I fail to see why they had to bring in an actor from Ireland to play Dad. Gordon Pinsent? Donnelly Rhodes? Andy Jones? Walter Learning? William B. Davis? Michael Hogan? etc. etc.
shareWell Hogan is probably retired after the relative success of BSG. And why should he move form Vancouver to the East Coast for what may end up being a short venture? A lot of actors dont want to move out east.
Man this party is like an orgy at a campsite......its ***king in tents.
I imagine a bunch of people auditioned and he was the one they liked best. Doesn't really matter where he's from, does it?
shareOn top of that, he was in Braveheart. If I could cast someone who was in that masterpiece I'd jump at the chance.
shareWell at least they didn't cast Colm Meaney.
shareColm Meaney would have been great in this show!
shareColm Meaney would have been great in this show!
Re: Irish actor playing Dad? Why?
don't really see him in this show...to tell the truth...
and not sure if he wanted to come to canada again....
right now he's on the amc series hell on wheels
susan
Well Joanne, I'm Irish and having watched the show it's obvious why an Irish actor of McGinlys abilty would get the part. For one, he's bloody good, two, well the humour is so Irish and the St Johns accent sounds so Irish , makes it like a Irish tv show. (Have you seen Roddy Doyle's "the van"?) You can see we have common history. Brilliant show, long may it run.
sharewhy not?, doyle is an irish name and infact a few of the characters have irish names, go on ya good thing ;)
shareI never realised that being xenophobic was a pre-requisite for watching this show... These days we have Brits, Scots, Australians, & Canadians playing Americans in US shows - it's a melting pot of talent out there so why not audition and cast the best person for the role.
Secondly, a character with a name like Doyle, who may or may not be an immigrant from Ireland (Republic or Northern). So it stands to reason that Seán McGinley, an Irish actor (with a very broad portfolio of character parts behind him), may audition for the part and actually succeed.
Cheers
Locked my wire coat-hanger in the car - good thing that I always carry spare keys in my pocket :)
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Okay...
...trust a WHOLE lot of 'Come From Aways' to act like they know ANYTHING about this trivial little island out in the Atlantic...
Speaking as what appears to be the ONLY Newfoundlander (and a St.Johnsman, no less) in this discussion I'd like to remind everyone that Newfoundland was settled by the English fishing fleets in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries...which had primarily *IRISH* crews.
Maybe sixty percent of Newfoundlanders can trace their family tree back to Eire, another thirty have no Irish blood, but their ancestors came from 'Ol' Blighty', and five percent have French or Basque roots. (The remaining five percent are new immigrants who must've gotten some bad info about the climate around here.)
Ergo, casting an Irishman to play a Newfoundlander ISN'T so odd.
Heck, have ANY of you damn Mainlanders checked out the other 'Irish' characters in the show? "The Irish cop" is actually played by an actress from ST.JOHN'S.
I *love* the massive level of ignorance in these people who speak SO authoritatively about something apparently none of them have any direct connection to. Crack a book (or fire up Wikipedia) and learn fact one about that which you speak before coming off like experts...
or, to channel my Inner Bayman™:
G'wan da lot of ya; y'all're t'ick in da head n' stunn' as me arse!
"Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music." - George Carlin
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I took your advice. I did some research. And before others criticize wiki, and justly so in many ways, it is a damn good source spot to start.
Apparently at some point I should announce I'm America I guess. But when it comes to films I'm not nationalistic in any way, shape or form. Unless it is announced and integral to the story somehow, I never think of it that way. Here it comes.....but. But I do have a thing for accents. They should be accurate for the area that they are pretending to be in in some way. But I'd rather that if an actor is not good enough at the accent to not be distracting, they should not even try. Just speak normally.
That said, now to my research. It was funny how much of it came back to me instantly from my study of explorers of the earth. Caboto and them. Boy, did all that turn nationalistic in a hurry though? Whoooeeee. First World War type stuff. St John's is an amazing place. From the Get-go. I'd love to see a movie of the first house being built there when it was not claimed by countries but by men. The location is like a miracle of oceanic geography. Strategically, geographically important in many ways. If I was to slip on my Nationalistic cloak for a minute in reference to St Johns, I'd say it was in many varied ways the Canadian equivalent of America's Boston. Or vice versa. Actually it should have been vice versa, since St Johns was there wayyyyyy earlier. My bad. Xenophobia though? I hope not.
And currently the ethnic make-up is a pretty good mix in a city of 100k or so. I saw the census that 75 Filipinos live there. Heh. I'd bet my eye teeth they rarely step foot on shore. This show seems to honor that St Johns is a sea going city, while having the story based on land by lubbers. Or whatever St John's folks call them. But the ocean, harbor and ships are always There. And visually, what a wonderful place for the Second Set Directors to film. If I lived there I'd be looking for great shots and them contacting them telling them. It is a film makers dream visually.
As to the Irish actor. Irish works ok in this show, story and place. And come on. Forget Braveheart. I never cared much for it. But this guy is good. He has a presence. Experience. Which can help a younger cast. Someone listed a few other actors that maybe should have been picked...not a thing wrong with any of them. I love much of Donnally Rhodes' work. The cop? Seems perfectly ok to me. I see no reason to select her out. Other than to say I think she can do comedy better than sexy and wild. But not bad at either, which is funny-ish usually. I think she is a hoot.
There! THANK YOU! That's what I was trying to think of: BOSTON. With regards to ethnic makeup, St. John's (and the rest of the island, too, for that matter) has about the same level of...'affinity' or I dunno...'overlap' isn't quite the right word...but that same sort of association as Beantown does. There's a slight difference that the link between *.ie & *.nl.ca is more just taken as given by the locals; someone mentioning they have relatives in Galway or Cork doesn't strike as at all unusual or even notable.
To have McGinley play a Newfoundlander is little different from having an Irishman play a Bostonian - how's that for a parallel that might be easier to understand?
(and St. John's and Boston have had close ties - 'back in the day' the fish caught up here was typically transported and sold in that closest large city. :) )
"Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music." - George Carlin
Well put buddy!
shareYour own name "King" is an Irish name from county Galway
shareThe majority of Newfoundlanders have Irish heritage, especially in the Avalon peninsula area. This is the whole point of the name "Republic of Doyle" which is clearly a modification of "Republic of Ireland". In fact, Newfoundland is the only place other than Ireland which has a unique name in Irish (Gaelic): Talamh an Éisc. There used to be an Irish dialect widely spoken as well known as Newfoundland Irish. The influence of Irish culture can be seen in the Newfoundlander accent and the music and culture of the island.
Republic of Doyle is not actually a play on republic of Ireland . In the 1940's when Newfoundland was deciding if we would join Canada or become an independent nation again there was a very strong independent movement. Joining Canada only passed by the slimmest of margins. We would have been the Rebpulic of Newfoundland. There is still a strong independent movement, republic flags, t-shirts and the like. So the show title is a play on that.
Ireland has had a huge influence on our culture. Most of us can claim a lot of Irish ancestry. Me not so much, my mom's side is 99% English, my dad's is a bit of a mystery. My great grandfather knew his spelling of his family name was changed when they were re-settled but since he couldn't read he didn't know what it had been.
What a typically Canadian and parochial point of view ........ you don't have a problem when a Canadian actor plays an American like the stars of 'Castle', (Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic) but when it's the other way around ...... whine, whine, whine.
Films and shows work well when there's a chemistry amongst the actors. That chemistry isn't based on nationality. I think that the creators like Allan Hawco know what they want and should be allowed to chose based on ability and not on someone else prescribing what they can and can't do artistically.
I spent 10 years living in Canada and love Canadians but there's a very real introspection, insularity and blinkered view by a significant minority. Shame.
This show is ace !!!!
joanne,
Since your first post Gordon Pinsent has appeared a few times in the show as a bit of a nemesis for the Doyles. In the much-forgotten half-hour pilot from 2008, which was shown on CBC in August 2010, the role of Jake's dad was portrayed by Peter MacNeill. It just didn't work. Much of the plot was retained for the re-shot episode which became the series premiere but it was changed to a comedic crime drama instead of a crime comedy. The way Peter MacNeill played Mal was too serious for what then was a comedy. The change in format and the recasting of Mal with Seán McGinley brought it together.
If you are thinking William B. Davis would be good as Jake's dad then you really missed the mark.
And in the season 4 premiere the Doyles have some family from Ireland suddenly visit them with gangsters in pursuit. Maybe it will be a cross-over with Love/Hate and we will learn that Mal has been leading a secret double life. It will be on CBC in 9 days.