Top Gear

[Cade]

BBC announces that Top Gear has been axed for the forseeable future.

The previous series had production halted after Freddie Flintoff nearly died in a crash.

 

Top Gear has been shite for ages, so this is no real surprise.

It had been shite for ages even before Clarkson got fired.

 

 

[kila]

Earlier episodes were brilliant, especially the episode long challenges/trips.

 

 

 

 

[Shooter McGavin]

Can’t say I’ve watched any of the new series.

 

As much as Clarkson, Hammond and May are w*nks, they make good telly.

[Cade]

BBC only kept the show going to recoup the cost of buying the rights to the format from Clarkson's production company a few years back.

Selling it on worldwide to get back the price of the show!

 

[I P Knightley]

Insurance will have covered it but a payout of £9m to Flintoff must have been a factor in the decision. It must have been a hell of a dint to merit that award and to bring about the omerta where nobody's said what happened. 

 

I think there's space in the schedules for a decent motoring magazine show but TG had become overblown. 

[vegas-voss]

3 hours ago, Shooter McGavin said:

Can’t say I’ve watched any of the new series.

 

As much as Clarkson, Hammond and May are w*nks, they make good telly.

Don't think they were able to replicate with the Amazon show though.Bigger budget doesn't always make better TV as it was completely overblown.

[the posh bit]

 

[Craig_]

2 hours ago, I P Knightley said:

Insurance will have covered it but a payout of £9m to Flintoff must have been a factor in the decision. It must have been a hell of a dint to merit that award and to bring about the omerta where nobody's said what happened. 

 

I think there's space in the schedules for a decent motoring magazine show but TG had become overblown. 

 

Do you reckon they should go back to the old format?

 

"...and this week, Tiff Needel will be discussing seatbelts"

[Shooter McGavin]

25 minutes ago, vegas-voss said:

Don't think they were able to replicate with the Amazon show though.Bigger budget doesn't always make better TV as it was completely overblown.

Yeah think you're right.

 

The TG Burma and Africa specials are brilliant, didn't watch too much of TGT but some of it was good. Sometimes it was the low-budget TG stuff that was the best.

[Cade]

1 hour ago, Craig_ said:

 

Do you reckon they should go back to the old format?

 

"...and this week, Tiff Needel will be discussing seatbelts"

 

Tiff and Vicki moved over to C5 and did "5th Gear" for a while with the old Top Gear format. Didn't last long.

 

Edited November 21, 2023 by Cade

[Tazio]

2 hours ago, the posh bit said:

 

I can be a bit of a miserable git on occasion but I’m like the happiest man on earth next to Stewart Lee. I used to like him but his entire schtick now is just slagging people off but with bigger words than the average critic.  

[Malinga the Swinga]

The last lot of presenters were best since May and co, especially Harris, but it was inevitable after Flintoff and accident.

I see he's been well recompensed with payout and also he's been made cricket coach in England, so he's done pretty well out of it.

Much prefer Grand Tour where, although accidents can't be totally avoided, the need to do ever more risky stunts, to cover lack of driving ability, is missing.

[superjack]

I actually quite liked the latest line-up. I know a lot of folk don't like paddy mcguinness but I thought he was OK. Freddie, I feel, is a good presenter. Don't get me wrong, nothing will replace the Hammond, may and Clarkson line up but this is the only decent 1 since Clarkson was sacked.

Looking at the state of Freddie face recently, considering its a wee bit since the accident, the injuries must have been quite horrific.

[Cade]

The sheer lack of information surrounding Flintoff's crash is telling.

It must have been really bad.

Hammond's was bad enough but there was wall to wall coverage of that.

With Flintoff there's been barely any details, possibly for legal reasons (possible H&S lawsuit)

[I P Knightley]

3 hours ago, Craig_ said:

 

Do you reckon they should go back to the old format?

 

"...and this week, Tiff Needel will be discussing seatbelts"

Somewhere in between.

It became a show about unaffordable cars and imaginative stunts or challenges. It may have been worth keeping in a few 'consumer' bits for balance.

 

9 minutes ago, Cade said:

The sheer lack of information surrounding Flintoff's crash is telling.

It must have been really bad.

Hammond's was bad enough but there was wall to wall coverage of that.

With Flintoff there's been barely any details, possibly for legal reasons (possible H&S lawsuit)

I saw someone (possibly Chris Harris) saying that the TG family had closed ranks to protect each other from intrusion. Not in a cover-up sort of way, just saying that no one needs to know.

[Tazio]

11 minutes ago, Cade said:

The sheer lack of information surrounding Flintoff's crash is telling.

It must have been really bad.

Hammond's was bad enough but there was wall to wall coverage of that.

With Flintoff there's been barely any details, possibly for legal reasons (possible H&S lawsuit)

I think it’s like certain types of injured soldiers being paraded before the public in WWI and others being sneaked off the far side of the ship. 
A head injury after a crash is heroic and brave, massive facial injuries less so. 
I also think there is a fair bit of a cover up going on in terms of the on-site safety. Though that is conjecture from me. 

[Malinga the Swinga]

38 minutes ago, Cade said:

The sheer lack of information surrounding Flintoff's crash is telling.

It must have been really bad.

Hammond's was bad enough but there was wall to wall coverage of that.

With Flintoff there's been barely any details, possibly for legal reasons (possible H&S lawsuit)

He settled for millions on compensation. Having seen pictures of him at cricket, his image of good looking lad is gone, but he's already lined up another job coaching in England so he is still earning.

Harris is the one I liked and he was best driver and presenter by a country mile.

Flintoff could have been replaced, as he was in A League of Their Own, by any personality from sporting or entertainment world.

[henrysmithsgloves]

Out of touch rich folk playing with out of reach cars. Load of self entitled rubbish,was good years ago and informative. 

[D4nny_]

Hasn’t been the same since the Clarkson, Hammond and May era. Personally won’t miss it now.

[I P Knightley]

James May speaks well when he says that the format needs a shake up. Very respectful of the efforts made by teams that succeeded them but states the obvious that they never moved the format on.  

[Ribble]

3 hours ago, I P Knightley said:

James May speaks well when he says that the format needs a shake up. Very respectful of the efforts made by teams that succeeded them but states the obvious that they never moved the format on.  

 

It's also failed to keep up with how folks younger than me consume content now, Mat Watson does a lot of the old top gear type motor journalism (sponsored by carwow) on youtube/facebook/tiktok etc and covers car reviews for new models as they are released and also does the slightly dafter stuff like drag races or how far an electric goes before the battery is flat etc

[I P Knightley]

21 minutes ago, Ribble said:

 

It's also failed to keep up with how folks younger than me consume content now, Mat Watson does a lot of the old top gear type motor journalism (sponsored by carwow) on youtube/facebook/tiktok etc and covers car reviews for new models as they are released and also does the slightly dafter stuff like drag races or how far an electric goes before the battery is flat etc

 

I held myself back from writing about this in my last posts. I'm aware that I know next to effall about buying or owning an EV and I might have been better informed if Chris Harris had used one to run over Paddy McGuinness and tell me about the experience on TG.