Originally Posted by Jellied Eel:
“Yup. Clarkson & Co's contracts were up for renewal not long after flogging Bedder 6 to the Bbc. The stars popped over to Amazon for some dosh leaving Aunty with an empty tent.. I mean hanger. This time, the vehicle's run away from the Bbc leaving the star's contracts up for renewal. C4 can potentially start off their run with a freshly baked team.”
I think that's a bit of a disingenuous reading of events. Had CHM actually decided to take the money and leave the Beeb when their contracts came up, then you'd have had a valid point. But no doubt the BBC thought that they'd sign on for another period, the show would continue to be a success and then they would work out in due course (and possibly with CHM's input) how to continue the franchise without them present, depending on the terms of departure.
What actually happened was that Clarkson had to go, following the incident, and the Beeb was landed with having to reboot Top Gear with little warning and with lots of public pressure, given the nature of Clarkson's departure. Had CHM just jumped ship to Amazon for the money, then the public, I would argue, would have been far more sympathetic to the new Top Gear. But, given the high-profile and controversial nature of Clarkson's departure, they were given little chance by the public.
I'm not arguing that there were many incorrect decisions made during the reboot of Top Gear. But you cannot simply state that the BBC 'bought the format and not the talent'. They bought the format. The talent were under contract. Clarkson punched a producer and we all know what happened next. It is not analogous to C4 purchasing the Bake Off format without getting the talent.
Originally Posted by Jellied Eel:
“Both were top shows. Both lost their presenters. One failed miserably in it's new, improved version. Will C4's do the same? If it doesn't, what might that say about the abilities of the producers?”
GBBO is a *far* more tightly-formatted show than Top Gear. In Top Gear, it's all about the chemistry of the presenters, the make-up of the challenges and it is ideas-hungry. GBBO just needs to be casted well and then it runs itself, in terms of managing the format (obviously, the editing is top-notch and I am not disputing the producers' talent). I don't think it's fair to say that if GBBO is modestly successful for C4 then they are more successful than the BBC's Top Gear reboot. There were far more challenges on the Top Gear team than GBBO producers, whether the talent is a success or not.
But you knew that anyway.