Published in the WOW! supplement of the Evening Echo 05/12/2007

Friday night television on RTÉ is generally a pretty excruciating affair. Heading the line-up is the Late Late Show, and of course the inimitable Pat Kenny. Can you think of a better argument for getting a pre-Christmas subscription to Sky?

The Late Late may well be the longest running television talk show in the world – but that longevity is, unfortunately, its only distinction. I’m all for promoting home grown talent – but it’s the dearth of talent on this, Ireland’s flagship Friday night televisual experience, that’s disturbing. The interview style – or should that be lack of style – is woeful. It consistently makes me cringe!

I usually make a conscious effort to avoid watching on principal, but occasionally the urge to channel-flick gets the better of me, and as RTÉ1 spins up I spot a guest who I think might prove interesting. So I pause, hoping against hope that on of Ireland’s highest paid broadcasters will engage with them and, for once, deliver an interesting and worthwhile discussion. Invariably I’m disappointed as the poor guests squirm under a barrage of inept and inappropriate questions, or, as so often happens, a guest with half a brain ties our hapless host in intellectual knots.

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