Why does everybody hate Ray D' Arcy all of a sudden?

StillThinking

I don't like him as I got 9 right on the odd one out quiz on today FM one time, somebody else got 10 that day so didn't get the prize but he said he would send me out CDs, when we were off air and I gave him my address he wouldn't believe me, I live in a village so gave him the name of it and my county, kept asking what was my house number and street name, never did get those cds

TheQuietFella

kneemos wrote: »

Why do RTE insist on hiring talentless people and paying them hundreds of grand for the rest of their lives.

Heard a few minutes of Darcy when he was standing in for Joe Misery Duffy...also useless .

Because they do exactly as they are told!

ivytwine

Superhorse wrote: »

Can't stand him tbh. I'm no fan of UFC I could take it or leave it but he had some Irish UFC fighter on his show once and the interview was all about Darcy telling us HIS opinion on UFC and how he hated it. Shows no respect for the training and dedication the lad was putting in to make it and provide for his family. All this whilst he gets a pay packet most people could only dream of because of the farcical licence fee.

I remember that, it was awful. Like you, not into UFC massively but thought that poor man was just attacked and attacked. He's actually been on with Anton Savage since and the difference in tone was huge. I'd say Today FM had to do some crawling there.

Around that time they got a letter from a chap who hadn't ever been on a date and clearly had some huge psychological issues around how he related to women and his self esteem. Instead of directing the poor fella to a counsellor Ray decided to find him a woman. For me that was a real low point and for all his lip service to mental health showed that Ray thought he knew better than anyone.

whisky_galore

honeybear wrote: »

I can't stand him mentioning his family the whole time...Jenny, Kate and Tom. Drives me bananas

Hate when any presenter does that, name-drop the family for no reason.
Listeners don't give a sh*t about your family.

I gave up tuning in when himself and Jenny started playing happy families and becoming the conscience of the nation.

kneemos

whisky_galore wrote: »

Hate when any presenter does that, name-drop the family for no reason.
Listeners don't give a sh*t about your family.

I gave up tuning in when himself and Jenny started playing happy families and becoming the conscience of the nation.

Sounded lost without his "crew" on Joe Duffy.
Like a newbie on a local radio station.

Piglet85

Y'know, I think there has been a gradual shift in public feeling about D'arcy - but I also think it's justified.

I grew up with the Den and listened to the Today FM show from the beginning. It was all light-hearted craic for long time, but Jesus, he got jaded. I genuinely think he has turned into a grumpy old man who can't take other people's opinions on board, finds it very difficult to shut up and listen, and is poor at putting people at their ease.

Also, the repetition. Christ. He has turned into a parody of himself with the talk about porridge/running/healthy eating in general, the inability to press the correct f-ing buttons in the studio and his fawning over guests like Tommy Tiernan and Michael Harding. You could start a drinking game based around his radio show. Plus, what little of the RTE radio program I've heard gives me the impression that they literally lifted whole segments from one show to the next, which is lazy for a team getting paid that kind of money. I think that was their one opportunity to shake things up and get it back on track, and they chickened out.

I don't hate him, definitely not. I just think it's a shame to see how the tone of his broadcasting has changed over the years. I know we all grow up and change, but you don't have to get miserable with it!

Esel

StillThinking wrote: »

I don't like him as I got 9 right on the odd one out quiz on today FM one time, somebody else got 10 that day so didn't get the prize but he said he would send me out CDs, when we were off air and I gave him my address he wouldn't believe me, I live in a village so gave him the name of it and my county, kept asking what was my house number and street name, never did get those cds

Did he think you live in the occupied territory, where every road has a name and every house has a number? Do you really, and I mean reaaaly trust your postman? To deliver a parcel? Those CDs were crap, btw.

If all we had now was all we had then, Ray's audience would grow old with him (gracefully, of course). The kids would have been hip. Then that interweb pied-piped them away from mainstream media. Now they flashback on the tubething.

Better than Gay, but then again ...

Smily happy people person, pension sorted, liked by locked-in stay at home people, does not rock the boat.

A fuppin' jumped-up whippersnapper, who couldn't get elected - dat's woreez doin' Joe/Adrian. People are dyin' in this country everyDAY! Mean woile, cnuts like him have loads - n I mean loads - of horrizontal bottles of wine in der cellar. Wot else is down here, under the stare? Adrian? Joe? Hello?

/battery /cans

Into The Blue

whisky_galore wrote: »

Hate when any presenter does that, name-drop the family for no reason.
Listeners don't give a sh*t about your family.

Hook is constantly at that. Interrupting his interviewee to yatter on and on about his own experience. Ask the questions G, don't answer them aswell!!!

whisky_galore

Into The Blue wrote: »

Hook is constantly at that. Interrupting his interviewee to yatter on and on about his own experience. Ask the questions G, don't answer them aswell!!!

The lovely Ingrid...Jesus wept.

Into The Blue

whisky_galore wrote: »

The lovely Ingrid...Jesus wept.

might be bearable if he could keep pace with the guest! Takes the fecker 15mins to say a sentence!

Still rather him to smug Ray though. oh wait, he's telling us he cycles again.

Nunu

I don't hate him but I despise RTEs policy of jobs and titles for the boys(& girls) in every facet of their organisation. His tv show is abysmal. He is an awful presenter but that doesn't seem to matter?

conorhal

D'Arcy is supremely arrogant, and worst of all for a presenter, he has neither an ounce of warmth or empathy. I rarely listen to him, but any time I have and he's talking to a guest about some topic or other he has no interest in or that doesn't give him an opportunity to pontificate, you can actually hear the bored disinterest in his voice that teeters on impatience at times.
I honestly don't know where RTE get most of their presenters, from a school for the charmless no doubt. That D'Arcy had a job while RTE side lined the likes of Derek Davis, who was a natural presenter, warm. empathetic and capable of listening is baffling. It explains though why I resent my licence fee given how little I can stand to listen to Pravda these days.

Esel

Nunu wrote: »

I don't hate him but.... His tv show is abysmal..

FYP

Balmed Out

Teenagers and slightly older tend to like him, those a little older tend to get rubbed up the wrong way by his lecturing. The Mario Rossenstock sketches sum it up really.

valoren

It's like an average Joe footballer playing in a Sunday League pub match, but commanding a Premier League level salary. That's the analogy I would use.

If you took someone with a talent at broadcasting like Graham Norton, Terry Wogan, Ant and Dec et al you know the kind, the charismatic and prepared professionals then the pay would be vindicated. Why? Because someone like me would probably watch the show, thus more viewers equals an increase in asking prices from sponsors and advertising. The premium pay package for the presenter would be justly rewarded. As it stands with Ray D'Arcy at RTE, there is a disconnect between his remuneration and the quality of the service he is providing. Watching and listening to him is a sufferance.

alta stare

I liked him when he was on today fm and it was actually fun and light entertainment. The show then started to become more and more serious with Ray giving his personal opinion on everything especially the church politics and his kids......it became the Ray Darcys inflated self righteous ego show.

For what its worth I tried to listen to 2fm as a replacement and by God it put me off radio from 9 till 130.

VinLieger

He bungled the making a murderer interview, good enough reason imo

lawlolawl

Ray is a really bad radio host but to be fair to him, the bar is ridiculously low in this country, so why would he try to put on a decent show?

mrsdewinter

For me, it's an age thing. When I was in my 20s, I liked the way he wasn't afraid to tackle big issues on his radio show on Today fm. But then he became unbearably smug, as if he had a monopoly on knowledge and we were lucky to have the benefit of his wisdom. In reality, all that had happened was that he'd grown up a bit, just like his listeners, who didn't actually need Wise Ray to come down from the mountains to impart his wisdom.
For a few years, Today fm kept attracting new & younger listeners who, I guess, thought his musings were original but I tuned out long ago.
Funnily enough, I prefer him on RTE Radio 1 where I think he feels less pressure to pontificate because he's broadcasting to older listeners & it wd be rude to lecture his elders.
His TV show? Haven't seen that much of it but the bits I've seen are woegeous. I feel like he doesn't want to be there himself but he has this big money deal, and the new bosses want a bit of bang for their buck...

Oasis1974

Soon as he left The Den he became to big for his own boots.

suicide_circus

RTE can do news, current affairs documentary, primetime expose type stuff. When they try to do entertainment it all goes wrong very fast. The exceptions are on the radio such as john creedon and callans kicks.

murpho999

maryishere wrote: »

He is a very poor performer compared to the likes of the chat show hosts / interviewers on BBC. I never tune in to RTE much nowadays. Even Dragons den and First dates are poor copies.
God why do we have to pay the ************ RTE licence fee?

Criticising RTE is fine but be fair.

First Dates has had only one episode and has had good reviews. Nobody found it to be a poor copy.

As for Dragons' Den, you do know that it originated in Japan and was then copied by the BBC?

This happens with TV shows all the time, fine for UK channels to do it but not RTE.

Agricola

One of the main reason's Ray is so chronic on a chat show is he has zero interest in 99% of the people he's interviewing. I'm sure a lot of interviewers find themselves in a similar boat but you have to be able to make a fist of sounding engaged, listening and asking pertinent questions that the listeners might want to hear. Ray would be grand if the weekly topics were fitness and atheism!

murpho999

murpho999 wrote: »

Criticising RTE is fine but be fair.

First Dates has had only one episode and has had good reviews. Nobody found it to be a poor copy.

It was absolutely awful.

I watched it as one would rubberneck a car crash, appalling to watch but hard to look away. The one jiggling her breasts on some guys head and saying "love is the feeling that the feeling you've never felt before is the feeling"... Jesus Wept it was shocking stuff.

razorblunt

I enjoyed his radio show when it was first on Today FM, but it went through weird cycles of Jenny sticking her oar in, then Will, then Mairead and it became a bit of a mess, it all then started to become about him and everything linked back to him no matter what the story/interview.

Those "I'm a trucker and I'm crying", "I'm dancing around the kitchen here" where toothsucking cringe worthy.

I dislike him alone for the sheer idiocy of still pressing the wrong buttons on every ad break or song being played.

To be honest, I just think it is a case of people subconsciously judging him more harshly because he has become less attractive with ageing (primarily because of hair loss) and because people are more judgemental of height nowadays and he is relatively short compared to most males nowadays. Nothing wrong with becoming less attractive with ageing, happens to us all. People didn't have harsh opinions of him when he had hair and nobody really was aware of his lack of height.

Mesrine65

I've had the displeasure of dealing with him on a professional level...

I'll be diplomatic & say...he's not a very nice person to interact with.

SEPT 23 1989

Deleted User wrote: »

To be honest, I just think it is a case of people subconsciously judging him more harshly because he has become less attractive with ageing (primarily because of hair loss) and because people are more judgemental of height nowadays and he is relatively short compared to most males nowadays. Nothing wrong with becoming less attractive with ageing, happens to us all. People didn't have harsh opinions of him when he had hair and nobody really was aware of his lack of height.

its nothing to do with what he looks like

its what comes out of his mouth is the problem

murpho999

Deleted User wrote: »

It was absolutely awful.

I watched it as one would rubberneck a car crash, appalling to watch but hard to look away. The one jiggling her breasts on some guys head and saying "love is the feeling that the feeling you've never felt before is the feeling"... Jesus Wept it was shocking stuff.

You just don't get the show then, that's what it's often about. Having eccentric people on it. It happens on the UK show all the time.
People I have spoken to enjoyed it,had good reviews and people on boards enjoyed it too. See the First Dates Ireland thread

Cee-Jay-Cee

He used to be entertaining. He's now just a grumpy old man.

MRnotlob606

CIA have releases a 28 page report concluding Ray Darcy is an inside job

MRnotlob606

He makes me want to **** in my own mouth.

Wibbs

He was OK. Middle of the road, harmless enough. What happened in my humble was The Jenny Factor(™). He got all domesticated and she started pulling different levers in his back as he made the well worn migration to the suburbs. Like shoving a microphone in the face of that harmless enough old uncle who still thinks he'd down with the kids, but his wife tells him what to wear and who shoots daggers from her eyes when he says what she thinks is the wrong thing.

murpho999

Worst thing about Darcy is that he thinks he is funny but is often rude, as he was with Pamela Anderson.

Also, he just rattles off a list of questions and does not react to what the guest says. Truly awful.

Sapphire

whisky_galore wrote: »

Hate when any presenter does that, name-drop the family for no reason.
Listeners don't give a sh*t about your family.

I gave up tuning in when himself and Jenny started playing happy families and becoming the conscience of the nation.

Gerry Ryan was another wife-bore. Waffling on about his wife constantly and D'Arsey is no better. Though Gerry Ryan had more talent as a broadcaster so you could overlook it mostly.

maudgonner

D'Arcy just sucks the life out of everything. The sighs. The moans. The hypocrisy. The lack of interest in anything outside his small range of personal hobbies & beliefs, the unprofessionalism (throwing a strop at having to hand over to the Nuacht on radio, saying "it wasn't my idea" when the 'Jack Nicholson' interview flopped spectacularly on the TV show).

Contrast that with his replacement on Today FM. By all rights I should loathe Anton Savage: his privileged background, family connections in the business, and well, let's be honest, he has an incredibly smackable face But I think he's great - knowledgeable on a wide range of topics without being obnoxious, genuinely interested in the people he interviews, always in good form. He seems to have a great rapport with his colleagues, gives credit to his crew (always makes it very clear that his producer choses the music, which is excellent and frequently complimented). Oh, and he NEVER mentions his family.

manster

He took over the Brendan O'Connor Saturday night prime time slot mainly because RTE had to justify his high wage. The fall out from the way people percive Brendan getting the boot and Ray getting the job still lingers. Especially as Brendan had a very successful show. Having an immediate replacement for Brendan allowed people to compare and critique the two. Unfortunately for Ray, the action's by RTE wrt Brendan, his high wage, poor presentation and interviewing skills make him deeply unpopular.

osarusan

Haven't been exposed to him for more than ten consecutive seconds since whatever programme velcro girl was in, so have no idea what he's like now.

Easy to avoid him these days, surely?

Sapphire

osarusan wrote: »

Haven't been exposed to him for more than ten consecutive seconds since whatever programme velcro girl was in, so have no idea what he's like now.

Easy to avoid him these days, surely?

Thankfully yes. For me anyway.

That_Guy

I used to like him on Today FM when it was light hearted entertainment and the topics were fun.

As time went on it turned out to be all about himself, his kids, his political views and just became really condescending towards people just because they don't fall into his way of living life.

He is a terrible interviewer and is always pushing some sort of agenda rather than being objective.

Like I say, I used to like him but he's become so stale and RTE deem him to be worthy of a hefty pay check. The mind boggles really.

Shint0

I think there should have been a clause in his contract where he is not allowed to refer to his wife on air. It's just boring, predictable, egocentric and one-dimensional. At least Brendan O'Connor was able to make attempts at dry wit and spontaneity during the course of interviewing guests, he was able to show empathy and respond rapidly to any awkward moments which arose, the Panti interview being an exception. Replacing him with Darcy was a mistake.

muddypaws

maudgonner wrote: »

Contrast that with his replacement on Today FM. By all rights I should loathe Anton Savage: his privileged background, family connections in the business, and well, let's be honest, he has an incredibly smackable face But I think he's great - knowledgeable on a wide range of topics without being obnoxious, genuinely interested in the people he interviews, always in good form. He seems to have a great rapport with his colleagues, gives credit to his crew (always makes it very clear that his producer choses the music, which is excellent and frequently complimented). Oh, and he NEVER mentions his family.

Yes. I am now listening to him when I resisted because of the reasons you listed, but I really enjoy his show and like him.

SEPT 23 1989

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Deleted User wrote: »

To be honest, I just think it is a case of people subconsciously judging him more harshly because he has become less attractive with ageing (primarily because of hair loss) and because people are more judgemental of height nowadays and he is relatively short compared to most males nowadays. Nothing wrong with becoming less attractive with ageing, happens to us all. People didn't have harsh opinions of him when he had hair and nobody really was aware of his lack of height.

its nothing to do with what he looks like

its what comes out of his mouth is the problem

People seemed to have ramped up their "hate" of him since he began his prime-time tv show. When he was on the radio people didn't seem *that* bothered by him.

maudgonner

Deleted User wrote: »

People seemed to have ramped up their "hate" of him since he began his prime-time tv show. When he was on the radio people didn't seem *that* bothered by him.

When he was on Today FM he wasn't being paid such huge wages (presumably) and they weren't funded from the license fee.

He also hasn't been parachuted into the slot at the expense of another broadcaster (O'Connor), who people feel was doing a better job. And there's also the hypocrisy that he frequently criticised RTE and their highly paid presenters while he was on Today FM, only to turn around and take a huge salary (and indulge in a bit of nepotism by bringing his wife with him).

He still got plenty of criticism though - have a read through the thread on the radio forum and you'll see that.

murphy01

Agricola wrote: »

One of the main reason's Ray is so chronic on a chat show is he has zero interest in 99% of the people he's interviewing. I'm sure a lot of interviewers find themselves in a similar boat but you have to be able to make a fist of sounding engaged, listening and asking pertinent questions that the listeners might want to hear. Ray would be grand if the weekly topics were fitness and atheism!

Totally agree on this. Haven't heard his radio show (thankfully) but from the small number of his tv shows I have seen he comes across as really fake and disinterested. He seems to sing off the questions that he wants to get through... no attempt at a conversation like Graham Norton.

It should appear natural but with D'Arcy it just all seems really fake.

Badly Drunk Boy

I haven't liked him since the days he did DJ at Nijinsky's nightclub in the Curragh in the late 80s/early 90s.

2smiggy

osarusan wrote: »

Haven't been exposed to him for more than ten consecutive seconds since whatever programme velcro girl was in, so have no idea what he's like now.

Easy to avoid him these days, surely?

I just have to be very quick after live line to change stations so as never to hear his voice again

mrsdewinter

Deleted User wrote: »

To be honest, I just think it is a case of people subconsciously judging him more harshly because he has become less attractive with ageing (primarily because of hair loss) and because people are more judgemental of height nowadays and he is relatively short compared to most males nowadays. Nothing wrong with becoming less attractive with ageing, happens to us all. People didn't have harsh opinions of him when he had hair and nobody really was aware of his lack of height.

But Gay Byrne is also short. Famously so. And he aged a hella lot over the 27 years he was on the Late Late.
Ray had a huge potential fanbase from his Den days, and he's thrown it away.

whisky_galore

Deleted User wrote: »

To be honest, I just think it is a case of people subconsciously judging him more harshly because he has become less attractive with ageing (primarily because of hair loss) and because people are more judgemental of height nowadays and he is relatively short compared to most males nowadays. Nothing wrong with becoming less attractive with ageing, happens to us all. People didn't have harsh opinions of him when he had hair and nobody really was aware of his lack of height.

Load of bollocks, you can be a good interviewer/host without being an oil painting.

Arghus

My first stirrings of disquiet with anything D'arcy related came about a decade ago. A long time ago I will admit, but when it comes to simmering annoyances - age will not wither them.

Anyway, he was presenting the Today FM show. It was rare I got the opportunity to hear it, so I was amazed to hear them talking about metal. Metal as in Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath etc, etc. Now, I'm not a hardcore metaller by any means, but I did grow up listening to it and still enjoy it and appreciate it as a wide and varied genre of music.

I was intrigued to hear such a discussion taking place on daytime radio. They were discussing it as a form of music; I knew they weren't going to start blasting Slayer or Pig Destroyer, but I was still interested in hearing what Ray and whoever else he had on giving their view about the genre. Nuanced opinions I wasn't expecting, but sometimes it can be interesting to hear an outsider's perspective on something you know well enough about.

Well, it was a load of rubbish. No, it was worse than rubbish: it was willfully ignorant drivel. I could deal with the piss being taken out of the music - a lot of metal is childish and ridiculous - but I thought there would be some honest attempt to understand it's appeal to people. But no. Ray clearly went into the discussion with the firm opinion, based on the handful of somewhat heavy songs he'd heard in his life, that the entire genre from top to bottom was utter crap. And worst of all: he was going to tell us why he was right.

Sure enough the texts started pouring in - A lot of people made extremely fair points about the musical ability required in a lot of the more technical strains of the music. Or about the purely visceral impact being an appealing characteristic of the whole genre. And more than once it was pointed out that you can't dismiss everything based on a few tunes. But D'arcy held firm: it was stupid music for stupid people. All of it.

It drove me mad listening to that. I know people might discuss things like that out on the street, but that's too be expected: the man on the street is just that. But, when you decide you're going to dedicate time on the national radio to discussing something, why not try, at least a bit, to talk right about it? Ray was entitled to say he didn't like it - lots of people agree with him - but why be so genuinely dismissive of something without even having any courage to make a smidge of effort towards giving it a chance?

It's a bit extreme, I know, to go to such detail about a totally minor thing, but, what can I say? That one segment always stuck in my mind about Ray D'arcy. Up until then I had time for him. He was so stupid, uninformed and self righteous at that moment. It felt like the only reason he was talking about it all was so he could condescendingly piss from his high horse on something people loved. That's pathetic. And from what I've seen and heard from him since, it doesn't seem like he's got much better.