Young Offenders TV series (BBC3 / RTE)

Andrew00

weadick wrote: »

There was a bit at the start where Mairead says something like 'if we didn't have fires in our houses all the time the fire brigade would have nothing to do'. I didn't like that joke either, thought it was a bit distasteful given that grenfel tower isn't that long ago. In fact the whole show seems like one long series of middle class jokes about 'norries'.

What the hell are you on about ?

Try_harder

Grenfell was over a year ago, it was a tower block, in a different country...

The Talking Bread

The Talking Bread

Seriously though, out of the whole Young Offenders franchise, a joke about without fire, a fireman would be rendered useless is the one you choose to be offended by!

Purple Mountain

I thought it was very funny.
Would have liked to have seen more of Billy but overall I had quite a few laugh out loud moments.

weadick

Andrew00 wrote: »

What the hell are you on about ?

The people who wrote the show and the main actors are from the posh parts of cork, making bad jokes about poor parts of cork.

weadick

Try_harder wrote: »

Grenfell was over a year ago, it was a tower block, in a different country...

I wasnt offended by it. The point I was making was that it was symptomatic of middle class perception of lower class people as being ignorant, stupid and their circumstances being of their own making. And none of it was funny at all.

0byme75341jo28

JKerova1 wrote: »

It's middle-class voyeurism, which wouldn't be bad if it was funny, but it's not at all. I know north cork pretty well and I dont ever recall seeing a small boy riding a pony around a council estate, quad-bikes maybe. The people who make and act in YO are all from the posh parts of Cork and it really shows. They come from the same amateur dramatic society too which probably explains the standard of acting.

I disagree in that I do find it funny, but its portrayal of the north side of Cork city is definitely bordering on the ridiculous. I hate to bring it back to race but if they were portraying members of a different ethnic group in the manner they're portaying the "Norries" there would (quite rightfully) be uproar. The scene of the assault on the car by a masked group of young men was probably the worst example.

Terrible Christmas special but I did enjoy season 1. Hopefully it was just a blip.

Always Tired

Thought it was pure crap.

Try_harder

JKerova1 wrote: »

It's middle-class voyeurism, which wouldn't be bad if it was funny, but it's not at all. I know north cork pretty well and I dont ever recall seeing a small boy riding a pony around a council estate, quad-bikes maybe. The people who make and act in YO are all from the posh parts of Cork and it really shows. They come from the same amateur dramatic society too which probably explains the standard of acting.

Someone didnt pass their audition...

joeguevara

Watched the film tonight on Netflix and still loved it. Took my mother to watch it in the cinema and while groaning and watching through my hands at the scene when his ma barges into his room and catches him in the throes of a bit of self love, we both thoroughly enjoyed it and laughed out loud throughout.

Haven’t seen the series but going to. This sh1te about posh corkonians making fun of poor parts of cork seems to be people being outraged on behalf of other people. I have two mates from knocka and one from mayfield and all loved it and never brought up the above. That is why it’s called acting. The actor who played Nidge in Love Hate is from a well to do family and when speaking to him in real life couldn’t get over his posh accent. Didn’t in any way take away from his depiction of a gangland boss.

Does this mean that people should only play parts that are similar to their socio-economic backgrounds? As for jokes made in bad taste, get over yourselves. The writers obviously wrote lines that are funny and not to make fun of real life tragedies. Have we really got to the stage that comedies are so over analyzed like this?

gmisk

Try_harder wrote: »

You said he was a really bad actor.

Fact Check: False

I dont like him as an actor is perhaps what you meant

Is this the journal now or what?
He is imo an absolutely terrible actor.
Happy?

alchemist33

I thought they were trying to ape Shameless, with the "we're really poor but we know our own minds and look after our own" shtick. But the mother coming home half-dead just made her, and the others, look really stupid (and I'd say that was out of character for her too), the riot was pointless, and Cork looked like a warzone. I know it's a comedy but one of its best characteristics is that it's rooted in the real world, not a farce.

leggo

I'm kinda down on Young Offenders as a whole, while really wanting to like it because I loved the movie so much. It's starting to feel like one good idea stretched within an inch of its life. They did well in the movie to make the lads sympathetic given Jock's situation with his da, Conor's relationship with his ma etc, but they've made that 'message' almost pornographic in the TV show now. We get it, they're good guys deep down who were born into a **** situation, that doesn't need to be reiterated in every single episode. It's starting to feel like the Late Late where they get a lad who's done well on and awkwardly force him to do a party piece of the thing that made him famous to begin with.

This time around:

the ma is sick, smoking isn't helping and she won't go to a doctor, so she collapses and is all of a sudden about to DIE cus of pneumonia (did we really need those emotional stakes?), but all she wants is a 'White Christmas' so they try and rob a snow machine from Robert Sheehan's movie set for some godforsaken reason (was this bit written in for any other reason than to shoehorn a Robert Sheehan cameo in because he saw the lads out on the piss and said "You've gotta get me on that show man"?), she wakes from her coma and wants to spend Christmas at home (the doctors are the bad guys for correctly suggesting she needs constant medical attention: stupid posh educated people, who do they think they are with their fancy shmancy logic?). Meanwhile there are riots in the estate (cus poverty), they need to get a B-plot in because they have more characters than they need so PJ Gallagher and co have to drive down steps, the ma nearly dies from a seizure but is then grand because she sees snow, and a bunch of trained riot police drop their batons and shields all because of said (turns out it's fake) snow.

Like...what?! Would it really have been that difficult, if they have to go the poverty porn route, to write a simple story ending in "I guess Christmas isn't all about money but the people you spend it with" or something like that? Why did any of that happen? Who is supposed to relate to it?! If you can't make sense, at least be funny, but none of it was. Why am I watching this show?!

Yeah, I'm Team Derry Girls.

OldMrBrennan83

leggo wrote: »

I'm kinda down on Young Offenders as a whole, while really wanting to like it because I loved the movie so much. It's starting to feel like one good idea stretched within an inch of its life. They did well in the movie to make the lads sympathetic given Jock's situation with his da, Conor's relationship with his ma etc, but they've made that 'message' almost pornographic in the TV show now. We get it, they're good guys deep down who were born into a **** situation, that doesn't need to be reiterated in every single episode.

This time around:

the ma is sick, smoking isn't helping and she won't go to a doctor, so she collapses and is all of a sudden about to DIE cus of pneumonia (did we really need those emotional stakes?), but all she wants is a 'White Christmas' so they try and rob a snow machine from Robert Sheehan's movie set for some godforsaken reason (was this bit written in for any other reason than to shoehorn a Robert Sheehan cameo in because he saw the lads out on the piss and said "You've gotta get me on that show man"?), she wakes from her coma and wants to spend Christmas at home (the doctors are the bad guys for correctly suggesting she needs constant medical attention, stupid posh educated people, who do they think they are with their fancy shmancy logic?),. Meanwhile there are riots in the estate (cus poverty), they need to get a B-plot in because they have more characters than they need so PJ Gallagher and co have to drive down steps, the ma nearly dies from a seizure but is then grand because she sees snow, and a bunch of trained riot police drop their batons and shields all because of said (turns out it's fake) snow.

Like...what?! Would it really have been that difficult, if they have to go the poverty porn route, to write a simple story ending in "I guess Christmas isn't all about money but the people you spend it with" or something like that? Why did any of that happen? Who is supposed to relate to it?! If you can't make sense, at least be funny, but none of it was. Why am I watching this show?!

Yeah, I'm Team Derry Girls.

Horses for courses I suppose but I thought Derry Girls was an awful show and this one off YO being bad won't make it any better.



_

leggo

Patww79 wrote: »

Horses for courses I suppose but I thought Derry Girls was an awful show and this one of YO being bad won't make it any better.

Well I...didn't think any of those things. But thanks for telling me your thoughts all the same?

OldMrBrennan83

leggo wrote: »

Well I...didn't think any of those things. But thanks for telling me your thoughts all the same?

No problem at all. That's what online forums are for.

giveitholly

weadick wrote: »

There was a bit at the start where Mairead says something like 'if we didn't have fires in our houses all the time the fire brigade would have nothing to do'. I didn't like that joke either, thought it was a bit distasteful given that grenfel tower isn't that long ago. In fact the whole show seems like one long series of middle class jokes about 'norries'.

Snowflake

FrancieBrady

Not a fan of the Christmas Special idea, too many times I have been disappointed by them. This was another one. Although it wasn't crime of the century. Some funny moments and I really like some of those actors.

Sheehan is a terribly terribly over rated actor imo.

Cherry_Cola

JKerova1 wrote: »

It's middle-class voyeurism, which wouldn't be bad if it was funny, but it's not at all. I know north cork pretty well and I dont ever recall seeing a small boy riding a pony around a council estate, quad-bikes maybe. The people who make and act in YO are all from the posh parts of Cork and it really shows. They come from the same amateur dramatic society too which probably explains the standard of acting.

You haven't seen them riding ponies around? Really? Go anywhere near Ballyvolane most days and you'll be sure to see them.

The Crowman

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

He was playing himself

They seemed to be copying Extras in having him play an exaggerated nasty version of himself. Hope they don't start making it a thing with "guest stars"

The Talking Bread

Here is Mayfield's most famous man, Roy with his horses at home

rob316

JKerova1 wrote: »

It's middle-class voyeurism, which wouldn't be bad if it was funny, but it's not at all. I know north cork pretty well and I dont ever recall seeing a small boy riding a pony around a council estate, quad-bikes maybe. The people who make and act in YO are all from the posh parts of Cork and it really shows. They come from the same amateur dramatic society too which probably explains the standard of acting.

You don't know it so if you've never seen ponies in estates. Hell I've seen ponies in Southside estates not just north.
It's a fun show it's not meant to be taken seriously. My dad's family are from the north side so I can relate with alot of this.

Episode last night was poor though

The Talking Bread

The Crowman wrote: »

They seemed to be copying Extras in having him play an exaggerated nasty version of himself. Hope they don't start making it a thing with "guest stars"

In fairness, that type of approach is common nowadays. When a guest star is brought in to play themselves they are always depicted with a negative undertone for comedic effect.
As much as I thought Robert Sheehan was cringeworthy and can't do unintentional comedy I don't think the scene was all too bad as the lads have great comedic presence, simplicity in execution of their lines and great facial expressions but the narrative of the whole episode was so all over the place that I was looking at my clock wondering when this scene is ending and where are they going with it.

They lost so much potential by essentially building the whole plot of the episode around that central scene with Rob Sheehan and rushing and neglecting any sort of realism to accomodate him. It just doesn't work on a show like this.

I genuinely zoned out of the B plot as TYO should be centrally focused on the 2 lads, the other characters on their own, well it is hard to invest any interest in them.
Even the scene with Billy in the end. WTF.

Basq

The scene with Sheehan and the two lads acting went on WAY too long.. was an average episode IMO.

The Talking Bread

Is the show still commisioned by BBC with small input by RTE? I think this was the downfall. A Christmas special being limited to a half hour, due to limits of commisioning.

. I think British audience would be far more removed by the type of humour and assume sense of realism to it that having it congested like that into half an hour wouldn't seem as bad as it is for Irish audience who would be more affiliated to that type of Irish humour and the area of the country that the joke can be lost when realism is completely neglected.

(Does that make sense?)

I imagine it was/is far more hyped up here in Ireland than it is in Britain and it is just a show you see in the listings or come across at the last minute whilst Ireland has been publicising it and giving it multiple advertising trailers for over a month now

Purple Mountain

FrancieBrady wrote: »

Not a fan of the Christmas Special idea, too many times I have been disappointed by them. This was another one. Although it wasn't crime of the century. Some funny moments and I really like some of those actors.

Sheehan is a terribly terribly over rated actor imo.

I thought Mrs Brown was woeful.
Same gags, same plot.
That's one show that should be put to bed.

The high horse brigade

OmegaGene wrote: »

That died a death as soon as it went to mainstream tv, when it was a yearly dvd and live shows on tour it was very funny

No, it was never funny. He just copies everyone else's jokes

goose2005

pretty poor, plot incoherent, but there were a few sparks of humour.

The Talking Bread

Purple Mountain wrote: »

I thought Mrs Brown was woeful.
Same gags, same plot.
That's one show that should be put to bed.

He would be barmy to put it to the bed! Making a mint out of it for himself and most of his family!