The Late Late Gay Byrne Irish Television Thread

I think it's fair to say the home grown quality picks up at 6pm, although I've noticed in recent months that it doesn't start until just before 1810 as it already feels padded out as it is. But you can clock watch that show and know that the final segment will largely be a cookery segment.

Elaine is easily the worst amount of PSB ticking that I've attempted to watch in Ireland and that says a lot compared to Today with Maura and Daithi which is also pedestrian in it's format.

Ireland/Weekend AM is worthy but dull.

Elaine is seriously awful TV, It makes Today look good. I can't fairly comment on Ireland or Weekend AM as like 99.5% of the Irish population I don't watch it. That's not entirely it's fault as Breakfast TV generally isn't watched in Ireland.

The Two shows that TV3 have done okay have been the Six O Clock show (for what it is) and the Tonight Show. The News has also improved in recent times, but the rest of it is pretty poor fare.

I don't mind Xpose to be fair. It's what it is, showbiz puff. I preferred it when they used the news videowall though during the studio set changes for the launch of VM.

Of course, that's where they've made a big mistake, the Monday to Friday Schedule should be
5.30 News
6.00 The Six O Clock Show
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Coronation Street/other ITV show
8.00 Xpose
8.30 Coronation Street/ITV show
9.00 What ITV have on at 9.00 that Night. (NOT REPEATS)
10.00 News
10.30 Tonight
11.30 Sports Tonight.

9 to 11 a lot of nights is a dead zone at the moment, with a lot of repeats of ITV programmes or their own Irish Crime Porn for a better term. Their News is one of their best-rated programmes but Xpose, when it was broadcast between the two Corrys did very well... Sports Tonight did well until it was cancelled years ago, but could be used to promote what's on Virgin Media Sports.

However, the weakest point for TV3/Virgin Media has always been scheduling. It's almost as if they just pick programmes at random at times and then repeat them until the tape or the 1's and 0's wear out, ignoring the fact that they have a full cupboard of ITV programmes to use when they want.

RTÉ2 will be having it's 40th birthday next Friday. Any ideas what the schedule would be like for it's viewers?

Get ready for a great disappointment, as their schedule for next Friday looks like they have forgotten their anniversary.

RTE2 Friday 2nd November 2018 - 7.00pm Young Sheldon. 7.25pm Rick Stein, from Venice to Istanbul. 8.35pm Coast. 9.45pm Film, A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014).

So, RTE2 have forgotten their birthday, and done sod all to celebrate 40 years of the introduction of their 2nd channel, which was designed to bring BBC, ITV shows along with US and Australian imports to "one channel land" in the Irish republic who could not receive the UK channels.

Opening Night of RTE 2 on Thursday 2nd November 1978 - the schedule was as follows:

7.45pm - Countdown to the opening of RTE 2

8.00pm - RTE 2 is offically opened with the three announcers introducing the new channel. The announcers were Raymond Maxwell, Roisin Harkin and Bernadette Ni Ghallchoir followed by the National Anthem.

8.02pm - President of Ireland, Dr Patrick Hillery introduces the new service

8.06pm - First Night Concert from Cork Opera House - A gala RTE2 show, live from the Cork Opera House, starring top international performers and personalities, many of whom will be making regular appearances on the new channel. Compere Mike Murphy presents The Chieftains, Gemma Craven, Val Doonican, The George May Dancers, The Irish Ballet Company, The Montford Singers, John O'Connor, Maureen Potter, Roy Walker, Colm C.T. Wilkinson and Lena Zavoroni. Guest appearances (via film inserts) by Eamonn Andrews, Ronnie Barker, Sammy Davis Jnr., Bruce Forsyth and Michael Parkinson.

9.30pm - Film, Bullitt - A crime thriller centring on a lone detective's battle to establish the true facts of an incident which has unjustly rendered him accountable to his superiors for the disappearance of a critical witness in a Senate hearing. Starring Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughan and Jacqueline Bisset.

11.30pm - News, and closedown at around 11.40pm.

A typical Saturday on RTE2 in its first year is show below. The example is taken from Saturday 13th January 1979, and what a thrilling line up they provided for two channel land!!

3.00pm - Cartoon Time

3.10pm - Film, White Feather - from 1955 starring Robert Wagner

5.00pm - Pro Celebrity Golf

5.50pm - Survival

6.45pm - Aisling Gheal

7.05pm - Larry Grayson's Generation Game

8.00pm - Mind Your Language, an ITV sitcom

8.30pm - Jack Parnell and the Big Band Show

9.00pm - Wilde Alliance 2 - Flower Power

10.00pm - Late Night Movie - Phone Call from a Stranger

12.00am - Closedown

Of course, infamously audio from BBC2 was played before viewers were finally welcomed to RTÉ2.

In another world, it would have been BBC1 that launched terrestrially in the Republic. The Government originally favoured that option, but RTÉ heavily argued for RTÉ2 and won. Not that it mattered in the end; BBC One is today available to anyone in the Republic that can put up a satellite dish (or take a cable TV subscription if they can’t).

BBC One is also available (via many means legal and illegal) online too in Ireland, along with the rest of the Freeview channels.

Multi-channel really started in Ireland through cable in the 1970s. Overspill from Northern Ireland and Wales was the only other option, before RTE 2 launched to provide choice.

The basic hours for RTE 2 in 1978 was just 6.50pm to 11.50pm Mondays to Fridays, 3pm to Midnight on Sundays and 6pm to Midnight on Sundays. Very restricted, but at least it opened up BBC and ITV programming to the Irish.

A lot of people wanted BBC 1 at the time. If you look at issues of the RTE Guide from 1975 there was a big campaign by RTE for all the reasons why they should get the second Channel. One of them included that if BBC 1 was broadcast it would mean that RTE would have to show Popular programmes to compete.

As for the launch, they're now trying to edit that mistake out of History. I've seen the clip once or twice in recent years either on RTE television or the Archive and they play it silent until the RTE sound is restored.