42 replies to this topic

[MaxAndPaddy]

I still watch it, its better than most of the crappola on tv. But I liked it when the road trips WERE road trips and they broke down/messed up/got lost blah blah blah

It was far funnier unstaged

[iDemonix]

I still watch it, its better than most of the crappola on tv. But I liked it when the road trips WERE road trips and they broke down/messed up/got lost blah blah blah

It was far funnier unstaged

The thing is though, think it from the producers point of view.

There needs to be some drama and breakdowns on the way to make it entertaining and break it up abit. If they all drove through X with no problems at all, it'd be a bit boring. Top Gear isn't a show for petrolheads, it's a show for everybody, so it needs to make general people laugh as well as cater to those who care about cars.

I think the people that get angry about Top Gear are a bit idiotic. I hate shows like X Factor with a passion, but I never waste my time ranting about them because I never waste my time watching them! People complain about TG like they're forced to watch it, it's a TV show, if you don't like it, flick over! (This wasn't directed at you M&P!)

[MaxAndPaddy]

Direct away Im not easily offended .....Like I said I still watch it

But its strayed down the too daft path for me (ironic I know)

Miss the cool wall that isnt on enough. Like the Celeb bit. Like the chitter chatter on the News. The bit I've started to switch off to is the silly staged road trips

I thought last weeks was good, seemed to be less Jibba Jabba plus it showed Chris Evans cars off and had a mini in it

I think they're best when just larking and chatting cars, they dont need the other stuff. Plus when the 14year old LOVES IT MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF I start to think the standard must of dropped for him to find it so funny

[LiamB]

Been watching it for yeears!

Never want it to end. Staged or not, it is brilliant.

[Dan]

The old road trips were better, but to be honest the reason they broke down a lot is because the guy who used to prepare cars for them wasn't all that good. Although to speak to him you'd think he was the one running the whole thing, Clarkson wanted rid of him and I can see why frankly. That may seem unfair but it is what it is.
But then I also liked the other old features, the sort of thing they don't do any more like car football matches and classic MPV racing. It has changed but they are concentrating on what people talked about most from past shows, and it still gets very good figures.

[james962]

And it seems they didn't really blow up a Lotus with a missile strike from an Apache Longbow.

Nor destroy a Range Rover Sport with a Challenger II tank

[Dan]

Any show that regularly gets 16%-20% in a prime slot when there are literally hundreds of competing channels is patently not a waste of licence money. They could spend twice what they do and still be good value to the company. Given that TG is also I believe the single biggest sales product for the corporation in terms of overseas, repeat and DVD sales and merchandising rights, it brings in far more to Auntie than the amount of licence fee they spend on it. And it is a motoring show, it's just not a factual show as they say time and time again. It's paid for by LE I think, not by any factual department.

It's way cheaper to send 3 presenters and a director to any country in the world for 3 days, hire some cars and a local crew and shoot them chatting than it is to produce 1/2 an hour of the exact same period costume drama they have already made 12 different versions of in the past. I understand what you are saying and that this is what people who complain about it think, but these people don't understand TV and if you've worked at the BBC you should do. People think that something like DIY SOS must cost a fortune because they build someone a house and all that but it's still way cheaper than drama. No sets, no costumes, a tiny crew, no props, shooting for a few days rather than months, minimal post production, it's all cheap. For their current series of commercials Tesco have brought a house to shoot them in, across the road from a store. Sounds expensive, but it saves a fortune in stage hire, set construction, travel, everything. At the end of the series they have a house to sell which will have increased in value, rather than a skip full of sets thay have to pay to dispose of. TV and film budgets are so large and unusual that they don't seem to make sense to anyone in the real world.

[Mini Cheddars]

Plus Top Gear do a stage show called Top Gear Live which is a lot of fun to watch.

http://www.topgearlive.co.uk/

[Dan]

Please don't misunderstand me TicTax, I wasn't trying to continue the ranting towards yourself or anyone else. I was just trying to continue the discussion, as one industry professional to another. I did understand your point of view and I'm sorry I wasn't clearer in my thoughts when I was writing. I'm afraid you are wrong about OFH though as far as I can tell, it hasn't been the best seller for a number of years. Top Gear by far and away is the hottest BBC property now. It's top of BBC sales, and airs in over 190 countries with at least 3 countries paying to licence their own version. BBC Worldwide don't even list OFH in their figures any more to my knowledge. It used to be the big ticket but no longer. Every year now it's Top Gear and Doctor Who jockeying for position in most markets.

[gazza_sidewalk]

I only watch top gear to see Audi being advertised