So Top Gear is scripted ? Who cares ?

[twazzock]

TheMoron said:

twazzock said:

Yes, we know. We don't care. No-one does. Please go away.

Twazzock, your talking sense again! How do you do it?

Well, I was sober at that point

Don't ask for sense now.

P.S. It's 'you're' [talking sense], as in, you are talking sense, not your.

Edited by twazzock on Sunday 2nd January 21:38

[Marvin Hagler]

If the OP genuinely did not realise then fair play to him/her. Not everyone realises that many shows are carefully planned and scripted and it can ruin the show for some when they realise that some aspects (or all in some cases) are scripted.

The recent Top Gear trip to Iraq etc was blatantly scripted. They made out as if they are 3 guys roaming around in Iraq with just a production crew. However, anyone with half a brain would know that their were soldiers there protecting them - some appeared in numerous camera shots too.

I have to say when I first found out wheeler dealers was all fake (from these forums) I was gutted, and only now watch it for the bits when Edd is actually repairing the car.

[Mr Dave]

jimmy156 said:

Its not the fact that its scripted that bothers me. Its how badly scripted it is. It's so obvious and predictable that it becomes very unfunny. I havent bothered watching the last series and the current christmas specials, and i never thought i would say that! TG used to be the one program that i had to watch every week.

The two christmas specials certainly werent bad actually. Some bad bits but mostly good.

[Motorrad]

So Top Gear is mawkishly poor? Who cares?

It's still mildly entertaining.

[Gizmo!]

Some say TG panders to the lowest common denominator. And that most of its audience need to get out more.

All we know is... Shoot me now.

[Gizmo!]

Some say TG panders to the lowest common denominator. And that most of its audience need to get out more.

All we know is... Shoot me now.

[Pigeon]

cuprabob said:

Papa Hotel said:

I heard Elton John was a bummer. No proof though. Get on the case OP, only you can reveal the truth to us.

He can't be, he's just had a kid

So he's a woman then?

Here's an idea: Elton John has a kid, by the Pope, who then fiddles with it while pulling Nazi salutes from the passenger seat of a Veyron which Elton is pedalling round the Top Gear test track, and in the background in the long shots we can see pedobear stting in the woods. Meanwhile in the studio all the presenters read from clipboards and the autocues are visible on screen. I think that just about covers most of the concepts that have come up in this thread...

[CO2000]

Can you imagine how bad TG or any prog such like would be if it wasn't scripted...

Too obvious is bad though like the crash they had somewhere in eastern Europe with the black lambo (??) a couple of years ago. It was a long range shot with a local going towards them & then finally a crash where the front spoiler got "damaged"

[peeves]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKySnKs_F0c&fea...



EFA

Edited by peeves on Monday 3rd January 13:40

[DHE]

Biggest giveaway for Top Gear being scripted, has to be the fact that they name their script editor, Richard Porter, in the credits.

[Gareth79]

Deva Link said:

There's a long blog post somewhere from Andy Wilman, the producer, who says that on the various adventures they do there's very little advance scripting (or even preparation) - literally they arrive with a couple of pages.
He puts the way it looks scripted down to the cast playing their parts as if they're cartoon characters, so it all looks and sounds very familiar to the viewers.

http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2009/12/20/series-14-where-were-at/

The one I could never believe was the Alabama gas station scene, however all the hosts have insisted it was real and in the 60 Minuntes interview Wilman replied directly to the host saying nothing was scripted. Given that was shown nationwide in the US, if it was actors or they were asked to say that by the crew then we would have heard from them now.

[James_N]

So many people love to slag top gear off, yet still so many people watch it and still we get threads like this week after week!

[andrewh]

Lol wasn't quite sure about the women placed in the audience but this does confirm it:

http://m.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/sep/07/bbc.tele...

Edited by andrewh on Monday 3rd January 14:17

[i remember]

Upon reading the Ben Collins book, he does go on to back up the fact that these "races" are real.
He even stated in the bugatti vs plane bit, they did the race then did the recordings of all the "mid race" shots the day after, when taking the car back to where they got it from.

[Jp ultima]

It may be obvious and unfunny, but it is still watched by a quarter of a billion people worldwide (including viewings of TG USA)

[kambites]

The depressing thing, is quite how many viewers seem to think that Top Gear is objective motoring journalism. Even on here, where you'd think most people would know enough about cars to know better, you still get people quoting the results of Top Gear's "tests" as gospel.

[DarkBlakk]

Can I hazard a guess that the OP doesn't work in media? Or have an ounce of common sense.. How could anyone think that a one day race would be filmed in one day? I have this vision of hundreds of camera operators being versed in the comming days event, all posted along the way to get "the shot".

..and then some of them getting a bking as they messed up when the Veyron/SLR/Fezza shot passed at 150mph. Bless

[aeropilot]

DarkBlakk said:

Can I hazard a guess that the OP doesn't work in media? Or have an ounce of common sense.. How could anyone think that a one day race would be filmed in one day? I have this vision of hundreds of camera operators being versed in the comming days event, all posted along the way to get "the shot".

..and then some of them getting a bking as they messed up when the Veyron/SLR/Fezza shot passed at 150mph. Bless

But then, there's many people in this country that view Eastenders/Coronation St as 'real' and think all these reality TV programmes arn't 'fixed' or scripted as well.
There's also a difference between scripted and acting in terms of learning lines/dialogue as in drama programing.

Edited by aeropilot on Tuesday 4th January 10:16

[Papa Hotel]

OP, I have another mystery for you to solve. As I watched Never Mind the Buzzcocks (hereafter to be known as NMTB), it occurred to me that there is no way the people doing the intros round could possibly know every song and even if they did, how do the two of them automatically know what part each is to play in the rendition of the intro? To me, it seems almost scripted...