Chris Evans announced as new TG presenter

[Elroy Blue]

It'll be ok as long as they 'accidentally' crash into each other. Seemed to work for the previous three.

[Funk]

gmaz said:

gmaz said:

Funk said:

Weren't they supposed to have CH, Sabine & Coulthard?

Also I read Richard Porter's book ("And On That Bombshell") and hadn't realised how deeply integrated he was with TG. Is he still working with them or will he go with C, M & H? His relationship was really with them for 13 years or so, I don't think TG on Amazon would be the same without him and Wilman (is Wilman going with the trio to Amazon too?).

Edited by Funk on Thursday 4th February 12:19

Wilman has gone with C, M & H. Porter has not stated either way last I heard but I agree Wilman & Porter would be part of the "winning" team.

Just listened to "The Smoking Tire" podcast with Richard Porter and he says he will not be joining Evans.

His condemnation of Clarkson was pretty honest (and he's right, you can't just go around hitting work colleagues regardless of who you are). Be interesting to see whether he's able or willing to move past it and continue on as before. From reading his book, it seems he played a very large part in shaping TG alongside Clarkson. If he's not involved in the new series then the BBC really will be going a very different way (and that's probably for the best rather than trying to make the old formula work with the new crew).

[r11co]

[redacted]

[Scuffers]

r11co said:

5 months in production and only now they announce LeBlanc, noticeable by his absence from shots leaked from filming so far (it would have been impossible to keep someone relatively high-profile like him hidden from view).

I mentioned this in the new thread - this casting decision reminds me of the Family Guy episode 'Brian Griffin's House of Payne'. James Woods!

only 3 months away, not 5!

that's 93 days away!

[r11co]

Scuffers said:

only 3 months away, not 5!

that's 93 days away!

5 months since they started I meant. They've been working at it that long and still don't have a direction.

I said at the start of this thread that with Evans influence the program will twist and turn with whatever whim and interest he has that week, day or hour.

Seems I wasn't wrong.

ETA. Just read this in another thread..

"Chris Evans said of his new TG presenter: “Matt’s a lifelong fellow petrolhead and I’m thrilled he’s joining Top Gear. Acting out our craziest car notions on screen is a dream job and I know we’ll both be debating some epic road trip ideas."

I wouldn't put it past Evans that he pushed for LeBlanc because he liked the idea of cozying up to a big-name celebrity he can call his 'buddy' for the road trips, kinda like what he does with all his other interests (stalking golfers, celebrity chefs and racing drivers).

This has all the hallmarks of Evans indulging himself again all over it.

Edited by r11co on Friday 5th February 09:05

[Scuffers]

r11co said:

5 months since they started I meant. They've been working at it that long and still don't have a direction.

I said at the start of this thread that with Evans influence the program will twist and turn with whatever whim and interest he has that week, day or hour.

Seems I wasn't wrong.

sorry, yes, miss-read your post.

so several months in they add a high profile presenter? how will this fit with what that have already committed to film?

[Munter]

Scuffers said:

so several months in they add a high profile presenter? how will this fit with what that have already committed to film?

I'm guessing. He won't be in those bits.

But then Top Gear has always had individual presenters off doing a film on their own, and then they pull them together into a show alongside other bits (in the recent era those are done jointly).

So you could easily have a show with presenters in the studio recorded a week ahead, a film from December with Chris E on his own, one from Jan with Chris, Chris and Sabine, and another from March with Matt on his own, with the presenters doing bits in between as a group.

[r11co]

Munter said:

I'm guessing. He won't be in those bits.

But then Top Gear has always had individual presenters off doing a film on their own, and then they pull them together into a show alongside other bits (in the recent era those are done jointly).

So you could easily have a show with presenters in the studio recorded a week ahead, a film from December with Chris E on his own, one from Jan with Chris, Chris and Sabine, and another from March with Matt on his own, with the presenters doing bits in between as a group.

We all know how editing works

The issue is this. Old new Top Gear (and any other successful show for that matter) worked because they thrashed out the ideas before they committed time and resources to filming. It might have looked on-the-hoof but that was part of the craft, with a lot of people believing that is how it was actually done.

I've also said from the beginning that Evans is looking (as he always does) at TG as a consumer and fan rather than a writer and producer. Goes back to my original analogy - someone who eats at a restaurant and likes food thinks he can run a restaurant, but is sorely mistaken as he underestimates the effort involved in getting to the final product and then repeating the process continually.

[Munter]

r11co said:

We all know how editing works

The issue is this. Old new Top Gear (and any other successful show for that matter) worked because they thrashed out the ideas before they committed time and resources to filming. It might have looked on-the-hoof but that was part of the craft, with a lot of people believing that is how it was actually done.

But with Scuffers you have to lay out things very simply. Judging from his post he's struggling with the idea of not seeing every presenter in every bit of content.

As for all the films being part of a masterplan. Some content clearly got shifted about, and would be years before they ran out of ideas and stuffed a film previously binned, into a show where it didn't quite fit.

Personally I'm happy to wait and see what the format of the show is before deciding it will not work.

That doesn't exclude me from seeing a really stupid post on PH and mocking it though.

[Scuffers]

r11co said:

The issue is this. Old new Top Gear (and any other successful show for that matter) worked because they thrashed out the ideas before they committed time and resources to filming. It might have looked on-the-hoof but that was part of the craft, with a lot of people believing that is how it was actually done.

this ^^^

TG was a product of massive levels of planning, script writing, etc etc, the filming bit was the last part of the process.

[suffolk009]

r11co said:

5 months since they started I meant. They've been working at it that long and still don't have a direction.

I said at the start of this thread that with Evans influence the program will twist and turn with whatever whim and interest he has that week, day or hour.

Seems I wasn't wrong.

ETA. Just read this in another thread..

"Chris Evans said of his new TG presenter: “Matt’s a lifelong fellow petrolhead and I’m thrilled he’s joining Top Gear. Acting out our craziest car notions on screen is a dream job and I know we’ll both be debating some epic road trip ideas."

I wouldn't put it past Evans that he pushed for LeBlanc because he liked the idea of cozying up to a big-name celebrity he can call his 'buddy' for the road trips, kinda like what he does with all his other interests (stalking golfers, celebrity chefs and racing drivers).

This has all the hallmarks of Evans indulging himself again all over it.

Edited by r11co on Friday 5th February 09:05

I suspect the film they already have in the can is so awful that the producers/BBC needed to do something drastic.

[Funk]

I think that much like a field TG should have been left to lie fallow for a year and revisited for 2017. It would've given more time for The Incident to fade from memory a bit as well as avoiding going head-to-head with the old team on the Amazon show (which will only serve to highlight any flaws in the New New Top Gear) as CM&H have the format licked.

[AndrewEH1]

r11co said:

Creepy! He's two years older than me, so his teen idol days are long gone. I do reckon though there was some committee thinking going on, with someone round the table saying 'great, with Matt on board we'll get the fortysomething guys and their wives watching!'

Sort of reminds me of the premise of the BBC comedy Episodes that he stars in...perhaps ironic

[robinessex]

hornetrider said:

robinessex said:

Who?

I love it when people advertise their stupidity and cultural unawareness with posts like this.

Thank you for your very perceptive contribution to the topic. Are your other 56,759 posts as brilliant? Do you get out enough these days ?

[George111]

BBC have been busy telling people who Chris Harris is: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/top-gear/10-things...

Obviously they're worried he's not known to anybody who doesn't genuinely like cars

[LuS1fer]

Nobody had heard of Hammond either and people tend to forget that May was a late addition to Top Gear and also unknown to the British public so they were able to build their personas and develop into a comic team together.
There was a lot of luck in that because that never happened with Tiff or Quentin of fat Jason or Tony the rallyman etc etc.
Chemistry is not something you can write.

[deadslow]

If folks want funny, I believe the US import has some form

[rohrl]

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/feb/0...

The Guardian said:

Former Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan is set to join Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc as a presenter on Top Gear.

Jordan, a close and longstanding friend of Evans, is understood to be close to finalising a contract to join the new-look BBC2 motoring show...

I do hope not.

[Wills2]

rohrl said:

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/feb/0...

The Guardian said:

Former Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan is set to join Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc as a presenter on Top Gear.

Jordan, a close and longstanding friend of Evans, is understood to be close to finalising a contract to join the new-look BBC2 motoring show...

I do hope not.

OMG! I'm in the fortunate position of being able to laugh with and at Eddie, but many disapprove of him on these pages....and I really like it when Coulthard takes the piss out of him.

[hornetrider]

Eddie Jordan... hmmm. It's a no from me. I'm not sure how much personality MLB has either.

The jury is out.