Comments on: Talk is cheap, and now it’s boring too

By: Holland

Holland — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:51:39 +0000

Now I know why we never see you in these programmes :)

An interesting programme would be a local version of the BBC’s ‘Question Time’ which is one of my favourite shows. Would be great to see the public question politicians and opinion-makers rather than have the agenda dictated to them; gives a certain kind of civilised power to J Bloggs.

The topics in Question Time are usually UK related but I always feel at the end of the programme that it was an hour worth spent – cannot really say the same for TVM, I’m afraid.

By: marika mifsud

marika mifsud — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:17:04 +0000

Daphne -you mentioned the sponsored food, kitchen, sofa etc.
Have you ever seen an Italian or British presenter, thank their `personal` sponsor for hairdo, make up, clothes, nails, glasses and, best of all, shoes (even when they are never seen).

[Daphne – No, it’s absolutely pathetic. You would think budgeting for hair and make-up would be part of normal production accounting, but no.]

By: Tim Ripard

Tim Ripard — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:21:35 +0000

Hit the nail on the head, as usual. Even when I did live in Malta, I gave up on ‘discussion’ programmes long long ago. I’m proud to say I never watched more than a few minutes of any episode of ‘Xarabank’. I found it sad.

One other thing – apologies for the nit-picking – but it’s ‘thrashing’ out an argument or whatever, not ‘trashing’. You can trash an argument, of course, but not ‘trash it out’. You also need an article before ‘woman’ in the phrase ‘six loud men and occasional woman’. Personally, I’d opt for the definite one, though in this case either would do. Damn hard, fighting deadlines, I know.

[Daphne – Thanks, proof-reader. I’ve made the changes. Somehow, trash seems more appropriate….]

By: Amanda Mallia

Amanda Mallia — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:45:24 +0000

Cora – At least Peter Serracino Inglott was more acceptable than Fr Anton Gouder, who openly said that the state should not grant a civil annulment to a wife-beater, lest he remarries and history repeats itself. (As if, as Georg Sapiano rightly pointed out, he would need to remarry to end up using violence against a subsequent partner. Aside from the fact, of course, that no consideration was given by Fr Gouder to the man’s first wife.)

By: Mario P

Mario P — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:24:44 +0000

I rarely watch local shows (except in the run up to the elections) so I am definitely not an authority on local discussion shows. However in the few instances that I do watch I am always struck by a) the presenters, who are either scared of their guests or OTT rude to them; b) the participants who look on the programme as an advert for their services or are too thick to realise that they (and their ideas) are not as innovative as they might think but idiosyncratic and/or eccentric.

By: Corinne Vella

Corinne Vella — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:34:03 +0000

I tried to watch the Xarabank discussion on divorce last night. I turned on the TV to find an interviewer splitting hairs with Peter Serracino Inglott. The sight of a secular reporter retorting ‘that’s not what the pope said’ and then interrupting the interview for a ‘pawza ghar-riklami’ was enough to make me turn off the TV again.