Top Gear 2016 Official TV show thread *contains spoilers*
Discussion
I'll give it a watch, but not hoping for much TBH. always found evans one of those "why does he still exist" BBC hack/case of thrush who spends life trying too hard to be cool and I don't know that either him or anyone else in his something-for-everyone committee team have got much writing/creativity experience, beyond presenting? In which case it'll be a very different show from the dry humour of clarkson, wilman etc with underlying plots that lasted longer and appealed to a much wider audience than simply burning tyres.
I'm expecting that like most TV made today they can't tell the difference between well produced and turning the slick up to 11, and make a piece of "cool" gloss of no material worth.
But for all the beebs faults they can make high quality programming from time to time and like said, it's got cars and stuff so I'll switch the first one on and try to keep an open mind...
I'm expecting that like most TV made today they can't tell the difference between well produced and turning the slick up to 11, and make a piece of "cool" gloss of no material worth.
But for all the beebs faults they can make high quality programming from time to time and like said, it's got cars and stuff so I'll switch the first one on and try to keep an open mind...
I can guarantee regardless of the actual viewing figures the BBC will promote the fact the new TG has a massive following and is a great success, what a great presenter he is and how the team work so well together.
It won't have and won't be.
I'll give it two series maximum.
I have done a straw poll amongst my mates and there's little if any enthusiasm to watch gobby Evans trying his best to copy the old format.
And I will be subscribing to Amazon and will watch JC et al.
It won't have and won't be.
I'll give it two series maximum.
I have done a straw poll amongst my mates and there's little if any enthusiasm to watch gobby Evans trying his best to copy the old format.
And I will be subscribing to Amazon and will watch JC et al.
Right, second time luck, hope my computer doesn't reboot halfway through my typing this time!
So I've put the Spoiler tags on for you that don't want to know what I went and saw being filmed today.
I can't say for certain how things will be edited in/out of the show of course, and the magic of TV will be in full force.
The first Spoiler tab - outline of how I think the show will go and what I believe will be the format.
Second tab - a bit on the presenters I saw
Third spoiler tab - what I actually saw today, which cars, who did what and so forth.
All of course, to the best of my memory.
Before that - if any of you DO get tickets and go along, be warned. Its a REALLY long day and lots of standing around. Take food with you to eat in the car park before you go in - there is a food van and some toilets, but its a burger van type thing. They do give out bottles of water - you can't take them into the studio but then there is water available if you need it in breaks of filming.
They were very strict about phones etc - these were all put in the car, you couldn't have them in the studio. So sorry, no photos with things
So briefly - the format hasn't really changed much from the previous series.
What I expect is:
Opening film - on a specific car, on the track with a presenter
Second film - On location..
Then moves to the Guest Spot. This has changed a bit from before. It is no longer called Star in a Reasonably Priced Car. We now had more than one guest doing a lap of a new style track in a different car, and there's an off-road element to it.
Third film - is a continuation of the second film.
No "News" segment, not that we saw them film anyway. Think its moved to Extra Gear.
And then...
So a word on the presenters.
I didn't see all of them today.
Evans - Now I do like Evans. I know a lot of people don't but I do. He was very chatty to audience members in between takes, making jokes, keeping people informed of what was going on etc etc.. I didn't see anything that suggested he was being a diva or drama queen that has been suggested elsehwere. Yes, he swore at times, mostly if he fluffed a line, or to relax the audience. Never swore AT people, wasn't rude to anyone. During the segments, he seemed to know what he was talking about with regards to the car he was driving around the track in the film we saw.
LeBlanc - Not so chatty to audience. I dunno, felt a bit more forced to camera than Evans, perhaps as he is less of a presenter than he is an actor. Quieter. But knows how to drive pretty well.
I didn't see much of them chatting off camera, they did a bit at times. That could of course be because they were each being set up for different shots and angles, I couldn't see. It could be because like people have said, they don't get on. I'm inclined to go more with the former than the latter, just based on what I saw, they probably were just going for different shots, and had earpieces directing them which I guess Evans is more familiar with from the radio work.
Jordan - Not so sure on him personally, found him hard to understand from where I was stood. Felt a bit forced at times as well.
Based on what I saw today, they are trying to replicate the 3-man rivalry of old, but on only episode two, clearly not enough time has passed for that to become the same bond as the other lot had after 10+ years working together. Time will tell on that.
Rory Reid - He presents Top Gear Extra, which I got to see them film as well. Also did some outside filming, we saw a few links of that from upcoming shows. I think he did well, but needs to find his feet a bit so far. I couldn't tell much about his car knowledge - because he (as with the others) was doing everything to an autocue/cue cards so whether he had written it or someone else I don't know.
I didn't see any of Sabine, or Chris Harris (apparently he was away doing another film on location today).
OK, here's what I actually saw of the content... to the best of my memory!
Evans driving a McLaren 675 LT around the track, having linked it back to the old F1 and F1 GTR.
What a car this is. Saw it being given a bit of welly whilst we were in the car park as well. We saw the pre-recorded film. Its the same editing as before. The voiceovers are very much of the same ilk as before, a few facts here and there along with some odd anecdotes and comparisons here and there...
Then, they put it around the track properly. With The Stig. And it was fast... really really fast. Fastest ever, in fact, top of the lap board.
Then to a Group Test challenge. This week, Chris, Matt and Eddie were in South Africa testing SUVs.
3 litre diesel Macan (Matt) vs 3 litre diesel F-Pace (Chris) vs 2.1 litre diesel Merc GLC (Eddie).
Race from Durban, to the highest pub in Africa just over the border in Lesotho.
Same format, there were challenges to be done along the way, a road race against the clock, then a bit where they had to drive off road as smooth as possible to keep a large glass of drink as full as possible something to do with finding wildlife in the bush, and then a race to the top along the mountainy track bits.
The twist was they each had a musical guest with them to join them for the ride as the guests had to play a gig at the pub at the top. Chris has Seasick Steve, Eddie had Sharleen Spiteri and Matt had Tiny Temper. The guests helped with the challenges.
Comedy happened. Too soon to tell if it was intentional or not, it mainly displayed Eddie being crap at using the off-road function of the Merc and crashing a bit and breaking it.
The guest spot then happened. For this they brought back the South Africa guests to the studio, except for Tiny Temper. and so instead they had Damian Lewis as the big star guest. Usual interview bit with all the guests together, each asking quesitons, talking about cars.
Sharleen and Damian were then shown their laps of the new track in the new car. The new car is a Mini, and the new track has off road bits on, so the mini has been modified accordingly.
Damian - fast. Sharleen - Not as fast.
So that'll all get edited together to make one show.
We then had to do some bits for Episode 1 that they couldn't do last week.
So we had it all reset, then we got to watch them do a lap of the track in a Dodge Viper ACR. Which was also very fast - think it went 3rd fastest overall and matched the Ariel Atom. Apparently, we will see Sabine giving that a spanking in a film.
A few trails for BBC Worldwide and other channels were also done, and several bits to camera for links etc.
OK so also a word on "Extra Gear"
This is presented by Rory Reid and Chris Harris. CH not around this week but will have sent in some films still in edit about him racing.
Goes a bit behind the scenes of the episode, did some chats with CE about the McLaren, and then a longer interview with EJ about the SUV challenge. EJ a bit awkward on this in ways but probably lots of editing.
There was then a special guest- this week, Steven K Amos. only a brief plug for his TV show, but then they talked about his cars of past, his love of Porsches, and they did a bit of stuff there with that.
Rory did the "In the news" this week bit of motoring related stuff of late. So we learnt about Cameron's Micra, the Google glue on their autonmous cars, and the new Pug 3008 SUV.
So in closing -
Not much has changed. The writers are probably the same. I can't tell how much the presenters did themselves or how much was fully scripted in the films, sorry, I'm a crap judge of stuff like that. I think it wants to find its feet a bit and the presenters will get more comfortable with the camera and the audience.
How to spot me in the audience? I'm really tall. I was wearing a white t-shirt with an arrow "Motel" logo and a car on. I stood quite near the rear right hand side of the GLC during the links to camera, and on Extra Gear, I'm behind Steven K Amos a bit. Probably just got my crotch area in though...
So I've put the Spoiler tags on for you that don't want to know what I went and saw being filmed today.
I can't say for certain how things will be edited in/out of the show of course, and the magic of TV will be in full force.
The first Spoiler tab - outline of how I think the show will go and what I believe will be the format.
Second tab - a bit on the presenters I saw
Third spoiler tab - what I actually saw today, which cars, who did what and so forth.
All of course, to the best of my memory.
Before that - if any of you DO get tickets and go along, be warned. Its a REALLY long day and lots of standing around. Take food with you to eat in the car park before you go in - there is a food van and some toilets, but its a burger van type thing. They do give out bottles of water - you can't take them into the studio but then there is water available if you need it in breaks of filming.
They were very strict about phones etc - these were all put in the car, you couldn't have them in the studio. So sorry, no photos with things
So briefly - the format hasn't really changed much from the previous series.
What I expect is:
Opening film - on a specific car, on the track with a presenter
Second film - On location..
Then moves to the Guest Spot. This has changed a bit from before. It is no longer called Star in a Reasonably Priced Car. We now had more than one guest doing a lap of a new style track in a different car, and there's an off-road element to it.
Third film - is a continuation of the second film.
No "News" segment, not that we saw them film anyway. Think its moved to Extra Gear.
And then...
So a word on the presenters.
I didn't see all of them today.
Evans - Now I do like Evans. I know a lot of people don't but I do. He was very chatty to audience members in between takes, making jokes, keeping people informed of what was going on etc etc.. I didn't see anything that suggested he was being a diva or drama queen that has been suggested elsehwere. Yes, he swore at times, mostly if he fluffed a line, or to relax the audience. Never swore AT people, wasn't rude to anyone. During the segments, he seemed to know what he was talking about with regards to the car he was driving around the track in the film we saw.
LeBlanc - Not so chatty to audience. I dunno, felt a bit more forced to camera than Evans, perhaps as he is less of a presenter than he is an actor. Quieter. But knows how to drive pretty well.
I didn't see much of them chatting off camera, they did a bit at times. That could of course be because they were each being set up for different shots and angles, I couldn't see. It could be because like people have said, they don't get on. I'm inclined to go more with the former than the latter, just based on what I saw, they probably were just going for different shots, and had earpieces directing them which I guess Evans is more familiar with from the radio work.
Jordan - Not so sure on him personally, found him hard to understand from where I was stood. Felt a bit forced at times as well.
Based on what I saw today, they are trying to replicate the 3-man rivalry of old, but on only episode two, clearly not enough time has passed for that to become the same bond as the other lot had after 10+ years working together. Time will tell on that.
Rory Reid - He presents Top Gear Extra, which I got to see them film as well. Also did some outside filming, we saw a few links of that from upcoming shows. I think he did well, but needs to find his feet a bit so far. I couldn't tell much about his car knowledge - because he (as with the others) was doing everything to an autocue/cue cards so whether he had written it or someone else I don't know.
I didn't see any of Sabine, or Chris Harris (apparently he was away doing another film on location today).
OK, here's what I actually saw of the content... to the best of my memory!
Evans driving a McLaren 675 LT around the track, having linked it back to the old F1 and F1 GTR.
What a car this is. Saw it being given a bit of welly whilst we were in the car park as well. We saw the pre-recorded film. Its the same editing as before. The voiceovers are very much of the same ilk as before, a few facts here and there along with some odd anecdotes and comparisons here and there...
Then, they put it around the track properly. With The Stig. And it was fast... really really fast. Fastest ever, in fact, top of the lap board.
Then to a Group Test challenge. This week, Chris, Matt and Eddie were in South Africa testing SUVs.
3 litre diesel Macan (Matt) vs 3 litre diesel F-Pace (Chris) vs 2.1 litre diesel Merc GLC (Eddie).
Race from Durban, to the highest pub in Africa just over the border in Lesotho.
Same format, there were challenges to be done along the way, a road race against the clock, then a bit where they had to drive off road as smooth as possible to keep a large glass of drink as full as possible something to do with finding wildlife in the bush, and then a race to the top along the mountainy track bits.
The twist was they each had a musical guest with them to join them for the ride as the guests had to play a gig at the pub at the top. Chris has Seasick Steve, Eddie had Sharleen Spiteri and Matt had Tiny Temper. The guests helped with the challenges.
Comedy happened. Too soon to tell if it was intentional or not, it mainly displayed Eddie being crap at using the off-road function of the Merc and crashing a bit and breaking it.
The guest spot then happened. For this they brought back the South Africa guests to the studio, except for Tiny Temper. and so instead they had Damian Lewis as the big star guest. Usual interview bit with all the guests together, each asking quesitons, talking about cars.
Sharleen and Damian were then shown their laps of the new track in the new car. The new car is a Mini, and the new track has off road bits on, so the mini has been modified accordingly.
Damian - fast. Sharleen - Not as fast.
So that'll all get edited together to make one show.
We then had to do some bits for Episode 1 that they couldn't do last week.
So we had it all reset, then we got to watch them do a lap of the track in a Dodge Viper ACR. Which was also very fast - think it went 3rd fastest overall and matched the Ariel Atom. Apparently, we will see Sabine giving that a spanking in a film.
A few trails for BBC Worldwide and other channels were also done, and several bits to camera for links etc.
OK so also a word on "Extra Gear"
This is presented by Rory Reid and Chris Harris. CH not around this week but will have sent in some films still in edit about him racing.
Goes a bit behind the scenes of the episode, did some chats with CE about the McLaren, and then a longer interview with EJ about the SUV challenge. EJ a bit awkward on this in ways but probably lots of editing.
There was then a special guest- this week, Steven K Amos. only a brief plug for his TV show, but then they talked about his cars of past, his love of Porsches, and they did a bit of stuff there with that.
Rory did the "In the news" this week bit of motoring related stuff of late. So we learnt about Cameron's Micra, the Google glue on their autonmous cars, and the new Pug 3008 SUV.
So in closing -
Not much has changed. The writers are probably the same. I can't tell how much the presenters did themselves or how much was fully scripted in the films, sorry, I'm a crap judge of stuff like that. I think it wants to find its feet a bit and the presenters will get more comfortable with the camera and the audience.
How to spot me in the audience? I'm really tall. I was wearing a white t-shirt with an arrow "Motel" logo and a car on. I stood quite near the rear right hand side of the GLC during the links to camera, and on Extra Gear, I'm behind Steven K Amos a bit. Probably just got my crotch area in though...
Thanks.MarshPhantom said:
Time will tell, I'd be surprised if TGT is a continuation of the old format.
The difference is people like Clarkson but not Evans.
People like Evans as well. Maybe not the same people. Luckily both of them are still alive to cater to all tastes. The difference is people like Clarkson but not Evans.
What do 'people' want from TGT if they don't want a continuation of the old format but seem to want it to be exactly the same? I am very confused.
Shakermaker said:
Interesting stuff
Many thanks for the write up.So in short the show is trying to continue with a very similar format because the BBC knows it used to work which is a shame because there was an opportunity to have a new show with a new format.
Remembering my days working with the BBC I can see the producers now discussing the show. Think W1 and you've hit the nail on the head (yes, it really was like that!)
As I said earlier, it will be deemed a massive success because it can't be anything else.
Two seasons tops.
Shakermaker said:
MarshPhantom said:
Time will tell, I'd be surprised if TGT is a continuation of the old format.
The difference is people like Clarkson but not Evans.
People like Evans as well. Maybe not the same people. Luckily both of them are still alive to cater to all tastes. The difference is people like Clarkson but not Evans.
What do 'people' want from TGT if they don't want a continuation of the old format but seem to want it to be exactly the same? I am very confused.
MarshPhantom said:
The story has been widely reported, Google Chris Evans berates audience.
I love how this story is still doing the rounds despite plenty of people who were actually there categorically confirming it's absolute BS. I thought PH was better than that, believing nonsense written in the increasing irrelevant tabloids. If they can make up a story that still gains traction despite members of the public knowing it's untrue (because they were there), it just goes to show how easy it would have been for them to make up all the other negative TG stories we've had in the past few months. So many people want this show to fail, it's bizarre. We now have what will be two well produced motoring programmes on TV, what's not to like?
Edited by ukaskew on Friday 27th May 08:46
ukaskew said:
I love how this story is still doing the rounds despite plenty of people who were actually there categorically confirming it's absolute BS. I thought PH was better than that, believing nonsense written in the increasing irrelevant tabloids. If they can make up a story that still gains traction despite members of the public knowing it's untrue (because they were there), it just goes to show how easy it would have been for them to make up all the other negative TG stories we've had in the past few months.
So many people want this show to fail, it's bizarre. We now have what will be two well produced motoring programmes on TV, what's not to like?
Strange post. How does me posting something that WAS widely reported in the press mean I want the show to fail? Taboids? Reported in the Torygraph too.So many people want this show to fail, it's bizarre. We now have what will be two well produced motoring programmes on TV, what's not to like?
Edited by ukaskew on Friday 27th May 08:46
What's not to like?
Chris Evans.
Edited by MarshPhantom on Friday 27th May 08:57
HoHoHo said:
Shakermaker said:
Interesting stuff
Many thanks for the write up.So in short the show is trying to continue with a very similar format because the BBC knows it used to work which is a shame because there was an opportunity to have a new show with a new format.
Remembering my days working with the BBC I can see the producers now discussing the show. Think W1 and you've hit the nail on the head (yes, it really was like that!)
As I said earlier, it will be deemed a massive success because it can't be anything else.
Two seasons tops.
The new team have said that, they didn't want to go in too different a direction than before because already having new presenters is a big enough change. Plus the old presenters that everyone loved (or loved to hate) haven't died or anything, they're still around making a car show as well... who knows what format that will take?
Clearly now we have the Old Show with New Presenters, and a New Show with the Old Presenters then.
MarshPhantom said:
Strange post. How does me posting something that WAS widely reported in the press mean I want the show to fail? Taboids? Reported in the Torygraph too.
My point was not that you wanted it to fail, just that there seems to be a general feeling that many are hoping it fails. The press stories have been ridiculous, yet seemingly widely believed and repeated among the usually reasonably knowledgeable PH folk. A story only needs to be made up and printed once to propagate. I was at a Q&A event with a well known movie celeb once where a story was subsequently written in the press about something they claimed he had said during the event. It was completely made up (not even a misquote), yet within a few hours it was repeated across pretty much every media channel/outlet going.
According to The Sun today, everyone in the audience was told to laugh more loudly at Matt LeBlanc's lines yesterday.
Not really the case - unlike Evans, LeBlanc's microphone wasn't echoed around the studio as much so it was harder to hear him to begin with.
People were absolultely laughing at the jokes, at the right places, but if they have to re-shoot the bit 3-4 times you have to still make it appear sincere on TV for everyone to hear properly.
Not really the case - unlike Evans, LeBlanc's microphone wasn't echoed around the studio as much so it was harder to hear him to begin with.
People were absolultely laughing at the jokes, at the right places, but if they have to re-shoot the bit 3-4 times you have to still make it appear sincere on TV for everyone to hear properly.
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