Chindie Posted December 29, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted December 29, 2011 I don't think anyone thinks Top Gear is a car review show - they've had... lets be kind, 6 years say, to come to conclusion it's not a car review show now. Anyone who is watching now who wants car reviews has not been paying attention for half a decade. The problem the show has now is that, whilst it's an entertainment show, the whole thing has worn tired. It's not particularly entertaining, it's lost it's edge. It was entertaining when they weren't **** around with painfully scripted shit - they almost seem to be trying to make you laugh because it's so obviously painfully scripted, but failing, because instead they either achieve something thats not funny because they miss the subtleties of the obvious scripting angle, or not funny because the scenario isn't funny. It fundamentally fails. It's lowest common denominator shit, its like a really bad modern take on the Goodies. I've enjoyed 'new' Top Gear since the beginning and the show has clearly evolved and for a good few seasons it was a huge success in every way. They then made a fundamental error, around the time that 'Top Gear' became the thing BBC2 pinned all it's hopes on and everyone seemed to watch it. They decided that shit like the caravan trip was what the show should focus on. And sure some of them are funny - the caravan skit was funny, if predictably low brow, they kinda got the balance right with it. And the motorhome skit had it's moments. And a few others. But they seem to have forgotten that they could do great bits of non-dumb TV. I dunno about anyone else but I enjoyed the likes of Clarkson taking a hot Mercedes to Wales one morning. Or taking 3 luxury sports coupes to the Isle of Man. Not in themselves comedic but they entertained all the same. Currently the show is killing itself. The 'characters' are shite. Hammond cannot act for toffee whatsoever. I don't hold Clarkson's politics against him but I'd rather not have to have it wheeled into a light show that ultimately is car based. It isn't funny. It's painfully predictable, uninteresting. The India special had the potential for some superb stuff. They've done fantastic road trip stuff before, and India is an incredible country. Instead they served up painful rubbish they could have been done anywhere on the planet, in any set of cars, with anyone playing the roles. It's sad they risk ruining the memory of some good fun TV with this crap. It's like a band who made 3 great albums, then decided the experimental stuff that got some good comments should be used to form the foundation of the bands future - and it didn't work, making it all the back catalogue have a slightly sour taste in retrospective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted December 29, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted December 29, 2011 The main part of Top Gears entertainment value for me is their hair styles.......how bouffant can you get, hair dryers at the ready, rollers, hairpspray the full works, the shows a joke. Another boys only, middle class, BBC waste of taxes. The public want a car show, they want to see £10k sports cars, £2k baggers, £5k luxury cars, £20k new cars. The BBC however wants to shows middle age ego driven crap comedians. If you want to laugth then watch only fools and horses.......or perhaps we are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 2, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted January 2, 2012 I've been sayign for ages, they're not even trying to hide the fact that it's scripted anymore. If they're going to keep up the challenges, what they need to do is do one that is genuinely unscripted. And make a big thing of it. Admit it's scripted and say that this one genuinely isn't. I bet they still get funny stuff. It'll be less frequent than the "funny" moments they have now, but I'd bet they'll be 10 times funnier because of it. I remember when it either wasn't scripted, or at least I was sold on the illusion that it wasn't scripted. I remember nearly wetting myself in the one where they had to drive their cars/boats across a lake and they capsized. Much more simple and either real, or so believable that I believed it was real. And 10 times funnier because of it. They're just trying too hard now. As Chindie said, if they removed some of the focus off the challenges it would be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johneeboy Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Top Gear is an entertainment show based around cars which enthusiasts enjoyed. Now it is just an entertainment show based upon the characters; Clarkson, May and Hammond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 but the problem is like most entertainment shows those characters just arent funny anymore, hammond was never funny in the 1st place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trekka Posted January 2, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted January 2, 2012 I used to adore Top Gear. I loved the caravan skit, the "3 cars turned to boats" and even the American special. Sadly, it has all turned into a bit of same old, same old. They need to go back to their roots - get some proper reviews, do some stuff that actually merits it for being a car show and keep the challenges to just what they were so great at...being spontaneous, testing the limits and with ad-hoc humour. I feel like they've run out of ideas which is a real shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Watched this last night ..think there was only 1 real LOL moment the rest of it was kinda predictable ..you knew Hammond was going to lose a load of the food off the top of the car , you knew the banners were going to produce a Fnarr! Fnarr! moment etc I did that same night time journey they did between Jaipur and Delhi (in the opposite direction mind) and that did bring back a few memories and it really is 100 times scarier in the flesh but it probably wasn't great TV for anyone that hasn't seen just how bad those roads are It was their trip through Vietnam that helped convince me to go there (Ha Long bay in particular) .. can't say the same thing about their Indian adventure and I think they missed a trick really by picking the wrong locations ... They could have picked Darjeeling for the altitude and Himalayas views then they could have raced the toy train (it's a narrow gauge railway hence the name) up the mountain ... Darjeeling is also home to the worlds highest horse race track (though I think it may now be an army barracks ) but I'm sure they could still have had fun with it and the icing on the cake is you can see Everest from Tiger Hill (it's breath taking) but either way the next Special needs a big shake up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I finally got around to watching it, and I think I agree with pretty much everything said so far. I found myself trying to guess which order the jokes would be wheeled out in this time. Has somebody got lost? Check. Is there an unintentionally amusing caption painted on the side of something? Check. Have they vandalised May's car while he was conveniently absent? Check. Has something accidentally broken or fallen over and been captured by multiple camera angles we are not supposed to think about? Check. The bit where May was standing in line for train tickets for "two hours" (despite them already having put their cars on the the train) only to "find out" he had been standing in the wrong queue was a real low point. I did enjoy the night driving section and the game of cricket at the end, but there was simply too much filler. It's a real shame, because Top Gear is a great show. You only have to look back to episodes like the Ayrton Senna documentary/Schumacher as the Stig to see how great the show can be. That was, what, two years ago? If they steer the show back to a bunch of blokes messing about in cars and having a laugh then they still have a winner. If they keep trying to turn it into a sitcom then I'm out. I assume the production team have seen the reaction to the show on the internet (everywhere I have seen pretty much mirrors this) and taken the criticism on board. Hopefully they will do something about it, because it is an easy fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Bump, just to say how much I enjoyed the new episode this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 spooky ..just this second finished watching it on i-player and came here to say t'was a decent episode .. must admit i prefer the Albania type episodes with getting the fat man into the boot over speed tests in super cars but it was still quite a good finale on the track Super cars are still pointless though .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Enjoyed it too, good episode. The Noble is quite an interesting car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ads Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Bump, just to say how much I enjoyed the new episode this week. There must be a way to make blue smoke come out of all of our cars! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Bump, just to say how much I enjoyed the new episode this week. There must be a way to make blue smoke come out of all of our cars! i always thought blue smoke meant the car was burning too much oil ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted February 1, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted February 1, 2012 It was better than the Christmas special, but then so would be 90 minutes of the test card. It kinda felt like they were struggling to fill the show, they had the main feature, and it was only broken up by the news, which is becoming painful as it increasingly turns into a more knowingly 'slick' comedic section, and the Star in the Reasonably Priced Car, which barring a couple of exceptions, has universally been shit, and that was it. Usually they at least have another minor segment. The feature was decent but was undermined by the acted/scripted bits, almost universally for me by Richard Hammond. I don't how it hasn't dawned on them yet that he's terrible. He cannot do those bits, he's cringe inducingly bad. The standing around waiting for the tow truck, come off it lads, it wouldn;t have been funny if it'd been the other 2, it certainly wouldn't with Hammond. And the 'broken clutch' - **** off, **** off did it happen and **** off do I believe Hammond got it out for you. It ruined the segment a little for me. The increasingly obvious act (and seemingly confidence in doing it, even on Hammonds atrocious front) is shit. Stop it. The preview of the series looked decent but I spied an obvious 'challenge/build' skit that featured Hammond being all 'dumb funny, lolz' that immediately made me think 'I bet that episode is going to be painful'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 ^^ Think you are being a bit harsh It was better than the India Special and felt at least a little more like a car show again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houlston Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Chindie, I agree with your view on it and also the annoyance of it, especially Hammond closely followed by Clarkson with only May slightly bearable but I dont see why the clutch could not have broken especially on the Noble. He's not even a real hamster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethRDR Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 He's not even a real hamster. This has tickled me more than I thought it would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houlston Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I cant take credit it for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Chindie, I agree with your view on it and also the annoyance of it, especially Hammond closely followed by Clarkson with only May slightly bearable but I dont see why the clutch could not have broken especially on the Noble. Absolutely. The clutch breaking was genuine, if it was scripted then they would have made sure they captured it happening from eight different camera angles before pretending it was an accident, this was nothing like that. The surly breakdown guy was for the cameras, but I can live with that. I have to say I thought will.i.am came across as a top bloke too. Really surprised by how cool he was, and if it wasnt for the fact that his band has been responsible for some of the most bland and terrible music of the past ten years I might even admit that I quite liked him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted February 1, 2012 Moderator Share Posted February 1, 2012 The clutch had to have been genuine otherwise they'd have faced a Tesla-esque court case from Noble about misrepresenting the reliability of their car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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