Underplayed Gems

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! (1993)

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! poster
Country
Ireland
Length
1 season, 8 episodes
Rating
9.0 of 10 from 1 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More series like this

How it feels

A newspaper comedy series set in Ireland that follows a team of journalists and editors. The show tries for laughs but relies heavily on canned laughter and broad jokes.

unfunnypoorly pacedforcedlow-budgetflatcringeworthyunpolisheddated

What happens

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! is an Irish television sitcom that aired on RTÉ 1 for one season of eight episodes in 1993. The show was written by Frank Sheerin, and the stand-up comedian, Morgan Jones, was a cast member. The show was notable for its negative reception. Writing in the Connacht Sentinel, journalist Declan Tierney gave the programme a negative review: "to say that this is a pathetic attempt at comedy is being kind to "Extra! Extra! Read All About It!" and stated "the only indication that it is a comedy comes from the canned laughter, which is over-done and often goes on for so long that it is impossible to hear the start of the next sentence". Writer Colm Tóibín stated Extra! Extra! was "probably the worst programme RTÉ has ever shown". Brendan Glacken of The Irish Times was equally scathing: "Speaking of Extra! Extra!, as I am afraid we still must, even seasoned RTÉ observers seem unable to answer the question why a series so pathetically weak should have been allowed to reach the screen at all". Extra! Extra! was later included in an Irish Independent list of the worst Irish TV programmes. The name of the show comes from the phrase "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" formerly used by street news vendors to sell newspaper extras. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.