Kenny Live is an Irish weekly chat show on RTÉ that was hosted by Pat Kenny. The show debuted in 1988 and aired every Saturday night, except during the summer months, directly after the main evening news. In 1999 Kenny Live came to an end when Kenny succeeded Gay Byrne as host of The Late Late Show.
Showhouse is an Irish makeover reality television series broadcast on RTÉ One. Presented by the interior architect Neville Knott, it is a creation of Vision Independent Productions, responsible for the popular television shows, The Restaurant and Colm and Jim-Jim's Home Run. The concept of the show is that two professional interior designers take over two newly built and identical houses and compete to create a winning interior design. They have approximately twelve weeks to plan their design, followed by six days spent working on the interior. The seventh day is launch day when the public are allowed access to vote on the winning design. There have thus far been four series. A number of once-off celebrity editions have been broadcast; Linda Martin and Kevin Sharkey featured in the one after series two, whilst series four was followed up by featuring the models Pamela Flood and Lisa Murphy in an episode which was broadcast on 29 December 2008.
Ryantown was an RTÉ Television light entertainment show hosted by Gerry Ryan that was broadcast on Saturday evenings for one season between 1993 and 1994. It was set in Gerry Ryan's house in the fictional Ryantown. The show was broadcast during the autumn-spring season.
Highly Recommended was a six-part Irish lifestyle game show broadcast each Sunday on RTÉ One at 20:30. Presented by Joe Duffy, the premise was that members of the general public would compete each week to convince a panel of consumer experts that their deal ought to be "Highly Recommended". The panel, consisting of Ben Dunne, Conor Pope and Barbara McCarthy, scrutinised the deals placed before them whilst Duffy embarked on a trek into the studio audience to ask its opinions. A debate ensued and, if the deal stayed strong and the panel remained convinced, the consumer in question won a total of €2000. Topics incurred ranged from health insurance, medical and dental holidays, electrical goods, online shopping and weddings. The public could also give their opinion by voting on an online poll to determine whether they "Highly Recommended" the featured deals. The results were then featured at the beginning of the next show. The show aired in November 2007.
Class Act is an Irish talent show which last aired on RTÉ One on Sundays at 18:30 throughout September and October 2008. It was presented by Derek Mooney. The show involved a search for young people with special talents whose efforts are then judged on television. In 2009, due to RTÉ cutbacks, the programme was axed.
Up for the Match is an Irish Gaelic games-themed variety show currently hosted by Des Cahill and Gráinne Seoige. The show is broadcast live in two editions each year on RTÉ One on the eve of the respective All-Ireland hurling and football finals. Up for the Match features a mixture of music and chat with special guests and experts from the world of Gaelic games.
Questions and Answers is a topical debate RTÉ television programme in Ireland, similar in format to the BBC television programme Question Time, that was broadcast from 1986 until 2009. The show typically featured politicians from the major political parties as well as other public figures who answered questions put to them by the audience. The first two series were presented by Olivia O'Leary; however, John Bowman took over as chairperson for all subsequent series. Originally broadcast on RTÉ One Sunday nights, the show later moved to Monday nights where it was usually shown at 10.30pm. The final show was broadcast on 29 June 2009. Director-General of RTÉ Cathal Goan described the programme as an "integral part of the national conversation for over 20 years". It was replaced by The Frontline, a series hosted by Pat Kenny.
Capital D is an Irish television programme broadcast on RTÉ One. It was first broadcast in 2005. Presented by Anne Cassin, the programme focuses on human interest stories and cultural events in the Dublin area, serving as a more specific counterpart to the Nationwide programme, which focuses on issues throughout Ireland. Each programme typically includes at least three topics over a thirty minute period, each introduced by the presenter with no commercial breaks. Amongst the features that have been included in the programme are a landscaping company, a football club and a wrestler. The theme music is "Brewing Up a Storm" by The Stunning. The show is usually broadcast on Thursday evenings at 19:00; however one edition aired on Sunday 9 November 2008. Specials during Christmas have also been broadcast. RTÉ announced that it would not be on the schedules for 2012, with presenter Anne Cassin moving to Nationwide.
Customs is a six-part Irish documentary television series that examines the role of customs officers, focusing on their daily lives and their regular encounters with the illegal drug trade and other difficult situations. It is the first time such a filming sequence has been carried out. The series was originally broadcast in editions of 30 minutes each on RTÉ One at 19:30 on Sunday evenings. The first episode aired on 14 September 2008. The makers of the series gained unprecedented access to the daily operations of Ireland's customs officers, allowing viewers to see first hand the way the authorities deal with the increasing level of illegal materials and substances being imported. For example, the first episode featured a suspicious passenger making haste for a nearby exit, a live snake found in luggage at Dublin Port, an undercover operation that halted a cigarette smuggling scam at Dublin Airport and the customs anti-evasion unit chasing down UK registered cars in Cork. A spokesperson for the show was quoted as saying: "They find shipments of drugs in the strangest places: a doll's house; picture frames; the bottom of a massive cargo ship. Large quantities of money, cigarettes and cars are regularly seized, as well as a myriad of other illegal goods and substances."
An intimate portrait of a river and the people it meets on its way to the sea. The six-part documentary series captures the lives and stories of a diverse group of people who are unified by one thing, the river Liffey.
Good Grief Moncrieff! is an Irish chat show show hosted by Seán Moncrieff. The show aired live on Saturday nights as a summer "filler" between 15 June and 24 August 1996.
For One Night Only is an Irish light entertainment show hosted by Gay Byrne. It features music and chat with a special guest musician. The studio-based show originally aired on Friday nights as a summer "filler" in 2011. The show returned for a second series in 2012.
Bull Island was an Irish television and radio satirical comedy show broadcast on RTÉ One and later on RTÉ Radio 1 from 1999 until 2001. Featuring a cast of seven Irish comedians and impressionists, the show, which aired for half an hour weekly, satirised many aspects of Irish life. Bull Island was created by RTÉ Producer/Director John Keogh who brought Michael Sheridan, Alan Shortt & Gary Flood together to devise & co-create the format. Some of the notable women in power at the time, such as the then Cabinet Minister, Mary O'Rourke, and the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's partner Celia Larkin were played by a man, and there were regular depictions of deception and skulduggery in the Dáil bar. The opposition were usually portrayed as bumbling incompetents. Other sketches included a regular pastiche of Paddy O'Gorman and his shows which consist of interviewing people at random - Bull Island's Paddy O'Gormless would do similar, but with ever more inane interviews. A favourite sketch, which became known as the show's signature, was an impersonation of a long-running ad for Irish discount electrical retailer PowerCity, where actors looking surprisingly like those in the adverts, wearing the same bright red jumpers, would wax enthusiastic about prices ending in 99 pence in "Bull Island City". This evolved into a stream of products costing "99.99.99" as the series progressed. As a result, PowerCity removed the pence from all their prices, and regularly charge round tens or hundreds for products instead of 99s.
Heat is an Irish prime time reality television series broadcast on RTÉ One. The programme sees two professional chefs, Kevin Dundon and Kevin Thornton, attempt to train amateur participants to each compose a restaurant menu. Each chef has won one series each. Each series, of which there have so far been two, runs for six weeks. The first series began broadcasting weekly in July 2008, with Team Dundon winning. A second series followed in February 2009, airing on Tuesday nights at 20:30, with Team Thornton winning. Dundon has described the series as being akin to "a fly-on-the wall documentary inside the kitchen of a very high-end kitchen".
Pobal was a bilingual English-Irish current affairs programme broadcast each Sunday evening at 17:30 on RTÉ One. It acted as the bilingual sister to Nationwide. It was presented by Síle Seoige and later by Caroline Ní Dhubhchóin. Each show was filmed from a different location in rural Ireland in a similar format to Nationwide. The programme had a Polish reporter, titled Margaret Brandys. The title of the series came from the Irish language word for "community", which is what the programme was all about. In 2009, due to RTÉ cutbacks, the programme was axed.
Fame & Fortune is an Irish game show broadcast on RTÉ One on Saturday nights from 1996 to 2006. Hosted by popular Irish television and radio personality Marty Whelan, the show aired during the summer months of June, July, and August as a seasonal replacement for Winning Streak. It was preceded by Millionaire, also hosted by Whelan, and succeeded by The Trump Card in 2007, hosted by Laura Woods. Fame & Fortune had its production costs funded by RTÉ and its prize money funded by Ireland's National Lottery. Entry to the show was based on National Lottery scratchcards, and contestants could win cash, cars, holidays, and other prizes. Fame & Fortune had its final season in the summer of 2006. Its 2007 replacement, The Trump Card, was itself replaced a year later by The Big Money Game.
Seoige is an Irish television chat show. The show, hosted by sisters Gráinne and Sile Seoige, was broadcast live on weekdays at 16:30 on RTÉ One, with a hiatus in the summer months. Episodes were repeated at 08:20 the following weekday morning on the same channel. The programme was originally launched in 2006 as Seoige and O'Shea with Grainne Seoige and Joe O'Shea at the helm. It followed a similar format to ITV's This Morning programme. Moving between serious issues and lighter subjects, content included interviews, debates and musical performances. Viewers could call, text or e-mail the programme's studio to give their opinions on topics. The presenters chatted with four sets of guests, which consisted of interviewees, discussion groups and musical artists. The show was rebranded Seoige in August 2008 after Joe O'Shea announced he was leaving RTÉ to pursue a career in radio broadcasting. RTÉ announced on 21 April 2009 that the show would be cancelled and that the last show would air on Friday the 24 April 2009. A new series will not be commissioned for the autumn of 2009.
The Live Mike was an Irish television comedy, variety, and chat show presented by Mike Murphy. It was first broadcast on RTÉ 1 on 9 November 1979. The programme featured a candid camera pieces by Murphy himself, with parody songs and comedy sketches by Twink, Dermot Morgan and Fran Dempsey, as well as a serious studio interview. The show ended on 2 April 1982.
