Season 14 slid off track

Hi Harold,


*snips bits of post, since Cucciolotto had no qualms about snipping bits of hers to make his argument*

.............and the books that acompanied almost each one of these shows.
Pretty much every series on the BBC has "the book to accompany the series" - are you saying James' shows shouldn't be allowed to as well? Off you go, and tell the BBC they are not to release books of "Coast" "What the ...did for us" "The Secret life of..." etc

[I shall make another point that tickles me, don't know how much it's worth but I'll say it anyway: all of his his show listed here start with James May's......... Now does he like himself that much or has he be threatened by the BBC to do so? I know a lot of other shows without the presenter's name in it and they seem to be fine with it.]

ALL THAT in the space of mainly 2 years, if that is not overexposed then my name's Harold.

The BBC want people to watch their shows, they may be a public broadcaster but they still need ratings to justify what they produce/air. If they'd just been called "Big Ideas", "Top Toys", "Drink to Britain", do you think they'd have achieved the same viewing figures, because I very much doubt it.
I'm sure James has an ego: don't think you can be a TV presenter without one. He's also intelligent enough to know that fame can be short, and the public fickle, so you should make hay while the sun shines. Although we know James would be useless at making hay :p
He was pretty broke for quite a long time, so I don't begrudge him buying a Ferrari instead of a Renault Clio.

For Shellygrrl:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_May
Airdates are listed :)
 
I think the 13th and 14th series are definitely worse than the previous ones. It does get a bit boring sometimes, but I still love it, and watch all episodes with joy. S14 got predictable at times, and that's truly bad. I'd prefer to see less repetitions (Twingo vs. Fiesta, Romania vs. Stelvio), less repetitive car tests (cabrio vs. coupe of the same car), less mindless car devastations (Twingo); more epic voyages (U.S. trips, Africa special, Stelvio), more non-UK market cars (Cadillac, Mustang, Mitsuoka), more cheap car challenges, more old car tests (Lancias, communist cars, old Porsches), more special challenges (Avantime, Channel-crossing), more regular car reviews (Mercedes E vs. new BMW 5, Astra vs. Megane vs. Mazda3 vs. Golf).

I'd also love to see a female guest presenter, e.g. Vicky or Sabine. Or maybe someone completely unknown at this time, somehow like how James started his Top Gear appearance. A woman would bring a fresh air to the show, and would bring up great opportunities for the lads to mock about. I'd also like to see James to test supercars or generally cars that are not made for him.

I understand it's not easy to come up with new ideas and even more spectacular challenges every season, but it somehow worked for the first 12 seasons. Maybe they just need a year off to get more new and interesting cars to roll out from the factory doors, so they would have something to talk (and cock) about.

Even if nothing of those goes into the show, I'll still watch it until the end...
 
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AWWWW! I missed all the fun again! :p
 
Damn I had never noticed that viewing previous post revisions wasn't enabled on this forum, I wish it was now because I always miss the drama. :lol:
 
Damn I had never noticed that viewing previous post revisions wasn't enabled on this forum, I wish it was now because I always miss the drama. :lol:

Me too!
 
Oh my god, someone killed the n00b troll! ;)

In happier news: You must spread more Fiat Pandas before giving any to ozgirl again.
 
I'd rather stick Hammond in a blender and bring back Jason Dawe.

Dear god no, we over here in the colonies missed the whole Jason thing, only to discover him after many hours of "gathering" the first year.

Looking back over the whole 14 series you can see where at times the whole thing seemed a little tired (ok not as much as the museum pos) but the show bounced back.

I was watching the episode with the new Jag salon (please forgive me, it's 4.45am here and I can't remember the series) and I couldn't help but notice how well done the whole thing was, from the camera work to "walking us through" the car, JC kind of did that with the Noble, but not to the extent as in the past.

For me, the whole art thing was "we have 30 minutes to fill and can't think of anything to do" type situation, in many ways the same can be said for the airport vehicles, though of course that should of been in 13. So yes maybe they are running out of ideas, if that's the case, take it back to basics guys, put the guys in the cars and let them drive, stop trying to better yourself every time, you just can't do it.

Lastly, if your in need of something to fill 30 minutes as others have said, find 3 cheap cars and race them somewhere, you can't really go wrong with that.
 
I...must...resist...urge...

Oh, sod it, I'm going to toss in my thoughts with the rest of the lot because I can.

I personally love Top Gear, no matter what they do on the show. I'll admit there are pieces that I don't like as much as others, and I find myself skipping over some parts in the episodes now when I re-watch them just to get to certain other ones (for example, series 10, episode 7: I re-watch it solely for the British Leyland cheap car challenge. I skip just about the entire rest of the show these days).

But the one thing I can say about Top Gear is that, for me, it NEVER gets old. Even the old stuff, I never get tired of it. And when they come out with the latest episode, I always watch it and watch it again.

Recently its lost something that used to be there. The spirit, that they had back in series 8, 9, and 10, its kind of gone - but I don't think that its the boys' fault, really. I've seen a lot of television shows that end up like this. They start off great, reach a peak, and then something is gone and its usually because the people on the show have just been doing it too long, and its especially so with a show where the people involved are constantly working on more than one thing.

The boys are, as far as I can tell, always off filming or working on something, either for Top Gear or their own endeavors and they're only human...they can only do so much before losing steam. And since we all know the big "S" word is involved, and Jeremy obviously is in charge of it, you just have to think that maybe things aren't as good as they used to be because they're not all exactly working on all thrusters right now.

But the thing is, they persevere, and that's about all that we can ask from them. Giant arguments on the internet, really, don't do anything. As Jeremy said to the art gallery dude: "I value your opinion, I won't necessarily pay any attention to it."

Same applies here. Andy may read a lot of the stuff we say about the show, but obviously he doesn't have to listen to what the fans say. From the start, Top Gear has always been his and Jeremy's show, and will always be, and I bet you they'll still be making what they want to make even if there's only one person left watching. They get enjoyment out of it, and in life, that's what you want. To have a job you enjoy doing, rather than something that makes you go "I wish I didn't have to go back there tomorrow!" when you get home at the end of the day.

To put it simply, the boys are a lucky bunch to be doing what they're doing and I think its about time people just realized that opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one and sometimes they stink. :mrgreen:
 
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