Top Gear

the playing mantis

well

lostboysaint

Past it's sell by date.

MickTup

It's getting boring and not funny anymore. Same old sh1t every time.

capt_slog

I like it.

I'm not a bit interested in whether one car that I'll never possibly afford is better than another car that I'll never possibly afford, but other than that, Top Gear does what it's supposed to do and entertains.

Most of the stunts and challenges that they do are obviously contrived but I don't care, there are enough genuine funnies to make them worth watching.

ddraver

Capt Slog wrote:

I like it.

I'm not a bit interested in whether one car that I'll never possibly afford is better than another car that I'll never possibly afford, but other than that, Top Gear does what it's supposed to do and entertains.

Most of the stunts and challenges that they do are obviously contrived but I don't care, there are enough genuine funnies to make them worth watching.

That, perfect Sunday evening viewing...

Wunnunda

Bubblegum TV. Good at what it sets out to do. Definitely getting tired now and would have been stopped already except for the fact that everyone makes SO much money out of it.

peat

No one ever got poor by shoveling regurgitating repetitive sh!te down Joe Public's throat.

dynamicbrick

It is by far the best thing the BBC show, although that's damning with faint praise these days. Current series has been pretty good so far - an equal amount of arsing about and vaguely car related stuff. The previous series was pretty weak. Nonetheless, it is very good Sunday evening TV, especially since the photography and production on the featured car reviews at Dunsfold and some of the bigger features are beautifully and consistently exceptional, almost cinematic.

Given the global audience is 100 million, the Vietnamese tourist board must still be congratulating themselves on that 90 minute special - It was spectacular.

VmanF3

It's turned into Last of the Summer Wine. Although has moderately more humour.

TheCoo'sTail

Hate it with a passion.

GiantMike

HoverVan. Hilarious. Comedy Gold. What those guys get away with!!


















formulaic repetitive crap with rehearsed banter and set-up scenarios.

VmanF3

Next time on Top Gear, the three old men go down a hill in a bath tub in Yorkshire, hang on...

VTech

I dont like it, destroying cars for fun and having little knowledge of cars to boot.
Its cartoon TV.

fast as fupp

not been the same since mitsubishis

jawooga

The 'lads' aren't as funny as they think they are and the 'with hilarious consequences' features like the hover van are shite. That said they're journey to the source of the Congo and other high budget pieces in exotic places are good from an escapism point of view.

declan1

You guys need to stop being so bloody serious and enjoy things a bit more. I know all the races are set up and the humour is rehearsed but it's still funny! Just forget about analyzing it and laugh!

pinno

Top Gear promotes the hedonistic attituders that seem to have pervaded British culture. The 3 'boys when present it need to grow up a bit. I don't think that there is a more contrived and shitty programme on 'council TV' than Top Gear.
Its about me and my car and the money. When they were in Madrid, very little was given to the horrendous effects of the recession in Spain and they treated the place like a playground which is beyond contempt.
Great for 10 year olds.

VTech

Declan, the concept works, I think they have just gone a little too far.
Footage is amazing and sells the show globally.

Top gear film crew are amongst the very best.

CiB

pinarello001 wrote:

Top Gear promotes the hedonistic attituders that seem to have pervaded British culture. The 3 'boys when present it need to grow up a bit. I don't think that there is a more contrived and sh!tty programme on 'council TV' than Top Gear.
Its about me and my car and the money. When they were in Madrid, very little was given to the horrendous effects of the recession in Spain and they treated the place like a playground which is beyond contempt.
Great for 10 year olds.

Blimey. A comedy car show failed to delve into the effects of the recession deeply enough for you!!! I thought the fact that they were able to drive to deserted towns and airports on near empty roads or roads that go nowhere and told us that unemployment is 6m in a population less than the UK's was actually quite an eye opener in terms of showing us what real recession is.

I like it. It's a programme about three middle aged blokes ar$ing about, so right up my street. They're filming not far from here tomorrow so I might pop over & watch.

Yellow Peril

I know it's primarily about showing the general public cars they'll never be able to afford but I do get the impression that they are all so loaded that they do have contempt for anything with 4 wheels that costs below £100k

I used to like watching it but to be honest I haven't bothered to watch any of this series

VTech

Yellow Peril wrote:

I know it's primarily about showing the general public cars they'll never be able to afford but I do get the impression that they are all so loaded that they do have contempt for anything with 4 wheels that costs below £100k

I used to like watching it but to be honest I haven't bothered to watch any of this series

Nail on head.

CiB

VTech wrote:

Yellow Peril wrote:

I know it's primarily about showing the general public cars they'll never be able to afford but I do get the impression that they are all so loaded that they do have contempt for anything with 4 wheels that costs below £100k

I used to like watching it but to be honest I haven't bothered to watch any of this series

Nail on head.

Tosh. They've raved about various incarnations of the Focus ST, called the Fiesta Bonkers the best car for your money and raved about lots of other small quick affordable cars. They drove battered old saloons across Africa and declared them brilliant cars. They're enthusiasts, like us here who find it easier to get carried away by a Dogma with electric gears than a Halfords Carrera. It doesn't make us bad people though.

Imagine them coming across this. A bunch of cyclists claiming that TG only cares for exotica. Laughable.

VTech

CiB wrote:

VTech wrote:

Yellow Peril wrote:

I know it's primarily about showing the general public cars they'll never be able to afford but I do get the impression that they are all so loaded that they do have contempt for anything with 4 wheels that costs below £100k

I used to like watching it but to be honest I haven't bothered to watch any of this series

Nail on head.

Tosh. They've raved about various incarnations of the Focus ST, called the Fiesta Bonkers the best car for your money and raved about lots of other small quick affordable cars. They drove battered old saloons across Africa and declared them brilliant cars. They're enthusiasts, like us here who find it easier to get carried away by a Dogma with electric gears than a Halfords Carrera. It doesn't make us bad people though.

Imagine them coming across this. A bunch of cyclists claiming that TG only cares for exotica. Laughable.

Im sat with one of the best producers of TG history and he isnt happy with recent direction (would he be happy?)

Mikey23

Not watched it for a couple of years now... Have a feeling I've not missed much

ballysmate

Not watched this series, it is Sky+ed though for future viewing if I fancy it. The programme has been going for some years now and is starting to feel a bit stale. We all know the characters that the presenters play, albeit well, and to some extent know what is coming.
The familiarity isn't helped, I suppose, by its constant presence on Dave.

rodgers73

It presents an outlook on cars that I just don't share. I love cars but not the ones that they do. And not for the reasons they do. So, I don't bother.

Clarkson can be a funny bloke when he does understated criticism of cars with some dry wit, rather than playing his comedy character he uses for TG. Clarksons Car Years was a really good series, all done in that vein.

Rigged

Formulaic and predictable.

Like most people I enjoyed it initially but there's only so many times you can spin me the same few jokes and expect a laugh. Everyone has different tolerances for repetition so who am I to tell them not to watch if it still makes them smile. I can always watch a different channel...or more likely turn the TV off.

Don't get me started on Clarkson. He's THE definition of bigoted (or at least that's the character her plays for TG, of course he could be quite different off screen).

It's a good money spinner for the BBC though!

cornerblock

Rigged wrote:

Everyone has different tolerances for repetition so who am I to tell them not to watch if it still makes them smile.

I do know what you mean.

giant_man

clarkson is a bit of an anti-cycling idiot, but it's still funny and still has some supercar porn on from time to time, that keeps me happy .... the hovervan was reckless on our precious waterways and very obviously set up, but still pretty funny stuff ...

GiantMike

giant man wrote:

..the hovervan was reckless on our precious waterways and very obviously set up, but still pretty funny stuff...

I think it's the main issue for me, just how set up everything is. The man knocked out of his rowing boat was obviously stunt man and there were cameras placed everywhere to make sure the 'hilarious moment' was caught.

There was another sequence last year where Clarkson was on a narrow mountain road and met a car coming the other way. There then followed a long sequence about how dangerous it was for the 2 vehicles to pass, with Clarkson teetering on the edge. This was entirely set up. There were lots of different camera angles (showing it had been done over a long period of time) and the Range Rover camera car had obviously already passed the same vehicle, presumably at the safe passing place 100m away.

In the 'race of taxis' there was a sequence where one taxi crashed through a stretched limo. The limo was seen to spin in one section of the track, and then the 'accident' happened in a different section. When one taxi 'unfortunately' crashed through the empty porta-cabin at the side of the track, there was a camera inside to make sure this was caught.

If you're going to this much effort to set scenes up, you might as well make a proper comedy in the first place, with a decent script.

I find it interesting to watch just to spot all the set-ups and I like the camera work, everything is just the same as last week/month/year. Especially the jokes. Has anybody noticed that Hammond is shorter than Jezzer? I'm sure they could make more of that. James May is a bit of a slow driver too. Surely there's more mileage in that.

markhewitt1978

pinarello001 wrote:

Its about me and my car and the money. When they were in Madrid, very little was given to the horrendous effects of the recession in Spain and they treated the place like a playground which is beyond contempt.
.

Are you serious? Did you actually watch the segment at all? It was almost entirely about the affects of the recession!