BBC Top Gear 2017 Thread

[DJFish]

I concede the point about it being scripted however it'd be nice if the dialogue was just a little more natural.

Also I think they should unleash CH's inner nerd, especially during the gt86 practice laps, he always looks like he has more to say but either it's edited out or his brain is operating faster than his mouth.

[98elise]

E65Ross said:

kurt535 said:

Smollet said:

E65Ross said:

kurt535 said:

Finally watched last in Series tonight. Well Done TG. I felt more informed on a whole range of cars than I have for years.

This is what I fear for TG. Being far too car-biased is what led to the demise of "old old" TG. Oh, and Fifth Gear.

Same here. It could default into a car magazine tv show rather than light entertainment loosely based around cars. I'm happy with both but in the end viewing figures will determine its fate.

What have the figures been like over this series?

Not a patch on what they used to be, that's for sure.

UK viewing figures for both this and last season have started ok, but declined over the season. Its now getting beaten by some quite mundane and cheap to produce shows.

The important figures are overseas sales though. TG is big budget, but its a big earner. IIRC they upped the budget for the reboot, however they are doing less shows per season which is going to reduce revenue.

Chris Evans was very vocal about it being a sales sucess, but beyond that I've not seen anything official about how it was received other than some initial reports of low viewing figures in the states (similar drops to the UK).

Next season will be very important. There have efectively been two reboots now, so the next season will be indicative of what the long term trend is.

[kurt535]

Smollet said:

kurt535 said:

What have the figures been like over this series?

Here you are. Admittedly taken early on.
http://www.standard.co.uk/stayingin/tvfilm/top-gea...

Thanks for that. I have no idea how they decide final viewing figs with online streaming but I really think TG reached its lows on the last series and, if it was a share price, is a bit of a 'buy'!

[anonymous-user]

PhantomPH said:

p1stonhead said:

coopedup said:

PhantomPH said:

Anyone else think that The Stig is Anthony Davidson (particularly thinking about the Merc AMG lap from Episode 6)? He is his physical doppelgänger!

That could be a very good call.......

Would there be any need to have someone so good or well known though? There are many thousands of unknowns who could do it for presumably a lot less money?

That being said, I just watched the lap - does look very much like it could be him....

Worrying how familiar we all are with AD's physique, but I'd swear it was him. As for being 'too well known', he actually has form with the production team as having done segments in the past for TG and Clarkson's Christmas cash-in videos, plus he is likely getting a few grand for the gig and who would say no to that?

The Stig isn't one driver, it's just a character played by a professional driver who is available at the time of filming.

[PhantomPH]

jsf said:

PhantomPH said:

p1stonhead said:

coopedup said:

PhantomPH said:

Anyone else think that The Stig is Anthony Davidson (particularly thinking about the Merc AMG lap from Episode 6)? He is his physical doppelgänger!

That could be a very good call.......

Would there be any need to have someone so good or well known though? There are many thousands of unknowns who could do it for presumably a lot less money?

That being said, I just watched the lap - does look very much like it could be him....

Worrying how familiar we all are with AD's physique, but I'd swear it was him. As for being 'too well known', he actually has form with the production team as having done segments in the past for TG and Clarkson's Christmas cash-in videos, plus he is likely getting a few grand for the gig and who would say no to that?

The Stig isn't one driver, it's just a character played by a professional driver who is available at the time of filming.

As it has been since the Ben Collins days. I'm just convinced it was AD driving the Merc GT-R

[r11co]

Well, I've just drifted away from TG (no pun intended). The last one I watched all the way through was the Chris Hoy episode. I put the next one on and then gave up half way through and haven't gone back to it. I might catch up with the rest eventually but I decided recently to work my way through the first four season of 'Elementary' and I'm finding that much more engaging.

What went wrong? I think I made the point earlier in the thread - too much style and not enough substance. Everyone bangs on about the stunning camerawork and there's been plenty of it, but it's been too much at the expense of the lack of dialogue. There was nothing wrong with tooling about the back roads of south England while engaging the camera with a witty and well-though-out monologue about the car in question (something May and Clarkson were masters at) and there's been none of that for too long now. It seems like they are using a copy-and-paste script for each review.

Also every film has to be in some far-flung location now, and often the reason for choosing the location seems tenuous at best. Tenuous is fine if it is being done occasionally, but doing it every time becomes tedious and then you stop acknowledging the location altogether.

I'm warming to the regular presenters (MLeB had me hooked last series as the only worthwhile antidote to he who-I-shall not-name) but Harris is still grating and cringeworthy at times, and TBH I don't really value any of their opinions. I'd be more interested in what Jonny Smith had to say about a car than any of those guys.

The package just seems wrong, and the crazy thing is I reckon a cut in the budget is what is needed to make the production team focus a bit more on what matters instead of relying on visuals.

Edited by r11co on Tuesday 2nd May 12:33

[Truckosaurus]

r11co said:

... the crazy thing is I reckon a cut in the budget is what is needed ...

I suspect there is more than an element of truth in this statement. I assume that the earlier seasons of Clarkson TopGear has a fairly modest budget which increased over time once they'd perfected their formula.

I watched the final episode of the latest series with the segment on the Ssangyong boat, lord knows what the budget was to produce the boat and ship it to Monaco, and I bet Eddie Jordan submitted an expenses claim for the use of his boat. They could have made the same jokes by cruising down the Solent.

Interestingly, the short "Chris Harris drives..." videos on the Top Gear website (funded by the magazine rather than the tv show, I believe) were almost better than anything in the tv show for much the same reasons.

[qube_TA]

Anyone know when the new TGA starts, not seen a date?

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/top-gear-tv/top-g...

I really enjoyed the old TG-USA programme, hopefully that will return in some form.

[Mr2Mike]

coppice said:

Chris Harris - 'arrogant '? It seems that to some arrogance is the crime of the century but in any case they confuse the need for TV presenters to be larger than life with arrogance . Some fizz is needed to make any show work at all . I find CH just fine - the only one I'd bin is the shrieking German harpie who I find as unwatchable as she is unlistenable .

CH is fine, but I'd put Eddie Jordan at the top of the bin list, and they either need to find something for Reid to do (apart from hanging around like a spare part and making the occasional cringe-worthy and deeply unfunny quip) or get rid of him.

[HustleRussell]

r11co said:

Harris is still grating and cringeworthy at times, and TBH I don't really value any of their opinions. I'd be more interested in what Jonny Smith had to say about a car than any of those guys.

Ouch.

I have struggled to warm to Harris but he is at least a proper driver on Top Gear at long last. Hence I value his opinion. He fills a role driving the exotica and the racey stuff where Top Gear's other journos (and Johnny Smith) would be well out of their depth.

[MarshPhantom]

r11co said:

Well, I've just drifted away from TG (no pun intended). The last one I watched all the way through was the Chris Hoy episode. I put the next one on and then gave up half way through and haven't gone back to it. I might catch up with the rest eventually but I decided recently to work my way through the first four season of 'Elementary' and I'm finding that much more engaging.

What went wrong? I think I made the point earlier in the thread - too much style and not enough substance. Everyone bangs on about the stunning camerawork and there's been plenty of it, but it's been too much at the expense of the lack of dialogue. There was nothing wrong with tooling about the back roads of south England while engaging the camera with a witty and well-though-out monologue about the car in question (something May and Clarkson were masters at) and there's been none of that for too long now. It seems like they are using a copy-and-paste script for each review.

Also every film has to be in some far-flung location now, and often the reason for choosing the location seems tenuous at best. Tenuous is fine if it is being done occasionally, but doing it every time becomes tedious and then you stop acknowledging the location altogether.

I'm warming to the regular presenters (MLeB had me hooked last series as the only worthwhile antidote to he who-I-shall not-name) but Harris is still grating and cringeworthy at times, and TBH I don't really value any of their opinions. I'd be more interested in what Jonny Smith had to say about a car than any of those guys.

The package just seems wrong, and the crazy thing is I reckon a cut in the budget is what is needed to make the production team focus a bit more on what matters instead of relying on visuals.

Edited by r11co on Tuesday 2nd May 12:33

I wasn't keen on Harris in the first few episodes but he did improve. Still early days isn't it.

The budget was increased, a good chunk must have gone to Evans as presenter/producer, so who knows what they are currently spending.

Edited by MarshPhantom on Wednesday 3rd May 11:35

[r11co]

HustleRussell said:

I have struggled to warm to Harris but he is at least a proper driver on Top Gear at long last..

Fair enough, but the point has been made and proved several times over in these threads that a good driver per se rarely makes an interesting and engaging presenter. Harris is definitely one of the better driver/presenter combinations around, but that is feint praise TBH. To me he is just another Youtuber and they are ten-a-penny, plus the previous producers of TG understood that the 'good driver' doesn't always represent the views of the car enthusiast, hence his role was overtly reduced to being a facilitator of purely objective comparisons of cars (and became 'The Stig').

I go back to my point that it is about engaging dialogue to express something about the car in terms other than glib 'this is fantastic' etc., and none of them have that in a way that triggers something in me. Matt LeBlanc comes close, but I'm too used to seeing him in settings where he is playing someone else and that thought takes over. Rory tries, but a fair few of his comments come over a bit 'Troy Queef'.

Mr2Mike said:

CH is fine, but I'd put Eddie Jordan at the top of the bin list.

I wasn't including Eddie Jordan in my list (or Sabine for that matter, hence I said 'regular' presenters). AFAIAC he's just an occasional distraction playing out the remainder of his BBC contract.

Edited by r11co on Wednesday 3rd May 14:26

[Adam B]

SAB888 said:

Jay Kay's SE30 wasn't a Jota but the above production figures are fairly accurate (there were a small number of prototypes). I think all SE30s were 1994 or 1995 cars but some may not have been registered for some time. The other thread was referring to a purple SE30 Jota (in the pic).

From that I conclude the "3" is 3 RHD SE30 Jotas from total 15 factory built - which seems reasonable

And JK bullstting that his purple SE30 was a Jota !

[Kitchski]

Just caught the final two Extra Gear episodes during my lunch hour. Genuinely enjoyed those, probably more so than the show. Definitely geared more for the petrolhead, but it's all so natural between them all. Almost no forced expressions from CH, Rory comes across a funny and likable guy too. The presenter's OK, seems friendly enough, but he's really just the anchor

Whatever happens to TG, I could sit and watch Chris Harris and friends just chatting about cars, generally. Good humour, entertaining without being washed down for the non-petrolheads, and no egos with a point to prove. Loved it!

[cuprabob]

I enjoyed the Extra Gear episodes too, although couldn't really warm to George Lewis.

[jetsetwilly2000]

For me all the best bits and worst bits are CH. There's nobody else with any cred as a car person, and as others say, watching CH yakking with petrolheads like JK (who seemed more natural than before in this series) never gets old. But watching CH trying to ham it up for comedy or effect just makes my skin crawl, and watching him trying to respond to MlB is actually worse - noooo...

The others need not exist - replace them with more petrolheads and geeks for my money, and let Clarkson et al own the clowning around and the high-budget specials.

[Rich_W]

Just a slight diversion


The other day Dave was showing the Chile/Jungle adventure.

At some point I think when they are on the volcano, Clarkson says

"We are officially the worlds highest drivers..... Apart from George Michael obviously"


This quote always made me smile, the numerous times it's been repeated on Dave.


However, Dave have now edited the reference out, presumably because Mr Panayiotou has sadly died around Christmas time last year. It's a shame, since we all know George never took himself too seriously and wouldn't have objected, but Dave have probably done it for fear of offending, rather than actually offending

Not sure we should go back and edit history

[Philplop]

Rich_W said:

It's a shame, since we all know George never took himself too seriously and wouldn't have objected,

Not sure about that. When Clarkson reviewed the Jaguar XKR-S he said “It’s very fast and very, very loud. And then in the corners it will get its tail out more readily than George Michael.”

George Michael called him a 'pig-ugly, homophobic tt' on Twitter in response.

[defblade]

Rich_W said:

Not sure we should go back and edit history

Try watching You've Been Framed with the subtitles on. They've taken references to, for example, Amy Winehouse, off the vocal track but not updated the subs...

[Shakermaker]

defblade said:

Rich_W said:

Not sure we should go back and edit history

Try watching You've Been Framed with the subtitles on. They've taken references to, for example, Amy Winehouse, off the vocal track but not updated the subs...

Who would know that? How do you go about finding that out? I mean, I know how you have found it out, but, was that by pure chance?