Our state public television group — CPTV — seemed to be dealing in a subtle form of torture last weekend with non-stop airings of “Celtic Thunder: It’s Entertainment!” as part of its pledge drive.
Whether it was early in the morning or later at night, whenever I turned to CPTV they would invariably be in the middle of another screening of this odd multi-cultural show featuring a group of Irish singers and musicians who were taped in a “live” performance somewhere but were clearly lip-synching most of the time.
I love Irish music as much as the next man — two of my grandparents were Irish — but “Celtic Thunder” deals in watered-down ethnic music with an empty Vegas sound. Inexplicably, half of the tunes I caught were American pop and Broadway songs.
Adding insult to injury, every pledge break brought with it a hard-sell pitch for special benefactor seats to a “live” show by “Celtic Thunder” at the Bushnell in Hartford later this year. The cheapest seats were over $100 so CPTV will clearly make a lot of money if the tickets proved to be as hot as the pitchmen said they were.
The sick joke of every pledge break was the implied threat that if we didn’t call in with a donation we wouldn’t be getting more fine entertainment like this.
I know that times are hard for public television, but if this sort of kitsch is what they need to stay alive, perhaps the time has come for them to leave TV to crass commercial interests who would be hard-pressed to come up with a show as synthetic as “Celtic Thunder: It’s Entertainment!”
If people want to watch shows like this — and CPTV thinks it is serving the public interest by airing them once in a while, that’s fine. But to turn much of a weekend programming slate over to repeats of an infomercial for high-priced concert tickets seems like a waste of public funds to me.
I was tempted to call in and say that I would renew my CPTV membership if they stopped showing ”Celtic Thunder.”
I so totally agree! Tired of them! and the stupid beg-a-thon.
Comment by V. — April 1st, 2010 @ 8:33 pm
I like Irish and Celtic music…unfortunately Celtic Thunder is none of those three things…to quote Bart Simpson as he was stuck in a ship’s ventilation system “does this thing suck or….does it blow ?”
Comment by TriLym — April 2nd, 2010 @ 6:52 pm
It’s a bit harsh to judge this group based on this CD/DVD, “It’s Entertainment”, was a one off show that featured modern music, that their fans requested. As for you stating that they deal in watered-down ethnic music with an empty Vegas sound, you have obviously failed to do your research before writing up this piece of outlandish babble. If you had done a bit of research you would have found that they have 3 other Cd’s that are pure Celtic music, in fact some are still in their original Gaelic. Apparently you have also failed to realise that this group consists of 4 Irish men and 1 Scotsman, so not only do they feature Irish music, but Scottish as well. I have a feeling that you wouldn’t recognize true Celtic music if you were standing in the middle of pub in Derry surrounded by bodhrans and fiddles.
Comment by Angela Renee — August 15th, 2010 @ 10:27 pm
Thanks for the comment, Angela. What you say about the other Celtic Thunder CDs/DVDs may be true but I was reviewing the “It’s Entertainment” show that you agree was not traditional Irish music. I’m well aware that the performers are from Ireland (and Scotland) – I just wish they had stuck to their own music and avoided this material.
Comment by Joe — August 16th, 2010 @ 11:46 am
Why would you comment on something that a lot of people have and do enjoy so much. True this last show of there’s was not so much Celtic, but a lot of us enjoyed it so very much. I would have loved to have gone to see it live but work intervened. I have all their music and DVD’s and truly enjoy them. Please understand not all people enjoy the same thing and you are entitled to your opinion, but so are we and with out us they will have no future and they do because of us. If we all enjoyed only the same things there wouldn’t be a wide verity of music and shows for everyone to enjoy. That is what makes this such a wonderful place to live.
Comment by Shirley — August 31st, 2010 @ 1:51 pm
Thanks for the comment, Shirley, and you are so right that it is the variety of entertainment in our culture that makes it a wonderful place to live.
Comment by Joe — September 1st, 2010 @ 8:45 pm
I love this group and purchased all three of their DVD’s and one of their CD’s to play in the car. Have heard other Irish music and it was ok for me. I like this group and how they interact with each other and their voices are good too. I have never seen the PBS specials but logged on here to find out if there was going to be a fourth release of a DVD and an airing on PBS. You are entitled to write what you like about them but I have a difficult time understanding your view.
Comment by Suzanne — September 11th, 2010 @ 12:37 am
I completely agree, Joe. CPTV is useless, now. Weekends are full of shows like this, or oldies concerts, or programs that are essentially infomercials for sketchy self-help gurus or quack doctors.
You’d think they’d run a fundraiser using, say, a NOVA marathon, or something similar, that is closer to the historic heart of public TV.
Instead we get this.
As I write, Saturday the 12th of March, 2011, CPTV is again showing Celtic Thunder, an oldies concert, and infomercials all day.
CPTV is dead to me.
Comment by Jon Hendry — March 12th, 2011 @ 8:50 pm
I am new to Celtic Thunder. I like their sound and they are not bad on the eyes either. I neither buy DVD’s or CD because someone is ok.
What really makes me mad is that I have been missing the public tv showing of Celtic Thunder and tonight I was able to catch it. It is a concert in Poughkeepsie, NY. I watched the lips move. I matched it up with the singing and it does not jive. It’s totally obvious. If you’re awed with the look and stage presentation you could easily miss it but I based my whole day about this one time I can catch them, plus listen to the numerous fund drives…. and I believe they are lip sinking and not very good. I’m glad I did not purchase tickets to see them. I can easily pop in a cd if I want to hear them. Part of the whole concert thing is actually hearing them sing. It’s so sad and is it really necessary? I mean the lip sinking?
Really sad….You can’t fool this irish lady twice..
Comment by marty — March 17th, 2011 @ 11:04 pm
Watching them now on pbs , so fake, so dubbed , I’m ashamed to be half irish, no microphones, crystal clear sound , sounds just like the original recording…because it is !!!! Lol. Godzilla is attacking tokyo…
Comment by larry sapienza — June 11th, 2011 @ 10:05 pm
CELTIC THUNDER! <3
Comment by I Love Damian McGinty — September 18th, 2011 @ 9:12 pm
I realize that this review is years old, as Celtic Thunder is weeeks away from having released three more albums since 2010 when It’s Entertainment was released. However, I wanted to assure anyone who happens upon this that the live shows are not lip-synched. I have been fortunate enough to attend seven shows, some with the occasional forgotten or flubbed lyric. Although I suppose for some, who are critical enough to watch a program just to see if the artists are lip-syncing (which was done by the female singer on It’s Entertainment during the live recording), a forgotten or flubbed lyric might be just as un excusable as dubbing the recorded soundtrack over a live performance for the DVD.
While I understand your criticism of repeated plays of the program on your local PBS station, I will say that ‘the pitch’ that the tickets would not last probably wasn’t a far cry from the truth. The tickets that PBS stations offer for this group are usually the best seats in the house and therefore are snatched up fairly quickly.
I do hope since the release of It’s Entertainment you have taken the opportunity to watch/listen to Heritage or the music that preceeded IE so that you could make an honest, well-informed decision of Celtic Thunder’s sound and presentation.
However, if you don’t like them…you don’t like them. At least I know that’s one less person vying for the good seats during the pledge drives.
Comment by Melissa — January 9th, 2012 @ 1:44 am