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BBC to attempt to relaunch Top Gear again
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Paddy McGuinness? Isn't he only famous due the luck of being mates with Peter Kay when he got big?
When the trio of Clarkson/May/Hammond left, Robert Llewellyn (Red Dwarf, Scrapheap Challenge) would've been a good choice in my opinion. They may well have tried to get him for all I know.
When the trio of Clarkson/May/Hammond left, Robert Llewellyn (Red Dwarf, Scrapheap Challenge) would've been a good choice in my opinion. They may well have tried to get him for all I know.
Geezertronic
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A "Smeeee*glitch*-Heeee*glitch*", surely?I think even he knew he'd be a bit of a smeghead to take on Top Gear
Tracked
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Would#ve preferred them to just have Reid and Harris, couldn't watch the Evans TG series because he's massively annoying, but when R&H did that Extra Gear show it was a lot funnier than the main one.
MonsooN
Member
Personally, I liked Reid and Harris. I think all that was missing was a "lead" presenter. Evans could have filled this role, but he put people off with his stupid antics in the first episode of the new format and Le Blanc, while OK with a script, struggled with the unscripted banter.
I think someone who has the banter but also a good knowledge of cars would be the best choice (The aforementioned Robert Lewellyn could have been a good shout - or Chris Barrie to continue with the Red Dwarf theme!)
I will still give the new format a try, but I usually find both McGuinness and Flintoff irritating. My other concern is that they don't know much about cars (Clarkson, Hammond and May were all motoring journalists and experts and this often showed with their bickering)
I'm prepared to give it a chance though to see how they go. Remember, it took the original trio a few series to really hit their stride. I think people were expecting that magic to be there immediately with the new presenters and that was just never going to happen.
I think someone who has the banter but also a good knowledge of cars would be the best choice (The aforementioned Robert Lewellyn could have been a good shout - or Chris Barrie to continue with the Red Dwarf theme!)
I will still give the new format a try, but I usually find both McGuinness and Flintoff irritating. My other concern is that they don't know much about cars (Clarkson, Hammond and May were all motoring journalists and experts and this often showed with their bickering)
I'm prepared to give it a chance though to see how they go. Remember, it took the original trio a few series to really hit their stride. I think people were expecting that magic to be there immediately with the new presenters and that was just never going to happen.
When Clarkson, May and Hammond left there was a rumour Rowan Atkinson was considered but Matt Le Blanc was given the role because they thought he's give the show a greater international appeal and they couldn't afford to have both Atkinson and Le Blanc as presenters. Had they employed Atkinson I think they could have come up with an entertaining new feature involving Minis.
Teflon Lettuce
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and Reliant Robins!
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The three-wheeler often run off the road in early Mr. Bean shorts wasn't a Reliant Robin. It was an "Invacar".
Cambus731
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I think Underbank pretty much hit the nail on the head.
it is difficult not to get the impression that we are witnessing top Gear go through its long and protracted death throes. When The BBC had that they intended to continue the first person I thought of who would be suitable was Chris Barrie. I tried to watch it after Clarkson etc had gone, but I found Le Blanc incredibly irritating. Well I would love to be proved wrong, but to me and I suspect many others, Clarkson, Hammond and May were THE definitive TG line up.
it is difficult not to get the impression that we are witnessing top Gear go through its long and protracted death throes. When The BBC had that they intended to continue the first person I thought of who would be suitable was Chris Barrie. I tried to watch it after Clarkson etc had gone, but I found Le Blanc incredibly irritating. Well I would love to be proved wrong, but to me and I suspect many others, Clarkson, Hammond and May were THE definitive TG line up.
trash80
Established Member
It became such a cash cow for the BBC they had no choice but to try and keep it going
I sense the Beeb are trying really really hard to find something that will come close to the Clarkson/Hammond/May era. I’ve been watching some of the old episodes from the late naughties recently and they still make me laugh even now. We will see if it works. If it’s another poor imitation of the old trio then I cannot see myself watching it. If they try something new and not try and repeat the old jokes and catchphrases then it may work. If they try what they have done ever since the original trio went then it probably won’t last long.
Jordan Adam
Established Member
The cast may work, but i think they should just end the show and start up something similar under a different name. Since the "previous presenters" left they've done nothing but damage the Top Gear brand. It's painful seeing the new presenters trying to emulate the Clarkson/Hammond/May.
I wondered if they could devote half the show to greener technologies and call that half Electric Gear or something similar?
There’s something a bit dinosaurish about pushing the internal combustion engine these days.
There’s lots of new technology coming along that they could cover in an interesting, informative and humorous way. This could take in public transport as well, and they could still do some of the old stuff in the first half of the show.
Chris Harris on Cars has been its own channel on Youtube and a regular feature on The Drive. His pre-TG work was very well received and the production quality was on a par with TG. Chris is at his best when not required to do orchestrated silliness.
Le blanc was a petrol head and worked reasonably well are Flintoff and Mcguinness
personally I think they should have changed the style of the show after Clarkson and maybe it would have worked but they keep relaunching to the same format with new personalities which means a direct comparison between new and old so I think it will fail again
personally I think they should have changed the style of the show after Clarkson and maybe it would have worked but they keep relaunching to the same format with new personalities which means a direct comparison between new and old so I think it will fail again
JohnMcL7
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It absolutely does not command the same viewing figures hence BBC desperately trying to revive it, Clarkson's Top Gear was pulling over six million and since then it's not been able to manage even half that. They have managed to slow the decline but they're nowhere near where they used to be.
I can't say I liked the idea of Flintoff or McGuinness and that trailer puts me off ever watching it. I do like the idea of some of the Red Dwarf crew who have good engineering knowledge but can present well too but would want to see them give their own take on the format rather than trying to keep Clarkson's Top Gear going. I'd had enough of Top Gear long before Clarkson was sacked as the format had grown so stale and nowhere near as good as it was.
JohnMcL7
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I thought the same about Harris, I think he makes some great videos (really liked his Senna McLaren vs GT3 comparison) but doesn't fit in with scripted silliness as you say.
100% agree! Once they sacked Clarkson it was almost like they were saying to him 'We can pull in the same number of viewers without you'. One of the reasons I think Clarkson was so amused when Ross asked him his opinion on Top Gear since he was gotten rid of. Yes Clarkson is an a*** and divides opinion. But he and Wilman knew what people wanted from the show and how to make people laugh. The Beeb controllers wanted the viewing figures but without the controversy that drew the viewers in. They have been trying to fabricate something to match the trio ever since and so it will be judged in comparison to the old trio. If they completely changed the format for something completely new then it might not attract the same numbers but it wouldn't be constantly compared to the Clarkson era. If the Beeb carry on trying to emulate the Clarkson era then Top Gear as a brand will die a slow death until it costs more to produce than the Beeb get in in sales of the show.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s funny. It doesn’t matter if it’s entertaining in the slightest. What matters is, as a petrolhead, I have absolutely no interest in anything Paddy Mcguiness has to say about cars. Whatsoever. None.
EM2
Established Member
Because you don't like him? If he were himself a petrolhead (and I don't know enough about him to know whether he is or not), with an in-depth knowledge of cars, motorsport and performance, would you feel the same?
Sort of. But also because he claims to be a petrolhead, despite seeming to know very little about cars.
Chris Harris has raced cars. Matt le Blanc has raced and collected cars. Jeremy Clarkson was a motoring journalist. Paddy Mcguiness is a ‘comedian’ with a big mouth who only became successful because he was mates with Peter Kay (who conversely I admire very much).
To answer your second point, yes I would feel differently. Chris Evans had a reputation as a car lover, but I still couldn’t stand him. I appreciated why the BBC thought he’d be a good idea though.
Geezertronic
Established Member
I watched some of it and thought they were trying too hard to emulate the Clarkson/Hammond/May formula. I like Chris Harris and Freddie Flintoff - still undecided about how they work in the Top Gear format though. Unusually, Paddy seemed a bit wooden when he was doing the studio links - no likey, no lighty
I suspect he’s been told to tone things down after Twitter and Facebook nearly imploded with negative feedback when he was announced.
nlogax
Established Member
Three more middle aged blokes farting about in cars and calling each other by their surnames via a series of semi-scripted bantz (sorry). It's getting just a bit dull regardless of whether it's on the Beeb or Amazon.
It got 2.5m viewers which is respectable, not stunning but respectable. Remains to be seen what figures the Beeb bosses want to see to justify the costs of production. I’m not sure it will ever get to the highs of 5-8m per episode under the Clarkson era. No matter how much people shout that they loved it and they think it’s so much better than the Clarkson era it’s the viewing figures that count.
The people who are shouting that it’s better than the Clarkson era are probably the Flintoff/McGuiness fans (if there are any of the latter who can actually string a coherent sentence together). I suspect they were probably not that interested in the programme or the cars to begin with.
The reaction from Top Gear fans and Petrolheads appears to be somewhat ‘Meh’.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
I watched it and it's not the original three but it's quite good.
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