The only (toy) show in town
WHAT do Ride Upon The
Storm (RTÉ 2), Mrs Brown’s
Boys (BBC1) and Gogglebox
(Channel4) all have in common?
Any clue? No? Well, they’re just some of the programmes that people in Ireland won’t be watching tonight.
Instead, all eyes will be glued on The Late Late Toy
Show, the giant ratingsgrabber that is to RTÉ what Black Friday is to the shops.
The Late Late, for all the carping, is still the biggest game in town when it comes to Irish broadcasting and The Toy Show is their biggest night of the season. In fact it’s the most watched programme of the year, every year despite one interesting aspect – have you ever met anyone who enjoys watching it?
I’m not referring to the kiddies, of course.
They’re all greedy little blighters, so obviously they will want to check out the latest expensive electronic gizmo.
But the Toy Show is now such an integral part of our culture that even people who don’t have kids will tune in.
How else could you explain their phenomenal ratings every year?
Most of us have childhood memories of sitting down to watch the show, and knowing that this was the moment that Christmas was officially upon us. That’s because it hits the same nostalgia-centric part of our brain that still longs for Findus pancakes, crisp sandwiches on batch bread and white dog poop on the pavement (what ever happened to white dog poop? Was it a 1970s thing? I demand to know).
In other words, The Toy Show is part of our national shared experience and people don’t want to leave that part of their life behind.
Well, it’s either that or people tune in hoping the host will be humiliated by some precocious demon child.
In fact, if there’s one person for whom the country should feel a brief flurry of pity, then that is probably Ryan Tubridy who must surely dread this day more than any other.
Frankly, herding cats would be an easier option.
But it has to be said, the host has an easy affinity with children, and even though some of them down the years were just spoiled brats, there’s always one or two that are, apparently, charming.
If watching little people explain the latest game to a befuddled host isn’t your bag, then BBC4 has two crackers of the non seasonal kind on offer.
First up is the final instalment of Gregory Porter’s Popular Voices
(10pm) which traces the fascinating lineage of hip hop back to the days of the blues singers. That’s followed by Truth Tellers At The BBC (11pm), which features the likes of Bob Dylan and Jarvis Cocker.