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Top Gear

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    Old EndeavourOld Endeavour Posts: 9,852
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    Contradicts that they want to "reinvent the show" with a new line up.

    Let's face it, the whole thing is a shambles of epic proportions!

    The BBC do get that W1A is taking the piss and not their official business plan, don't they?

    Nice to here that she wants them for their other programmes on BBC2, but I do hope she is not using that as a blackmailing tool to force them to do Top Gear.
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    scoobiesnacksscoobiesnacks Posts: 3,055
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    Head of BBC 2 was interviewed about this saga on R4 media show today. I thought she implied she was still trying to keep Hammond and May on the show, and most definately on the channel. She also used at least one terrible media cliche phrase that was straight out of W1A (apols I can't remember it).

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05s36cj#auto

    Do you think Jeremy was well managed?

    (She avoids the question)

    . it didn't start there... Andrew Gil said Jeremy felt he was working for the enemy.. you are one of them.

    "That's not my experience with any one of them... I met with Jeremy and the whole team when I joined.. They know I was a fan... I personally got on well with them.

    Over time was it mishandled?

    "I can't really comment on what happened before I arrived in the job"

    ....I read this week Hammond and May and Wilman are also not going to be part of it...

    "Conversations are ongoing with James and Richard about a whole variety of projects with the BBC."

    Including Top Gear?

    "They have to remain private"

    Is there a chance that Hammond and May will turn up in the new Top Gear?


    "Now that we are where we are this is a really creatively exciting moment, a really good time to look at the show and all aspects of it ..."

    If they're not in it, it really is start again, so I think our listeners would like to know if you could give us any guidance at all if they will be in it?

    "I think what viewers of Top Gear really care about, certainly what I care about, is getting a really exciting show. That process will take a little bit of time, because my God we really care about this show, I care about this show and rest assured any viewers of Top Gear who are out there we care about our baby, we care about your baby and we will be determined to bring it back in a really exciting way."
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    i4ui4u Posts: 55,364
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    Contradicts that they want to "reinvent the show" with a new line up.

    Huh? You no listen.
    Now we are where we are this is creatively a very exciting moment. It's a really good time to look at the show and all aspects of it.
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    i4ui4u Posts: 55,364
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    Do you think Jeremy was well managed?

    (She avoids the question)

    Or she didn't know the answer...as it was before she arrived at the job.

    Or should she speculate on gossip and newspaper reports?

    I note she didn't mention any talks with Clarkson regarding any future projects at the BBC, maybe it slipped her mind. :)
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    i4ui4u Posts: 55,364
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    ....She also used at least one terrible media cliche phrase that was straight out of W1A (apols I can't remember it).

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05s36cj#auto

    Do you mean...
    BBC2 viewers are an intelligent, lively, bunch. They don't want to waste their time.

    Does she mean you?
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    testcardtestcard Posts: 8,202
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    "Now that we are where we are this is a really creatively exciting moment..."
    Yeah, no, right, cool, no worries.
    Very strong.
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    brangdonbrangdon Posts: 14,131
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    ....I read this week Hammond and May and Wilman are also not going to be part of it...

    "Conversations are ongoing with James and Richard about a whole variety of projects with the BBC."
    That sounds to me like they probably aren't, but she doesn't want to confirm it; and they'll probably be in other things.
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    SnrDevSnrDev Posts: 6,094
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    BBC2 woman wrote:
    "I think what viewers of Top Gear really care about, certainly what I care about, is getting a really exciting show."
    Despite what some of contributors on here imagine, this (above) is most definitely not what most viewers of Top Gear want. If you want to make a pokey car show, feel free; likewise if you want something 'exciting', go on - see what you can come up with. If you want to make a show based around three presenters who bounce off each other in a relaxed way that mimics a few mates enjoying each others company and enjoying life, feel free to have a go.

    What most Top Gear viewers want is to see the Clarkson Hammond & May Show. That's what worked. All these smug miseries who live their lives by the absolute rule and are chuffed to f that Clarkson has been unseated can watch a million programmes without him in it. Why not turn off the Smug Factor 50 and accept that Clarkson and Wilman made the programme what it was, and that Hammond and more specifically May completed the picture?

    It's beyond tedium, all this smug gloating that TG has been canned because one of em lost it. The bigger picture is that the BBC has lost one of its biggest programmes, all because it couldn't deal with a fist fight.
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    boksboxboksbox Posts: 4,572
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    Contradicts that they want to "reinvent the show" with a new line up.

    James May said that they were almost there as regards new contracts before the incident but they'd only run for 3 years after which they'd plan to hand over to a new team, so a new team would be needed if TG is going to go on for another 10-15 years.
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    CravenHavenCravenHaven Posts: 13,953
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    SnrDev wrote: »
    It's beyond tedium, all this smug gloating that TG has been canned because one of em lost it. The bigger picture is that the BBC has lost one of its biggest programmes, all because it couldn't deal with a fist fight.
    I think half a dozen of us said that, and the tediously perseverating falafel-eaters that dog the fan thread like poo-on-a-shoe insinuated we were morally insane or whatever the politically correct phrase is in right-thinking company in April 2015.
    Bottom line is the Beeb have let themselves lose tens of millions for the sake of a scuffle with nobody the public had previously heard or cared about, for the sake of pleasing a few newspapers who don't count. I assume Beeb employees can see no further than their tight little bubble where the big pretentious folding piece of chip-wrap they read on the commuter train in the morning dictates their decisions.
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    i4ui4u Posts: 55,364
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    Bottom line is the Beeb have let themselves lose tens of millions for the sake of a scuffle with nobody the public had previously heard or cared about, for the sake of pleasing a few newspapers who don't count. I assume Beeb employees can see no further than their tight little bubble where the big pretentious folding piece of chip-wrap they read on the commuter train in the morning dictates their decisions.

    Politically correct Frankie Boyle said of Clarkson in 2014, "He's a culture tumour".

    Maybe there should be counselling like that given to fans when boy bands break up?
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    i4ui4u Posts: 55,364
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    boksbox wrote: »
    James May said that they were almost there as regards new contracts before the incident but they'd only run for 3 years after which they'd plan to hand over to a new team, so a new team would be needed if TG is going to go on for another 10-15 years.

    I think another 3 years would have been too long, possibly one more year by which time they would have established TV projects outside of Top Gear.

    There is the unseen material and I guess there may have been talks with Hammond & May about how to bring that material to the screen.
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    NoEntry2kNoEntry2k Posts: 15,043
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    According to Chris Evans, Clarkson, Hammond and May are all at Goodwood race circuit this morning to film something ‘top secret’. It might be related to the tour, but who knows...
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    InspirationInspiration Posts: 62,772
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    boksboxboksbox Posts: 4,572
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    I think half a dozen of us said that, and the tediously perseverating falafel-eaters that dog the fan thread like poo-on-a-shoe insinuated we were morally insane or whatever the politically correct phrase is in right-thinking company in April 2015.
    Bottom line is the Beeb have let themselves lose tens of millions for the sake of a scuffle with nobody the public had previously heard or cared about, for the sake of pleasing a few newspapers who don't count. I assume Beeb employees can see no further than their tight little bubble where the big pretentious folding piece of chip-wrap they read on the commuter train in the morning dictates their decisions.

    It wasn't a scuffle, it wasn't a fist fight, only one party acting as a protagonist, the BBC don't make tens of millions out of Top Gear, sales are profits.
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    idlewildeidlewilde Posts: 8,698
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    Were their contracts likely to be renewed? Yep.

    Were they likely to be retained on Top Gear? Yep

    In effect they walked out of the job to follow their pal. Anyone who packs in a job to show some sort of faux solidarity with a mate is a complete d*ckhead.

    I think you may have missed the trick there, because the "solidarity to a mate" may well be faux, but in the sense that they have traded on, and have been very successful with, this blokey / matey type relationship that they have cultivated over the last decade or so. They may well have recognised that they may just be more successful retaining that winning fomula trio than remaining as a duo with a stand-in. So the old "We're mates, we stick together" may well be contrived to take advantage of that.
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    InspirationInspiration Posts: 62,772
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    idlewilde wrote: »
    I think you may have missed the trick there, because the "solidarity to a mate" may well be faux, but in the sense that they have traded on, and have been very successful with, this blokey / matey type relationship that they have cultivated over the last decade or so. They may well have recognised that they may just be more successful retaining that winning fomula trio than remaining as a duo with a stand-in. So the old "We're mates, we stick together" may well be contrived to take advantage of that.

    Oh without a doubt the threesome works commercially. No doubt about that. That's why it was always a non starter to imagine Richard and James working with a third person who wasn't Jeremy.. on a car show. It wouldn't have worked. Although it would have been a very easy (and probably quiet lucrative) pay day if Richard and James did decide to stick it out for another series or two just for the money. They held the cards.

    But I don't think it's false. Maybe I'm naive but I really do think they're good friends. James and Jeremy in particular due to their similar ages and I think they've more in common than Richard. When James did his door step interview and said "Clarkson's a bit of a k**b but I quite like him" I think that was genuine. It felt genuine. I don't think James does PR friendly lines for the paps. He's not that type of bloke. Doesn't mean they're moving in together or that they spend every weekend together. But I do think their friendship came before the show.
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    jonbwfcjonbwfc Posts: 18,050
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    i4u wrote: »
    Politically correct Frankie Boyle said of Clarkson in 2014, "He's a culture tumour".
    Frankie Boyle says whatever he thinks gets the most people's backs up or the best laugh. That's his act. In fact that's pretty much ENTIRELY his act. The idea his publicly expressed view actually represents anything substantial at all is laughable. As he'd probably tell you himself.
    But I don't think it's false. Maybe I'm naive but I really do think they're good friends.
    May's & Clarkson's behaviour in the wake of Hammond's dragster accident rather suggests it's not fake. If someone is just a work colleague, you don't drive through the night to be at their hospital bed.
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    Bonnie ScotlandBonnie Scotland Posts: 2,211
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    Kidd, Glenister and Martin being lined up as new presenting trio? Not sure how valid this story is:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3065970/BBC-s-lining-new-Gear-team-including-model-Jodie-Kidd-Life-Mars-actor-Philip-Glenister.html
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    SnrDevSnrDev Posts: 6,094
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    "Andy Wilman was overheard dropping bits of info to see who bites" earlier this week.

    Let us pause breifly to imagine The News segment with Glennister playing his role and Kidd + Martin doing what May & hammond do, and then wonder just how awful it sounds. The BBC haven't got a clue if they imagine that the show will work as a direct replacement with three identikit characters dropped in place. Do another car show, or invent a show for three lively characters and call it Bloke World or whatever, but don't insult what Top Gear became with crap like that.
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    idlewildeidlewilde Posts: 8,698
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    The problem is that both parties have each been left with only one half of what made Top Gear successful. The BBC have lost the chemistry of the three presenters, and the presenters have lost the brand and backing of the BBC.
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    InspirationInspiration Posts: 62,772
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    Kidd, Glenister and Martin being lined up as new presenting trio? Not sure how valid this story is:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3065970/BBC-s-lining-new-Gear-team-including-model-Jodie-Kidd-Life-Mars-actor-Philip-Glenister.html

    Sounds like a wind up. None of them are already on the BBC books. Two of them are already featured in regular Channel 4 shows (Guy and Philip) and Jodie already has a car show on Channel 5.

    I still think if they're going to keep a motoring show going on BBC they'd need to look no further than Chris Evans to front it. He's the best of their talent and he's already a petrol head which helps.
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    jonbwfcjonbwfc Posts: 18,050
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    look no further than Chris Evans to front it. He's the best of their talent.
    Really? They're screwed.
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    Old EndeavourOld Endeavour Posts: 9,852
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    I don't think a female will work at all. Not in any way because of her capabilities but the fun was 3 MEN being silly MEN. A female isn't that and so won't work.
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    tgabbertgabber Posts: 2,236
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    May and Hammond are missing a trick, they should agree to do the next series with a different guest presenter each week. It would raise their profiles, it could be a running joke each week as to how that week's presenter wasn't as good as Jeremy in some aspect or other (or maybe occasionally better!) and would generally give what had become a pretty stale format a breath of fresh air while still keeping a sense of continuity.

    And after one series like that, if they really wanted to, they could probably bring Clarkson back.
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