“I think that was very interesting and enlightening,” says Brendan O’Connor, more than generously, as he draws one contribution to a close. “Coming up, we’ll be talking about porn and the Angelus.”
That's a pretty good summation of how Brendan O'Connor's Cutting Edge (RTE One, Wednesday, 9.35pm) makes its lively toll: Bong. Bonk.
If ever a show knew how to bait, hook and crumb-coat its viewers, this is it, a roundtable discussion, on the gabbier end of current affairs, broadcast live before a studio audience.
Now in its second series, the theme of Cutting Edge is to conduct a merry post mortem on the week: one early section is entitled On the Slab. It's a mordant approach that could only seem profoundly awkward if, say, a major, complex Irish political figure had passed away one day earlier. "Who died in the media this week?" asks O'Connor, and as his contributors mention Enda Kenny's White House performance and the Pope's advice to young people, the metaphor shrivels.
The deeper incision The Cutting Edge makes, though, is in its choice of panellists, lustily calibrated to rally your sympathies and push your buttons. Comedian Al Porter champions the "Facebook Generation" as models of progressive change, and in his frank discussion of personal depression and porn use, he displays no interest in its privacy settings. Sunday Times journalist Eithne Shortall is called upon to both atomise and represent those mythic Millennials while regarding, with utmost scepticism, the third panellist.
This is the star of the first episode, former Fine Gael senator, Marriage Equality opponent and Oireachtas sexting expert Fidelma Healy Eames, who, in an era of cynical trolling, stands out for the absolute honesty of her incoherent beliefs.
Everyone will have their top five FHE utterances, and here are mine. 1 “Enda is a streetfighter. The other boys aren’t.” 2. “He’s the sexiest Pope of all time, for young people.” 3. “I have many, many gay friends.” 4. “I applaud you, the fact that you’re gay.” 5. “I have so many gay friends.”
My suspicion is that Healy Eames now counts Al Porter among her vast gay entourage, and by the end of the programme, I’m not entirely sure she’s wrong. When O’Connor, who has become a skilled and subtle moderator, turns a conversation about adoption (Healy Eames has adopted children) towards the rights of gay parents to do likewise, she is sincere in her approval. “She’s a very fair woman,” says Porter.
Whatever she is, she’s trending hard. But the Twitter responses, dividing along predicable lines, aren’t close to the appeal of the show. This is not a shouting match, there is a modicum of genuine give and take, and although it loses focus over a long hour (a late, serious topic on educating children about porn is almost completely missed), it is a talk show that actually demonstrates listening. These days, that’s a pretty sharp tactic.
