***** This thread is now closed, please CLICK HERE to go to Volume 14 *****
Top Gear chat.
Volume 12 is HERE:-
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 29 Jul 13 at 10:14
|
I'm sure some of the features of the old persons car could catch on.
Rear fog light switch that does nothing for instance, and waterproof seat covers.
|
Expect the Daily Wail to start criticising TG soon for being 'ageist'.
A bunch of old duffers from Bournemouth will be trotting out the 'driving for 70 years, never had an accident' horlicks.
|
It made me laugh a lot. What it is to have the sense of humour of an eight year old crossed with that of a simpleton.
|
I found last night's bit on the Fiat Multipla, or rather the Rover James, was the funniest Top Gear I had seen for a very long time.
I thought the bit about having a different squeeky dog toy under each pedal so that the driver knew which one they were pressing was hysterical. And it would actually be quite useful when one considers how many OAPs have come a croper by pressing the wrong pedal in their automatic Hondas and crashing through walls/shopfronts, etc.
And the bit about the noise of an airbag being nothing to someone who had lived through the Blitz. The 'mood room' with the simple life-style and the picture of James May on the wall.
All very funny. To me at least.
|
I tuned in late just in time to catch James May and the Range Rover test thing. The rest was OK I suppose - never heard of the little actor with the beard and the accent - or the dreadful looking film he was promoting. Seemed quite a quick driver though. My wife said she'd had a text to say that the "Reasonably Priced Car" was at the multi make franchise she used to buy her MX5 a few years ago.....
Interestingly she questioned why Charlie Boorman had never been on it. Some web research seems to suggest that JC might have something against him. Rather watch Charlie any day of the week.
Last edited by: R.P. on Mon 25 Feb 13 at 17:07
|
Definately one of their better recent efforts. The old people car, while silly, did make some sound points about how complex cars have become to operate. Looking at those cars JC was looking at before they started the control systems seem stupidly complicated to be operating on the move.
Even I get stumped on occasion, especially by Audi who seem to have taken it upon themselves to make starting and driving away akin to launching the space shuttle - not only that but different models operate differently so there isnt even a common thread from say an Allroad to an A6 - it is infuriating when you dont drive them often. I am rather glad all our cars operate with those old-fashioned key thingies.
|
|
When the thing fell apart on the slip road, I laughed out loud. Puerile and stupid, but Top Gear suits my sense of humour. :-)
|
|
Watch James May in that Range Rover carefully! As he crests a brow, what's that hanging down, did something fall off? It seems to be in one piece later!
|
|
Yes, I clocked that too. I don't think many £100,000 Range Rovers will see that kind of use, though!
|
>> As he crests a brow, what's that hanging down?
I thought it was one of those earthing straps that were fashionable[sic] back in the 80's to help stop static electricity build up.
Of course they were only any good if they actually touched the ground when the car was stationary - of which many weren't and just swung about in the wind.
|
Some good bits tonight, and also shows how lucky we are compared to some of the poorer countries out there.
On the whole I prefer episodes like this away from the studio and also no stupid stars in a reasonably priced car. Ok, some of it was predicatable, and at one point I thought Hammonds Subaru would explode in a fireball after leaving a pan of beans cooking unattended while they were all looking at a map, but for once it didn't happen.
|
|
it does prove tho, to those who didnt know it, how capable that Scooby is.
|
>> it does prove tho, to those who didnt know it, how capable that Scooby is.
Nah, it was all down to the winter tyres.
|
|
Why choose a volvo 850r though? Why not a standard one? What a waste.
|
|
it was chosen for the comedic value, surprised they didn't stick a large fluffy dog in the back, like Rickard Rydell did once at a BTCC race.
|
>> it was chosen for the comedic value, surprised they didn't stick a large fluffy dog
>> in the back, like Rickard Rydell did once at a BTCC race.
What did the stewards think of that?
I'm surprised no-one had a Peugeot 504 estate, I though they were common in Africa?
|
>> What did the stewards think of that?
well funnily enough, fluffy toy dogs were not covered by the regs.
|
|
The grounding on road bumps and getting stuck in the mud was funny the first time, but became tiresome when repeated so frequently. The best bits involved human interaction - the lady selling the bananas, the army lads helping out when they got stuck. The locals all seemed charming.
|
I saw some last night with the sound off. The landscape and those laterite mountain roads made me feel a bit nostalgic because I have been in those parts and had a friend who lived there having married locally.
However no one in their right mind would brave those muddy, rutted places in those cars (perhaps the Subaru, but not willingly) without the off-camera backup from trucks, big 4wd pullers and helicopters.
People are charming in those parts and will always help a traveller in difficulties. However I thought it was a bit off covering those people with mud since it can't have been necessary. I hope a good price was negotiated because they weren't really needed to unstick the vehicles.
I'm sure neither TG nor its presenters are racist proprement dit. But they never let a cheap shot, verbal or visual, pass them by. That's why I don't bother with it any more. Schoolboy carp. I imagine the more intelligent locals in places like Rwanda and Uganda recognize this vulgarity and don't like it much. But needs must when the devil drives.
Personally I was so disgusted by the armchair on the roof of one of the cars that I very nearly stopped watching altogether.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Mon 4 Mar 13 at 14:04
|
|
I was enjoying it but as it progressed so much seemed to be contrived. Seriously, an inch of snow here and the likes of the BMW grind to a halt. So how do they manage the mud plugging? Punctures? There is no way on earth that those vehicles are not going to sustain a shed load of flats on a journey of that nature, so where are the spares? The overnight stay in that lodging house - no way!! No mention of mossies they would be eaten alive in the outdoors.
|
>>Personally I was so disgusted by the armchair on the roof of one of the cars that I very nearly stopped watching altogether<<
I saw a car with a mattress on the roofrack the other day, lucky you didnt see that, may have needed an emergency cup of herbal tea.
|
>> I saw a car with a mattress on the roofrack the other day, lucky you didnt see that, may have needed an emergency cup of herbal tea.
Stu, I was once involved in moving a piano on the roof of an upright Ford Prefect. Alarming and arduous it was too. But that was in London.
There's all the difference in the world between moving crap from one hovel to another here and driving through Africa in an unsuitable vehicle with a crap bit of petty-bourgeois furniture on the roof. It just wasn't funny enough not to be annoying.
|
>> Personally I was so disgusted by the armchair on the roof of one of the
>> cars that I very nearly stopped watching altogether.
Much better performed by Mr Bean.
youtu.be/Zavsd6etz_Q
|
>> better performed by Mr Bean.
Heh heeh, although I'm not a Bean fan...
I have just remembered the tendency of African bystanders to comment audibly on any dramatic event.
I once stayed with a friend of a friend who lived in a rambling compound in the middle of a Dar es Salaam shantytown or working-class suburb, where he passed for a local godfather type. He had a lot of dodgy old motors and lent me a Fiat 125 with virtually no brakes, the servo having developed a leak.
When I went into town a lot of people would ask for lifts to the hardtop road where the buses were, about a mile along a snaking dust road between shacks and adobe buildings. One day with four or five of these passengers in the back and a couple more in the front, the back end of the Fiat started to go sideways on a dusty bend. The alarmed murmur from the two truck drivers under three girls in the back changed in mid-murmur to an approving murmur as I did what you, er, do. It was a quietly pleasing moment.
As a building contractor my host had a truly enormous dumper truck of Soviet manufacture. I rode in it once and it felt as if it could roll over anything, wheels six feet diameter. It kept going wrong though, and I used to chat with the Russian technicians who came from the embassy to fettle it. Russians are very sociable.
|
>> Personally I was so disgusted by the armchair on the roof of one of the cars that I very nearly stopped watching altogether.
The funniest comment on the show - ".. and that's my upstairs sitting arrangement"
Hilarious episode. Looking forward to part 2.
|
|
i was confused, it must be a magical place, because it seemed that the sun set and then rose in the same direction.
|
|
I've been on a business trip in Germany since Friday, but I have this Sky Plussed at home, so look forward to seeing it when I get back home in a few days. Or I might wait until Sunday and watch both parts together. It sounds like fun.
|
>> I've been on a business trip in Germany since Friday, but I have this Sky
>> Plussed at home, so look forward to seeing it when I get back home in
>> a few days. Or I might wait until Sunday and watch both parts together. It
>> sounds like fun.
>>
That depends on one's point of view. As your typical TG lark, it wasn't bad but I don't think I'd tolerate two hours of that nonsense back to back.
|
I bet every one of you who have criticised it watch it next week though:)
Pat
|
>> I bet every one of you who have criticised it watch it next week though:)
>>
>> Pat
>>
Of course. Why ask? We're all gluttons for punishment and it passes an hour on a dark Spring evening before watching the final of DOI.
|
It's a man thing, isn't it?
Pat
|
>>I bet every one of you who have criticised it watch it next week though:)
You're probably right Pat.
I watched it despite taking the pledge a couple of weeks ago, although that is partly because my plan to record and whizz through it was thwarted by the boss's desire to record 'Send for the Midwife" or somesuch.
I felt embarrassed more than anything at them making sport of the locals - illogical, I'm sure they did OK out of cavorting for our amusement.
There must have been some clever editing in there - I can't believe the BMW would go a yard under its own power in that mud - the only one I ever had once got stuck on gently sloping wet grass.
Last edited by: Manatee on Tue 5 Mar 13 at 16:55
|
At one point Clarkson said " I can't think of any car that would cope with this punishment".
I can. All the cars that locals in Africa drive. And the outback for that matter. Old Land Cruisers and Hi luxs. Nissan Patrols. And a car I really liked on an episode of Worlds Most Dangerous Roads. The Lexus lx450.
|
>> I bet every one of you who have criticised it watch it next week though:)
I can't swear that I won't Pat, but I would put the probability no higher than 25 per cent. Just for a start I am not the only person with access to the two zappers needed for the flat screen box with all the channels, and there are often competing and preferable things about history, politics and art.
I am a philistine of course and would rather watch a piece of violent Hollywood schlock* than TG any day. But if nothing else appeals, no one else wants to watch something boring like ballet or opera and I'm not doing something frightfully important like working, drinking, eating or posting here, I might scowl at some of it.
*Like last night's 'Pride and Glory', one of those dramas about a family of Irish police officers in New York, corrupt by definition but some a lot more criminal than others... a pretty nasty movie but to me, watchable. Herself wouldn't have given it three minutes. She just can't bear all the clamour and fake blood splattered on car windows etc.
|
I'm surprised this thread hasn't resurfaced, given that a new series started last night?
The best bit was the sailing/driving race in New Zealand. I would love to have been in James Mays' shoes on that catamaran with Sir Ben. It looked really exhilarating, and of course Clarkson was spot on about hire cars being the fastest cars in the world, even a lowly Toyota Auris/Corolla. The rest of it was business as usual, really.
|
I had no idea it started again. I just check here instead :-)
Need to watch it on iPlayer tonight.
|
Thought it was very good. James May could have bitten his lip a bit given that nearly everyone else would have killed to be in the position that he was in.
Clarkson absolutely spot on about the hire cars, though seeing the Ford Fiesta test brought to mind an interesting psychological thing about Ford cars, vans, and hire cars in general.
The only time I've been in Fords over the last five or six years has been in vans, either hired for uni stuff or working. So the moment I got into a Ford Focus hire car last year, I was a bit disappointed to note that all the instrumentation and switchgear was nicked out of the vans, and not particularly high quality at that. Obviously it's the other way round, but put me off the Fords entirely.
|
I'm with James May on the sailing. My idea of purgatory. Although I do appreciate for many people it would be a dream come true.
Good entertainment with a smattering of laugh out loud moments. The appearance of Charles Dance was a nice touch as well. I'm still a fan of the show.
|
The appearance of the lead singer of AC/DC again was genius!
Pat
|
And astonishingly no slagging off of the new reasonably priced car, it being a Vauxhall which JC is known to dislike.
The supermini section was really good. If I were in the market the Fiesta would be tempting, I just thought the styling and interior of the Peugeot was much better.
|
That Fiesta is probably the first sub £20k car in as long as I can remember that I actually want to own. Fun handling, affordable, quick enough, great looking.
Ironic, as Peugeot were the kings of this kind of car 20 years ago.
|
>> The appearance of the lead singer of AC/DC again was genius!
>>
It was. But Joss Stone looked far prettier to my eyes!
Last edited by: Boxsterboy on Tue 2 Jul 13 at 11:37
|
>> But Joss Stone looked far prettier to my eyes!
>>
The thing of Star in the reasonably-priced car has always been the 'star' leaning forward as Jeremy says "You did it in One... Forty..."
Joss Stone leaned forward, giving Hammond a right eyeful.
|
Focusing on what's important, Jeremy Clarkson's eyebrows have gone grey.
I feel better.
|
>> Focusing on what's important, Jeremy Clarkson's eyebrows have gone grey.
>>
>> I feel better.
Not only that, they are rivalling Dennis Healeys' in stature.
If that had been Richard Hammond, they would have been sheared years ago.
Last edited by: corax on Tue 2 Jul 13 at 21:09
|
Countryfile watched by more people than Top Gear
www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/323808/Countryfile-smashes-Top-Gear-in-ratings/
www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jul/01/top-gear-return-jeremy-clarkson
Had the two programmes swapped channels, (i.e. Contryfile on BBC2 and TG on BBC1) then I'm sure TG would have got the higher viewing figures.
Didn't something like this occur with Have I Got News For You (IIRC) swapped from BBC2 to 1? Suddenly the viewing figures increased.
|
|
Why would swopping the channels change the viewing figures ? - you could say that the way BBC stream their programming across their (generally excellent)channels that TG belongs on BBC3 along with Call Centre and the like !
|
>>Why would swopping the channels change the viewing figures ?
Typical viewing profile of a channel, viewing habits, what was on before or what will be on next etc. etc.
|
|
Probably why BBC have sandwiched Songs of Praises, Antiques Roadshow and Countryfile together on One - the audience profile would be much the same. TG is aimed at a different segment altogether.
|
>> BBC have sandwiched Songs of Praises, Antiques Roadshow and Countryfile together on One>> - the audience profile would be much the same. >>
Excellent news!
My prejudices confirmed in one fell swoop!
|
I do see what you mean Rob, but it has just sort of reminded me that my parents had very entrenched attitudes to TV channels. The only analogy I can think of is parallels with newspaper stereotypes. BBC1 was regarded as safe, in the way of the Mail or the Express with, to them, comfortingly mildly right content. BBC2 was seen as a bit lefty intellectual Guardian-esque and therefore not to be trusted. ITV1 would have been the Mirror and watched reluctantly and as for Channel 4, well forget it, that had swearing and those possibly homosexual types on it and wouldn't even be considered.
Maybe some version of that still exists in some minds and clever media marketing bods will know the viewing trends.
Having scoffed at all this I still find that in our house there is a long term channel dispute over breakfast TV in the kitchen. I default to BBC 1 for some reason but my wife always chooses ITV. I can just about cope with it if required for a short while unless that dreadful Lorraine Kelly is on when I have to leave the room for fear of lobbing something through the screen to shut her up.
|
Quite a good episode - the doing the dreary "star in a..." yawnfest as a "party" was more fun, although I didn't, as ever, know many of the people.
But coincidentally I'm rewatching the various series on Netflix at the moment (lots of fast forwarding), and have just seen again the Vietnam special. There's probably edited highlights on Youtube.
That one was one of the best they made, for me, largely because it focuses more on them, and not their vehicles particularly, and unlike most I'm a great fan of the "cocking about". I laughed a lot.
|
>> Clarkson was spot on about hire cars being the fastest cars in the world
Only repeating what P J O'Rourke said a good thirty (forty ?) years earlier - get a copy of 'Driving like crazy' from somewhere or other and find out how unoriginal Clarkson is
|
Loved the show Sunday.
The taxi demolition derby race was comical, especially splitting the limo in half with the new york cab.
Dougie Lampkin was at his usual best as well.
Jezza mentioned that anyone over the age of 40 will probably recognise Ron Howard from Happy Days. I can remember him from when he was in The Waltons. Night John Boy.
|
|
Unless I'm missing the point or joke, Richard Thomas was John Boy Walton.
|
|
Aye - Ron Howard was one of their neighbours.
|
>> Unless I'm missing the point or joke,
you are,
|
>> you are
Yep, not directed at any one character in The Waltons, just using their 'catchphrase'
|
The skill of both the freerunners and Dougie Lampkin were breathtaking in that Television Centre piece.
|
|
What with all the excitement of the Lions winning Saturday, and Andy Murray winning yesterday afternoon I totally forgot it was on! iPlayer for me then tonight.
|
I know it is all staged, which to be honest doesn't detract at all, but I did notice some motorbike tire marks ahead of where Doug Lampkin was going!
Some of those jumps from Mr Lampkin and the runners were astonishing!
Also, when the runners went through the windows, it really did not look like it was sugar glass, really impressive but it must have been or the Beeb H&S folks would not have allowed it!
|
The skill of both the freerunners and Dougie Lampkin were breathtaking in that Television Centre piece.
Agreed, although the editing and the 'route' was distinctly weird to anyone who knew bits of Television Centre, I worked there for several years.
|
I just watched it.
I have to say that for the first time in many years It thought it was dull and a bit boring.
I usually think its excellent fun and entertainment, but it was just that little bit too contrived and repetitive this time.
And the Broadcasting House segment was quite tedious and anti-climactic. Especially if, as SlidingPillar said, you were at all familiar with the place.
I hope I enjoy it more next week.
p.s. having said that it remains head and shoulders above the awful US version which is what I am usually subjected to.
|
|
Wonder if Clarkson regrets his comments to Hamilton last year about moving down to Mercedes?
|
Just seen, on iPlayer the one with the "cheap" supercars in Spain.
Brought back memories: the thousands on unsold flats and houses - dead true. The sequence's in Puerto Banus , too - we used to go there quite a lot, mostly to goggle at the yachts and celebs and to shop in El Corte Ingles.
Mind you today it's 29°C here, so the heat is not too dissimilar !
|
|
Is it really that bad in Spain?
|
>> Is it really that bad in Spain?
Yes and no. Yes, the crisis has hit incredibly hard, but the country hasn't collapsed entirely. Life is continuing relatively normally for many people. It doesn't all look like the locations in the TG piece. That said, I haven't been to Madrid in years, but I was in Barcelona last year on business. There are certainly quite a few unfinished buildings and empty apartments around the place.
The facts are depressing though. 1 person in every 4 is out of work, and I read an article recently describing how even basic services are struggling. For example, government spending has been cut so drastically that many pharmacists haven't been paid for prescription drugs they have already dispensed, have gone bust as a result, and therefore people are having to travel sometimes hundreds of kms for essential medicine.
However much we complain about the UK, it could be a lot worse.
Last edited by: DP on Tue 16 Jul 13 at 10:09
|
|
they over egged the airport a bit. One of the main reasons it has never been used is because it failed to meet international standards with respect to the runway, and if they plan to use it, the runway needs digging up and widening. Of course the money dried up before that happened.
|
|
I enjoyed the airport stuff. I'd like to think the episode would help boost the Spanish economy. Such a beautiful country shouldn't be left empty.. Although I'd like to drive those empty streets!
|
>> Such a beautiful country shouldn't be left empty.
Perhaps we should send all the illegal immigrants over there to live, instead of them cluttering up this Country.
|
>> >> Such a beautiful country shouldn't be left empty.
>>
>> Perhaps we should send all the illegal immigrants over there to live, instead of them
>> cluttering up this Country.
>>
Fantastic idea!
|
Barcelona still seems to be thriving. Madrid, on the other hand, has fallen apart. It's not just empty apartment blocks; there are empty and incomplete *towns* visible from the air, with roads that just stop in the middle of nowhere.
Three years ago, Madrid airport was - subjectively - busier than Heathrow. Nowadays it's deserted, with perhaps one or two movements per hour. Of course, you still have to speak to 15 controllers on the way in, each earning over €400k.
I still feel that Spain has some way to go and there's yet another big, expensive, crunch coming.
|
We sold the Prelude at the weekend (sob) to a very nice Portuguese guy who has promised to make it great again and meet us at the monthly petrolheads' get-together in Limoges.
His French was better than ours but we got on ok and managed to talk about motoring in general. He said (in partly English) 'I like to watch Top Gear - that Clarkson he eez great'.
Ah well...
Last edited by: Mike Hannon on Tue 16 Jul 13 at 14:51
|
Apparently the Beeb have now bought out the 'shareholders' in Topgear, which is now the most popular factual programme....in the world.
Mr J Clarkson is better off to the tune of £13million pounds (might have been £30 million - my ears are a bit iffy today)) as a result. Of course he will have to pay some tax on that, assuming he isn't actually resident in the Isle of Man or something.
|
. Of course
>> he will have to pay some tax on that, assuming he isn't actually resident in
>> the Isle of Man or something.
Is he still there trying to move all the footpaths?
|
The BBC website has, or had earlier today, a story about them spending 5 million on the Savile enquiry.
It's easy enough to work out this is roughly a fiver per licence payer. I was interested to compare that with how much Top Gear costs each licence payer, but it looks as if finding the budget isn't that obvious, or even available.
Anybody have an idea of the annual cost to make Top Gear?
Last edited by: Crankcase on Tue 16 Jul 13 at 19:47
|
>>Anybody have an idea of the annual cost to make Top Gear?
Don't know the answer to that but you would also need to ask how much it made from the programme as well!!
|
>> The BBC website has, or had earlier today, a story about them spending 5 million
>> on the Savile enquiry.
>>
>> It's easy enough to work out this is roughly a fiver per licence payer. I
>> was interested to compare that with how much Top Gear costs each licence payer, but
>> it looks as if finding the budget isn't that obvious, or even available.
>>
>> Anybody have an idea of the annual cost to make Top Gear?
Cost doesn't matter, its making a fat profit
|
>> they over egged the airport a bit. One of the main reasons it has never
>> been used is because it failed to meet international standards with respect to the runway,
>> and if they plan to use it, the runway needs digging up and widening. Of
>> course the money dried up before that happened.
>>
I believe it was used for a while and then shut down due to it loosing so much cash. Mt Spanish colleague tells me that it really is just like top gear and you can just wonder around it.
|
>> I believe it was used for a while and then shut down due to it
>> loosing so much cash.
I understood it never had a single airline flight, they cant turn the planes round!
|
I believe that it was this airport
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_Real_Central_Airport
unless I have the wrong one!
|
No, I have the wrong one
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellón–Costa_Azahar_Airport
This one has never had a plane land on its runway.
How can one country have TWO such airports!
|
As a middle-aged, middle-class, British white man I find a motoring programme with three presenters of exactly the same profile so tedious. Now, you may accuse me of jealousy, that I'm not as rich as they are and can't pursue my fantasies of pointless play in the same way.
Pointlessness, that's my point. Their exploits are as empty and abandoned as the Spanish airport, roads, housing that they scurried across last Sunday. It reminded me of the elation I used to feel as a 10 year old when went exploring on my bicycle and discovered abandoned places in my home village.
I've moved on, though. I still like to play but I like to give my exploits a purpose. These guys will fade from our screens, pass out of our lives, pass away and history will say "so, what?"
They will only be mourned by their fan base, a tragic generation who have lived their lives, found their adventures through television and computer screens. A generation who worship the same pointless cars that Top Gear worship.
Time has come for a change, a concept greatly feared by those in charge of broadcasting these days. I'm not sure what the new format should be. Go on, BBC executives, surprise me with an innovative concept!
|
>
>> Time has come for a change, a concept greatly feared by those in charge of
>> broadcasting these days. I'm not sure what the new format should be. Go on, BBC
>> executives, surprise me with an innovative concept!
As the programme is now internationally popular and growing, you are in a diminishing minority. As such your views and your withering and unjustified contempt for those who like to watch it, will, quite rightly, be ignored.
Its a sad person that needs to justify their exploits with "purpose"
|
|
There's nothing sadder in this world than the use of "sad" to mean pathetic.
|
|
I actually meant sad, as in unhappy and gloomy - joyless, you misguided pathetic pedant.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 17 Jul 13 at 09:23
|
I have expressed my views about TG over the years and still watch it - which will annoy many - as I always cricise it for its triviality. But I live in hope and hope that the next series will be better but it never is. The current series has been dire up until last Sunday's which was much improved on the first two offerings.
I do watch it with my partner who loathes Clarkson, especially but find the other two stupid as well. I always pray when watching it that the programme will feature someone more apporpriate to mere motoring mortal but seemingly this is not popular with the TG fan base.
I am an avid motoring enthusiast but have never coveted supercars and the antics as exhibited by the 'morons' (as my partner would call them. I find their exploits, in the main, painful in their execution as they are so scripted and edited and 'fixed' and embarrassingly so.
The point is, I want to believe that what they do is honest and real and of course it isn't and I feel cheated, as a consequence.
But I am old now and my views are very much in the minority, here and so I ought to turn off or shut up, I supppose.
|
I am in sympathy more or less with the views of not doctor Chris, and Oldgit, re TG.
The fact that something has reached a peak of commercial success doesn't mean it's good, or couldn't be much better than it is.
The more entertaining bits are interesting despite the presenters, especially Clarkson and Hammond, not because of them.
I get the impression they are struggling to fill the time. The laddishness would be tedious if they were 20 something. In their case it's rather sad (in any sense you like).
|
>> As a middle-aged, middle-class, British white man I find a motoring programme with three presenters
>> of exactly the same profile so tedious.
Why would someone of a different gender, colour or differing age bracket necessarily enhance your viewing spectacle?
Vicky Butler-Henderson for example is irritating to me..she squeaks too much. I'm sure there is a lady presenter out there that wouldn't irritate me with cars..Sabine wotsername, the very fast Nurburgring driver, now she came acros well....but why focus in on the white middle aged presenter? Why would you need a different format in that sort of programme?
|
>> They will only be mourned by their fan base, a tragic generation who have lived
>> their lives, found their adventures through television and computer screens. A generation who worship the
>> same pointless cars that Top Gear worship.
>> Time has come for a change, a concept greatly feared by those in charge of
>> broadcasting these days. I'm not sure what the new format should be. Go on, BBC
>> executives, surprise me with an innovative concept!
Wow, stereotyping an entire generation based on the success of one TV programme.
Just when you think you've encountered every example of blinkered thinking on the interweb, it surprises you with an even more blatant one.
I think you will also find that Top Gear is enjoyed by people of all ages. 300 million of them globally, I seem to recall.
As for change, why? What could they possibly do to Top Gear, or replace it with, that would net the same audience figures and profit?
You are of course perfectly entitled to dislike Top Gear, but I can't work out if the irony in your use of the word "tragic" to describe its fans is deliberate, or just brilliantly accidental.
Last edited by: DP on Wed 17 Jul 13 at 11:41
|
My experience of Northern Spain was very different, although to be fair I was mostly in tourist places apart from Tarragona and even that gets a lot of tourism
I suspect it is the inland parts of Spain that suffer in terms of housing developments as they won't have the same tourist market. Of course you can find similar empty developments in Dublin.
|
>> No, I have the wrong one
>>
>> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellón–Costa_Azahar_Airport
>>
>> This one has never had a plane land on its runway.
>>
>> How can one country have TWO such airports!
>>
Yes, that's the other one he talked about. Said it was all a coruption deal or something, and the need for the airport never existed
|
Top Gear is light entertainment.
The fact that it is about cars is incidental.
|
It's also very popular with people who of course, only watch it to be able to criticise.
This increases it's popularity, viewing figures and cements a format which obviously works.
Pat
|
|
I gave up on TG about 3 series ago. For me the whole format has been done to death, and everything now is so obviously staged and scripted that you can see every "incident" coming a mile off. With the specials there will be a fire, an accident with a winch and JC and/or RH will drive into the back of JM's car ! However there does not seem to be much call for an old style TG type programme and the viewing figures suggest that millions of people still enjoy watching it
|
Top Gear - 24/02/13 - VxFan