Top Gear With No Clarkson. What Next Assumptions?

[ALEX 98 1 Cars]

So What do you reckon might happen to the show? It can't continue in the same format without him can it?

What about the last 3 episodes that have been made how will these get aired without Clarkson?

As a TV license payer I feel robbed of 3 hours of entertainment. I might drive over to Clarkson's house and demand he entertains me for 3 hours.

 

 

[GLPoomobile 958]

I've not been following it but my wife read that Chris Evans might be stepping in.

 

I think a change of presenter might do the format a world of good. It's been stale for years. I've always like Clarkson on his own because he speaks his mind and he's the antithesis of the PC brigade that's ruining the modern world. Yes he's annoying too, and he's a twat for keeping pushing his luck. As part of Top Gear he'd become less of the opinionated car journalist and more just 1/3 of a very cheesey and embarrassing act.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

It will get better surely,,,, the last couple of years have been poor.... staged and predictable imo.

[rallyeash 155]

Yesterday Hammond and May announced if clarkson goes they will go too.

[GLPoomobile 958]

Good, it needs fresh blood. Hammond gets right on my tits these days. He's on bloody everything, like Ant and bloody Dec (or was before I stopped watching TV). May is somewhat more tolerable but still a fanny when combined with the other two.

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

Is it Clarkson's fault the show has become stale? I doubt it. I think a change in producers has caused the show to go the way it has.

 

My thoughts are that Clarkson will get taken on by another channel and it will actually be how top gear used to be, an actual car review/test show. Not blowing up morris marinas/caravans/smashing s*it up.

 

When he reviewed the 205 gti, imo is when it was good

[aldworth33 45 1 Cars]

Clarkson is a bellend but I do really like him always have done, I grew up watching top gear and he makes the show imo.

I think they've been struggling to top previous episodes hence the ott silly stuff that sometimes spoils it a tad but I suppose that's what happens when your successful for a long time, you need to strive to be bigger and better.

 

I understand Clarkson can't go around punching people but I love seeing top gear with those three and I hope netflix or sky snap them up.

 

I still don't think the whole story is out as I don't think jc would punch someone for the reasons given, they must have previous grudges.

[mowflow 67]

Not sure about Evans as he's got pretty annoying pretty quickly on almost every other TV or radio show he's done. Also don't know who else they'd put with him, Jodie Kidd maybe? God, when I think about, if this is left to the heads at the BBC it will be a chuffing disaster with some teen hipster twat on it to attract a younger audience.

 

Harris name is usually thrown about when top gear is mentioned but that will never happen. Imagine him excitedly jibbering on about the development of the carbon prop shaft in the latest amg on Sunday prime time TV. Great for us but lost on the other 99.99% of the population.

 

I suppose if they really get stuck I'll do it. You know, help them out.

[welshpug 1,657]

Chris Evans has said no.

 

There's at least three shows worth of non studio footage unused so far, be a shame if they don't use any of that.

[erbs 42 1 Cars]

well it would be nice if they reviewed cars that us normal joes can actually afford,yes its nice seeing the ferraris and jags and all the other insane hyper cars, but do cars that we can all relate to in the real world and lose the silly stunts and hammond acting a doofus all the time.

 

All that will happen is they will take the format to another channel,only thing is that it will be on a channel stuufed with adverts every 10 minutes

[welshpug 1,657]

what you want is on youtube already.

[GLPoomobile 958]

well it would be nice if they reviewed cars that us normal joes can actually afford,yes its nice seeing the ferraris and jags and all the other insane hyper cars, but do cars that we can all relate to in the real world

Somebody was saying a similar thing on VPCUK about a month ago. My opinion on that is, I just don't think the wider public would really want that, and I think viewing figures would hit the floor if they went from light entertainment to more serious and mundane car reviews. I remember old old TopGear very well, and truth be told the only stuff I enjoyed way back then was the features on the more unusual cars, the exotics, the supercars etc (even though they were presented more seriously than Top Gear does these days).

 

Serious car reviews for the average Joe are available on Youtube channels and through other sources, so I don't think TG is the right place for it anymore. It survived all these years because it went the light entertainment route, it needs a shake up but needs to move forward not back.

[erbs 42 1 Cars]

Then its just an entertainment show, yes i do like top gear but i do sometimes find my self cringing at the stuff, that you can just predict is what is gonna happen next when doing the spoof stuff

 

i like the formula of the show, maybe it will go in a better direction,hope so, not gonna miss clarkson much. but i'm sure he won't be down the job centre anytime soon, he is well sorted for money so please don't feel sorry for the bloke.

[welshpug 1,657]

it has been an entertainment since 2002.

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

There has been top gear without him.

Two stints in fact.

Different show back then.

[Andy_C 50]

https://www.facebook.com/andy.couper.7/posts/762680793839972

 

For some reason I can't copy & paste my rambling FB post on this but for anyone who's interested it's in the link above.

 

I'd add that Clarkson hasn't changed in over 20 years but the world has and that's not necessarily a good thing.

[m_john_m 4]

The past few years have been crap! Just mindless tele to make idiots get a cheap laugh..... I do really like them 3 as presenters. Bring back top gear from 10 years ago when it was about cars and not trying to turn a mini into a nice cream truck with a propellor on the roof.....

[rallyeash 155]

I think if this happened 5 years ago it would of been a different outcome.

 

Because its come to light how corrupt the bbc has been, it's now managed by the 'BBC Trust' they want to act whiter than white and make a point of one person isn't bigger than the BBC etc etc.

 

Plus isn't the legality on license fee due up in 2017?

[pyrrhic 14 2 Cars]

RIP Top Gear UK

[ALEX 98 1 Cars]

I do believe BBC’s Top Gear is over. Only the name remains without its presenters and I can’t imagine new presenters following the same format and been as good.

 

The show was about 3 buddies discussing car related topics with a budget to do entertaining projects “features” the general public can’t afford to waste money on.

 

Those buddies are what we can all partly relate to as we’ve got to know them over the years. If you didn’t like Top gear you probably don’t like the presenters either.

 

I don’t know how much patience I’d give the new format of Top gear when its aired, but if it’s anything like Fifth gear with its affordable car reviews and campaign to lower speed limits on rural roads, then I will NOT be watching.

[GLPoomobile 958]

See I just dunno. I think TG can survive and be better without any drastic changes. It really just needs a freshen up, and I think having 3 new presenters is a key part to that freshen up, providing - and this is critical - the 3 presenters gel together.

 

The writing is a significant part of it too, and part of my issue with TG for some years now was that the writing (jokes, capers etc) had become too obvious, too cheesey, and Clarkson, May and Hammond had becomes actors more than presenters. It had got to the point that you could see there was no spontaneity any more, there was no ad-libbing, it was all just too rehearsed, too polished, and the jokes were detectable a mile off.

 

The more I think about what I liked and what I didn't like, there's really not much about the actual format that I can pick fault with, and it's almost entirely down to the writing and the presenters, and the long running "jokes", the obviousness and repetitiveness of it all (e.g. the Clarkson "some say he...." intros for The Stig, Clarkson asking the audience if they want to see the star's lap every single episode, the staged capers on the challenges, them ramming each other's cars or tampering with them on the challenges, etc etc).

[Andy_C 50]

Agree with that mate.

 

Mind you, the chemistry only worked over the 12 years they worked as a team so I guess the BBC are gambling on being able to start from that 2002 point all over again. Big risk.

 

Avoiding the hysteria elsewhere on the web, it doesn't look like most expect them to be able to do that and if a rival channel can scoop the 3 up and make a show which works well again then the BBC are in real trouble.

 

I don't think Clarkson can work as well on sponsored TV myself - I doubt many manufacturers would line up to sponsor the show knowing that their product(s) might get slammed and likewise could a production team tell him to be nice about a car he doesn't like for that same reason? Tough call.

 

I blame production for a lot of the supposed failings recently on TG. My Mrs pointed out that the "slope" comment should have been caught in the editing room and never aired. Doesn't make it right for a second if it was used in a deliberately racist manner but she has a very valid point.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Andy_C

[mowflow 67]

Has anyone here watched any of the foreign versions? Cultural differences aside the format does seem to work without the 3 stooges.

[Andy_C 50]

Only when the presenters came to the UK for a feature but that's a good point and perhaps what the BBC are basing their gamble on.

 

The TG site says that it'll return next year and it's business as usual etc.

[theoilburner 7]

Guy Martin would be an incredible appointment if you ask me. I might get my CV in to present alongside him ...