The Information Society Commission apparently backed it, RTE aired it, and the public slammed it. The first show in the series aired on RTE at 2005 Hrs on 08 Sept. It will be repeated on Saturday at 1730 Hrs. Most of the people who will tune in on Saturday will probably tune in to see if the show was really as bad as people made out. Like a bad traffic accident it was almost impossible to stop looking.
Billed as the first programme on RTE to cover technology and communications in Ireland, (It wasn't, a programme called Zero was!) the series is to run for thirteen weeks. The reaction to the first show was immediate and almost overwhelmingly negative. This is of course a good thing as the producers can now set about making the second show a far better one.
The message board was filled with postings offering good wishes, typical friends and colleagues stuff. Then just before the show finished airing, the tone changed from one of hope to absolute disbelief. You could almost see the crack of realisation that this was not technology television. It was morontv and the level at which it was pitched would insult the intelligence of an amoeba.
On the wwwboard setup on their website for feedback on the show, one of the earliest message threads had the subject "get that fucking gobshite off the damn show." The individual referred to was John Collins, the male presenter who is also the editor of an Irish computer magazine, PC Live. PC Live is a computer magazine intended for a public rather than specialised audience.
Unfortunately Collins' lack of experience and skill at television presentation ensured a mogadonic performance which served to underline the technologically clueless nature of the programme. Some people just do better in print.
Keelin Shanley on the other hand carried the show. She was competent and handled the situation, including the scripted adlib well. Some sources considered that it would have been better to have let her host the show. It would be a very good thing as long as the research was competent.
The problem with the first show is that so many areas of it were bad, from the monotonous voice of Collins to the technolgical cluelessness. The items covered contained serious mistakes that any competent research would discover.
According to the programme, and it was later verified by examining the script on the techtv site, GPS uses a single geostationary satellite. GPS uses a network of satellites. The accuracy of GPS for civilian use is 10 metres.
The most telling example of which was a segment on digital television. It was proof that the people behind this did not do any serious research on the subject. It was trite rubbish - reductio ad absurdum.
It did not properly explain the difference between analogue and digital television. They seem to think interactive television means using a remote control to select more channels or play with the stored image, zooming in and switching angles. They just haven't got a clue!
Admittedly the warning bells should have sounded when they started to show a clearly marked "NETWORK COMPUTER" while the voiceover waffled on about digital TV and how the set top boxes would be in the shops next year. Have these people ever heard of Skydigital and the October 1st launch date?
The introduction of an electronic programme guide (EPG) into the piece gave it that extra air of unreality. Suspended in the background of the TV was a logo that looked extremely like that of Telecom Eireann. Except TE is not engaged in digital television. The whole thing seemed to be something cobbled together from segments on network computers and home shopping.
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