Style over substance?

[Bomber]

I think we can agree after season 2 that Top gear Australia is a well-shot series. But it is arguable that the content falls short of Top Gear standards, even with all of its commercial restrictions and obligations.

My own analysis (from available information) is that Freehand productions were coached by Andy Wilman, who makes Top gear look so great, but Jeremy Clarkson is probably the brains behind the operation in that he knows what makes good television (with the exception of light entertainment sections like Top Gear Stuntman and the V8 powered gadgets) and essentially steers the ship.
It looks like Clarkson did not coach Freehand and there is no ideas man to fill Clarkson's role, so the result is a good-looking series that arguably has even less to offer the viewer than Fifth Gear.

 

[Icedvovo]

A lot of this is repeated in the ep specific thread, so please don't hang me for duplicating it.

To understand what's going off the rails ref:TGA is to understand the culture of Australian film and television.

You have to understand that very few people are employed full time in the industry, most crew are freelancers who work from show to show as the opportunities show up. So what typically happens is that someone gets funding for an idea and everyone jumps on board. Once something has funding attached all creative development typically stops dead. Script and idea development are the mortal enemy of the production progress. All that cleverness just lengthens the time to invoicing.

Sure the soundies and directors and makeup people care about their individual roles, but in the end they don't really give a flying f%&k at a rolling donut about the creative content. And this is an underlying issue with TGA. No-one from the Exec Producer down on TGA has an emotional investment in the creative content of the show. It's simply business.

There is no love. No passion.

For Clarkson and Wilman on the other hand, TopGear is an intensely personal project, and it shows.

TopGear UK is a labor of love. TopGear Australia is about meeting deadlines.

Another reason TGA is failing is due to our arse-about Australian film-making culture. Australia is a very 'Director-Centric' film culture - Directors make the most money and get all the accolades. Writers actually aren't very high in the film-making food chain here, and it shows.

TopGear UK on the other hand is traditionally a very 'Writer-Centric' production. It could be filmed on a handycam and still be entertaining. This is somewhat of an unusual concept for most Australian production companies. To give you an example, in the US, the script REVISION budget is more than total budget for most Australian feature films.

Unless the Aussie producers realise this and change the way they think about the way they create the show, it will always seem very 'thin' in content.

Here's another example - Flight of The Conchords (SBS Monday 9pm) Beautifully written, quite basically shot. They've done 2 seasons and everyone is pleading for a third, but they don't reckon they've got enough good material. Clever guys.

That's the difference with a well-written show, people will always want more.

For those interested, this is a good read. Apply it to the character journeys of Hammond, May and Clarkson and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22995224-16947,00.html

 

[Bomber]

I have caught half of that in other threads but it's good insight. On a side note I've read about television actors getting paid very little compared to their counterparts in the U.S..

 

[Kiskaloo]

Sure the soundies and directors and makeup people care about their individual roles, but in the end they don't really give a flying f%&k at a rolling donut about the creative content. And this is an underlying issue with TGA. No-one from the Exec Producer down on TGA has an emotional investment in the creative content of the show. It's simply business.

There is no love. No passion.

TopGear UK is a labor of love. TopGear Australia is about meeting deadlines.

I am in no position to comment on the Australian film and television industry, but those last two sentences did resonate with me.

Top Gear Australia tracks much closer to being a show about cars. They take things more seriously than Top Gear UK does.

I see very little "cocking about" in TGA. When they have a challenge, they get right down to it. There is little to no Tomfoolery, to say nothing of Buffoonery.

Just compare Warren Brown's review of the S Class compared to Jeremy Clarkson's. Now Clarkson did have more time to talk about the car than Warren did, but Jeremy still sprinkled in plenty of silliness - like when he told the radio to tune "absolute crap" and it switched to BBC Radio One. Warren, on the other hand, pretty much gave a straight-forward review on why he felt the S Class was a great car.

I love TGUK because it makes me laugh. TGA just doesn't elicit the chuckles from me.

 

[tone76]

Like Icedvovo, I believe that the Australian film and TV making culture is largely to blame for TGA's shortcomings. What I mean by this is that the producers of TGA don't appear to allow the presenters to have any input into the writing at all. Sure, they might get some input with reviews, but you can just tell that much of the dialogue has been filtered through a third rate rent-a-scriptwriter. This has done the boys no favours whatsoever.

So yes, I am repeating myself, but I feel so strongly about it I don't give a shit. MEMO TO FREEHAND/SBS: LET THE BOYS WRITE THEIR OWN MATERIAL! S3 (if it happens) would do so much better if the boys could be ... well, boys.

 

[whitehornmatt]

There is no love. No passion.

And tonight on Top Gear Germany...

Huge agree on this thread,

They have got the camera work perfect this season, while I still find some of the stuff on the UK version stunning, that's because they have dull grey sky to deal with, not the harsh outback, which is why they need to film a lot in winter here, but apart from that minor thing (and the sun glare that results, in last weeks episode there were points where it all went purple), there's no real issues.

The writing hasn't been good, they aren't actors. You see little glimpses of their true personalities from time to time, and it shows how good the choices were for hosts, all four of them were good in theory, just the writing has let them down. I bet there was a writer who told Cox that moving his arms around made the audience like you.

Please don't axe the show, the improvement between the first and second season show just what potential they have. Just focus on the things they are good at, their reviews have been mostly great, Steve especially, Warren has done a good job with some horrible guests and Morrison has come in while the season was nearly half way through production and slotted in like he was there the whole time.

They definitely need to get rid of the tight filming schedules and then use more of what they have filmed, to get rid of the rushed feeling. So sack a few producers and writers and get some more film for the cameras.

 

[Hbriz]

I agree massively with all this. But, in my personal opinion, the show just doesn't click like the UK version. It just doesn't seem as natural. Australia has a huge car culture and I think it is well deserving of its own version of Top Gear, but the presenters and scriptwriters need to work a bit harder to make it appear that they haven't worked at all, if you get what I mean. TGUK feels right, it feels unscripted and unstaged, although most of it probably is. TGA just seems blatantly scripted and staged, even though it probably is less so than the UK version. They are trying just slightly too hard.

Regardless of all this, I will continue to watch TGA for as long as its on air, just time will tell if it ends up where it should be, at the pinnacle of Australian television, as the UK version is in the UK.

 

[DubyaStep]

I think we can agree after season 2 that Top gear Australia is a well-shot series. But it is arguable that the content falls short of Top Gear standards, even with all of its commercial restrictions and obligations.

My own analysis (from available information) is that Freehand productions were coached by Andy Wilman, who makes Top gear look so great, but Jeremy Clarkson is probably the brains behind the operation in that he knows what makes good television (with the exception of light entertainment sections like Top Gear Stuntman and the V8 powered gadgets) and essentially steers the ship.
It looks like Clarkson did not coach Freehand and there is no ideas man to fill Clarkson's role, so the result is a good-looking series that arguably has even less to offer the viewer than Fifth Gear.

well, i havnt read the rest of this thread, but, i didnt agree with the "falls short" statement. i dont think it falls short at all, i just think that you need to go back and watch the first few series of TG UK and then maybe you will see why other poeple see potential in this show. as far as im concerned, it is up to standard and its even better knowing that thier hands are tied on alot of points.

as far as "idea's man". if you pay attention to TG UK you will know that all of them are the idea people, calrkson isnt the only idea guy. they all make this show possible. do you really think its not james idea to do the car tests on things like the Honda Civic? Do you not think that richard wanted to try the rocket car on his own? these guys are inspired by what they see around them, or, in Jezza's case, what car companys beg him to torcher...i mean drive.

so, my point is that they are all involved. thats why it has passion. think about it, if you sat down with a list of assignments at work and asked who wanted what you would get answers, but, they wouldnt be overwhelmed with motivation, but, if in that same meeting you ased everyone what it was they wanted to do using thier own ideas and then funded it with company money, it would be massive. so, there you go. i disagree with you.

 

[Bomber]

i just think that you need to go back and watch the first few series of TG UK and then maybe you will see why other poeple see potential in this show.

I have but I think they're head and shoulders above TGA. They were just catering more to the car enthusiast than the general viewer, which is something I like about the early seasons.

I could see potential too if they could perhaps get some real Top Gear fans to create the show's content (if there was a third season).
For example, three guys in your country filmed their own Top Gear challenge and for me it was more entertaining than anything the TGA crew have put on the screen so far.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiV2cuM30Zg&feature=related
I unfortunately couldn't maintain my optimism after in my perception the show returned to season 1 form, I've joined the crowd that just views it as something to check out between seasons of Top Gear.

 

[Icedvovo]

as far as "idea's man". if you pay attention to TG UK you will know that all of them are the idea people, calrkson isnt the only idea guy. they all make this show possible. do you really think its not james idea to do the car tests on things like the Honda Civic? Do you not think that richard wanted to try the rocket car on his own? these guys are inspired by what they see around them, or, in Jezza's case, what car companys beg him to torcher...i mean drive.

I watched an interview with Hammond after his crash, and he talked about the TG whiteboard where they all list story ideas. And as the opportunities come up the ideas would bubble to the top of the list for production.

So because of the whiteboard 'bank' TGUK always have well-considered story ideas up their sleeve for seasons to come; they're always thinking long term. The ideas simmer and brew over time like a good Bolognese. That's why the segments always seem mature and resolved.

TGA seem to live day to day.