Saturday Live (Irish TV series)
 |
| Saturday Live | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Light entertainment |
| Presented by | Various |
| Country of origin | Ireland |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 3 |
| Production | |
| Production locations | Studio 1/Studio 4, RTÉ Television Centre, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 |
| Running time | 65-75 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | RTÉ One |
| Release | 25 October 1986 – 18 December 1999 |
Saturday Live is an Irish chat show hosted by various guest presenters and was broadcast live on Saturday nights. The show was broadcast during the autumn-spring season (October - April) and was created to fill the vacant Saturday night slot after the departure of The Late Late Show from Saturday to Friday nights. It was first broadcast on RTÉ One on Saturday 25 October 1986. Saturday Live featured guest interviews and live music from guest music groups and featured a mix of serious discussion and light chat aimed at a younger audience than its main rival, The Late Late Show. The original programme ended on 11 April 1988.
Saturday Live had a series of guest presenters, including the leader of Fine Gael Alan Dukes, Rhonda Paisley (daughter of the Rev. Ian Paisley), soccer pundit Eamon Dunphy, industrialist Tiede Herrema and current affairs broadcaster Pat Kenny, whose own first attempt at a chat show, The Pat Kenny Show had failed. Kenny proved such a success in the Saturday Live show that he was subsequently given his own chat show under the name Kenny Live.
Following Kenny's take over of The Late Late Show in 1999 and the ending of Kenny Live the Saturday Live formula was revived to fill the vacant Saturday night slot yet again. The second coming of the show proved unpopular and was ended after only one series.