Television Saturday night review

The Saturday Game, Rte 2, Miriam meets Rte1, Love -Hate, Rte 1.


Having recently come to the sudden realisation that writing is the pursuit of poverty, I found myself penniless in front of Saorview, for those of you who are not familiar with the name it is Rte's new digital service and very good it is too. Rte two is broadcast in Hd, and all the home channels are available with an extra bonus news channel which re- broadcasts the six one and the 9 o' clock news so as one can always catch up. They also have Rte junior and Rte one + one which is also handy.


I settled in to watch Dublin play Tyrone, having taken the pragmatic decision that Gaa may put in a lot of hours over what is left of the summer. The match itself was most entertaining and I found myself warming to the game itself after over forty years of Gaa hating wherever that came from, as children we played soccer as it was a street game, and it was unlikely that many neighbours windows would get smashed as we kept the ball on the ground. We played Gaa at school but I was never much good at gaelic football and worse still at hurling.


I marvelled at the levels of fitness on display and the speed at which the game was played at, Dublin took the game to Tyrone and were very impressive, looking like they could score at will for most of the first half, but also they were resolute in defence, one could see the pain etched on the faces of the Tyrone forwards as another attack broke down.


The half time analysis was most entertaining with Michael Lyster coming across as an easy chairman who's love of the game surpasses any personal agenda he may have, Pat Spillane the Kerry Eamonn Dunphy is entertaining as he tries to bring us outside the parallell so to speak, but he is nothing if not passionate, Colm O' Rourke could do with a rub of passion as I suspect the floor manager has to shake him after the ad break just so he will appear awake, however in fairness to Colm he does have all the terminology like when he says the word football, he always says it the Gaa way. Joe Brolly came across as been entirely sinister, I expected Michael Lyster to ask him could he confirm as to when the hostages might be released. When Pat Spillane spoke Joe thought it was alright to laugh no matter what Pat might be saying, then when it came back to Joe I was certain he said something like on the hour every hour, unless you meet our demands.


The second half was even better for Dublin and they should have scored a few goals, but to Tyrone's credit they did try to the end, but their effort faded to an inevitable defeat by a fitter and physically stronger Dublin outfit. Our panel spoke of humiliation, and end of era's, naming a few players who had passed their sell by dates. Joe laughed again every time Pat spoke, and Colm said football the Gaa way a few times, until Michael looking nervously at Joe closed the show.


Miriam O' Callaghan was on after the news, she started her show with a miniature horse, she was out and about on a mock stable like set with straw and all of that. She interviewed the breeder of the miniature horse, she came across as a nice person well meaning, and her husband who was also nice and full of enthusiasm for their chosen hobby or full time living? I never found out as Miriam was more taken with the horse than listening to the answers to the bland questions she asked. For example she seemed totally uninterested in the ethics of this type of breeding, like in human terms would we be happy with growing to say four feet. Anyhow she moved on asking more bland questions of another guest, before entirely frustrating a bee keeper chap, who kept giving her very interesting facts about bees, and the keeping of same. Miriam was more concerned about the horse who was poised near a rather delicate area. She kept telling the poor bee keeper how she was so afraid of bee's and not to dare and open the hive.


Her show continued with the usual silly greed prize, which is akin to buying a late lotto holiday ticket, and she then tried to get serious talking to the poor brave Tipperary woman that featured with her handicapped son on a recent Prime Time programme. We were told at the start that we need not worry as a rich benefactor had donated money to pay for the boy's treatment. Miriam has this infuriating ability to act amazed no matter what answers her guest gives to her questions, and she was duly amazed as the poor lady from Tipperary described her boy's treatment and also with the generous contribution from the consultant surgeon who treated the child.


Then she said it 'It is a pity we have ro rely on charity but we do,' and she let it go there and the audience were quiet. Somehow I was nearly hoping the bee keeper had left his hive open.


I think love-hate is really good, in fact it is the best drama I have ever seen on Rte. The atmosphere is claustrophobic one would think Dublin was just a tiny village, the acting is superb all round male and female what talent we have. The direction is crisp smooth and imaginative and the script is tight, meaningful but never preachy. I loved the wedding scene when they entered the church and marched to the altar with the dead sound of rap, and the groom doing a hand stand. I also liked the way the dancing at the wedding went suddenly from classical to popular dance music. This shows me that we have a great future in film making in Ireland if only we allow artists to write and make the films they want to make. Small points, I thought the two bad guys turning up at the wedding out of their heads on coke was a little far fetched, and why would Darren go see his arch rival to square things up unprotected and on foot? Small points indeed but when you write novels everything checks out.