Should this be the last season of top gear?

Corvu said:
How can you assure him(us)?

I believe you Viper, but I am just curious about your reasoning/sources.
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TopGear Executive Producer Andy Wilman has been known to write blog entries on topgear.com, some of which have addressed these sort of concerns. That is why series 10 and 11 both had an episode dedicated to cars, with no cocking about.
 
I think the idea of going out on a high with something like a tv show is too difficult to predict - not like a sports person who kinda knows when they're not going to continue achieving top results.

And I'd like to think TG has still got a long way to go before it runs out of ideas. This is only the first show in the series. It far too early for people to start complaining about 'too much of this' and 'too little of that'. If they'd done an all car reviews programme first, the people who watch it for the cocking about would've been complaining it wasn't funny enough. I'm sure things will even out over the series.

As for the predictability of some of the stuff - that IS humour sometimes isn't it? We all know JC hates Porsche so the fun is in how he's going to get round admitting the porsche was the faster car this time. When they first turned up in the trucks I said to my hubby 'I thought Richard would've got one of those big American things' and sure enough his 'modified' truck had the dog kennel on the front - that's why it was even funnier. And when the pies were mentioned last night, I just knew that James was going to take an interest. Hell, the Fast Show relied on its predictablility to get any laughs at all.

nah, I reckon there's a few more series to go yet - assumming Jeremy doesn't fall apart....
 
Corvu said:
How can you assure him(us)?

I believe you Viper, but I am just curious about your reasoning/sources.
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Wish I could help Viper out by posting the relevant link but since the relaunch of the TG website some of the archive has disappeared however I can confirm that in his preseason 11 blog Andy Wilman covered that very topic and confirmed they are sticking to 14 shows a year rather than the 18-20 from previous years to ensure they don't run out of ideas or get stale, and that when it's time to quit they will go with dignity and a bang rather than a whimper.
 
As long as they keep making great cars, Top Gear will have a place on television.
 
Corvu said:
How can you assure him(us)?

I believe you Viper, but I am just curious about your reasoning/sources.
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Blog posts made by Andy as mentioned above plus sources that I am not at liberty to talk about. :)
 
AshDav said:
... i laughed like hell.
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I am afraid you might have expended all the oxygen in your room doing so, recite 5 "Stig Noster" and you shall forgiven.

You got some valid points, it sometimes feels like the focus is shifting to the presenters instead of cars. I said earlier today "I hope there will be a fair share of car reviews this season, I like an automotive entertainment show, not an entertainment show with cars", so I do agree with the criticism. However your proposal is less appealing than a Jetstream SC250 and spectacularly mad.

Having said that, it must be a nightmare trying to please everyone, and people seem to always want the segments to become even bigger, funnier and spectacular. There's no way to please everyone, just stick to what made it so great in the first place.
 
the Interceptor said:
Do your thing guys, but keep your hands on the wheel! ;)
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Or, given your icon, one hand and one metal hook... (yes, I know that's the Richard/James double-decker, but you know what I mean!)

No, TG should not end now. Certainly not until USTG has started, and we've had a three-way mega-shootout between the UK, US and Australian presenters. Like the D-motor job but even bigger.
 
Redliner said:
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh, I have to agree with FBC. Every time there's a new season, those creatures crawl from the filthiest depths of Hell to annoy us with the same old shit...
Can't we have a script or something that automaticaly bans or mute people that brings this up, or worse yet make YET ANOTHER THREAD about it?
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SL65 said:
Ideally all programs would quit whilst at the top of their game. But you gotta pick it right. I really believe they are yet to see the top in terms of viewers and revenue from the Top Gear brand. I would've thought a couple seasons ago they were at their top but they changed the program and its direction slightly and its gone skyward since then.
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Agreed the show should be ended before it starts to decline, you can already tell by the level of scriptedness, the repetition of challenges/stunts and the physical toll some of the taped segments are taking on the presenters, maybe they should think about wrapping up the UK show.

Only problem is, while the quality has gone down and become increasingly dumbed down towards the masses (yes, i'm speaking to the newer fans on the forums as well), its popularity is at an all time high and a LOT of money is at stake, with the series frnachising to australia and optioned for othe countries as well.

All this success and $$$ is pretty much going to drive the show into greed fueled mediocrity, it's just a question of when, not if. And those of you fans who get upset at what i'm saying, don't get angry at me, direct that towards those in charge of the show and the market-driven changes they are making to this once pokey motoring show.

We've seen it before in other television/music/movie franchises and even the greatest of them have been driven into the mud if allowed to going on longer than they should have. Many of you know exactly what i'm referring to.

All i can say is, i hope this won't happen anytime soon, but if anything will bring Top Gear down, it will be its own weight.
 
Should this be the last season of top gear?
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Short answer: No

Long answer:
If you don't like it, don't watch it. If you think this should be the last season of Top Gear then make it your last season of Top Gear. Go check out Top Gear Australia, Top Gear America, or the upcoming Top Gear Russia. It will be new and fresh and hopefully gratify your needs without the stuff you hate about the original Top Gear.
 
No. Why should they? If you are tired of it, stop watching it. Obviously, the rest of the world seems to have a different opinion of the program. Things need to change and grow. Top Gear has. I don't think that any of us would want it to be as it was back when it started.
 
may be, but i think the other way.
they have few more miles to travel. they may be on the mountain but not on the peak yet.
if you had said it after season 17 or 18, i would have agreed with you.
 
I don't think this should be the last season. However if anything maybe they should start to tweak the format. I am not a fan of the SIARPC segments and could really do without them. Also MAYBE they should focus more on road tests. Test like 3 or 4 cars in an episode, instead of the single or doubles that they do. I don't think they should get rid of the challenges or anything of that nature. They give the show its own unique appeal. I think with the launch of Top Gear AU you really see the difference between the interactions of the presenters. While JC, RH, and JM have established a good repertoire with each other the others are still finding theirs. To end the show now, when they have such great chemistry seems like a waste.

Just my two CDN cents.
 
Series 11 was a bit meh, to be honest. TG is definitely dumbing itself down for mass consumption. Sort of how The Simpsons dumbed itself down from Season 10 onwards because (a) all its talent was working on Futurama and (b) it was trying to compete with Family Guy.

Not that I'm saying that TG Series 11 is anywhere near as diabolically bad as The Simpsons from Season 10 onwards (Season 10 was The Simpsons' 'Black Album' as far as I'm concerned), but Wilman and co do need to be careful. There's a fine line between keeping it real and becoming populist. What concerns me is if they swing too far either way, they may damage the TG brand.

I'll reserve my judgement until the end of Series 12 before I decide whether or not TG should drive itself off a cliff in an explosive blaze of glory if it's all the same ...
 
AshDav said:
ok, first and foremost, i know im going to get a lot of abuse, possibly some negative rep and maybe a bad name. but that's all part of it. i want a discussion going from this.

In my opinion, it'd probably be wise, smart, or whatever word you want to use, that top gear makes season 12 its last

Dont get me wrong, i love the show. ive grown up watching classic top gear with tiff saying that everything's "the best...in the world", and clarkson shouting with an afro and aviators. I see the show as a role model in some ways, as its given me strong aspirations of what i want to become later on in life. As sad as it is to say, if or when top gear does announce that it will be their last season, i know that i would cry.

but these days, top gear just doesn't seem to be top gear anymore. its still a great show and i love watching it, but its in the back of my mind now that im watching it as a comedy show, and not as a reputable car program.

i'm fearful that if they go on for a few more seasons, that's all they'll become. A run of the mill comedy. And, as is the way with a lot of comedies, they have their time in the spotlight and then they go too far.
The great shows though, such as Seinfeld and Friends, even against fans and critics opinions, stand up at the prime of their careers and say 'thanks, it was great, but we think its now enough'

We're already seeing signs of the show becoming a comedy. In todays episode for instance, they had a dog in a lambo, james may shitting himself because his lorry broke and a piano held up by porn mags. and admittedly, i laughed like hell.

But in my opinion, this season should be their last. Any more and my respect for clarkson, hammond, may, and perhaps even willman, would probably go down.
If however, at the end of this season they do say top gear no more, i know they'd be going out on a strong note, we'd all remember the run for many years to come, and although we'd be sad, we'd still smile when we look back on it

please, be fair on me because i know i'm on a very unstable topic, but discuss. Should it be their last. and i encourage every opinion because this is finalgear, and that's what we're all about
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Do you kill your former girlfriends, or leave them alive for someone else to enjoy?
 
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