Michelle Doherty and Elton Mullally

Television Heroes - Music videos

Back in the '80s, MTV defined what a music video actually was and in the process created an attention-deficit-disordered demographic to sell stuff to. In the '90s, production moguls realised that these promos were the equivalent of pure, uncut, liquid television, little snippets of abstract visual experimentation which came packaged with the pop hits of the day. Then MTV neglected the music video in favour of footage of big-bosomed ladies falling over and rich Americans drooling, and youngsters turned to 'the internet' for their music. Luckily, RTE has a series for us oldsters called When Under Ether, a well-packaged bundle of videos, live performances and interviews, held together by Michelle Doherty and Elton Mullally (right). But it's on too late meaning that you have to watch it on the RTE Player... on the internet.

Television Heroes II - Daniel O'Donnell

Watching TG4's Ceol Daniel last week, I realised both the kind of leadership and the kind of followership this country was missing. A casually-dressed Daniel, wryly self-aware and with a twinkle in his eye, softly introduced clips from various concerts. Then I watched how with smooth melodic tones, slick country 'n' Irish accompaniment, and minimal but graceful movements, a true pro led an audience of middle-aged Irish people in song. Their hands were clasped; their faces were rapt; they were swaying. They weren't marching, they weren't threatening to vote Fine Gael, they weren't blaming him for the property crash, they weren't griping about a budget that hadn't yet happened... they were just happy to follow his cue and sing. It was what it must have been like to be a Fianna Fáil minister in 2005, really. Brian Cowen must watch and weep.