Republic of Telly

Republic of Telly
Genre	Television comedy
Created by	James Cotter
Written by	James Cotter, Dermot Whelan
Directed by	Ashling Fallon Casey
Presented by	Neil Delamere (2009-2010) Dermot Whelan (2010-2013) Kevin McGahern (2013-)
Starring	The Rubberbandits Damo and Ivor Jennifer Maguire(2010-2015) Bernard O'Shea Mairéad Farrell (2009-2010)
Theme music composer	Daft Punk
Opening theme	"Television Rules the Nation"
Ending theme	"Television Rules the Nation"
Country of origin	Ireland
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	121
Production
Location(s)	Studio 4, RTÉ Television Centre, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, Ireland
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	RTÉ Two
Picture format	16:9
First shown in	24 October 2009
Original release	24 October 2009
External links
Website

Republic of Telly is a TV review and magazine programme on Irish public broadcaster, RTÉ Two. Presented by comedian Kevin McGahern, the programme is intended as a satirical examination of television, mocking various Irish and British TV channels, including sketches and special guests making an appearance from the shows. An added feature of the show is its correspondents Jennifer Maguire and Bernard O'Shea. Maguire conducts vox pops and celebrity interviews, whereas O'Shea conducts live 'on the spot' reports (filmed in front of a greenscreen). Series two also introduced comedians The Rubberbandits as reporters, bizarre weathermen and agony aunts. The series has contributed to the chart success of The Rubberbandits single "Horse Outside", as well as "Everybody's Drinkin'" and "Big Box Little Box" by Damo and Ivor.

Series

First season

The first season, which was presented by Neil Delamere began in 2009. The first season continued on 15 February 2010 and concluded in the spring of that year. The season featured Mairéad Farrell and had guests such as Marty Whelan, Kathryn Thomas, the cast of The Apprentice, and Dermot Whelan.

Second season

The second season, with Dermot Whelan taking over as host, began in October 2010. The second season continued in March 2011 and concluded in the spring of that year. RTÉ's political correspondent David McCullagh made a formal complaint to RTÉ after the programme caused rumours to spread of a government minister's resignation, an event that would have reduced the coalition's majority to two.^[1]

Third season

The third season began on 17 October 2011, with an episode featuring Georgia Salpa, Damo and Ivor, Dead Cat Bounce and Darby the Leprechaun. The season continued until 24 April 2012.

Fourth season

The fourth series of the installment began broadcasting on 22 October 2012 at 10 PM. Robogarda debuted and Georgia Salpa, considered by RTÉ to be a celebrity woman "who tends to pop up almost anywhere", returned.^[2] In December *The Republic of Telly DVD was released. The season concluded in May 2013.

Fifth Season

The fifth season of Republic of Telly started on 28 October 2013. After Dermot Whelan announced he would no longer be presenting the show, it was announced that comedian Kevin McGahern would be taking over as host. McGahern is best known for his role as 'Sim Card' on RTÉ's Hardy Bucks and also appeared on television adverts for Three Ireland.^[3] The fifth season concluded on 12 May 2014 with a special 1980s edition, which saw the old RTÉ2 logo used onscreen as the DOG (Digital Onscreen Graphic), a 4:3 aspect ratio filter on the episode and a modified opening theme tune and graphics. Some regular parts of the show took on a 1980s vibe, including the Republic of Telly logo itself, Kevin McGahern's desk and Bernard's News (The Quarter to Tenish News), which was in the episode 'Bernard's Beat Box' referring to the old RTÉ music show BeatBox.

Sixth Season

The sixth season of Republic of Telly debuted on 3 November 2014. From the beginning it was notable that Jenifer Maguire was absent and this was due to her being on maternity leave. This situation was overcome by the feature "Jen of the Week" where a person would stand in for Jenifer. Later on she made a few short appearances. For the first time since it began, Bernards' News didn't return, instead News Republic took its place with a similar concept to Bernards' News. News Republic was originally headed by Al Porter but this changed to The Viper later in the series. The final episode in season 6 aired on 18 May 2015 and featured a beach party theme.

Seventh Season

The seventh season of Republic of Telly is due to begin on 19 October 2015 on RTÉ2. It is reported that Jenifer Maguire will not return full-time for this season.

References

External links

• Republic of Telly at RTÉ