Why do people get so angry if you criticise Top Gear??

[Gylen]

Why is it that if someone slags off Top Gear on here lots of people get all angry and say things like 'DON'T WATCH IT THEN' or 'IF YOU HATE IT SO MUCH, WHY POST ABOUT IT?' and things like that?

Are we genuinely not allowed to say so if we think a program we used to like has gone a bit st? I was under the impression that the production team read PH so I don't see the value of quashing any dissenting voices on the subject. And why do you all care so much and take it as a personal insult if other people you don't know aren't as in love with a program as you are??

Really really odd.

[cs02rm0]

Because it's the only thing worth watching on TV and if they take our precious away we'll have nothing left to watch!

[Frankeh]

YOU WHAT?! YOU WANT TO TAKE THIS OUTSIDE?

[ezi]

Because it's the same st every week. If people don't like it anymore, then it's true they shouldn't watch it, and leave it to those of us who still do like it.

I don't like X Factor so I don't watch it. You don't see me watching it although I don't like it, then going into the xfactor thread to bh and moan about it after every show...

[Muzzer]

I don't have a problem in people criticising Top Gear.

It's just that it gets really repetitive having a new thread started each Sunday night/Monday morning saying how it's deteriorated and isn't as good as it used to be.

Then someone else starting another thread saying that same thing with a slightly different stance.

Thread 1: Top Gear last night
Thread 2: Is Top Gear any good anymore?
Thread 3: How long will Top Gear keep going?
Thread 4: Top Gear must be finished as a programme now
Thread 69: Top Gear: Waste of taxpayer's money

[monthefish]

There is always going to be varying/contrasting opinions on shows such as this as, as they have such a wide audience, it is difficult to please everybody.

I just personally get annoyed when people post that "that's it, TG is rubbish. I'm never watching it again" but do so every week.

I hate the TV programme 'Eastenders' and so I decided not to watch it. Thus far, I have found this to be an excellent solution.

[Gylen]

I don't think the X Factor argument hold water, I'm afraid.

Presumably, most on here are keen on cars. Therefore, it stands to reason that we all want to see a good car-based TV show. Most of us feel Top Gear used to be great but has gone downhill rapidly so it's only natural that we would feel more annoyed about this as we have a vested interest in wanting it to be good. That's why people post about it and presumably they hope that in a small way, this will get taken on board by the production team who seem to read PH.

I couldn't give a st about X Factor so have no interest in seeing it improve so I don't complain about it. I'd like Top Gear to be good again, so it bothers me more that it isn't.

[monthefish]

Gylen said:

I don't think the X Factor argument hold water, I'm afraid.

Presumably, most on here are keen on cars. Therefore, it stands to reason that we all want to see a good car-based TV show.

But even if you asked only the PH readership (probably less than 10% of total TG viewers) what they want from their Top Gear, I think you'd still get a huge variation in responses.

Gylen said:

I'd like Top Gear to be good again, so it bothers me more that it isn't.

Then perhaps set the example by making suggestions on how to improve it rather thasn just say its st. (Perhaps you already do this - I haven't followed your posts that closely)

For what its worth, I also think it has gone downhill but, on the whole, its still not a bad way to spend an hour on a Sunday evening, and the good bits still outweigh the bad in my opinion.

[Muzzer]

Gylen said:

Most of us feel Top Gear used to be great but has gone downhill rapidly so it's only natural that we would feel more annoyed about this as we have a vested interest in wanting it to be good. That's why people post about it and presumably they hope that in a small way, this will get taken on board by the production team who seem to read PH.

They're getting 8 million viewers a week in the UK, 350 million viewers worldwide, have a worldwide tour and millions coming in in merchandising.

You really think they listen to the ramblings of some car-geeks on here and give a st if petrolheads don't like it anymore?

And even if they did, there's so many different opinions as to how to make it better:

Get rid of Hammond
Get rid of Clarkson
Get rid of them all
Get a girl on
Feature more cars
Make it like it used to be
Keep it the same, but feature more cars
Have more of them dicking about
Have less of them dicking about
Have more roadtests
Roadtests are for Fifth Gear, I watch Tom Ford for that, have more road trips
Road trips are boring, I want more cars

Someone even suggested getting Quentin Willson back FFS.

Accept it as it is. We can do nothing to change it unless everybody switches off. Which they won't because it's the only car show on TV and sometimes it's good. So they watch it on the off-chance.

[T89 Callan]

1) Becuse it's been in it's current format for Seven years (it's not 'New' Top Gear anymore), if you still don't like it then it's time to move on.

2) It's a show that is watched by 350million viewers and the idiots on here want every single second of it to be just for them and exactly as they want it to be. I enjoy Top Gear but I don't enjoy every single segment as some segments are aimed at other groups of people. it's a very babyish attitude to expect an hour long magazine show to be 100% catered to them.

[Beyond Rational]

Some people have just sat wide mouthed whilst fighting their ADHD and dribbling with hysteria for a whole hour.

They just don't like being told that by doing this, they are idiots.

[matc]

I've watched Top Gear for as long as I can remember and I keep seeing people write 'it's not as good as it used to be'; well when was this exactly? I watch the odd old repeat on Dave and none of the old show's, bar the odd 'special' are any better than the current series; if anything they aren't as interesting. I mean road-tests about the new Alfa Romeo 3 years after it's demise is hardly going to make interesting future viewing is it?!

I think a lot of it now comes down to money; they review interesting cars that are going to be of interest in 3/4/5 years time so the show can be re-sold over and over. If they just did a normal 'boring' road test of the newest rep-mobile every week then it would become unwatchable IMO.

I for one like the current series and format, I think all of the presenters bring something to the show and I like their own individual projects, like May's air-ship and Hammonds random unsuitable vehicle racing. Long may it continue as far as I'm concerned!

[zac510]

I think it comes back to people's dislike of being criticised. Criticising something that I like is like criticising my taste and judgement and I'll get defensive about that. Nothing really sinister there, just human nature!

You could substitute the Top Gear threads for threads about any other TV shows, your wives, your cars, etc and get the same results.

[Get Karter]

Gylen said:

Why is it that if someone slags off Top Gear on here lots of people get all angry and say things like 'DON'T WATCH IT THEN' or 'IF YOU HATE IT SO MUCH, WHY POST ABOUT IT?' and things like that?

Really really odd.

It's not odd at all.
Pistonheads topics are nearly all the same. OP has a view on something, e.g. "the sky is blue", then there are 20 pages of rabid arguments for and against.

[StevieBee]

zac510 said:

You could substitute the Top Gear threads for threads about any other TV shows, your wives, your cars, etc and get the same results.

Yep - longevity breeds contempt.

Viz - not as funny as it used to be.

24 - less believable than the first season (like we all thought that was a documentary)

Star Wars

Batman