Don't forget: THIS is on RTE Two at 10.50pm tonight. Hopefully I'll catch it after attending Tainer Bang's 'First Episode of Season Five Premiere' L Word Party, which is going down (so to speak) at 7.30pm tonight in the Apartment In The Sky.Anyway, here's the (not gay) preview I wrote on the former for the Trib yesterday.
Is RTE ready to roar?
Monday, RTE Two, 10.50pm
Roaring Twenties
"You must forgive me for awaiting this new RTE series with a certain amount of trepidation. And by ‘certain amount’, I mean a consignment of trepidation the size of say, a small African country. Not that I won’t give it a chance, of course, but the fact does remain that the majority of home-grown programming (and indeed, the majority of all programming, and feck it, the majority of EVERYTHING) is rather rubbish.
RTE are especially good at commissioning that specific type of TV rubbish, the type of rubbish that aims to depict ‘real life’, be ‘cutting edge’, hell, ‘modern’ even. This usually happens when a drama or sitcom of sorts is based around ‘young people’. We haven’t seen a programme like this in a while, due to the catastrophe of nuclear proportions that was ‘The Big Bow Wow’, which remains the most cringe-inducing, horrendous and desperate drama series ever to be broadcast on terrestrial television. While that was so excruciatingly embarrassing and just downright awful it almost came full circle as satire (and, as a result, I kind of hated it, loved to hate it, and then just loved it), you can see why only now have the shockwaves halted enough for another twenty-something-life series be unleashed.
‘Roaring Twenties’ aims to be the antithesis of ‘The Big Bow Wow’. The visual landscape of modern Dublin that formed the backdrop of the latter has been dropped in favour of the charmingly scruffy townie suburb of Rathmines. Instead of accountants, noodle bar owners and business types, we have an artiste (note the ‘e’, har har) and his journalist girlfriend, Mary Fitzgerald (doesn’t she write for the Times?), a student (well, this is Rathmines) and a mysterious layabout. Plus, it’s a sitcom, so no overwrought drama then, although, it’s not as if RTE have the best record at commissioning sitcoms either (‘Leave It To Mrs O’Brien’, anyone?), but there is a sort of hope here, as instead of a scattered team of writers or people who have been around the block to the point of becoming stale, ‘Roaring Twenties’ is written and co-directed by a couple of recent graduates of Ballyfermot Film School - Steven Stubbs and Ray Sullivan."
(c. The Sunday Tribune)
22 comments:
you used the word "artiste" in your end of year roundup.
For an Irish tv comedy about The Young People, this was really surprisingly good. The Arcade Fire theme seemed a bit of an afterthought though, but the weekend in Cork bit was great. Not bad at all, RTE, not bad.
Yep, it was rather rubbish.
"you used the word "artiste" in your end of year roundup."
no I didn't...
I didn't think it was great, but not awful. I thought the voiceover was overdone and in many parts unnecessary.
'Wake Up' as a theme tune is kind of cringey.
There were some funny bits though - the parents screaming about 'the drugs' raised a laugh and the press photographer was kind of funny too.
It smacked of PILOT, which it is, so hopefully it will get better.
But still, it remains that there is no decent Irish sign-o-the-times drama out there. Where is the Irish 'This Life', 'The Secret Life of Us', 'Queer As Folk', 'Teachers'?
I guess (the excellent) 'Pure Mule' is as close as anything has ever come, but I'd love to see an Irish drama that reflected twenty-something and thirty-something life and adventures now.
I have to say I was pretty disappointed. I'm willing (just about) to give the second episode a go but it was all just so forced, very typical rte sitcom. If it was made in the UK it would have never aired in that state. The premise has a lot going for it, but it needs a lot of polish, imho.
Oooh also I haven't got round to eh..."procuring" the first l word yet...thoughts?
My mate downloaded it from somewhere, I shall find out. We projected it on to a wall for maximum - 'L Word In The Cinema' effect.
How can you be disappointed?
What did you expect?
I didn't even watch it.
I assumed it would be shit and got on with my life.
"How can you be disappointed?
What did you expect?
I didn't even watch it.
I assumed it would be shit and got on with my life."
I watched it for work purposes. Plus, I think one is more qualified to slag something of if one has seen it. Not as bad as The English Class though.
Yes, and I'm sure I will watch it at some stage, if only for slagging purposes.
And you make a good point about the lack of decent, Irish sign-o-the-times dramas, or comedies for that matter.
The fact is that there is no evidence that the people writing and making these programmes have anything other than a contrived notion of what reality is for Irish people. Bachelor's Walk was the only one that stood out for me in the last ten years or so.
It was sharp, well-written and the acting was largely quite good.
The format for The Roaring Twenties is incredibly stale, staid and formulaic. It's a relic of the 1990s. Nothing there to persuade me to go out of my way to watch it.
Forgot about BW, should have included that one.
Although (like Roaring Twenties), Bachelors Walk focussed on a largely depressed or down at heel perspective on what life for people in that demographic is like, which I never particularly enjoyed - it all seemed a bit too 80s.
'Roaring Twenties' seems to want to tap into the trend of surrealist sitcoms (Mighty Boosh etc), but does it in a very half-arsed manner and in the end looks like something a bunch of students made. Which they did.
I thought it was seriously bad.
I laughed, and so did the guy who watched it beside me. I saw one of Steven Stubbs' short films before, and it was pretty good - the humour was far more subtle though. But I laughed.
A few of the gags raised a smile but overall it was too forced.
i only watched the second half, so i guess ill have to watch the second episode to give it a proper opinion.
It was better than the big bow wow, but only marginally and that was a terrible show. RTE need a serious shake up of original programming.
I've already ranted about it elsewhere, so I'll keep my thoughts on The Roaring Twenties here quite brief:
I longed for The English Class. Honestly.
When you say it wasn't as bad as The English Class, are you referring to the same show that you flagged on your site with a video and of which you said: "Check out this new RTE comedy - 'The English Class'. A bit Office-like. This is one of my favourite clips: teacher Myles Brennan tries to explain the definition of 'Inappropriate Behaviour'..."
Anyway, The English Class was brutal. Thought The Roaring Twenties showed some ambition but lacked production values where it counted.
"not as bad as the english class though"....
The same English Class of which you posted
Check out this new RTE comedy - 'The English Class'. A bit Office-like. This is one of my favourite clips: teacher Myles Brennan tries to explain the definition of 'Inappropriate Behaviour'.
.......one minute you seem to like it, now you don't
RE: The English Class - at the time I had only seen short clips on YouTube. It didn't look too bad. Obviously, put together it was an awful programme.
You know, it must be SO HARD being an ANONYMOUS poster on a blog and being RIGHT all the time.
it's a living
it was unmitigatedly awful.the only people defending it are friends of the creators by the looks of things.it just was not funny enough to be a tv program in any other country on earth.i really do think it has taken over from 'extra,extra,read all about it' as the worst show ever on rte.
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