The Lucy Kennedy Show
GenreChat show
StarringLucy Kennedy
John Kennedy
Country of originIreland
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes5
Original release
NetworkRTÉ Two
Release6 January (2009-01-06) –
3 February 2009 (2009-02-03)

The Lucy Kennedy Show is an Irish chat show hosted by Lucy Kennedy. Her father, John Kennedy, accompanies her in studio, where he performs the role of pianist.[1] Each episode involves Lucy Kennedy interviewing two guests and dressing up as a well-known personality to perform a sketch. It began airing on 6 January 2009. The show was poorly received by critics during its opening week.

Kennedy described her show as "Livin' with Lucy in a studio" and "a bit like The Charlotte Church Show gone wrong". Kennedy added the new show to her workload on top of co-presenting with Colm Hayes on an Irish Radio Nova 100FM.[2]

Episode list

Date Guests Panel Sketch Ref
6 January 2009 Ryan Tubridy, PJ Gallagher Amy Winehouse/Bryan Dobson [1]
13 January 2009 Jason Donovan, Clelia Murphy Joe O'Shea
Evelyn O'Rourke
Paddy Courtney		 [3]
20 January 2009 Shayne Ward, Daithí Ó Sé [4]
27 January 2009 Julie Goodyear, Claire Richards [5]
3 February 2009 Keith Duffy, Janet Street-Porter [6]

The person in italics is not actually real and is played by Lucy Kennedy.

Reaction

The Lucy Kennedy Show came in for much criticism from Ireland's leading television critics; however, views have varied. The Mirror TV analyst Maeve Quigley had previously chosen the show as her 'Pick of The Week', promoting the show to her readers. John Boland of the Irish Independent dubbed the show "meaningless, unfunny codology" during which "nothing got said", "a show about nothing" akin to Seinfeld "minus the laughs". He criticised the culture of RTÉ employees interviewing RTÉ employees, pointing out that first guest Ryan Tubridy had already interviewed his host on his own show Tubridy Tonight. The "cod-interview" which newscaster Bryan Dobson spent time conducting with Kennedy also came in for some criticism, with life being "too short" to explain why she was masquerading as Amy Winehouse and he was risking forfeiting the respect he had earned for "his authority and gravitas" throughout his previously professional life. He also began to wonder why John Kennedy was there at all and lamented not being told that he had once written the Irish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.[7]

Pat Stacey of the Evening Herald was just as forthcoming with his own criticism. He described the show as a "post-Christmas turkey" before adding that he found it difficult to locate sentences to convey the "sheer badness". Stacey discussed the appliance of numerous words such as lazy, shoddy, inept or embarrassing but, finding that as a matter of opinion each of these words only told of various segments within the show, settled instead on "excruciating", the "good, solid, blanket word to cover all bases". The opening monologue was said to be "excruciating and unfunny" and "delivered in that klutzy, amateurish style that supposedly makes Lucy so endearing but which, in reality, merely irritates to the point where your teeth itch". The Dobson sketch was declared "excruciating and embarrassing" and "dim". The "non-interview" with Tubridy was panned but Tubridy "the only person working for RTÉ who knows the first bloody thing about how to present a proper chat show" was praised for being "ever chivalrous" by "going through the motions" even more so than if he had "poked his own poo with a stick".[8]

Viewing figures

In its second week on air, The Lucy Kennedy Show was said by the Evening Herald to be attracting three times the viewing figures of This is Nightlive which ran in the same slot on Monday nights, though the context of this comparison against what a good figure would be was not provided; by context, the Herald noted that viewing figures for This is Nightlive were dismal and were said to be declining by the week, with the first episode attracting 89,000 and the second episode attracting 76,000.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 "About the Show". RTÉ. 6 January 2009. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  2. ↑ "I'll be in bed when my new chat show is on, says Lucy". Evening Herald. Independent News & Media. 6 January 2009. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
  3. ↑ "RTÉ ENTERTAINMENT: Join Lucy Kennedy this Tuesday for some late night fun". RTÉ Presspack. 13 January 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  4. ↑ "RTÉ ENTERTAINMENT: Shayne Ward and Daithi O Sé join Lucy and her Dad on this week's show". RTÉ Presspack. 20 January 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  5. ↑ "RTÉ ENTERTAINMENT: Julie Goodyear and Claire Richards from Steps join Lucy this week". RTÉ Presspack. 27 January 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  6. ↑ "RTÉ ENTERTAINMENT: Keith Duffy and Janet Street Porter join Lucy Kennedy on the show this week". RTÉ Presspack. 3 February 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  7. ↑ "RTÉ comedy? You're having a laugh..." Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. 10 January 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
  8. ↑ "Lucy fails the chat show challenge". Evening Herald. Independent News & Media. 7 January 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
  9. ↑ "New TV comedy goes off a cliff". Evening Herald. Independent News & Media. 15 January 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
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