If you don't like it, switch over or turn off the TV and read your Guardian. Simples.
An interesting opinion. Let me say why I think it's flawed and it's certainly not that simple. First, I'm a petrolhead. However, about four years ago, I did exactly what you said - I turned off Top Gear. (Although I'd rather get a Millwall season ticket than read the paper you refer to.) The thing is cars are a big part of our lives. The BBC should be providing us with an informative car-related magazine programme and it is failing to get anywhere close to that. By the time I stopped watching it, Top Gear has morphed into a show which had very little to do with cars and motoring: i was just an entertainment programme filmed in a shed. And a very poor one at that. We got no reliable analysis (although Clarkson certainly does put the anal in analysis) of new cars, no decent road tests and no decent comparisons between like-for-like vehicles. And, on top of that, we got presenters telling lies about cars and their attributes thus actually misinforming viewers. So, just turning off the programme because you think Clarkson and his minions are just a bunch of ((i)) s is not the answer because it means the national broadcaster is failing to provide a watchable, informative, meaningful programme about an important topic for many people. Whether you think a caravan being blown up is amusing TV or not it is not a programme providing the service we deserve.
You can always watch 5th Gear, that has a few more comparisions on it, although they do like the to ape some of the TG stuff but fail because of lack of money and script writers. Top Gear stopped being a motoring programme years ago. Cars, as a subject, are dull as diswater. We all can afford the run of the mill Focus/Astra/Civic/308 etc, what I like to see is cars so exotic I will never have them. I dont think it is a poor entertanment programme as you say, (maybe not your thing), it sell througout the world and is agood earner for the BBC.
But I didn't say it was a poor entertainment programme, just a useless car magazine programme.
And will there be another series of Fifth Gear or will it go the way of C4's Driven? (Or Drivel as it was fondly known.)
The three presenters are now playing to their TV cartoon characters a bit too much. It's fair to say this incarnation of Top Gear is nearer the end than the beginning, and the job is to land this plane with its dignity still intact. Not me saying that but Andy Wilman, the show's producer! Sorry, Andy you left it too late.
just an entertainment programme filmed in a shed. And a very poor one at that.
Ooops! Guilty as charged. (Must re-read posts, must re-read posts!)
You are probably right about it being nearer its end and the 3 presenters, you only have to watch the ealier programmes on Dave to to the characters develop. Also the series has shorter seasons now.
Everything has a shelf life, I suppose all the time it sell well we will keep having the specials. I really do think there is a large element of setup in all these little incidentsTG seems to have each series.
So Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross leave a stupid voice mail whilst on the radio and are publicly ruined and then sacked off, but Clarkson can be racist, pull stupid stunt after stunt, and still get away with it? When will the BBC stop spending out Licence money on this big, curly haired pillock.
Enough is enough. Send him back to writing columns for the telegraph or Daily Mail, and get him off of our screens.
So Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross leave a stupid voice mail whilst on the radio and are publicly ruined and then sacked off, but Clarkson can be racist, pull stupid stunt after stunt, and still get away with it? When will the BBC stop spending out Licence money on this big, curly haired pillock.
Enough is enough. Send him back to writing columns for the telegraph or Daily Mail, and get him off of our screens.
If you don't like it, switch over or turn off the TV and read your Guardian. Simples.
An interesting opinion. Let me say why I think it's flawed and it's certainly not that simple. First, I'm a petrolhead. However, about four years ago, I did exactly what you said - I turned off Top Gear. (Although I'd rather get a Millwall season ticket than read the paper you refer to.) The thing is cars are a big part of our lives. The BBC should be providing us with an informative car-related magazine programme and it is failing to get anywhere close to that. By the time I stopped watching it, Top Gear has morphed into a show which had very little to do with cars and motoring: i was just an entertainment programme filmed in a shed. And a very poor one at that. We got no reliable analysis (although Clarkson certainly does put the anal in analysis) of new cars, no decent road tests and no decent comparisons between like-for-like vehicles. And, on top of that, we got presenters telling lies about cars and their attributes thus actually misinforming viewers. So, just turning off the programme because you think Clarkson and his minions are just a bunch of ((i)) s is not the answer because it means the national broadcaster is failing to provide a watchable, informative, meaningful programme about an important topic for many people. Whether you think a caravan being blown up is amusing TV or not it is not a programme providing the service we deserve.
You can always watch 5th Gear, that has a few more comparisions on it, although they do like the to ape some of the TG stuff but fail because of lack of money and script writers. Top Gear stopped being a motoring programme years ago. Cars, as a subject, are dull as diswater. We all can afford the run of the mill Focus/Astra/Civic/308 etc, what I like to see is cars so exotic I will never have them. I dont think it is a poor entertanment programme as you say, (maybe not your thing), it sell througout the world and is agood earner for the BBC.
But I didn't say it was a poor entertainment programme, just a useless car magazine programme.
And will there be another series of Fifth Gear or will it go the way of C4's Driven? (Or Drivel as it was fondly known.)
The three presenters are now playing to their TV cartoon characters a bit too much. It's fair to say this incarnation of Top Gear is nearer the end than the beginning, and the job is to land this plane with its dignity still intact. Not me saying that but Andy Wilman, the show's producer! Sorry, Andy you left it too late.
just an entertainment programme filmed in a shed. And a very poor one at that.
Ooops! Guilty as charged. (Must re-read posts, must re-read posts!)
You are probably right about it being nearer its end and the 3 presenters, you only have to watch the ealier programmes on Dave to to the characters develop. Also the series has shorter seasons now.
Everything has a shelf life, I suppose all the time it sell well we will keep having the specials. I really do think there is a large element of setup in all these little incidentsTG seems to have each series.
That's kind of the problem I have with Top Gear recently, there is Jeremy Clarkson the real person and 'Jeremy Clarkson' the character he plays on TV, the same applies to the other two to not quite the same extent. It seems more and more like he deliberately sets out to offend (some) people instead of simply not caring if people are offended or not.
'Real' Clarkson would no doubt still crack (non PC) jokes about the Falklands War in an Argentina-based episode. ''Jeremy Clarkson'' ends up sticking it on the numberplate. It's a small but significant difference.
So Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross leave a stupid voice mail whilst on the radio and are publicly ruined and then sacked off, but Clarkson can be racist, pull stupid stunt after stunt, and still get away with it? When will the BBC stop spending out Licence money on this big, curly haired pillock.
Enough is enough. Send him back to writing columns for the telegraph or Daily Mail, and get him off of our screens.
I can only assume the racist accusation refers to a different incident from that being talked about here??
So Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross leave a stupid voice mail whilst on the radio and are publicly ruined and then sacked off, but Clarkson can be racist, pull stupid stunt after stunt, and still get away with it? When will the BBC stop spending out Licence money on this big, curly haired pillock.
Enough is enough. Send him back to writing columns for the telegraph or Daily Mail, and get him off of our screens.
I can only assume the racist accusation refers to a different incident from that being talked about here??
So Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross leave a stupid voice mail whilst on the radio and are publicly ruined and then sacked off, but Clarkson can be racist, pull stupid stunt after stunt, and still get away with it? When will the BBC stop spending out Licence money on this big, curly haired pillock.
Enough is enough. Send him back to writing columns for the telegraph or Daily Mail, and get him off of our screens.
I can only assume the racist accusation refers to a different incident from that being talked about here??
The N word he used in a video, the slur he made in the Top Gear goes to Burma I read about. Just the 2 recent ones!
If they really wanted to offend the Argies, Top Gear should have just got the England football team to hold up a banner that says "the Falklands belong to Britain". But we shouldnt do that as that would clearly upset too many people
Hammond said on Chris Evans show....''the idea that we'd planned that is pretty much impossible and certainly isn't true." He said it was the choice of cars that came first and Clarkson had dedided he had wanted a Porsche 928 GT for the trip which saw the team journeying through Argentina and Chile. "We didn't look at the plates," said Hammond. "I've never looked at a number plate that we've used on a car for a special. Not with that kind of cynical outlook. You just get the car you want. There were only two of those 928 GTs for sale in the UK at the time - one of which was the one that we got."
Hammond said on Chris Evans show....''the idea that we'd planned that is pretty much impossible and certainly isn't true." He said it was the choice of cars that came first and Clarkson had dedided he had wanted a Porsche 928 GT for the trip which saw the team journeying through Argentina and Chile. "We didn't look at the plates," said Hammond. "I've never looked at a number plate that we've used on a car for a special. Not with that kind of cynical outlook. You just get the car you want. There were only two of those 928 GTs for sale in the UK at the time - one of which was the one that we got."
Hammond said on Chris Evans show....''the idea that we'd planned that is pretty much impossible and certainly isn't true." He said it was the choice of cars that came first and Clarkson had dedided he had wanted a Porsche 928 GT for the trip which saw the team journeying through Argentina and Chile. "We didn't look at the plates," said Hammond. "I've never looked at a number plate that we've used on a car for a special. Not with that kind of cynical outlook. You just get the car you want. There were only two of those 928 GTs for sale in the UK at the time - one of which was the one that we got."
Instead of saying 'yeah we thought it would be funny to annoy the Argies, we're a very witty and erudite bunch'?
Oh, OK then, thanks for definitively clearing that up for us all. Not sure why we even need a discussion forum. We'll just ask you what's going on.
oooOOOOooooo!! :P
Arthur, I dunno where you've been but this is the 5th page of this thread....the discussion has already been had.
So you believe Richard Hammonds explanation that it was all an unfortunate mistake...again. Like all the other unfortunate mistakes Top Gear has made over the years. Fair enough....but I think he's a lieing little shit. They knew full well what they were doing cos it's what they do.
The car was registered with the offending plate in 2001, I find it hard to believe they based the hole idea of the trip around that particular car because of the plate on it.
The car was registered with the offending plate in 2001, I find it hard to believe they based the hole idea of the trip around that particular car because of the plate on it.
The car was registered with the offending plate in 2001, I find it hard to believe they based the whole idea of the trip around that particular car because of the plate on it.
Draizetrain do you base you're "he's a liar" comment on any facts or just what you think? Not being argumentative just I have read the explanation by Andy Wilman the Top Gear boss and it sounds entirely plausible. To go to the trouble of finding cars that fit the criteria for the show with a number plate that would have some ulterior motive seems too far fetched, remembering that the plate had been on that car for the last 13 years.
Obviously its just what I think because they (Top Gear) never admit to any wrong doing....they never do.
They may not have based the whole idea of the trip around the offending plate but they certainly knew of its significance and chose to go with it anyway. They could have gone with any number of car/plate but specifically chose that one....and we all know why.
So no one in the whole Top Gear team checked the license plate? No one at any point even logged it down, maybe for any documentation.
If the whole show really is run by people with peanuts in their skulls than fair enough, but to not pick up on the significance of a year the British had a war with the Argentinians with 3 letters representing where it is fought, sounds ridiculous.
Amazing, I wouldn't have thought a BBC programme complete with UK film crew would have any problems filming in the back of beyond in a country we went to war with and still have an on going dispute with. The cars and plates are a bit of side issue, this was trouble from the off.
Hammond said on Chris Evans show....''the idea that we'd planned that is pretty much impossible and certainly isn't true." He said it was the choice of cars that came first and Clarkson had dedided he had wanted a Porsche 928 GT for the trip which saw the team journeying through Argentina and Chile. "We didn't look at the plates," said Hammond. "I've never looked at a number plate that we've used on a car for a special. Not with that kind of cynical outlook. You just get the car you want. There were only two of those 928 GTs for sale in the UK at the time - one of which was the one that we got."
He's a liar.
Well. there's currently 24 available on the Pistonheads web site and 43 on car and classic (with some overlap obviously) so someone's telling porkies.
" To Argentina. We of the CL offended bus apologise to you over the antics of Top Gear. It was very wrong of them to remind you of a war you started"
I don't care about the Argentinians sensibilities at all. My concern is a bunch of overgrown schoolboys pissing vast quantities of the BBC's money down the bog on an aborted production which will, now, no doubt have to be replaced with another expensive overseas jaunt at the licence payers expense.
" To Argentina. We of the CL offended bus apologise to you over the antics of Top Gear. It was very wrong of them to remind you of a war you started"
I don't care about the Argentinians sensibilities at all. My concern is a bunch of overgrown schoolboys pissing vast quantities of the BBC's money down the bog on an aborted production which will, now, no doubt have to be replaced with another expensive overseas jaunt at the licence payers expense.
Comments
Everything has a shelf life, I suppose all the time it sell well we will keep having the specials. I really do think there is a large element of setup in all these little incidentsTG seems to have each series.
Enough is enough. Send him back to writing columns for the telegraph or Daily Mail, and get him off of our screens.
'Real' Clarkson would no doubt still crack (non PC) jokes about the Falklands War in an Argentina-based episode. ''Jeremy Clarkson'' ends up sticking it on the numberplate. It's a small but significant difference.
I hate wars,
Maybe the locals(who wanted to stone the top gear team) were related to the 16 year old conscripts who thought they were liberating a nearby island.
My Dad went to war at 17, who thought he was liberating a nearby country (France)
I hate wars
RIP
He said it was the choice of cars that came first and Clarkson had dedided he had wanted a Porsche 928 GT for the trip which saw the team journeying through Argentina and Chile.
"We didn't look at the plates," said Hammond. "I've never looked at a number plate that we've used on a car for a special. Not with that kind of cynical outlook. You just get the car you want. There were only two of those 928 GTs for sale in the UK at the time - one of which was the one that we got."
Not sure why we even need a discussion forum.
We'll just ask you what's going on.
Arthur, I dunno where you've been but this is the 5th page of this thread....the discussion has already been had.
So you believe Richard Hammonds explanation that it was all an unfortunate mistake...again. Like all the other unfortunate mistakes Top Gear has made over the years. Fair enough....but I think he's a lieing little shit. They knew full well what they were doing cos it's what they do.
To go to the trouble of finding cars that fit the criteria for the show with a number plate that would have some ulterior motive seems too far fetched, remembering that the plate had been on that car for the last 13 years.
They may not have based the whole idea of the trip around the offending plate but they certainly knew of its significance and chose to go with it anyway. They could have gone with any number of car/plate but specifically chose that one....and we all know why.
If the whole show really is run by people with peanuts in their skulls than fair enough, but to not pick up on the significance of a year the British had a war with the Argentinians with 3 letters representing where it is fought, sounds ridiculous.
The cars and plates are a bit of side issue, this was trouble from the off.