Chris Evans Top Gear Presenter

[exjagman]

How about a star in their own ridiculously expensive car?

 

[Craiglxviii]

Top Gear will never work without the three stooges, Clarkson could be an irritating buffoon yes, and I was never that keen on Hammond but the show worked well with them and was entertaining, and that's what it's all about.
If you want more tech stuff then watch a documentary.
If the BBC want to have a motoring entertainment show short of bringing back the previous crew, they have to change it completely including the name.

I think the problem is the BBC have assumed that the public wouldn't notice that old-new TG was a show that rested on two, possibly three laurels: The Trio, Andy Wilman(, and) the Writing Team, & Production Team. The Trio and Wilman and half of the Writing Team left to go and work on Grand Tour. The Trio were replaced by Not The Trio, Wilman is a net loss, and the half of the Writing Team were replaced by non-TG writers brought in.

So, in a nutshell it would never work. Or, in the words of Capt. E. Blackadder, "...there was just one tiny flaw. it was bollocks."

So it doesn't change the reality that is, if the BBC want a light entertainment show with motor vehicles loosely based as the theme, they need it to be something completely other than Top Gear, and this is where they came unstuck- Clarkson invented the format, Clarkson was the driving force behind the concept of an entertainment show with cars in it, Wilman turned his ideas into practicality, Wilman made hisn ideas work inside of the very PC, restrictive BBC shell, Wilman smoothed the ruffled feathers that the show left.

So- new show, call it something different, give it a different format, give it a different direction. Whatever it ends up being, it won't and can't be Top Gear short of bringing back the original team again.

 

[A.J.]

In the words of my 15 year old grandson 'Top Gear is dead'

 

[Frontstep]

A technical or grown up review show will have the viewers leaving in droves.
My youth sat down with me for the entertainment, to his generation cars are domestic appliances unless very special.

A sensible review of an E Class or new Ford would not draw him or other punters in.

People were watching a car based sit com where the cast gelled a "Last of the Summer Wine" for car fans.

Trying to recast a sit com that worked usually fails Top Gear is the troublesome three Clarkson May, Hammond .

Imagine trying to replace David Jason in only fools or Mick Jagger in the Stones its a mighty uphill struggle.

 

[Craiglxviii]

A technical or grown up review show will have the viewers leaving in droves.
My youth sat down with me for the entertainment, to his generation cars are domestic appliances unless very special.

A sensible review of an E Class or new Ford would not draw him or other punters in.

People were watching a car based sit com where the cast gelled a "Last of the Summer Wine" for car fans.

Trying to recast a sit com that worked usually fails Top Gear is the troublesome three Clarkson May, Hammond .

Imagine trying to replace David Jason in only fools or Mick Jagger in the Stones its a mighty uphill struggle.

Well it's just impossible really isn't it, you'll end up with something that is not what it was before. Last of the Summer Wine as an example had Michael Bates (Cyril), Brian Wilde (Foggy), Michael Aldridge (Seymour) and Frank Thornton (Truly) as third men to an otherwise stable main "couple"- and maintained almost the same writing team for over 400 years. The show was recognizably the same because only one element changed (and had precedent for doing so)- and stayed popular for the vast majority of its run. A bit like Dr Who(m), it's expected that The Doctor changes (and at each iteration, the show lost and gained fans) but the show remains the same, the themes stay the same, the writing & production team stay generally the same.

Top Gear has changed too much, or has had too much changed, to stay the same. Ergo, it's already dead, what we've seen has been experimental zombification of its corpse which hasn't worked.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

I think we need to remind ourselves that the BBC is a government institution and is funded as such and due to political correctness has become somewhat directionless these days. I very much doubt whether 'Only Fools and Horses' or many of the other classic hard biting satirical series we've enjoyed over the years would be sanctioned nowadays.

Looking across the spectrum of entertainment the BBC broadcasts today it lacks originality and bite which is what's required to provide good entertainment. I feel sorry for the wealth of acting talent whose only chance of a decent income is to populate soaps, what a waste, due to a lack of good scripts and a will by producers to provide something new and take a chance.

It seems to me that people who have made the BBC's board twitch a little have almost become extinct, Clarkson was one of the last of such people, Robin Day, Paxman et al have more or less disappeared not to be replaced unfortunately. I'm afraid good TV on the BBC network, much like the revamped TG, has more or less come to the end of the road unfortunately and a radicle change is well overdue.

 

[Craiglxviii]

I think we need to remind ourselves that the BBC is a government institution and is funded as such and due to political correctness has become somewhat directionless these days. I very much doubt whether 'Only Fools and Horses' or many of the other classic hard biting satirical series we've enjoyed over the years would be sanctioned nowadays.

Looking across the spectrum of entertainment the BBC broadcasts today it lacks originality and bite which is what's required to provide good entertainment. I feel sorry for the wealth of acting talent whose only chance of a decent income is to populate soaps, what a waste, due to a lack of good scripts and a will by producers to provide something new and take a chance.

It seems to me that people who have made the BBC's board twitch a little have almost become extinct, Clarkson was one of the last of such people, Robin Day, Paxman et al have more or less disappeared not to be replaced unfortunately. I'm afraid good TV on the BBC network, much like the revamped TG, has more or less come to the end of the road unfortunately and a radicle change is well overdue.

Well yes and no (and not disagreeing with your sentiments in the least) I think this is the roo of the problem.

The BBC isn't a government institution, it is a public one that is completely and entirely separate from the Government, and paid for by legislation out of the public purse. It has a mandate to provide radio & televisual entertainment and news reporting, and this it continues to do.

Where it is gone wrong though I'll defer to your post above, you've hit the nail squarely on the head. Political Correctness, Inclusivity, Positive Discrimination, Equality, Feminism and the like have all contributed to the anodyneness (if there is such a word) of programming nowadays.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Well yes and no (and not disagreeing with your sentiments in the least) I think this is the roo of the problem.

The BBC isn't a government institution, it is a public one that is completely and entirely separate from the Government, and paid for by legislation out of the public purse. It has a mandate to provide radio & televisual entertainment and news reporting, and this it continues to do.

That's another debate Craig. I agree with the definition but they all dine at the same clubs unfortunately

 

[Craiglxviii]

That's another debate Craig. I agree with the definition but they all dine at the same clubs unfortunately

Oh don't get me wrong- yes they do, in the main. Interestingly the BBC usually mouths off at the Gubmint...

Maybe this is where the BBC should be broken up and parceled off. I don't really watch much of their programming any more.

 

[exjagman]

Political correctness is rarely funny except when it's having the pi** taken out of it.

 

[Frontstep]

Its very hard to be much of a cutting edge with a blunt knife.