Father Ted

[Vince the Shirker]

So, obviously, it's a lot harder to rate it on its own merits because of reasons that we all know about, but I do still think about it sometimes, and I do still have fond memories of it, in spite of its cunty co-creator.

Anyone else still like it, or is it impossible to really appreciate it like you could back in the day? And has it actually aged well? It had been a while since I saw it last.

[Matthew Dawkins Jub Jub]

I'm still a fan of A Song for Europe. It stands out as a fun half hour of comedy. The Pat Mustard episode is a laugh as well.

[dead-ced-dead]

I think, like it or not, it is one of those shows where (the first two seasons at least) are part of the comedy makeup of most millennials and gen Xers.

Despite what a bananacunt the co-creator is.

I've watched it once a few years back since Graham's madness and it does mostly hold up. Season 3 goes a bit off the rails but a lot of the show is brilliant.

Still, I was slightly uncomfortable watching it. I torrented it which made the blow a bit easier, but it has been a little tainted.

[Rizla]

I reckon if you watch the (strangely underappreciated?) Hippies (written by Matthews with almost no input from bc) you find that 95% of what you laugh at in Ted, all the sort of viz-zy kind of humour,  was nothing to do with bc, and all he added was shit he stole from Mr Show or Louis De Funes or wherever. So it's fine. Or something I dunno. Don't care.

[lauraxsynthesis]

Still like it.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I think it would be a disservice to the memories of Dermot Morgan and Frank Kelly to dismiss it forever, it's still very good. Torrenting or second hand dvd sets though, fuck bananacunt into the sun.

[g0m]

still love it. i'm irish and i was born in the 90s. i even love the super linehanny season 3 genre parodies and the really oblique farce setups

[willbo]

I was thinking yesterday...with friends at school in the 90s...there was no comparing things with the past like there is now. Even though we all loved Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Young Ones etc (at least those of us with parents/relatives who showed us those shows), we had no doubt that Vic and Bob, Father Ted, Fast Show etc were just as good as the classics. There was no disappointment with the present like we have now. Maybe today's kids feel the same tho

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

Spoiler alert

Fuckin' hell!

[close]

[neveragain]

I reckon if you watch the (strangely underappreciated?) Hippies (written by Matthews with almost no input from bc) you find that 95% of what you laugh at in Ted, all the sort of viz-zy kind of humour,  was nothing to do with bc, and all he added was shit he stole from Mr Show or Louis De Funes or wherever. So it's fine. Or something I dunno. Don't care.

Now, I hold no truck with Graham Linehan - really, no truck - but I still think he was probably responsible for a lot of what I love about Ted. The "as long as anything bad doesn't happen!" sitcom pastiche nature of it primarily.

Recognising that someone appalling was capable of making you laugh is unpleasant, isn't it? But it doesn't reflect poorly on the laugher. You didn't know who was making the joke. And the joke wasn't the bad thing.

[madhair60]

never watched it, defo won't bother now

[extraordinary walnuts]

Never find myself wanting to watch an entire episode any more, but I will seek out a select handful of clips (Fr. Fintan Stack, Fr. Austin Purcell, Fr. Damo, mainly) on YouTube every now and again

[sheddyian]

I remember getting into it part way through it's run, not quite sure when.  Watched the final series 'live' as it went out weekly, knowing that Dermot had just died.  Saw a late night repeat of the Xmas special several years after its original broadcast, had no idea it even existed and just finding it by chance was a magical treat.

Got the DVD box set in the early 2000's, where I found a number of episodes I'd not seen before, and watched them endlessly.  Got the script book, where a next-to-last draft version of the script was used, so enjoyed spotting the small changes from the final broadcast version.

But can't bring myself to watch Ted now.  Haven't seen it for.... 5+ years, quite possibly longer. 

[mechanical blood goat]

I still love it. I don't see why the actions of one complete cunt should shut out all of the actors and co-writers' contributions. Same goes for Fawlty Towers and Big Break.

[Mobius]

yeah i still enjoy father ted, and think it is good.

i also like the IT Crowd.

[Two Headed Sex Beast]

It's still fantastic. Probably something from it pops into my head most days.

The Father Ted Feckposting group is one of the only reasons I still use Facebook as it continues to be a source of joy

[Pink Gregory]

Liked what I've seen, but despite the great cast I've never managed to make it stick.  Maybe you had to be there to an extent.  Like you can't approach it in the same way because it's 'everyone's favourite sitcom Father Ted', rather than just a good sitcom.

Actually outside of Big Train I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of either ******* or Mathews.  Never could make Toast of London stick either.

[The Mollusk]

Now, I hold no truck with Graham Linehan - really, no truck

*smashes two empty cans together*

TWO trucks!!

Never could make Toast of London stick either.

Did you try putting some jam on it?

[Former Problem]

Now, I hold no truck with Graham Linehan - really, no truck - but I still think he was probably responsible for a lot of what I love about Ted. The "as long as anything bad doesn't happen!" sitcom pastiche nature of it primarily.

Recognising that someone appalling was capable of making you laugh is unpleasant, isn't it? But it doesn't reflect poorly on the laugher. You didn't know who was making the joke. And the joke wasn't the bad thing.

I recently realised that Arthur Mathews is probably the Irish John Swartzwelder.
In the same way Swartzwelder had this great understanding of the weird old America, Mathews has of the weird old Catholic Ireland.
But Linehan is the joke man. And because of that, despite the fact he is WEIRD, he's probably one of my biggest influences as a writer.

But the unfortunate thing is basically my sense of humour was shaped by a transphobe. And I wonder is that responsible for the more problematic elements of my sense of humour.

Although he now say there was a trans priest, a cross-dressing priest, but who does he mean? The Rugged Island lads? Liam Deliverance is only painted as a cross-dresser by Ted, in his conversation with Niamh Connolly. Because the dresses aren't hi, they're his mother's, who is costuming the Lovely Girls? Unless he's decided to retcon for his prejudices.

I think one of the great tragedies of Ireland is we didn't do more to help a visibly unwell man become the carbonara-glutton nutter he is. The fact other Irish talents are going the same way shows we don't care.

[ASFTSN]

Easier for me than many for obvious reasons, but art firmly separated from artist for me. Still love Father Ted.

Recent hat fuckery moment I had: the obnoxious giggling prick riding around on a tricycle in brutal home invasion/revenge classic Straw Dogs is Bishop Brennan.

[The Mollusk]

Anyway whatever Linehan's contributions were to the writing of Ted, I still think it's brilliant and still really enjoy revisiting it.

Besides, trans rights were probably so far off the radar of Linehan in 1995, so despite him probably always having been a bit of an arsehole I think it's easy enough to separate then from now. I'm not very deep in the bananacunt lore though so happy to be pointed in the right direction if there is one.

[Icehaven]

One way of looking at it - which admittedly serves to let me continue enjoying Father Ted - is to think that the man that wrote it and the man he is now are almost different people, and if you could go back to the 90s and tell him what time, social media and the politicisation of a niche issue that wasn't even on most people's radar back then would turn him into he'd never have believed it for a moment and would have been horrified to think his entire life would end up revolving around and being largely ruined by it. Or maybe he'd have been delighted, we'll never know, but if you think the former then it's easier to separate not only FT from the writer but the writer from the entirely different creature he became.
Bit like this


with the ring being Twitter.

[Shaxberd]

Father Ted is a brilliant sitcom, and loving it despite one of the creators thinking people like me are a threat to civilisation feels like (a very minor) act of defiance. As others have said, Linehan was a different person back then, maybe a bit of an arse in other ways but not yet fully consumed by hate.

As others have said, Season 3 is a bit iffy, and I never liked the "accidentally racist" episode - cringe comedy doesn't really fit the otherwise whimsical tone - but I would say there's an 80% hit rate overall. Lots of great guest characters, lots of quotable lines, lots of memorable little bits.

A lot of what makes it work is the performances, each of which is perfect. Dermot Morgan in particular is the right combination of charming, exasperated and just a little bit corrupt.

[Utter Shit]

It's fine to still like it, surely? I can't think of any parts of the show that have a different context now we know what Linehan is like, and in fact I would say that even if there were any dodgy bits about trans people, it would be coincidental because it seems absolutely clear-cut to me that there was a very specific genesis for his descent down the rabbit hole, and it was the negative response to the trans episode of IT Crowd.

Even that episode doesn't seem to be particularly targeted more than any of his other episode themes - the anti-trans stuff was borne of his inability to accept the backlash he got, it doesn't come across as someone who hates trans ideology. If he'd had the humility to say "fair play, I was just trying to write some funny jokes but I fucked it there", he wouldn't have ended up where he is. It just so happened that he landed on a topic that was already a culture war favourite with a ready-made fan club of cunts willing to tell him how great he is, and his weird ego found that preferable to accepting a light trashing before resuming his mainstream career.

Anyway, Father Ted is fantastic. I would almost say flawless, bar the odd crap scene there's barely a wasted second in the entire run.

[ASFTSN]

Father Ted is a brilliant sitcom, and loving it despite one of the creators thinking people like me are a threat to civilisation feels like (a very minor) act of defiance.

I wouldn't say it's minor at all, it's a really powerful thing to do. I think it's great that people can reclaim things like this that they enjoy on their own terms rather than acting like engaging with them is in itself somehow damaging. Letting the douchebags own the good things they've made just means handing them another way to dominate.

FFS I've started posting about Glinner aahhhhhhh it's a Father Ted thread not a Glinner thread

[The Mollusk]

The bit where Ted suddenly decides to dance with the dancing priest when he goes to ask to borrow his car for the raffle never fails to crack me up just thinking about it. Morgan's dancing is so unbridled and joyous out of nowhere.

[Ruben Remus]

I went to a raffle once where the people who were running the raffle actually won it. So, you know... it's not unusual for that to happen.

[Kankurette]

I still like it, I'm not letting Bananaman ruin it for me.

One of my favourite running gags is Father Larry Duff's endless suffering.

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

anyone ever see taffin (maybe you shouldn't be living heeeeeere)? unless i'm mistaken there's a very brief dermot morgan priest bit

[Former Problem]

anyone ever see taffin (maybe you shouldn't be living heeeeeere)? unless i'm mistaken there's a very brief dermot morgan priest bit

He's a compere in a pub strip cabaret. IIRC the barman is Frank Kelly. Fr. Tod Unctious is a pal, and his biker chick girlfriend is Morgan's old pal from the Live Mike, Adele 'Twink' King (who I am convinced auditioned for Mrs. Doyle and didn't get it).