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charlesasheehan
Reviews
Pictorial Weekly (1970)
Ahead of its time
It is hard to believe that this show, which was three decades ahead of John Stewart, was almost entirely written by its presenter, Frank Hall.
He assembled a cast of brilliant character actors whose comic personas became household names: Councillor Parnell Mooney from Ballymagash and Fr. Romulus Todd, the antecedent of Father Ted (Dermot Morgan owed a great deal to Frank Hall).
I loved the two Cork characters, Cha and Miah, who were waiting for Godot on the banks of the Lee. And the two bachelor farmers sitting in the light of their black and white TV commenting on the show, drinking tea from the saucer.
Leave It to Mrs. O'Brien (1984)
Not Father Ted
The wonderful Anna Manahan is sacrificed in RTE's God-awful priest comedy.
I wonder did Dermot Morgan realise the comic potential of subverting this situation? If only Anna Manahan was allowed the scope Pauline Lynn had as the demented housekeeper.
RTE has done some impressive drama series but it has never produced a comedy sitcom worthy of wider distribution (Killnascully is the best of a poor crop).
The highpoint for comedy in RTE was Hall's Pictorial Weekly, a brilliant current affairs comedy (think John Stewart in 1970's Ireland) which is now available on DVD.