History YMMV / FatherTed

* HollywoodHomely: Mrs. Doyle. The show's attempts at making her a {{Gonk}} had fluctuating results, probably because her actress Pauline [=McLynn=] is actually far from ugly in real life. In fact, she nearly didn't get the part because it was felt she was too pretty; she got the part after turning up to a later audition with a terrible case of the flu.

** "Night of the Nearly Dead" essentially has Frank Kelly in ''{{blackface}}'' to show that Father Jack's condition is hardly unique.

** On a meta level, Frank Kelly's death is this, as he died ''exactly'' 18 years after Dermot Morgan and of the same cause (heart attack) [[note]]However, Kelly also had Parkinson's disease, was recovering from bowel cancer ''and'' had previously survived skin cancer, as well as being almost 30 years older than Morgan.[[/note]].

* CommonKnowledge: The original ending of "Going to America" where Ted was DrivenToSuicide was one that the writers considered scrapping long before Dermot Morgan's death. Though said death DID still prove to be the final straw that ensured it was not used.

** The set-up is that the Catholic church deals with miscreant priests by quietly shuffling them off to some out-of-the-way parish until it all blows over. Sadly, this turned out to be the case in real life too, and with worse offenders than Ted, Dougal and Jack.

** On a meta level, Frank Kelly's death is this, as he died ''exactly'' 18 years after Dermot Morgan and of the same cause (heart attack) [[note]]However, Kelly also had Parkinson's disease, was recovering from bowel cancer ''and'' had previously survived skin cancer.[[/note]].

--->'''Teaching Nun:''' He's also asked me to remind you that it is very hot today, so there will be no need for your tracksuit tops.

** One of Dougal's remarks about the 'Beast' is that "instead of a mouth, it has four-arses'. Four-arsed creations have be referred to or shown in WesternAnimation/SouthPark years later.

** BizarroEpisode: The whole fecking episode may also qualify as a BLAM, as the rabbits appear unexpectedly and unrealistically appear and disappear with Jack changing rooms, besides the nude sleepwalking. Subverted with "Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest", as one of the lines in "Escape from Victory" asks if Jack was 'dead again'.

** More like "broken periphery demographic." Catholic priests either think it is hilarious and harmless satire or insulting and poorly researched slander.
** Between British and Irish fans, the debate rages over whether the show counts as Irish or not: It has an all-Irish cast (including several iconic Irish comedians such as Pat Shortt, Tommy Tiernan, Graham Norton and Brendan Grace), Irish writers and a strongly Irish setting, versus a British broadcaster and a huge British fanbase.

** Bishop Brennan, who gained legendary status after appearing in a total of three episodes ("The Passion of Saint Tibulus", "The Plague" and "Kicking Bishop Brennan Up The Arse".
** Pat Mustard for being an over the top villain whose sole goal is to have sex with every woman on the island

* FountainOfMemes: Even two decades since the last episode aired, the show is still highly quoted in Ireland and many current events will have a Father Ted meme attached to them.

*** Dermot Morgan was actually having heart problems during the filming of the ''Film/{{Shaft}}'' scene of the last episode "Going To America". However, Tommy Tiernan (who played the suicidal priest) kept flubbing his lines, and the producers would not let Dermot go until it was finished. To make matters worse, Dermot had to do dance moves in this scene, and doing them repeatedly exacerbated his condition. He died less than 24 hours later. If the reshoots of the scene had been stopped and Dermot had gotten treatment, there is a chance he might have lived. However, there is equally a chance that he might have died whilst away and the rest of the episode would never have been filmed.

** Another cringeworthy one is Jack's P.E teaching.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: In "Cigarettes and Alcohol and Rollerblading" Father Jack becomes sober for the first time in the entire series. He flees the house when Sister Assumpta arrives and isn't seen again for the rest of the episode.

** In addition to technology (like a party line in "A Christmassy Ted") and references to then-current Series/EurovisionSongContest and Catholic Church scandals, it'd be basically impossible to make a sitcom about corrupt and dysfunctional priests which portrayed them mostly as harmless grotesques rather than outright sinister after the news of the Church suppressing child abuse broke in the 00s. Graham Linehan has gone on record as saying the series' innocence is disturbing from a modern perspective.
** When the show was made Ireland was still using the Irish pound, hence why prices in the show are stated in pounds. Ireland has used the Euro since 2002.

** The flashbacks of Father Jack in his days teaching in a Parochial School during the first series episode "Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest" definitely qualify as "Harsher in Hindsight" given the subsequent scandals in Ireland regarding exactly this sort of abuse in Irish Catholic Schools and Orphanages.

** The flashbacks of Father Jack in his days teaching in a Parochial School during the first series episode "Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest" definitely qualify as a "Funny Aneurysm" Moment given the subsequent scandals in Ireland regarding exactly this sort of abuse in Irish Catholic Schools and Orphanages.

*** In a way, this trope is averted, because when the show was made, it was already a matter of public knowledge in Ireland that the Catholic church had a serious problem with sexual abuse: books and documentaries were being written about it and people were talking about it on TV and in the media. ''Father Ted'' wasn't making up the idea that the church committed crimes, it was just treating them as a matter of dark comedy. It would, however, be many years before it became the massive and universally decried scandal that it was later.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment

*** Likewise, the scene from the previous episode of the dancing priest dying from having a heart attack due to too much dancing. As seen in the HarsherInHindsight example, Morgan's constant reshoots of his dance scene in "Going To America" exacerbated the heart problems he was feeling during filming, and prevented him getting treatment in time. So effectively, what was one of the most absurd and improbable deaths in Father Ted ended up coming true.
*** Even worse, Ted grabbing his chest in shock when Mrs. Doyle surprises him with a cup of tea when he turns on the light.

** Averted in the finale; the writers originally intended the series to end with Ted contemplating suicide, but this was replaced with a clip montage when Dermot Morgan died.
** The episode "The Mainland" had Ted coming across Creator/RichardWilson while in mainland Ireland, deciding to yell "[[Series/OneFootInTheGrave I don't believe it!]]" at him for a laugh … and then getting beaten up for it, as it turns out Wilson grew to hate the phrase. It's a lot harder to watch now in light of a very similar incident that happened to Creator/DaveChappelle while he was on holiday with his family (someone intruded on the family to shout "[[Series/ChappellesShow I'm Rick James, bitch!]]").
* GrowingTheBeard: While the first series isn't considered bad by a long shot, it's noticeably slower-paced than the two that follows, and has much more of a focus on {{cringe comedy}} than the surreal and absurd humour that the show would become known for. The second series is seen as when the show really found its footing.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** Dermot Morgan was actually having heart problems during the filming of the ''Film/{{Shaft}}'' scene of the last episode "Going To America". However, Tommy Tiernan (who played the suicidal priest) kept flubbing his lines, and the producers would not let Dermot go until it was finished. To make matters worse, Dermot had to do dance moves in this scene, and doing them repeatedly exacerbated his condition. He died less than 24 hours later. If the reshoots of the scene had been stopped and Dermot had gotten treatment, there is a chance he might have lived. However, there is equally a chance that he might have died whilst away and the rest of the episode would never have been filmed.
** To make it worse, this episode originally ended with Ted on the window ledge, about to kill himself but after Morgan died they replaced the ending with a montage of funny moments from the show.
** The set-up is that the Catholic church deals with miscreant priests by quietly shuffling them off to some out-of-the-way parish until it all blows over. Sadly, this turned out to be the case in real life too, and with worse offenders than Ted, Dougal and Jack.

** Between English and Irish fans, the debate rages over whether the show counts as Irish or not: All-Irish cast, including several iconic Irish comedians such as Pat Shortt, Tommy Tiernan, Graham Norton and Brendan Grace, Irish writers and a strongly Irish setting, versus an English broadcaster and a huge English fanbase.

* CommonKnowledge: Dermot Morgan's death wasn't the reason "Going to America"'s ending omitted Ted being DrivenToSuicide. It was changed because the writers didn't think the original was funny.

* WhatAnIdiot: Where does one begin with a show like this?
** In "Competition Time", Mrs. Doyle tries to tempt Henry into drinking a glass of sherry without realising that he is [[TheAlcoholic a man who is currently on the wagon]]. At that point, Ted walks in.\\
'''You'd Expect''': For Ted to remind Mrs. Doyle that they already have an alcoholic in the house (Father Jack, a priest well-known for keeping absurd amounts of alcohol) and that she might want to put it away. Sure he might say Jack would go berserk if he saw Henry with what he would believe to be his alcohol, but it would be a start.\\
'''Instead''': He supports Mrs. Doyle's fanatical refusal to let any of her guests turn down any drink of any description, which [[OffTheWagon naturally leads to disaster when she forces him to drink the sherry]].\\
'''But You'd Also Expect''': That Father Dunne, who had brought Henry to Craggy Island, would have called ahead to warn Ted not to allow Henry near any alcohol, especially given that he's going to be sharing a house with Father Jack.\\
'''Instead''': He apparently forgets to do this.
** In "Think Fast, Father Ted", Ted discovers that the car Brennan gave him for the raffle has a slight, but noticeable dent in it.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Ted to just leave it as it is; anyone who wins a ''car'' for the miniscule price of a raffle ticket isn't going to be bothered about a slight dent. At most, contact Brennan and try to persuade him to pay for the car to be repaired.\\
'''Instead''': Ted decides to try repairing the dent himself with a hammer... and after a few hours of tapping, [[EpicFail manages to completely destroy the car]].
** In "A Song for Europe", Ted and Dougal are listening to a B-side from a previous [=EuroSong=] entrant, and realise that its music matches the lyrics of their song perfectly.\\
'''You'd Expect''': They would check up on the song's history to ensure that it is really as obscure as they think it is.\\
'''Instead''': They decide to plagiarise the song's music for their lyrics without checking its history. Cue Ted panicking when he realises that it is actually well known.
** "[[ArsonMurderandJaywalking Cigarettes and Alcohol and Rollerblading]]" contains a phone conversation with Ted and his rival Dick, in which Dick tells Ted that he is [[BlatantLies giving up smoking for Lent, with his two companions also giving up their vices]], and asks Ted to do the same.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Ted would quiz Dick on whatever he is telling the truth or not.\\
'''Instead''': He believes Dick without any question, and naturally it eventually turns out that Dick is still smoking like a chimney, Father Johnson is drinking copious amounts of booze, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Father MacDuff is still rollerblading]].
** This label can be applied to Dougal in general, between placing rabbits in a Bishop's bedroom, selling the house to a feminist and [[TheFunInFuneral ruining a funeral]].
*** Speaking of the funeral, he only volunteered to do it since Ted (who was supposed to have been doing it) was distracted by unrelated matters and had gone for a walk.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Mrs. Doyle to persuade Dougal to wait for Ted to come back, and/or try to convince whoever is doing the funeral to delay it for about a day.\\
'''Instead''': She lets Dougal on his way.
** In "Chirpy Burpy Cheap Sheep", Ted has just realised that a champion sheep's recent troubles with a 'beast' in the build-up to a new sheep competition are due to the farmer who owns the sheep arranging to have him scared. Effectively, that means the competition has been rigged, because the sheep has been entered into that competition.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Ted to remember that he bet the heating budget for the parochial house on that particular sheep, and confront the farmer on his way home from the ceremony where the winner is announced, and threaten to expose the scam if the farmer does not admit to it in front of the islanders.\\
'''Instead''': He interrupts the aforementioned ceremony and exposes the scam there and then. This results in the parochial house being without heating for the winter.
** In "Film/{{Speed}} 3", Ted is stuck in a situation involving Dougal on a milkfloat that, because of a bomb, will blow up if it goes below 4 mph.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Ted and those helping him to realise that this is (A) too dangerous for them to get Dougal out of without either having something handy to keep the speed of the milkfloat above 4 or killing themselves, and (B) a situation similar to [[Film/{{Speed}} a certain Keanu Reeves film]].\\
'''Instead''': First they try performing a Mass dangerously close to the milkfloat. Then they fail to spot the WholePlotReference and get caught up with talking off-hand about ''Film/TheToweringInferno'', and irrelevantly watching ''Film/ThePoseidonAdventure'' only because 'Gene Hackman stars as a priest in it'.\\
'''Implications''': Firstly, the Mass example. If Dougal had let the milkfloat's speed fall below 4, not only would he be dead meat, but it's possible Ted and the others would have been caught in the explosion and been either burnt alive or get killed by flying debris. The second one relates to the film example; by the time they are able to figure out that they should 'put a brick on the accelerator', Dougal could have let the milkfloat's speed slip below 4, leaving no-one to save.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Some viewers would have you believe that Ted did absolutely nothing wrong in "Are You Right There, Father Ted?" and that the accusations of racism he gets over it are entirely unjustified (or at least a severe over-reaction). For one thing, Ted himself immediately admits to Dougal that his impression of a Chinese person was racist, and for another, he tried to give the Chinese family who witnessed his impression a really lame excuse as to why he was doing it (stretching his eyes to avoid something called "Fat Eyes") instead of just apologising immediately, which is probably what caused the situation to really escalate.

* AlternativeJokeInterpretation: In the episode "Cigarettes, Alcohol, and Rollerblading" Father Jack gives up drinking for Lent. When he sees Father Ted and Father Dougal for the first time while sober, he asks "Where are the other two?" This joke could have meant that he either saw a blurry and distorted version of Ted and Dougal while drunk, or he always saw 4 other priests thanks to SingleMaltVision.

** Ted and Dougal protesting The Passion of Saint Tibulus. "Down with this sort of thing!"
** The music video for "My Lovely Horse."