The Old Days on RTE

Shakyfan

Hangdogroad wrote: »

Yeah, the ones that consisted of a still image and voiceover. Typically theyd be shown in a block towards the end of the commercial break after the regular full length ads. They seemed to phase them out circa 89/90.

Some good examples here, the droll voiceovers are hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6YIDsOedxw

Effective advertising! 37 years later and as a result of watching that I've just paid £5.12 for a copy of that book, and increase of 17p on what it would have cost me back then!

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OEDNpQMYdI

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O5CeeorFm4

I was in the very first road safety advert which was filmed by my uncle. Featured a very young Mike Murphy, my mother as his wife, me as his daughter, my father as the driver Mike nearly crashed his car into as he was late setting h out to work onscreen. "Turn of the Wheel" was the title. Would love that to be resurrected from 1962. There was a second film shot along the same lines as a follow-on in the little series featuring family. My aunt very cleverly made the props. Was quite a cool production last I saw it from a reel I had access to in the 1980s.

Ash.J.Williams

Deleted User wrote: »

I was in the very first road safety advert which was filmed by my uncle. Featured a very young Mike Murphy, my mother as his wife, me as his daughter, my father as the driver Mike nearly crashed his car into as he was late setting h out to work onscreen. "Turn of the Wheel" was the title. Would love that to be resurrected from 1962. There was a second film shot along the same lines as a follow-on in the little series featuring family. My aunt very cleverly made the props. Was quite a cool production last I saw it from a reel I had access to in the 1980s.

Find it

Ash.J.Williams

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

Find it

The only thing I have is a photo clip from it...

Ash.J.Williams

Ahhhh look

jpfahy

ollaetta wrote: »

Denis Weaver, also in Gentle Ben as the cop father of a cherubic kid and a bear in the Florida Everglades.

RTE had loads of shows based on animals back then:
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
Daktari (Clarence the cross eyed lion)
Tarzan
Flipper
Mr. Ed the talking horse
Green Acres (Arnold the pig)

I tell you, you youngsters don't know what you missed. :rolleyes:

The kid in Gentle Ben was Ron Howard's brother

Ash.J.Williams

jpfahy wrote: »

The kid in Gentle Ben was Ron Howard's brother

I did not know that , had a great career too

Comhra

Comhra wrote: »

This still gives me goose pimples.

Still watch it on YouTube myself, at times - the other half (True blue Ipswich born and bred) even has that version as the ring tone for me on her phone... she absolutely loves it as a National Anthem - "Beats 'God Save the Queen' into the ground" says she who knows everything.

As an aside, I'm sure the fact he was literally the first person shown when RTÉ started broadcasting (for the pedants, am just referring to actual scheduled broadcasts, not test broadcasts) didn't hurt the Lt. (at the time) James Mortell's career. He retired a Colonel and passed just a few years ago

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/1117/1011582-james-mortell-death/

MfMan

bobbyss wrote: »

It was brilliant. Peter Gilmore and Anne Stallybrass. I think they were the names. It's strange how credits remain with you. Don Adams in Get Smart. I was only reading about that programme recently. The chief died tragically it seems. Agent 86 Barbara Feldon.

Mary Tyler Moore was another great programme. She was gorgeous and Ted Baxter was fantastic. Superb writing that leaves many of today's programmes in the shade.

And it's spin-off Rhoda. She and Mary were the ultimate girls-next-door. Always remind me of my maiden(at the time) aunts.

Anyone mention Youngline? Was Conor McAnally a brother of Aonghus?

bobbyss

MfMan wrote:

And it's spin-off Rhoda. She and Mary were the ultimate girls-next-door. Always remind me of my maiden(at the time) aunts.

I never liked Rhoda. But MTM was super. Very witty.

Declan A Walsh

MfMan wrote: »

And it's spin-off Rhoda. She and Mary were the ultimate girls-next-door. Always remind me of my maiden(at the time) aunts.

Anyone mention Youngline? Was Conor McAnally a brother of Aonghus?

Mary Tyler Moore and its spinoff Rhoda were great. There were a few other spinoffs such as Lou Grant.

Conor McAnally is (because he still is!) indeed a brother of Aonghus. He also was the producer of MTUSA, and occasionally appeared in it. Its production company, Green Apple Productions, was owned by Conor and presenter Vincent Hanley.

Remember Outlook? A thought for the day before you went to bed, and before the national anthem!

Remember Wanderly Wagon with O'Brien (Eugene Lambert), Judge the dog (Eugene's puppet), Godmother, Mr. Crow, Rory, Forty Coats and Doctor Astro (voiced by Frank Kelly) and many other characters.

Ash.J.Williams

Wanderly and forty coats were seriously trippy shows , lots of 70s lsd takers took up tv jobs back then

Hangdogroad

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

Wanderly and forty coats were seriously trippy shows , lots of 70s lsd takers took up tv jobs back then

I'm still not totally sure what the central premise was with Fortycoats & Co. There was some vague time travel aspect. Theres almost nothing in the way of clips or info online.

Ash.J.Williams

It was f**ed up

From memory.
40 coats had a flying sweet/trick shop
He had two school children sidekicks in their mid 40s. Slightly bonkers and so far so good ?

There was a witch villain who had a puppet cat

All the backdrops were hand drawn

It had a pickarooney who used to say “I’m the pickarooney”
It was f**ed up

Hangdogroad

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

It was f**ed up

From memory.
40 coats had a flying sweet/trick shop
He had two school children sidekicks in their mid 40s. Slightly bonkers and so far so good ?

There was a witch villain who had a puppet cat

All the backdrops were hand drawn

It had a pickarooney who used to say “I’m the pickarooney”
It was f**ed up

Wernt Slightly and Sofar trapped in some kind of dimension and that's why they were stuck with Fortycoats? I vaguely remember something about Slightly trying to get home.

Ash.J.Williams

From Wikipedia


The show featured the adventures of the title character Fortycoats (Fran Dempsey) - his catchphrase was "Be me forty coats and me fifty pockets" - and his companions Sofar Sogood (played by Conal Kearney), a prim goody two shoes character and Slightly Bonkers (played by Virginia Cole), a naive schoolgirl. They occupied the Flying Trick Shop (also known as the Flying Tuck Shop and the Flying Sweet Shop) and battled against the evil Whilomena, the Whirligig Witch (and her cat, Spooky) and the equally evil Pickarooney (who lived in a rubbish tip and kidnapped children).

Hangdogroad

Another thing about a lot of RTE childrens shows from the 70s and 80s is it's never entirely clear when they finished production. The year they started no problem but things get murky about when they actually stopped screening new episodes. The Wiki entry there says it was cancelled in the early 90s but it was probably repeats at that stage. (I'm guessing it finished proper circa 87-88)

Declan A Walsh

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

From Wikipedia


The show featured the adventures of the title character Fortycoats (Fran Dempsey) - his catchphrase was "Be me forty coats and me fifty pockets" - and his companions Sofar Sogood (played by Conal Kearney), a prim goody two shoes character and Slightly Bonkers (played by Virginia Cole), a naive schoolgirl. They occupied the Flying Trick Shop (also known as the Flying Tuck Shop and the Flying Sweet Shop) and battled against the evil Whilomena, the Whirligig Witch (and her cat, Spooky) and the equally evil Pickarooney (who lived in a rubbish tip and kidnapped children).

That was the spinoff show from Wanderly Wagon. Forty-Coats was an intermittent character in Wanderly Wagon. He was initially played by Bill Golding, who also played Rory, but was then played by Fran Dempsey when Bill Golding left WW. I never got into the Forty-Coats spin-off.

breezy1985

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

It was f**ed up

From memory.
40 coats had a flying sweet/trick shop
He had two school children sidekicks in their mid 40s. Slightly bonkers and so far so good ?

There was a witch villain who had a puppet cat

All the backdrops were hand drawn

It had a pickarooney who used to say “I’m the pickarooney”
It was f**ed up

That picture is like something from when TV shows try to depict acid trips or a David Lynch dream sequence

George White

It was essentially RTE doing Dr Who in th style of a Sid and Marty Krofft show on 1/100th of the budget.

Ash.J.Williams

They should repeat it on Friday nights at 3 am

Hangdogroad

Davis At Large which ran from 84 to 86. First season closed with Derek and some of the crew being attacked by a female wrestler. I've never quite been able to decide if it was staged or not. It's up there in my wishlist of lost footage to turn up.

Declan A Walsh

I know it's been mentioned earlier in this thread but Hall's Pictorial Weekly was a seminal satirical comedy show. There was nothing like it on RTE before. It was presented by Frank Hall and included the likes of Frank Kelly and Eamon Morrissey. The cast did some great impressions of well-known people at the time as well as some stereotype characters.

BrianBoru00

iffandonlyif wrote: »

Not all that old, but I miss Pat Kenny's Late Late Show debates. Nowadays, debates on Prime Time are vapid.

John's Bowman's Questions and Answers is also much missed. A controversial opinion, perhaps, but Vincent Browne's equivalent was a dreary mess.

I assume you meant Gay Byrnes debates? Kennys weren't a patch on the ones from the last century . . (though miles better than the current sh*te)

briany

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

They should repeat it on Friday nights at 3 am

And make us miss Dr. Phil and Nationwide? Not a chance!

But seriously, though, what the hell is the story with late night TV programming on RTE????

Firstly, the demographic of people who are watching TV at 3AM and for some reason choose RTE must be incredibly small. It can't be drunk people after a heavy night out who find the perfect end to the evening is watching a repeat of Casualty. I don't think that's ever happened. Elderly folks down the country with only a rusty aerial to pick up TV, well they're all probably asleep. It cannot be anyone with access to the Internet or satellite TV. It's not even stuff that shift workers might have missed in the evening like Fair City.

Back in the old days, they actually used to show something a bit interesting at least sometimes on the graveyard slot. If anyone remembers The End with Sean Moncrieff, they used to show Taxi, The Critic, 3rd Rock from the Sun and Night Stand with Dick Dietrick.

Ash.J.Williams

I think rte actually destroyed a lot of the old tapes of the stuff we’re talking about

Ash.J.Williams

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

I think rte actually destroyed a lot of the old tapes of the stuff we’re talking about

# Prime Example: Quite a good many of the betterWanderly Wagon episodes.

Jobsuss was a program dedicated to Job Search. <meh> but still Better than a more present day equivalent.

Ash.J.Williams

Deleted User wrote: »

# Prime Example: Quite a good many of the betterWanderly Wagon episodes.

So short sighted after all the effort gone into making it

Ash.J.Williams

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

So short sighted after all the effort gone into making it

Or internal Politics?

Hangdogroad

It was commonplace up to about the late 70s for tapes to be wiped. The BBC did it too, loads of episodes of Dr Who, early Dads Army and other stuff now considered classic was wiped as tapes were very expensive and at the time there wasnt seen to be any long term value in keeping them.

Galwayguy35

Gabriel Byrne as a farmer in Bracken.
The Live Mike.
Themla Mansfield and Derek Davis presenting Live at Three.
Rapid Roulette.
Mini series about the IRA called The Price.
Where in the World.
Debates between Charlie and Garrett on Today Tonight.
Sports Stadium.
Know your Sport.

Youngline

Like "$hit, we better produce a series for the teen audience"

NewbridgeIR

The Price is on DVD. Only because it was a Channel 4 co-production.

Declan A Walsh

Various programs presented by Aine O'Connor such as Last House, First House and Summer House, the latter with Vincent Hanley.

Megamix presented by Flo McSweeney and Kevin Sharkey.

briany

Before Never Mind the Buzzcocks on BBC, RTE had its own music quiz panel show called Number One, featuring Ian Dempsey as host, plus Dave Fanning and Joe Elliot from Def Leppard as team captains.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmmY3jexdEc

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q_lLgQmR_A

Hangdogroad

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q_lLgQmR_A

Gerry Ryan used to do that greeting thing with his hands every single time he was on this, found it really annoying.

Hamsterchops

furiousox wrote: »

Some of the ads were a photograph of a shop/premises with a voice telling you where it is rather than actual video.

If you wanted "proper adverts" you had to switch channel to either UTV or HTV (if you were lucky enough to have either of them), we must be talking early-mid 70s here.

Plasandrunt

furiousox wrote: »

Some of the ads were a photograph of a shop/premises with a voice telling you where it is rather than actual video.

The Apres Match lads absolutely nailed this a few years ago.

Tombo2001

Does anyone know why Nighthawks was cancelled?

I was reading Shay Healy's obituary and was struck that it only ran for 4 years. The show I'd compare it to now is possibly the Tommy Tiernan show in that it appeared to be nothing much, but actually it was completely groundbreaking and was compelling viewing.

And yet only lasted a few years, compared the 10 or 15 years we had of Pat Kenny hosting the Late Late.

Hangdogroad

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Does anyone know why Nighthawks was cancelled?

I was reading Shay Healy's obituary and was struck that it only ran for 4 years. The show I'd compare it to now is possibly the Tommy Tiernan show in that it appeared to be nothing much, but actually it was completely groundbreaking and was compelling viewing.

And yet only lasted a few years, compared the 10 or 15 years we had of Pat Kenny hosting the Late Late.

It may or may not have been due to the controversial interview with Sean Gallagher in January 92, it was cancelled in April of that year. The 1993 end date given here is incorrect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc_G_DslRUU

The Sullivans : Start of programs on RTE 2 at 5.30pm

cml387

Lest we be all carried away with nostalgia, it is interesting how much religion was on RTE in the sixties and early seventies:

This is the schedule for Good Friday 1967:

15:00 The Stations Of The Cross
15:30 The Story Of The Holy Shroud
16:00 Combined Protestant Service
16:30 News and Closedown

That's it.

Declan A Walsh

cml387 wrote: »

Lest we be all carried away with nostalgia, it is interesting how much religion was on RTE in the sixties and early seventies:

This is the schedule for Good Friday 1967:

15:00 The Stations Of The Cross
15:30 The Story Of The Holy Shroud
16:00 Combined Protestant Service
16:30 News and Closedown

That's it.

Love that idea!

Tombo2001

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Love that idea!

Well to be fair there would be multiple denominations.....

Tombo2001

Hangdogroad wrote: »

It may or may not have been due to the controversial interview with Sean Gallagher in January 92, it was cancelled in April of that year. The 1993 end date given here is incorrect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc_G_DslRUU

Incidentally - regarding what is one of the most seminal moments of Irish broadasting history, isnt it amazing that RTE release a video of the interview - nearly 30 years later - but without the relevant quote (on how Charlie Haughey was aware of the wire tap).

Seriously.....

Ash.J.Williams

briany wrote: »

Before Never Mind the Buzzcocks on BBC, RTE had its own music quiz panel show called Number One, featuring Ian Dempsey as host, plus Dave Fanning and Joe Elliot from Def Leppard as team captains.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmmY3jexdEc

Joe Elliot looked like he was going murder Dave fanning in that