Charlie

[bennydorano]

RTE show, not Columbian marching powder.

Thought that was pretty good, Adian Gillen excellent as Haughey (& I was ridiculing him earlier today as a brutal actor as it happens).  A lot of it is before my time but Lenihan (presumably Brian?)is coming across as a major balloon. Tom vaughan Lawlor excellent as per normal.

[AZOffaly]

That's Brian senior. I must try watch it. Crazy times.

[Shamrock Shore]

I thought Gillen got his Haughey more from Dermot Morgan than CJ himself. Not impressed.

Mara (Tom Vaughan Lawlor) is the only character along with the civil servant Nally (Risteard Cooper) well acted. The rest are awful.

As for Terry Keane (wearing either a black dress or a duvet - ffs who had duvets in 1980) getting a letter from P.O'Neill. Now I never heard that - surely a fabrication.

And where would we have been without Geraldine 'Lois Lane' Kennedy. Popping up like a bad smell.

No - it's very hammy and 'Abbeyville' looks nothing like the real place!

[Billys Boots]

I enjoyed it, despite it taking me back to the early 80s. 

[AZOffaly]

I thought Gillen got his Haughey more from Dermot Morgan than CJ himself. Not impressed.

Mara (Tom Vaughan Lawlor) is the only character along with the civil servant Nally (Risteard Cooper) well acted. The rest are awful.

As for Terry Keane (wearing either a black dress or a duvet - ffs who had duvets in 1980) getting a letter from P.O'Neill. Now I never heard that - surely a fabrication.

And where would we have been without Geraldine 'Lois Lane' Kennedy. Popping up like a bad smell.

No - it's very hammy and 'Abbeyville' looks nothing like the real place!

Where was the one eye looking at you, one eye looking for you? That reporter looked much nicer than Geraldine Kennedy.

[AZOffaly]

The indo gets it so spot on, as usual, http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/tv-news/mary-orourke-troubled-by-depiction-of-her-nephew-brian-lenihan-in-rtes-charlie-30882663.html

[easytiger95]

My own first impressions

For the first ten minutes I was deeply put off by the script - what human beings ever spoke like this? Especially his mother (who might as well have had a sign saying "exposition" hanging around her neck, whenever she was on the screen) and Gallagher the developer asking him to look after the rezoning of Stephen's Green ("the nation needs a gaff like that" - Good Jaysis).

Also there are only so many times you can see a lad pop up from the AIG or Spar ads before it makes it difficult to picture them as early 80s political heavyweights.

They obviously paid hefty wedge for someone to compose the music because it was all over the programme, it was like Darth Vader walking into the Death Star for 90 minutes.

Loved Aidan Gillen though - thought he got the balance just right. He didn't go for outright impersonation a la Michael Sheen, but at the end of each sentence there was just a brush stroke of Haughey to it. As someone who was brought up with Scrap Saturday, I always thought it was going to be a tightrope walk for him not to stray into parody. But he does it, and not only is he brilliant at Haughey's cruelty and anger, he also (amazingly) manages to get across the genuine (twisted?) patriotism that Haughey possessed. He was as ambitious for the country as he was for himself, and lusted for respect for the nation as much as he lusted for loot from Guiness Mahon.

He is not served by the script though - for all it talks about his legendary charm, it never gives Gillen a chance to display it. The Keane subplot might have been used to show a more human side of him, but fer Jaysis sake, he's in the leaba with a great lookin' posh mot, who is as gamey as they come and he says "What is power if it is not abosolute? I must win my own majority." You need to chill out and enjoy yourself, Schillacci. If they don't broaden it soon, all Gillen's good work will end up as a third rate, one note, Richard III impression.

Loved the interplay with Mara though, Tom Vaughan Lawlor is brilliant, making light of the clunky script - and he's right, us Northsiders love a posh girl. Also really liked the dinner with Schmidt where Charlie gets the idea for social partnership and sticks Brian Snr with the bill.

As for poor auld Jacinta, she might as well have been wearing a red Star Trek uniform - she was never making it past the Stardust alive.

And as for Geraldine Kennedy, obviously someone has been watching House of Cards Season 1 and decided that they need a similar character to the one Rooney Mara plays. It just doesn't work, it's badly written and makes a genuinely groundbreaking journalist look like an extra from "Press Gang".

All in all, I'll watch the second episode - I'm hoping the writers were so daunted by the amount of historical fact that they felt they had to shoe horn in for context, that they decided to cram it all in to the first episode. I'm looking forward to them slowing it down and broadening out the character - but if the just do a headlong rush to the early 90s then it will be an opportunity lost, especially with talent like Gillen and Lawlor involved.

[mouview]

Not too bad. Script was a bit slicker than some of the performances. Thought PJ Mara's character needed more gravitas, rather than popping up now and again like a popinjay, delivering bon mots. Whole tone indeed a bit uneven, veering between slapstick and seriousness. Brian Lenihan and Sean Dogherty come across as buffoons, can see why their families may take exception to their portrayals. Did I miss a bit - was Jacinta's character lost in the Stardust?

[Shamrock Shore]

Brian Lenihan and Sean Doherty come across as buffoons

That's cos they were.....

[easytiger95]

I'm just assuming mouview, given that Charlie gave her the money to go out that night.

[AZOffaly]

Well the indo have finally caught on. Muppets.

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/tv-news/mary-orourke-troubled-by-depiction-of-her-brother-brian-lenihan-in-rtes-charlie-30882663.html

[bennydorano]

Best line of episode 1 - on being told the intricacies of his off shore schemes -
"Des, do you think that before he crowned himself Emperor, Napoleon had to stand around and listen to his Accountant talk shite? that's why I hire you..." 

[sans pessimism]

TVL is superb as Mara.
Maybe a pedantic point,but did the sound of an electronic cash register in Jacinta's shop seem a few years ahead of its time.

[Captain Obvious]

I thought Gillen got his Haughey more from Dermot Morgan than CJ himself. Not impressed.

Mara (Tom Vaughan Lawlor) is the only character along with the civil servant Nally (Risteard Cooper) well acted. The rest are awful.

As for Terry Keane (wearing either a black dress or a duvet - ffs who had duvets in 1980) getting a letter from P.O'Neill. Now I never heard that - surely a fabrication.

And where would we have been without Geraldine 'Lois Lane' Kennedy. Popping up like a bad smell.

No - it's very hammy and 'Abbeyville' looks nothing like the real place!

Where was the one eye looking at you, one eye looking for you? That reporter looked much nicer than Geraldine Kennedy.

Yes much nicer on the eye.

[muppet]

http://balls.ie/gaa/charlie-haughey-got-banned-playing-gaa-year/at_pco=smlrebv-1.0&at_si=54ab5ed576014068&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=2&at_tot=8

Charlie was suspended from GAA for a year for whacking a linesman!