The Dunphy Show has always had one eye cocked at the Late Late when it should have been taking a harder look at itself, writes TV critic Shane Hegarty.
It's been short, if not always so sweet. The Dunphy Show is gone after only three months. It came out fighting but it's been knocked out in the first round.
From the moment TV3 confirmed that the show would be two hours of live chat and music going head to head with The Late Late Show, it has displayed an arrogance that it desperately needed to justify.
The opening night was preceded by a public slagging match between Dunphy in one corner and Gay Byrne and Pat Kenny in the other. One of the first things Dunphy did when he walked on to the stage on that opening night at The Helix was to have a pop at those who had been having a pop at him.
Meanwhile, the show's relentless mocking of Gay Byrne, through a puppet of him, became less a symbol of a television institution than the spitefulness of the newcomer.
The Dunphy Show, though, has always had one eye cocked at The Late Late Show when it should have been taking a harder look at itself.
Its opening night showed promise. It had an edge, in both atmosphere and host, which has long been gone from the staid Late Late. Unfortunately, it fizzled and sparkled but never lit up.
That the guests were plucked chiefly from the world of politics, journalism and sport might have suited Dunphy, but it didn't always suit a viewer looking for variety. When he deviated into showbusiness, such as the interviews with Jordan and Shane McGowan, it too often revealed his limitations as an interviewer. It also confirmed that Dunphy is best as a guest and not as a host; his presentation style would often have been unacceptable at a wedding banquet.
It could have been different. It should have gone out in a separate time slot. Against The Late Late it was a Mini driving at a juggernaut.
Significantly, Kenny's show has not lost viewers since this time last year, suggesting that people have either been flicking between the two shows or that The Late Late, for all its flaws, is still a vital, unalterable part of many people's Friday night.
Neither did The Dunphy Show need to go out live. Michael Parkinson's chat show is not live. Neither are Jonathan Ross's or Graham Norton's. By mimicking the Late Late format, The Dunphy Show was taking on the country's top-rating show at its own game and in the same time slot.
The announcement of a five-show Christmas break suggested a chance to rethink the format. Decisions needed to be made and lessons learnt; but these only come with time and space. TV3 gave The Dunphy Show neither, and ultimately opted for ignominy over poverty. It blames the State-sponsored monopoly given to RTÉ for suffocating the market. It did not, of course, mention its own misjudgment.
The concern now is that TV3 will decide that home-grown television is just not worth the effort. No matter what money the station needs, it has yet to show the programme-making touch that could go with it. Its most successful programmes are foreign ones and TV3 may now retreat into a world of US imports, becoming just another indistinctive channel among the chatter flowing out of the digital box: an Irish station with little from Ireland and little to say about it.
Now, after the brief interlude, we are back to the status quo. The Late Late Show is the same programme it was last year, with the same host and the same flaws, but once again it will have the run of things on Friday nights. It has been handed victory without ever raising its sword.
The Dunphy Show, meanwhile, is due to be broadcast live for one last time next Friday night. It could be television at its most incendiary and unpredictable. It will probably attract huge ratings. Both will have come too late.