Top Gear on 60 Minutes

Why is everyone keeping the topic of "was it real" alive? In all honesty, it doesn't matter. This is one of those "who cares" subjects.

Edit: The only thing that really should matter on a TV show about cars, is whether or not the facts about the cars are right. If they add some drama here and there to make the show more entertaining, that is for the good of all. If the dramatic situation unfolds on its own, that's great. If it doesn't, who cares!
 
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solsticeviolet said:
You didn't see what moment was on film that made them leave?
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'fraid not. I mean, I heard them try their best to play up the panic in the voiceovers, and I noticed the increasingly erratic and arbitrary camerawork/editing that conveniently makes it difficult to tell what's actually happening (and how readily and embarassingly it conflicts with those voiceovers).

But did I (or anyone else) see the moment? Well, they'd to have to film and broadcast it first. And even before that, it'd have to actually happen.



solsticeviolet said:
Were you watching a different show from everyone else? What more did you expect to see?
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As I've already said: some kind of threat developing, some of the attackers talking to or threatening the hosts, etc. Your apparent theory that this could happen, in broad daylight and with so many cameras focused on the scene, without resulting in some clear footage of the developing situation is entirely laughable. The supposed attack was not sudden or stealthy by any measure, even as the hosts themselves describe it.


solsticeviolet said:
Hey everyone, this person knows "the truth" and we're all just too blind to see that we're all being duped. And... if we are, does it make a difference? Not in my life.
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Mr. Nice said:
Why is everyone keeping the topic of "was it real" alive? In all honesty, it doesn't matter. This is one of those "who cares" subjects.

Edit: The only thing that really should matter on a TV show about cars, is whether or not the facts about the cars are right. If they add some drama here and there to make the show more entertaining, that is for the good of all. If the dramatic situation unfolds on its own, that's great. If it doesn't, who cares!
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Yeah, I know there's a significant number who don't care (and don't think they ever will) that it's fake, and probably a few more that are even glad they faked it.

But the long-term issue is that once the producers have shown they're willing to lie to you for dramatic effect (and not in a tongue-in-cheek fashion), then how can you trust the "facts about the cars" either? Those facts can be dramatic too; it's one of the fundamental aspects that makes the show great. What if, hypothetically, you found out they faked the Toyota truck segment by repeatedly replacing the engine, starter, alternator, and a dozen other parts that died? Would you care then?


Viper007Bond said:
Agreed. It'd be a pretty poorly done fake.
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Agreed.


narf said:
Not really, the vast majority of his posts are about this old, beaten, dead horse of a subject.
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This "old" and "dead" subject came up on national (US) TV recently. You may have heard. I think there's a thread about it.

The interviewer even asked Wilman about the segment's authenicity, but that was cut from the broadcast (very wisely IMO, considering his answer).
 
solsticeviolet said:
I just watch the show and enjoy it and don't like when people come here to "omg educate" us. It doesn't add anything to the discussion (being that it's an issue that is over three years old) and makes things kind of a drag.

Yes, you sure showed us. I am left stunned by your powers of insight and observation. Don't you have a hobby or something?



Edit: "Yep, we're fans. That doesn't mean we can't be critical."

:jawdrop: :shock2: Did everyone here know you could do that? I, for one, was clueless and thought being a fan meant mindless sycophancy. :lmao: That would be why Andy Wilman writes blog posts answering directly much of the criticism that this board expresses in a very LOUD fashion during a new series. (Though FG is not the only place that criticizes, I'm sure.) Do you even go here?
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LOL, I should've been clearer in my post regarding TG fandom, but since I was inadvertently visiting the wine rack last night, it, err... "hindered" some articulation.
So to clarify: Of course we're also critical of the show! Just read what the board thought of most of season 14 and the first half of 15... We also know that some things get staged, and whether the hicks were real...in the end, who cares! And why go to such lengths to prove a point... It's a bit odd.

(For the record, I'm pretty sure they were real :lol:)

kunedog said:
This "old" and "dead" subject came up on national (US) TV recently. You may have heard. I think there's a thread about it.

The interviewer even asked Wilman about the segment's authenicity, but that was cut from the broadcast (very wisely IMO, considering his answer).
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:yawn:
 
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kunedog said:
Yeah, I know there's a significant number who don't care (and don't think they ever will) that it's fake, and probably a few more that are even glad they faked it.

But the long-term issue is that once the producers have shown they're willing to lie to you for dramatic effect (and not in a tongue-in-cheek fashion), then how can you trust the "facts about the cars" either? Those facts can be dramatic too; it's one of the fundamental aspects that makes the show great. What if, hypothetically, you found out they faked the Toyota truck segment by repeatedly replacing the engine, starter, alternator, and a dozen other parts that died? Would you care then?
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In the case of the Toyota? No, I wouldn't care. Nobody, ever, in the history of motordom is going to do what they did with that truck. There have been instances where they did mess up on their facts about cars, and I've gone as far as to create threads on the issue and get neg-repped. The biggest one of those that comes to mind is when they called a Shelby Mustang GT, a Shelby GT 500. Mistakes like that are, and remain, inexcusable.

Most of us don't get all of our information about cars from this show, and at least some of us here are quick to speak up about an incorrect statement about a vehicle. The majority of the time the show doesn't get things obscenely wrong, and when they do I'll be one of the first to say something.
 
Yeah that's pretty stiff. Maybe I'd pay $6-$10 if they tacked on an hour or two of the raw behind-the-scenes footage that you know they have (Kroft's complete lap, the tours of the offices/studio, stuff only hardcore fans would watch, etc.). Not sure who the target market is for that disc . . . who knew 60 Minutes even released DVDs?
 
Mate, exactly. I'm a foreigner who has spent over a year in the south and over a year in the south mid-west. Do I think this petrol station scene is possible? Absolutely. Do I think it is more-than-likely? Fuck yeah.

I have had a shitload of BBQs with a shitload of rednecks and after a few beers, invariably, God, health care, Nascar, gay rights, guns... all that shit comes up. And I have tried my best to educate a lot of rednecks, but unfortunately a lot don't want to listen and just get aggressive. Now I am lucky that I am a big horrible looking cunt and none of them have tried to attack me, even though I what I say (which is incredibly normal in say, Western Europe and Australasia) offends them. I honestly don't intend to offend them, I just want them to know that on the global scale, what they believe is very, very much in the minority.

Now, if our old mate kunedog thinks this is so preposterous, perhaps he could get a few mates together, write the same slogans on some cars and drive to the same petrol station? I highly doubt he'd be willing to do that. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that he would say "fuck that!"
 
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I think it genuinely happened. However, if i rolled into London with insults about football and the queen or maybe Ireland insulting Guinness Beer or something? How long before there would be violence? This could happen anywhere with the right insult painted on your car.
 
You can be as rude as you like about the Queen, mate. Nobody would bat an eyelid.
 
rc808 said:
I think it genuinely happened. However, if i rolled into London with insults about football and the queen or maybe Ireland insulting Guinness Beer or something? How long before there would be violence? This could happen anywhere with the right insult painted on your car.
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people seriously wouldn't care.
 
That's common where I live when I'm not in college. People make them their stickers on the back window (those dangerous kinda see-through ones). Some people fly them as flags from their houses too. I hate it there though, it really is like living in the south sometimes (There are people who leave cars on their lawns, couches, beds, garbage, etc. One left a moderately old Civic (93-96) on their lawn for 3+years with a doughnut wheel full of junk).

Most of those people live out in the sticks... out in the sticks. (The really tiny villages (less than 1k people) and just random houses on highways.)

A lot of god stickers too, also. I would never be as bold as the TG3 were in that special. That was just outright bold/stupid/brave to do so there.
 
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Hate to burst more of your bubbles, but the TG crew wouldn't have tried the slogan thing if they weren't pretty sure it was safe to do so. And they were right, after all.


roundhead said:
Now, if our old mate kunedog thinks this is so preposterous, perhaps he could get a few mates together, write the same slogans on some cars and drive to the same petrol station? I highly doubt he'd be willing to do that. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that he would say "fuck that!"
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I doubt anything serious would go down. What I might expect to happen would be a few looks and maybe a few comments, but almost certainly no violence . . . in other words, exactly what you see in the TG segment.


Amie8 said:
You can be as rude as you like about the Queen, mate. Nobody would bat an eyelid.
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narf said:
I doubt that. You can stir up protest pretty much anywhere with the right insults, but that's it in many areas of the world.
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jmsprovan said:
people seriously wouldn't care.
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Not to worry, though. That's when the magic of "becoming a radio show" is helpful (and much cheaper/easier than CGI).
 
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