Bit late but I thought I?d wade in anyway ? I?ve been writing essays all week so one more won?t hurt?and I don?t care if you don?t read it
I think a lot of how I feel has already been said. By BerserkerCatSplat (# 68) for one. But I can also see why other people feel the way they do. We all care about TG, we?re worried about it for all kinds of reasons.
It?s got me thinking about the whole creative process. Making a TV show is the same as painting pictures, writing novels, making music. It?s a creative thing and creativity is a total bastard to control. When someone produces a piece of work that lots of people love they are immediately always faced with a dilemma. Do they make more of the same for those people who want their art to stay exactly as it is and run the risk of it becoming stale? Do they try to second guess what they?re audience might want? Or do they follow their own desires and inspirations to make the art that THEY want, regardless of what their audience may be telling them. It?s an impossible problem to resolve. You absolutely cannot please everyone.
I?ve always struggled with this thing that happens once someone or something becomes a huge success - that the public somehow begin to feel that they own it; that they can start to dictate how it should be made. We bloody can?t. Of course creators will hope and want their fans to like what they do but it?s really fucking presumptuous of us to sit here and say things like there should be more of this, less of that, the show should end etc. IT?S NOT OUR CREATION, it?s theirs. It?s Andy and Jeremy?s, James? and Richard?s and they can do what the hell they want with it. If they want to do hearse racing dressed as Frankenfurter from the Rocky Horror then they can (actually I?d pay good money to see that
), if they want to wear beige and review a dull hatchback in Basingstoke they can do that too. The point is, I?ve always found when I?m painting - and I know other artists and musicians who feel the same - the work you do when you?re doing what YOU want to do is nearly always the best. The enthusiasm?s there, the inspiration?s there and the freshness is there.
So I really, really hope that they?re not just trying to second guess their audience because quite honestly I don?t think it?s possible. We all watch the show for different reasons and the variation between ?loved it? and ?hated it? for EACH episode is vast.
There are so many different criticisms aimed at the show right now and if I gave my opinion on all of them I?d send
myself to sleep not just you guys
So how about what I love about it.
See, I didn?t start watching till series 9. I?d never seen a single minute until then. ?Top Gear? That?s cars ? boring?. And then I watched the American Roadtrip. I fell in love with the show right there in those 60 minutes, and fell in love with the 3 guys just a little bit too I think. And I?ve come to realise that, for me, what makes me happiest when watching a show is when they?re enjoying whatever it is they?re doing. I don?t expect every episode to have to surpass the last, I don?t want to see this car or that car, I don?t care what Richard does with his hair ? I just want them to make the show they want to make so I can lose myself in it for that hour each week. I love seeing mad cars I?ll never get to even sit in myself; I love living the experience vicariously; I love Jeremy?s outrageous generalisations and bizarre metaphors, James? looks to camera, Richard squealing as he drowns (again), seeing a Marina and waiting for the piano to fall.
And I also know what spoils the show for me. I?m with Skylock and Wyvern on this one. We do. It?s us here on FG and even more so on the TG blog. I read the comments people make and it makes me sad. Sad that so many people seem to be wanting to force the show down one path or another, to suit their own individual wants. Sad that they think its okay in some cases to just be so damn rude and heartless. Sad that all this talk of scripting and fakery is starting to taint my own viewing. Sad that at times I?ve sat there watching and been worried that some segment or other is going to be pulled apart by someone else, in public, probably on TG?s own website. It makes me sad and it makes me worry that one day soon they?ll just say ?Well fuck off then, we won?t bother any more.? And that would make me saddest of all.
Anyone still reading? Is that snoring I can hear? Sorry, just needed to get that off my chest because it?s been keeping me awake at nights