Kenny back for another masterclass
THE PAT KENNY SHOW TV3, TONIGHT, 10PM
WELL, it’s that time of the year again – the kids are settled back in school, we don’t have to waste any more of our time wondering if the summer is ever going to start and there’s more stuff on the box now than there has been all summer.
Actually, that last bit may not be entirely true.
The proliferation of channels, like the brilliant Sky Atlantic, ensured that we had major shows like
Twin Peaks and Game of Thrones to keep us occupied during the summer months.
But there were entire weeks when it felt as if all the local TV stations plopped a load of repeats into the machine and went on their holliers.
TV3 has been a busy little bunny indeed during the off-season and it announced its autumn line-up with some serious fanfare which, for the first time, might be well deserved.
Certainly its current affairs schedule is strong to the point of being genuinely impressive.
It’s too early to tell whether the experiment of having both Matt Cooper and Ivan Yates co-hosting
The Tonight Show (formerly the Vincent Browne show) but it’s certainly good to see Pat Kenny back with his own, eponymous programme tonight.
For a man who has often been accused of not being as strong on human interest stories as he is on the cold, hard facts of current affairs and politics, his interview last year with Nick Yarris, a man who had spent 23 years on death row after being wrongly convicted of murder, was a masterclass in adept probing.
Empathetic without being needlessly schmaltzy, that fascinating conversation remains one of the TV highlights of recent times...
Meanwhile, two very different looks at contemporary Irish society vie for your attention tomorrow night.
On RTÉ 2, journalist Joe O’Shea looks at Ireland’s
Rich List (9.30pm), which features the billionaires and millionaires who have made it onto the ‘Sunday Times’ Rich List.
The usual captains of industry and highfalutin mucky mucks are featured, as well as some more interesting recent additions to the list, such as Conor McGregor.
Diving into the much shallower end of the pool over on TV3 is Sarah McInerney’s new documentary, Ireland’s Housing Crisis: True Lives (9pm).
Here, McInerney “explores the causes and consequences of Ireland’s housing crisis” and talks to some of the people who are stuck in the middle.
It’s a quirk of scheduling for two such wildly different looks at Ireland to air at the same time.
But, let’s be honest, we’re all far more likely to feature in any future programme McInerney may do on that subject than on any rich list.