Top Gear

[very-near]

Um, did I say you did?

I wasn't talking about that kind of anti-social behaviour. Clarkson (both on Top Gear and in his various writings) espouses a certain kind of willfully ignorant screw-the-environment, screw-the-law, Daily Mail attitude that can be amusing but which more often than not comes across as downright immature.

Matthew

Has it ever occurred to you that your opinion might not be the correct one ?

 

[John the Monkey]

Absolute nonsense. You don't have to be behind the wheel of a car to behave like a total knob.

Indeed.

Take a walk through any town centre at kicking out time on friday or saturday night and you will see people behaving like total tools whilst nowhere near a car.

Yep.

Imo, Top Gear does contribute to the general attitude (or possibly simply reflects and reinforces) the general attitude of Britons to road use - that opinion isn't incompatible with the fact that people behave poorly elsewhere. (To take your example above, Britain's drinking culture is similarly reinforced and reflected culturally, I'd argue, although it probably needs a "Top Beer" programme to be exactly comparable).

 

[ianrauk]

Have only seen clips of a couple of episodes and one full episode, one of the specials when they went to the north pole. It's far too scripted imo, but that seems to be the norm with TV shows these days.

 

[John the Monkey]

What do you reckon peeps, a 20 pager, this one?

 

[Billloudon]

Wouldn't miss it!
Outstanding.

 

[swee'pea99]

I saw a comment from one of the producers a while back where he said something along the lines of, People seem to think Top Gear is about cars. It's not. It's about three middle aged blokes having a laugh. That's why so many people love it.

I certainly do. And so do my girls. And they don't give a toss about cars.

 

[Ben M]

the two talentless sidekicks

James May is far from talentless, his articles are very good.

 

[Fnaar]

I don't watch it often, but have found it reasonably amusing when I've seen it. Yes, seems more about blokes having a laugh... cars are merely the pegs on which this hangs.

 

[Wigsie]

Has it ever occurred to you that your opinion might not be the correct one ?

How can an opinion be the wrong one?

I love Top Gear, always have.... its the only time I let my son stay up late on a school night as he is a mini petrol head, we saw a Bugatti Veyron on the M20 and he burst into tears, he was crying tears of joy for about 20 minutes. He watches the repeats on Dave and BBC 3 and IMO its better that lots of cr*p kids shows he could be watching.

Clarkson et al. are essentially actors and they play up to the camera/media... I am sure their views are similar in their private life but perhaps less exagerated.

It is the BBC's most popular programme Worldwide so I get a bit confused why they only have 6-9 episodes a season and are always talking about axing it or cutting budgets.

 

[Chrisz]

Wouldn't miss it!
Outstanding.

Ditto - love it!

At the moment it makes Sunday TV perfect - F1 in the afernoon followed by ITV4 for le Tour and a quick flick over to BBC2 for Top Gear.

The wife has finally accepted that Sunday is, for me, Church of TV day (she's learnt not to even bother disturbing me while TdF & TG are on).

 

[accountantpete]

James May is far from talentless, his articles are very good.

Sorry I have only had the misfortune to read the piss poor drivel in the Saturday Telegraph - he may be better elsewhere(no pun intended).

 

[Wigsie]

Ditto - love it!

At the moment it makes Sunday TV perfect - F1 in the afernoon followed by ITV4 for le Tour and a quick flick over to BBC2 for Top Gear.

The wife has finally accepted that Sunday is, for me, Church of TV day (she's learnt not to even bother disturbing me while TdF & TG are on).

Same here, my eldest already loves it all but the 2 year old has just started watching F1, top gear and TdF as he likes the cars/bikes combo on a sunday too!

The wife gets the remote control at 9pm if she is lucky.

 

[Mr Pig]

It shouldn't work. Clarkson is an opinionated arse, Hammond would be cringworthingly self-conscious in a Davina McCall sort of way without the other two to detract attention and May has to be one of the most unlikely starts of an action-based entertainment show I can think of. But not only does it work but it's appeal is staggeringly wide for a car show. Even my eight-year-old daughter loves it! The BBC better enjoy it now because they'll never get such an unlikely format to work again.

Talking of formats, I've often thought that James May would be a stunningly good chat show host. He's intelligent and articulate yet not pompous or overbearing in any way. I think he could successfully interview a very wide range of people from cinema stars to inventors and explorers. A worthy sucsesor to Parkinson, unlike that tosser Ross.

 

[swee'pea99]

Talking of formats, I've often thought that James May would be a stunningly good chat show host. He's intelligent and articulate yet not pompous or overbearing in any way. I think he could successfully interview a very wide range of people from cinema stars to inventors and explorers. A worthy sucsesor to Parkinson, unlike that tosser Ross.

I think you could be onto something there Mr Pig.

 

[Wigsie]

[quote name='swee'pea99']I think you could be onto something there Mr Pig.[/quote]

+1 he would be great IMO.... Mind you Joe24 would be better than wossy these days!