Why does TG4 make much better telly than RTE?

Can anyone give me a serious answer to this question?
Seacht, Rasaí na Gaillimhe and there tonight a drama called Siol which goes straight in and tackles the mass exodus of Irish girls to and fro London to get abortions head on. Its been producing better shows than the state broadcaster almost since its inception, not to mention its GAA coverage which is a Godsend to us lot.
Why is RTE so sh*t and bland and TG4 so compelling and groundbreaking? I can't square this at all.

One is relatively new - hence freshness, innovative, cutting edge and ambitious.

The other is there for years, is subsidised beyond the hilt by Joe Public, is riddled with nepotism, pays people large amounts of cash to keep everything static and resorts to the same 'stars' all the time despite the fact that most people think they are inane and mundane.

I'll let you guess ...

TG4/TnaG is hardly new but I take your point. What is depressing is that we have such quality writers/documentary makers here but most of them have to end up heading off to the UK or the States. We castgise the GAA enough for wasting money but what they throw away is a drop in the ocean to the money RTE pump into the utter schite they have on, their presenters in particular. I'd say the writers/directors on TG4 maybe feel the need to keep their scripts and dramas as razor sharp and thought provoking as they possibly can on account of having such low budgets. Definitly a lesson there for the suits at Montrose who wouldn't know cutting edge if it came and cut the edges off their balls.

I no longer have a TV due to an impromptu visit from an employee of An Post a few months back, but what I do remember of TG4 even their awful programmes were quality. Anyone remember their version of Blind Date presented by Sean Bán, the difference was the Mammy picked the date. Brilliant Stuff!

RTé (should it not be pronounced 'A' ? ) seem to have a policy of commissioning mediocre/poor comedians to make TV shows for RTE2. Republic of Telly, Smoke and Mirrors, Karl Spain want a lobotamy etc... Awful sh...ows.

TG4 is more of a national station than RTE. Better sports programmes,documentries and the news at 7.00 pm is far superior. Also they dont behave as prima donnas.

Sebastian wrote:I no longer have a TV due to an impromptu visit from an employee of An Post a few months back,

Are you in those ads Seb?? Which excuse did you pull?

It is fairly clear that huge chunks of the RTE budget are being paid to big name presenters who do their 10 hours a week - Kenny,Gerry Ryan,Joe Duffy,Finucance Tubridy etc. etc.
Also I' sure that this is replicated behind the scenes with layers and layers of well paid cushy number support staff. I remember being in the audience for a programme one time and there was a guy whose only job was to change the water between guests.

The fact that so much of the budget is blown on "old faces" means that huge gaps of primetime airtime then have to be filled with low cost drivel. Like last night we had some shrink bringing a busload of kids up to Glenveagh/Gartan in Donegal. This thing has ran for weeks on the prime Monday slot.

TG4 covering the whole Dubai World Cup card this afternoon. 1.00 to 6.00, Al Quoz Sprint, Godolphin Mile, UAE Derby, Golden Shaheen, Duty Free, Sheema Classic and the highlight, the world's richest race, the Dubai World Cup. Wouldn't get anywhere near that sort of racing coverage on RTE.

TG4 are a hundred times better than RTE. They have GAA programmes on a lot of the time. The best in my opinion is All-Ireland Gold-would RTE ever show anything like that? Laochra Gael is another one. Not only that, but TG4 are the ones who show the U-21 matches and the Ladies.

RTE have trash in their schedules most of the time. Having Katherine Lynch, Brendan O'Connor, Pat Kenny and Miriam O'Callaghan on the TV, is enough for me to switch the TV off. Thank God we have the outlet of TG4. They have 800,000 viewers daily-and this is steadily growing. Ros na Rún is miles better than Fair City too.

I dont like the way TG4 hog Tyrone games hah, I think TG4 is far better with their wee talent shows on a Sunday night, But when it comes to Championship time RTE2 is brilliant, Sunday game and all that jazz