IRISH TELEVISION'S TOP TEN: August 2011

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

TOP 10 SHOWS OF 2004

1. THE LATE LATE TOY SHOW RTE 1 940,000 LIVE
(Annual pre Christmas show hosted by Pat Kenny)
2. YOU’RE A STAR LIVE RTE 1 896,000 LIVE
(The Final of the second series with winner Chris Doran chosen to represent Ireland at the Eurovision)
3. THE LATE LATE SHOW RTE 1 818,000 LIVE
(Chat Show hosted by Pat Kenny on air since 1962. Previously hosted by Gay Byrne)
4. KILLINASCULLY XMAS SPECIAL RTE 1 814,000
(Comedy series starring Pat Shortt)
5. EUROVISION SONG CONTEST RTE 1 734,000 LIVE
(Broadcast from Istanbul with You’re A Star winner Chris Doran finishing second last)
6. ALL IRELAND FOOTBALL FINAL RTE 2 744,000 LIVE
(Kerry V. Mayo)
7. CORONATION STREET TV 3 726,000
(Also on UTV)
8. ALL IRELAND HURLING FINAL RTE 2 717,000 LIVE
(Kilkenny V. Wexford)
9. EASTENDERS RTE 1 711,000
(Also on BBC 1)
10. PRIME TIME INVESTIGATIONS RTE 1 701,000

THE TOP TEN RATINGS FOR 2000

In 2000, the ratings for Television channels available on multi channel & cable systems
in the Republic of Ireland were

1. RTE 1 29%
2. UTV 14.5%
3. NETWORK TWO 11.2%
4. TV 3 7.3%
5. BBC ONE NI 9.9%
6. CHANNEL 4 5.8%
=7. BBC 2 NI 4.7%
=7 SKY ONE 4.7%
9. TG 4 1.6%
10. SKY NEWS 1.2%
REST 10.2%

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

TOP TEN EUROVISION MOMENTS

1. DANA WINS 1970 WITH 'ALL KIND OF EVERYTHING'
2. JOHNNY LOGAN WINS IN 1980 WITH 'WHAT'S ANOTHER YEAR'
3. JOHNNY LOGAN WINS IN 1987 WITH 'HOLD ME KNOW'
4. LINDA MARTIN WINS IN 1992 WITH 'WHY ME?'
5. NIMAH KAVANAGH WINS IN 1993 WITH 'IN YOUR EYES'
6. CHARLIE MCGETTIGAN AND PAUL HARRINGTON WIN IN 1994 WITH 'ROCK AND ROLL KIDS'
7. EIMEAR QUINN WINS IN 1996 WITH 'THE VOICE'
8. BUTCH MOORE SINGS OUR FIRST ENTRY IN 1965 WITH 'WALKIN THE STREET IN THE RAIN'
9. FIONNULA SHEERY FROM KILDARE WINS WITH NORWAYS SECRET GARDEN IN 1995
10.IN 1994 THE INTERVAL ACT WAS RIVERDANCE, THE REST IS HISTORY

TEN DIRECTOR GENERALS OF RTE

1. EDWARD J ROTH
2. KEVIN McCOURT
3. THOMAS HARDIMAN
4. OLIVER MAHONY
5. GEORGE T WATERS
6. VINCENT FINN
7. JOE BARRY
8. BOB COLLINS
9. CATHAL GOAN
10. NOEL CURRAN (CURRENT D.G.)

Monday, August 22, 2011

FORMER RTE NEWSREADERS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

1. CHARLES MITCHELL
2. FRANK HALL
3. DAVID TIMLIN
4. MAURICE O'DOHERTY
5. DON COBURN
6. KEVIN O'KELLY
7. TOM McCAUGHRAN
8. JOHN O'DONOGHUE
9. ANDY O'MAHONY
10. BRIAN FARRELL

RATING FOR TELIFIS EIREANN WEEK ENDING JULY 28TH 1968

1. THE SAINT (STARRING ROGER MOORE) 68
2. THE GAELIC REPORT * 67
3. 7 DAYS * 66
4. INTERNATIONAL SHOW JUMPING 62
5. SHERLOCK HOLMES (STARRING DOUGLAS WILMER)61
SPORT IN ACTION * 61
7. QUICKSILVER with BUNNY CARR * 60
SPORTS SPECIAL * 60
9. GREYHOUND RACING from SHELBORNE PK* 59
10. DANGER BY NIGHT 58

* DENOTES HOME PRODUCED PROGRAMME
NEWS BULLETINS RATED AT AN AVERAGE OF 65

BALCONY TV DUBLIN

Sybil Fennell on NTV

Jacobs Awards Television Winners 1964

1. Bunny Carr (Presenter of 'Teen Talk')
2. Paddy Crosbie (Awarded "for his many amusing and entertaining contributions to Telefís Éireann")
3. Brian Cleeve (Script and narration on 'Discovery')
4. Chloe Gibson (Producer of 'The Importance of Being Oscar')
5. The Great War, (BBC series on World War One)
6. Paddy Jennings (Editor of 'On The Land')
7. Micheál MacLiammóir (Acting performance in 'The Importance of Being Oscar')
8. Jim Norton (Acting performance in 'Solo' series)
9. Alan Pleass (Design of 'Letter from the General')
10. 64 (Current affairs series)

Friday, August 19, 2011

TOP TEN RTE PROGRAMMES OF THE 2000's

RTE PRESS RELEASE

RTÉ Television delivers 48 out of 50 top-rating programmes so far in 2011
Thursday, 4 August 2011
In the first six months of 2011 RTÉ Television delivered 48 out of the 50 most-watched programmes on Irish television and 44 of these were home-produced. The Eurovision Song Contest, the general election coverage, the visits by US President Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth II, and a new comedy hit Mrs Brown's Boys are the top television moments of the year to date.

Based on figures from Nielsen Television Audience Measurement*, Jedward at Eurovision proved to be the biggest television draw of 2011 so far, as the most-watched television programme in the six months from January to June, with a staggering 1.18 million viewers on average* watching the Eurovision final.

The Frontline Leaders' Debate on 14 February was the second most-watched programme in the Top 50, with a massive average audience of 965,000 tuning in to see the leaders of the five main parties address the nation before the general election. Prime Time's three person Leaders' Debate on 22 February attracted 807,000. And on 26 February RTÉ's extensive election results coverage had an average of 684,000 viewers.

As well as being national historic events, the visits in May by Queen Elizabeth II and US President Barack Obama also proved to be must-see television moments. RTÉ's coverage of these drew an average audience of 710,000 and 664,000 respectively.
As with previous years, the Irish viewing appetite for News & Current Affairs remains huge. RTÉ News had its highest audience for year to date on 20 March, an average of 813,000 viewers. Paul Maguire's hard-hitting investigation into the taxi industry as part of the compelling Prime Time Investigates series on 16 May achieved an average 723,000 viewers.

Factual programmes also performed very strongly, with RTÉ's documentary about the new wave of emigration, Departure Day, drawing an average audience of 674,000 and a documentary about the tragic death of Michaela Harte, Michaela - Finding Peace, being watched by an average audience of 604,000.
The most viewed sporting event of the year to date was Ireland v England in the Six Nations, when an average of 690,000 viewers tuned in watch the thrilling game on RTÉ Two.

Meanwhile, Irish home-produced drama proved a big hit with Fair City again ranked in the top 10. An episode on 4 January, which saw a shamed Bob return to Carrigstown to the shock of the residents, drew an average audience of 764,000. And the third series of Raw continued to get high figures, the second episode pulling in an average of 649,000 viewers.

Glen Killane, MD, RTÉ Television, said: "The most-watched programmes are about historic moments in time, from Queen Elizabeth II at the Garden of Remembrance and the Aras, US President Obama at College Green, the 2011 election and Jedward doing us proud at Eurovision. RTÉ is proud to bring these culturally-defining events, capturing and reflecting the mood of the nation, to the nation. That 44 out of these 48 RTÉ programmes are home-produced demonstrates the public's appetite for quality home production. RTÉ Television is continuing to perform very strongly in the face of ever-increasing competition and choice and we look forward to announcing our line-up of new programming for the new season next week.'

* Source: Nielsen Television Audience Measurement. Ranking is based on best episode of shows/series of 15+ minutes duration broadcast between 1 January 2011 and 30 June 2011, on any television channel available in Ireland. Data is ranked by TVR, is Consolidated and based on Individuals 4+.
** Average Viewership/Audience: The average number of viewers across a programme (or specified duration of time), expressed in 000s.

TOP RATED PROGRAMME ON IRISH TV 2011

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THE EUROVISION WAS BROADCAST ON RTE ONE ON MAY 14TH 2011 AND ATTRACTED 1,182,700 VIEWERS

TOP 10 GARDAI

Name - Actor - Show
1. Detective Sergeant Tony Hannon - John Kavanagh - The Burke Enigma
2. Detective Sergeant Carl McCadden - Sean McGinley - DDU
3. Garda Sorcha Madden - Rachel Ratt - The Guards (TV3)
4. Sergeant Gerry Drsicoll - Ian McElhinney - Single Handed
5. Detective Ronan Donoghue - Tomas O'Sullivan - The Clinic
6. Garda Dick O'Toole - Paschal Scott - Killinascully
7. Detective John Deegan - Tony O'Neill - Fair City
8. Detective Mattie Dwyer - Pat Shortt - Mattie
9. Garda Quinn - Fionnula Collins - Glenroe
10. Garda Deirdre McArdle - Cathleen Bradley - On Home Ground

TOP TEN PRIESTS ON IRISH TV

NAME ACTOR SHOW
1. Father Giffley - Cyril Cusack - Strumpet City
2. Father Sheehy - Tony Doyle - The Riordans
3. Father Phillip - John Keogh - Killinascully
4. Father McAnally - Niall Tobin - Ballykissangel
4. Father Rooney - Pat Daly - Leave It To Mrs O'Brien
5. Father Michael - Phillip O'Sullivan - Leave It To Mrs O'Brien
6. Father Trendy - Dermot Morgan - The Live Mike
7. Father Devereux - Donal Farmer - Glenroe
8. Father Ted - Dermot Morgan - Father Ted
9. Father O'Connor - Frank Grimes - Strumpet City
10. Father David - Sean Misteal - Ros Na Run

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

TV3 REALITY SHOWS

1. The Box
2. Haunted House
3. The Apprentice
4. Total Exposure
5. Celebrity Salon
6. Style Wars
7. Head Chef
8. Come Dine With Me Ireland
9. Inside Out
10. Dirty Money

TEN HOME PRODUCED PROGRAMMES ON TV3

1. THE DUNPHY SHOW
A Talk show presented by Eamon Dunphy.
2. THE BOX
A reality/game show presented by Keith Duffy
3. PERFECT MATCH
A Dating show presented by Twink
4. DEAL OR NO DEAL
Irish version of the UK show presented by magician Keith Barry
5. A GAME OF TWO HALVES
Sports quiz show presented by Trevor Welsh
6. THE POLITICAL PARTY
Political show presented by Ursula Halligan
7. THE WEAKEST LINK
Irish version of the UK game show hosted by Eamon Dunphy
8. THE OFFSIDE SHOW
Sports programme hosted by Dermot Whelan
9. EIRCOM LEAGUE WEEKLY
Review of the Irish domestic soccer league presented by Trevor Welsh
10. THE BRENDAN COURTNEY SHOW
Talk show hosted by Brendan Courtney

Easter Rising Coach Tour: YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD?

Easter Rising Coach Tour: YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD?: "In late 2011 Ireland will go to the polls to elect a new President of the Republic and as it stands with the field of candidates the average..."

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

SPORTS FEATURED ON TG4

1. Soccer
League of Ireland
2. Rugby
The Magners League
3. GAA
The Ladies Football and Camogie Championships
4. Horse Racing
The Tralee Festival
5. Snooker
The Irish Masters
6. Boxing
World Title Fights including WBF
7. Cycling
The Tour de France live
8. Motorsport
On The Limit weekly series
9. Tennis
Wimbledon Championships
10. International Rules
Hybrid sports series between Ireland and Australia

RTE REALITY SHOWS

1. Charity 252
2. Celebrity Bainisteoir
3. Jigs n Reels
4. Lords of the Ring
5. Dragons Den
6. The Restaurant
7. You're A Star
8. Fame The Musical
9. Cabin Fever
10. Failte Towers

SPORTS FEATURED ON RTE

1. Soccer
World and European Championships, Champions League, Airtricity Live
2. Rugby
World Cup, 6 Nations
3. GAA
Football and Hurling Championships
4. Equestrian
Horse Racing including the Galway Festival and the RDS Horse Show
5. Snooker
Irish Championship
6. Golf
The Irish 0pen
7. Basketball
The National Championships and Super Cup
8. Boxing
National Championships and World Titles
9. American Football
The Superbowl presented by Myles Dungan
10. Athletics
The Olympic Games

ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING ON CORK COMMUNITY TELEVISION

1. CORKLORE
2. BLACKPOOL
3. REBEL UNDERGROUND
4. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CORK CITY MARATHON
5. MAKING PICTURES
6. BISHOPSTOWN
7. THE CAMPAIGNERS
8. MAKING MAYFIELD
9. STRAIGHT TALKING
10. OUT AND ABOUT

ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING ON TG4

1. C U Burn, A comedy series set in a Donegal Undertakers
2. Ros Na Run, a weekly soap opera set in Connemara
3. Gleann Ceo, a comedy series set in a Garda Station
4. Rasai na Gaillimhe, a series set during the popular annual Galway racing Festival
5. Running Mate, a political satire
6. Fear an Phoist, comedy series based on the exploits of a local postman.
7. Na Cloigne, a supernatural thriller
8. Corp agus Anam, translated into English as 'Body and Soul'
9. An Bord Snip Nua, a political satire
10. Seacht, a drama series about 7 seven student in Belfast

Monday, August 15, 2011

LATE LATE SHOW MOMENTS

1. The Terry Keane Interview (Gay Byrne)
2. The Ronan Keating soft interview (Ryan Tubridy)
3. The Bishop and the Nightie (Gay Byrne)
4 The Annie Murphy Interview (Gay Byrne)
5 UK Northern Ireland Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Brooke sings following a IRA bombing. (Gay Byrne)
6. Brendan Gleeson's attack on Irish Health Service (Pat Kenny)
7. Paul Stokes invades Late Late Show Studio (Pat Kenny)
8. Tommy Tiernan's Religious Jokes (Pat Kenny)
9. The Annual Toy Show (Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny & Ryan Tubridy)
10. The Playboy Incident (Gay Byrne)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

IRISH TV PUBS AND THE SERIES THEY FEATURED IN

1. The Stick it In – Podge & Rodge
2. An Bonann Bui - Killinaskully
3. McCoys – Fair City
4. The Knee Breakers – Give My Head Peace
5. Johnny Macs - Riordans
6. Tigh Thaigh – Ros na Run
7. The Station – Fair City
8. McDaids - Glenroe
9. McTeagues - Raw
10. The White House – The White House

COURTESY OF IRISH INDEPENDENT

The worst Irish TV shows EVER!

Damian Corless is spoiled for choice when it comes to compiling the Top 10 worst Irish TV programmes, with gems such as the 'Calor Gas Housewife of the Year' and 'Quicksilver' A new edition of The Penguin TV Companion pays special attention to the worst programmes ever to air on the networks of Britain and America. The compilers of an 'Irish Worst List' would be spoiled for choice, but the following shows would all be worthy contenders for a place in the top ten.
Calor Housewife Of The Year Gay Byrne hosted this annual 'Lovely Girls' triathlon for the mature Irishwoman. The finalists' first task was to rustle up a meal. That done, they were given a dab of make-up and wheeled back out to tell how they trapped their man. Having established their desirability in the kitchen and the bedroom, they closed with a party piece that might be a song, or a jig, or a poem in Irish.
In the '90s, the contest was dropped amid complaints that too many women working outside the home were taking part. The morning after what turned out to be the final show, a caller phoned RTE to protest that most of the finalists "would never get down on their knees to scrub the floor".
Leave It To Mrs O'Brien Twenty years after it ended, this dismal sitcom about two priests and their housekeeper (originally entitled The Good, The Bad & The Clergy) remains a by-word for plodding ineptitude. Mrs O'Brien was played by Anna Manahan, but RTE didn't see the need to use a professional writer, and series one was scripted by a Dublin housewife. She was jilted for series two, with Montrose promising "more character depth" and "more reality". Instead, they brought in plots involving mysterious sacks of swag and showbiz intrigues.
One TV critic wanted those responsible "thrown on the dole and given lousy references". The makers finally raised a belly-laugh with the hilarious defence that their target audience were kids and oldies, and that it was RTE's public service remit to satisfy the low expectations of these undemanding viewers.
Going Strong Bunny Carr made his name hosting Quicksilver, a quiz show famous for its poor prizes (they started at one old penny) and poorer answering. Q: "What was Ghandi's first name? A: "Goosey-Goosey." Q: "What was Hitler's first name?" A: "Heil!"! The musical clues of organist Norman Medcalf have also entered legend. Once, to suggest the answer 'Meath', he played Meet Me In Kentucky.
In 1975, Bunny moved to Going Strong, an afternoon sop to senior citizens which made Quicksilver look like the Apollo 11 moon landing. Going Strong had regular features on knitting, shrubberies and mushy foods; no episode would be complete without an elderly farmer recalling the time he was chased by a bull. The annual highlight was a Grandmother Of The Year pageant.
Play The Game In any other country, Play The Game would have been scheduled in mid-morning to find its target audience of students, alcoholics and nursing home inmates. In Ireland, this charades-based charade ran as prime-time entertainment several times weekly for 10 years. The format involved Derek Davis, Ronan Collins, Twink, two sofas and a procession of 'special guests' who were so low-profile that carpet burns were an occupational hazard.
Upwardly Mobile This series about a skanger family that win the lotto and move in beside snooty neighbours, took a classic sitcom set-up and bludgeoned it to death. Joe Savino played the male lead, while Hilary Fannin was the female star. The theme song originally went: "'So it's goodbye to old J Arthur, and it's hello to fine Chablis". This was changed when RTE discovered that the J Arthur in question was not Guinness, but movie mogul J Arthur Rank. J Arthur is rhyming slang for something rude that sounds like Rank. That was as funny as this got.
Murphy's Micro Quiz-M/Winning Streak In 1984, computers were poised to take over the world and RTE responded with a gimmicky quiz show, featuring lots of whirring sounds and flashing lights. Host Mike Murphy wore a space suit and greeted each special effect with an awestruck gasp of "Gawd, would you look at that". He later admitted he hadn't a clue what a 'Quiz-M' is.
Mike moved to Winning Streak, which makes Micro Quiz-M look like Mastermind. The Lottery-funded Winning Streak cannot involve any element of knowledge or skill and relies entirely on the "Aw! Jaysus factor". An RTE source revealed: "Viewers love to see people win money. It makes them go 'Aw! Jaysus'."
The Spike This 1978 ten-parter set in a tough secondary school was effortlessly funny. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. The briefest glimpse of naked flesh in episode 5 outraged the chairman of the League Of Decency, who suffered a heart attack while making angry phonecalls to newspapers. The Spike's producer bizarrely claimed the intent had been "to examine the attitude of pupils and staff to nudity".
On the day that part 6 was due to air with a story of a schoolboy bomber, RTE axed it. The remaining episodes remain locked away.
Ryantown This dog's dinner was the low-point of Gerry Ryan's TV career which has never hit the heights. Gerry had a dog and it was disobedient. That was the show's main running gag. Someone from Fair City would drop in and casually start cooking spaghetti bolognese. Brenda Donoghue would doorstep householders with a roving camera and there was an identity parade called Who's Married To Who?. Ryan later admitted it was all horribly "half-baked" and "should have been taken off the air after a few shows".
Extra, Extra, Read All About It In recent years, RTE has squandered taxpayer's money on two fabulously bad comedies. A sitcom about swingers, Fergus's Wedding, was as funny as a tax audit. And The Cassidys was so cringe-inducing that one member of RTE's top brass publicly disowned it.
However back in 1993, RTE served up a comedy so deeply unfunny that the station tried to pretend that it wasn't actually a comedy. So dire was Extra, Extra, that a joke went around Montrose that it had been commissioned solely to make Ryantown seem less awful.
Hilary Fannin, who also starred in Upwardly Mobile, played the female lead in Extra, Extra, which was written by comedian Morgan Jones who also starred in the series.
Introducing episode 1, the announcer described it as "a new drama". Nobody had told this to the engineer who'd tacked on gales of histrionic canned laughter. Midway through the first instlment, the entire cast (supposedly staffing a newspaper office) began dancing a hornpipe to the tune of HMS Pinafore.
The Lyrics Board The Japanese devised a show called Endurance where a panel of volunteers suffer cruel tortures to entertain viewers at home. Giving this formula an ingenious twist, the Irish invented a show where a panel of volunteers entertain themselves by inflicting cruel tortures on viewers at home.
The Lyrics Board is stunningly simple. You just need two pianos and two panels of people who may or may not be able to sing, but who are willing to belt out songs they may or may not know in front of a demented audience. It's every bit as good as it sounds and, to prove the point, it's been franchised out to 21 countries.-