Top Gear Presenters Announced...

[r11co]

deadslow said:

Eddie J is an ex racer so, I guess, pretty handy behind the wheel and not scared to call a spade a spade.

Nice positive spin.

It's getting tiresome how people are putting driving ability and car knowledge above screen presence and competence as a presenter, which kind of matters when millions are supposed to be watching. As I've said a dozen times now, if 'car person' was the main priority then a hundred thousand PH'rs would be eligible for the job.

EJ is a known quantity in front of the camera. 'Village idiot' is the phrase Ron Dennis used to describe him.

[98elise]

r11co said:

deadslow said:

Eddie J is an ex racer so, I guess, pretty handy behind the wheel and not scared to call a spade a spade.

Nice positive spin.

It's getting tiresome how people are putting driving ability and car knowledge above screen presence and competence as a presenter, which kind of matters when millions are supposed to be watching. As I've said a dozen times now, if 'car person' was the main priority then a hundred thousand PH'rs would be eligible for the job.

EJ is a known quantity in front of the camera. 'Village idiot' is the phrase Ron Dennis used to describe him.

Agreed.

Fifth Gear has some proper drives who can present, and yet it still can't pull an audience. I can't see why some people think new TG will be great just because it have some car enthusiasts who can slide a car about.

The previous show was entertaining, that's what made it popular. That's a combination of writing, presenting/persona, and production.

[13m]

98elise said:

Agreed.

Fifth Gear has some proper drives who can present, and yet it still can't pull an audience. I can't see why some people think new TG will be great just because it have some car enthusiasts who can slide a car about.

The previous show was entertaining, that's what made it popular. That's a combination of writing, presenting/persona, and production.

Clarkson will have bought a big new TV and commercial order of popcorn.

[deadslow]

r11co said:

deadslow said:

Eddie J is an ex racer so, I guess, pretty handy behind the wheel and not scared to call a spade a spade.

Nice positive spin.

It's getting tiresome how people are putting driving ability and car knowledge above screen presence and competence as a presenter, which kind of matters when millions are supposed to be watching. As I've said a dozen times now, if 'car person' was the main priority then a hundred thousand PH'rs would be eligible for the job.

EJ is a known quantity in front of the camera. 'Village idiot' is the phrase Ron Dennis used to describe him.

Spoken like a proper trolling moron.

Straight choice for tv presenter - Eddie or Ron?

EJ's contribution to the F1 coverage was a usually a larf, sometimes controversial, sometimes insightful. He is a character. I'd wait to see how it turns out before you start frothing at the mouth.

[Patrick Bateman]

The only decent bits on Top Gear of the past few years were the new car segments anyway. I don't expect this to appeal to a wider audience but it'd be nice if they could cut the star in the reasonably priced car crap. It's always been bilge.

[Otispunkmeyer]

RemyMartin said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

davepoth said:

AOK said:

I was delighted to hear Rory got a place. There's some real talent there and he deserves a big break. How did he get just 70k views for this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd_6P_AQj6U

I'm going to call it now - he's the best thing on the show. Let's hope there's still a Top Gear left by the time Chris Evans gets bored.

I'd agree...

Though that sort of half rapping/half talking/rhyming thing isn't for me, at least its different and some real effort put in to make it all line up. I think, now I have seen more of him, that he will be the surprise of the show.

Must think different to others on here, I lasted couple of minutes and switched off. Cringetastic. Fortunately based on his 4c review that looks much more promising. Seriously that rap/poem/ode to a RR was hilariously bad.

Edited by RemyMartin on Thursday 11th February 22:57

To be honest I am not sure whether it matters if it were bad or not.... it was an honest attempt at trying to do something a bit different. I think thats reason enough to have some confidence in him. It might not work, but at least theres a chance it won't be more of the same.

[Mr_B]

Lets hope Eddie and Rory get the chop if there's ever a series 2

[r11co]

deadslow said:

Spoken like a proper trolling moron.

Spoken like someone who has watched several dozen hours of EJ on TV and knows what he is talking about, you mean.

[durbster]

Otispunkmeyer said:

To be honest I am not sure whether it matters if it were bad or not.... it was an honest attempt at trying to do something a bit different. I think thats reason enough to have some confidence in him. It might not work, but at least theres a chance it won't be more of the same.

This is crucial I think. Clarkson was known for saying outrageous things and all that, but I think the key to his success and something that he rarely gets credit for was how creative he was. His car reviews always had something about them that made them unique and interesting and that's really what gave him the edge over other presenters. He really understood that entertainment came first (at the expense of honesty or his own dignity on occasion).

If this new fella is an ideas man of the same ilk then he could be a crucial component. And let's be honest, he probably has the hardest job of all when everyone seems to assume he got the gig purely for his skin colour (going on the comments around the web).

[r11co]

13m said:

98elise said:

Fifth Gear has some proper drives who can present, and yet it still can't pull an audience. I can't see why some people think new TG will be great just because it have some car enthusiasts who can slide a car about.

The previous show was entertaining, that's what made it popular. That's a combination of writing, presenting/persona, and production.

Clarkson will have bought a big new TV and commercial order of popcorn.

and

You cannot blame the people who don't get it though, because that was the craft - making people believe it was all real-time, off the cuff and unplanned. That was the true genius of the outgoing TG team, but no-body was to know that when they started (except maybe those who had followed Clarkson's writings and knew even before he hit TV paydirt that he was building a character for himself).

The new crop are mostly a known quantity, and the ingredients don't look good. I'm now thinking quantity over quality.

Evans as the 'mastermind' has a track record of failure on TV, usually because he goes for what he thinks are good ideas but generally are shallow decisions with little or no long-term thought. You can read his thinking in every choice of presenter, and it seems to be business as usual.

If by the third or fourth show if the ratings have dropped below 1 million, expect Evans to make a plea to the viewers during one of the studio sessions to 'email, text or tweet ideas as to what they would like to see the new TG team do'. It's what he usually resorts to when he starts to get desperate.

Edited by r11co on Friday 12th February 10:06

[Halb]

AOK said:

Speechless.

Paradox!

[vxr8mate]

98elise said:

r11co said:

deadslow said:

Eddie J is an ex racer so, I guess, pretty handy behind the wheel and not scared to call a spade a spade.

Nice positive spin.

It's getting tiresome how people are putting driving ability and car knowledge above screen presence and competence as a presenter, which kind of matters when millions are supposed to be watching. As I've said a dozen times now, if 'car person' was the main priority then a hundred thousand PH'rs would be eligible for the job.

EJ is a known quantity in front of the camera. 'Village idiot' is the phrase Ron Dennis used to describe him.

Agreed.

Fifth Gear has some proper drives who can present, and yet it still can't pull an audience. I can't see why some people think new TG will be great just because it have some car enthusiasts who can slide a car about.

The previous show was entertaining, that's what made it popular. That's a combination of writing, presenting/persona, and production.


Agreed, but I always liked the idea working at the BBC allowed them to criticise a car when they felt the need knowing advertising budgets wouldn't necessarily be cut. I rarely recall Tif and his crew telling me how the car they were driving was tripe.

[Moonhawk]

Otispunkmeyer said:

looks like the Beeb have been box ticking.

[RogerExplosion]

So what happened to DC? He was all over the headlines a few weeks ago.

[AndrewEH1]

RogerExplosion said:

So what happened to DC? He was all over the headlines a few weeks ago.

He's doing the F1 on Channel 4

[otolith]

AndrewEH1 said:

He's doing the F1 on Channel 4

Luckily, he gave them the phone number of a fellow annoying ex-F1 person with terrible dress sense and presenting experience.

[hairyben]

RogerExplosion said:

So what happened to DC? He was all over the headlines a few weeks ago.

His ex-F1 supreme driver skillz enabled him to avoid a car crash when he saw one forming.

[Jasandjules]

I guess I will watch an episode or two and see how it is. It may be good, it may be bad, time will tell. BUT more tv shows revolving around cars are to be applauded given the state of society at the moment.

[0000]

hairyben said:

RogerExplosion said:

So what happened to DC? He was all over the headlines a few weeks ago.

His ex-F1 supreme driver skillz enabled him to avoid a car crash when he saw one forming.

I seem to recall him saying driving towards an F1 crash is a decent way of avoiding it, because predicting where crashed cars are going to go is difficult but the chances are with the speeds involved it won't be where it was by the time you get there.

I guess the difference here is it's happening so, so, slowly.

[gmaz]

This looks impressive from Sabine, but she must have twice the power of all the other cars there

http://www.topgear.com/car-news/motorsport/watch-n...