Father Ted

[Tommaso]

As dvd talk has just published a nice review of the new "Holy Trilogy" set, which apparently encompasses the complete series, I'd like to chime in with the review and would highly recommend this completely hilarious, over-the-top but highly intelligent Irish series. I can't remember any other TV series (not even Monty Python) that made me laugh out that much and intensely as "Father Ted". And the good thing is, you can watch that over and over again, and the effect stays the same.

MORE DRINK!

P.S.: as the reviewer mentions some of the priests in the "Flight Into Terror" episode: my favourite is of course Father Brian Eno (yep, the man himself).

[tryavna]

Father Ted is a masterpiece of television comedy -- easily one of the best series of the 1990s. It's like a live-action Looney Tunes cartoon! I discovered this show when I was living in England about seven years ago, and I'm constantly amazed that still so few Americans know about it.

The boxset is fantastic, though the extras are a bit disappointing. But then again, I rarely watch special features on TV DVDs.

[colinr0380]

So many great moments to pick (the various ways Mrs Doyle finds to fall off a window ledge, her reaction to being presented with a present of a teasmaid thereby negating her very existence(!), the complete destruction of a car through gentle tapping, the milkfloat parody of Speed, Richard Wilson attacking Ted after having his TV show catchphrase shouted at him, Ted's increasingly frantic attempts in a couple of episodes to stop people thinking he is a racist - or a peeping tom!, Dougal creeping downstairs to watch a scary film at the same time the house is being burgled, the various telephone calls interrupting the unfortunate Father Larry Duff at inopportune moments!) but this may be my favourite!

[Tommaso]

Glorious, of course! Though for me almost nothing beats Father Jack's visit to the eye-doctor on the mainland, and what happens when he's disposed at the children's playground in the warehouse in "A Christmassy Ted". Well, actually it's the same joke in a way, but so incredibly effective. I guess I'm a Jack fan, anyway. That episode when he sobers up and finds out that he's "still on that fecking island" wondering where "the other two are gone"... Completely unbelievable. But to find out what's the best joke in that series would truly be an Ecumenical Matter!

[colinr0380]

The last joke Father Ted had in store for me was when I saw Frank Kelly interviewed out of his Father Jack character - I know I shouldn't believe people actually are their characters but I found the contrast between Jack and the eloquent, slightly posh sounding real gentleman incredibly funny!

(I saw Kelly being interviewed on the news giving a brief tribute to the recently deceased at the time Dermot Morgan, but I would like to think Mr Morgan would not have minded my amusement during an otherwise sad time!)

[MichaelB]

The last joke Father Ted had in store for me was when I saw Frank Kelly interviewed out of his Father Jack character - I know I shouldn't believe people actually are their characters but I found the contrast between Jack and the eloquent, slightly posh sounding real gentleman incredibly funny!

Sadly, this utterly ruined the otherwise excellent The Deal for me, as Frank Kelly was cast as former Labour leader John Smith, which meant that every time he appeared on screen my wife and I would shout "DRINK! FECK! ARSE!" at the telly. As one would.

It was actually quite a relief when Smith finally died.

[Tommaso]

I discovered this show when I was living in England about seven years ago, and I'm constantly amazed that still so few Americans know about it.

Well, the same goes for the Germans, I'd say. Unlike so many British and American series, "Father Ted" was never shown here, although there's a huge audience for Python or "Fawlty Towers". Of course it would be almost completely impossible to make a dub, but I guess a good subtitling would be possible. It seems, though, that there's some sort of 'secret' fan-base for "Ted" here nevertheless. All word of mouth, though.

I'm just happy that a friend of mine who encountered this in Ireland brought the dvds with her and insisted that I watch them, even though I normally can't stand TV series in general and TV comedies in particular.

[MichaelB]

Unlike so many British and American series, "Father Ted" was never shown here, although there's a huge audience for Python or "Fawlty Towers". Of course it would be almost completely impossible to make a dub, but I guess a good subtitling would be possible. It seems, though, that there's some sort of 'secret' fan-base for "Ted" here nevertheless. All word of mouth, though.

I'm happy to be corrected by someone more knowledgeable, but didn't Father Ted take some time to get accepted even in Ireland?

If I remember rightly, RTÉ, the main Irish state broadcaster, initially passed on buying the Irish rights, but it became such an enormous cult hit in households that could receive Britain's Channel Four (where it originated) that they eventually relented.

[Tommaso]

I'm happy to be corrected by someone more knowledgeable, but didn't Father Ted take some time to get accepted even in Ireland? .

Truly interesting! Were they afraid of hurting Irish Catholic sensibilities? That would at least explain why it wasn't shown in Germany, considering the influence that the Catholic parts of it, like Bavaria, have on 'public opinion'.

[MichaelB]

Truly interesting! Were they afraid of hurting Irish Catholic sensibilities?

I believe that was indeed the official reason. Wasn't Dermot Morgan quite a contentious figure in Ireland anyway?

[tryavna]

I can't really comment on the Irish response to Ted, since it was mainly English/British postgraduate students who introduced me to the show (as well as the equally glorious Knowing Me, Knowing You). Of course, if anyone's going to make up a cult following, it's going to be postgrads. Plus, I came to the show about two or three years after it had ended its initial run. I've also always had the impression that Morgan's untimely death has worked in the favor of the show's legacy -- sort of silencing critics for fear of seeming tasteless or disrespectful. But as I say, this is all based on impressions I formed well after the show itself ended.

I can certainly understand why language/cultural differences might cause a problem with German audiences, Tommaso. (It reminds me of a German friend who first saw O Brother, Where Art Thou? in a German dub. I can't even begin to imagine....!) Both Python and Fawlty Towers possessed some "universal" (for lack of a better term) and universally-recognizably British comic conventions -- some of them straight out of the surrealist tradition. But Father Ted seems more localized in its humor; one almost needs at least a basic familiarity with Irish Catholic traditions and with the more idealized stereotypes of Irish village life. But those are things that Americans tend to eat up. But even when Father Ted plays on BBC America, it doesn't seem to attract much of an audience. And that does surprise me.

[Tommaso]

Both Python and Fawlty Towers possessed some "universal" (for lack of a better term) and universally-recognizably British comic conventions -- some of them straight out of the surrealist tradition. But Father Ted seems more localized in its humor; one almost needs at least a basic familiarity with Irish Catholic traditions and with the more idealized stereotypes of Irish village life.

You may have a point there, Tryavna, but although for various reasons I have a good familiarity with Irish culture, that doesn't necessarily go for a lot of my friends whom I managed to convince of "Ted" in the last few years. But they all were fans of both Python and "Fawlty Towers" before.
But especially for somewhat 'disrespectful' Germans there's so much to enjoy immediately: the 'Nazi' episode being the most obvious one, but also those glorious Sinead O'Connor and Elvis parodies, or that episode with the 'pornographic' film in the cinema. I really think more and more that you can only 'not get' "Ted" if you're a devout and also humourless Catholic.

[Robert de la Cheyniest]

Even though it's an obvious favorite moment, I'm surprised no one has mentioned "My Lovely Horse", truly brilliant. Combined with Ted's line at the end of the dream: "we have to loose that sax solo!". Genius!

[MichaelB]

Even though it's an obvious favorite moment, I'm surprised no one has mentioned "My Lovely Horse", truly brilliant.

Not to mention amazingly topical...

[Tommaso]

Oh my god.... "The Dustin Bus is coming"...
What a howler..ahm...fowler.

[colinr0380]

Father Ted's 25th anniversary commemorated with quotes on Irish postage stamps

[thirtyframesasecond]

Always best nowadays to think that Arthur Mathews wrote Father Ted BY HIMSELF!

[Never Cursed]

Between this and stories of their dogged determination to deliver mail with no proper address (dug up in comparison to my country's state postal service), An Post is having such a great month for publicity

[domino harvey]

Father Ted's 25th anniversary commemorated with quotes on Irish postage stamps

No “Careful now,” no sale

[colinr0380]

I would have liked the (in all caps shouted): "Dougal's doing a funeral?!?!" too!

I suppose "I hear you're a racist now, Father!" probably would not have made it for all sorts of reasons!

[domino harvey]

I suppose "I hear you're a racist now, Father!" probably would not have made it for all sorts of reasons!

Probably wouldn’t be a big seller in Craggy Island’s Chinatown area

[MichaelB]

I used the phrase”the oul’ racism” only the other day, when reminiscing about Nick Griffin and his primary political interest.

(And how bizarre to think that this now totally forgotten figure was once considered a serious threat.)

[Altair]

As an Englishmen living in California, I tried showing Father Ted to a few American friends. I was howling with laughter for half an hour, and they merely sat there in stoney silence. Clearly the humour was less universal than I imagined... Perhaps my fundamental error was in showing them the Eurovision epsiode, only realising at the end that they had never even heard of Eurovision.

[domino harvey]

Several years ago when I first was going through the show, my girlfriend at the time was interested so we by chance watched the aforementioned film protest episode and you probably couldn’t ask for a better representation of the series. Within a week she’d secretly binged the entire series and hid it from me for months while we watched/rewatched together. So some Americans are into it!

Your attempt does remind me of the Weird Weekends episode where Louis Theroux unexpectedly finds common ground with a white separatist in Montana when he learns they’re both inexplicably fans of Are You Being Served? If a burly racist militia man can quote Mr Humphries with no qualms, britcoms probably have more American fans than your experience bore out!

[knives]

That reminds me of a cockney acquaintance of mine who maintained that Only Fools and Horses was the UK's greatest show because Americans couldn't get it only for all the Americans he showed it to to laugh at the episode (the one where he pretends to be rich and has the gangster's rifle).