And so, Kerry waves goodbye for another year to the childless, unmarried/never been married, career minded, thoroughly modern women of Irish descent taking part in the Rose of Tralee.

The organisers have a huge task today to clear the mountain of ladies knickers left behind for the sex god that is Dáithí Ó Sé. With a nod of the head and a wink, he single managed to raise the pulse rate of Mná na h-Éireann by at least 2 beats per minute.

Nah, but seriously. How did he do? The Rate the Telly household had a good old laugh and thought he did well, bringing a bit of bounce to the proceedings.

Feel free to rate the show and leave your comments.

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The Roses

Here at RTT towers we are thrilled that Niamh Kavanagh is once again representing Ireland in Eurovision 2010 with this ballad – It’s for you.

Will it win the competition ? Who knows. At least it’s a decent song and for the first time in a number of years it seems the powers that be in RTE are actually sending something that has a chance.

Best of luck Niamh!

Ask anyone to think of a famous name in retail in Ireland and Feargal Quinn’s name comes to mind. He started in a small shop in Dundalk in 1960 and went on to create the Superquinn empire which, over a period of 45 years, grew to 21 shops and 5,000 employees. The Quinn family sold out of the business in 2005 in a deal worth €420m.

The retail maestro is the star of a new RTE programme beginning on Wednesday, March 8^th at 8.30 pm on RTE1.

In this 6 part series, Feargal will work with “independent shops to help them battle the downtown and remain relevant in a cut throat and over-crowded market.”

“Feargal will be sharing knowledge he has gained from years of being at the cutting edge of Ireland’s supermarket wars where the devil is truly in the detail.  Almost fifty years after building up Superquinn, one of Ireland’s most successful home grown retail brands – Feargal is now rolling up his sleeves and going on a mission to give something back by helping struggling retail businesses across the country survive and in some cases thrive.”

The six businesses featured are :

Green Stores, Claremorris, Co Mayo

Run by Florence Higgins, Green Stores is a department store in Co. Mayo.  In the family for more than three generations, times have never been tougher for Green’s and Florence is feeling the heat.  Feargal is worried by the shops old-fashioned stock and image and works with Florence to bring new customers to the store and give it a 21st century feel without compromising on their traditional values.

X-IT Department Store, Finglas Main Centre, Dublin

Husband and wife team, Derek & Fionnuala Law, have been running their small discount store in the rundown Finglas Main Centre for 18 years.  The business is almost on its knees and Feargal is horrified by its poor standards and the general lack of attention to housekeeping.  Can he convince Derek & Fionnuala to clean up their act?  And can Feargal encourage the locals to support their local retailers to prevent the Finglas Main Centre from becoming even more dilapidated and abandoned?

BMC, Cobh

Denis Murphy has been carrying on the family tradition passed down from his father and grandfather all his working life at the helm of BMC convenience store in Cobh.  With a long working week and increased competition from multi-national and German discount stores, survival is a constant battle for Denis.  Feargal travels to Cobh to find a shop in disarray with a poor deli and gone-off produce.  He has three short months to transform BMC and help Denis compete with the big boys.

Liberty Florist, The Coombe, Dublin 8

Kim Buckley has been running Liberty Florist for 18 years.  In the heart of the Liberties, Kim has been working flat out to continue the legacy of her Great-grandmother Biddy McGrail, who was a well-known Dublin flower seller.  However, times are extremely tough and many surrounding businesses in the Liberties have had to shut up shop.  Feargal discovers that Kim has no corporate contacts and needs to work very hard on her confidence to ensure the survival of her shop.

Burgess Department Store, Athlone

Rosie Boles and her father Ian are at the helm in Burgess department store in Athlone.  At 170 years, it is Ireland’s oldest department store and Rosie is keen to carry on for another 170.  However, Athlone changed hugely during the boom years and Rosie and her father must contend with the competition posed by the Athlone Town Centre which houses fashion chains from all over the world.  Can Feargal help them transform their store into a landmark Athlone destination?

JC’s Supermarket, Swords

JC’s supermarket in Swords is one of Ireland’s last remaining independent supermarkets.  Owner JC is a legend in the area and has been putting it up to the multinationals for years.  JC is the first to admit that while other shops might do everything by the book, in JC’s there is no book!  But with shops like Tesco dropping their prices and the German discounters becoming ever more popular, JC needs to keep ahead of the game and ensure his shop survives into the next generation.  Feargal works with JC and his three sons to help them improve their standards and give his sons more responsibility.

1^st episode of the second series went out last Thursday – what did you think? We’re glad that Richard Curran isn’t pronouncing entrepreneur, ontropeneur anymore.

You can rate each of the main pitches in the comments. Ratings from 1 to 5 for each pitch with 5 being top rating.

Pitch 1 – Taste of the Caribbean Sauces

Pitch 2 – Greenflame briquettes

Pitch 3 – Airdryer Systems

Pictch 4 – Herbert (Herbie) Porsche – Toilet Pipe Cover

Herbie was certainly a great character. He has his own Facebook Fanpage now too.

Also, Gavin Duffy is blogging !

Feel free to add your recommendations in the comments.

Scannal! – Monday 22nd – RTE1 @ 7.30pm

Last in this excellent series recalls the X-Case.

On the 17th of February 1992, the Attorney General secured a High Court injunction which prevented a 14-year-old-girl from going to England for an abortion, known as Miss X to protect her identity, the teenager had become pregnant as a result of being raped by the father of a shoolfriend. The court’s decision sent the media into a frenzy, began a storm of protest, public outrage and created political turmoil within Albert Reynolds’ new Government. It became known as the X-Case and it was to re-ignite hugely controversial abortion debates which surrounded the 8th Amendment to the constitution

Glee – Wednesday 24th – TV3 @ 8.00 pm

Not everyones cup of tea, and it took a while to grow on us too, but Glee is just the perfect viewing for middle of the week. Special double episode.

Finn and Quinn are forced to cope with being less popular when news of their baby spreads through the school, and Puck’s decision to skip football training to work on something for the club angers the coach. In the second instalment Will encourages the club to support Artie by performing in wheelchairs, while Kurt and Rachel battle for a big solo.

Dragons’ Den – Thursday 25th – RTE1 @ 10.15 pm

Richard Curran returns with a new series of the popular show. Brave Irish ONTROPeneurs will once again enter the den to try and persuade Gavin Duffy, Bobby Kerr, Sean Gallagher and Niall O’Farrell to invest in their business. Sarah Newman will be there to snigger and snort at the little people and, probably, end this series without having invested a single cent.

Here at RTT Towers we think it’s Tony Kenny singing on this totally groovetastic 1970s ad for Bank of Ireland New York.

There’s a bank in New York, It’s the brightest around,
It shows faith in my future, keeps my feet on the ground
It’s the bank for my friends to/too? <gobbledegook>
Irish bank on 5th ave, Bank of Ireland New York.
Bank of Ireland … In New York.
Bank of Ireland … In New York.
Irish bank on 5th Avenue.
Bank of Ireland New York
Bank of Ireland New York
Bank or Ireland New York

It’s only fabulous, so it is.

The big night out for the Irish Film and Television industry took place last night and in case you didn’t manage to catch the glamour of the show on TV, here’s a list of winners in the television categories.

Well deserved win by The Frontline for best current affairs programme – it has got the nation talking about important issues. A ringing endorsement for TV3 and Shinawil productions for The Apprentice as they win for best entertainment programme.

Television Drama

Single Drama / Drama Serial
Five Minutes of Heaven – Eoin O’Callaghan
(Big Fish Films/Ruby Films in assoc. with Element Pictures Ltd)

Drama Series / Soap
The Clinic – Mary Callery (Parallel Films)

Director Television
Thaddeus O’Sullivan – Into the Storm (Scott Free Films / Rainmark Films)

Script Television
Frank Deasy – Father & Son (Octagon Films / Left Bank Pictures)

Actor in a Lead Role – Television
Brendan Gleeson – Into the Storm (Scott Free Films, Rainmark Films)

Actress in a Lead Role – Television
Elaine Cassidy – Harper’s Island (CBS Paramount Network TV & Junction Entertainment)

Actor in a Supporting Role – Television
Stephen Rea – Father & Son (Octagon Films / Left Bank Pictures)

Actress in a Supporting Role – Television
Sarah Bolger – The Tudors (World 2000 Entertainment)

Television Categories

Children’s / Youth Programme
On The Block – Tory Island – Hilary O’Donovan (Macalla Teo)

Current Affairs
The Frontline – David Nally (RTÉ)

Documentary Series
Blood of the Irish – Brian Hayes (Crossing the Line Films)

Single Documentary
Seamus Heaney: Out Of The Marvellous – Charlie McCarthy (Icebox Films)

Entertainment Programme
The Apprentice – Larry Bass (Screentime ShinAwil)

News Programme
TV3 News at 5.30 – Conor Tiernan (TV3)

Factual Programme
Nightly News with Vincent Browne – Tom Fabozzi (TV3)

Sports
Grand Slam Journey – Dave Berry (RTÉ)

[Full list of Winners]

From TV3.ie

“Narrated by Tom Dunne, this amazing series is set to bring the public closer to the animals and keepers of Dublin Zoo than they’ve ever been before.

It is the first time in Dublin Zoo’s 179 year history that a camera crew has been allowed such unique and exclusive access. To find out more about the zoo, visit www.dublinzoo.ie.”

First episode of this new series airs on TV3 on Wednesday 17th February at 7.30pm.

Your ratings and comments are very welcome.

It’s the 3rd week of Brendan O’Connor’s Saturday Night Show. This week he spoke with Ray D’arcy, Katherine and Maureen Lynch, Gino D’Acampo and Johnny Logan. 521,000 people tuned in to the show last week to watch Jedward and Michael Barrymore.

O’Connor has his vocal critics, but he seems to be pulling in the numbers. Craig Doyle is due to take over from him at the end of his 8 week run.

How would you rate this week’s show? Please leave a comment and rating.

The gigglesite on YouTube captured the above video of the D’Arcy D’Acampo hug in all it’s slow motion glory.

And so, RateTheTelly.ie is born. Let the ratings commence!