What makes it different from others?

Brilliant and touching

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

*************SPOILERS EVERYWHERE************* Hello! This horrific garbage ticked me off in a way that no show has for a long, long time.First off, this has got to be some of the worst series writing I have ever seen. I will critique the first episode.Over and over, the writers put in scenes obviously intended to be funny, that fall flat on their faces, without even a chuckle.Technically, I suppose, this was supposed to be a dramedy (IE, both a drama and a comedy), but there were numerous scenes that obviously were INTENDED, unsuccessfully, to be comedic.A giant box falls off a truck, tumbling down a mountain, narrowly missing a bus carrying the new priest into town. This was OBVIOUSLY intended to be funny, but fell completely flat.Ridiculous confessional being installed, with comfy chairs, "Occupied" lights, and a fax (would've been something that you might have seen in "Last of the Summer Wine"), that was continually played, UNSUCCESSFULLY, for laughs. Not a laugh, not a chuckle.Not only were the writers utterly and completely incompetent at writing comedy scenes, the terrible actors were also completely incompetent at DELIVERING comedic lines. Again, not one laugh, not one chuckle.The new priest was obviously meant to be the "hero" against the supposedly old and stodgy and hypocritical in the village, but, again, the writers were utterly incompetent, and had NO idea what they were doing.The rich man funding the ridiculous confessional, became the new priest's arch enemy for virtually NO reason at all. The new priest's superior, Father MacAnally (I'm NOT joking, this is what the writers called him!) tells him outright that the rich man is a friend of the church, and to treat him well.Well, Mr. new priest, there all of one day, not only IGNORES his superior's (presumably having lived there decades, with intimate knowledge of the area and situations) advice, but then declares the rich guy as priestly enemy #1, for NO real reason. (Yes, supposedly the ridiculous confessional would imply sins of pride and vanity, but, so WHAT? Presumably in this guy's congregation, there would be people committing a variety of sins as large, or larger. WHY did he single out the rich guy???) And perhaps Mr. rich guy has previously contributed to the poor, or done other charitable acts? How would Mr. new priest, there all of one day, even KNOW this? On the other hand, the unbelievably arrogant new priest committed MAJOR sins, all over the place, FAR in excess of anything that rich guy appeared to have done.Examples: 1. Intentionally doesn't tell rich guy that the newly delivered confessional fell down the mountain, a fact hidden by the delivery people, who would have been liable. (By the way, HOW did it fall hundreds of feet down the mountain, WITHOUT an apparent scratch on it??? Even GLASS inside it, was shown to be intact! MORE bad writing.)2. Intentionally and publicly, during the middle of a service, humiliates the rich man, not once, but TWICE. (Also, the writers don't seem to understand how electricity works. Priest has rich guy unplug the confessional, moments later, the fax kicks on, so rich guy can be humiliated publicly again. HUH??? With NO electricity???) 3. Tells police man to "shack up" (way rich man phrased it) with rich man's daughter; that it's OK as long as they don't have sex. MORE bad writing. Even if this is technically OK , it is stupid, ignorant, and naive beyond belief for a priest to say this! BAD writing! 4. FORGES A LETTER, using a faxed invoice intended for the rich guy (WHO sends invoices by fax???), to intentionally fake that the rich guy was trying to bill the church, for his "gift" of the confessional, instead of it being a real gift. NOT ONLY is this a TERRIBLE thing for a priest to do, it is probably criminal, as well! MORE horrible writing! And YET, this new priest is supposed to be a paragon of virtue, against this "evil" of the rich guy, and Father MacAnally.MORE bad writing: new priest and rich guy are trapped in confessional when electric doors jam. (AGAIN, obviously meant to be funny. Not one laugh, not one chuckle.) Solution? Pull the confessional through the roof, with THEM STILL IN IT, by a crane. A real laugh, right? NOT! Ummm, haven't the writers of this heard of a crowbar, or a saw, to open the jammed doors??? PLUS, I have NEVER seen an electric door that you couldn't open by hand, say, if the electricity or something else failed.MORE bad writing: the confessional is WAY too large to go into any building, through any normal door. By luck, for some stupid reason I don't remember, there was a large, convenient hole in the roof, where they lowered it in by crane. (Must make this confessional a real big seller!) The BAD writers obviously did this, for the "funny" (NOT!), scene later where they are lifted out by crane, still in the confessional.UNBELIEVABLE!!!GARAGE, TRIPE, REFUSE, DRIVEL!AVOID at ALL costs!Karl*************SPOILERS EVERYWHERE*************

I was never much of a U.K. TV series fan, until I stumbled across this show and "Doc Martin." These two shows now have me hooked. "Bally" reminds me of gentle Irish comedy movies like "Waking Ned Devine." And the nice thing, with "Bally" I have six years worth of episodes to watch. In my home state, Connecticut, we have a huge Irish American population and Connecticut Public Television airs "Bally" episodes at least once a week, which is how I became acquainted with the show. I have since watched a couple of episodes on youtube. I can't get enough of it! You can have "Dontown Abbey." Me, I'll stick with "Bally." I also watch occasional episodes of the various police dramas like "Inspector Morse" and "DCI Banks." But without guns and gun play, they tend t be very dull.

The first 3 seasons were very exciting. The storyline between the priest and the publican (Assumpta)was dangerous, edgy and romantic. Then the writers took the easy way out by killing off Assumpta. Then they did it again when they killed off the husband (Ambrose)of the woman (Niamh) who fell in love with someone else! I was shocked at the first death. Although it was a cowardly way to settle the story line, it did work, although it could have been so much better had they explored the ramifications of a priest falling in love. But then they did it again with the next troubled romance. Other serious flaw:People disappeared without comment: Eamon, Padraig, Danny, Emma, Orla. They just disappeared.The series never recovered from the killing off of Assumpta and Father Peter's exit.I wonder how much the story being in Ireland and funded with Irish government $$ (very Catholic) limited the writers. Ballykissangel reminds me of Hamish MacBeth, which actually was much more fun and even though that also had some deaths, did not use them to artificially stop exploring interesting story lines.

In 1998, I toured Ireland with a group of Aussies. We stopped in Avoca only because Ballykissangel was filmed there. All the Aussies were excited to see the church, the store, and Fitzgerald's just as seen on their BBC back home. I remembered the cute name for the town (Ballykissangel) when I joined Netflix. The characters are so well developed. No U.S. TV series is ever this good. Only when PBS shows a series of BBC programs is there any quality, and this has never been shown where I have been. The quirky people of BallyK just keep on coming. Some better than others, but each disc always leaves me wanting more. This show could have continued longer that six seasons with Kieran Prendiville back in the helm, but alas, it didn't. I will be sorry when I watch the last disc. Should it ever appear on PBS, I will become an avid watcher again. It is worth seeing again and looking forward to each episode. Ballykissangel wins my highest praise as quality storytelling.