Glenroe was an "embarrassment"

Solair

Bambi wrote: »

I bet you sit down with a notebook jotting all these incidents down so ya can write a strongly worded letter into mailbag for arthur to read out.

Everyone know's where Dublin streets are, they're in Dublin. If someone says Parnell street then, in the national context, that's Parnell street in the glorious capital of the nation. If the ballygobackwards bugle refer's to Parnell street, then that's Parnell street in ballygobackwards (or possibly twomilebogger up the road)

Eh, no I don't. I just compare it to BBC which is FAR FAR more regionally balanced as a national broadcaster these days.

RTE's paid for by a license fee which is 2/3 collected outside the Dublin area.

I would call the attitude lazy and somewhat condescending rather than Dublin-centric.

RTE often does't even seem get much beyond the Stillorgan Road. The "Northside" is still a mystery to them!

RTE has a network of regional studios which, other than Cork, they seem to rarely use for anything other than a bit of news reporting.

They could really do with actually making use of the resources they have and doing some proper national broadcasting.

I mean, it's not THAT difficult to produce local news for say Dublin & Leinster out of Montrose, Munster out of Cork, Connacht / Ulster out of Galway and whack those in for 10 mins per day at the end of a news bulletin.

In fact, with modern technology in recent years, that's become cheap and easy to do.

geeky

JoeA3 wrote: »

I think it literally jumped the shark when Biddy was driving along in her newish (at the time!) red Ford Escort and the tractor pulled out in front of her. The Escort did an A-Team van-style leap into the air and while in mid-air, it transformed into a much much older Ford Escort

I was reliably informed that the budget was slashed for that stunt at the last minute, hence the ridiculousness. Apparently, the guy responsible for the fiasco still blames the stuntman.

stinkle

JoeA3 wrote: »

I also remember a family holiday to Wicklow in the 1980's and the excitement of seeing Miley's farm. I can't imagine a 10 year old kid getting too worked up about seeing the Fair City set!

We got to go to Miley's farm on a school tour in the mid-90s, the excitement! Kinda weird that the entire school was so familiar with one tv show

Brendog

It may not have been an embarrassment to the rest of you, but I had to deal with elderly neighbours constantly makes references about me because I had the same name as one of the characters....

later12

geeky wrote: »

Sorry biddy, your views suit Ireland's own, but facts don't bear this out.

At its peak, the show was pretty darn popular, with 700,000 viewers. However, the last four years showed consistent decline.

Ratings
Season Season Premiere Season Finale TV Season Viewer
Rank (#) Viewers
(in '000)
Season 15 September, 1997 May, 1998 1997–1998 #2[13] 662[13]
Season 16 September, 1998 May, 1999 1998–1999 #3 638[13]
Season 17 September, 1999 May, 2000 1999–2000 #3 635[13]
Season 18 September, 2000 May, 2001 2000–2001 #2 589[13]

Would have been daft of the suits to continue IMO.

geeky wrote: »

Just because RTE should have cancelled Fair City long ago doesn't mean cancelling Glenroe when they did was the wrong decision.

I don't understand. According to the link you provided, Glenroe was the second most popular show on RTE in its final season (I presume after the Late Late Show).

While increasing availability of foreign channels may have encouraged viewers to switch to British television programming (i.e. nominal viewership might have fallen across RTE programming), the fact remains that Glenroe was second in the rankings.

I don't see why it ought to have been very much more expensive to make than any other drama. All indoor scenes were shot in the same studio as Fair City. Kay McCoy's bar was actually right next to Biddy and Miley's kitchen.

I think it is very difficult to justify the axing of Glenroe based on any objective information out there. There's no evidence it was cancelled because of what Mary McEvoy suggests, but whatever the reason I think it's said that a show which played such a prominent role in shaping popular social discourse came to such a questionable end.

NegativeCreep

Anyone else think that Glenroe is the most overrated piece of crap ever? Just me?
It's like fair city set in the country. Absolute rubbish and I wouldnt watch it if it was free.

Dont get how anyone can watch a soap without wanting to kill themselves after tbh.

Dangerous Man

Cokeistan wrote: »

RTE are massively Dublin oriented, don't give a shít about the rest of the country....wánkers

Madness. RTE is essentially a provincial TV station writ large; it has massive funding, which is squanders, and is riddled with small-town, little Irelander mentality that I find embarrassing. I can't watch it. I'm a Dub and it says absolutely nothing about the life that I lived in Dublin - bares no relation whatsoever. Actually, Irish media in general is of a pretty low standard. The Irish Times has let its standards slip so badly that I really do despair.

Maybe RTE could scrap its current setup in favour of a city / rural arrangement whereby there is a metropolitan station for Dublin that focuses on culture and current affairs of importance to the capital and then another channel for the rest of the country that can focus on the things that people outside of Dublin like / are concerned with.

ArnoldJRimmer

A couple of years back, spotted Fidelma in the Market bar in Dublin. She was still looking fine

later12

Dangerous Man wrote: »

Madness. RTE is essentially a provincial TV station writ large; it has massive funding, which is squanders, and is riddled with small-town, little Irelander mentality that I find embarrassing. I can't watch it. I'm a Dub and it says absolutely nothing about the life that I lived in Dublin - bares no relation whatsoever. Actually, Irish media in general is of a pretty low standard. The Irish Times has let its standards slip so badly that I really do despair.

I mainly agree with you. But in fairness, when was the last time the Irish Times said anything prescient about the reality of Irish life?

This is the newspaper that brought us Geraldine Kennedy, John Waters and Fintan O'Toole - sometimes, in one fell swoop, the bastards.

Zoria

Defiler Of The Coffin wrote: »

I miss Dinny

Me too

ArnoldJRimmer wrote: »

A couple of years back, spotted Fidelma in the Market bar in Dublin. She was still looking fine

I hope you called her a hussie :mad:

Colmustard

Originally Posted by Dangerous Man
Madness. RTE is essentially a provincial TV station writ large; it has massive funding, which is squanders, and is riddled with small-town, little Irelander mentality that I find embarrassing. I can't watch it. I'm a Dub and it says absolutely nothing about the life that I lived in Dublin - bares no relation whatsoever. Actually, Irish media in general is of a pretty low standard. The Irish Times has let its standards slip so badly that I really do despair.

Like there is always the Indo or the Star.:rolleyes:

I think RTE do sport, news and current affairs it can do good drama but the rarely do them. Their last effort of Love and hate I thought was excellent.

meoklmrk91

Glenroe was special in that it was part of the national psyche and conversation. My dad who worked a lot when I was younger told me that on Sunday nights after Glenroe he would walk me up and down our hall way, holding my hands and teaching me how to walk until one day I took my first steps. I can't think of any programme that has been so beloved and remembered so fondly before or since. If any of us watched it now we would probably think it was the biggest load of shoite.

Was actually really surprised to see that it only ended in 2001, I thought it was much earlier than that, mid to late nineties.

Solair

Dangerous Man wrote: »

Madness. RTE is essentially a provincial TV station writ large; it has massive funding, which is squanders, and is riddled with small-town, little Irelander mentality that I find embarrassing. I can't watch it. I'm a Dub and it says absolutely nothing about the life that I lived in Dublin - bares no relation whatsoever. Actually, Irish media in general is of a pretty low standard. The Irish Times has let its standards slip so badly that I really do despair.

Maybe RTE could scrap its current setup in favour of a city / rural arrangement whereby there is a metropolitan station for Dublin that focuses on culture and current affairs of importance to the capital and then another channel for the rest of the country that can focus on the things that people outside of Dublin like / are concerned with.

That doesn't really make sense either though.


Ireland's not "Dublin" then "Down the Country"

There are other large urban areas there too and the greater-Dublin area contains quite a large swathe of rural areas too i.e. North County Dublin + the whole Dublin Mountain / Wicklow area which included Glenroe.


If RTE were to do actual regional TV, it would actually need to run something like RTE East (Dublin), RTE South (Cork), RTE West (Galway). People in the middle would just slot into whichever one was closest.

iguana

geeky wrote: »

Sorry biddy, your views suit Ireland's own, but facts don't bear this out.

At its peak, the show was pretty darn popular, with 700,000 viewers. However, the last four years showed consistent decline.

Ratings
Season Season Premiere Season Finale TV Season Viewer
Rank (#) Viewers
(in '000)
Season 15 September, 1997 May, 1998 1997–1998 #2[13] 662[13]
Season 16 September, 1998 May, 1999 1998–1999 #3 638[13]
Season 17 September, 1999 May, 2000 1999–2000 #3 635[13]
Season 18 September, 2000 May, 2001 2000–2001 #2 589[13]

Would have been daft of the suits to continue IMO.

I'll hear many criticisms of the powers that be in RTE, but Glenroe just wasn't buttering the parsnips like it used to.

That was consistent with all of the main Irish and UK channels at the time. As the satellite and, later digital, channels started appearing and becoming more widespread, audience shares dropped rapidly for each individual channel. It's why UK shows like Coronation St and Eastenders had their biggest ratings of 20-30 million viewers in the '80s, whereas today viewership of 9-10 million is considered quite the coup.

Duggys Housemate

Dangerous Man wrote: »

Madness. RTE is essentially a provincial TV station writ large; it has massive funding, which is squanders, and is riddled with small-town, little Irelander mentality that I find embarrassing. I can't watch it. I'm a Dub and it says absolutely nothing about the life that I lived in Dublin - bares no relation whatsoever.

In general what is this sophisticated Dublin life not shown by RTE?

Maybe RTE could scrap its current setup in favour of a city / rural arrangement whereby there is a metropolitan station for Dublin that focuses on culture and current affairs of importance to the capital and then another channel for the rest of the country that can focus on the things that people outside of Dublin like / are concerned with.

Why would there be any real difference? People in the city like GAA, and soccer, and outside. People inside like Rugby, and outside. TG4 already exists for the Gaelgoirs - some of whom are in Dublin.

Dubliners aren't very well educated, comparatively, but they would presumably watch at least some cultural stuff on RTE, no need for a dumbed down Channel for Dubs, that would be against the public service charter.

iguana

Fuinseog wrote: »

according to Reeling in the years the first gay couple were on fairy city, though Ros na Run had a gay couple earlier than this.

No they didn't. Fair City's first gay couple appeared in 1996, a few years before TG4 (or TnaG) was even on the air. RnR had the first gay kiss, however, as Eoin and Liam on FC were always getting interrupted whenever their lips came within half an inch of each other.

Duggys Housemate

Iguana knows his soaps.

iguana

cymbaline wrote: »

There is a market abroad for rural type dramas. The Germans go crazy for them I believe.

They even have their own one, 'Unsere Farm in Irland' about a widowed German doctor who meets and falls in love with rural Cork sheep farmer, Erin O'Toole. He moves himself and his three daughters over here to live with her.

Shot in Ireland with German actors.
http://www.zdf-enterprises.de/en/international-catalogue/zdfedrama/tv-movies/love-romance/series-our-farm-in-ireland

jill_valentine

iguana wrote: »

They even have their own one, 'Unsere Farm in Irland' about a widowed German doctor who meets and falls in love with rural Cork sheep farmer, Erin O'Toole. He moves himself and his three daughters over here to live with her.

Shot in Ireland with German actors.
http://www.zdf-enterprises.de/en/international-catalogue/zdfedrama/tv-movies/love-romance/series-our-farm-in-ireland

!

That's mad.

RnR had the first gay kiss, however, as Eoin and Liam on FC were always getting interrupted whenever their lips came within half an inch of each other.

Yeah funny that.

Have to pity all those same sex tv couples. For some reason people always have to tell them something or suddenly get something from that room whenever they're about to get anywhere. Must make life very frustrating.

Fuinseog

iguana wrote: »

No they didn't. Fair City's first gay couple appeared in 1996, a few years before TG4 (or TnaG) was even on the air. RnR had the first gay kiss, however, as Eoin and Liam on FC were always getting interrupted whenever their lips came within half an inch of each other.

Ros na Run was on RTE before TnaG. according to wikipedia

"Ros na Rún was originally transmitted on RTÉ One and later transferred to the Irish-language station, TG4 when it opened in October 1996. Ros na Rún first aired on the night of November 3, 1996"

unfortunately it does not say when exactly it started on RTE.

Feisar

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Glenroe was part of the national psyche and national conversation.....I know that sounds kind of bull****ty but its true. There were some storylines that the whole country knew about, Biddy and Miley's wedding, Miley's affair, or smaller plotlines like Biddy being done for drink driving - that was actually much talked about; or Dick Murphy's marriage annulment was another one - I could go on.

I would struggle to think of a single story line from Fair City that has entered the national conversation in the same way.

To cancel Glenroe and keep Fair City was in my view, if it was one or the other, the wrong decision.

PS I know advertising is important.....but viewers are more important, especially when we are talking about a state funded broadcaster.

It does show how simple and sheltered we were back then though.

It reminds me of the clips from 1990 and Ole Ole, wallpaper copy books etc. Also that for everyone of a certain age it meant you had to go to bed afterwards. When I mention Glenroe it's one of the first things people mention. That and "pass Asia four", Teresa Lowe and Where in the World.

Fuinseog

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

Glenroe was special in that it was part of the national psyche and conversation. My dad who worked a lot when I was younger told me that on Sunday nights after Glenroe he would walk me up and down our hall way, holding my hands and teaching me how to walk until one day I took my first steps. I can't think of any programme that has been so beloved and remembered so fondly before or since. If any of us watched it now we would probably think it was the biggest load of shoite.

Was actually really surprised to see that it only ended in 2001, I thought it was much earlier than that, mid to late nineties.

wesley burrows got a lot of his stories from his local pub in Carlow. it really was a programme the whole family watched. we had little choice as we only had two stations.

Fuinseog

Feisar wrote: »

It does show how simple and sheltered we were back then though.

It reminds me of the clips from 1990 and Ole Ole, wallpaper copy books etc. Also that for everyone of a certain age it meant you had to go to bed afterwards. When I mention Glenroe it's one of the first things people mention. That and "pass Asia four", Teresa Lowe and Where in the World.

the gas thing about where in the world is that you did not win large sums of money and the questions were actually challenging.did marty whelan present it as well?

Fuinseog

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Iguana knows his soaps.

or he saw it recently on reeling in the years

lufties

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

All I remember about Glenroe was that it was on on Sunday night. No one in my family liked it but somehow I always ended up looking at it. I think the minute Bullseye was finished my father changed over to RTE to hear the 9.00 news, despite the fact that it was only something like 8.00 or 8.30.

Bullseye and Glenroe were always signs that the weekend was over and a new depressing school week was starting. I would always eat a bowl of Smash instant mashed potato and tell my mother I would go to bed when I was finished. I would eat it as slowly as possible and then eat another bowl when I was finished. The thought of Glenroe being the last thing I saw on television before the start of a new school week was a terrifying prospect.

be the lord, a bowl of smash?, whats wrong with rale shpuds? agree about the depressing school week, the thoughts of it

JoeA3

Fuinseog wrote: »

the gas thing about where in the world is that you did not win large sums of money and the questions were actually challenging.did marty whelan present it as well?

Marty presented it before Theresa yes, along with half a dozen other shows at the time. He was never off the box! Then he went to Century Radio... And when that went belly up, RTE didn't let him back in too easily, so he was reduced to doung the Daz ads!

Fuinseog

JoeA3 wrote: »

Marty presented it before Theresa yes, along with half a dozen other shows at the time. He was never off the box! Then he went to Century Radio... And when that went belly up, RTE didn't let him back in too easily, so he was reduced to doung the Daz ads!

Lowe I think is married to the piano pounder from the late late.

you wonder what happened to her and indeed others. Aonghus McAnally was great with Mary?? in Anything Goes. he is still with RTE but not on camera.
Carrie Crowley seemed to have it all - intelligence, good looks etc and for a year or two presenting nearly every programme and then vanished from our screens naer to be seen again.

JoeA3

Fuinseog wrote: »

Lowe I think is married to the piano pounder from the late late.

you wonder what happened to her and indeed others. Aonghus McAnally was great with Mary?? in Anything Goes. he is still with RTE but not on camera.
Carrie Crowley seemed to have it all - intelligence, good looks etc and for a year or two presenting nearly every programme and then vanished from our screens naer to be seen again.

Theresa Lowe left RTE to take up law. She's a practicing barrister now! I saw a documentary on her recently enough as part of that "RTE 50" series.

Carrie Crowley popped up acting in a TG4 mini-series not too long ago, "Rasai na Gaillimhe"... I didn't recognise her at all till the GF pointed her out.

Raiser

Fuinseog wrote: »

Glenroe was a much loved product of its time. I do not know a single dubliner who watches Fairly ****tty unless they want to mock it. Glenroe used real actors.

In fairness Fair City uses real knackers and I don't think they even claim to be acting, they just kinda speak their lines with a very odd expression on their faces and then go back to hanging around outside HMV.......

- For Glenroe I was always trying to write the weekends '2 hours of desperation' Irish essay for my pr1ck of an Irish teacher, was due in first thing each Monday morning...... Shudder.......

djflawless

I think all negative comments should be taken back!glenroe was legendary stuff!!

dttq

I love the rural persecution complex as displayed here in this woman's rant. It's the same persecution complex used by gombeen politicians in rural areas to get re-elected to their local constituency. e.g.

"Dem peoples up der in da big shmoke are tryin to destroy our community and take all the money".

Ash.J.Williams

If they didn't cancel it, we would all hate it.

suicide_circus

Very fond memories on glenroe here
But Fair City is just unwatchable crap

later12

dttq wrote: »

I love the rural persecution complex as displayed here in this woman's rant. It's the same persecution complex used by gombeen politicians in rural areas to get re-elected to their local constituency. e.g.

"Dem peoples up der in da big shmoke are tryin to destroy our community and take all the money".

Take all what money?
What are you talking about?

We live in one of the most centralized countries in the world, with decision making generally being undertaken in a small number of public buildings in the capital. Of course there are going to be concerns that there is an urban based detachment from the problems facing rural communities, especially when that centralised system of governance is aggravated by the whip system in Dail Eireann.

I don't think you can just pass off genuine concerns that rural people have as a "persecution complex"; I have no idea who says "they're trying to take all the money"...

padd b1975

Fuinseog wrote: »

Ros na Run was on RTE before TnaG. according to wikipedia

"Ros na Rún was originally transmitted on RTÉ One and later transferred to the Irish-language station, TG4 when it opened in October 1996. Ros na Rún first aired on the night of November 3, 1996"

unfortunately it does not say when exactly it started on RTE.

I think it was shown nightly one christmas in 15 minute episodes, not sure what year.

Fuinseog

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

If they didn't cancel it, we would all hate it.

we would hate it if it did not evolve. obviously looking back it was ridiculous, but it was not at the time. its like saying Bosco was moronic.

Duggys Housemate

dttq wrote: »

I love the rural persecution complex as displayed here in this woman's rant. It's the same persecution complex used by gombeen politicians in rural areas to get re-elected to their local constituency. e.g.

"Dem peoples up der in da big shmoke are tryin to destroy our community and take all the money".

Are you even in the right thread?

EDIT: oh he's talking about Mary MsEvoy complaining there is anti-rural bias amongst Dublin critics. God forbid the untermenschen have their say. And, of course the critics do have that bias.

asherbassad

Fcuk Glenroe,

I say bring back Bracken!

Biggins

swimming in a sea wrote: »

when i hear long discussions on Glenroe it just reminds me how lucky i was that we had the UK channels in our house so where not forced into watching it.:)

...And I thank every day for it too!

StephenHendry

glenroe was great, they should show some of the old episodes. my favourite character were miley, blacky connors and dinny.

who the fug

Biggins wrote: »

...And I thank every day for it too!

Barstwards , those of us in one channel land missed the Sweeney, Professionals Starsky and Hutch

Fecking RTE and the ****e they would put on , and don't get me started on the three day ****ing marathon that was the Popes arrival one effing Scooby Doo cartoon in three days, set the religion back years in our house


Never sat down to watch Glenroe , but it seems to have seeped into my being

sh1tstirrer

NegativeCreep wrote: »

Anyone else think that Glenroe is the most overrated piece of crap ever? Just me?
It's like fair city set in the country. Absolute rubbish and I wouldnt watch it if it was free.

Dont get how anyone can watch a soap without wanting to kill themselves after tbh.

You obviously can :rolleyes: