Figment

Didnt like it, didnt watch it. But at the same time we hardly produce enough home grown stuff as it is, so maybe a change in the program would have been better.

Bard

Never really liked it myself - I never found the storylines particularly compelling and I only find the time to actually sit down and watch it when my aunt was in it. The writing behind it has generally seemed to have gone downhill and even the ratings-grabbing killing off of Biddy did little or nothing for it, spectacular and all as it may have been.

I hear tell that the actors intend to fight for its survival. Yer man who plays Stephen (who is quite a revered and respected member of the actors union) has been quite outspoken about it. The livelihoods of a bunch of people are at stake, after all, - although I'm sure plenty of them will get bit parts elsewhere (in Fair City... hahaha ), or take to the stage & do adverts like Mary McEvoy.

(Picture Dinny Byrne dashing up to you in the street and asking if you 'take two bottles into the shower'... *shudder*).

{Edit:} actually- I can sooner imagine him doing ads for the gunk that gets rid of liver fluke, hoose, diptheria and all other sorts of nastiness in your cattle

[This message has been edited by Bard (edited 22-01-2001).]

Shinji

Maybe now they'll spend a bit more cash on producing genuinely GOOD homegrown material? It's saddening that a country with as much cultural depth and talent as Ireland sees TV money sunk into $hite like Glenroe and Fair City, never mind the silly money that RTE are spending in order to get East f*ckin Enders on the box... christ.

[Bloody profanity filter, how am I meant to talk about Glenroe without using swearwords fs? :P ]


[This message has been edited by Shinji (edited 22-01-2001).]

Lucutus

Let me just interject here for a sec and ask you all something.

Even tho you think Glenroe is a load of total bóllíx, (and trust me, I do!), What does it being axed mean for the rural communities around the country?

The middle-aged, farmer types, or people who live and work in small villages all over the country?

You and I may be living in a technilogical age here, (yeah baby yeah!), but these people live their lives like one bad episode of Glenroe after the next. What does this mean to those people? I know for fact that there's people out there who watcheed Glenroe religiously, because they could relate to it.

Just some food for thought...

Luc

"Please, won't somebody think of the children?"

Bard

Um... they'll always have "Emmerdale" on tv3/UTV?...

Personally, I think RTE should try re-vamping Glenroe first before just axing it... there are actually some very good actors in it and it would be a shame to see them instantly out of jobs.

Loomer

TBbrutallyH I think the acting is more wooden than the sets and that goes for Fair ****ty as well

K!LL!@N

I'm just hoping they'll land a plane, or something, on Glenroe and kill them all off. That'll mean they can never bring it back.
Muhahaha.

pat kenny

Glenroe is a spin off from a show named Bracken and Bracken was a spin off from some other show I dont know the name of.HOLY FLING ****E BATMAN,I SEE A PATTERN EMERGING!!!
My bet is we havent seen the last of glenroe,expect to see miley the vampire slayer hitting your screens very soon.

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Dont make me He-B1tch Man Slap You!!!!

TwoShedsJackson

I want the part of the terrorist who smuggles an atomic bomb into Glenroe to bring the series to an extremely explosive conclusion

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Panda

Who gives a flying fuk, its a crap show anyway.

Draco

5 or 6 years ago I somehow ended up at an open forum with the Glenroe writers looking for ideas on how to improve it. Everyone under the age of 30 ripped strips from them about who awful the show is. We are better off without it.

Hobbes

I think the final episode should have a cameo apperance of Gaybo with an anthrax bomb strapped to himself which goes off in the local pub. They should be able to string it out to two episodes that way.

TwoShedsJackson

Glenroe in the near future if I get my way

Loomer

Pity me - Miley is my next-door neighbour

Stephen

"Well, do you know what it is? Rolly Wheel Toys...."

Dustaz

Well, i remember the Riordans which was actually somewhat relevant. That show really did mean something to people so lots of people related to it and watched it. At its height it would be comparable to the neighbours phenomonom of the late 80's.
After its cancellation, Bracken followed and that itself wasnt too bad really, more a drama than a soap (and launched Gabriel Byrnes Career). After 2 series it mutated into the Glenroe we all love so much.
The problem with glenroe is that it is based around a narrow cast of characters, One family really. Once these people start to leave, it is very hard to sustain interest in what have hitherto been support characters. Think Dallas and Dynasty. The only reason it has lasted so long is that there is no real alternative when it comes to Rural kitchen sink dramas. Glenroe imho had become hopelessly outmoded too, Apparently the actual town they shoot in has become a satellite of Dublin , but the series never reflected changes like this.
Cathal Goan probably did the right thing in cancelling it, but never fear, there will be a NEW Rural Drama to replace it. which will probably be ****e too

cyberdog

I don't think that Glenroe was a realistic portrayal of life in rural Ireland any more than Fair City accurately depicts life in Dublin. That's not necessarily a condemnation of either show.

The main problem with the show is that somewhere along the line it lost its charm and that certain something that made people watch it. A while ago, TG4 re-ran Bracken and it was so much better than Glenroe. It had better actors, better writing and didn't try to overstretch itself.

The biggest fault of Glenroe is that once you went beyond the core cast of characters (Dinny, Miley et al) there was a load of dislikeable "actors" who couldn't act their way out of a paper bag. Worse still, once the show tried to tackle issues like teen pregnancy, drug abuse (anybody remember Mary McDermott-Moran's magic mushroom trip?) and murder, it was cack-handed and cringemaking.

They were right to axe the show. I do have sympathy for the actors because it's no fun facing into an uncertain future but the show was on its last legs. Even setting an axe murderer loose in the local pub and annihilating half the cast would not do anything for revamping the show. It was stale, unwatchable (I gave up watching it regularly about 10 years ago) and falling in the ratings.

Incidentally, I don't think Fair City is much better. I think it was better a few years ago but like Glenroe it's peopled with poor quality actors who I wouldn't spit on if they were on fire and some tedious storylines. Hopefully RTE will give the show more money to employ better writers and better actors.

I look foward with interest to see what will replace Glenroe

Illkillya

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by cyberdog:
The main problem with the show is that somewhere along the line it lost its charm and that certain something that made people watch it. A while ago, TG4 re-ran Bracken and it was so much better than Glenroe. It had better actors, better writing and didn't try to overstretch itself.
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Exactly - Bracken 0wned in comparison to Glenroe. It was full of authentic atmosphere, and solid acting. Bracken was incredibly boring, becuase nothing ever happened in it. But that was the best thing about it. They tried to keep the rural element in Glenroe and also implement modern plots and stuff, which worked for awhile, but they must have got new writers or something (what happened to wesley burrows?) Gradually, Miley became so Mileylike that it was just stupid. the same happened with the other characters (especially stephen brennan), i think its what they call Self Parody. Anyway, thank god they finally dropped it, because the only reason people have been watching it for the past 3 years (it was OK 4-5 years ago) is out of habit. Now ppl have broken that habit - check the ratings in the RTE guide, it used always be first along with the Late Late show.