davidke101 Reviews

Panorama: Is Labour Anti-Semitic? (2019) Season 67, Episode 23

Shockingly Disingenous

[1/10 · 19 September 2023]

The number of distortions, mirepresentations and downright lies in this documentary is something to behold. Criticise Jeremy Corbyn all you like, but don't deliberatly change and manipulate things to suit your argument. Really bad reflection on the BBC and the people who worked on it.

To give a quick example, these journalists,who are paid by the public to inform the public, took an email which read from Corbyn's team which read "But if we're more than very occasionally using disciplinary action against Jewish members for anti-Semitism, something's going wrong, and we're muddling up political disputes with racism."

This email was cropped to say "something's going wrong", and "we need to review", and painted as if "oh look, here's Corbyn's team trying to silence his critics" against the backdrop of scary music.

John Ware and his team have a lot to answer for.

Fade Street (2010– )

Compelling television that was simply ahead of it's time

[10/10 · 22 April 2014]

Before the world was ready, some revolutionary minds at RTE said lets get a popular TV program like The Hills and just make an Irish version of it, otherwise known as Fade Street. And it was this cutting-edge brilliance that vaulted the Golden Age of Irish television, paving the way for other classics such as Tallafornia and the Irish version of Young Dumb and Living Off Mum.

Fade Street focuses on 4 20-something Dublin divas: Louise, Danni, Cici, and Vogue. The girls are all closely aligned with Stellar magazine, and like wearing different shoes, and like getting their hair done, and like using the word like in general. All of these interwoven subplots centre on the show's protagonist Vogue Williams, the classic anti-hero, who the audience empathises with despite being a 'total bitch loike'.

Cynics have suggested that because of how well developed and nuanced its stars are, the series simply must be scripted. In reality, Fade Street is a show a scriptwriter couldn't write. Aaron Sorkin himself would be at a loss of trying to find a more compelling storyline than Dani's boyfriend not being able to get into Oxegen while all of her mates are busy having 'an amazeballs time watching The Coronas '.

The only disappointment I have is that it's so short lived, which I suppose is the cross it has to bear for being so ahead of its time. With only three seasons, it seems that RTE-the state's national broadcaster- has once again vehemently betrayed the Irish public by not commissioning more episodes. Instead, the government have probably squandered the 10s of thousands needed to make a TV series on dialysis machines and hospital equipment, rather than giving the public what it really wants. For shame Enda Kenny. For shame.

'Fade Street may have (pardon the pun) faded away but it's influence on popular culture still remains.' The conclusion to my review, but also a potential Leaving Cert question for future years.

Tallafornia (2011– )

A wonderful documentary series of unmatched significance

[10/10 · 21 April 2014]

This exhilarating documentary series gives us a unique insight into the cultural elite of Tallaght, a rich and refined cultural area of Ireland. Told through a fly-on-the-wall narrative style, Tallafornia tells the story of 6 suave and sophisticated socialites dealing with their everyday conflicts of relationships, social status, and chronic herpes.

When watching this one cannot help but feel admiration for its casting members: Philip, known among his peers as 'Philly', was raised in the mean streets of Kilmanagh, and is now living the proverbial dream by sharing a town house on the other side of Tallagh. Likewise, our admiration is also shared with house-mate Nikita, whose liberal attitudes towards sexual partners and excess makes her a pioneering figure for modern feminism.

Central to the story is Cormac, who occasionally refers to himself in the third person as 'The Corminator' and constantly makes reference to his bulging biceps and six-pack abs. Whether this is an attempt to disguise his latent homosexuality is not made crystal clear, but is certainly alluded to in the narrative. Throughout the series, we see him overcompensating with heterosexual conquests, rather than embracing his inner lust for male genitalia.

This eye-opening documentary tells the story of triumph over adversity, hope over despair, and above all getting free in to The Plaza on a Saturday night. It's these encapsulating themes that make Tallafornia, arguably, the greatest reality series about people from Tallagh going to nightclubs ever produced.