Top Gear Series 22

[lhassall]

Show had become utterly stale and predictable. He should have walked away when it was at its peak, not run it into the ground. Peak UK viewing figures were 2007-2009. Only specials and controversies got the viewing figures near what regular episodes got back then.

• Clarkson drives the "new" XYZ Turbo (launched a year before) up and down a runway, with slow motion powerslides
• A scripted news sequence no more interesting than something you'd overhear in a pub
• Scripted challenge where "spontaneous" accidents just happen to be covered by 3 cameras
• A "star" who can't even drive and only there to promote their new album/movie
• 10 minute filler argument between the presenters
• End

I'm sure they'll revive the format elsewhere but without the brand and selling power of BBC Worldwide, it'll never be as big.

[JAF EVANS]

I'm not so sure you could call a program that earned the BBC upwards of £150M as stale. Let alone state it had been run into the ground.

Opinions obviously vary, but I'll stick my neck out and say yours is wrong.

[sxbaz]

Could you imagine the episode? " tonight on fail gear I sit and scour ebay for a pair of door cards, then we're going to inspect some pistons for possible detonation damage, finished off by watching me polish my strut brace "

Somehow doesn't seem as appealing as blowing up caravans and sky diving into lambos...

with the bbcs budget you would be blowing stuff up and thrashing lambos etc... a petrol head who would do all the cool sh!t we'd like to do has got to be better than a robot from another car show

[Jon]

I just heard that Zayn Malik could be part of Top Gear 2016.

[JAF EVANS]

[ryry92]

I'm not so sure you could call a program that earned the BBC upwards of £150M as stale. Let alone state it had been run into the ground.

Opinions obviously vary, but I'll stick my neck out and say yours is wrong.

+1

[R3K1355]

Opinions obviously vary, but I'll stick my neck out and say yours is wrong.

I'll stick my neck out and say they probably still watched it anyway, but still bitched about it.

"Whine Whine, bleat bleat"
"Powersliding supercars is boring man, so repetitive"

What would you rather see done with them??

[Mattharvey12]

I agree it had become very samey and they had done pretty much everything imaginable, but I still found the programme much more entertaining than The One Show which has different VT's every single episode.

[sideways14a]

With a possible debate today on the future of that wee twerp Bercow ... could we soon see Clarkson be the new speaker of the house as his new job.

Make politics interesting again lol.

[JAF EVANS]

"

I'll stick my neck out and say they probably still watched it anyway, but still bitched about it.

+1

[docwra]

+1 again, this series was the best in ages.

[Clint]

+1 again, this series was the best in ages.

Ditto, was enjoying this series myself. Would be great if JC finished the last few eps, but I can't see it happening

[R3K1355]

I wouldn't be surprised if they edited together whatever they had left, and purposefully excluded anything that involved Clarkson.

[sideways14a]

They could release them on the web, the pieces done already.

[R3K1355]

They'd want to produce one or two episodes - so they can flog them off to international broadcasters as part of the final series.

[Zornyan]

It's funny how people at work I've spoken to and general people that don't watch the show all condemn him and say they never liked the bloke. Personally regardless if they did some or mostly the same crap each week, I generally had a good laugh g have watching the show, between lusting over cars I'll never be able to afford, and the general banter. It was a light hearted show with a presenter that was so condescending and opinionated that it was funny.

Truly hope that he gets on to sky or itv and starts up a similar show again.

[Clint]

A lot of JC's personality is just that, a personality, a character. He's playing the part of the over the top patriotic, very British, damn the rest of the world baboon. It keeps people interested because they either like him, or hate him, but they know who he is.

May and Hammond have worked with the man for almost 15 years, and count him among their closest friends, and this is the first time he has been in the news for anything behavior-related, that was not say "typical Clarkson". What I mean is, he doesn't seem to make a habit of belittling producers and hitting people.

I think this whole situation was a case of a 2 people in a bad mood after a long day colliding, and it unfortunately ended in a smack, so the employer has had to get involved.

That all said, I wouldn't be completely surprised to hear that it was all a big publicity stunt...

[sideways14a]

A lot of folk dont like him because he is a tory (or seen as right wing ect)

[ollie_]

The show had its moments, I don't think its been the same in years since they really struck a chord as a presenting group and had the winning combination of writers and producers behind it.

Don't forget, the writers, researchers and producers are the ones that really make this show - they come up with the concepts and do all of the legwork to make it happen. I'm sure the presenters had a role to play in this process but to say JC was the sole contributor would be a little simplistic and naive.

They £150M a year figure being banded around by the media is nothing but a headline - Yes the show made loads of money, yes its sold the world over blah blah blah. All of the finances are far more complicated than that, with BBC Worldwide and the Bedder6 buyout years ago I can't help but feel JC felt like he was being given the heave-ho, sold up his stakes and has jumped ship at an opportune moment (created perhaps unwittingly by his frankly ****ing ridiculous ego) to ride a wave onto the shoulders of whoever is stupid enough to think spewing cash into his pockets will net them a good return.

I think the characters that developed up to their crescendo a few years back, when the specials were interesting and the general chit chat and tasks were entertaining totally solidified their position as TV gold. What happened after that is hard to say - I always felt that some TV executive keen for financial success demanded they egg JC's "character" on to be more of a grumpy outspoken old man, keeping just the right amount of 'banter' - it just got weird and the harder they all tried to play their roles (Outspoken JC, excitable midget Hammond and captain slow) the more lame it became. None of it felt genuine at all and then when it got a bit too real the BBC would backtrack and try to distance themselves from it. You can see why that might end up with the cast getting a bit frustrated.

This most recent series was alright, the features were better and i genuinely laughed at some of the ambulance stuff - for the most part it was still too 'try hard' and stilted but I guess the mainstream audience were happy to watch it unfold like some sort of vaguely car focused pantomime. I liked the premise, i loved the show, I even liked the presenters for the most part but more and more I found myself groaning at the predictable outcomes and opinions of the cast, the ****ing god awful news section and the tedious challenges.

A new cast, some fresh thinking and return to unscripted genuine caravan racing, hilux bashing mayhem and I'll welcome the new era of Top Gear. Otherwise I'm happy to let it slip into obscurity, Dave reruns and exports to Saudi Arabia on BBC Worldwide.

[docwra]

A lot of folk dont like him because he is a tory (or seen as right wing ect)

Yep, Im on another webboard that is intensely left wing and in 20 odd pages theres barely a good word about him, although TBF anything thats establishment (monarchy, politicians, police, armed forces, bankers, anyone with more than £100 to their name, anyone who doesnt not spit after saying Thatchers name etc.) gets immediately slated so its hardly surprising.